Excerpts from the Foreword: The Rural Electrification Administration is an agency of the Federal Government. The letters “REA” are its initials. But they are more than that. They form the symbol of a great movement that springs from the farm men and farm women of America. These farm men and farm women are banding together in increasing numbers to bring themselves the electric service so long denied them. This banding together we call cooperation. This pamphlet is designed to introduce the citizen to the REA program—what it is and how it functions. But this is only a pamphlet. The reader who wishes a full understanding of the mechanics and significance of the program can do no better than to visit one of the hundreds of farmer-controlled rural electric power systems that REA has financed. Today these systems are located in almost every State; at least one of them is within visiting distance of virtually any point in the country
