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,agriculture 7,,chla71 ,cornell         
,university7       ,,the ,,rural ,,life 
,,problem ,,of ,,the ,,united ,,states  
,illustration3 ,publisher's logo  ,,the 
,,macmillan ,,company ,,new ,,york      
,,boston  ,,chicago ,,dallas  ,,san     
,,francisco  ,,macmillan  ,,co41        
,,limited ,,london  ,,bombay  ,,calcutta
 ,,melbourne  ,,the ,,macmillan ,,co4   
,,of ,,canada1 ,,ltd4 ,,toronto         
,,the ,,rural ,,life ,,problem ,,of     
,,the ,,united ,,states  ,,notes ,,of   
,,an ,,irish ,,observer ,,by ,,sir      
,,horace ,,plunkett  ,new ,york ,,the   
,,macmillan ,,company #aiai  ,all rights
 reserved   ,,copyright1 #aiaj1  ,,by   
,,the ,,macmillan ,,company4  ,set up   
and electrotyped4 ,published ,may1      
#aiaj4 ,reprinted ,october1 #aiaj2      
,january1 #aiaa2 ,october1 #aiab2       
,september1 #aiac2 ,january1 #aiag4     
,norwood ,press ,j4 ,s4 ,cushing        
,co4--,berwick  ,smith ,co4 ,norwood1   

,mass41 ,u4,s4,a4     ,,prefatory ,,note
   ,the thoughts contained in the       
following pages relate to one side of   
the life of a country which has been to 
me1 as to many ,irishmen1 a second home4
 ,they are offered in friendly          
recognition of kindness ,i cannot hope  
to repay1 received largely as a student 
of ,american social and economic        
problems1 from public-spirited          
,americans who1 ,i know1 will appreciate
 most highly any slight service to their
 country4  ,the substance of the book   
appeared in five articles contributed to
 the ,new ,york ,outlook under the title
 ,conservation and ,rural ,life4        
,several ,american friends1 deeply      
interested in the ,rural ,life problem1 
asked me to republish the series4 ,in   
doing so1 ,i have felt that ,i ought to 
present a more comprehensive view of my 
subject than either the space allowed or
 the more casual publication demanded4  
,i have to thank the editors of the     
,outlook for the generous hospitality of

 their columns1 and for full freedom to 
republish what belongs to them4         
,,horace ,,plunkett4  ,,the ,,plunkett  
,,house1 ,,dublin1 ,april1 #aiaj4       
,,table ,,of ,,contents   ,,chapter ,i  
,,the ,,subject ,,and ,,the ,,point ,,of
 ,,view                                 
,,page ,the subject defined--,a         
reconstruction of rural life in         
,english-speaking communities essential 
to the progress of ,western             
civilisation--,a movement for a new     
rural civilisation to be proposed--,the 
author's point of view derived from     
thirty years of ,irish and ,american    
experience--,the physical contrast and  
moral resemblances in the ,irish and    
,american rural problems--,mr4          
,roosevelt's interest in this aspect of 
the question--,his ,conservation and    
,country ,life policies                 
#a   ,,chapter ,,ii  ,,the ,,launching  
,,of ,,two ,,roosevelt ,,policies  ,the 
sane emotionalism of ,american public   
opinion--,gifford ,pinchot as the       

,apostle of ,conservation--,his test of 
national efficiency--,mr4 ,james ,j4    
,hill's notable pronouncements upon the 
wastage of natural resources--,the      
evolution of the ,conservation          
policy--,historical and present causes  
of national extravagance--,the          
,conference of ,governors and their     
pronouncement upon ,conservation--,mr4  
,roosevelt's ,country ,life policy--,his
 estimate of the lasting importance of  
the ,conservation and ,country ,life    
ideas--,the popularity of the           
,conservation policy and the lack of    
interest in the ,country ,life          
policy--,the ,country ,life             
,commission's inquiries and the reality 
of the problem--,the need and           
opportunity for reconstruction of rural 
life             #ag   ,,chapter ,,iii  
,,the ,,origin ,,and ,,consequences ,,of
 ,,rural ,,neglect  ,the origin of rural
 neglect in ,english-speaking countries 
traced to the ,industrial ,revolution in
 ,england--,effect of modern economic   

changes upon the mutual relations of    
town and country populations--,respects 
in which the old relations ought to be  
restored--,three economic reasons for   
the study of rural conditions--,the     
social consequences of rural            
neglect--,the political importance of   
rustic experience to renforce urban     
intelligence in modern democracies--,the
 analogue of the ,european exodus in the
 ,united ,states--,the moral aspects of 
rural neglect--,the danger to national  
efficiency of sacrificing agricultural  
to commercial and industrial            
interests--,the happy circumstance of   
,mr4 ,roosevelt's interest in rural     
well-being                          #ce 
,,chapter ,,iv  ,,the ,,inner ,,life    
,,of ,,the ,,american ,,farmer  ,reasons
 why the rural problem resulting from   
urban predominance exists only in       
,english-speaking countries--,neglect of
 farmer more easily excused in the      
,united ,states than elsewhere owing to 
his apparent prosperity--,country ,life 

,commission's pronouncement on rural    
backwardness--,why the matter must be   
taken up by the towns--,a survey of     
,american rural life--,the problem      
economically and sociologically         
considered in the ,middle ,west--,causes
 and character of rural backwardness in 
the ,southern ,states--,the boll-weevil 
and the hookworm as illustrations of    
unconcern for the well-being of rural   
communities--,the problem in the ,new   
,england ,states not typically          
,american--,the progressive attitude of 
some communities in the ,far ,west in   
rural reform                       #eg  
,,chapter ,v  ,,the ,,weak ,,spot ,,in  
,,american ,,rural ,,economy  ,the three
 elements of a rural existence--,mr4    
,roosevelt's formula3 ,better farming1  
better business1 better living--,a      
comparative analysis of urban and rural 
business methods shows that herein lies 
chief cause of rural                    
backwardness--,reasons why farmers fail 
to adopt methods of combination--,a     

description of the coperative system in 
its application to agriculture--,the    
introduction and development of         
agricultural coperation in              
,ireland--,the ,raiffeisen ,credit      
,association successful in poorest      
,irish districts--,summary of coperative
 achievement by ,irish farmers--,british
 imitation of ,irish agricultural       
organising methods--,a criticism of     
,american farmers' organisations--,lack 
of combination for business purposes the
 cause of political impotence--,urgent  
need for a reorganisation of ,american  
agriculture upon coperative lines       
#hc   ,,chapter ,,vi  ,,the ,,way ,,to  
,,better ,,farming ,,and ,,better       
,,living  ,the retarded application of  
science to agriculture and neglect of   
agricultural education--,present        
progress in agricultural                
education--,full benefit of education   
must await coperative                   
organisation--,connection between       
coperation and social progress--,mr4    

,roosevelt on the cause and cure of     
rural discontent--,two views upon the   
principles of rural betterment--,the    
part coperation is playing in ,irish    
rural society--,general observations on 
town and country pleasures--,the social 
necessity for a redirection of rural    
education--,the rural labour            
problem--,the position of women in farm 
life--,the reason why the remedy for    
rural backwardness must come from       
without--,the paradox of the problem    
#aag   ,,chapter ,,vii  ,,the ,,two     
,,things ,,needful  ,summary of         
diagnosis and indication of             
treatment--,chief aim the cordination of
 agencies available for social work in  
the country--,numerical strength and    
fine social spirit abroad1 but          
leadership needed--,mutual interest of  
advocates of ,conservation and of rural 
reform--,the psychological difficulty   
due to predominance of urban            
idea--,roman history repeating itself in
 ,new ,york--,the natural leaders of the

 ,country ,life movement to be found in 
the cities--,the objects of the movement
 defined--,two new institutions to be   
created2 the one executive and          
organising1 the other academic--,the    
,national ,conservation ,association    
qualified to initiate and direct the    
movement--,possibly an ,american        
,agricultural ,organisation ,society    
should be founded for the work--,the    
chief practical work the introduction of
 agricultural coperation--,necessity for
 joining forces with existing           
philanthropic agencies--,suggested      
enlistment of country clergy in         
coperative propagandism--,the ,country  
,life ,institute1 its purpose and       
functions--,reason why one body cannot  
undertake work assigned to the two new  
institutions--,the financial            
requirements of the ,institute--,summary
 and conclusions                        
#ade     ,,the ,,rural ,,life ,,problem 
,,chapter ,i  ,,the ,,subject ,,and     
,,the ,,point ,,of ,,view   ,i submit in

 the following pages a proposition and a
 proposal--a distinction which an       
old-country writer of ,english may1     
perhaps1 be permitted to preserve4 ,the 
proposition is that1 in the ,united     
,states1 as in other ,english-speaking  
communities1 the city has been developed
 to the neglect of the country4 ,i shall
 not have to labour the argument1 as    
nobody seriously disputes the           
contention2 but ,i shall trace the main 
causes of the neglect1 and indicate     
what1 in my view1 must be its inevitable
 consequences4 ,if ,i make my case1 it  
will appear that our civilisation has   
thus become dangerously one-sided1 and  
that1 in the interests of national      
well-being1 it is high time for steps to
 be taken to counteract the townward    
tendency4  ,my definite proposal to     
those who accept these conclusions is   
that a ,country ,life movement1 upon    
lines which will be laid down1 should be
 initiated by existing associations1    
whose efforts should be supplemented by 

a new organisation which ,i shall call a
 ,country ,life ,institute4 ,there are  
in the ,united ,states a multiplicity of
 agencies1 both public and voluntary1   
available for this work4 ,but the army  
of workers in this field of social      
service needs two things3 first1 some   
definite plan for cordinating their     
several activities1 and1 next1 some     
recognised source of information        
collected from the experience of the    
,old and the ,new ,world4 ,it is the    
purpose of these pages to show that     
these needs are real and can be met4    
,two obvious questions will here suggest
 themselves4 ,why should the ,united    
,states--of all countries in the        
world--be chosen for such a theme       
instead of a country like ,ireland1     
where the population depends mainly upon
 agriculture8 ,what qualifications has  
an ,irishman1 be he never so competent  
to advise upon the social and economic  
problems of his own country1 to talk to 
,americans about the life of their rural

 population8 ,i admit at once that1     
while ,i have made some study of        
,american agriculture and rural economy1
 my actual work upon the problem of     
which ,i write has been restricted to   
,ireland4 ,but ,i claim1 with some      
pride1 that1 in thought upon rural      
economy1 ,ireland is ahead of any       
,english-speaking country4 ,she has     
troubles of her own1 some inherent in   
the adverse physical conditions1 and    
others due to well-known historical     
causes1 that too often impede the action
 to which her best thoughts should lead4
 ,but the very fact that those who      
grapple with ,irish problems have to    
work through failure to success will    
certainly not lessen the value to the   
social student of the experience gained4
 ,i recognise1 however1 that ,i must    
give the reader so much of personal     
narrative as is required to enable him  
to estimate the value of my facts1 and  
of the conclusions which ,i base upon   
them4  ,to have enjoyed an              

,irish-,american existence1 to have been
 profoundly interested in1 and more or  
less in touch with1 public affairs in   
both countries1 to have been an         
unwilling politician in ,ireland and not
 a politician at all in ,america1 is1 to
 say the least1 an unusual experience   
for an ,irishman4 ,but such has been my 
record during the last twenty years4    
,soon after graduating at ,oxford1 ,i   
was advised to live in mountain air for 
a while1 and for the next decade ,i was 
a ranchman along the foothills of the   
,rockies4 ,to those who knew that my    
heart was in ,ireland1 ,i used to       
explain that ,i might some day be in    
politics at home1 and must take care of 
my lungs4 ,in #ahhi ,i returned to live 
and work in my own country1 but ,i      
retained business interests1 including  
some farming operations1 in the ,western
 ,states4 ,ever since then ,i have taken
 my annual holiday across the ,atlantic1
 and have studied rural conditions over 
a wider area in the ,united ,states than

 my business interests demanded4  ,for  
eight years1 commencing in #ahib1 ,i was
 a ,member of ,parliament4 ,my          
legislative ambition was to get         
something done for ,irish industry1 and 
especially ,irish agriculture4 ,having  
secured the assistance of an            
unprecedented combination of            
representative ,irishmen1 known as the  
,recess ,committee 7because it sat      
during the ,parliamentary recess71 we   
succeeded in getting the addition we    
wanted to the machinery of ,irish       
,government4 ,the functions of the new  
institution are sufficiently indicated  
by its cumbrous ,parliamentary title1   
,the ,department of ,agriculture and    
other ,industries and for ,technical    
,instruction for ,ireland4 ,i mention   
this official experience because it not 
only intensified my desire to study     
,american conditions1 but it also       
brought me frequently to ,washington to 
study the working of those ,federal     
institutions which are concerned for the

 welfare of the rural population4 ,there
 ,i enjoyed the unfailing courtesy of   
,american public servants to the foreign
 inquirer4  ,on one of these visits1 in 
the winter of #aije-aijf1 ,i called upon
 ,president ,roosevelt to pay him my    
respects1 and to express to him my      
obligations to some members of his      
,administration4 ,i wished especially to
 acknowledge my indebtedness to that    
veteran statesman1 ,secretary ,wilson1  
the value of whose long service to the  
,american farmer it would be hard to    
exaggerate4 ,mr4 ,roosevelt questioned  
me as to the exact object of my         
inquiries1 and asked me to come again   
and discuss with him more fully than was
 possible at the moment certain economic
 and social questions which had engaged 
much of his own thoughts4 ,he was       
greatly interested to learn that in     
,ireland we have been approaching many  
of these questions from his own point of
 view4 ,he made me tell him the story of
 ,irish land legislation1 and of recent 

,irish movements for the improvement of 
agricultural conditions4 ,ever since1   
his interest in these ,irish            
questions--to the ,irish ,question we   
gave a wide berth--has been maintained  
on account of their bearing upon his    
,rural ,life policy1 for ,i had shown   
him how the economic strengthening and  
social elevation of the ,irish farmer   
had become a matter of urgent ,irish    
concern4 ,i recall many things he said  
on that occasion1 which show that his   
two great policies of ,conservation and 
,country ,life reform were maturing in  
his mind4 ,i need hardly say how deeply 
interesting these policies are to me1   
embracing as they do economic and social
 problems1 the working out of which in  
my own country happens to be the task to
 which ,i have devoted the best years of
 my life4  ,i must now offer to the     
reader so much of the story of the      
,country ,life movement in my own       
country as will enable him to understand
 its interest to ,mr4 ,roosevelt and to 

many another worker upon the analogous  
problems of the ,united ,states4        
,ireland is passing through an agrarian 
revolution4 ,there1 as in many other    
,european countries1 the title to most  
of the agricultural land rested upon    
conquest4 ,the ,english attempt to      
colonise ,ireland never completely      
succeeded nor completely failed2        
consequently the ,irish never ceased to 
repudiate the title of the alien        
landlord4 ,in #ahha ,mr4 ,gladstone     
introduced one of the greatest agrarian 
reforms in history--rent-fixing by      
judicial authority--which was certainly 
a bold attempt to put an end to a       
desolating conflict1 centuries old4     
,the scheme failed1--whether1 as some   
hold1 from its inherent defects1 or from
 the circumstances of the time1 is an   
open question4 ,it is but fair to its   
author to point out that a rapidly      
increasing foreign competition1 chiefly 
from the newly opened tracts of virgin  
soil in the ,new ,world1 led to a fall  

in agricultural prices1 which made the  
first rents fixed appear too high4      
,quicker and cheaper transit1 together  
with processes for keeping produce fresh
 over the longest routes1 soon showed   
that the new market conditions had come 
to stay4 ,a bad land system on a rising 
market might succeed better than a good 
one on a falling4 ,the land tenure      
reforms begun in #ahha1 having broken   
down under stress of foreign            
competition1 and ,purchase ,acts on a   
smaller scale having been tentatively   
tried in the interval1 in #aijc         
,parliament finally decreed that        
sufficient money should be provided to  
buy out all the remaining agricultural  
land4 ,in a not remote future1 some two 
hundred million pounds sterling--a      
billion dollars--will have been advanced
 by the ,british ,government to enable  
the tenants to purchase their holdings1 
the money to be repaid in easy          
instalments during periods averaging    
over sixty years4  ,twenty years ago    

this general course of events was       
foreseen1 and a few ,irishmen conceived 
and set to work upon what has come to be
 ,ireland's ,rural ,life policy4 ,the   
position taken up was simple4 ,what     
,parliament was about to do would pull  
down the whole structure of ,ireland's  
agricultural economy1 and would clear   
away the chief hindrance to economic and
 social progress4 ,but upon the ground  
thus cleared the edifice of a new rural 
social economy would have to be built4  
,this work1 although it needs the       
fostering care of government1 and       
liberal facilities for a system of      
education intimately related to the     
people's working lives1 belongs mainly  
to the sphere of voluntary effort4  ,the
 new movement1 which was started in     
#ahhi to meet the circumstances ,i have 
indicated1 was thus a movement for the  
up-building of country life4 ,it        
anticipated the lines of the formula    
which ,mr4 ,roosevelt adopted in his    
,message transmitting to ,congress the  

,report of the ,country ,life           
,commission--better farming1 better     
business1 better living3 we began with  
better business1 which consisted in the 
introduction of agricultural coperation 
into the farming industry1 for several  
reasons which will appear later1 and for
 one which ,i must mention here4 ,we    
found that we could not develop in      
unorganised farmers a political         
influence strong enough to enable them  
to get the ,government to do its part   
towards better farming4 ,owing to the   
new agricultural opinion which had been 
developed indirectly by organising the  
farmer1 we were able to win from        
,parliament the department ,i have named
 above4 ,this institution was so framed 
and endowed that it is able to give to  
the ,irish farmers all the assistance   
which can be legitimately given by      
public agencies and at public expense4  
,the assistance consists chiefly of     
education4 ,but education is interpreted
 in the widest sense4 ,practical        

instruction to old and young1 in        
schools1 upon the farms1 and at         
meetings1 lectures1 experiments1 and    
demonstrations1 the circulation of      
useful information and advice1 and all  
the usual methods known to progressive  
governments1 are being introduced with  
the chief aim of enabling the farmer to 
apply to the practice of farming the    
teachings of modern science4 ,better    
living1 which includes making country   
life more interesting and attractive1 is
 sought by using voluntary associations1
 some organised primarily for business  
purposes1 and others1 having no business
 aim1 for social and intellectual ends4 
,but ,irish rural reformers are agreed  
that by far the most important step     
towards a higher and a better rural life
 would be a redirection of education in 
the country schools4 ,to this ,i shall  
return in the proper place4  ,i can now 
proceed with my ,american experiences   
without leaving any doubt as to the     
point of view from which ,i approach the

 problem of rural life in the ,united   
,states4 ,having engaged in actual work 
upon that problem in ,ireland1 where a  
combination of economic changes and     
political events has made its solution  
imperative1 and having been long in     
personal touch with rural conditions in 
some ,western ,states1 my interest in   
certain policies which were maturing at 
,washington may be easily surmised4     
,there ,i found that1 with wholly       
different conditions to be dealt with1  
the thoughts of the ,president and of   
others in his confidence were1 as       
regards the main issue1 moving in the   
same direction as my own4 ,they too had 
come to feel that the welfare of the    
rural population had been too long      
neglected1 and that it was high time to 
consider how the neglect might be       
repaired4 ,in his annual message to     
,congress in #aijd1 ,mr4 ,roosevelt had 
made it clear that he was fully         
conscious of this necessity4 ,nearly    
half of the people of this country1 he  

wrote1 devote their energies to growing 
things from the soil4 ,until a recent   
date little has been done to prepare    
these millions for their life work4 ,i  
did not realise at the time the full    
import of these sentences4 ,nor did ,i  
foresee that the problem of rural life  
was to be forced to the front by the    
awakening of public opinion1 upon       
another issue differing from and yet    
closely related to the subject of these 
pages4 ,mr4 ,roosevelt was thinking out 
the ,conservation idea1 which ,i believe
 will some day be recognised as the     
greatest of his policies4     ,,chapter 
,,ii  ,,the ,,launching ,,of ,,two      
,,roosevelt ,,policies   ,although      
somebody has already said something like
 it1 ,i would say there is a tide in the
 thoughts of men which1 taken at the    
flood1 leads on to action4 ,we make the 
general claim for our ,western          
civilisation1 that1 whatever the form of
 government1 once public opinion is     
thoroughly stirred upon a great and     

vital issue1 it is but a question of    
time for the will to find the way4 ,but 
in the life of the ,united ,states1 the 
passage from thought to action is more  
rapid than in any country that ,i know4 
,nowhere do we find such a combination  
of emotionalism with sanity4 ,no better 
illustration of these national qualities
 could be desired than that afforded by 
the inception and early growth of the   
,conservation policy4  ,i have already  
shown how my inquiries at ,washington   
gave me access to the most accessible of
 the world's statesmen4 ,at the same    
time there came into my life another    
remarkable personality4 ,to the ,united 
,states ,forester of that day ,i owe my 
earliest interest in the ,conservation  
policy4 ,in counsel with him ,i came to 
regard the ,conservation and ,rural     
,life policies as one organic whole4 ,so
 ,i must say here a word about the man  
who1 more than any other1 has inspired  
whatever in these pages may be worth    
printing4  ,i first met ,gifford        

,pinchot in his office in ,washington in
 #aije4 ,i was not especially interested
 in forestry1 but the ,forester was so  
interesting that ,i listened with       
increasing delight to the story of his  
work4 ,i noticed that as an             
administrator he had a grasp of detail  
and a mastery of method which are not   
usually found in men who have had no    
training in large business affairs4 ,i  
thought the secret of his success lay   
between love of work and sympathy with  
workers1 which gained him the devotion  
and enthusiastic coperation of his      
staff4 ,it is1 however1 as a statesman  
rather than as an administrator that his
 achievement is and will be known4      
,when ,i first knew the ,forester1 ,i   
found that already the conservation of  
timber was but a small part of his      
material aims3 every national resource  
must be husbanded4 ,but over the whole  
scheme of ,conservation a great moral   
issue reigned supreme4 ,he clung        
affectionately to his task1 but it was  

not to him mere forestry administration4
 ,in his far vision he seemed to see men
 as trees walking4 ,the saving of one   
great asset was broadening out into     
insistence upon a new test of national  
efficiency3 the people of the ,united   
,states were to be judged by the manner 
in which they applied their physical and
 mental energies to the conservation and
 development of their country's natural 
resources4 ,the acceptance of this test 
would mean the success of a great policy
 for the initiation of which ,president 
,roosevelt gave almost the whole credit 
to ,gifford ,pinchot4  ,there is one    
other name which will be ever honorably 
associated with the dawn of the         
,conservation idea which ,mr4 ,roosevelt
 elevated to the status and dignity of a
 national policy4 ,in ,september1 #aijf1
 ,mr4 ,james ,j4 ,hill delivered 7under 
the title of ,the ,future of the ,united
 ,states7 what ,i think was an          
epoch-making address4 ,it is significant
 that this great railway president      

opened his campaign for the economic    
salvation of the ,united ,states by     
addressing himself1 not to politicians  
or professors1 but to a representative  
body of ,minnesota farmers4 ,this       
address presented for the first time in 
popular form a remarkable collection of 
economic facts1 which formed the basis  
of conclusions as startling as they were
 new4 ,let me attempt a brief summary of
 its contents4  ,the natural resources1 
to which the ,conservation policy       
relates1 may be divided into two        
classes3 the minerals1 which when used  
cannot be replaced1 and things that grow
 from the soil1 which admit of          
indefinitely augmented reproduction4 ,at
 the head of the former category stands 
the supply of coal and iron4 ,this      
factor in the nation's industry and     
commerce was being exhausted at a rate  
which made it certain that1 long before 
the end of the century1 the most        
important manufactures would be         
handicapped by a higher cost of         

production4 ,the supply of merchantable 
timber was disappearing even more       
rapidly4 ,but far more serious than all 
other forms of wastage was the reckless 
destruction of the natural fertility of 
the soil4 ,the final result1 according  
to ,mr4 ,hill1 must be that within a    
comparatively brief period--a period for
 which the present generation was bound 
to take thought--this veritable ,land of
 ,promise would be hard pressed to feed 
its own people1 while the manufactured  
exports to pay for imported food would  
not be forthcoming4 ,it should be added 
that this sensational forecast was no   
purposeless jeremiad4 ,mr4 ,hill told   
his hearers that the danger which       
threatened the future of the ,nation    
would be averted only by the            
intelligence and industry of those who  
cultivated the farm lands1 and that they
 had it in their power to provide a     
perfectly practicable and adequate      
remedy4 ,this was to be found--if such a
 condensation be permissible--in the    

application of the physical sciences to 
the practice1 and of economic science to
 the business1 of farming4  ,in spite of
 the immense burden of great            
undertakings which he carried1 ,mr4     
,hill repeated the substance of this    
address on many occasions4 ,lord        
,rosebery once said that speeches were  
the most ephemeral of all ephemeral     
things1 and for some time it looked as  
if one of the most important speeches   
ever delivered by a public man on a     
great public issue was going to         
illustrate the truth of this saying4 ,it
 seems strange that his facts and       
arguments should have remained          
unchallenged1 and yet unsupported1 by   
other public men4 ,perhaps the best     
explanation is to be found in a recent  
dictum of ,mr4 ,james ,bryce4 ,speaking 
at the ,university of ,california1 the  
,british ,ambassador said3 ,we can all  
think of the present1 and are only too  
apt to think chiefly about the present4 
,the average man1 be he educated or     

uneducated1 seldom thinks of anything   
else4 ,there are1 however1 special      
circumstances in the history of the     
,united ,states which account for the   
extraordinary unconcern about what is   
going to happen to the race in a period 
which may seem long to those whose      
personal interest fixes a limit to their
 gaze1 but which is indeed short in the 
life of a nation4 ,after the religious1 
political1 and military struggles       
through which the ,american nation was  
brought to birth1 there followed a      
century of no less strenuous wrestling  
with the forces of nature4 ,that century
 stands divided by the greatest civil   
conflict in the world's history2 but    
this only served to strengthen in a     
united people those indomitable         
qualities to which the nation owes its  
leadership in the advancement of        
civilisation4 ,the abundance 7until now 
considered as virtual inexhaustibility7 
of natural resources1 the call for      
capital and men for their development1  

the rich reward of conquest in the field
 of industry1 may explain1 but can      
hardly excuse1 a ,national attitude     
which seems to go against the strongest 
human instinct--one not altogether      
wanting in lower animal life--that of   
the preservation of the race4 ,it is an 
attitude which recalls the question said
 to have been asked by an ,irishman3    
,what has posterity done for me8 ,but   
this was before ,conservation was in the
 air4  ,i have now told what ,i came by 
chance to know about the origin of the  
,conservation idea4 ,the story of its   
early growth was no less remarkable than
 the suddenness of its appearance4 ,in  
the spring of #aijh matters had advanced
 so far that the governors of all the   
,states and ,territories met to discuss 
it4 ,before the ,conference broke up    
they were moved to declare the          
conviction that the great prosperity of 
our country rests upon the abundant     
resources of the land chosen by our     
forefathers for their homes1 that these 

resources are a heritage to be made use 
of in establishing and promoting the    
comfort1 prosperity1 and happiness of   
the ,american people1 but not to be     
wasted1 deteriorated1 or needlessly     
destroyed2 that this material basis is  
threatened with exhaustion2 that        
conservation of our natural resources is
 a subject of transcendent importance   
which should engage unremittingly the   
attention of the ,nation1 the ,states1  
and the people in earnest coperation2   
and that this coperation should find    
expression in suitable action by the    
,congress and by the legislatures of the
 several ,states4  ,it is1 of course1   
not with ,conservation1 but with ,rural 
,life1 that we are here directly        
concerned2 but it should be borne in    
mind that the chief of all the nation's 
resources is the fertility of the soil4 
,more than one competent authority      
declared at the ,conference of          
,governors that this national asset was 
the subject of the greatest actual      

waste1 and was at the same time capable 
of the greatest development and         
conservation4 ,this interdependence of  
the two ,roosevelt policies--the fact   
that neither of them can come to        
fruition without the success of the     
other--makes those of us who work for   
rural progress rest our chief hopes upon
 the newly aroused public opinion in the
 ,american ,republic4  ,to my knowledge 
this view is shared by ,president       
,roosevelt1 who always regarded his     
,conservation and ,rural ,life policies 
as complementary to each other4 ,the    
last time ,i saw him--it was on         
,christmas ,eve1 #aijh--;he dwelt on    
this aspect of his public work and aims4
 ,i remember how he expressed the hope  
that1 when the more striking incidents  
of his ,administration were forgotten1  
public opinion would look kindly upon   
his ,conservation and ,rural ,life      
policies4 ,i ventured upon the confident
 prediction that he would not be        
disappointed in this anticipation4      

,already the authors of the             
,conservation policy have been rewarded 
by a general acceptance of the principle
 for which they stand4 ,the national    
conscience now demands that the present 
generation1 while enjoying the material 
blessings with which not only nature but
 also the labour and sacrifices of their
 forefathers have so bounteously endowed
 them1 shall have due regard for the    
welfare of those who are to come after  
them4  ,americans1 who are accustomed to
 rapid developments in public opinion1  
will hardly appreciate the impression   
made by the story ,i have just told upon
 the mind of an observer from old       
countries1 where action does not tread  
upon the heels of thought4 ,but surely  
an amazing thing has happened4 ,in the  
life of one ,administration a great idea
 seizes the mind of the ,american       
people4 ,this leads to a stock-taking of
 natural resources and a searching of   
the national conscience4 ,then1         
suddenly1 there emerges a quite new     

national policy4 ,conceived during the  
last ,administration1 when it brought   
,mr4 ,roosevelt and ,mr4 ,bryan on to   
the same platform1 ,conservation at once
 rose above party1 and will be the      
accepted policy of all future           
,administrations4 ,it has already       
secured almost ,pan-,american           
endorsement at its birthplace in        
,washington4 ,the fathers of            
,conservation are now looking forward to
 a still larger sphere of influence for 
their offspring at an ,international    
,conference which it is hoped to        
assemble at the ,hague4  ,but it must be
 admitted that no such reception was    
accorded to ,mr4 ,roosevelt's other     
policy1 to which our attention must now 
be turned4 ,the reasons for the         
comparative lack of interest in the     
problem of ,rural ,life are many and    
complex1 but two of them may be noted in
 passing4 ,conservation calls for       
legislative and administrative action1  
and this always sets up a ferment in the

 political mind4 ,the ,rural ,life idea1
 on the other hand1 though it will      
demand some governmental assistance1    
must rely mainly upon voluntary effort4 
,the methods necessary for its          
development1 and their probable results1
 are also less obvious1 and thus less   
easily appreciated by the public4       
,whatever the reason1 while             
,conservation has rushed into the       
forefront of public interest and has won
 the status and dignity of a policy1 the
 sister idea is still struggling for a  
platform1 and its advocates must be     
content to see their efforts towards a  
higher and a better country life        
regarded as a movement4  ,this estimate 
of the relative positions of these two  
ideas in the public mind will1 ,i think1
 be borne out when we contrast the quiet
 initiation of the movement with the    
dramatic dbut of the policy4 ,for all   
the officialism with which it was       
launched1 ,president ,roosevelt's       
,country ,life ,commission might as well

 have been appointed by some wealthy    
philanthropist who would1 at least1 have
 paid its members' travelling           
expenses1#a and private initiation might
 also have spared us the ridicule which 
greeted the alleged proposal to uplift a
 body of citizens who were told that    
they were already adorning the heights  
of ,american civilisation4 ,the names of
 the men who volunteered for this unpaid
 service should have been a sufficient  
guarantee that theirs was no fool's     
errand4#b  ,how real was the problem the
 commissioners were investigating was   
abundantly proved to those who were     
present when they got into touch with   
working farmers and their wives1 and    
discussed freely and informally the     
conditions1 human and material1 to which
 the problem of ,rural ,life relates4 ,i
 shall refer again to their report4 ,but
 ,i may here say ,i am firmly convinced 
that a complete change in the whole     
attitude of public opinion towards the  
old question of town and country must   

precede any large practical outcome to  
the labours of the ,commission4 ,it has 
to be brought home to those who lead    
public opinion that for many decades we1
 the ,english-speaking peoples1 have    
been unconsciously guilty of having     
gravely neglected one side1 and that    
perhaps the most important side1 of     
,western civilisation4  ,to sustain this
 judgment ,i must now view the sequence 
of events which led to the subordination
 of rural to urban interests1 and try to
 estimate its probable consequences4 ,it
 will be seen that the neglect is       
comparatively recent1 and of ,english   
origin4 ,i believe that the ,new ,world 
offers just now a rare opportunity for  
launching a movement which will be      
directed to a reconstruction of rural   
life4 ,it is this belief which has      
prompted an ,irish advocate of rural    
reform to turn his thoughts away for a  
brief space from the poorer peasantry of
 his own country and to take counsel    
with his fellow-workers in the ,united  

,states and ,canada on a problem which  
affects them all4  ,,footnotes3  #a     
,these1 as a matter of fact1 were       
defrayed by the trustees of the ,russell
 ,sage ,foundation4  #b ,the ,commission
 consisted of ,l4 ,h4 ,bailey1 of the   
,new ,york ,state ,college of           
,agriculture at ,cornell ,university    
7chairman72 ,henry ,wallace1 editor of  
,wallace's ,farmer1 ,des ,moines1 ,iowa2
 ,kenyon ,l4 ,butterfield1 ,president of
 the ,massachusetts ,agricultural       
,college1 ,amherst1 ,massachusetts2     
,walter ,h4 ,page1 editor of ,the       
,world's ,work1 ,new ,york ,city2       
,gifford ,pinchot1 ,united ,states      
,forester1 and ,chairman of the         
,national ,conservation ,commission2 ,c4
 ,s4 ,barrett1 ,president of the        
,farmers' ,co-operative and ,educational
 ,union of ,america1 ,union ,city1      
,georgia2 ,w4 ,a4 ,beard1 of the ,great 
,west ,magazine1 ,sacramento1           
,california4     ,,chapter ,,iii  ,,the 
,,origin ,,and ,,consequences ,,of      

,,rural ,,neglect   ,the most radical   
economic change which history records   
set in during the last half of the      
eighteenth century in ,england1 as the  
result of that remarkable achievement of
 modern civilisation1 the ,industrial   
,revolution4 ,mechanical inventions     
changed all industry1 setting up the    
factories of the town instead of the    
scattered home production of the country
 and its villages4 ,in the wake of the  
new inventions economic science stepped 
in1 and1 scrupulously obeying its own   
law of demand and supply1 told the then 
predominant middle classes just what    
they wished to be told4 ,adam ,smith had
 made the wonderful discovery that money
 and wealth were not the same thing4    
,then ,ricardo1 and after him the       
,manchester ,school of economists1 made 
division of labour the cardinal virtue  
in the new gospel of wealth4 ,in order  
to give full play to this economic      
principle all workers in mechanical     
industries were huddled together in the 

towns4 ,there they were to be           
transformed from capricious1            
undisciplined humans into mechanical    
attachments1 and restricted to such     
functions as steam-driven automata had  
not yet learned to perform4 ,that was   
the first stage of the ,industrial      
,revolution1 with its chief             
consequences1 the rural exodus and urban
 overcrowding4 ,it is a hideous         
nightmare to look back upon from these  
more enlightened days4 ,well might the  
angels weep over the flight of all that 
was best from the ,god-made country to  
the man-made town4  ,before the middle  
of the last century the clouds began to 
lift4 ,for a while the good ,lord       
,shaftesbury seemed to be crying in the 
wilderness of middle-class plutocracy1  
but it was not long before the crying of
 the children in their factories stirred
 the national conscience4 ,the health of
 nations was allowed to be considered as
 well as their wealth4 ,social and      
political science rose up in protest    

against both the economists and the     
manufacturers4 ,there followed a period 
of beneficent social changes1 no less   
radical than those which the new        
mechanical inventions had produced in   
the economics of industry4 ,the factory 
town of to-day presents a strange       
contrast to that which sacrificed       
humanity to material aggrandisement4    
,what with its shortened hours of       
labour1 superior artisan dwellings1     
improved sanitation1 parks1 open spaces 
and playgrounds1 free instruction and   
cheap entertainment for old and young1  
hospitals and charities1 rapid          
transportation1 a popular ,press1 and   
full political freedom1 the modern hive 
of industry stands as a monument of     
what1 under liberal laws1 can be done by
 education and organisation to realise  
the higher aspirations of a people4     
,during this second period1 another     
economic development produced upon the  
attitude of the urban mind towards the  
rural population an effect to which1 ,i 

think1 has not been given the           
consideration it deserves4 ,better and  
cheaper transportation1 with the        
consequent establishment of what the    
economists call the world-market1       
completely changed the relationship     
between the townsman and the farmer4 ,a 
sketch of their former mutual relations 
will make my meaning clear4 ,within the 
last century every town relied largely  
for its food supply on the produce of   
the fields around its walls4 ,the       
countrymen coming into the weekly market
 were the chief customers for the wares 
of the town craftsmen4 ,in this         
primitive state of trade1 townsmen could
 not but realise the importance to      
themselves of a prosperous country      
population around them4 ,but this simple
 exchange1 as we all know1 has developed
 into the complex commercial operations 
of modern times4 ,to-day most large     
towns derive their household stuff from 
the food-growing tracts of the whole    
world1 and ,i doubt whether any are     

dependent on the neighbouring farmers1  
or feel themselves specially concerned  
for their welfare4 ,i do not think the  
general truth of this picture will be   
questioned1 and ,i hope some            
consideration may be given to the       
conclusions ,i now draw4  ,in the       
transition we are considering1 the      
reciprocity between the producers of    
food and the raw material of clothes on 
the one hand1 and manufacturers and     
general traders of the towns on the     
other1 has not ceased2 it has actually  
increased since the days of steam and   
electricity4 ,but it has become         
national1 and even international1 rather
 than local4 ,town consumers are still  
dependent upon agricultural producers1  
who1 in turn1 are much larger consumers 
than formerly of all kinds of           
commodities made in towns4 ,forty-two   
per cent of materials used in           
manufacture in the ,united ,states are  
from the farm1 which also contributes   
seventy per cent of the country's       

exports4 ,but in the complexity of these
 trade developments townsmen have been  
cut off more and more from personal     
contact with the country1 and in this   
way have lost their sense of its        
importance4 ,my point is that the       
shifting of the trade relationship of   
town and country from its former local  
to its present national and             
international basis in reality increases
 their interdependence4 ,and ,i hold    
most strongly that until in this matter 
the obligations of a common citizenship 
are realised by the town1 we cannot hope
 for any lasting ,national progress4    
,whatever be the causes which have      
begotten the neglect of rural life1 no  
one will gainsay the wisdom of          
estimating the consequences4 ,these are 
economic1 social1 and political2 and ,i 
will discuss them briefly under these   
heads4 ,there are three main economic   
reasons which suggest a closer study of 
rural conditions4 ,first1 there is the  
interdependence of town and country1    

less obvious than it was in the days of 
the local market1 but no less real4 ,any
 fall in the number1 or decline in the  
efficiency1 of the farming community1   
will be accompanied by a corresponding  
fall in the country sale of town        
products4 ,this is especially true of   
,america1 where the foreign commerce is 
unimportant in comparison with internal 
trade4 ,to nourish country life is the  
best way to help home trade4 ,and quite 
as important as these considerations is 
the effect which good or bad farming    
must have upon the cost of living to the
 whole population4 ,excessive middle    
profits between producer and consumer   
may largely account for the very serious
 rise in the price of staple articles of
 food4 ,this is a fact of the utmost    
significance1 but1 as ,i shall show     
later1 the remedy for too high a cost of
 production and distribution lies with  
the farmer1 the improvement of whose    
business methods will be seen to be the 
chief factor in the reform which the    

,rural ,life movement must attempt to   
introduce4  ,the essential dependence of
 nations on agriculture is the second   
economic consideration4 ,the author of  
,the ,return to the ,land1 ,senator     
,jules ,mline 7successively ,minister of
 ,agriculture1 ,minister of ,commerce   
and ,premier of ,france71 tells us that 
this remarkable book is merely an       
expansion of a profound thought uttered 
long ago by a ,chinese philosopher3     
',the well-being of a people is like a  
tree2 agriculture is its root1          
manufacture and commerce are its        
branches and its life2 if the root is   
injured the leaves fall1 the branches   
break away and the tree dies4'  ,this   
truth is not hard to apply to the       
conditions of to-day4 ,the income of    
every country depends on its natural    
resources1 and on the skill and energy  
of its inhabitants2 and the quickest way
 to increase the income is to           
concentrate on the production of those  
articles for which there is the greatest

 demand throughout the commercial world4
 ,the relentless application of this    
principle has been characteristic of the
 nineteenth century4 ,but the           
augmentation of income has in one       
special way been purchased by a         
diminution of capital4 ,the industrial  
movement has been based on an immense   
expenditure of coal and iron2 and in    
,america and ,great ,britain the coal   
and iron which can be cheaply obtained  
are within measurable distance of       
exhaustion4 ,as these supplies diminish1
 the industrial leadership of ,america  
and ,great ,britain must disappear1     
unless they can employ their activities 
in other forms of industry4 ,those1     
therefore1 who desire that the          
,english-speaking countries should      
maintain for many ages that high        
position which they now occupy1 should  
do all in their power to encourage a    
proper system of agriculture--the one   
industry in which the fullest use can be
 made of natural resources without      

diminishing the inheritance of future   
generations--the industry about which1  
,mr4 ,james ,j4 ,hill emphatically      
declares1 all others revolve1 and by    
which future ,america shall stand or    
fall4  ,the third economic reason will  
hardly be disputed4 ,agricultural       
prosperity is an important factor in    
financial stability4 ,the fluctuations  
of commerce depend largely on the good  
and bad harvests of the world1 but1 as  
they do not coincide with them in time1 
their violence is1 on the whole1 likely 
to be less in a nation where            
agricultural and manufacturing interests
 balance each other1 than in one        
depending mainly or entirely on either4 
,the small savings of numerous farmers1 
amounting in the aggregate to very large
 sums1 are a powerful means of steadying
 the money market2 they are not liable  
to the vicissitudes nor attracted by the
 temptations which affect the larger    
investors4 ,they remain a permanent     
national resource1 which1 as the        

experience of ,france proves1 may be    
confidently drawn upon in time of need4 
,i have often thought that1 were it not 
for the thrift and industry of the      
,french peasantry1 financial crises     
would be as frequent in ,france as      
political upheavals4  ,as regards the   
social aspect of rural neglect1 ,i      
suggest that the city may be more       
seriously concerned than is generally   
imagined for the well-being of the      
country4 ,one cannot but admire the     
civic pride with which ,americans       
contemplate their great centres of      
industry and commerce1 where1 owing to  
the many and varied improvements1 the   
townsman of the future is expected to   
unite the physical health and longevity 
of the ,boeotian with the mental        
superiority of the ,athenian4 ,but we   
may ask whether this somewhat optimistic
 forecast does not ignore one important 
question4 ,has it been sufficiently     
considered how far the moral and        
physical health of the modern city      

depends upon the constant influx of     
fresh blood from the country1 which has 
ever been the source from which the town
 draws its best citizenship8 ,you cannot
 keep on indefinitely skimming the pan  
and have equally good milk left4 ,in    
,america the drain may continue a while 
longer without the inevitable           
consequences becoming plainly visible4  
,but sooner or later1 if the balance of 
trade in this human traffic be not      
adjusted1 the raw material out of which 
urban society is made will be seriously 
deteriorated1 and the symptoms of       
,national degeneracy will be properly   
charged against those who neglected to  
foresee the evil and treat the cause4   
,it is enough for my present purpose if 
it be admitted that the people of every 
state are largely bred in rural         
districts1 and that the physical and    
moral well-being of these districts must
 eventually influence the quality of the
 whole people4  ,i come now to the      
political considerations which1 ,i      

think1 have not been sufficiently taken 
into account4 ,in most countries        
political life depends largely for its  
steadiness and sanity upon a strong     
infusion of rural opinion into the      
counsels of the nation4 ,it is a truism 
that democracy requires for success a   
higher level of intelligence and        
character in the mass of the people than
 other forms of government4 ,but        
intelligence alone is not enough for the
 citizen of a democracy2 he must have   
experience as well1 and the experience  
of a townsman is essentially imperfect4 
,he has generally a wider theoretical   
knowledge than the rustic of the main   
processes by which the community lives2 
but the rustic's practical knowledge of 
the more fundamental of them is wider   
than the townsman's4 ,he knows actually 
and in detail how corn is grown and how 
beasts are bred1 whereas the town       
artisan hardly knows how the whole of   
any one article of commerce is made4    
,the townsman sees and takes part in the

 wonderful achievements of industrial   
science without any full understanding  
of its methods or of the relative       
importance and the interaction of the   
forces engaged4 ,to this one-sided      
experience may be attributed in some    
measure that disregard of inconvenient  
facts1 and that impatience of the limits
 of practicability1 which many observers
 note as a characteristic defect of     
popular government4  ,however that may  
be1 there is one symptom in modern      
politics of which the gravity is        
generally acknowledged1 while its       
special connection with the towns is an 
easily ascertainable fact2 ,i mean the  
growth of the cruder forms of           
,socialism4 ,the town artisan or        
labourer1 who sees displayed before him 
vast masses of property in which he has 
no share1 and contrasts the smallness of
 his remuneration with the immense      
results of his labour1 is easily        
attracted to remedies worse than the    
disease4 ,a fuller and more exact       

understanding of the means by which the 
wealth of the community is created is1  
for the townsman1 the best antidote to  
mischievous agitation so far as it is   
not merely the result of poverty4 ,but  
the countryman1 especially the          
proprietor of a piece of land1 however  
small1 is protected from this infection4
 ,the atmosphere in which ,socialism of 
the predatory kind can grow up does not 
exist among a prosperous farming        
community--perhaps because in the       
country the question of the divorce of  
the worker from his raw material by     
capitalism does not arise4 ,the farm    
furnishes the raw material of the       
farmer2 yet he cannot be said to spend  
his life creating the alleged surplus   
value of ,marxian doctrine4 ,for these  
reasons ,i suggest that the orderly and 
safe progress of democracy demands a    
strong agricultural population4 ,it is  
as true now as when ,aristotle said it  
that where husbandmen and men of small  
fortune predominate government will be  

guided by law4  ,i have now shown that  
for every reason the interests of the   
rural population ought no longer to be  
subordinated to those of the city4 ,that
 such has been the tendency in          
,english-speaking countries will hardly 
be questioned4 ,in ,great ,britain the  
rural exodus has gone on with a         
vengeance4 ,the last census 7#aija7     
showed that seventy-seven per cent of   
the population was urban1 and only      
twenty-three per cent rural4 ,a few     
years ago there were derelict farms     
within easy walk of the outskirts of    
,london4 ,in ,ireland the rural exodus  
took the form of emigration1 mainly to  
,american cities1 and this has been the 
chief factor in the reduction of the    
population in sixty years from more than
 eight millions to a trifle above four4 
,but it may be thought that in the      
,united ,states no similar tendency is  
in operation4 ,certainly those who admit
 the townward drift of country life may 
fairly say that it does not present so  

urgent a problem in the ,new ,world as  
in parts of the ,old4 ,even granting    
that this is so1 the fact remains that  
the town population of ,america is      
seriously outgrowing the rural          
population2 for1 while the towns are    
growing hugely1 the country stands      
still4 ,moreover1 we must not forget    
that1 ,australia apart1 ,america is even
 still the most underpopulated part of  
the globe4 ,we are accustomed to think  
,ireland underpopulated1 owing to       
emigration1 yet even to-day the scale of
 population is almost six times greater 
than that of the ,united ,states4 ,if   
the ,union were peopled as thickly as   
,ireland even still is1 the population  
would be nearly five hundred millions4  
,there is still a vast deal of          
filling-up to be done in ,america1      
mostly in the rural parts4  ,but the    
main consideration ,i wish to emphasise 
throughout is that the problem under    
review is moral and social far more than
 economic1 human rather than material4  

,this is the natural view of an ,irish  
worker1 who knows that the solution of  
his problem depends upon the possibility
 of endowing country life with such     
social improvements as will provide an  
effective compensation for a necessarily
 modest standard of comfort4 ,but the   
citizens of the ,united ,states may be  
pardoned for being physiocrats4 ,the    
statistical proof1 annually furnished1  
of the growing agricultural wealth1 is  
apt to obscure other essentials of      
progress4 ,the astronomical proportions 
of the figures stagger the imagination1 
and engender the kind of pride a man    
feels when he is first told the number  
of red corpuscles luxuriating in his    
blood4 ,how can there be agricultural   
depression in a country whose farm lands
 ,secretary ,wilson1 in his notable     
,annual ,report for #aije1 declared to  
have increased in value over a period of
 five years at the astounding rate of   
#c1djj1jjj per day8 ,yet to the deeper  
insight1 the same moral influence       

through which we in ,ireland are seeking
 to combat the evils of material poverty
 may in the ,united ,states be needed as
 a moral corrective to a too rapidly    
growing material prosperity4 ,the       
patriotic ,american1 who thinks of the  
life of the ,nation rather than of the  
individual1 will1 if he looks beneath   
the surface1 discern in this            
,god-prospered country symptoms of rural
 decadence fraught with danger to       
,national efficiency4  ,the reckless    
sacrifice of agricultural interests by  
the legislators of the towns is         
condemned by the verdict of history4 ,we
 need not now fear that invading hordes 
of hardy barbarians will mar the destiny
 of the great ,western ,republic1 as    
they ended the career of the ,roman     
,empire4 ,there are1 however1 other     
clouds upon the horizon4 ,only a few    
years ago1 the ,american people could   
well treat with contempt the bogy of the
 ,yellow ,peril4 ,with a transformation 
unprecedented in history1 the situation 

has been changed4 ,japan is already     
devoting to the arts of peace qualities 
but yesterday displayed in war1 to the  
amazement of the ,western world4 ,in    
another ,eastern empire there are vast  
resources--especially coal and iron in  
juxtaposition--awaiting only industrial 
leadership to utilise a practically     
limitless labour supply for their       
development4 ,these are facts worthy of 
consideration for their potential       
bearing upon the industrial and         
commercial standing of the ,united      
,states4  ,to the onlooker1 it does seem
 a happy circumstance that there has    
just been1 for seven critical years1 at 
the head of ,american affairs the       
strenuous advocate of the strenuous     
life4 ,i read through his ,messages the 
warning that in the struggle for        
preminence the ultimate victory will lie
 with those nations who found their     
prosperity on the high physical and     
ethical condition of the people4 ,that  
is the oldest1 as it is the latest1     

wisdom of the ,east4 ,it is in this     
spirit that the neglected problem of    
,rural ,life should now be given some   
share of the attention hitherto devoted 
to the life of the towns4     ,,chapter 
,,iv  ,,the ,,inner ,,life ,,of ,,the   
,,american ,,farmer   ,i recently asked 
a ,german economist if he could tell me 
the best books to read upon the problem 
of rural life in ,germany4 ,his reply   
was3 ,there are no books1 because there 
is no problem4 ,it is generally true1 no
 doubt1 that the ,rural ,life problem1  
in so far as it consists in the         
subordination of the country to the     
town1 is peculiar to the                
,english-speaking countries1 where it   
seems to be mainly attributable to three
 causes4 ,the chief of these was no     
doubt the ,industrial ,revolution in    
,england1 of which enough has already   
been said4 ,secondly1 in the ,united    
,states and in some portions of the     
,british ,empire1 the opening up of vast
 tracts of virgin soil led not          

unnaturally to the postponement of      
social development until the pioneer    
farmers had settled down to the new     
life4 ,the third cause was immunity from
 the danger of foreign invasion1 which  
eliminated the military reasons for     
maintaining a numerous1 virile1 and     
progressive rural population4  ,there   
are many in ,england who regret that it 
should have been forgotten how the      
,english owed their commercial supremacy
 to the fighting qualities of the old   
yeoman class4 ,in the ,united ,states it
 should be remembered that nowadays     
peace strength is quite as important as 
war strength1 and it may be questioned  
whether there can be any sustained      
industrial efficiency where the great   
body of workers who conduct the         
chief--the only absolutely              
necessary--industry are wasting the     
resources at their command by bad       
husbandry4 ,we may1 however1 concede    
that the neglect of rural life is much  
easier to explain and excuse in the     

,united ,states than in the older       
,english-speaking countries4 ,quite     
apart from the abundance of agricultural
 resources which the ,american farmers  
enjoy1 it might well be thought that the
 rural communities are keeping pace with
 the progress of urban civilisation4    
,the citizens who now occupy the farm   
lands of the ,united ,states have been  
largely drawn from the pick of the      
,european peasantries4 ,in the days of  
their coming1 it took courage and       
enterprise to face the now almost       
forgotten terrors of the ,atlantic      
,ocean4 ,these immigrants1 and the      
migrants from the ,eastern ,states1 have
 profited enormously by their change of 
residence4 ,their material well-being   
has already been admitted1 and1 with    
rare exceptions1 they have displayed no 
overt symptoms of agrarian discontent4  
,it must not1 however1 be imagined that 
the apparent apathy of ,american farmers
 is due to contentment4 ,like others of 
their calling1 they keep a full stock of

 grievances in their mental stores4     
,they have very definite opinions as to 
what is wrong1 but to these opinions no 
formal expression is given4 ,they       
vaguely feel that they would like to    
remould the sorry scheme of things      
entire1 but they lack the public spirit 
which is required before concerted      
action can be taken successfully4 ,the  
,country ,life ,commission held a series
 of conferences throughout the ,united  
,states1 which brought them into the    
closest touch with every type of        
,american farm life4 ,they received     
written replies from some #abe1jjj rural
 folk to whom they had sent a circular  
with a dozen questions covering the     
essential heads of inquiry4 ,the        
,commissioners say in their report3 ,we 
have found by the testimony1 not only of
 the farmers themselves1 but of all     
persons in touch with farm life1 more or
 less serious unrest in every part of   
the ,united ,states1 even in the most   
prosperous regions4  ,the truth is that1

 while judged by the standard of living 
of ,european peasantries1 the farmers of
 the ,united ,states are prosperous1 in 
comparison with the other citizens of   
the most progressive country in the     
world they are not well-off4 ,their     
accumulation of material wealth is      
unnaturally and unnecessarily           
restricted2 their social life is barren2
 their political influence is relatively
 small4 ,american farmers have been used
 by politicians1 but have still to learn
 how to use them4 ,this may be due to   
the fact that my countrymen elected to  
devote their genius for organisation to 
the problems of city government4 ,and in
 the sphere of private action they are1 
as will be seen when ,i discuss the need
 for a reorganisation of their business1
 even less effective than in public     
affairs4  ,it will be conceded that any 
hopeful plan to put things right will   
have to rely upon the organised efforts 
of those immediately concerned4 ,both in
 the sphere of governmental action1 and 

in the vastly more important field of   
voluntary effort1 the moving force will 
have to be public opinion4 ,but the     
thought of the farming communities has  
long ago joined the rural exodus2 and   
before the country life idea can find   
expression in an effective country life 
movement1 those who are thinking out the
 problem will have to commend their     
arguments to the thought of the towns4  
,therefore ,i address these pages1 not  
to farmers only1 but to the general     
reader--who1 ,i may observe1 does not   
generally read if he happens to live in 
the open country4  ,in the course of my 
own studies of ,american rural life ,i  
have found it convenient to divide the  
,united ,states into four sections1 each
 of them more or less homogeneous4 ,as  
this method of treatment may help my    
readers1 ,i will give them a look at my 
map of ,american rural life4 ,the four  
sections may be called the ,north       
,eastern1 the ,middle ,western1 the     
,southern1 and the ,far ,western4 ,the  

division has no pretensions to be       
scientific2 the boundaries can be       
adjusted to fit in with the experience  
of each reader4  ,in my ,north ,eastern 
section ,i include the ,new ,england    
,states1 ,new ,york1 ,new ,jersey1 and  
most of ,pennsylvania4 ,this is a       
section where manufacturing communities 
have long been established1 where       
migration from country to town has been 
most marked1 and where the competition  
of the newly settled ,western farm lands
 has been followed by effects upon      
agricultural society very similar to    
those produced by the same causes in    
many a rural community on the ,continent
 of ,europe4 ,second comes the ,middle  
,western section1 consisting mainly of  
the ,mississippi ,valley1 with its vast 
area of high average fertility1 the     
greatest food-producing tract on the    
continent4 ,third1 ,i place the         
,southern section1 where the governing  
factors in rural economy are the        
climate1 the numerical strength of the  

colored population1 the two staple      
industrial crops--cotton and            
tobacco--the comparatively recent       
abolition of slavery1 and the           
long-drawn-out effects of the ,civil    
,war4 ,my fourth division1 the ,far     
,western section1 includes the ranching 
lands of the arid belt with their       
irrigation oases1 and the fruit-growing 
and farming lands of the ,pacific       
,coast4  ,as we are discussing the      
problem chiefly in its human aspect1    
which affects alike communities wealthy 
and impoverished1 large and small1      
old-settled and newly established1 it   
will not matter essentially where we    
first direct our attention for the      
purpose of illustration4 ,but if1 as ,i 
hold1 nothing less than a reconstruction
 of rural civilisation is called for1   
our inquiries will be more profitably   
directed to those sections where        
agricultural society is permanently     
established1 or where the rural         
population might abandon the migratory  

habit if the conditions were more       
favorable to an advanced civilisation4  
,at the present stage ,i feel that the  
whole subject can be most profitably    
discussed in its application to the     
,middle ,western and the ,southern      
sections4 ,here the intimate            
relationship of the ,conservation and   
the ,country ,life ideas is best        
illustrated4 ,here1 too1 we get into    
touch with the problem at its two       
extremes of prosperity and poverty1 each
 in its own way retarding the progress  
of rural civilisation4 ,in both sections
 the conditions are typical1 and        
distinctively ,american4  ,let us then  
consider first the general course of    
rural civilisation in the great         
food-producing tract of the ,middle     
,west4 ,i have in my mind the portion ,i
 know best1 the last-settled part of the
 corn belt4 ,thirty years ago ,i saw    
something of the newcomers who settled  
in this section1 where there was still  
much raw land4 ,these settlers1 knowing 

that the land must rise rapidly in      
value1 almost invariably purchased much 
larger farms than they could handle4    
,they often sank their available working
 capital in making the first payments   
for their land1 and went heavily into   
debt for the balance4 ,they became land 
poor1 and1 in order to meet the         
instalments of purchase and the high    
interest on their mortgages1 they       
invented a system of farming            
unprecedented in its wastefulness4 ,the 
farm was treated as a mine1 or1 to use  
,mr4 ,james ,j4 ,hill's metaphor1 as a  
bank where the depositors are always    
taking out more than they put in4 ,a    
corn crop1 year after year1 without     
rotation or fertilisers1 satisfied the  
new conception of husbandry--the easiest
 and least costly extraction of the     
wealth in the soil4 ,land1 labour1      
capital1 and ability ,i had been taught 
to regard as the essentials of          
production2 but here capital was reduced
 to the minimum1 and ability left to    

nature4 ,many of the young men who took 
,horace ,greeley's advice and went ,west
 knew nothing about farming4 ,i remember
 writing home that ,i was in a country  
where the rolling stone gathered most   
moss4 ,possibly the method adopted was  
the quickest way to get rich2 living on 
capital is all right provided somebody  
will replace the squandered resources4  
,while there were ample unoccupied      
lands1 ,uncle ,sam looked kindly upon   
these enterprising pioneers4 ,it was    
only in the second ,roosevelt           
,administration that it dawned upon the 
national conscience that the nation had 
some claim to be considered as well as  
the individual4 ,of course all this is  
changed now2 although ,i am not sure    
that western ,canada is not being       
educated in soil exhaustion by some of  
these extemporised husbandmen whose     
habits and temperament lead them to seek
 fresh fields and pastures new4 ,we are 
not out here for our health1 was the    
reply ,i got when ,i showed that my     

old-fashioned economic sense was shocked
 by this substitution of land           
speculation for farming4  ,i am aware   
that this very uneconomic procedure is  
capable of some plausible explanations4 
,the opening up of the vast new         
territory by the provision of local     
traffic for transcontinental lines was  
an object of national urgency and       
importance4 ,nevertheless1 ,i think it  
must now be regretted that a little more
 thought was not given to the general   
problem of rural economy1 of which      
transit is but one factor4 ,this may be 
that irritating kind of wisdom which    
comes after the event1 but ,i cannot    
help regarding the policy of rewarding  
railroad enterprises with unconditional 
grants of vast areas of agricultural    
land as one of the many evidences of the
 urban domination over rural affairs4   
,of the earlier settled portions of this
 section ,i cannot speak from personal  
knowledge4 ,but a recent magazine       
article1#c ,the ,agrarian ,revolution in

 the ,middle ,west1 follows closely the 
line of my own thoughts4 ,in this       
article ,mr4 ,joseph ,b4 ,ross1 of      
,lafayette1 ,indiana1 who is making a   
special study of the evolution of       
,american rural life1 considers it in   
three periods3 from #ahjj to #ahce1 from
 #ahce to #ahij1 and from #ahij to the  
present time4 ,in the middle period he  
shows how the most progressive families 
raised their standard of living steadily
 with the growing prosperity of the     
country4 ,they built themselves stately 
homes with substantial barns4 ,the      
farmer was developing into a citizen    
with the solid virtues1 the virile      
independence1 the strong political      
opinions1 religious interest1 and social
 instincts which characterised the      
,english yeoman of the preceding        
century4 ,the social life which these   
communities built up1 as soon as their  
economic position was assured1 was a    
reflection of the best ,english         
traditions--it centred round the        

churches and the ,sunday-school4 ,there 
was a growing distribution of literature
 as well as organisation for            
intellectual1 educational and social    
purposes4 ,mr4 ,ross notes the winter   
excursions to ,florida and ,california1 
the adornment of the homes1 and many    
other evidences of a social progress    
developing a character of its own4      
,during this period there was a         
migration from the country homes to the 
cities2 but it was only the natural     
outflow of the surplus members of the   
rural families into the professional and
 business life of the growing centres of
 commerce and industry4  ,in the period 
through which we are now passing a      
transformation is taking place4 ,the    
rural exodus is no longer that of       
individuals1 but of whole families4 ,the
 farms thus vacated are let to tenants1 
generally on a three years' lease1 at a 
competition rent4 ,the ,country ,life   
,commission says that this tendency to  
move to the cities is not peculiar to   

any region4 ,in difficult farming       
regions1 and where the competition with 
other farming sections is most severe1  
the young people may go to town to      
better their condition4 ,in the best    
regions the older people retire to town 
because it is socially more attractive1 
and they see a prospect of living in    
comparative ease and comfort on the     
rental of their lands4 ,nearly          
everywhere there is a townward movement 
for the purpose of securing school      
advantages for the children4 ,all this  
tends to sterilize the open country and 
to lower its social status4 ,the        
,commission points out that the new     
addition of what is likely to be a      
stationary element1 whose economic      
interests lie elsewhere1 to the         
citizenship of the town1 may create     
there a new social problem1 while the   
tenant in the country will not have that
 interest in building up rural society  
which might be expected in the owners of
 land4 ,mr4 ,ross's studies lead him    

very definitely to the same conclusion4 
,churches and educational institutions1 
he tells us1 are being starved1 and     
rural society is fast reverting to the  
type which was prevalent from thirty to 
fifty years ago4 ,but there is one great
 difference between then and now4 ,then1
 rural civilisation was passing through 
a stage of marked social advancement    
which was common throughout the country2
 now1 there are distinct indications of 
social degeneration1 which ,mr4 ,ross   
regards as the inevitable consequence of
 the new landlord and tenant system4    
,many members of these communities must 
have left the ,old ,world to escape from
 the selfsame conditions which they are 
reproducing in the ,new4  ,rural society
 in the ,middle ,west1 as it presents   
itself to the observer whose authority  
,i have cited1 is obviously in a        
transitional stage4 ,the lack of farm   
labourers1 which is the common subject  
of complaint by farmers in all parts of 
the ,united ,states1 cannot fail to be  

aggravated by the change in the         
conditions of tenancy just noted4 ,the  
man whose chief concern is to get the   
most out of the land1 at the least      
expense1 in two or three years1 will not
 treat his labourers so well--nor the   
land so well--as will the man who means 
to spend his life on the farm2 and      
therefore the labourers will not stay4  
,this scarcity of labour may be met to  
some extent by an increased use of      
machinery2 but it is more likely to lead
 to poorer cultivation1 which means the 
depopulation of agricultural districts4 
,england and ,ireland furnish too many  
examples of the rural decay immortalised
 in ,goldsmith's ,deserted ,village4 ,it
 would be strange and sad if the        
experience were to be repeated on the   
richest soil of ,america4  ,in the      
,southern section we find a wastefulness
 similar to that in the corn belt1 but  
due to wholly different causes4 ,the    
communities are old-settled1 but in many
 instances they are still abnormally    

depressed by the terrible effects of the
 great war1 followed by a period of     
social and economic stagnation4 ,here   
there was little but agriculture for the
 people to rely upon1 and their methods 
have1 until recent years1 been very     
backward4 ,the growing of the same crops
 year after year upon the same fields1  
the neglect of precaution against the   
washing away of the soil surface1 and   
the failure to use fertilisers1 have    
made the profits of tillage             
disappointingly small4 ,billions of     
dollars have been lost by these         
communities through persistent soil     
exhaustion and erosion4 ,in the last few
 years the ,federal ,department of      
,agriculture has maintained a most      
efficient staff of agricultural experts 
under the direction of ,dr4 ,knapp1 one 
of the ablest organisers of farm        
improvement ,i have ever met4 ,the      
,general ,education ,board1 who         
administer large sums provided by ,mr4  
,rockefeller1 recognising the           

educational value of ,dr4 ,knapp's      
operations1 are contributing about one  
hundred thousand dollars a year to his  
work4 ,dr4 ,knapp and his field agents  
have no difficulty at all in            
demonstrating that the yield may be     
doubled1 and the cost of production     
greatly reduced1 merely by the          
application of the most elementary      
science to agriculture4 ,i heard him    
tell of a farmer whom he had induced to 
allow his boy--still attending          
school--to cultivate one acre under his 
instructions4 ,in the result the boy    
quadrupled the number of bushels of corn
 to the acre that his father1 following 
the traditional methods1 was able to    
raise4 ,it would be easy to multiply    
such instances of thriftlessness and    
neglected opportunity1 of poverty within
 easy reach of abundance1 which have    
brought it about that the future of the 
nation is actually endangered by the    
failure of the food supply to keep pace 
with the increase of its still          

relatively sparse population4  ,the     
,southern section furnishes two         
illustrations of long-standing neglect1 
both well worthy of consideration for   
their pregnant suggestiveness4 ,the     
,federal ,department of ,agriculture    
recently scored a notable success in    
dealing with an insect pest which was   
threatening the cotton-growing industry 
with economic ruin4 ,the boll-weevil1   
like the legal and medical professions1 
thrives upon the follies of humanity4   
,it attacks the cotton plants which have
 been weakened by bad husbandry4 ,the   
scientists did not succeed in finding in
 the commonwealth of bugs the natural   
enemy of the pest they were after1 but  
,dr4 ,knapp1 with the wisdom which      
prefers prevention to cure1 seized the  
opportunity of teaching cotton-growers  
to diversify their cultivation4 ,the    
consequence was that the cotton crop    
itself is gradually responding to the   
treatment4 ,many other crops are adding 
their quota to the produce of the       

,southern farms1 and an all-round       
improvement1 moral as well as material1 
is accompanying the educational         
discipline through which this reformer  
is putting the communities with whom and
 for whom he is working4  ,there is     
another pest in the ,south which does   
not attack the farm crops1 but goes     
straight for the farmer4 ,if the        
,country ,life ,commission had done     
nothing more1 they would have justified 
their appointment by the attention they 
called to the ravages of the hookworm1  
which have1 no one knows how long1      
scourged the poor white communities in  
the ,southern ,states4 ,the effect of   
the disease set up by the hookworm1     
which infests the intestines1 is a      
complete sapping of all energy1 mental  
and physical4 ,mr4 ,rockefeller has     
provided a million dollars for the      
necessary research work and for such    
subsequent organisation of sanitary     
effort as may be required to extirpate  
this unquestionably preventable evil4 ,i

 wonder how long such a state of affairs
 would have been permitted to interfere 
with the health and to paralyse the     
industry of urban communities4 ,had the 
hookworm1 instead of lurking in country 
lanes1 walked the streets1 how would it 
have fared8  ,these two pests furnish a 
fine illustration of the length to which
 the neglect of rural life has been     
allowed to go in the ,southern ,states4 
,neither the ,eastern nor the ,far      
,western section presents aspects of    
special interest to the foreign student 
of the ,rural problem in the ,united    
,states1 but in both the constructive   
statesman and the social worker will    
find a rich field for their efforts4 ,in
 the ,new ,england ,states--more        
especially in the manufacturing         
districts--the competition between town 
and country for labour is as marked as  
in ,industrial ,england4 ,in this       
section1 however1 the lure of the city  
has a rival in the call of the ,west1   
which still makes its appeal to the     

farmer's boy4 ,secretary ,wilson has    
recently given it as his opinion that   
land-seekers who pass by the farms now  
offered for sale in the western portions
 of ,new ,york ,state often go further  
and fare worse4 ,in these relatively    
low-priced lands1 it ought not to be    
difficult for agricultural communities  
to establish permanently a rural society
 worthy of ,american ideas of progress4 
,but to do this is to solve the problem 
we are discussing4 ,we have some other  
aspects of that problem to consider     
before we can agree upon the essentials 
of a philosophic and comprehensive      
scheme for the rehabilitation of rural  
life--before we can lay down the lines  
of a movement to give effect to our     
plan4  ,the ,far ,western section has   
hardly yet emerged from the             
frontier-pioneer stage1 and its rural   
problem is still below the horizon4 ,i  
may1 however1 note in passing a few     
evidences that the people of this       
section have already shown a very real  

concern for rural progress4 ,the        
fruit-growers of the ,pacific ,coast    
have1 in the coperative marketing of    
their produce1 made an excellent        
beginning in a matter of first          
importance in any scheme of rural       
development4 ,on irrigation farm lands  
there has been developed1 in connection 
with the upkeep and control of the water
 systems1 a community spirit which will 
surely lead to many forms of            
organisation for mutual economic and    
social advantage4 ,in the city of       
,spokane1 ,washington1 the ,chamber of  
,commerce has aroused a public interest 
in the work of the ,country ,life       
,commission which1 so far as my         
information goes1 has not been equalled 
elsewhere in the ,united ,states4 ,the  
,chamber is republishing the ,report of 
the ,commission1 for which no ,federal  
appropriation appears to have been made4
 ,it would seem to be a not wild        
speculation that the statesmen and      
social workers who will first solve the 

rural problem of the ,english-speaking  
peoples may be found in the ,far ,west  
of the ,new ,world as well as of the    
,old4  ,i must now conclude the         
diagnosis of rural decadence by a       
consideration of what in my judgment is 
the chief cause of the malady1 and so   
get to a point where we can determine   
the nature of the remedy4 ,it will then 
remain only to sketch the outlines of   
the movement which is to give practical 
effect to the agreed principles in the  
life of rural communities4  ,,footnote3 
#c ,north ,american ,review1 ,september1
 #aiji4     ,,chapter ,v  ,,the ,,weak  
,,spot ,,in ,,american ,,rural ,,economy
   ,the evidence of competent ,american 
witnesses proves that there is1 in the  
,united ,states1 notwithstanding its    
immense agricultural wealth1 a ,rural   
,life problem4 ,here1 as elsewhere1 on a
 fuller analysis1 the utmost variety of 
race1 soil1 climate and market          
facilities serve but to emphasise the   
importance of the human factor4 ,but    

this consideration does not lessen the  
need for a sternly practical treatment  
of the rural social economy under       
review4 ,in this chapter1 ,i propose to 
go right down to the roots of the rural 
problem1 find what is wrong with the    
industry by which the country people    
live1 and see how it can be righted4 ,we
 should then have clearly in our minds  
the essentials of prosperity in a rural 
community4  ,agriculture1 the basis of a
 rural existence1 must be regarded as a 
science1 as a business and as a life4 ,i
 have already adverted to ,president    
,roosevelt's formula for solving the    
rural problem--better farming1 better   
business1 better living4 ,better farming
 simply means the application of modern 
science to the practice of agriculture4 
,better business is the no less         
necessary application of modern         
commercial methods to the business side 
of the farming industry4 ,better living 
is the building up1 in rural            
communities1 of a domestic and social   

life which will withstand the growing   
attractions of the modern city4  ,this  
threefold scheme of reform covers the   
whole ground and will become the basis  
of the ,country ,life movement to be    
suggested later4 ,but in the working out
 of the general scheme1 there must be   
one important change in the order of    
procedure--'better business' must come  
first4 ,the dull commercial details of  
agriculture have been sadly neglected1  
perhaps on account of the more human    
interest of the scientific and social   
aspects of country life4 ,yet my own    
experience in working at the rural      
problem in ,ireland has convinced me    
that our first step towards its solution
 is to be found in a better organisation
 of the farmer's business4 ,it is       
strange but true that the level of      
efficiency reached in many ,european    
countries was due to ,american          
competition1 which in the last half of  
the nineteenth century forced           
,continental farmers to reorganise their

 industry alike in production1 in       
distribution and in its finance4 ,both  
,irish experience and ,continental study
 have convinced me that neither good    
husbandry nor a worthy social life can  
be ensured unless accompanied by        
intelligent and efficient business      
methods4 ,we must1 therefore1 examine   
somewhat critically the agricultural    
system of the ,american farmer1 and see 
wherein its weakness lies4  ,the        
superiority of the business methods of  
the town to those of the country is     
obvious1 but ,i do not think the precise
 nature of that superiority is generally
 understood4 ,what strikes the eye is   
the material apparatus of business1--the
 street cars1 the advertisements1 the   
exchange1 the telephone1 the typewriter2
 all these form an impressive contrast  
with the slow1 simple life of the       
farmer1 who very likely scratches his   
accounts on a shingle or keeps them in  
his head4 ,but most of this city        
apparatus is due merely to the necessity

 of swift movement in the concentrated  
process of exchange and distribution4   
,such swiftness is neither necessary nor
 possible in the process of isolated    
production4 ,but there is an economic   
law1 applicable alike to rural and to   
urban pursuits1 which is being more and 
more fully recognised and obeyed by the 
farmers of most ,european countries1    
including ,ireland1 but which has been  
too little heeded by the farmers of the 
,united ,states and ,great ,britain4    
,under modern economic conditions1      
things must be done in a large way if   
they are to be done profitably2 and this
 necessitates a resort to combination4  
,the advantage which combination gives  
to the town over the country was        
recognised long before the recent       
economic changes forced men to combine4 
,in the old towns of ,europe all trades 
began as strict and exclusive           
corporations4 ,in the eighteenth and    
nineteenth centuries new scientific and 
economic forces broke up these          

combinations1 which were far too narrow 
for the growing volume of industrial    
activity1 and an epoch of competition   
began4 ,the great towns of ,america     
opened their business career during this
 epoch1 and have brought the arts of    
competition to a higher perfection than 
exists in ,europe4 ,but it has always   
been known that competition did not     
exclude combination against the         
consumer2 and it is now beginning to be 
perceived that the fiercer the          
competition1 the more surely does it    
lead in the end to such combination4  ,a
 trade combination has three principal  
objects3 it aims1 first1 at improving   
what ,i may call the internal business  
methods of the trade itself by          
eliminating the waste due to            
competition1 by economising staff1      
plant1 etc41 and by the ready           
circulation of intelligence1 and in     
other ways4 ,in the second place1 it    
aims at strengthening the trade against 
outside interests4 ,these may be of     

various kinds2 but in the typical case  
we are considering1 namely1 the         
combination of great middlemen who      
control exchange and distribution1 the  
outside interests are those of the      
producer on one side and the consumer on
 the other2 and the trade combination1  
by its organised unity of action1       
succeeds in lowering the prices it pays 
to the unorganised producer and in      
raising the prices it charges to the    
unorganised consumer4 ,in the third     
place1 the trade combination seeks to   
favour its own interests in their       
relation to other interests through     
political control--control not so much  
of the machinery of politics as of its  
products1 legislation and               
administration4 ,i am not now arguing   
the question whether or how far this    
action on the part of trade combinations
 is morally justifiable4 ,my point is   
simply that the towns have flourished at
 the expense of the country by the use  
of these methods1 and that the          

countryman must adopt them if he is to  
get his own again4 ,moreover1 as        
organisation tends to increase the      
volume and lower the cost of            
agricultural production and to make     
possible large transactions between     
organised communities of farmers and the
 trade1 it will be seen that the        
organised combination of farmers will   
simplify the whole commerce of those    
countries where it is adopted1 and thus 
benefit alike the farmer and the trader4
  ,this truth will be easily realised if
 we consider for a moment the system of 
distribution which the food demand of   
the modern market has evolved4          
,agricultural produce finds its chief   
market in the great cities4 ,their      
populations must have their food so sent
 in that it can be rapidly distributed2 
and this requires that the consignments 
must be delivered regularly1 in large   
quantities1 and of such uniform quality 
that a sample will give a correct       
indication of the whole4 ,these three   

conditions are essential to rapid       
distribution1 but their fulfilment is   
not within the power of isolated        
farmers1 however large their operations4
 ,it is an open question whether farmers
 should themselves undertake the        
distribution of their produce through   
agencies of their own1 thus saving the  
wholesale and possibly the retail       
profits4 ,but unquestionably they should
 be so well organised at home that they 
can take this course if they are        
unfairly treated by organised middlemen4
 ,the ,danish farmers1 whose highly     
organised system of distribution has    
made them the chief competitors of the  
,irish farmers1 have established 7with  
,government assistance which their      
organisation enabled them to secure7    
very efficient machinery for            
distributing their butter1 bacon and    
eggs in the ,british markets4 ,other    
,european farming communities are       
becoming equally well organised1 and    
similarly control the marketing of their

 produce4 ,but where1 as in ,america and
 the ,united ,kingdom1 the town         
dominates the country1 and the machinery
 of distribution is owned by the        
business men of the towns1 it is worked 
by them in their own interests4 ,they   
naturally take from the unorganised     
producers as well as from the           
unorganised consumers the full business 
value of the service they render4 ,with 
the growing cost of living1 this has    
become a matter of urgent importance to 
the towns4 ,in the cheaper-food campaign
 which began in the late fall of #aiji1 
voices are heard calling the farmers to 
account for their uneconomical methods1 
while here and there organisations of   
consumers are endeavouring to solve the 
problem to their own satisfaction by    
acquiring land and raising upon it the  
produce which they require4  ,in the    
face of such facts it is not easy to    
account for the backwardness of         
,american and ,british farmers in the   
obviously important matter of           

organisation4 ,the farmer1 we know1 is  
everywhere the most conservative and    
individualistic of human beings4 ,he    
dislikes change in his methods1 and he  
venerates those which have come down to 
him from his fathers' fathers4 ,whatever
 else he may waste1 these traditions he 
conserves4 ,he does not wish to         
interfere with anybody else's business1 
and he is fixedly determined that others
 shall not interfere with his4 ,these   
estimable qualities make agricultural   
organisation more difficult in          
,anglo-,saxon communities than in those 
where clan or tribal instincts seem to  
survive4#d  ,now it is fair to the      
farmer to admit that his calling does   
not lend itself readily to associative  
action4 ,he lives apart2 most of his    
time is spent in the open air1 and in   
the evening of the working day physical 
repose is more congenial to him than    
mental activity4 ,but when all this is  
said1 we have not a complete explanation
 of the fact that1 by failing to        

combine1 ,american and ,british farmers1
 persistently disobey an accepted law1  
and refuse to follow the almost         
universal practice of modern business4  
,i believe the true explanation to be   
one that has somehow escaped the notice 
of the agricultural economist4 ,those   
who accept it will feel that they have  
found the weak spot in ,american        
farming1 and that the remedy is neither 
obscure nor difficult to apply4  ,the   
form of combination which the towns have
 invented for industrial and commercial 
purposes is the ,joint ,stock ,company4 
,here a number of persons contribute    
their capital to a common fund and      
entrust the direction to a single head  
or committee1 taking no further part in 
the business except to change the       
management if the undertaking does not  
yield a satisfactory dividend4 ,our     
urban way of looking at things has made 
us assume that this city system must be 
suitable to rural conditions4 ,the      
contrary is the fact4 ,when farmers     

combine1 it is a combination not of     
money only1 but of personal effort in   
relation to the entire business4 ,in a  
coperative creamery1 for example1 the   
chief contribution of a shareholder is  
in milk2 in a coperative elevator1 corn2
 in other cases it may be fruit or      
vegetables1 or a variety of material    
things rather than cash4 ,but it is1    
most of all1 a combination of neighbours
 within an area small enough to allow of
 all the members meeting frequently at  
the business centre4 ,as the system     
develops1 the local associations are    
federated for larger business           
transactions1 but these are governed by 
delegates carefully chosen by the       
members of the constituent bodies4  ,the
 object of such associations is1        
primarily1 not to declare a dividend1   
but rather to improve the conditions of 
the industry for the members4 ,after an 
agreed interest has been paid upon the  
shares1 the net profits are divided     
between the participants in the         

undertaking1 to each in proportion as he
 has contributed to them through the    
business he has done with the           
institution4 ,and the same idea is      
applied to the control of the           
management4 ,it is recognised that the  
poor man's coperation is as important as
 the rich man's subscription4 ',one man1
 one vote1' is the almost universal     
principle in coperative bodies4#e  ,the 
distinction between the capitalistic    
basis of joint stock organisation and   
the more human character of the         
coperative system is fundamentally      
important4 ,it is recognised by law in  
,england1 where the coperative trading  
societies are organised under ,the      
,industrial and ,provident ,societies'  
,act1 and the coperative credit         
associations under ,the ,friendly       
,societies' ,act4 ,in the ,united       
,states 7,i am told by friends in the   
legal profession71 the ,articles of     
,association of an ordinary limited     
liability company can be so drafted as  

to meet all the requirements ,i have    
named4 ,most countries have enacted laws
 specially devised to meet the          
requirements of coperative societies4   
,however it is done1 the essential of   
success in agricultural coperation is   
that the terms and conditions upon which
 it is based shall be accepted by all   
concerned as being equitable in the     
distribution of profits1 risks and      
control4 ,it then becomes the interest  
of every member to give his             
whole-hearted support and aid to the    
common undertaking4 ,to accomplish this1
 it is necessary to explain and secure  
the acceptance of a constitution and    
procedure carefully thought out to suit 
each case4 ,it will be readily believed 
that associations of farmers which will 
meet these conditions are not likely to 
be spontaneously generated2 hence the   
necessity for a plan and for the        
machinery to carry it through4  ,in this
 matter ,i am here speaking from        
practical experience in ,ireland4       

,twenty years ago the pioneers of our   
rural life movement found it necessary  
to concentrate their efforts upon the   
reorganisation of the farmer's business4
 ,they saw that foreign competition was 
not1 as was commonly supposed1 a        
visitation of ,providence upon the      
farmers of the ,british ,islands1 but a 
natural economic revolution of permanent
 effect4 ,our message to ,irish farmers 
was that they must imitate the methods  
of their ,continental competitors1 who  
were defeating them in their own markets
 simply by superior organisation4 ,after
 five years of individual propagandism1 
the ,irish ,agricultural ,organisation  
,society was formed in #ahid to meet the
 demand for instruction as to the       
formation and the working of coperative 
societies1 a demand to which it was     
beyond the means of the few pioneers to 
respond4  ,two decades of steady        
development have confirmed the soundness
 of the original scheme1 and a brief    
account of agricultural coperation in   

,ireland will be of interest to any     
reader who has persevered so far4 ,the  
conditions were in some respects        
favourable4 ,the farms are small and    
their owners belong to the class to     
which coperation brings most immediate  
benefit4 ,the ,irish peasantry are      
highly intelligent4 ,they lack the      
strong individualism of the ,english1   
but they have highly developed          
associative instincts4 ,for this reason 
coperation1 an alternative to           
communism1--which they abhor1--comes    
naturally to them4 ,on the other hand1  
the ease with which they can be         
organised makes them peculiarly amenable
 to political influence4 ,in backward   
rural communities the trader is almost  
invariably the political boss4 ,he is a 
leader of agrarian agitation1 in which  
he can safely advocate principles he    
would not like to see applied to the    
relations between himself and his       
customers4 ,he bitterly opposes         
coperation1 which throws inconvenient   

light upon those relations4 ,we are able
 to persuade the more enlightened rural 
traders that economies effected in      
agricultural production will raise the  
standard of living of his customers and 
make them larger consumers of general   
commodities and more punctual in their  
payments4 ,but in the majority of cases 
the agricultural organiser finds        
politics in sharp conflict with         
business1 and has a hard row to hoe4    
,so1 while we have advantages in        
organising ,irish farmers1 we have also1
 largely owing to well-known historical 
causes1 to overcome difficulties which  
have no counterpart in the ,united      
,states or ,england4  ,nevertheless1 we 
managed to make progress4 ,we began with
 the dairying industry1 and already half
 the export of ,irish butter comes from 
the coperative societies we established4
 ,organised bodies of farmers are       
learning to purchase their agricultural 
requirements intelligently and          
economically4 ,they are also beginning  

to adopt the methods of the organised   
foreign farmer in controlling the sale  
of their butter1 eggs and poultry in the
 ,british markets4 ,and they not only   
combine in agricultural production and  
distribution1 but are also making a     
promising beginning in grappling with   
the problem of agricultural finance4 ,it
 is in this last portion of the ,irish  
programme that by far the most          
interesting study of the coperative     
system can be made1 on account of its   
success in the poorest parts of the     
,island4 ,furthermore1 the attempt to   
enable the most embarrassed section of  
the ,irish peasantry to procure working 
capital illustrates some features of    
agricultural coperation which will have 
suggestive value for ,american farmers4 
,i will therefore give a brief          
description of our agricultural         
coperative credit associations4  ,the   
organisation was introduced in the      
middle of the last century by a ,german 
,burgomaster1 the now famous ,herr      

,raiffeisen4 ,he set himself to provide 
the means of escape from the degrading  
indebtedness to storekeepers and usurers
 which is the almost invariable lot of  
poor peasantries4 ,his scheme performs  
an apparent miracle4 ,a body of very    
poor persons1 individually--in the      
commercial sense of the term--insolvent1
 manage to create a new basis of        
security which has been somewhat        
grandiloquently and yet truthfully      
called the capitalisation of their      
honesty and industry4 ,the way in which 
this is done is remarkably ingenious4   
,the credit society is organised in the 
usual democratic way explained above1   
but its constitution is peculiar in one 
respect4 ,the members have to become    
jointly and severally responsible for   
the debts of the association1 which     
borrows on this unlimited liability from
 the ordinary commercial bank1 or1 in   
some cases1 from ,government sources4   
,after the initial stage1 when the      
institution becomes firmly established1 

it attracts local deposits1 and thus the
 savings of the community1 which are too
 often hoarded1 are set free to fructify
 in the community4 ,the procedure by    
which the money borrowed is lent to the 
members of the association is the       
essential feature of the scheme4 ,the   
member requiring the loan must state    
what he is going to do with the money4  
,he must satisfy the committee of the   
association1 who know the man and his   
business1 that the proposed investment  
is one which will enable him to repay   
both principal and interest4 ,he must   
enter into a bond with two sureties for 
the repayment of the loan1 and needless 
to say the characters of both the       
borrower and his sureties are very      
carefully considered4 ,the period for   
which the loan is granted is arranged to
 meet the needs of the case1 as         
determined by the committee after a full
 discussion with the borrower4 ,once the
 loan has been made1 it becomes the     
concern of every member of the          

association to see that it is applied to
 the 'approved purpose'--as it is       
technically called4 ,what is more       
important is that all the borrower's    
fellow-members become interested in his 
business and anxious for its success4   
,the fact that nearly three hundred of  
these societies are at work in ,ireland1
 and that1 although their transactions  
are on a very modest scale1 the system  
is steadily growing both in the numbers 
of its adherents and in the business    
transacted is1 ,i think1 a remarkable   
testimony to the value of the coperative
 system4 ,the details ,i have given     
illustrate the important distinction    
between coperation1 which enables the   
farmer to do his business in a way that 
suits him1 and the urban form of        
combination1 which is unsuited to his   
needs4 ,the ordinary banks lend money to
 agriculturists for a term 7generally   
ninety days7 which has been fixed to    
suit the needs of town business4 ,thus1 
a farmer borrowing money to sow a crop1 

or to purchase young cattle1 is obliged 
to repay his loan1 in the first         
instance1 before the crop is harvested1 
and in the second1 before the cattle    
mature and are marketable4 ,far more    
important1 however1 than these not      
inconsiderable economic advantages are  
the social benefits which are derived by
 bringing people together to achieve in 
a very definite and practical way the   
aim of all coperative effort--self-help 
by mutual help4  ,our coperative        
movement1 taken as a whole1 is to-day   
represented by nearly one thousand      
farmers' organisations1 with an         
aggregate membership of some one hundred
 thousand persons1 mostly heads of      
families4 ,its business turnover last   
year was twelve and a half million      
dollars4 ,in estimating the significance
 of these figures1 ,american readers    
must not 'think in continents1' and must
 give more weight to the moral than to  
the material achievement4 ,as ,i have   
explained1 the coperative system        

requires for its success the exercise of
 higher moral qualities than does the   
joint stock company4 ,once a coperative 
society becomes a soulless corporation1 
its days are numbered4 ,it requires also
 the diffusion of a good deal of        
economic thought among its members1 and 
this1 also1 is no small matter in the   
conditions4 ,the most striking fact     
about this work in ,ireland is that     
while in its earlier years organisation 
consisted mainly in expounding and      
commending to farmers the coperative    
principle1 we now find that the         
principle is taken for granted and the  
only question upon which advice is      
needed is how to apply it4 ,the progress
 of agricultural coperation depends     
largely on the character of the         
community2 its commercial value may be  
measured by the extent to which it      
develops in the community the mental and
 moral qualities essential to success4#f
  ,in agricultural coperation1 ,ireland 
can claim to have shown the way to the  

,united ,kingdom4 ,ten years ago1 after 
the ,irish movement had been launched1  
the ,english rural reformers started a  
movement on exactly the same lines1 even
 founding on the ,irish model an        
,english ,agricultural ,organisation    
,society4 ,an ,irishman1 who had studied
 coperation at home1 was selected as its
 chief executive officer4 ,five years   
later1 a ,scottish ,agricultural        
,organisation ,society took the field4  
,both in ,england and in ,scotland the  
chief difficulty to be overcome is the  
intense individualism of the farmers1   
and perhaps some lack of altruism4 ,the 
large farmers did not feel the need of  
coperation1 and where the natural leader
 of the rural community will not lead1  
the small cultivator cannot follow4     
,whether the same difficulties have     
prevented any considerable adoption of  
agricultural coperation in the ,united  
,states1 it is not necessary to inquire4
 ,it is certain that the underlying     
principles approved by every progressive

 rural1 community in ,europe have not so
 far exercised more than an occasional  
and fitful influence upon the rural     
economy of the ,american ,republic4  ,if
 ,i have given in these pages a true    
explanation of the deplorable           
backwardness of ,american farmers in the
 matter of business combination when    
compared with all other ,american       
workers1 those who take part in the     
movement which is to provide the remedy 
will have set themselves a task as      
hopeful as it is interesting4 ,americans
 as a people are addicted to associated 
action4 ,i have seen the principle of   
coperation developed to the highest     
point in the ranching industry in the   
days of the unfenced range4 ,our cattle 
used to roam at large1 the only means of
 identifying them being certain         
registered marks made by the            
branding-iron and the knife4 ,the       
individual owner would have had no more 
property in his herd than he would have 
had in so many fishes in the sea but for

 a very effective coperative            
organisation4 ,the ,stock ,association1 
with its 'round-ups' and its occasional 
resort to the ,supreme ,court of ,judge 
,lynch1 were an adequate substitute for 
the title deeds to the lands1 and for   
fences horse-high1 bull-strong and      
hog-tight4 ,but then we were in the     
,arid ,belt and the frontier-pioneer    
stage2 we had no politics and no        
politicians4 ,i must return1 however1 to
 the less exciting1 but ,i suppose more 
important1 life of the regular farmer1  
and consider his efforts at             
organisation4  ,instances can be        
multiplied where the coperative system  
has been adopted with immensely         
beneficial results2 but in too many     
cases it has been abandoned4 ,on the    
other hand1 ,granges1 ,institutes1      
,clubs1 ,leagues1 ,alliances and a      
multitude of miscellaneous farmers'     
associations have been organised for    
social1 religious1 political and        
economic objects4 ,from my study of the 

work done by these bodies1 the          
impression left is that almost          
everything that can be done better by   
working together than by working        
separately has been at some time the    
subject of organised effort4 ,but these 
manifestations of activity have been    
fitful and sporadic4 ,they were commonly
 marked by some or all of the same      
defects--mutual distrust1 divided       
counsels1 ignorance of what others were 
doing1 want of continuity and impatience
 of results4 ,many organisations1 after 
winning some advantages1--over the      
railroads for instance1--fell into      
abeyance or even out of existence2      
others lapsed under the enervating      
influence of a little temporary         
prosperity1 such as a few years of      
better prices4 ,the truth is1 ,american 
farmers have had the will to organise1  
but they have missed the way4#g  ,the   
political influence of the farming      
community has for this reason never been
 commensurate either with the numerical 

strength of its members or the magnitude
 of their share in the nation's work4   
,it is true that the ,federal           
,department of ,agriculture1            
appropriations for ,agricultural        
,colleges1 some railway legislation and 
other boons to farmers1 are to be       
attributed to the efforts of their      
organisations4 ,yet1 as compared with   
the influence exercised upon ,national  
affairs by the farmers of1 say1 ,france 
and ,denmark1 the ,american farmer has  
but a small influence upon legislation  
and administration affecting his        
interests4 ,what better proof of this   
could be given than the absence of a    
,parcels ,post in the ,united ,states8  
,the whole farming community are agreed 
as to the need for this boon to the     
dwellers of the open country1 and yet   
they have not succeeded in winning it   
against the opposition of the ,express  
,companies1 because it is merely a      
farmers' and not a townsmen's grievance4
 ,and not only political impotence1 but 

political inertia1 result from the lack 
of organisation4 ,the state of the      
country roads--one of the greatest      
disabilities under which country life in
 the ,united ,states still suffers--is  
as good an instance as ,i know4         
,congress has shown itself well disposed
 towards the farmer1 but not always so  
the ,state governments1 and the good    
intentions of ,congress on the roads    
question are largely nullified owing to 
the failure of one-third of the ,states 
to establish highway commissions1 or    
make other provision for expending such 
amounts as might be voted to them by    
,congress4 ,here1 as in the cases of the
 transit and marketing problems1 we see 
the need for a strong1 central1         
permanent organisation1 fitted alike to 
direct local or promote ,national       
action2 an association capable of       
securing the legislative protection of  
the farmer's interests1 and an          
organisation fitted to further the      
business side of his industry4 ,in fact1

 this need is urgent1 and a coperative  
movement of ,national dimensions should 
be established to meet it4 ,had such a  
movement been started after the ,war1 or
 even twenty years later1 the ,american 
farmer would be in a far stronger       
position to-day1 and much misdirected   
effort would have been saved4  ,i have  
now tried to explain the weak spot in   
,american rural economy4 ,it may be     
regarded from a more general point of   
view4 ,if we were considering the life  
of some commercial or industrial        
community and trying to forecast its    
future development1 one of the first    
things we should note would be its      
general business methods4 ,no           
manufacturing concern with a defective  
office administration and incompetent   
travellers could survive1 even if it had
 an ,archimedes or an ,edison in supreme
 control4 ,i cannot see any reason why  
an agricultural community should expect 
to prosper while the industry by which  
its members live retains its present    

business organisation4 ,i have urged    
that as things are1 the farming interest
 is at a fatal disadvantage in the      
purchase of agricultural requirements1  
in the sale of agricultural produce1 and
 in obtaining proper credit facilities4 
,whatever the cause--and ,i have set    
down those which ,i regard as the chief 
among them--,american farmers have still
 to learn that they are subject to a law
 of modern business which governs all   
their country's industrial              
activities--the law that each body of   
workers engaged in supplying the modern 
market must combine1 or be worsted at   
every turn in competition with those who
 do4  ,i do not much fear that this     
general principle1 overlooked1 perhaps1 
because it was too obvious to be worth  
enforcing1 will be disputed4 ,i hope ,i 
may gain acceptance for my further      
contention that the inability of        
,american farmers to sustain an         
effective business organisation has been
 due simply to the fact that the not    

obvious distinction between the         
capitalistic and the coperative basis of
 combination suitable to town and       
country respectively was missed4 ,for it
 will then be clear why1 in the working 
out of ,mr4 ,roosevelt's formula1 better
 business must precede and form the     
basis of better farming and better      
living4 ,the conviction that in this    
general procedure lies the one hope of  
solving the problem under review        
accounts for the otherwise              
disproportionate space given to that    
aspect of rural life which is of the    
least interest to the general reader4   
,i shall now attempt to determine the   
principles which must be applied to the 
solution of our problem4 ,those who have
 followed the arguments up to this point
 will have a pretty clear idea of the   
general drift of my conclusions4 ,the   
substitution in rural economy of the    
coperative for the competitive          
principle1 which ,i have so far         
advocated as a matter of business       

prudence1 will be seen to have a wider  
import4 ,this course will be shown to   
have an important bearing upon the      
application of the new knowledge to the 
oldest industry and also upon the       
building of a new rural civilisation we 
must provide for the dwellers of the    
open country a larger share of the      
intellectual and social pleasures for   
the want of which those most needed in  
the country are too often drawn to the  
town4  ,,footnotes3  #d ,i should expect
 the negroes in the ,southern ,states to
 be very good subjects for agricultural 
organisation4 ,i have discussed this    
question with the staff of the ,hampton 
,institute in ,virginia--a fine body of 
men1 doing noble work4 ,the ,principal1 
the ,rev4 ,h4 ,b4 ,frissell1 ,d4,d41    
whose judgment in this matter is        
probably the weightiest in the ,united  
,states1 and his leading assistants1    
both white and coloured1 are of the same
 opinion4  #e ,where capital is1 in rare
 instances1 subscribed by persons other 

than farmers1 it is usually invested    
less as a commercial speculation than as
 an act of friendship on the part of the
 investor1 who in no case exercises more
 control than his one vote affords4  #f 
,readers who are sufficiently interested
 in the rural life movement in ,ireland 
will find a full description of it in my
 book1 ,ireland in the ,new ,century1   
,john ,murray1 ,london1 and ,e4 ,p4     
,dutton1 ,new ,york4  #g ,mr4 ,john ,lee
 ,coulter contributed to the ,yale      
,review for ,november1 #aiji1 an article
 on ,organization among the farmers of  
the ,united ,states which is a most     
valuable summary of the important facts4
     ,,chapter ,,vi  ,,the ,,way ,,to   
,,better ,,farming ,,and ,,better       
,,living   ,in no way is the contrast   
between rural and urban civilisation    
more marked than in the application of  
the teachings of modern science to their
 respective industries4 ,even the most  
important mechanical inventions were    
rather forced upon the farmer by the    

efficient selling organisation of the   
city manufacturers than demanded by him 
as a result of good instruction in      
farming4 ,on the mammoth wheat farms1   
where1 as the fable ran1 the plough that
 started out one morning returned on the
 adjoining furrow the following day1    
mechanical science was indeed called in1
 but only to perpetrate the greatest    
soil robbery in agricultural history4   
,application of science to legitimate   
agriculture is comparatively new4 ,in my
 ranching and farming days ,i well      
remember how general was the disbelief  
in its practical value throughout the   
,middle and ,far ,west4 ,in cowboy      
terminology1 all scientists were        
classified as bug-hunters1 and farmers  
generally had no use for the theorist4  
,the non-agricultural community had     
naturally no higher appreciation of the 
farmer's calling than he himself        
displayed4 ,when some ,universities     
first developed agricultural courses1   
the students who entered for them were  

nicknamed aggies1 and were not regarded 
as adding much to the dignity of a seat 
of higher learning4 ,the ,department of 
,agriculture was looked upon as a source
 of jobs1 graft being the nearest       
approach to any known agricultural      
operation4  ,all this is changing fast4 
,the ,federal ,department of            
,agriculture is now perhaps the most    
popular and respected of the world's    
great administrative institutions4 ,in  
the ,middle ,west1 a newly awakened     
public opinion has set up an honourable 
rivalry between such ,states as         
,wisconsin1 ,iowa1 ,illinois1 ,nebraska 
and ,minnesota1 in developing the       
agricultural sides of their             
,universities and ,colleges4 ,none the  
less1 ,mr4 ,james ,j4 ,hill has recently
 given it as his opinion that not more  
than one per cent of the farmers of     
these regions are working in direct     
touch with any educational institution4 
,it is probable that this estimate      
leaves out of account the indirect      

influence of the vast amount of         
extension work and itinerant instruction
 which is embraced in the activities of 
the ,universities and ,colleges4 ,i fear
 it cannot be denied that in the        
application of the natural sciences to  
the practical1 and of economic science  
to the business of farming1 the country 
folk are decades behind their urban     
fellow-citizens4 ,and again ,i say the  
disparity is to be attributed to the    
difference in their respective degrees  
of organisation for business purposes4  
,the relation between business          
organisation and economic progress      
ought1 ,i submit1 to be very seriously  
considered by the social workers who    
perceive that progress is mainly a      
question of education4 ,speaking from   
administrative experience at home1 and  
from a good deal of interested          
observation in ,america1 ,i am firmly   
convinced that the new rural education  
is badly handicapped by the lack of     
organised bodies of farmers to act as   

channels for the new knowledge now made 
available4 ,in some instances1 ,i am    
aware1 great good has been done by the  
formation of farmers' institutes which  
have been established in order to       
interest rural communities in           
educational work and to make the local  
arrangements for instruction by         
lectures1 demonstrations and otherwise4 
,but all ,european experience proves the
 superiority for this purpose of the    
business association to the organisation
 ad hoc1 and has a much better chance of
 permanence4  ,again1 the influence upon
 rural life of the agricultural teaching
 of the ,colleges and ,universities1 as 
exercised by their pupils1 may be too   
easily accepted as being of greater     
potential utility than any work which   
these institutions can do amongst       
adults4 ,this is a mistake4 ,the        
thousands of young men who are now being
 trained for advanced farming too often 
have to restrict the practical          
application of their theoretic knowledge

 to the home circle1 which is not always
 responsive1 for a man is not usually a 
prophet in his own family4 ,it is here  
that the educational value of coperative
 societies comes in2 they act as        
agencies through which scientific       
teaching may become actual practice1 not
 in the uncertain future1 but in the    
living present4 ,a coperative           
association has a quality which should  
commend it to the social reformer--the  
power of evoking character2 it brings to
 the front a new type of local leader1  
not the best talker1 but the man whose  
knowledge enables him to make some solid
 contribution to the welfare of the     
community4  ,i come now to the last part
 of the threefold scheme--that which    
aims at a better life upon the farm4    
,the coperative association1 in virtue  
of its non-capitalistic basis of        
constitution and procedure 7which1 as ,i
 have explained1 distinguishes it from  
the ,joint ,stock ,company71 demands as 
a condition of its business success the 

exercise of certain social qualities of 
inestimable value to the community life4
 ,it is for this reason1 no doubt1 that 
where men and women have learned to work
 together under this system in the      
business of their lives1 they are easily
 induced to use their organisation for  
social and intellectual purposes also4  
,the new organisation of the rural      
community for social as well as economic
 purposes1 which should follow from the 
acceptance of the opinion ,i have       
advanced1 would bring with it the first 
effective counter-attraction to the     
towns4 ,their material advantages the   
country cannot hope to rival2 nor can   
any conceivable evolution of rural life 
furnish a real counterpart to the cheap 
and garish entertainments of the modern 
city4 ,take1 for example1 the           
extravagant use of electric light for   
purposes of advertisement1 which affords
 a nightly display of fireworks in any  
active business street of an ,american  
city far superior to the occasional     

exhibition at the ,crystal ,palace in   
,london1 which was the rare treat of my 
childhood days4 ,these delights--if such
 they be--cannot be extended into remote
 villages in ,kansas or ,nebraska2 but  
their enchantment must be reckoned with 
by those who would remould the life of  
the open country and make it morally and
 mentally satisfying to those who are   
born to it1 or who1 but for its social  
stagnation1 would prefer a rural to an  
urban existence4  ,in one of his many   
public references to country life1      
,president ,roosevelt attributed the    
rural exodus to the desire of the more  
active and restless young men and women 
to escape from loneliness and lack of   
mental companionship4#h ,he is hopeful  
that the rural free delivery1 the       
telephone1 the bicycle and the trolley  
will do much towards lessening the      
isolation of farm life and making it    
brighter and more attractive4 ,many to  
whom ,i have spoken on this subject fear
 that the linking of the country with   

the town by these applications of modern
 science may1 to some extent1 operate in
 a direction the opposite of that which 
,mr4 ,roosevelt anticipates and desires4
 ,according to this view1 the more      
intimate knowledge of the modern city   
may increase the desire to be in        
personal touch with it2 the telephone   
may fail to give through the ear the    
satisfaction which is demanded by the   
eye2 among the more active and restless 
young men and women the rural free      
delivery may circulate the dime novel   
and the trolley make accessible the dime
 museum4 ,in the total result the       
occasional visit may become more and    
more frequent1 until the duties of      
country life are first neglected and    
then abandoned4  ,i do not feel         
competent to decide between these two   
views1 but ,i offer one consideration   
with which ,i think many rural reformers
 will agree4 ,the attempt to bring the  
advantages of the city within the reach 
of the dwellers in the country cannot1  

of itself1 counteract the townward      
tendency in so far as it is due to the  
causes summarised above4 ,however       
rapidly1 in this respect1 the country   
may be improved1 the city is sure to    
advance more rapidly and the gap between
 them to be widened4 ,the new rural     
civilisation should aim at trying to    
develop in the country the things of the
 country1 the very existence of which   
seems to have been forgotten4 ,but1     
after all1 it is the world within us    
rather than the world without us that   
matters in the making of society1 and ,i
 must give to the social influence of   
the coperative idea what ,i believe to  
be its real importance4  ,in ,ireland1  
from which so much of my experience is  
drawn1 we have found a tendency growing 
among farmers whose combinations are    
successful1 to gather into one strong   
local association all those varied      
objects and activities which ,i have    
described as advocated by the ,irish    
,agricultural ,organisation ,society4   

,these local associations are ceasing to
 have one special purpose or one object 
only4 ,they absorb more and more of the 
business of the district4 ,one large1   
well-organised institution is being     
substituted for the numerous petty      
transactions of farmers with middlemen  
and small country traders4 ,gradually   
the ,society becomes the most important 
institution in the district1 the most   
important in a social as well as in an  
economic sense4 ,the members feel a     
pride in its material expansion4 ,they  
accumulate large profits1 which in time 
become a kind of communal fund4 ,in some
 cases this is used for the erection of 
village halls where social              
entertainments1 concerts and dances are 
held1 lectures delivered and libraries  
stored4 ,finally1 the association       
assumes the character of a rural        
commune1 where1 instead of the old basis
 of the commune1 the joint ownership of 
land1 a new basis for union is found in 
the voluntary communism of effort4  ,a  

true social organism is thus being      
created with common human and economic  
interests1 and the clan feeling1 which  
was so powerful an influence in early   
and medival civilisations1 with all its 
power of generating passionate          
loyalties1 is born anew in the modern   
world4 ,our ancient ,irish records show 
little clans with a common ownership of 
land hardly larger than a parish1 but   
with all the patriotic feeling of large 
nations held with an intensity rare in  
our modern states4 ,the history of these
 clans and of very small nations like   
the ancient ,greek states shows that the
 social feeling assumes its most binding
 and powerful character where the       
community is large enough to allow free 
play to the various interests of human  
life1 but is not so large that it       
becomes an abstraction to the           
imagination4 ,most of us feel no greater
 thrill in being one of a ,state with   
fifty million inhabitants than we do in 
recognising we are citizens of the solar

 system4 ,the rural commune and the very
 small ,states exhibit the feeling of   
human solidarity in its most intense    
manifestations1 working on itself1      
regenerating itself and seeking its own 
perfection4 ,combinations of            
agriculturists1 when the rural          
organisation is complete1 re-create in a
 new way the conditions where these     
social instincts germinate best1 and it 
is only by this complete organisation of
 rural life that we can hope to build up
 a rural civilisation1 and create those 
counter-attractions to urban life which 
will stay the exodus from the land4  ,i 
do not wish to exaggerate the interest  
which the rural life of my own little   
island may have for those who are       
concerned for the vast and wealthy      
expanses of the ,american farm lands4   
,but1 even here there is a genuine      
desire for the really simple life1 which
 in its commonest manifestation is a    
thing that rather simple people talk    
about4 ,in a properly organised rural   

neighbourhood could be developed that   
higher kind of attraction which is      
suggested by the very word              
neighbourhood4 ,once get the farmers and
 their families all working together at 
something that concerns them all1 and we
 have the beginning of a more stable and
 a more social community than is likely 
to exist amid the constant change and   
bustle of the large towns1 where indeed 
some thinkers tell us that not only the 
family1 but also the social life1 is    
badly breaking down4 ,when people are   
really interested in each other--and    
this interest comes of habitually       
working together--the smallest personal 
traits or events affecting one are of   
interest to all4 ,the simplest piece of 
amateur acting or singing1 done in the  
village hall by one of the villagers1   
will arouse more criticism and more     
enthusiasm among his friends and        
neighbours than can be excited by the   
most consummate performance of a        
professional in a great city theatre1   

where no one in the audience knows or   
cares for the performer4  ,but if this  
attraction--the attraction of common    
work and social intercourse with a      
circle of friends--is to prevail in the 
long run over the lure which the city   
offers to eye and ear and pocket1 there 
must be a change in rural education4 ,at
 present country children are educated  
as if for the purpose of driving them   
into the towns4 ,to the pleasure which  
the cultured city man feels in the      
country--because he has been taught to  
feel it--the country child is           
insensible4 ,the country offers         
continual interest to the mind which has
 been trained to be thoughtful and      
observant2 the town offers continual    
distraction to the vacant eye and brain4
 ,yet1 the education given to country   
children has been invented for them in  
the town1 and it not only bears no      
relation to the life they are to lead1  
but actually attracts them towards a    
town career4 ,i am aware that ,i am here

 on ground where angels--even if        
specialised in pedagogy--may well fear  
to tread4 ,upon the principles of a     
sound agricultural education pedagogues 
are in a normally violent state of      
disagreement with each other4 ,but      
whatever compromise between general     
education and technical instruction be  
adopted1 the resulting reform that is   
needed has two sides4 ,we want two      
changes in the rural mind--beginning    
with the rural teacher's mind4 ,first1  
the interest which the physical         
environment of the farmer provides to   
followers of almost every branch of     
science must be communicated to the     
agricultural classes according to their 
capacities4 ,second1 that intimacy with 
and affection for nature1 to which      
,wordsworth has given the highest       
expression1 must in some way be         
engendered in the rural mind4 ,in this  
way alone will the countryman come to   
realize the beauty of the life around   
him1 as through the teaching of science 

he will learn to realise its truth4     
,upon this reformed education1 as a     
basis1 the rural economy must be built4 
,it must1 if my view be accepted1       
ensure1 first and foremost1 the         
combination of farmers for business     
purposes in such a manner as will enable
 them to control their own marketing and
 make use of the many advantages which a
 command of capital gives4 ,in all      
,european countries--with the exception 
of the ,british ,isles--statesmen have  
recognised the national necessity for   
the good business organisation of the   
farmer4 ,in some cases1 for example     
,france1 even ,government officials     
expound the coperative principle4 ,in   
,denmark1 the most predominantly rural  
country in ,europe1 the education both  
in the common and in the high school has
 long been so admirably related to the  
working lives of the agricultural       
classes that the people adopt           
spontaneously the methods of            
organisation which the commercial       

instinct they have acquired through     
education tells them to be suitable to  
the conditions4 ,the rural reformer     
knows that this is the better way2 but  
our problem is not merely the education 
of a rising1 but the development of a   
grown-up generation4 ,we cannot wait for
 the slow process of education to       
produce its effect upon the mind of the 
rural youth1 even if there were any way 
of ensuring their proper training for a 
progressive rural life without first    
giving to their parents such education  
as they can assimilate4 ,direct action  
is called for2 we have to work with     
adult farmers and induce them to        
reorganise their business upon the lines
 which ,i have attempted to define4     
,moreover1 this is essential to the     
future success of the work done in the  
schools1 in order that the trained mind 
of youth may not afterwards find itself 
baulked by the ignorant apathy or lazy  
conservatism of its elders4  ,i hold1   
then1 that the new economy will mean a  

more scientific mastery of the technical
 side of farming1 for farmers will make 
a much larger use of the advice1        
instruction and help which the ,nation  
and the ,states offer them through the  
,department of ,agriculture and the     
,colleges4 ,it is equally certain that  
there will arise a more human social    
life in the rural districts1 based upon 
the greater share of the products of the
 farmer's industry1 which the new       
business organisation will enable him to
 retain2 stimulated by the closer       
business relations with his fellows     
which that organisation will bring      
about1 and fostered by the closer       
neighbourhood which is implied in a more
 intensive cultivation4  ,the           
development of a more intensive         
cultivation must carry with it a much   
more careful consideration of the labour
 problem4 ,the difficulty of getting and
 keeping labour on the farm is a        
commonplace4 ,i think farmers have not  
faced the fact that this difficulty is  

due in the main to their own way of     
doing their business4 ,competent men    
will not stay at farm labour unless it  
offers them continuous employment as    
part of a well-ordered business concern2
 and this is not possible unless with a 
greatly improved husbandry4  ,to-day    
agriculture has to compete in the labour
 market against other1 and to many men  
more attractive1 industries1 and a      
marked elevation in the whole standard  
of life in the rural world is the best  
insurance of a better supply of good    
farm labour4 ,only an intensive system  
of farming can afford any large amount  
of permanent employment at decent wages 
to the rural labourer1 and only a good  
supply of competent labour can render   
intensive farming on any large scale    
practicable4 ,but the intensive system  
of farming not only gives regular       
employment and good wages2 it also fits 
the labourer of to-day--in a country    
where a man can strike out for          
himself--to be the successful farmer of 

to-morrow4 ,nor1 in these days of       
impersonal industrial relations1 should 
the fact be overlooked that under an    
intensive system of agriculture1 we find
 still preserved the kindly personal    
relation between employer and employed  
which contributes both to the           
pleasantness of life and to economic    
progress and security4  ,moreover1 in a 
country where advanced farming is the   
rule1 there is a remarkable1 and1 from  
the standpoint of national stability1   
most valuable1 steadiness in employment4
 ,good farming1 by fixing the labourer  
on the soil1 improves the general       
condition of rural life1 by ridding the 
countryside of the worst of its present 
pests4 ,those wandering dervishes of the
 industrial world1 the hobo1 the        
tramp--the entire family of ,weary      
,willies and ,tired ,timothys--will no  
longer have even an imaginary excuse for
 their troubled and troublesome         
existence4 ,but the farmer who was the  
prey of these pests must1 if he would be

 permanently rid of them1 learn to      
respect his hired farm hand4 ,he must   
provide him with a comfortable cottage  
and a modest garden plot upon which his 
young family may employ themselves2     
otherwise1 whatever the farmer may do to
 attract labour1 he will never retain   
it4 ,in short1 the labourer1 too1 must  
get his full and fair share of the      
prosperity of the coming good time in   
the country4  ,there is one particular  
aspect of this improved social life     
which is so important that it ought     
properly to form the subject of a       
separate essay2 ,i mean the position of 
women in rural life4 ,in no country in  
the world is the general position of    
woman better1 or her influence greater1 
than in the ,united ,states4 ,but while 
woman has played a great part there in  
the social life and economic development
 of the town1 ,i hold that the part she 
is destined to play in the future making
 of the country will be even greater4   
,in the more intelligent scheme of the  

new country life1 the economic position 
of woman is likely to be one of high    
importance4 ,she enters largely into all
 three parts of our programme1--better  
farming1 better business1 better living4
 ,in the development of higher farming1 
for instance1 she is better fitted than 
the more muscular but less patient      
animal1 man1 to carry on with care that 
work of milk records1 egg records1 etc41
 which underlies the selection on       
scientific lines of the more productive 
strains of cattle and poultry4 ,and this
 kind of work is wanted in the study not
 only of animal1 but also of plant life4
  ,again1 in the sphere of better       
business1 the housekeeping faculty of   
woman is an important asset1 since a    
good system of farm accounts is one of  
the most valuable aids to successful    
farming4 ,but it is1 of course1 in the  
third part of the programme1--better    
living1--that woman's greatest          
opportunity lies4 ,the woman makes the  
home life of the ,nation4 ,but she      

desires also social life1 and where she 
has the chance she develops it4 ,here it
 is that the establishment of the       
coperative society1 or union1 gives an  
opening and a range of conditions in    
which the social usefulness of woman    
makes itself quickly felt4 ,i do not    
think that ,i am laying too much stress 
on this matter1 because the pleasures1  
the interests and the duties of society1
 properly so called1--that is1 the state
 of living on friendly terms with our   
neighbours1--are always more central and
 important in the life of a woman than  
of a man4 ,the man needs them1 too1 for 
without them he becomes a mere machine  
for making money2 but the woman1        
deprived of them1 tends to become a mere
 drudge4 ,the new rural social economy  
7which implies a denser population      
occupying smaller holdings7 must        
therefore include a generous provision  
for all those forms of social           
intercourse which specially appeal to   
women4 ,the ,women's ,sections of the   

,granges have done a great deal of      
useful work in this direction2 we need a
 more general and complete application  
of the principles on which they act4  ,i
 have now stated the broad principles   
which must govern any effective scheme  
for correcting the present harmful      
subordination of rural life to a        
civilisation too exclusively urban4     
,before ,i bring forward my definite    
proposal for a remedy calculated to meet
 the needs of the situation1 ,i must    
anticipate a line of criticism which may
 occur to the mind of any social worker 
who does not happen to be very familiar 
with the conditions of country life4  ,i
 can well imagine readers who have      
patiently followed my arguments wishing 
to interrogate me in some such terms as 
these3 ,assuming1 they may say1 that we 
accept all you tell us about the neglect
 of the rural population1 and agree as  
to the grave consequences which must    
follow if it be continued1 what on earth
 can we do8 ,of course the welfare of   

the rural population is a matter of     
paramount importance to the city and to 
the nation at large2 but may we remind  
you that you said the evil and the      
consequences can be removed and averted 
only by those immediately concerned--the
 actual farmers--and that the remedy for
 the rural backwardness was to be sought
 for in the rural mind8 ',canst thou    
minister to a mind diseased8' ,must not 
the patient 'minister' to himself8      
,fair questions these1 and altogether to
 the point4 ,i answer at once that the  
patient ought to minister to himself1   
but he won't4 ,he has acquired the habit
 of sending for the physician of the    
town1 whose physic but aggravates the   
disease4 ,dropping metaphor1 the farmer 
does not think for himself4 ,in rural   
communities1 there is as great a lack of
 collective thought as of coperative    
action4 ,all progress is conditional on 
public opinion1 and this1 even in the   
country1 is a very much town-made thing4
  ,so ,i am1 then1 in this difficulty4  

,my subject is rural1 my audience urban4
 ,i have to commend to the statesmen and
 the philanthropists of the town the    
somewhat incongruous proposal that they 
should take the initiative in rural     
reform4 ,neither the thought nor the    
influence which can set in motion what  
in agricultural communities is no less  
than an economic revolution are to be   
found in the open country4 ,to the      
townsmen ,i now address my appeal and   
submit a plan4  ,,footnote3  #h ,message
 to the ,fifty-eighth ,congress 7#aijc74
     ,,chapter ,,vii  ,,the ,,two       
,,things ,,needful   ,in my earlier     
chapters ,i traced to the ,industrial   
,revolution in ,england the origin of   
that subordination1 in the              
,english-speaking countries1 of rural to
 urban interests which finds its        
expression to-day in the problem of     
rural life4 ,i have shown that the      
continuance of the tendency in ,america 
was natural if not inevitable1 and have 
urged that1 for economic1 social and    

political reasons1 its further progress 
should now be stayed4 ,if my view as to 
the origin1 present effects and probable
 consequences of the evil be accepted1  
any serious proposals for a remedy will 
be welcomed by all who realise that     
national well-being cannot endure if    
urban prosperity is accompanied by rural
 decay4 ,in this belief ,i offer the    
scheme for a ,country ,life movement    
which has slowly matured in my own mind 
as the result of the experience         
described in the preceding pages4  ,the 
first aim of the movement should be to  
cordinate1 and guide towards a common   
end1 the efforts of a large number of   
agencies--educational1 religious1 social
 and philanthropic--which1 in their     
several ways1 are already engaged upon  
some part of the work to be done4 ,for  
such a movement the ,united ,states     
offers advantages not to be found       
elsewhere in the area for which we are  
concerned4 ,for here public-spirited    
individuals and associations of the kind

 required exist in larger numbers than  
can be known to any one who has not     
watched what is going on in this field  
of social service4 ,if ,i had not       
already devoted too much space to       
personal experiences1 ,i could of my own
 knowledge testify to the remarkable    
growth of organised effort in ,american 
rural communities4 ,sometimes this is   
the outcome of a growing spirit of      
neighbourliness1 sometimes it emanates  
from young ,universities and ,colleges  
emulating the extension work with which 
nearly every big city is familiar4 ,i   
have been much struck with the way in   
which1 at gatherings of school teachers1
 pedagogic detail and questions         
affecting their status and emoluments   
have become less popular subjects for   
discussion than schemes of social       
progress4#i ,similarly1 the agricultural
 ,press is becoming less exclusively    
technical and commercial1 and more      
human4 ,even the syndicated stuff is    
getting less townified4 ,my             

correspondence1 newspaper clippings sent
 to me1 and many other indications1     
point in the same direction4 ,they leave
 the impression upon my mind that there 
is a vast1 efficient and enthusiastic   
army of social workers upon the farm    
lands of the ,united ,states badly in   
need of a ,headquarters ,staff4  ,if ,i 
am right in believing that1 of the      
,english-speaking countries1 the ,united
 ,states affords the best opportunity   
for such a consummation1 most assuredly 
the present time is peculiarly          
auspicious4 ,if ,mr4 ,roosevelt's       
,country ,life policy has not been      
received with any marked enthusiasm1    
,american public opinion has been       
thoroughly aroused upon his             
,conservation policy4 ,the latter cannot
 possibly come to fruition--nor even go 
much further--until the ,country ,life  
problem is boldly faced4 ,in the        
,conference of ,governors it was pointed
 out over and over again that the       
farmer1 now the chief waster1 must      

become the chief conserver4 ,as such he 
will himself become a supporter of the  
policy1 and will bring to the aid of    
those advocates of ,conservation whose  
chief concern is for future generations1
 an interested public opinion which will
 go far to outweigh the influence of    
those who profit by the exhaustion of   
natural resources4 ,to the country life 
reformer ,i would say that1 as the one  
idea has caught on while the other lags1
 he will1 if he is wise1 hitch his      
,country ,life waggon to the            
,conservation star4  ,with every        
advantage of time and place1 the        
promotion of the movement which is to   
counteract the townward tendency will   
have to reckon with the psychological   
difficulty inherent in the conditions4  
,they must recognise the paradox of the 
situation already pointed out1 the      
necessity of interesting the town in the
 problems of the country4 ,the urban    
attitude of mind which caused the evil1 
and now makes it difficult to interest  

public opinion in the remedy1 is not    
new2 it pervades the literature of the  
,augustan age4 ,i recall from my school 
days ,virgil's great handbook on        
,italian agriculture1 written with a    
mastery of technical detail unsurpassed 
by ,kipling4 ,but the farmers he had in 
mind when he indulged in his memorable  
rhapsody upon the happiness of their lot
 were out for pleasure rather than      
profit4 ,while the suburban poet sang to
 the merchant princes1 ,rome was paying 
a bonus upon imported corn1 and entering
 generally upon that fatal disregard for
 the interest of the rural population   
which is one of the accepted causes of  
the decline and fall4  ,how that ,old   
,world tragi-comedy comes back to me    
when ,i talk to ,new ,york friends on   
the subject of these pages6 ,i am not1  
so they tell me1 up to date in my       
information2 there is a marked revulsion
 of feeling upon the town versus country
 question2 the tide of the rural exodus 
has really turned1 as ,i might have     

discerned without going far afield4 ,at 
many a ,long ,island home ,i might see  
on ,sundays1 weather permitting1 the    
horny-handed son of week-day toil in    
,wall ,street1 rustically attired1      
inspecting his ,jersey cows and         
aristocratic fowls4 ,these supply a     
select circle in ,new ,york with butter 
and eggs1 at a price which leaves       
nothing to be desired--unless it be some
 information as to the cost of          
production4 ,full justice is done to the
 new country life when the ,farmers'    
,club of ,new ,york fulfils its chief   
function1 the annual dinner at          
,delmonico's4 ,then agriculture is      
extolled in fine ,virgilian style1 the  
,hudson villa and the ,newport 'cottage'
 being permitted to divide the honours  
of the rural revival with the ,long     
,island home4 ,but to my bucolic        
intelligence1 it would seem that against
 the 'back to the land' movement of     
,saturday afternoon the captious critic 
might set the rural exodus of ,monday   

morning4  ,these reflections are        
introduced in no unfriendly spirit1 and 
with serious intent4 ,to me this new    
rural life is associated with memories  
of characteristically ,american         
hospitality2 but my interest in it is   
more than personal4 ,it is giving to    
those who cultivate it1 among whom are  
the helpers most needed at the moment1 a
 point of view which will enable them to
 grasp the real problem of the open     
country1 as it exists1 for example1 in  
the great food-producing and            
cotton-growing tracts of the ,west and  
,south4 ,both in the countries where the
 townward tendency of the industrial age
 was foreseen and prevented1 and in     
those in which the evil is being cured1 
the impulse and inspiration which will  
be required to initiate and sustain our 
,country ,life movement came mainly from
 leaders who were not themselves        
agriculturists4#aj ,proficiency in the  
practice or even in the business of     
farming is not necessary4 ,what is      

needed is a comprehensive knowledge of  
public affairs1 political imagination1  
an understanding sympathy with and a    
philosophic insight into the entire life
 of communities4 ,men who combine with  
the necessary experience those gifts of 
heart and mind which go to make the     
higher citizenship in the many1 and the 
statesmanship in the few1 will more     
likely be found in the city than in the 
country4 ,yet they are1 in the          
conditions1 the natural leaders of the  
,country ,life movement1 which must now 
be defined4  ,the situation demands two 
things2 on the one hand an association1 
popular1 propagandist1 organising2 on   
the other1 an ,institute1 scientific1   
philosophic1 research-making4 ,these two
 things are distinct in character1 but  
they are complementary to each other4   
,one will require popular enthusiasm and
 business organisation4 ,to the service 
of the other must be brought the patient
 spirit of scientific and philosophic   
analysis and inquiry4 ,these two        

bodies--the popular propagandist        
association and the scientific          
research-making ,institute--must1       
therefore1 be created2 and1 for a reason
 to be explained when we consider the   
work of the ,institute1 they should be  
independent of each other4 ,this rough  
indication of the character of the work1
 which ,i will describe more in detail  
presently1 will suffice for the moment4 
,i feel that the work will be so        
intensely human in its interest that it 
will be well to say at once how the two 
central agencies can be established1 and
 the movement made1 not a writer's      
fancy1 but a living and doing agency of 
human progress4  ,a body1 in many       
respects ideally fitted to give the     
necessary impulse and direction to the  
work of organisation1 is already in the 
field4 ,the leaders of the ,conservation
 idea1 recognising that their policy1 in
 common with other policies1 will need  
an organised public opinion at its back1
 have founded a ,national ,conservation 

,association4 ,mr4 ,gifford ,pinchot has
 now been selected as its ,president4   
,before he was available1 the task of   
organising and setting to work the new  
institution was unanimously entrusted to
 and accepted by ,president ,eliot1 of  
whose qualifications all ,i will say is 
that we foreign students of social      
problems vie with his own countrymen in 
our appreciation of his public work and 
aims4 ,these two appointments are       
sufficient proof of the serious         
importance of the work1 and bespeak     
public influence and support for the    
,association4 ,i have no doubt that this
 body would be fully qualified to       
formulate and initiate the ,country     
,life movement1 and act as the central  
agency for the active promotion of its  
objects4 ,its members1 who1 ,i am sure1 
agree with ,mr4 ,roosevelt in regarding 
the movement as a necessary complement  
to the ,conservation policy1 might even 
feel that for this very reason it was   
incumbent upon them to set their        

organisation to this work4  ,there is1  
however1 one consideration which will   
make ,mr4 ,pinchot and his associates   
hesitate to adopt this course4 ,the     
doubt relates to the distinction ,i have
 drawn between the ,conservation policy 
and the ,country ,life movement1 the one
 seeking to promote legislative and     
administrative action1 and the other1   
while it may give birth to a policy1    
being chiefly concerned with voluntary  
effort4#aa ,although the ,national      
,conservation ,association is founded   
for the purpose of educating public     
opinion upon the ,conservation idea1 it 
may decide to support the ,conservation 
policy of one party rather than that of 
another4 ,it would thus become too much 
involved in party controversy to act as 
a central agency of a movement which    
must embrace men of all parties4 ,should
 this view prevail1 the difficulty can  
be easily surmounted by following the   
,irish precedent1 where we had a very   
similar and indeed far more delicate    

situation to save from political        
trouble4 ,an ,american ,agricultural    
,organisation ,society could be founded 
for the purpose in view1 and as it is   
probable that leading advocates of the  
,conservation policy would take a       
prominent part in the ,country ,life    
movement1 the interdependence of the two
 ideas would have practical recognition4
  ,apart from the possibility of        
political complications1 there is one   
strong reason to recommend this course4 
,the movement will accomplish its best  
and most permanent results as an        
advocate of self-reliance2 it will seek 
to make self-help effective through     
organisation2 it will concern itself    
much more for those things which the    
farmers can do for themselves by        
coperation than with those things which 
the ,government can do for them4#ab ,the
 selection1 however1 between the two    
alternative courses is a question which 
the foreign critic cannot decide4 ,the  
work to which ,i now return will be the 

same1 whatever agency is charged with   
its execution4  ,the central body 7which
 for brevity ,i will call the           
,association7 will have as its general  
aim the economic and social development 
of rural communities4 ,the work will be 
mainly that of active organisation4 ,for
 reasons explained in the earlier       
chapters1 the organisation must be      
coperative in character1 and will be    
concentrated upon the business methods  
of the farmers4 ,this will1 it is       
believed1 cure a radical defect in their
 system--a defect which1 as ,i have     
argued1 is responsible for a restricted 
production1 and for a course of         
distribution injurious alike to producer
 and consumer1 besides exercising a     
depressing influence upon the economic  
efficiency and social life of rural     
communities4 ,it follows that the first 
step towards a general reconstruction of
 country life1 which has the promise of 
giving to the country a social          
attraction strong enough to stem the    

tide of the townward migration1 is      
agricultural coperation4  ,such being   
the general aim and the definite        
procedure1 the first practical question 
that arises will be1 how to apply this  
solvent--agricultural coperation4 ,it   
will not suffice to throw these two long
 words at the hardy rustic2 shorter and 
more emphatic words might come back4    
,two equally necessary things must be   
done2 the principle must be made clear1 
and the practical details of this rural 
equivalent of urban business combination
 must be explained in language          
understanded of the people4 ,it is not  
difficult to draft a paper scheme for   
this purpose1 but the fitting of the    
plan to local conditions is a very      
expert business4 ,hence the central     
agency should have at its disposal a    
corps of experts in coperative          
organisation for agricultural purposes4 
,after a short visit to a likely        
district by a competent exponent of the 
theory and practice1 local volunteers   

would be found to carry on the work4    
,experience shows that once a           
well-organised coperative association of
 farmers is permanently established1    
similar associations spring up          
spontaneously under the magic influence 
of proved success in known conditions4  
,i should strongly recommend            
concentration at first on a few selected
 districts1 with the aim of making      
standard models to which other          
communities could work4 ,i need hardly  
say that all this work would be done in 
coperation with whatever other agencies 
would lend their aid4 ,the ,country     
,life movement would be extremely useful
 to the great educational foundations   
centred in ,new ,york4 ,i happen to know
 that the ,trustees of the ,rockefeller1
 ,carnegie and ,russell ,sage endowments
 are keenly desirous to promote such a  
redirection of rural education as will  
bring it into a more helpful relation   
with the working lives of the rural     
population4 ,then there are such bodies 

as the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a41 whose leaders1  
,i am told1 are alive to the value of   
the open air life1 and are anxious to   
extend their country work in the rural  
districts4 ,the great army of rural     
teachers1 the ,farmers' ,union1 and     
other farmers' organisations ,i have    
already named would gladly coperate with
 schemes making for rural progress4     
,more important1 ,i believe1 than is    
generally realised1 from an economic and
 social point of view1 are the rural    
churches4 ,in many ,european countries1 
where agricultural coperation has played
 a great part in the people's lives1 the
 clergy have ardently supported the     
system on account of its moral value4   
,in ,ireland1 some of our very best     
volunteer organisers are clergymen4     
,some leaders of the rural church in the
 ,united ,states have told me that a    
feeling is growing that an increased    
economic usefulness in the clergy would 
strengthen their position in the society
 which they serve in a higher capacity4 

,i know that the suggestion of clerical 
intervention in secular affairs is open 
to misunderstanding4 ,but here is a body
 of educated citizens who would gladly  
take part in any real social service2   
and here is a situation where there is  
work of high moral and social value     
calling for volunteers4 ,nothing but    
good1 it seems to me1 could result if   
such men1 who have more opportunity and 
inclination for general reading than the
 working farmer1 would help in          
explaining the intricacies of coperative
 organisation and procedure which must  
be understood and practised in order    
that the system may be fruitful4  ,in   
addition to its active propagandist     
work1 the central ,association could    
exercise a powerful and helpful         
influence in other ways4 ,it should1 of 
course1 keep both the agricultural and  
the general press informed of its plans 
and progress4 ,it should also keep in   
touch with the agricultural work of all 
important educational bodies1 and more  

especially urge upon them the necessity 
of spreading the coperative idea4 ,the  
,department of ,agriculture would       
welcome and support the movement2 for ,i
 know many leading men in that service  
who thoroughly understand and recognise 
the immense importance1 especially to   
backward rural communities1 of the      
coperative principle4  ,it is not       
necessary1 at this stage1 to go further 
into details4 ,i feel confident that the
 work of assisting all suitable         
agencies1 such as those ,i have named1  
and others which may be available1      
through organisers of agricultural      
coperation and by the spreading of      
information1 would soon enable the      
central body to render inestimable      
service to the cause of rural progress4 
,such1 at any rate1 is the outline of my
 first proposal for giving to my        
,american fellow-workers upon the rural 
problem the assistance which ,i feel    
they most need at the present moment4 ,i
 pass now to my second proposal4  ,i    

suggest that an institution--which1 as  
,i have said1 will be scientific1       
philosophic1 research-making--should be 
founded4 ,it would be1 in effect1 a     
,bureau of research in rural social     
economy4 ,personally ,i know that1 in my
 own experience as an administrator and 
organiser1 ,i have been constantly      
brought face to face with problems where
 we could turn to no guide--no patient  
band of investigators who had been      
measuring1 analysing1 determining the   
data4 ,yet in some directions much      
excellent work is being done4 ,every    
social worker knows how the knowledge of
 what others are doing will help him4   
,it is strange how little the problems  
of the rural population have entered    
into the studies of economists and      
sociologists4 ,at leading ,universities 
,i have sought in vain for light4 ,at a 
recent anniversary in ,new ,york1 which 
brought together the foremost economists
 of the ,old and ,new ,world1 there was 
an almost complete omission of the      

country side of things from a programme 
which ,i am sure was generally held to  
be almost exhaustive4 ,the fact is1 the 
subject must be treated as a new one1   
and it is urgently necessary1 if the    
work of the ,country ,life movement is  
to be based on a solid foundation of    
fact1 to make good the deficiency of    
information which has resulted from the 
general lack of interest in the subject 
under review4 ,an ,institute is wanted  
to survey the field1 to collect1        
classify and cordinate information and  
to supplement and carry forward the work
 of research and inquiry4 ,the rural    
social worker requires as far as        
possible to carry exact statistical     
method into his work so that he may no  
longer have to depend on general        
statements1 but may have at his command 
evidence1 the validity of which can be  
trusted1 while its significance can be  
measured4 ,i may mention a few typical  
questions on which useful light would be
 shed by the ,institute's researches3-- 

#a4 ,the influence of coperative methods
 7a7 on the productive and distributive 
efficiency of rural communities1 and 7b7
 on the development of a social country 
life4  #b4 ,the systems of rural        
education1 both general and technical1  
in different countries1 and the         
administrative and financial basis of   
each system4  #c4 ,the relation between 
agricultural economy and the cost of    
food4  #d4 ,the changes 7a7 in the      
standard and cost of living1 and 7b7 in 
the economy1 solvency and stability of  
rural communities4  #e4 ,the economic   
interdependence of the agricultural     
producer and the urban consumer1 and the
 extent and incidence of middle profits 
in the distribution of agricultural     
produce4  #f4 ,the action taken by      
different ,governments to assist the    
development and secure the stability of 
the agricultural classes1 and the       
possibilities and the dangers of such   
action1 with special reference to the   
delimitation of the respective spheres  

of ,state aid and voluntary effort4  #g4
 ,how far agricultural and rural        
employment can relieve the problems of  
city unemployment1 and assist the work  
of social reclamation4  ,some may think 
that ,i am assigning to two bodies work 
which could be as well done by one4     
,while all proposals for multiplying    
organisations in the field of social    
service should be critically examined1  
there are strong reasons in this case   
for the course ,i suggest4 ,the two     
bodies1 while working to a common end1  
will differ essentially in their scope  
and method4 ,the propagandist agency    
will be executive and administrative1   
and while its operations would have     
suggestive value to the country social  
worker everywhere1 it would be concerned
 directly only with the ,united ,states4
 ,furthermore1 it need not necessarily  
have any lengthened existence as a      
national propagandist agency4 ,it would 
be founded mainly to introduce that     
method into ,american agricultural      

economy which ,i have tried to show lies
 at the root of rural progress4 ,as soon
 as the soundness of the general scheme 
had been demonstrated in any ,state1 the
 central body would promote an          
organisation to take over the work      
within that ,state4 ,the ,state         
organisation would1 in its turn1 soon be
 able to devolve its propagandist work  
upon a federation of the business       
associations which it had been the means
 of establishing4 ,that is the          
contemplated evolution of my first      
proposal--the early delegation of the   
functions of the national to the ,state 
propagandist agency1 which would further
 devolve the work upon bodies of farmers
 organised primarily for economic       
purposes1 but with the ulterior aim of  
social advancement4  ,the ,country ,life
 ,institute would be on a wholly        
different footing4 ,its researches1 if  
only to subserve the ,country ,life     
movement in the ,united ,states1 would  
have to range over the civilised world1 

and to be historical as well as         
contemporary4 ,it should be regarded as 
a contribution to the welfare of the    
,english-speaking peoples1 one aspect of
 whose civilisation--if there be truth  
in what ,i have written--needs to be    
reconsidered in the light which the     
,institute is designed to afford4 ,its  
task will be of no ephemeral character4 
,its success will not1 as in the case of
 the active propagandist body1 lessen   
the need for its services1 but will     
rather stimulate the demand for them4   
,these differences will have to be taken
 into account in considering the        
important question of ways and means4   
,both bodies will1 ,i hope1 appeal      
successfully to public-spirited         
philanthropists4 ,the temporary body    
will need only temporary support2       
perhaps provision for a five-years'     
campaign would suffice4 ,in the near    
future1 local organisations would       
naturally defray the cost of the        
services rendered to them by the central

 body2 but the ,country ,life ,institute
 would need a permanent endowment4 ,the 
man fitted for its chief control will   
not be found idle1 but will have to be  
taken from other work4 ,the scheme1 as  
,i have worked it out1 will involve     
prolonged economic and social inquiry   
over a wide field4 ,this would be       
conducted mostly by postgraduate        
students4 ,from those who did this      
outside work with credit would be       
recruited the small staff which would be
 needed at the central office to get    
into the most accessible form the facts 
and opinions which are needed for the   
guidance of those who are doing         
practical work in the field of rural    
regeneration4 ,my estimate of the amount
 required to do the work well is from   
forty to fifty thousand dollars a year1 
or say a capital sum of from a million  
to a million and a quarter dollars4     
,whether the project is worthy of such  
an expenditure1 depends upon the        
question whether ,i have made good my   

case4  ,let me summarise this case4 ,i  
have tried to show that modern          
civilisation is one-sided to a dangerous
 degree--that it has concentrated itself
 in the towns and left the country      
derelict4 ,this tendency is peculiar to 
the ,english-speaking communities1 where
 the great industrial movement has had  
as its consequence the rural problem ,i 
have examined4 ,if the townward tendency
 cannot be checked1 it will ultimately  
bring about the decay of the towns      
themselves1 and of our whole            
civilisation1 for the towns draw their  
supply of population from the country4  
,moreover1 the waste of natural         
resources1 and possibly the alarming    
increase in the price of food1 which    
have lately attracted so much attention 
in ,america1 are largely due to the fact
 that those who cultivate the land do   
not intend to spend their lives upon it2
 and without a rehabilitation of country
 life there can be no success for the   
,conservation policy4 ,therefore1 the   

,country ,life movement deals with what 
is probably the most important problem  
before the ,english-speaking peoples at 
this time4 ,now the predominance of the 
towns which is depressing the country is
 based partly on a fuller application of
 modern physical science1 partly on     
superior business organisation1 partly  
on facilities for occupation and        
amusement2 and if the balance is to be  
redressed1 the country must be improved 
in all three ways4 ,there must be better
 farming1 better business1 and better   
living4 ,these three are equally        
necessary1 but better business must come
 first4 ,for farmers1 the way to better 
living is coperation1 and what          
coperation means is the chief thing the 
,american farmer has to learn4          
,,footnotes3  #i ,in the capital of     
,virginia1 to take one notable example1 
,i have witnessed a perfect ferment of  
social activity at one of the           
gatherings4 ,it brought together such an
 ideal combination of the best spirits  

in both rural and urban life that ,i    
anticipate some striking developments in
 rural civilization which will surely   
extend beyond the borders of the ,state4
  #aj ,i may mention ,raiffeisen1       
,luzzati1 ,rocquigny1 ,bishop           
,grundtwig1 ,henry ,w4 ,wolff1 the ,rev4
 ,t4 ,a4 ,finlay1 ,s4,j41 and most of   
the leaders in agricultural organization
 in ,great ,britain and ,ireland4  #aa  
,see above1 page #ca4  #ab ,it may seem 
a small matter even for a footnote1 but 
an unambiguous terminology is so        
important to propagandist work that ,i  
must mention a somewhat unfortunate use 
of the word 'coperation' which prevails 
in official and pedagogic circles4 ,we  
hear of coperative demonstration work1  
coperative education1 coperative        
lectures1 and so forth4 ,whenever a     
,government or ,state department1 or an 
educational body works with any other   
agency1 and sometimes when they are only
 doing their own work1 they use the     
term1 which is of course grammatically  

applicable whenever two people work     
together--from matrimony down4 ,if the  
word in connection with agriculture     
could be retained for its technical     
sense1 so long established and well     
understood in ,europe1 the proposed     
movement might be saved a good deal of  
confused thinking4 ,might not           
,government and educational authorities 
substitute the word 'cordinated' so as  
to preserve the distinction8         99 
99       99       99       99  ,printed 
in the ,united ,states of ,america4