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+Project Gutenberg's Chapters in Rural Progress, by Kenyon L. Butterfield
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Chapters in Rural Progress
+
+Author: Kenyon L. Butterfield
+
+Release Date: October 20, 2008 [EBook #26975]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Tom Roch, Martin Pettit and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images produced by Core Historical
+Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS
+
+
+THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
+CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
+
+
+Agents
+
+THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY
+NEW YORK
+
+THE CUNNINGHAM, CURTISS & WELCH COMPANY
+LOS ANGELES
+
+THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
+LONDON AND EDINBURGH
+
+THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA
+TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI
+
+THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY
+SHANGHAI
+
+KARL W. HIERSEMANN
+LEIPZIG
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS
+
+BY
+
+KENYON L. BUTTERFIELD
+
+_President of the Massachusetts Agricultural College_
+
+[Illustration: Publisher's logo]
+
+THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
+CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
+
+
+COPYRIGHT 1907 BY
+THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
+
+All Rights Reserved
+
+Published February 1908
+Second Impression June 1909
+Third Impression May 1911
+Fourth Impression February 1913
+Fifth Impression October 1916
+
+Composed and Printed By
+The University of Chicago Press
+Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
+
+
+                  TO MY FATHER
+             IRA HOWARD BUTTERFIELD
+
+     WHOSE CONSTANT CONCERN FOR RURAL WELFARE
+     AND LIFE-LONG SERVICE TO RURAL INTERESTS
+           HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE CHIEF
+           INCENTIVES TO THE STUDIES
+             LYING BEHIND THIS BOOK
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+This book does not offer a complete analysis of the rural problem; but
+attempts, in general, to present some of the more significant phases of
+that problem, and, in particular, to describe some of the agencies at
+work in solving it. Several of the chapters were originally magazine
+articles, and, though all have been revised and in some cases entirely
+rewritten, they have the limitations of such articles. Other chapters
+consist of more formal addresses. Necessarily there will be found some
+lack of uniformity in style and in method of presentation, and
+occasional duplication of argument or statement.
+
+For permission to use articles, in whole or in part, I have to thank the
+editors of the _Chautauquan_, _Arena_, _Forum_, _Review of Reviews_,
+_Popular Science Monthly_, _Michigan Alumnus_, _New England Farmer_,
+_Cornell Countryman_; also Professor L. R. Taft, superintendent of
+Farmers' Institutes in Michigan, and the officers of the American Civic
+Association. Two chapters comprise material heretofore unpublished.
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+CHAPTER                                           PAGE
+
+   I. The Study of Rural Life                        3
+
+  II. The Problems of Progress                      11
+
+
+THE OUTLOOK
+
+III. The Expansion of Farm Life                     45
+
+ IV. The New Farmer                                 53
+
+  V. Culture from the Corn-Lot                      66
+
+
+AGENCIES OF PROGRESS
+
+  VI. Education for the Farmer                      77
+
+ VII. Farmers' Institutes                           92
+
+VIII. The Hesperia Movement                        104
+
+  IX. The Rural School and the Community           121
+
+   X. The Grange                                   136
+
+  XI. Opportunities for Farm Women                 162
+
+ XII. The Country Church and Progress              170
+
+XIII. A Summary of Recent Progress                 183
+
+
+FORWARD STEPS
+
+ XIV. The Social Side of the Farm Question         199
+
+  XV. The Needs of New England Agriculture         204
+
+ XVI. An Untilled Field in American Education      216
+
+XVII. Federation for Rural Progress                233
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE STUDY OF RURAL LIFE
+
+
+The American farm problem, particularly its sociological aspect, has not
+as yet had the attention that it deserves from students. Much less have
+the questions that concern rural social advancement found the popular
+mind; in truth, the general city public has not been deeply interested
+in the farmer.
+
+But there seem to be recent indications that the sentiment is changing.
+The heated discussions in New England about Mr. Hartt's interesting
+clinic over a decadent hill-town, the suggestive fast-day proclamation
+of Governor Rollins of New Hampshire a few years ago, the marvelous
+development of agricultural education, the renewed study of the rural
+school, the widespread and growing delight in country life, have all
+aroused an interest in and presage a new attention to rural conditions.
+This is well. The sociologist can hardly afford to omit the rural
+classes from the scope of his study, especially if he desires to
+investigate the practical phases of his subject. Moreover, no one with
+intelligent notions of affairs should be ignorant of the forces that
+control rural life.
+
+In view of this apparent change in the attitude of people toward the
+farm problem, it may not be idle to suggest some possible errors that
+should be avoided when we are thinking of rural society. The student
+will doubtless approach his problem fortified against misconceptions--he
+probably has thoughtfully established his view-point. But the average
+person in the city is likely to call up the image of his ancestral home
+of a generation ago, if he were born in the country, or, if not, to draw
+upon his observations made on a summer vacation or on casual business
+trips into the interior. Or he takes his picture from _Shore Acres_ and
+the _Old Homestead_. In any case it is not improbable that the image may
+be faulty and as a consequence his appreciation of present conditions
+wholly inadequate. Let us consider some of these possible sources of
+misconception.
+
+In the first place it is not fair to compare country life as a whole
+with the best city conditions. This is often done. The observer usually
+has education, culture, leisure, the experience of travel, more or less
+wealth; his acquaintance is mostly with people of like attainments.
+When he fails to find a rural environment that corresponds in some
+degree to his own and that of his friends, he is quick to conclude that
+the country has nothing to offer him, that only the city ministers to
+the higher wants of man. He forgets that he is one of a thousand in the
+city, and does not represent average city life. He fails to compare the
+average country conditions with the average city conditions, manifestly
+the only fair basis for comparison. Or he may err still more grievously.
+He may set opposite each other the worst country conditions and the
+better city conditions. He ought in all justice to balance country slum
+with city slum; and certainly so if he insists on trying to find
+palaces, great libraries, eloquent preachers, theaters, and rapid
+transit in each rural community. City life goes to extremes; country
+life, while varied, is more even. In the country there is little of
+large wealth, luxury, and ease; little also of extreme poverty, reeking
+crime, unutterable filth, moral sewage. Farmers are essentially a middle
+class and no comparison is fair that does not keep this fact ever in
+mind.
+
+We sometimes hear the expression, "Country life is so barren--that to me
+is its most discouraging aspect." Much country life is truly barren;
+but much more of it is so only relatively and not essentially. We must
+admit that civilization is at least partially veneer; polish does
+wonders for the appearance of folks as well as of furniture. But while
+the beauty of "heart of oak" is enhanced by its "finish," its utility is
+not destroyed by a failure to polish it. Now, much of the so-called
+barrenness of country life is the oak minus the polish. We come to
+regard polish as essential; it is largely relative. And not only may we
+apply the wrong standard to the situation, but our eyes may deceive us.
+To the uninitiated a clod of dry earth is the most unpromising of
+objects--it is cousin to the stone, and the type of barrenness. But to
+the elect it is pregnant with the possibilities of seed-time and
+harvest, of a full fruitage, of abundance and content for man and beast.
+And there is many a farm home, plain to an extreme, devoid of the
+veneer, a home that to the man of the town seems lacking in all the
+things that season life, but a home which virtue, intelligence, thrift,
+and courage transform into a garden of roses and a type of heaven. I do
+not justify neglect of the finer material things of life, nor plead for
+drab and homespun as passports to the courts of excellence; but I insist
+that the plainness, simple living, absence of luxury, lack of polish
+that may be met with in the country, do not necessarily accompany a
+condition barren of the essentials of the higher life.
+
+Sometimes rural communities are ridiculed because of the trivial nature
+of their gossip, interests, and ambitions. There may be some justice in
+the criticism, though the situation is pathetic rather than humorous.
+But is the charge wholly just? In comparing country with town we are
+comparing two environments; necessarily, therefore, objects of gossip,
+interests, and ambitions differ therein. We expect that. It is no
+criticism to assert that fact. The test is not that of an existing
+difference, but of an essential quality. Is not Ben Bolt's new top buggy
+as legitimate a topic for discussion as is Arthur John Smythe's new
+automobile? Does not the price of wheat mean as much to the hard-working
+grower as to the broker who may never see a grain of it? May not the
+grove at Turtle Lake yield as keen enjoyment as do the continental
+forests? Is the ambition to own a fine farm more ignoble than the desire
+to own shares in a copper mine? It really does not matter so much what
+one gossips about or what one's delights are or what the carving of the
+rungs on ambition's ladder; the vital question is the effect of these
+things on character. Do they stunt or encourage the inner life? It must
+be admitted that country people do not always accept their environing
+opportunities for enjoying the higher life of mind and heart. But do
+they differ in this respect from their cousins of the town?
+
+We must remember, too, that this is a large country, and that a study of
+rural conditions in a certain community, township, county, state, or
+section may not give us the correct basis upon which to determine the
+agricultural status of the country.
+
+Nor must we make the mistake of confusing conservatism and decadence.
+That the city will in many particulars always progress more rapidly than
+the country is inevitable. But speed is not the ultimate criterion of a
+full life. Again must we apply the test whether the gain is relative or
+essential. Telephones, free mail delivery, electric car lines, operas,
+great libraries, cathedrals--all come to the city first, some of them
+solely to the city. The country cannot hope to be other than inherently
+conservative as regards such institutions. But may there not be found
+such adaptations of or substitutes for these institutions as shall not
+only preserve the rural community from decadence, but, indeed, build it
+up into strength, beauty, and purity?
+
+Comparative lack of identical resources need not mean poverty of
+attainment. Let us agree that relatively the country will lag behind the
+town. Is the country continually gaining in those things that are
+fundamentally important and that minister to its best life? is the
+kernal question.
+
+Perhaps the most common error in studying rural conditions is the
+failure to distinguish the vital difference between the urban problem
+and the rural problem. _Sociologically the city problem is that of
+congestion; the rural problem is that of isolation._ The social
+conditions of country and city are wholly different. Institutions that
+succeed in alleviating social disorders in the town may or may not
+succeed in the country--in any event they must be adapted to country
+needs. This applies to organizations, schools, libraries, social
+settlements. And the adaptation must be one not only of form but of
+spirit. In other words, the farm problem is a peculiar problem,
+demanding special study, a new point of view, and sometimes unique
+institutions.
+
+Those accustomed to large cities make a pretty broad classification of
+"country." A town of five thousand people is to them "country." But it
+is not country. The problem of the village and the small town is not the
+rural problem, take it the nation over. The smaller the town, the more
+nearly it approaches to rural conditions, but its essential problem is
+not that of the farm.
+
+And, finally, let no one suppose that philanthropy is the chief medicine
+for the social ill-health of the country. The intelligent student who
+possesses the true spirit of helpfulness may find in the rural problem
+ample scope for both his brain and his heart. But he will make a
+fundamental and irreparable error if he starts out with the notion that
+pity, charity, and direct gifts will win the day. You may flatter the
+American farmer; you cannot patronize him. He demands and needs, not
+philanthropy, but simple justice, equal opportunity, and better
+facilities for education. He is neither slave nor pauper.
+
+To conclude: There is a farm problem, and it is worth solving. But it
+differs from the city problem. And if, as is to be hoped, the recently
+renewed interest in this question is to be permanent, we trust that
+those who desire to make it a special study, as well as those whose
+interest in it is general and widely human, may from the start avoid the
+errors that are likely to obscure rural conditions when viewed through
+city eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE PROBLEMS OF PROGRESS[1]
+
+
+It is impossible to acquire a keen and permanent interest in the rural
+problem unless one first of all is cognizant of its significance. And
+lack of knowledge at this point may in part account for the fact already
+alluded to that in America the farm problem has not been adequately
+studied. So stupendous has been the development of our manufacturing
+industries, so marvelous the growth of our urban population, so pressing
+the questions raised by modern city life, that the social and economic
+interests of the American farmer have, as a rule, received minor
+consideration. We are impressed with the rise of cities like Chicago,
+forgetting for the moment that half of the American people still live
+under rural conditions. We are perplexed by the labor wars that are
+waged about us, for the time unmindful that one-third of the workers of
+this country make their living immediately from the soil. We are
+astounded, and perhaps alarmed, at the great centralization of capital,
+possibly not realizing that the capital invested in agriculture in the
+United States nearly equals the combined capital invested in the
+manufacturing and railway industries. But if we pause to consider the
+scope and nature of the economic and social interests involved, we
+cannot avoid the conclusion that the farm problem is worthy of serious
+thought from students of our national welfare.
+
+We are aware that agriculture does not hold the same relative rank among
+our industries that it did in former years, and that our city population
+has increased far more rapidly than has our rural population. We do not
+ignore the fact that urban industries are developing more rapidly than
+is agriculture, nor deny the seriousness of the actual depletion of
+rural population, and even of community decadence, in some portions of
+the Union. But these facts merely add to the importance of the farm
+question. And it should not be forgotten that there has been a large and
+constant growth both of our agricultural wealth and of our rural
+population. During the last half-century there was a gain of 500 per
+cent. in the value of farm property, while the non-urban population
+increased 250 per cent. Agriculture has been one of the chief elements
+of America's industrial greatness, it is still our dominant economic
+interest, and it will long remain at least a leading industry. The
+people of the farm have furnished a sturdy citizenship and have been the
+primary source of much of our best leadership in political, business,
+and professional life. For an indefinite future, a large proportion of
+the American people will continue to live in a rural environment.
+
+
+WHAT IS THE FARM PROBLEM?
+
+Current agricultural discussion would lead us to think that the farm
+problem is largely one of technique. The possibilities of the
+agricultural industry, in the light of applied science, emphasize the
+need of the farmer for more complete knowledge of soil and plant and
+animal, and for increased proficiency in utilizing this knowledge to
+secure greater production at less cost. This is a fundamental need. It
+lies at the basis of success in farming. But it is not the farm problem.
+
+Business skill must be added, business methods enforced. The farmer must
+be not only a more skilful produce-grower, but also a keener
+produce-seller. But the moment we enter the realm of the market we step
+outside the individualistic aspect of the problem as embodied in the
+current doctrine of technical agricultural teaching, and are forced to
+consider the social aspect as emphasized, first of all, in the economic
+category of price. Here we find many factors--transportation cost,
+general market conditions at home and abroad, the status of other
+industries, and even legislative activities. The farm problem becomes an
+industrial question, not solely one of technical and business skill.
+Moreover, the problem is one of a successful industry as a whole, not
+merely the personal successes of even a respectable number of individual
+farmers. The farming class must progress as a unit.
+
+But have we yet reached the heart of the question? Is the farm problem
+one of technique plus business skill, plus these broad economic
+considerations? Is it not perfectly possible that agriculture as an
+industry may remain in a fairly satisfactory condition, and yet the
+farming class fail to maintain its status in the general social order?
+Is it not, for instance, quite within the bounds of probability to
+imagine a good degree of economic strength in the agricultural industry
+existing side by side with either a peasant régime or a
+landlord-and-tenant system? Yet would we expect from either system the
+same social fruitage that has been harvested from our American yeomanry?
+
+We conclude, then, that _the farm problem consists in maintaining upon
+our farms a class of people who have succeeded in procuring for
+themselves the highest possible class status, not only in the
+industrial, but in the political and the social order--a relative
+status, moreover, that is measured by the demands of American ideals._
+The farm problem thus connects itself with the whole question of
+democratic civilization. This is not mere platitude. For we cannot
+properly judge the significance and the relation of the different
+industrial activities of our farmers, and especially the value of the
+various social agencies for rural betterment, except by the standard of
+class status. It is here that we seem to find the only satisfactory
+philosophy of rural progress.
+
+We would not for a moment discredit the fundamental importance of
+movements that have for their purpose the improved technical skill of
+our farmers, better business management of the farm, and wiser study and
+control of market conditions. Indeed, we would call attention to the
+fact that social institutions are absolutely necessary means of securing
+these essential factors of industrial success. In the solution of the
+farm problem we must deliberately invoke the influence of quickened
+means of communication, of co-operation among farmers, of various means
+of education, and possibly even of religious institutions, to stimulate
+and direct industrial activity. What needs present emphasis is the fact
+that there is a definite, real, social end to be held in view as the
+goal of rural endeavor. The highest possible social status for the
+farming class is that end.
+
+We may now, as briefly as possible, describe some of the difficulties
+that lie in the path of the farmers in their ambition to attain greater
+class efficiency and larger class influence, and some of the means at
+hand for minimizing the difficulties. A complete discussion of the farm
+problem should, of course, include thorough consideration of the
+technical, the business, and the economic questions implied by the
+struggle for industrial success; for industrial success is prerequisite
+to the achievement of the greatest social power of the farming class.
+But we shall consider only the social aspects of the problem.
+
+
+RURAL ISOLATION
+
+Perhaps the one great underlying social difficulty among American
+farmers is their comparatively isolated mode of life. The farmer's
+family is isolated from other families. A small city of perhaps twenty
+thousand population will contain from four hundred to six hundred
+families per square mile, whereas a typical agricultural community in a
+prosperous agricultural state will hardly average more than ten families
+per square mile. The farming class is isolated from other classes.
+Farmers, of course, mingle considerably in a business and political way
+with the men of their trading town and county seat; but, broadly
+speaking, farmers do not associate freely with people living under urban
+conditions and possessing other than the rural point of view. It would
+be venturesome to suggest very definite generalizations with respect to
+the precise influence of these conditions, because, so far as the writer
+is aware, the psychology of isolation has not been worked out. But two
+or three conclusions seem to be admissible, and for that matter rather
+generally accepted.
+
+The well-known conservatism of the farming class is doubtless largely
+due to class isolation. Habits, ideas, traditions, and ideals have long
+life in the rural community. Changes come slowly. There is a tendency to
+tread the well-worn paths. The farmer does not easily keep in touch with
+rapid modern development, unless the movements or methods directly
+affect him. Physical agencies which improve social conditions, such as
+electric lights, telephones, and pavements, come to the city first. The
+atmosphere of the country speaks peace and quiet. Nature's routine of
+sunshine and storm, of summer and winter, encourages routine and
+repetition in the man who works with her.
+
+A complement of this rural conservatism, which at first thought seems a
+paradox, but which probably grows out of these same conditions of
+isolation, is the intense radicalism of a rural community when once it
+breaks away from its moorings. Many farmers are unduly suspicious of
+others' motives; yet the same people often succumb to the wiles of the
+charlatan, whether medical or political. Farmers are usually
+conservative in politics and intensely loyal to party; but the Populist
+movement indicates the tendency to extremes when the old allegiance is
+left behind. Old methods of farming may be found alongside
+ill-considered attempts to raise new crops or to utilize untried
+machines.
+
+Other effects of rural isolation are seen in a class provincialism that
+is hard to eradicate, and in the development of minds less alert to
+seize business advantages and less far-sighted than are developed by the
+intense industrial life of the town. There is time to brood over wrongs,
+real and imaginary. Personal prejudices often grow to be rank and
+coarse-fibered. Neighborhood feuds are not uncommon and are often
+virulent. Leadership is made difficult and sometimes impossible. It is
+easy to fall into personal habits that may mark off the farmer from
+other classes of similar intelligence, and that bar him from his
+rightful social place.
+
+It would, however, be distinctly unfair to the farm community if we did
+not emphasize some of the advantages that grow out of the rural mode of
+life. Farmers have time to think, and the typical American farmer is a
+man who has thought much and often deeply. A spirit of sturdy
+independence is generated, and freedom of will and of action is
+encouraged. Family life is nowhere so educative as in the country. The
+whole family co-operates for common ends, and in its individual members
+are bred the qualities of industry, patience, and perseverance. The
+manual work of the schools is but a makeshift for the old-fashioned
+training of the country-grown boy. Country life is an admirable
+preparation for the modern industrial and professional career.
+
+Nevertheless, rural isolation is a real evil. Present-day living is so
+distinctively social, progress is so dependent upon social agencies,
+social development is so rapid, that if the farmer is to keep his status
+he must be fully in step with the rest of the army. He must secure the
+social view-point. The disadvantages of rural isolation are largely in
+the realm of the social relations, its advantages mostly on the
+individual and moral side. Farm life makes a strong individual; it is a
+serious menace to the achievement of class power.
+
+A cure for isolation sometimes suggested is the gathering of the farmers
+into villages. This remedy, however, is of doubtful value. In the first
+place, the scheme is not immediately practicable. About three and
+one-half billions of dollars are now invested in farm buildings, and it
+will require some motive more powerful than that inspired by academic
+logic to transfer, even gradually, this investment to village groups.
+Moreover, it is possible to dispute the desirability of the remedy. The
+farm village at best must be a mere hamlet. It can secure for the farmer
+very few of the urban advantages he may want, except that of permitting
+closer daily intercourse between families. And it is questionable if the
+petty society of such a village can compensate for the freedom and
+purity of rural family life now existing. It may even be asserted with
+some degree of positiveness that the small village, on the moral and
+intellectual sides, is distinctly inferior to the isolated farm home.
+
+At the present time rural isolation in America is being overcome by the
+development of better means of communication among farmers who still
+live on their farms. So successful are these means of communication
+proving that we cannot avoid the conclusion that herein lies the remedy.
+Improved wagon roads, the rural free mail delivery, the farm telephone,
+trolley lines through country districts, are bringing about a positive
+revolution in country living. They are curing the evils of isolation,
+without in the slightest degree robbing the farm of its manifest
+advantages for family life. The farmers are being welded into a more
+compact society. They are being nurtured to greater alertness of mind,
+to greater keenness of observation, and the foundations are being laid
+for vastly enlarged social activities. The problem now is to extend
+these advantages to every rural community--in itself a task of huge
+proportions. If this can be done and isolation can be reduced to a
+minimum, the solution of all the other rural social problems will become
+vastly easier.
+
+
+FARMERS' ORGANIZATION
+
+Organization is one of the pressing social problems that American
+farmers have to face. The importance of the question is intrinsic,
+because of the general social necessity for co-operation which
+characterizes modern life. Society is becoming consciously
+self-directive. The immediate phase of this growing self-direction lies
+in the attempts of various social groups to organize their powers for
+group advantage. And if, as seems probable, this group activity is to
+remain a dominant feature of social progress, even in a fairly coherent
+society, it is manifest that there will result more or less of
+competition among groups.
+
+The farming class, if at all ambitious for group influence, can hardly
+avoid this tendency to organization. Farmers, indeed more than any
+other class, need to organize. Their isolation makes thorough
+organization especially imperative. And the argument for co-operation
+gains force from the fact that relatively the agricultural population is
+declining. In the old days farmers ruled because of mere mass. That is
+no longer possible. The naïve statement that "farmers must organize
+because other classes are organizing" is really good social philosophy.
+
+In the group competition just referred to there is a tendency for class
+interests to be put above general social welfare. This is a danger to be
+avoided in organization, not an argument against it. So the farmers'
+organization should be guarded, at this point, by adherence to the
+principle that organization must not only develop class power, but must
+be so directed as to permit the farmers to lend the full strength of
+their class to general social progress.
+
+Organization thus becomes a test of class efficiency, and consequently a
+prerequisite for solving the farm problem. Can the farming class secure
+and maintain a fairly complete organization? Can it develop efficient
+leaders? Can it announce, in sound terms, its proposed group policy? Can
+it lend the group influence to genuine social progress? If so, the
+organization of farmers becomes a movement of pre-eminent importance.
+
+Organization, moreover, is a powerful educational force. It arouses
+discussion of fundamental questions, diffuses knowledge, gives practice
+in public affairs, trains individuals in executive work, and, in fine,
+stimulates, as nothing else can, a class which is in special need of
+social incentive.
+
+Organization is, however, difficult of accomplishment. While it would
+take us too far afield to discuss the history of farmers' organizations
+in America, we may briefly suggest some of the difficulties involved.
+For forty years the question has been a prominent one among the farmers,
+and these years have seen the rise and decline of several large
+associations. There have been apparently two great factors contributing
+to the downfall of these organizations. The first was a misapprehension,
+on the part of the farmers, of the feasibility of organizing themselves
+as a political phalanx; the second, a sentimental belief in the
+possibilities of business co-operation among farmers, more especially in
+lines outside their vocation. There is no place for class politics in
+America. There are some things legislation cannot cure. There are
+serious limitations to co-operative endeavor. It took many hard
+experiences for our farmers to learn these truths. But back of all lie
+some inherent difficulties, as, for instance, the number of people
+involved, their isolation, sectional interests, ingrained habits of
+independent action, of individual initiative, of suspicion of others'
+motives. There is often lack of perspective, and unwillingness to invest
+in a procedure that does not promise immediate returns. The mere fact of
+failure has discredited the organization idea. There is lack of
+leadership; for the farm industry, while it often produces men of strong
+mind, keen perception, resolute will, does not, as a rule, develop
+executive capacity for large enterprises.
+
+It is frequently asserted that farmers are the only class that has not
+organized. This is not strictly true. The difficulties enumerated are
+real difficulties and have seriously retarded farm organization. But if
+the progress made is not satisfactory, it is at least encouraging. On
+the purely business side, over five thousand co-operative societies
+among American farmers have been reported. In co-operative buying of
+supplies, co-operative selling of products, and co-operative insurance
+the volume of transactions reaches large figures. A host of societies
+of a purely educational nature exists among stock-breeders,
+fruit-growers, dairymen. It is true that no one general organization of
+farmers, embracing a large proportion of the class, has as yet been
+perfected. The nearest approach to it is the Grange, which, contrary to
+a popular notion, is in a prosperous condition, with a really large
+influence upon the social, financial, educational, and legislative
+interests of the farming class. It has had a steady growth during the
+past ten years, and is a quiet but powerful factor in rural progress.
+The Grange is perhaps too conservative in its administrative policy. It
+has not at least succeeded in converting to its fold the farmers of the
+great Mississippi Valley. But it has workable machinery, it disavows
+partisan politics and selfish class interests, and it subordinates
+financial benefits, while emphasizing educational and broadly political
+advantages. It seems fair to interpret the principles of the Grange as
+wholly in line with the premise of this paper, that the farmers need to
+preserve their status, politically, industrially, and socially, and that
+organization is one of the fundamental methods they must use. The
+Grange, therefore, deserves to succeed, and indeed is succeeding.
+
+The field of agricultural organization is an extensive one. But if the
+farm problem is to be solved satisfactorily, the American farmers must
+first secure reasonably complete organization.
+
+
+RURAL EDUCATION
+
+It is hardly necessary to assert that the education of that portion of
+the American people who live upon the land involves a question of the
+greatest significance. The subject naturally divides itself into two
+phases, one of which may be designated as rural education proper, the
+other as agricultural education. Rural education has to do with the
+education of people, more especially of the young, who live under rural
+conditions; agricultural education aims to prepare men and women for the
+specific vocation of agriculture. The rural school typifies the first;
+the agricultural school, the second. Rural education is but a section of
+the general school question; agricultural education is a branch of
+technical training. These two phases of the education of the farm
+population meet at many points, they must work in harmony, and together
+they form a distinct educational problem.
+
+The serious difficulties in the rural school question are perhaps
+three: first, to secure a modern school, in efficiency somewhat
+comparable to the town school, without unduly increasing the school tax;
+second, so to enrich the curriculum and so to expand the functions of
+the school that the school shall become a vital and coherent part of the
+community life, on the one hand translating the rural environment into
+terms of character and mental efficiency, and on the other hand serving
+perfectly as a stepping-stone to the city schools and to urban careers;
+third, to provide adequate high-school facilities in the rural
+community.
+
+The centralization of district schools and the transportation of pupils
+will probably prove to be more nearly a solution of all these
+difficulties than will any other one scheme. The plan permits the
+payment of higher wages for teachers and ought to secure better
+instruction; it permits the employment of special teachers, as for
+nature-study or agriculture; it increases the efficiency of
+superintendence; it costs but little, if any, more than the district
+system; it leaves the school amid rural surroundings, while introducing
+into the schoolroom itself a larger volume, so to speak, of
+world-atmosphere; it contains possibilities for community service; it
+can easily be expanded into a high school of reputable grade.
+
+There are two dangers, both somewhat grave, likely to arise from an
+urgent campaign for centralization. Even if the movement makes as great
+progress as could reasonably be expected, for a generation to come a
+large share, if not a major portion, of rural pupils will still be
+taught in the small, isolated, district school; there is danger that
+this district school may be neglected. Moreover, increased school
+machinery always invites undue reliance upon machine-like methods.
+Centralization permits, but does not guarantee, greater efficiency. A
+system like this one must be vitalized by constant and close touch with
+the life and needs and aspirations of the rural community itself.
+
+Wherever centralization is not adopted, the consolidation of two or
+three schools--a modified form of centralization--may prove helpful.
+Where the district school still persists, there are one or two
+imperative requirements. Teachers must have considerably higher wages
+and longer tenure. There must be more efficient supervision. The state
+must assist in supporting the school, although only in part. The small
+schools must be correlated with some form of high school. The last
+point is of great importance because of the comparative absence in
+country communities of opportunity near at hand for _good_ high-school
+training.
+
+Agricultural education is distinctively technical, not in the restricted
+sense of mere technique, or even of applied science, but in the sense
+that it must be frankly vocational. It has to do with the preparation of
+men and women for the business of farming and for life in the rural
+community.
+
+Agricultural education should begin in the primary school. In this
+school the point of view, however, should be broadly pedagogical rather
+than immediately vocational. Fortunately, the wise teaching of
+nature-study, the training of pupils to know and to love nature, the
+constant illustrations from the rural environment, the continual appeal
+to personal observation and experience, absolute loyalty to the farm
+point of view, are not only sound pedagogy, but form the best possible
+background for future vocational study. Whether we call this early work
+"nature-study" or call it "agriculture" matters less than that the
+fundamental principle be recognized. It must first of all _educate_. The
+greatest difficulty in introducing such work into the primary school is
+to secure properly equipped teachers.
+
+Perhaps the most stupendous undertaking in agricultural education is the
+adequate development of secondary education in agriculture. The
+overwhelming majority of young people who secure any agricultural
+schooling whatever must get it in institutions that academically are of
+secondary grade. This is a huge task. If developed to supply existing
+needs, it will call for an enormous expenditure of money and for the
+most careful planning. From the teaching view-point it is a difficult
+problem. Modern agriculture is based upon the sciences; it will not do,
+therefore, to establish schools in the mere art of farming. But these
+agricultural high schools must deal with pupils who are comparatively
+immature, and who almost invariably have had no preparation in science.
+Nor should the courses at these schools be ultra-technical. They are to
+prepare men and women for life on the farm--men and women who are to
+lead in rural development, and who must get some inkling at least of the
+real farm question and its solution. The agricultural school, therefore,
+presents a problem of great difficulty.
+
+A perennial question in agricultural education is: What is the function
+of the agricultural college? We have not time to trace the history of
+these colleges, nor to elaborate the various views relative to their
+mission. But let us for a moment discuss their proper function in the
+light of the proposition that the preservation of the farmers' status is
+the real farm problem; for the college can be justified only as it finds
+its place among the social agencies helpful in the solution of the farm
+question.
+
+In so far as the agricultural college, through its experiment station or
+otherwise, is an organ of research, it should carry its investigations
+into the economic and sociological fields, as well as pursue experiments
+in soil fertility and animal nutrition.
+
+In the teaching of students, the agricultural college will continue the
+important work of training men for agricultural research, agricultural
+teaching, and expert supervision of various agricultural enterprises.
+But the college should put renewed emphasis upon its ability to send
+well-trained men to the farms, there to live their lives, there to find
+their careers, and there to lead in the movements for rural progress. A
+decade ago it was not easy to find colleges which believed that this
+could be done, and some agricultural educators have even disavowed such
+a purpose as a proper object of the colleges. But the strongest
+agricultural colleges today have pride in just such a purpose. And why
+not? We not only need men thus trained as leaders in every rural
+community, but, if the farming business cannot be made to offer a career
+to a reasonable number of college-trained men, it is a sure sign that
+only by the most herculean efforts can the farmers maintain their status
+as a class. If agriculture must be turned over wholly to the untrained
+and to the half-trained, if it cannot satisfy the ambition of strong,
+well-educated men and women, its future, from the social point of view,
+is indeed gloomy.
+
+The present-day course of study in the agricultural college does not,
+however, fully meet this demand for rural leadership. The farm problem
+has been regarded as a technical question, and a technical training has
+been offered the student. The agricultural college, therefore, needs
+"socializing." Agricultural economics and rural sociology should occupy
+a large place in the curriculum. The men who go from the college to the
+farm should appreciate the significance of the agricultural question,
+and should be trained to organize their forces for genuine rural
+progress. The college should, as far as possible, become the leader in
+the whole movement for solving the farm problem.
+
+The farm home has not come in for its share of attention in existing
+schemes of agricultural education. The kitchen and the dining-room have
+as much to gain from science as have the dairy and the orchard. The
+inspiration of vocational knowledge must be the possession of her who is
+the entrepreneur of the family, the home-maker. The agricultural
+colleges through their departments of domestic science--better, of
+"home-making"--should inaugurate a comprehensive movement for carrying
+to the farm home a larger measure of the advantages which modern science
+is showering upon humanity.
+
+The agricultural college must also lead in a more adequate development
+of extension teaching. Magnificent work has already been done through
+farmers' institutes, reading courses, co-operative experiments,
+demonstrations, and correspondence. But the field is so immense, the
+number of people involved so enormous, the difficulties of reaching them
+so many, that it offers a genuine problem, and one of peculiar
+significance, not only because of the generally recognized need of
+adult education, but also because of the isolation of the farmers.
+
+It should be said that in no line of rural betterment has so much
+progress been made in America as in agricultural education. Merely to
+describe the work that is being done through nature-study and
+agriculture in the public schools, through agricultural schools, through
+our magnificent agricultural colleges, through farmers' institutes, and
+especially through the experiment stations and the federal Department of
+Agriculture in agricultural research and in the distribution of the best
+agricultural information--merely to inventory these movements properly
+would take the time available for this discussion. What has been said
+relative to agricultural education is less in way of criticism of
+existing methods than in way of suggestion as to fundamental needs.
+
+
+THE ETHICAL AND RELIGIOUS PROBLEM
+
+Wide generalizations as to the exact moral situation in the rural
+community are impossible. Conditions have not been adequately studied.
+It is probably safe to say that the country environment is extremely
+favorable for pure family life, for temperance, and for bodily and
+mental health. To picture the country a paradise is, however, mere
+silliness. There are in the country, as elsewhere, evidences of
+vulgarity in language, of coarseness in thought, of social impurity, of
+dishonesty in business. There is room in the country for all the ethical
+teaching that can be given.
+
+Nor is it easy to discuss the country church question. Conditions vary
+in different parts of the Union, and no careful study has been made of
+the problem. As a general proposition, it may be said that there are too
+many churches in the country, and that these are illy supported.
+Consequently, they have in many cases inferior ministers. Sectarianism
+is probably more divisive than in the city, not only because of the
+natural conservatism of the people and a natural disinclination to
+change their views, but because sectarian quarrels are perhaps more
+easily fomented and less easily harmonized than anywhere else. Moreover,
+in the city a person can usually find a denomination to his liking. In
+the country, even with the present overchurched condition, this is
+difficult.
+
+The ideal solution of the country church problem is to have in each
+rural community one strong church adequately supported, properly
+equipped, ministered to by an able man--a church which leads in
+community service. The path to the realization of such an ideal is rough
+and thorny. Church federation, however, promises large results in this
+direction and should be especially encouraged.
+
+Whatever outward form the solution of the country church question may
+take, there seem to be several general principles involved in a
+satisfactory attempt to meet the issue. In the first place, the country
+church offers a problem by itself, socially considered. Methods
+successful in the city may not succeed in the country. The country
+church question must then be studied thoroughly and on the ground.
+
+Again, the same principle of financial aid to be utilized in the case of
+the schools must be invoked here. The wealth of the whole church must
+contribute to the support of the church everywhere. The strong must help
+the weak. The city must help the country. But this aid must be given by
+co-operation, not by condescension. The demand cannot be met by home
+missionary effort nor by church-building contributions; the principle
+goes far deeper than that. Some device must be secured which binds
+together the whole church, along denominational lines if must be, for a
+full development of church work in every community in the land.
+
+Furthermore, there is supreme necessity for adding dignity to the
+country parish. Too often at present the rural parish is regarded either
+as a convenient laboratory for the clerical novice, or as an asylum for
+the decrepit or inefficient. The country parish must be a parish for our
+ablest and strongest. The ministry of the most Christlike must be to the
+hill-towns of Galilee as well as to Jerusalem.
+
+There is still another truth that the country church cannot afford to
+ignore. The rural church question is peculiarly interwoven with the
+industrial and social problems of the farm. A declining agriculture
+cannot foster a growing church. An active church can render especially
+strong service to a farm community, in its influence upon the religious
+life, the home life, the educational life, the social life, and even
+upon the industrial life. Nowhere else are these various phases of
+society's activities so fully members one of another as in the country.
+The country church should co-operate with other rural social agencies.
+This means that the country pastor should assume a certain leadership in
+movements for rural progress. He is splendidly fitted, by the nature of
+his work and by his position in the community, to co-operate with
+earnest farmers for the social and economic, as well as the moral and
+spiritual, upbuilding of the farm community. But he must know the farm
+problem. Here is an opportunity for theological seminaries: let them
+make rural sociology a required subject. And, better, here is a
+magnificent field of labor for the right kind of young men. The country
+pastorate may thus prove to be, as it ought to be, a place of honor and
+rare privilege. In any event, the country church, to render its proper
+service, not alone must minister to the individual soul, but must throw
+itself into the struggle for rural betterment, must help solve the farm
+problem.
+
+
+FEDERATION OF FORCES
+
+The suggestion that the country church should ally itself with other
+agencies of rural progress may be carried a step farther. Rural social
+forces should be federated. The object of such federation is to
+emphasize the real nature of the farm problem, to interest many people
+in its solution, and to secure the co-operation of the various rural
+social agencies, each of which has its sphere, but also its limitations.
+The method of federation is to bring together, for conference and for
+active work, farmers--especially representatives of farmers'
+organizations, agricultural educators, rural school-teachers and
+supervisors, country clergymen, country editors; in fact, all who have a
+genuine interest in the farm problem. Thus will come clearer views of
+the questions at issue, broader plans for reform, greater incentive to
+action, and more rapid progress.
+
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+In this brief analysis of the social problems of American farmers it has
+been possible merely to outline those aspects of the subject that seem
+to be fundamental. It is hoped that the importance of each problem has
+been duly emphasized, that the wisest methods of progress have been
+indicated, and that the relation of the various social agencies to the
+main question has been clearly brought out. Let us leave the subject by
+emphasizing once more the character of the ultimate farm problem. This
+problem may be stated more concretely, if not more accurately, than was
+done at the opening of the paper, by saying that the ideal of rural
+betterment is to preserve upon our farms the typical American farmer.
+The American farmer has been essentially a middle-class man. It is this
+type we must maintain. Agriculture must be made to yield returns in
+wealth, in opportunity, in contentment, in social position, sufficient
+to attract and to hold to it a class of intelligent, educated American
+citizens. This is an end vital to the preservation of American
+democratic ideals. It is a result that will not achieve itself; social
+agencies must be invoked for its accomplishment. It demands the
+intelligent and earnest co-operation of all who love the soil and who
+seek America's permanent welfare.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[1] The material for this chapter is taken from an address entitled
+"Social Problems of American Farmers," which was read before the
+Congress of Arts and Science, section of The Rural Community, at St.
+Louis, September, 1904.
+
+
+
+
+THE OUTLOOK
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE EXPANSION OF FARM LIFE
+
+
+Narrowness is perhaps the charge most often brought against American
+farm life. To a certain extent this charge may be just, though the
+comparisons that usually lead up to the conclusion do not always
+discriminate. It must be remembered that there are degrees of
+desirability in farm life, and that at the least there are multitudes of
+rural communities where bright flowers still bloom, where the shade is
+refreshing, and the waters are sweet. But, granting for the time that in
+the main rural life is less pleasant, less rich, less expansive than
+city life, we shall urge that this era of restriction is rapidly drawing
+to a close. There are forces at work that are molding rural life by new
+standards, and the old régime is passing. We shall soon be able to say
+of the country that "old things have passed away; all things have become
+new."
+
+This statement may seem too optimistic to some who can marshal an array
+of facts to prove that bigotry, narrowness, and the whole family of ills
+begotten by isolation still thrive in the country. It is true that our
+picture is not all of rose tints. But what of that? If it were not true
+there would be no farm problem; the country would have to convert the
+town. The fact remains that rural life is undergoing a rapid expansion.
+Materially, socially, and intellectually, the farmer is broadening. Old
+prejudices are fading. The plowman is no longer content to keep his eye
+forever on the furrow. The revival has been in slow progress for some
+time and has not yet reached its zenith; indeed, the movement is but
+well under way. For while the new day came long ago to some rural
+communities and they are basking in a noonday sun, yet in far too many
+localities the faintest gray of dawn is all that rouses hope.
+
+The fundamental change that is taking place is the gradual adoption of
+the new agriculture. "Book-farmin'" is still decried, and many
+"perfessers" have a rocky road to travel in their attempts to guide the
+masses through the labyrinth of scientific knowledge that has been
+constructed during the last decade or two. This difficulty has not been
+wholly the farmer's fault--the scientist would often have been more
+persuasive had his wings been clipped. But there is a decided "getting
+together" nowadays--the farmer and the man of science have at last
+found common ground. And while the pendulum of agricultural prosperity
+shall always swing to and fro, there are, to change the figure, reasons
+for believing that an increasing number of farmers have rooted the tree
+of permanent success.
+
+To enumerate some of these reasons: (1) Thousands of farmers are farming
+on a scientific basis. They use the results of soil and fertilizer
+analysis; they cultivate, not to kill weeds so much as to conserve
+moisture; horticulturists spray their trees according to formulas laid
+down by experimenters; dairymen use the "Babcock test" for determining
+the fat content of milk; stock-feeders utilize the scientists' feeding
+rations. (2) The number of specialists among farmers is increasing. This
+is a sign of progress surely. More and more farmers are coming to push a
+single line of work. (3) New methods are being rapidly adopted. Fifteen
+years ago hardly a fruit-grower sprayed for insect and fungus pests;
+today it is rare to find one who does not. The co-operative creamery has
+not only revolutionized the character of the butter product made by the
+factory system, but it has set the pace for thousands of private
+dairymen who are now making first-class dairy butter. (4) In general
+the whole idea of _intensive_ farming is gaining ground.
+
+This specialization, or intensification, of agriculture makes a new
+demand, upon those who pursue it, in the way of mental and business
+training. This training is being furnished by a multitude of agencies,
+and the younger generation of farmers is taking proper advantage of the
+opportunities thus offered. What are some of these regular agencies? (1)
+An alert farm press, containing contributions from both successful
+farmers and scientific workers. (2) Farmers' institutes, which are
+traveling schools of technical instruction for farmers. (3) The
+bulletins issued by the government experiment stations located in every
+state, and by the federal Department of Agriculture. (4) Special winter
+courses (of from two to twelve weeks), offered at nearly all the
+agricultural colleges of the country, for instruction in practical
+agriculture. (5) Regular college courses in agriculture at these same
+colleges. (6) Extension instruction by lectures and correspondence. (7)
+A growing book literature of technical agriculture. (8) More encouraging
+than all else is the spirit of inquiry that prevails among farmers the
+country over--the recognition that there is a basis of science in
+agriculture. No stronger pleas for the advancement of agricultural
+education can be found than those that have recently been formulated by
+farmers themselves.
+
+If this regeneration of farm life were wholly material it would be worth
+noting; for it promises a prosperity built on foundations sufficiently
+strong to withstand ordinary storms. Yet this is but a chapter of the
+story. Not only are our American farmers making a study of their
+business, bringing to it the resources of advancing knowledge and good
+mental training, and hence deriving from it the strong, alert mental
+character that comes to all business men who pursue equally intelligent
+methods, but the farmers are by no means neglecting their duty to
+broaden along general intellectual lines. Farmers have always been
+interested in politics; there is no reason to think that their interest
+is declining. The Grange and other organizations keep their attention on
+current problems. Traveling libraries, school libraries, and Grange
+libraries are giving new opportunities for general reading, and the
+farmer's family is not slow to accept the chance. Low prices for
+magazines and family papers bring to these periodicals an increasing
+list from the rural offices. Rural free mail delivery promises, among
+many other results of vast importance, to enlarge the circulation of
+daily papers among farmers not less than tenfold.
+
+The really great lesson that farmers are rapidly learning is to work
+together. They have been the last class to organize, and jealousy,
+distrust, and isolation have made such organizations as they have had
+comparatively ineffective. But gradually they are learning to
+compromise, to work in harmony, to sink merely personal views, to trust
+their own leaders, to keep troth in financially co-operative projects.
+There will be no Farmers' Party organized; but the higher politics is
+gaining among farmers, and more and more independent voting may be
+expected from the rural precincts. Farmers are learning to pool such of
+their interests as can be furthered by legislation.
+
+It is also true that the whole aspect of social life in the country is
+undergoing a profound evolutionary movement. Farmers are meeting one
+another more frequently than they used to. They have more picnics and
+holidays. They travel more. They go sight-seeing. They take advantage of
+excursions. Their social life is more mobile than formerly. Farmers
+have more comforts and luxuries than ever before. They dress better
+than they did. More of them ride in carriages than formerly. They buy
+neater and better furniture. The newer houses are prettier and more
+comfortable than their predecessors. Bicycles and cameras are not
+uncommon in the rural home. Rural telephone exchanges are relatively a
+new thing, but the near future will see the telephone a part of the
+ordinary furniture of the rural household; while electric car lines
+promise to be the final link in the chain of advantages that is rapidly
+transforming rural life--robbing it of its isolation, giving it balance
+and poise, softening its hard outlines, and in general achieving its
+thorough regeneration.
+
+This sketch is no fancy tale. The movement described is genuine and
+powerful. The busy city world may not note the signs of progress.
+Well-minded philanthropists may feel that the rural districts are in
+special need of their services. Even to the watchers on the walls there
+is much of discouragement in the advancement that _isn't_ being made.
+Yet it needs no prophet's eye to see that a vast change for the better
+in rural life and conditions is now in progress.
+
+No student of these conditions expects or desires that the evolution
+shall be Acadian in its results. It is to be hoped indeed that country
+sweets shall not lose their delights; that the farmer himself may find
+in his surroundings spiritual and mental ambrosia. But what is wanted,
+and what is rapidly coming, is the breaking down of those barriers which
+have so long differentiated country from urban life; the extinction of
+that social ostracism which has been the farmer's fate; the obliteration
+of that line which for many a youth has marked the bounds of
+opportunity: in fact, the creation of a rural society whose advantages,
+rewards, prerogatives, chances for service, means of culture, and
+pleasures are representative of the best and sanest life that the
+accumulated wisdom of the ages can prescribe for mankind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE NEW FARMER
+
+
+All farmers may be divided into three classes. There is the "old"
+farmer, there is the "new" farmer, and there is the "mossback." The old
+farmer represents the ancient régime. The new farmer is the modern
+business agriculturist. The mossback is a mediaeval survival. The old
+farmer was in his day a new farmer; he was "up with the times," as the
+times then were. The new farmer is merely the worthy son of a noble
+sire; he is the modern embodiment of the old farmer's progressiveness.
+The mossback is the man who tries to use the old methods under the new
+conditions; he is not "up" with the present times, but "back" with the
+old times. Though he lives and moves in the present, he really has his
+being in the past.
+
+The old farmer is the man who conquered the American continent. His axe
+struck the crown from the monarchs of the wood, and the fertile farms of
+Ohio are the kingdom he created. He broke the sod of the rich prairies,
+and the tasseling cornfields of Iowa tell the story of his deeds. He
+hitched his plow to the sun, and his westward lengthening furrows fill
+the world's granary.
+
+The new farmer has his largest conquests yet to make. But he has put his
+faith in the strong arm of science; he has at his hand the commercial
+mechanism of a world of business. He believes he will win because he is
+in league with the ongoing forces of our civilization.
+
+The mossback cannot win, because he prefers a flintlock to a Mauser. He
+has his eyes upon the ground, and uses snails instead of stars for
+horses.
+
+The old farmer was a pioneer, and he had all the courage, enterprise,
+and resourcefulness of the pioneer. He was virile, above all things
+else. He owned and controlled everything in sight. He was a
+state-builder. Half a century ago, in the Middle West, the strong men
+and the influential families were largely farmers. Even professional men
+owned and managed farms, frequently living upon them. The smell of the
+soil sweetened musty law books, deodorized the doctor's den, and floated
+as incense above the church altars.
+
+The new farmer lives in a day when the nation is not purely an
+agricultural nation, but is also a manufacturing and a trading nation.
+He belongs no longer to the dominant class, so far as commercial and
+social and political influence are concerned. But none of these things
+move him. For he realizes that out of this seeming decline of
+agriculture grow his best opportunities. He discards pioneer methods
+because pioneering is not now an effective art.
+
+The mossback sees perhaps clearly enough these changes, but he does not
+understand their meaning, nor does he know how to meet them. He is
+dazzled by the romantic halo of the good old times, dumfounded by the
+electric energy of the present, discouraged and distracted by the
+pressure of forces that crush his hopes and stifle his strength.
+
+Economically, the old farmer was not a business man, but a barterer. The
+rule of barter still survives in the country grocery where butter and
+eggs are traded for sugar and salt. The old farmer was industrially
+self-sufficient. He did not farm on a commercial basis. He raised apples
+for eating and for cider, not for market--there was no apple market. He
+had very little ready money, he bought and sold few products. He traded.
+Even his grain, which afterward became the farmer's great cash crop, was
+raised in small quantities and ground at the nearest mill--not for
+export, but for a return migration to the family flour-barrel.
+
+The new farmer has always existed--because he is the old farmer growing.
+He has kept pace with our industrial evolution. When the régime of
+barter passed away, he ceased to barter. When the world's market became
+a fact, he raised wheat for the world's market. As agriculture became a
+business, he became a business man. As agricultural science began to
+contribute to the art of farming, he studied applied science. As
+industrial education developed, he founded and patronized institutions
+for agricultural education. As alertness and enterprise began to be
+indispensable in commercial activity, he grew alert and enterprising.
+
+The mossback is the man who has either misread the signs of the times,
+or who has not possessed the speed demanded in the two-minute class. He
+is the old farmer gone to seed. He tries to fit the old methods to the
+new régime.
+
+But it is not sufficient to picture the new farmer. You must explain
+him. What is it that makes the new farmer? Who is he? What are his
+tools? In the first place, you cannot explain the new farmer unless you
+know the old farmer. You cannot have the new farmer unless you also
+have the mossback. The new farmer is a comparative person, as it were.
+You have to define him in terms of the mossback. The contrast is not
+between the old farmer and the new, for that is merely a question of
+relative conditions in different epochs of time. The contrast is between
+the new farmer and the mossback, for that is a question of men and of
+their relative efficiency as members of the industrial order. Then, of
+course, you must observe the individual traits that characterize the new
+farmer, such as keenness, business instinct, readiness to adopt new
+methods, and, in fact, all the qualities that make a man a success today
+in any calling. For the new farmer, in respect to his personal
+qualities, is not a sport, a phenomenon. He does not stand out as a
+distinct and peculiar specimen. He is a successful American citizen who
+grows corn instead of making steel rails.
+
+But you have not yet explained the new farmer. These personal traits do
+not explain him. It may be possible to explain an individual and his
+success by calling attention to his characteristics, and yet you cannot
+completely analyze him and his career unless you understand the
+conditions under which he works--the industrial and social environment.
+Much less can you explain a class of people by describing their personal
+characteristics. You must reach out into the great current of life that
+is about them, and discern the direction and power of that current.
+
+Now, the conditions that tend to make the new farmer possible may be
+grouped in an old-fashioned way under two heads. In the old scientific
+phrases the two forces that make the new farmer are the "struggle for
+life" and "environment," or, to use other words, competition and
+opportunity.
+
+Competition has pressed severely upon the farmer, competition at home
+and competition from other countries. At one time the heart of the
+wheat-growing industry of this country was near Rochester, N. Y., in the
+Genesee Valley; but the canal and the railway soon made possible the
+occupation of the great granary of the west. A multitude of ambitious
+young men soon took possession of that granary, and the flour-mills were
+moved from Rochester to Minneapolis. This is an old story, but the same
+forces are still at work. There has been developed a world-market. The
+sheep of the Australian bush have become competitors of the flocks that
+feed upon the green Vermont mountains and the Ohio hills. The plains of
+Argentina grow wheat for London. Russia, Siberia, and India pour a
+constant stream of golden grain into the industrial centers of Western
+Europe, and the price of American wheat is fixed in London. These forces
+have produced still another kind of competition; namely, specialization
+among farmers. Localities particularly adapted to special crops are
+becoming centers where skill and intelligence bring the industry to its
+height. The truck-farming of the South Atlantic region, the fruit
+growing of western Michigan, the butter factories of Wisconsin and
+Minnesota, have crowded almost to suffocation the small market-gardener
+of the northern town, the man with a dozen peach trees, and the farmer
+who keeps two cows and trades the surplus butter for calico. These
+things have absolutely forced progress upon the farmer. It is indeed a
+"struggle for life." Out of it comes the "survival of the fittest," and
+the fittest is the new farmer.
+
+But along with competition has come opportunity. Indeed, out of these
+very facts that have made competition so strenuous spring the most
+marvelous opportunities for the progressive farmer. Specialization
+brings out the best that there is in the locality and the man. It gives
+a chance to apply science to farming. Our transportation system permits
+the peach growers of Grand Rapids to place their crops at a profit in
+the markets of Buffalo and Pittsburg; the rich orchards and vineyards of
+Southern California find their chief outlet in the cities of the
+manufacturing Northeast--three thousand miles away. During the forty
+years, from 1860, the exports of wheat from this country increased from
+four million bushels annually to one hundred and forty million bushels;
+of corn, from three and one-third million bushels to one hundred and
+seventy-five million bushels; of beef products, from twenty million
+pounds to three hundred and seventy million pounds; of pork products,
+from ninety-eight million pounds to seventeen hundred million pounds.
+And not only do the grain and stock farmers find this outlet for their
+surplus products, but we are beginning to ship abroad high-grade fruit
+and first-class dairy products in considerable quantities. Low rates of
+freight, modern methods of refrigeration, express freight trains, fast
+freight steamers--the whole machinery of the commercial and financial
+world are at the service of the new farmer. Science, also, has found a
+world of work in ministering to the needs of agriculture, and in a
+hundred different ways the new farmer finds helps that have sprung up
+from the broadcast sowing of the hand of science.
+
+But perhaps even more remarkable opportunities come to the new farmer in
+those social agencies that tend to remove the isolation of the country;
+that assist in educating the farmer broadly; that give farmers as a
+class more influence in legislature and congress, and that, in fine,
+make rural life more worth the living. The new farmer cannot be
+explained until one is somewhat familiar with the character of these
+rural social agencies. They have already been enumerated and classified
+in a previous chapter; they will be more fully described in subsequent
+chapters.
+
+It must not be supposed that every successful farmer is necessarily a
+supporter of all of these social agencies. He may be a prosperous farmer
+just because he is good at the art of farming, or because he is a keen
+business man. But more and more he is coming to see that these things
+are opportunities that he cannot afford to disregard. Indeed, some of
+these institutions are largely the creation of the new farmer himself.
+He is using them as tools to fashion a better rural social structure.
+
+But they also fashion him. They serve to explain him, in great part.
+Competition inspires the farmer to his best efforts. The opportunity
+offered by these new and growing advantages gives him the implements
+wherewith to make his rightful niche in the social and industrial
+system.
+
+It would be erroneous to suppose that the new farmer is a _rara avis_.
+He is not. The spirit pervading the ranks of farmers is rapidly
+changing. We have been in a state of transition in agriculture. But the
+farther shore has been reached and the bridge is possible. The army of
+rural advancement is being recruited with great rapidity. The advance
+guard is more than a body of scouts, it is an effective brigade.
+
+I want also to make a plea for the mossback. He must not be condemned
+utterly. Remember that competition among farmers has been intense; that
+rural environment breeds conservatism. Remember also that the farmer
+cannot change his methods as rapidly as can some other business men.
+Remember, too, that there is comparatively small chance for speculation
+in agriculture; that large aggregates of capital cannot be collected for
+farming, and consequently, that the approved means for securing immense
+wealth, great industrial advancement, and huge enterprises are nearly
+absent in agriculture. Remember that the voices calling from the city
+deplete the country of many good farmers as well as of many poor ones.
+Moreover, there are many men on farms who perhaps don't care for
+farming, but who for some reason cannot get away. On the farm a man need
+not starve; he can make a livelihood. Doubtless this simple fact is
+responsible for a multitude of mossbacks. They can live without
+strenuous endeavor. Possibly a good many of us are strenuous because we
+are pushed into it. So I have a good deal of sympathy for the mossback,
+and a mild sort of scorn for some of his critics, who probably could not
+do any better than he is doing if they essayed the gentle art of
+agriculture. I also have sympathy for the mossback particularly because
+he is the man that needs attention. The new farmer takes the initiative.
+He patronizes these opportunities that we have been talking about. But
+the mossback, because he is discouraged, or because he is ignorant, or
+perhaps merely because he is conservative, takes little interest in
+these things. About one farmer in ten belongs to some sort of farmers'
+association. Thousands of farmers do not take an agricultural paper, and
+perhaps millions of them have not read an agricultural book. Right here
+comes in another fact. Every "new" farmer when full grown competes with
+every mossback. The educated farmer makes it still harder for the
+ignorant farmer to progress.
+
+The future of the American farmer is one of the most pregnant social
+problems with which we have to deal. There is indeed an issue involved
+in the success of the new farmer that is still more fundamental than any
+yet mentioned. The old farmer had a social standing that made him
+essentially a middle-class man. He was a landholder, he was independent,
+he was successful. He was the typical American citizen. The old farmer
+was father to the best blood of America. His sons and his sons' sons
+have answered to the roll call of our country's warriors, statesmen,
+writers, captains of industry.
+
+Can the new farmer maintain the same relative social status? And if he
+can, is he to be an aristocrat, a landlord, a captain of industry, and
+to bear rule over the mossback? And is the tribe of mossbacks destined
+to increase and become a caste of permanent tenants or peasants? Is the
+future American farmer to be the typical new farmer of the present, or
+are we traveling toward a social condition in which the tillers of the
+soil will be underlings? Is there coming a time when the "man with the
+hoe" will be the true picture of the American farmer, with a low
+standard of living, without ideals, without a chance for progress?
+
+We must eliminate the mossback. It is to be done largely by education
+and by co-operation. There must be a campaign for rural progress. There
+must be a union of the country school teacher, of the agricultural
+college professor, of the rural pastor, of the country editor, with the
+farmers themselves, for the production of an increased crop of new
+farmers. Anything that makes farm life more worth living, anything that
+banishes rural isolation, anything that dignifies the business of
+farming and makes it more prosperous, anything that broadens the
+farmer's horizon, anything that gives him a greater grasp of the rural
+movement, anything that makes him a better citizen, a better business
+man, or a better _man_, means the passing of the mossback.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CULTURE FROM THE CORN LOT[2]
+
+
+The question of questions that the college student asks himself is, What
+am I going to be? The surface query is, What am I going to _do_? But in
+his heart of hearts he ponders the deeper questions: What may I become
+in real intellectual and moral worth? How large a man, measured by the
+divine standards, will it be possible for me to grow into?
+
+These are the great questions because growth is the great end of life.
+That is what we are here for, to grow. To develop all our talents, all
+our possibilities, to increase our native powers of body, mind, and
+soul--this is life. It is important that we have a vocation. We must do
+something, and do it well. But the real end is not in working at a
+profession but in developing our abilities. Our symmetrical growth is
+the measure of our success as human beings.
+
+As the student looks out over the ocean of life and scans the horizon
+for signs of the wise course for him to take, he should decide whether
+the particular mode of life that now appeals to him will yield the
+greatest possible measure of growth. He must consult his tastes, his
+talents, his opportunities, his training. And the test question is, Will
+this line of work yield me the growth, the culture, I desire?
+
+But what are the elements that yield culture to an individual? Using
+culture in a very broad sense as a synonym for growth, we may say that
+the things contributing most to the culture of the average person are
+his work, his leisure, and his service to others. We may now try to
+answer the question we started with, as it presents itself to many a
+student in the agricultural colleges of our country. Will agriculture as
+a business, will the farm life and environment, contribute to the growth
+which I desire for myself? Can I extract culture from the corn lot?
+
+Let us first see if the work or vocation of farming gives culture. My
+answer would be that there is scarcely an occupation to be named that
+requires broader knowledge, more accurate observation, or the exercise
+of better judgment than does modern farming. The farmer deals with the
+application of many sciences. He must be an alert business man. He
+requires executive talent of no mean order. The study of his occupation
+in its wider phases leads him into direct contact with political
+economy, social movements, and problems of government. The questions
+confronting him as a farmer relate themselves to the leading realms of
+human knowledge and experience. I speak of course of the progressive
+farmer, who makes the best use of his opportunities. He can hardly hope
+to become immensely wealthy, but he can maintain that modest standard of
+living that usually is the lot of our most useful and cultured people
+and that ministers as a rule most fully to the ideal family life. The
+truly modern farmer cannot help growing.
+
+There is much hard work on the farm. Yet on the whole there is fully as
+much leisure as in most other occupations. There is time to read, and
+books are today so easily accessible that living in the country is no
+bar to the bookshelf. Better than time to read is time to think. The
+farmer has always been a man who pondered things in his heart. He has
+had a chance to meditate. No culture is sound except it has been bought
+by much thinking; all else is veneer. Farm life gives in good measure
+this time to think. But it is in nature that the farmer finds or may
+find his most fertile field for culture. Here he is at home. Here he
+may revel if he will. Here he may find the sources of mind-liberation
+and of soul-emancipation. He may be the envy of everyone who dwells in
+the city because he lives so near to nature's heart. Bird and flower,
+sky and tree, rock and running brook speak to him a various language. He
+may read God's classics, listen to the music of divine harmonies, and
+roam the picture galleries of the Eternal. So too in his dealings with
+his kind, he lives close to men and women who are frank, virile, direct,
+clean, independent. The culture coming from such associations is above
+price. One learns to pierce all shams, to honor essential manhood, to
+keep pure the fountains of sympathy, ambition, and love. Thus on the
+farm one may find full opportunity for that second means of culture,
+leisure.
+
+Another powerful agency for cultivating the human soul is service.
+Indeed, service is the dynamic of life. To be of use is the ambition
+that best stimulates real growth. Culture is the end of life, the spirit
+of service the motive power. So it is of this I would speak perhaps most
+fully, not only because it is a vital means of culture, but because it
+is also peculiarly the privilege and duty of the college man and the
+college woman. For let it be said that if any college student secures a
+diploma of any degree without having been seized upon by a high ambition
+to be of some use in the work of helping humanity forward, then have
+that person's years of study been in vain, and his teaching also vain.
+The college man comes not to be ministered unto but to minister. He has
+been poorly taught if he leaves college with no thought but for his
+material success. He must have had a vision of service, his lips touched
+with a coal from the altar of social usefulness, and his heart
+cultivated to respond to the call for any need he can supply, "Here am
+I, send me."
+
+I think it may safely be said that there is no field which offers better
+chance for leadership to the average college man or woman than does the
+farm. Take, for instance, politics. The majority of our states are
+agricultural states. The majority of our counties are agricultural
+counties. The agricultural vote is the determining factor in a large
+proportion of our elections. It follows inevitably that honest, strong
+farmers with the talent for leadership and the ability to handle
+themselves in competition with other political leaders have a
+marvelously fine chance for useful service.
+
+So is it in educational questions. Nowhere may the citizen come into
+closer contact with the educational problems of the day than through
+service on the rural school board. If he brings to this position trained
+intelligence, some acquaintance with educational questions, and a desire
+to keep in touch with the advancement of the times, he can do for his
+community a service that can hardly be imagined.
+
+Take another field--that of organization for farmers, constituting a
+problem of great significance. As yet this class of people is relatively
+unorganized, but the movement is growing and the need of well-trained
+leadership is vital. I cannot speak too strongly of the chance here
+offered for active, intelligent, masterful men and women in being of use
+as leaders and officials in the Grange and other farmers' organizations.
+
+So with the church question. One of the reasons for the slow progress of
+the country church is the conservatism in the pews as well as in the
+pulpit. The ardent member of the Young Men's Christian Association in
+college may feel that, in the country, there will be no outlet for his
+ambition to be of religious use to his fellow-men. This is a mistake.
+The work of the Young Men's Christian Association itself in the country
+districts is just beginning, and promises large growth. Wider service in
+the church, a community federation or union of different churches, the
+work of young people's societies and of the Sunday schools--all these
+afford abundant opportunity for the man or the woman qualified and
+willing.
+
+There are other lines of usefulness. Although I have stated that on the
+farm the opportunities for personal culture are great, it must be
+confessed that these opportunities are not fully utilized by the average
+farmer's family. Here then is a very wide field, especially for the
+farmer's wife. For if she is a cultivated college woman, she can through
+the woman's club, the Grange, the school, the nature-study club, the
+traveling library, and in scores of ways exercise an influence for good
+on the community that may have far greater results than would come from
+her efforts if expended in the average city. The farm home too has
+latent capacities that are yet to be developed. It ought to be the ideal
+home and, in many cases, it is. But there are not enough of such ideal
+homes in the country. No college woman with a desire to do her full
+service in the world ought for an instant to despise the chance for
+service as it exists on the farm.
+
+All of these opportunities so briefly suggested might be enlarged upon
+almost indefinitely, but the mere mention of them emphasizes the call
+for this service and this leadership. Nowhere are leaders more needed
+than in the country. The country has been robbed of many of its
+strongest and best. The city and perhaps the nation are gainers: but the
+country has suffered. From one point of view, the future of our farming
+communities depends upon the quality of leadership that we are to find
+there during the next generation.
+
+So we come back to our question, Can the farm be made to yield to the
+man or woman, residing upon it and making a living from it, that measure
+of growth and all-round development that the ambitious person wishes to
+attain? And our answer is, Yes. In its work, its leisure, its field for
+service, it may minister to sound culture. If you love the life and work
+of the farm, do not hesitate to choose that occupation for fear of
+becoming narrow or stunted. You can live there the full, free life. You
+can grow to your full stature there. You can get culture from the corn
+lot.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[2] Addressed to students in an agricultural college.
+
+
+
+
+THE AGENCIES OF PROGRESS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+EDUCATION FOR THE FARMER
+
+
+The two generations living subsequent to the year 1875 are to be
+witnesses of an era in American history that will be known as the age of
+industrial education. These years are to be the boundaries of a period
+when the general principle that every individual shall be properly
+trained for his or her occupation in life is to receive its practical
+application. Future generations will doubtless extend marvelously the
+limits to which the principle can be pushed in its ministrations to
+human endeavor, but we are in the time when the principle is first to
+receive general acceptation and is to be regarded as a fundamentally
+necessary fact of human progress.
+
+We are already "witnesses of the light." Even within the memory of young
+men has it come to pass that the old wine skins of the old educational
+institutions have been filled with the new wine of science and of
+knowledge and training applied to the industries and businesses of life.
+
+Agriculture has perhaps been slow to feel the current of the new wine
+as it flows from the wine press of fast-growing industrial and social
+need. But the least hopeful of us can, I am sure, already see signs of a
+vast awakening. The farm, as well as the pulpit, the bar, the
+schoolroom, the shop, the counting-room, is breathing in the new idea
+that knowledge and training can be made of use to every man.
+
+This awakening is due not merely to the desire of agriculturists to be
+in fashion, nor to the efforts of agricultural pedagogues, but to a real
+need. It is common knowledge that in America we have not farmed, but
+have mined the soil. We have "skimmed the cream" of fertility, and
+passed on to conquer new areas of virgin soil. This pioneer farming has
+required hard work, enterprise, courage, and all the noble traits of
+character that have made our American pioneers famous and that have
+within a century subdued a wilderness to civilization. But the farmer of
+today faces a new situation. The fertile lands are fairly well occupied.
+The old lands are depleted. These old lands must be handled skilfully if
+they are to produce profitably. They must be used because there is
+little else to use, and because they are near the best markets.
+Meantime, scientists have been studying the deep things of nature, and
+have been learning the laws that govern soil, plant, and animal. Thus we
+have the farmer's need met by the theorist's discoveries. The farmer, to
+avail himself of these discoveries must know their meaning and be able
+to apply the general principle to the specific case. This means
+agricultural education.
+
+Then again, the consumption of high-class products increases at least as
+rapidly as does our wealth. The demand comes not alone from the rich,
+but from the middle classes of our cities. Skilled artisans are large
+consumers of choice meats, fruits, and vegetables. To grow these
+high-grade products means skill, and skill means training, and training
+in the large sense means education.
+
+The need for agricultural education, is, then, a real and vital one. It
+is pressed upon us by economic and social conditions. It is in line with
+the movement of the age.
+
+In discussing agricultural education, we must not forget that the farmer
+is also a citizen and a man. He should be an intelligent citizen, and
+should therefore study questions of government. As a man, he should be
+the equal of other men of his same social rank. He therefore needs a
+good general education. He is more than mere farmer. While as farmer he
+must connect his business with its environment and out of his
+surroundings gain sound culture; while he should know nature, not only
+as its master, but as its friend; he should also be in sympathy with all
+that makes modern civilization worth while. And even as mere farmer, he
+finds himself face to face with grave social problems. He must not only
+produce but he must sell, and his selling powers are governed by
+conditions of the market, by transportation facilities and practices,
+and are affected by the laws of the land. Hence he must be a student of
+these problems and must know the broad phases of agriculture and its
+relations to other industries.
+
+No intelligent man doubts the need of agricultural education. Let us,
+then, say a word about the kind of education demanded. This question is
+settled very largely by the discussion we have just had about the need
+of this education. First of all, this education will give a fair mastery
+of the principles that govern proper soil management and plant and
+animal growth. This is fundamental. The farmer is dealing with natural
+laws, and he must know in them their applications. He cannot be blind
+to their dominance. They insist on recognition. They are jealous masters
+and good servants. Nature serves only the man who obeys her. To obey he
+must know. The truth shall make him free. How to secure larger crops of
+better products at less cost and still maintain soil fertility, is the
+first demand of modern agriculture, and its solution depends in large
+measure upon education.
+
+But education does not stop here. The farmer is also a seller as well as
+a producer. He is a business man. He is manager of an industry. He is an
+investor of capital. So the question will arise, Can he get any help
+from education in the handling of the business phases of his farm? He
+certainly can. You cannot teach a man business in the sense of supplying
+him with good sense, business judgment, ability to handle men, and so
+on. But you can study the general conditions that govern the business of
+agriculture, and you can report the results of your researches to the
+practical farmer; and he, if he is willing, may learn much that will be
+helpful to him in deciding the many difficult questions that confront
+him as a business man. Farm administration in its largest sense will,
+then, be a most important phase of agricultural education.
+
+It is quite possible for the individual farmer to succeed admirably if
+he is equipped with a sound training in the principles of production and
+in farm management. But there are still larger questions that farmers as
+a class must meet if agriculture is to have its full success and if the
+farmer himself is to occupy the social position he ought to have.
+Agriculture is an industry among industries. Farmers are a class among
+classes. As an industry, agriculture has relations to other industries.
+It is subject to economic laws. It involves something more than growing
+and selling. The nature of the market, railroad rates, effects of the
+tariff and of taxation, are questions vital to agriculture. So with the
+farmers socially considered. Their opportunities for social life, their
+school facilities, their church privileges, their associations and
+organizations--all these are important matters. So agricultural
+education will not fail to call attention to these larger questions.
+
+The well-educated farmer will, then, be trained in three lines of
+thought--first, that which deals with the growth of products; second,
+that which deals with the selling of products; and third, that which
+deals with agriculture as an industry and farmers as a class of people.
+
+We may next discuss as briefly as possible the methods by which
+agricultural education may be advanced. We may not consider all of them,
+but rather attend only to some of those agencies that seem of peculiar
+interest just at this time.
+
+There is one underlying requisite of successful agricultural education
+that is all-important. It is faith in agriculture. Any man to succeed
+grandly must have absolute faith in his business. So the farmer must
+believe in agriculture. Agriculture cannot attain its highest rank
+unless the men engaged in it believe in it most profoundly. They must
+believe that a man can make money in farming. They must love the farm
+life and surroundings. They must believe that the best days of
+agriculture are ahead of us, not behind us. They must believe that men
+can find in agriculture a chance to use brains and to develop talents
+and to utilize education. Agricultural education rests on this faith.
+Give us a state filled with such farmers and we can guarantee a strong
+system of agricultural education. But the seeds of education cannot grow
+in a soil barren of the richness of sentiment for and confidence in the
+farm. Our agricultural colleges have been criticized because they have
+graduated so few farmers. But the fault is not all with the colleges.
+The farmers also are to blame. They have not had faith enough in the
+farm to advise young men to go to college to prepare for farming. They
+admit the value of education for the law, for building railroads, but
+not for farming. This must be changed, is being changed. The last ten
+years have seen a revolution in this respect, and the result is a mighty
+increase in agricultural educational interest.
+
+One powerful means of agricultural education is the farmers'
+organization or association. All our dairy, horticultural, poultry, and
+live-stock associations are great educators. So of an organization like
+the Grange, its chief work is education. It brings mind in contact with
+mind; it gives chance for discussion and interchange of ideas; it trains
+in power of expression; it teaches the virtue of co-operation. Farmers
+blunder when they fail to encourage organization. Sometimes, out of
+foolish notions of independence, they neglect to unite their forces.
+They are utterly blind to their best interests when they do so. They
+should encourage organization if for no other reason than for the
+splendid educational advantages that flow from it.
+
+However, our chief interest is, perhaps, in those institutions that are
+formed purposely and especially for agricultural education and which are
+usually supported out of public funds. There are three great fields of
+endeavor in which these institutions are working. The first step is to
+know--to know the truth. So in agriculture we must know. Know what? Know
+how nature works. So the man of science studies the soil and finds out
+what plant-food it contains, how the water acts in it, what heat and air
+do, and the inter-relation of all these elements. He studies the plant
+and its habits and tries to discover how it grows and how it can be
+improved for man's use. He studies the animal and endeavors to learn
+what are the best foods for it and what laws govern its adaptation to
+human food. He studies climate and tries to find out what plants and
+animals are most appropriate to different locations. He studies
+injurious insects and diseases and devises remedies for them. He
+discovers, experiments. So we have research as the first term in
+agricultural education. The institutions of research are our experiment
+stations and United States Department of Agriculture. Their work may be
+likened to the plowing of the field. They strive to know how nature
+works, and how man can make use of her laws in the growing of plant and
+animal.
+
+The next thing is to teach. The farmer too must know. Knowledge confined
+to the scientist has little practical use. It is the farmer who can use
+it. Moreover, new teachers must be trained, new experimenters equipped,
+and leaders in every direction prepared. So we have agricultural
+colleges and schools. If experiment is to be likened to plowing, the
+work of the schools may be compared to sowing and cultivating.
+
+Agricultural colleges have been in existence in America almost fifty
+years. Their careers have been both inspiring and disappointing. They
+have had to train their own teachers, create a body of knowledge, break
+down the bars of educational prejudice. This work has taken time. The
+results justify the time and effort. For today agricultural education is
+becoming organized, the subjects of study are well planned, and
+competent men are teaching and experimenting. The disappointment is
+twofold. They have not graduated as many farmers as they should have.
+This is due not wholly to wrong notions in the colleges. It is, as
+suggested before, partly due to the lack of faith in agriculture on the
+part of the farmers themselves. But the colleges are in part to blame.
+Many of them have not been in close touch with the farmers. They have
+often been out of sympathy with the interests of the farmers. They have
+too frequently been servile imitators of the traditions of the older
+colleges, instead of striking out boldly on a line of original and
+helpful work for agriculture. Today, however, we see a rapid change
+going on in most of our agricultural colleges. They are seeking to help
+solve the farmers' difficulties. They are training young men for farm
+life. The farmers are responding to this new interest and are beginning
+to have great confidence in the colleges.
+
+It is sometimes said that most farmers who get an agricultural education
+cannot be trained in the colleges. Doubtless this is true. Probably a
+very small proportion even of educated farmers can or will graduate from
+a full course in an agricultural college. Many will do so. There is no
+reason why a large proportion of the graduates of our college courses in
+agriculture may not go to the farm. I have no sympathy with the idea
+that those courses are too elaborate for those young men who want to
+farm. It must be recognized, however, that even if our agricultural
+colleges shall graduate hundreds and thousands every year who return to
+the farm, it still leaves the great majority of farmers untouched in an
+educational way unless other means are devised. But there are other
+means at hand.
+
+We have first the agricultural school. The typical agricultural high
+school gives a course of two or three years, offering work of
+high-school grade in mathematics and English, with about half the time
+devoted to teaching in agriculture. Many young men want to get an
+insight into the principles of modern agriculture, but cannot afford
+time or money for college work. This course fits their need. A splendid
+school of this design has been in successful operation in Minnesota for
+more than a dozen years, and has nearly five hundred students. In
+Wisconsin there are two county schools of agriculture for a similar
+purpose. Other schools could be named.
+
+The agricultural colleges also offer shorter courses of college grade,
+perhaps of two years. These are very practical and useful courses. Not
+only that, but nearly all the colleges give special winter courses of
+from ten days to fourteen weeks. These are patronized by thousands of
+young men. So in many ways are the colleges meeting the need. We all
+agree that it is desirable for a young man to take a full college
+course, even in agriculture. But it is better to have a half-loaf than
+no bread. Yes, better to have a _slice_ than no bread. The colleges
+furnish the whole loaf, the half-loaf, and the slice. And young men are
+nourished by all.
+
+One reason why agricultural education has not made more rapid progress
+is because the children of the country schools have been taught in such
+a manner as to lead them to think that there is no chance for brains in
+farming. Both their home influence and their school atmosphere have, in
+most cases perhaps, been working against their choice of agriculture as
+a vocation. It therefore becomes important that these children shall be
+so taught that they can see the opportunity in farming. They must,
+moreover, be so trained that they will be nature students; for the
+farmer above all men must be a nature student. So we see the need of
+introducing into our rural schools nature-study for the young pupils and
+elementary agriculture for the older ones. This is being successfully
+accomplished in many cases, and is arousing the greatest interest and
+meeting with gratifying success. We shall within ten years have a new
+generation of young men and women ready for college who have had their
+eyes opened as never before to the beauties of nature and to the
+fascination there is in the farmer's task of using nature for his own
+advantage.
+
+But when we have increased the attendance at our agricultural colleges
+tenfold; when we have hundreds of agricultural schools teaching
+thousands of our youth the fundamentals of agriculture; when each rural
+school in our broad land is instilling into the minds of children the
+nearness and beauty of nature and is teaching the young eyes to see and
+the young ears to hear what God hath wrought in his many works of land
+and sea and sky, in soil, and plant, and living animal--even when that
+happy day shall dawn will we find multitudes of men and women on our
+farms still untouched by agricultural education. These people must be
+reached. The mere fact that their school days are forever behind them is
+no reason why they shall not receive somewhat of the inspiration and
+guidance that flow from the schools. So we have an imperative demand for
+the extension of agricultural teaching out from the schools to the farm
+community. The school thus not only sheds its light upon those who are
+within its gates, but sets out on the beautiful errand of carrying this
+same light into every farm home in the land. This work is being done
+today by thousands of farmers' institutes, by demonstrations in spraying
+and in many other similar lines, by home-study courses and
+correspondence courses, by co-operative experiments, by the distribution
+of leaflets and bulletins, by lectures at farmers' gatherings, by
+traveling schools of dairying. These methods and others like them are
+being invoked for the purpose of bringing to the farmers in their homes
+and neighborhoods some of the benefits that the colleges and schools
+bestow upon their pupils.
+
+We have seen something of the need of agricultural education, of the
+kind of education required, and of the means used to secure it. Does not
+this discussion at least show the supreme importance of the question?
+Will not the farmers rally themselves to and league themselves with the
+men who are trying to forward the best interests of the farm? Shall we
+not all work together for the betterment both of the farm and of the
+farmer?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FARMERS' INSTITUTES
+
+
+A decade and a half ago, there was a vigorous campaign for the
+establishment of university extension throughout the United States.
+Generally speaking the campaign was a losing one--with but a few
+successes amid general failure. But many years before this agitation,
+there was begun a work among farmers, which in form and spirit was
+university extension, and which has constantly developed until it is
+today one of the most potent among the forces making for rural progress.
+This work has been done chiefly by what are now universally known as
+farmers' institutes.
+
+The typical farmers' institute is a meeting usually lasting two days,
+held for the purpose of discussing subjects that relate to the interests
+of farmers, more particularly those of a practical character. As a rule,
+the speakers to whom set topics are assigned are composed of two
+classes: the first class is made up of experts, either professors or
+experimenters in agricultural colleges and similar institutions, or
+practical farmers who have made such a study of, and such a conspicuous
+success in, some branch of agriculture that they may well be called
+experts; the second class comprises farmers living in the locality in
+which the institute is held. The experts are expected to understand
+general principles or methods, and the local speakers the conditions
+peculiar to the neighborhood.
+
+The meeting usually begins in the forenoon and ends with the afternoon
+session of the second day--five sessions being held. As a rule, not over
+two or three separate topics are treated in any one session, and in a
+well-planned institute topics of a like character are grouped together,
+so that there may be a fruit session, a dairy session, etc. Each topic
+is commonly introduced by a talk or paper of twenty to forty minutes'
+length. This is followed by a general discussion in which those in the
+audience are invited to ask questions of the speaker relevant to the
+topic under consideration, or to express opinions and give experiences
+of their own.
+
+This is a rough outline of the average farmers' institute, but of course
+there are many variations. There are one-day meetings and there are
+three-day meetings, and in recent years the one-day meetings have grown
+in favor; in some states local speakers take little part; in some
+institutes a question-box is a very prominent feature, in others it is
+omitted altogether; in some cases the evening programme is made up of
+educational topics, or of home topics, or is even arranged largely for
+amusement; in other instances the evening session is omitted. In most
+institutes women are recognized through programme topics of special
+interest to them.
+
+It is not important to trace the early history of the farmers' institute
+movement, and indeed it is not very easy to say precisely when and where
+the modern institute originated. Farmers' meetings of various sorts were
+held early in the century. As far back as 1853 the secretary of the
+Massachusetts Board of Agriculture recommended that farmers' institutes
+be made an established means of agricultural education. By 1871 Illinois
+and Iowa held meetings called farmers' institutes, itinerant in
+character, and designed to call together both experts and farmers, but
+neither state kept up the work systematically. Both Vermont and New
+Hampshire have held institutes annually since 1871, though they did not
+bear that name in the early years. Michigan has a unique record, having
+held regularly, since 1876, annual farmers' institutes, "so known and
+designated," which always have contained practically the essential
+features of the present-day institute. The Michigan legislature passed a
+law in 1861 providing for "lectures to others than students of the
+Agricultural College," and has made biennial appropriations for
+institutes since 1877. Ohio, in 1881, extended the institute idea to
+include every county in the state.
+
+More important than the origin of the farmers' institute movement is the
+present status. Practically every state and territory in the Union
+carries on institutes under some form or other. In somewhat more than
+half the states, the authorities of the land-grant colleges have charge
+of the work. In the other states, the board of agriculture or the
+department of agriculture has control.
+
+In 1905-6 there were held 3,500 institutes, in 45 states and
+territories, with a total reported attendance of 1,300,000 people, at a
+cost of nearly $350,000. The work is largely supported by the state
+treasuries, some of the states showing a most generous spirit. The
+annual state appropriations for the work in leading institute states are
+as follows: Pennsylvania, $20,500; New York, $20,000; Minnesota,
+$18,000; Illinois, $17,150; Ohio, $16,747; Wisconsin, $12,000; Indiana,
+$10,000. In these states practically every county has annually from one
+to five institutes.
+
+Institutes in no two states are managed in the same way, but the system
+has fitted itself to local notions and perhaps to local needs. A rough
+division may be made--those states which have some form of central
+control and those which do not have. Even among states having a central
+management are found all degrees of centralization; Wisconsin and Ohio
+may be taken as the extremes. In Wisconsin the director of institutes,
+who is an employee of the university, has practically complete charge of
+the institutes. He assigns the places where the meetings are to be held,
+basing his decision upon the location of former institutes in the
+various counties, upon the eagerness which the neighborhoods seem to
+manifest toward securing the institute, etc. He arranges the programme
+for each meeting, suiting the topics and speakers to local needs,
+prepares advertising materials, and sets the dates of the meeting. A
+local correspondent looks after a proper hall for meeting, distributes
+the advertising posters, and bears a certain responsibility for the
+success of the institute. Meetings are arranged in series, and a corps
+of two or three lecturers is sent by the director upon a week's tour.
+One of these lecturers is called a conductor. He usually presides over
+the institute and keeps the discussions in proper channels. Practice
+makes him an expert. The state lecturers do most of the talking. Local
+speakers do not bear any large share in the programme. Questions are
+freely asked, however.
+
+Ohio has an institute society in each county, and this society largely
+controls its own institutes. The secretary of the State Board of
+Agriculture, who has charge of the system, assigns dates and speakers to
+each institute. After that everything is in the hands of the local
+society, which chooses the topics to be presented by the state speakers,
+advertises the meeting, and the society president acts as presiding
+officer. Local speakers usually occupy half the time.
+
+It does not seem as if either of these plans in its entirety were
+ideal--the one an extreme of centralized control, the other an extreme
+of local management. Yet in practice both plans work well. No states in
+the Union have better institutes nor better results from institute work
+than Wisconsin and Ohio. Skill, intelligence, and tact count for more
+than particular institutions.
+
+New York may be said to follow the Wisconsin plan. Minnesota goes even a
+step farther; instead of holding several series of institutes
+simultaneously in different parts of the state, attended by different
+"crews," the whole corps of state speakers attends every institute. No
+set programmes are arranged. Everything depends upon local conditions.
+This system is expensive, but under present guidance very effective.
+Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylvania have adopted systems which are a
+mean between the plan of centralization and the plan of localization.
+Illinois has a plan admirably designed to encourage local interest,
+while providing for central management.
+
+Few other states have carried institute work so far as the states
+already named, and in some cases there seems to be a prejudice against a
+well-centralized and fully-developed system--a feeling that each
+locality may be self-sufficing in institute work. But this attitude is
+wearing away, for experience serves to demonstrate fully the value of
+system. The danger of centralization is bureaucracy; but in institute
+work, if the management fails to provide for local needs, and to furnish
+acceptable speakers, vigorous protests soon correct the aberration.
+
+It has been stated that in America we have no educational _system_--that
+spontaneity is the dominant feature of American education. This is
+certainly true of farmers' institutes. So it has transpired that
+numerous special features have come in to use in various
+states--features of value and interest. It may be worth while to suggest
+some of the more characteristic of these features, without attempting an
+exact category.
+
+Formerly the only way in which women were recognized at the institutes
+was by home and social topics on the programme, though women have always
+attended the meetings freely. Some years ago Minnesota and Wisconsin
+added women speakers to their list of state speakers, and in the case of
+Wisconsin, at least, held a separate session for women, simultaneously
+with one or two sessions of the regular institute, with demonstration
+lectures in cooking as the chief features. Michigan holds "women's
+sections" in connection with institutes, but general topics are taken
+up. In Ontario separate women's institutes have been organized. In
+Illinois a State Association of Domestic Science has grown out of the
+institutes. Thus institute work has broadened to the advantage of farm
+women.
+
+At many institutes there are exhibits of farm and domestic products--a
+sort of midwinter fair. Oftentimes the merchants of the town in which
+the institute is held offer premiums as an inducement to the farmers.
+
+In Wisconsin an educational feature of much value takes the form of
+stock-judging--usually at the regular autumn fairs. The judges give
+their reasons for their decisions, thus emphasizing the qualities that
+go to make up a perfect or desirable animal.
+
+In several states there is held an annual state institute called a
+"round-up," "closing institute," or the like. It is intended to be a
+largely attended and representative state convention of agriculturists,
+for the purpose of discussing topics of general interest to men and
+women from the farms. These meetings are frequently very large and
+enthusiastic gatherings.
+
+The county institute society is a part of the organization in some
+instances very well developed. It gives permanency to the work and
+arouses local interest and pride.
+
+The development of men and women into suitable state speakers is an
+interesting phase. As a rule the most acceptable speakers are men who
+have made a success in some branch of farming, and who also have
+cultivated the gift of clear and simple expression. Not a few of these
+men become adepts in public speaking and achieve a reputation outside of
+their own states. In several states there is held a "normal
+institute"--an autumn meeting lasting a week or two weeks, and bringing
+together, usually at the state college of agriculture, the men who are
+to give the lectures at the institutes of the winter to follow. The
+object of the gathering is to bring the lecturers into close contact
+with the latest things in agricultural science, and to train them for
+more effective work.
+
+A few years ago the United States Department of Agriculture employed an
+experienced institute director to give all his time to the study and
+promotion of farmers' institutes. This incident is suggestive of the
+important place which institutes have secured in the work for better
+farming.
+
+The results of a generation of institute work are not easy to summarize.
+It is safe to make a broad generalization by asserting that this form
+of agricultural education has contributed in a remarkable degree to
+better farming. The best methods of farming have been advocated from the
+institute platform. Agricultural college professors, and agricultural
+experimenters have talked of the relations of science to practical
+farming. The farmers have come to depend upon the institute as a means
+for gaining up-to-date information.
+
+And if institutes have informed, they have also done what is still
+better--they have inspired. They have gone into many a dormant farm
+community and awakened the whole neighborhood to a quicker life. They
+have started discussions, set men thinking, brought in a breath of fresh
+air. They have given to many a farmer an opportunity for
+self-development as a ready speaker.
+
+Other educational agencies, such as the agricultural colleges and
+experiment stations, have profited by institutes. No one thing has done
+more than the institutes to popularize agricultural education, to stir
+up interest in the colleges, to make the farmers feel in touch with the
+scientists.
+
+Farmers' institutes are a phase of university extension, and it is as a
+part of the extension movement that they are bound to increase in value
+and importance. Reading-courses and correspondence-courses are growing
+factors in this extension movement, but the power of the spoken word is
+guarantee that the farmers' institute cannot be superseded in fact. And
+it is worth noting again, that while university extension has not been
+the success in this country which its friends of a decade ago fondly
+prophesied for it, its humbler cousin--agricultural college
+extension--has been a conspicuous success, and is acquiring a constantly
+increasing power among the educational agencies that are trying to deal
+with the farm problem.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE HESPERIA MOVEMENT
+
+
+The gulf between parent and teacher is too common a phenomenon to need
+exposition. The existence of the chasm is probably due more to
+carelessness, to the pressure of time, or to indolence than to any more
+serious delinquencies; yet all will admit the disastrous effects that
+flow from the fact that there is not the close intellectual and
+spiritual sympathy that there should be between the school and the home.
+It needs no argument to demonstrate the value of any movement that has
+for its purpose the bridging of the gulf. But it is an omen of
+encouragement to find that there are forces at work designed to bring
+teacher and school patron into a closer working harmony. A statement of
+the history and methods of some of these agencies may therefore well
+have a place in a discussion of rural progress. For the movements to be
+described are essentially rural-school movements. Of first interest is
+an attempt which has been made in the state of Michigan to bridge the
+gulf--to create a common standing-ground for both teacher and
+parent--and on that basis to carry on an educational campaign that it is
+hoped will result in the many desirable conditions which, a priori,
+might be expected from such a union. At present the movement is confined
+practically to the rural schools. It consists in the organization of a
+county Teachers and Patrons' Association, with a membership of teachers
+and school patrons, properly officered. Its chief method of work is to
+hold one or more meetings a year, usually in the country or in small
+villages, and the programme is designed to cover educational questions
+in such a way as to be of interest and profit to both teachers and
+farmers.
+
+This movement was indigenous to Michigan--its founders worked out the
+scheme on their own initiative, and to this day its promoters have never
+drawn upon any resources outside the state for suggestion or plan. But
+if the friends of rural education elsewhere shall be attracted by this
+method of solving one of the vexed phases of their problem, I hope that
+they will describe it as "the Hesperia movement." For the movement
+originated in Hesperia, was developed there, and its entire success in
+Hesperia was the reason for its further adoption. Hesperia deserves any
+renown that may chance to come from the widespread organization of
+Teachers and Patrons' Associations.
+
+And where is Hesperia? It lies about forty miles north and west of Grand
+Rapids--a mere dot of a town, a small country village at least twelve or
+fifteen miles from any railroad. It is on the extreme eastern side of
+Oceana County, surrounded by fertile farming lands, which have been
+populated by a class of people who may be taken as a type of
+progressive, successful, intelligent American farmers. Many of them are
+of Scotch origin. Partly because of their native energy, partly,
+perhaps, because their isolation made it necessary to develop their own
+institutions, these people believe in and support good schools, the
+Grange, and many progressive movements.
+
+For several years there had existed in Oceana County the usual county
+teachers' association. But, because Hesperia was so far from the center
+of the county, and because it was not easily accessible, the teachers
+who taught schools in the vicinity could rarely secure a meeting of the
+association at Hesperia; and in turn they found it difficult to attend
+the meetings held in the western part of the county. A few years ago it
+chanced that this group of teachers was composed of especially bright,
+energetic, and original young men and women. They determined to have an
+association of their own. It occurred to someone that it would add
+strength to their organization if the farmers were asked to meet with
+them. The idea seemed to "take," and the meetings became quite popular.
+This was during the winter of 1885-86. Special credit for this early
+venture belongs to Mr. E. L. Brooks, still of Hesperia and an
+ex-president of the present association, and to Dr. C. N. Sowers, of
+Benton Harbor, Mich., who was one of the teachers during the winter
+named, and who was elected secretary of the Board of School Examiners in
+1887. Mr. Brooks writes:
+
+
+     The programmes were so arranged that the participants in
+     discussions and in the reading of papers were about equally divided
+     between teachers and patrons. An active interest was awakened from
+     the start. For one thing, it furnished a needed social gathering
+     during the winter for the farmers. The meetings were held on
+     Saturdays, and the schoolhouse favored was usually well filled. The
+     meetings were not held at any one schoolhouse, but were made to
+     circulate among the different schools. These gatherings were so
+     successful that similar societies were organized in other portions
+     of the country.
+
+
+In 1892, Mr. D. E. McClure, who has since (1896-1900) been deputy
+superintendent of public instruction of Michigan, was elected
+county-school commissioner of Oceana County. Mr. McClure is a man of
+great enthusiasm and made a most successful commissioner. He conceived
+the idea that this union of teachers and patrons could be made of the
+greatest value, in stimulating both teachers and farmers to renewed
+interest in the real welfare of the children as well as a means of
+securing needed reforms. His first effort was to prepare a list of books
+suitable for pupils in all grades of the rural schools. He also prepared
+a rural lecture-course, as well as a plan for securing libraries for the
+schools. All these propositions were adopted by a union meeting of
+teachers and farmers. His next step was to unite the interests of
+eastern Oceana County and western Newaygo County (Newaygo lying directly
+east of Oceana), and in 1893 there was organized the "Oceana and Newaygo
+Counties Joint Grangers and Teachers' Association," the word "Granger"
+being inserted because of the activity of the Grange in support of the
+movement. Mr. McClure has pardonable pride in this effort of his, and
+his own words will best describe the development of the movement:
+
+
+     This association meets Thursday night and continues in session
+     until Saturday night. Some of the best speakers in America have
+     addressed the association. Dr. Arnold Tompkins, in speaking before
+     the association, said it was a wonderful association and the only
+     one of its character in the United States.
+
+     What was my ideal in organizing such associations?
+
+     1. To unite the farmers who pay the taxes that support the schools,
+     the home-makers, the teachers, the pupils, into a co-operative work
+     for better rural-school education.
+
+     2. To give wholesome entertainment in the rural districts, which
+     from necessity are more or less isolated.
+
+     3. To create a taste for good American literature in home and
+     school, and higher ideals of citizenship.
+
+     4. Summed up in all, to make the rural schools character-builders,
+     to rid the districts of surroundings which destroy character, such
+     as unkept school yards, foul, nasty outhouses, poor, unfit
+     teachers. These reforms, you understand, come only through a
+     healthy educational sentiment which is aroused by a sympathetic
+     co-operation of farm, home, and school.
+
+     What results have I been able to discover growing out of this work?
+     Ideals grow so slowly that one cannot measure much progress in a
+     few years. We are slaves to conditions, no matter how hard, and we
+     suffer them to exist rather than arouse ourselves and shake them
+     off. The immediate results are better schools, yards,
+     out-buildings, schoolrooms, teachers, literature for rural people
+     to read.
+
+     Many a father and mother whose lives have been broken upon the
+     wheel of labor have heard some of America's orators, have read some
+     of the world's best books, because of this movement, and their
+     lives have been made happier, more influential, more hopeful.
+
+     Thousands of people have been inspired, made better, at the
+     Hesperia meetings.
+
+
+In western Michigan the annual gathering at Hesperia is known far and
+wide as "the big meeting." The following extract from the Michigan
+_Moderator-Topics_ indicates in the editor's breezy way the impression
+the meeting for 1906 made upon an observer:
+
+
+     Hesperia scores another success. Riding over the fourteen miles
+     from the railroad to Hesperia with Governor Warner and D. E.
+     McClure, we tried to make the latter believe that the crowd would
+     not be forthcoming on that first night of the fourteenth annual
+     "big meeting." It was zero weather and mighty breezy. For such a
+     movement to succeed two years is creditable, to hold out for five
+     is wonderful, to last ten is marvelous, but to grow bigger and
+     better for fourteen years is a little short of miraculous. McClure
+     is recognized as the father of the movement and his faith didn't
+     waver a hair's breadth. And sure enough there was the
+     crowd--standing room only, to hear the governor and see the great
+     cartoonist J. T. McCutcheon of the _Chicago Tribune_. For three
+     evenings and two days the big hall is crowded with patrons, pupils
+     and teachers from the towns and country round. During the fourteen
+     years that these meetings have been held, the country community has
+     heard some of the world's greatest speakers. The plan has been
+     adopted by other counties in Michigan and other states both east
+     and west. Its possibilities are well-nigh unlimited and its power
+     for good is immeasurable. Everyone connected with it may well feel
+     proud of the success attending the now famous "Hesperia Movement."
+
+
+In 1897, Kent County, Michigan (of which Grand Rapids is the county
+seat), organized a Teachers and Patrons' Association that is worth a
+brief description, although in more recent years its work has been
+performed by other agencies. It nevertheless serves as a good example of
+a well-organized association designed to unite the school and home
+interests of rural communities. It was for several years signally
+successful in arousing interest in all parts of the county. Besides, it
+made a departure from the Oceana-Newaygo plan which must be considered
+advantageous for most counties. The Hesperia meeting is an annual
+affair, with big crowds and abundant enthusiasm. The Kent County
+association was itinerant. The membership included teachers, school
+officers, farmers generally, and even pupils. An attempt was made to
+hold monthly meetings during the school year, but for various reasons
+only five or six meetings a year were held. The meetings usually
+occurred in some Grange hall, the Grange furnishing entertainment for
+the guests. There were usually three sessions--Friday evening and
+Saturday forenoon and afternoon. The average attendance was nearly five
+hundred, about one-tenth being teachers; many teachers as well as
+farmers went considerable distances to attend.
+
+The Kent County association did not collect any fees from its members,
+the Teachers' Institute fund of the county being sufficient to provide
+for the cost of lectures at the association meetings. Permission for
+this use of the fund was obtained from the state superintendent of
+public instruction. Some counties have a membership fee; at Hesperia,
+the fee is 50 cents, and a membership ticket entitles its holder to a
+reserved seat at all sessions. The Kent County association also
+suggested a reading-course for its members.
+
+The success of the work in Kent County was due primarily to the fact
+that the educators and the farmers and their leaders are in especially
+close sympathy. And right there is the vital element of success in this
+work. The initiative must be taken by the educators, but the plan must
+be thoroughly democratic, and teacher and farmer must be equally
+recognized in all particulars. The results of the work in Kent County
+were thus summarized by the commissioner of schools of the county:
+
+
+     To teachers, the series of meetings is a series of mid-year
+     institutes. Every argument in favor of institutes applies with all
+     its force to these associations. To farmers they afford a near-by
+     lecture course, accessible to all members of the family, and of as
+     high grade as those maintained in the larger villages. To the
+     schools, the value is in the general sentiment and interest
+     awakened. The final vote on any proposed school improvement is
+     taken at the annual school meeting, and the prevailing sentiment in
+     the neighborhood has everything to do with this vote. And not only
+     this, but the general interest of patrons may help and cheer both
+     teacher and pupils throughout the year. On the other hand,
+     indifference and neglect may freeze the life out of the most
+     promising school. There is no estimating the value to the schools
+     in this respect.
+
+
+The Kent County association had a very simple constitution. It is
+appended here for the benefit of any who may desire to begin this
+beneficent work of endeavoring to draw more closely together rural
+schools and country homes.
+
+
+     ARTICLE I.--NAME
+
+     This association shall be known as "The Kent County Teachers and
+     Patrons' Association."
+
+
+     ARTICLE II.--MEMBERSHIP
+
+     Any person may become a member of this association by assenting to
+     this constitution and paying the required membership fee.
+
+
+     ARTICLE III.--OBJECTS
+
+     The object of this association shall be the promotion of better
+     educational facilities in all ways and the encouragement of social
+     and intellectual culture among its members.
+
+
+     ARTICLE IV.--MEETINGS
+
+     At least five meetings of the association shall be held each year,
+     during the months of October, November, January, February, and
+     March, the dates and places of meetings to be determined and
+     announced by the executive committee. Special meetings may be
+     called at the election of the executive committee.
+
+
+     ARTICLE V.--OFFICERS
+
+     SECTION 1. The officers of the association shall be a president, a
+     vice-president, a secretary, a treasurer, and an executive
+     committee composed of five members to be appointed by the
+     president.
+
+     SEC. 2. The election of officers shall occur at the regular meeting
+     of the association in the month of October.
+
+     SEC. 3. The duties of each officer shall be such as parliamentary
+     usage assigns, respectively, according to Cushing's Manual.
+
+     SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the executive committee to arrange
+     a schedule of meetings and to provide suitable lecturers and
+     instructors for the same on or before the first day of September of
+     each year. It shall be the further duty of this committee to devise
+     means to defray the expenses incurred for lecturers and
+     instructors. All meetings shall be public, and no charge for
+     admission shall be made, except by order of the executive
+     committee.
+
+
+     ARTICLE VI.--COURSE OF READING
+
+     SECTION 1. The executive committee may also recommend a course of
+     reading to be pursued by members, and it shall be their duty to
+     make such other recommendations from time to time as shall have for
+     their object the more effective carrying out of the purposes of the
+     association.
+
+
+Whether the Oceana County plan of a set annual meeting or the Kent
+County plan of numerous itinerant meetings is the better one depends
+much on the situation. It is not improbable that itinerant meetings,
+with an annual "round-up" meeting of the popular type as the great event
+of the school year, would be very satisfactory.
+
+Other counties in the state have taken up the Hesperia idea. In some
+cases associations similar to the Kent County association have been
+developed. More recently the work has frequently been carried on by the
+county commissioner of schools directly. "Institutes on wheels" have
+become a factor in the campaign for better rural schools. One
+commissioner writes:
+
+
+     My aim has been to bring into very close relationship teachers,
+     patrons, and pupils. This is done, in part, in the following
+     manner: I engage, for a week's work at a time, some educator of
+     state or national reputation to ride with me on my visitation of
+     schools. Through the day, schools are visited, pupils' work
+     inspected, and in the evening, a rally is held in the locality
+     visited in that day. A circuit is made during the week, and Friday
+     evening and the Saturday following a general round-up is held. The
+     results of this work have been far reaching. Teachers, patrons, and
+     pupils are brought into close relationship and a higher standard of
+     education is developed.
+
+
+The form of organization matters little. The essential idea of the
+"Hesperia movement" was to bring together the teacher and the school
+patron on a common platform, to a common meeting-place, to discuss
+subjects of common interest. This idea must be vitalized in the rural
+community before that progress in rural-school matters which we desire
+shall become a fact.
+
+It is only fair to say that administrators of rural-school systems in
+several states are attempting in one way or another, and have done so
+for some years, to bring together teachers and school patrons. In Iowa
+there are mothers' clubs organized for the express purpose of promoting
+the best interests of the schools. In many of the communities the county
+superintendent organizes excursions, and holds school contests which are
+largely attended by patrons of the schools.
+
+Ohio has what is known as the "Ohio School Improvement Federation." Its
+objects are: (1) to create a wholesome educational sentiment in the
+citizenship of the state; (2) to remove the school from partisan
+politics; (3) to make teaching a profession, protected and justly
+compensated. County associations of the federation are being organized
+and the effort is being made to reach the patrons of the schools and to
+create the right public sentiment. In many of the teachers' institutes
+there is one session devoted entirely to subjects that are of special
+interest to the school-board members and to the patrons of the schools.
+Educational rallies are held in many of the townships, at which effort
+is made to get together all the citizens and have an exhibit of school
+work.
+
+In Minnesota, a law was passed recently to the effect that school
+officers within a county may attend one educational convention a year
+upon call of the county superintendent. They receive therefor, three
+dollars for one day's services and five cents mileage each way for
+attendance. Already a number of very successful conventions have been
+held, wherein all school districts in the counties have been
+represented.
+
+The county institutes in Pennsylvania are largely attended by the public
+and are designed to reach patrons as well as teachers.
+
+In Kansas, county superintendents have organized school-patrons'
+associations and school-board associations, both of which definitely
+purpose to bring together the school and the home and the officers of
+the school into one body and to co-operate with individuals for the
+purpose of bettering the school conditions.
+
+Doubtless other states are carrying on similar methods.
+
+An interesting movement wholly independent of the Hesperia plan has
+recently been put into operation under the leadership of Principal Myron
+T. Scudder of the State Normal School, New Paltz, N. Y. He has organized
+a series of country-school conferences. They grew out of a recognized
+need, but were an evolution rather than a definite scheme. The school
+commissioner, the teachers, and the Grange people of the community have
+joined in making up the conference. An attempt is also made to interest
+the pupils. At one conference there was organized an athletic league for
+the benefit of the boys of the country school. The practical phases of
+nature-study and manual training are treated on the programme, and at
+least one session is made a parents' meeting. There is no organization
+whatever.
+
+Dr. A. E. Winship, of the _Journal of Education_, Boston, had the
+following editorial in the issue of June 21, 1906:
+
+
+     It is now fourteen years since D. E. McClure spoke into being the
+     Hesperia movement, which is a great union of educational and farmer
+     forces, in a midwinter Chautauqua, as it were. Twelve miles from
+     the railroad, in the slight village of Hesperia, a one-street
+     village, one side of the street being in one county and the other
+     side in another, for three days and evenings in midwinter each
+     year, in a ramshackle building, eight hundred people from all parts
+     of the two counties sit in reserved seats, for which they pay a
+     good price, and listen to one or two notable speakers and a number
+     of local functionaries. One-half of the time is devoted to
+     education and the other to farm interests.
+
+     It is a great idea, well worked out, and after fourteen years it
+     maintains its lustiness, but I confess to disappointment that the
+     idea has not spread more extensively. It is so useful there, and
+     the idea is so suggestive, that it should have been well-nigh
+     universal, and yet despite occasional bluffs at it, I know of no
+     serious effort to adopt it elsewhere, unless the midwinter meeting
+     at Shelby, in one of these two counties, can be considered a spread
+     of the idea. This child of the Hesperia movement, in one of the two
+     counties, and only twenty miles away, had this year many more in
+     attendance than have ever been at Hesperia.
+
+
+This work of uniting more closely the interests, sympathies, and
+intelligence of the teachers and patrons of the rural school has had a
+test in Michigan of sufficient length to prove that it is a practicable
+scheme. No one questions the desirability of the ends it is prepared to
+compass, and experience in Michigan shows not only that where the
+educators have sufficient enterprise, tact, enthusiasm, and persistence
+the necessary organizations can be perfected, but that substantial
+results follow. For the sake of better rural schools, then, it is
+sincerely to be hoped that the "Hesperia movement" may find expression
+in numerous teachers and patrons' associations in at least the great
+agricultural states.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE RURAL SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY
+
+
+Among the great phenomena of our time is the growth of the school
+idea--the realization of the part that the school plays in our
+civilization and in the training of our youth for life. Our New England
+fathers started the school in order that their children might learn to
+read the Scriptures, and thus that they might get right ideas of their
+religious duty. Even after this aim was outgrown, our schools for
+generations did little more than to teach the use of the mere tools of
+knowledge; to read, to write, and to cipher were the great gains of the
+schoolroom. Even geography and grammar were rather late arrivals. Then
+came the idea that the school should train children for citizenship, and
+it was argued that the chief reason why schools should be supported at
+public expense was in order that good citizens should be trained there.
+History and civil government were put into the course in obedience to
+this theory. Another step was taken when physiology was added, because
+it was an acknowledgment that the schools should do something to train
+youth in the individual art of living. Still another step was taken when
+manual training and domestic science were brought into our city schools,
+because these studies emphasize the fact that the schools must do
+something to train workers. And finally we have at present the idea
+gaining a strong foothold that the schools must train the child to fill
+its place in the world of men; to see all the relations of life; to be
+fitted to live in human society. This idea really embraces all of the
+other ideas. It implies that the schools shall not only teach each
+individual the elements of knowledge, that they shall train for
+citizenship, that they shall train men in the art of living, that they
+shall aid in preparing for an occupation, but that they shall do _all_
+of these things, and do them not merely for the good of the individual,
+but for the good of society as a whole.
+
+And not only is there a feeling that the pupil in school can be brought
+into closer touch with the life of the community, but that the school as
+an institution can be made more useful to the community as a whole. This
+double thought has been expressed in the phrase, "Make the school a
+social center," and practically it is being slowly worked out in
+numerous city schools. How far can this idea be developed in the country
+school?
+
+The purpose of this chapter is not to deal in the theory of the subject,
+nor to argue particularly for this view of the function of the school,
+but rather to try to show some methods by which the rural school and the
+farm community actually can be brought into closer relations. In this
+way we may perhaps indicate that there is a better chance for
+co-operation between the rural school and the farm community than we
+have been accustomed to believe, and that this closer relation is worth
+striving for. Five methods will be suggested by which the rural school
+can become a social center. Some of these have already been tried in
+rural communities, some of them have been tried in cities, and some of
+them have not been tried at all.
+
+1. The first means of making the rural school a social center is through
+the course of study. It is here that the introduction of nature-study
+into our rural schools would be especially helpful. This nature-study
+when properly followed approves itself both to educators and to farmers.
+It is a pedagogical principle recognized by every modern teacher that in
+education it is necessary to consider the environment of the child, so
+that the school may not be to him "a thing remote and foreign." The
+value of nature-study is recognized not only in thus making possible an
+intelligent study of the country child's environment, but in teaching a
+love of nature, in giving habits of correct observation, and in
+preparing for the more fruitful study of science in later years. Our
+best farmers are also coming to see that nature-study in the rural
+schools is a necessity, because it will tend to give a knowledge of the
+laws that govern agriculture, because it will teach the children to love
+the country, because it will show the possibilities of living an
+intellectual life upon the farm. Nature-study, therefore, will have a
+very direct influence in bringing the child into close touch with the
+whole life of the farm community.
+
+But it is not so much a matter of introducing new studies--the old
+studies can be taught in such a way as to make them seem vital and
+human. Take, for instance, geography. It used to be approached from the
+standpoint of the solar system. It now begins with the schoolhouse and
+the pupils' homes, and works outward from the things that the child sees
+and knows to the things that it must imagine. History, writing,
+reading, the sciences, and even other subjects can be taught so as to
+connect them vitally and definitely with the life of the farm community.
+To quote Colonel Parker, who suggests the valuable results of such a
+method of teaching:
+
+
+     It would make a strong, binding union of the home and the school,
+     the farm methods and the school methods. It would bring the farm
+     into the school and project the school into the farm. It would give
+     parent and teacher one motive in the carrying out of which both
+     could heartily join. The parent would appreciate and judge fairly
+     the work of the school, the teacher would honor, dignify and
+     elevate the work of the farm.
+
+
+The study of the landscape of the near-by country, the study of the
+streams, the study of the soils, studies that have to do with the
+location of homes, of villages, the study of the weather, of the common
+plants, of domestic animals--all of these things will give the child a
+better start in education, a better comprehension of the life he is to
+live, a better idea of the business of farming, a better notion about
+the importance of agriculture, and will tend to fit him better for
+future life either on the farm or anywhere else, than could any amount
+of the old-fashioned book knowledge. Is it not a strange fact that so
+many farmers will decry book knowledge when applied to the business of
+farming, and at the same time set so much store by the book learning
+that is given in the common arithmetic, the old-fashioned reader, and
+the dry grammar of the typical school? Of course anyone pleading for
+this sort of study in the rural schools must make it clear that the
+ordinary accomplishments of reading, writing, and ciphering are not to
+be neglected. As a matter of fact, pupils under this method can be just
+as well trained in these branches as under the old plan. The point to be
+emphasized, however, is that a course of study constructed on this
+theory will tend to bring the school and the community closer together,
+will make the school of more use to the community, will give the
+community more interest in the school, while at the same time it will
+better prepare pupils to do their work in life.
+
+2. A second way of making the rural school a social center is through
+the social activities of the pupils. This means that the pupils as a
+body can co-operate for certain purposes, and that this co-operation
+will not only secure some good results of an immediate character,
+results that can be seen and appreciated by everyone, but that it will
+teach the spirit of co-operation--and there is hardly anything more
+needed today in rural life than this spirit of co-operation. The schools
+can perform no better service than in training young people to work
+together for common ends. In this work such things as special day
+programmes, as for Arbor Day, Washington's Birthday, Pioneer Day; the
+holding of various school exhibitions; the preparation of exhibits for
+county fairs, and similar endeavors, are useful and are being carried
+out in many of our rural schools. But the best example of this work is a
+plan that is being used in the state of Maine, and is performed through
+the agency of what is called a School Improvement League. The purposes
+of the league are: (1) to improve school grounds and buildings; (2) to
+furnish suitable reading-matter for pupils and people; (3) to provide
+works of art for schoolrooms. There are three forms of the league, the
+local leagues organized in each school; the town leagues, whose
+membership consists of the officers of the local leagues; and a state
+league, whose members are delegates from the town leagues and members of
+the local leagues who hold school diplomas. Any pupil, teacher, school
+officer, or any other citizen may join the league on payment of the
+dues. The minimum dues are one cent a month for each pupil, for other
+members not less than ten cents a term. But these dues may be made
+larger by vote of the league. Each town league sends a delegate to the
+meeting of the state league. Each league has the usual number of
+officers elected for one term. These leagues were first organized in
+1898 and they have already accomplished much. They have induced school
+committees to name various rural schools for distinguished American
+citizens, as Washington, Lincoln, and so forth. They give exhibitions
+and entertainments for the purpose of raising funds. Sometimes they use
+these funds to buy books for the schoolroom. The books are then loaned
+to the members of the league; at the end of the term this set of books
+is exchanged for another set of books from another school in the same
+township. In this way, at a slight expense, each school may have the use
+of a large number of books every year. The same thing is done with
+pictures and works of art, these being purchased and exchanged in the
+same way. Through the efforts of the league schoolhouses have been
+improved, inside and out, and the school grounds improved. It is not so
+much the doing of new things that has been attempted by this league.
+The important item is that the school has been _organized_ for these
+definite purposes, and the work is carried on systematically from year
+to year. It needs no argument to show the value of this sort of
+co-operation to the pupil, to the teacher, to the school, to the
+parents, and ultimately to the community as a whole.
+
+3. A third method is through co-operation between the home and the
+school, between the teacher and pupils on one side, and parents and
+taxpayers on the other side. Parents sometimes complain that the average
+school is a sort of mill, or machine, into which their children are
+placed and turned out just so fast, and in just such condition. But if
+this is the case, it is partly the fault of the parents who do not keep
+in close enough touch with the work of the school. It is not that
+parents are not interested in their children, but it is rather that they
+look at the school as something separate from the ordinary affairs of
+life. Now, nothing can be more necessary than that this notion should be
+done away with. There must be the closest co-operation between the home
+and school. How can this co-operation be brought about? Frequently
+parents are urged to visit the schools. This is all right and proper,
+but it is not enough. There must be a closer relation than this. The
+teacher must know more about the home life of her pupils, and the
+parents must know far more about the whole purpose and spirit, as well
+as the method, of the school. A great deal of good has been done by the
+joint meeting of teachers and school officers. It is a very wise device,
+and should be kept up. But altogether the most promising development
+along this line is the so-called "Hesperia movement," described in
+another chapter. These meetings of school patrons and teachers take up
+the work of the school in a way that will interest both teachers and
+farmers. They bring the teachers and farmers into closer touch socially
+and intellectually. They disperse fogs of misunderstanding. They inspire
+to closer co-operation. They create mutual sympathy. They are sure to
+result in bringing the teacher into closer touch with community life and
+with the social problems of the farm. And they are almost equally sure
+to arouse the interest of the entire community, not only in the school
+as an institution and in the possibilities of the work it may do, but
+also in the work of that teacher who is for the time being serving a
+particular rural school.
+
+4. A fourth method is by making the schoolhouse a meeting-place for the
+community, more especially for the intellectual and aesthetic activities
+of the community. A good example of this kind of work is the John Spry
+School of Chicago. In connection with this school there is a lecture
+course each winter; there is a musical society that meets every Tuesday
+evening; there is a men's club that meets every two weeks to discuss
+municipal problems and the improvement of home conditions; there is a
+woman's club to study for general improvement and social service; there
+is a mothers' council meeting every two weeks; there is a literary and
+dramatic society, meeting every week, composed of members of high-school
+age, and studying Shakespeare particularly; there is a dressmaking and
+aid society meeting two evenings a week, to study the cutting of
+patterns, garment-making, etc.; a food-study and cooking club, also
+meeting two evenings a week; an inventive and mechanical club, meeting
+two evenings a week, and tending to develop the inventive and mechanical
+genius of a group of young men; an art club; and a boy's club, with
+music, games, reading-lessons, reading of books and magazines, intended
+for boys of fourteen or fifteen years of age. These things are all
+under the direction of the school, they are free, they are designed to
+educate. It will not be feasible for the rural school to carry out such
+a programme as this, but do we realize how large are the possibilities
+of this idea of making the rural school a community center? No doubt one
+of the advantages of the centralized rural school will be to give a
+central meeting-place for the township, and to encourage work of the
+character that has been described. Of course, the Grange and farmers'
+clubs are doing much along these lines, but is it not possible for the
+district school also to do some useful work of this character?
+Singing-schools and debating clubs were quite a common thing in the
+rural schools forty years ago, and there are many rural schools today
+that are doing work of this very kind. Is there any reason, for example,
+why the country schoolhouse should not offer an evening school during a
+portion of the winter, where the older pupils who have left the regular
+work of the school can carry on studies, especially in agriculture and
+domestic science? There is need for this sort of thing, and if our
+agricultural colleges, and the departments of public instruction, and
+the local school supervisors, and the country teachers, and the farmers
+themselves, could come a little closer together on these questions the
+thing could be done!
+
+5. Fifth and last, as a method for making the school a social center, is
+the suggestion that the teacher herself shall become something of a
+leader in the farm community. The teacher ought to be not only a teacher
+of the pupils, but in some sense a teacher of the community. Is there
+not need that someone should take the lead in inspiring everyone in the
+community to read better books, to buy better pictures, to take more
+interest in the things that make for culture and progress? There are
+special difficulties in a country community. The rural teacher is
+usually a transient; she secures a city school as soon as she can; she
+is often poorly paid; she is sometimes inexperienced; frequently the
+labor of the school absorbs all her time and energy. Unfortunately these
+things are so, but they ought not to be so. And we shall never have the
+ideal rural school until we have conditions favorable to the kind of
+work just described. The country teacher ought to understand the country
+community, ought to have some knowledge of the problems that the farmers
+have to face, ought to have some appreciation of the peculiar
+conditions of farm life. Every teacher should have some knowledge of
+rural sociology. The normal schools should make this subject a required
+subject in the course, especially for country teachers. Teachers'
+institutes and reading-circles should in some way provide this sort of
+thing. This is one of the most important means of bringing the rural
+school into closer touch with the farm community. Ten years ago Henry
+Sabin, of Iowa, one of the keenest students of the rural-school problem,
+in speaking of the supervision of country schools, said:
+
+
+     The supervisor of rural schools should be acquainted with the
+     material resources of his district. He should know not only what
+     constitutes good farming, but the prevailing industry of the region
+     should be so familiar to him that he can converse intelligently
+     with the inhabitants, and convince them that he knows something
+     besides books. The object is not alone to gain influence over them,
+     but to bring the school into touch with the home life of the
+     community about. It is not to invite the farmer to the school, but
+     to take the school to the farm, and to show the pupils that here
+     before their eyes are the foundations upon which have been built
+     the great natural sciences.
+
+
+The programme needed to unite rural school and farm community is then,
+first, to enrich the course of study by adding nature-study and
+agriculture, and about these co-ordinating the conventional school
+subjects; second, to encourage the co-operation of the pupils,
+especially for the improvement of the school and its surroundings;
+third, to bring together for discussion and acquaintance the teachers
+and the patrons of the school; fourth, so far as possible to make the
+schoolhouse a meeting-place for the community, for young people as well
+as for older people, where music, art, social culture, literature, study
+of farming, and in fact, anything that has to do with rural education,
+may be fostered; and fifth, to expect the teacher to have a knowledge of
+the industrial and general social conditions of agriculture, especially
+those of the community in which her lot is cast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE GRANGE
+
+
+The difficulty of uniting the farmers of America for any form of
+co-operative endeavor long ago became proverbial. The business of
+farming encouraged individualism; comparative isolation bred
+independence; and restricted means of communication made union
+physically difficult, even among those who might be disposed to unite.
+It was not strange, therefore, that the agricultural masses developed a
+state of mind unfavorable for organization--that they became suspicious
+of one another, jealous of leadership, unwilling to keep the pledges of
+union, and unable to sink personal views and prejudices.
+
+It must not be supposed, however, that the farmers themselves have
+failed to realize the situation, or that no genuinely progressive steps
+have been taken to remedy it. During the last four decades at least, the
+strongest men that the rural classes have produced have labored with
+their fellows, both in season and out of season, for union of effort;
+and their efforts have been by no means in vain. It is true that some of
+the attempts at co-operation have been ill-judged, even fantastic. It
+is true that much of the machinery of organization failed to work and
+can be found on the social junk-pile, in company with other discarded
+implements not wholly rural in origin. But it is also true that great
+progress has been made; that the spirit of co-operation is rapidly
+emerging as a factor in rural social life; and that the weapons of rural
+organization have a temper all the better, perhaps, because they were
+fashioned on the anvil of defeat.
+
+Among all these efforts to unite the farming classes, by far the most
+characteristic and the most successful is the Grange. The truth of this
+statement will immediately be questioned by those whose memory recalls
+the early rush to the Grange, "Granger legislation," and similar
+phenomena, as well as by those whose impressions have been gleaned from
+reading the periodicals of the late seventies, when the Grange tide had
+begun to ebb. Indeed, it seems to be the popular impression that the
+Grange is not at present a force of consequence, that long ago it became
+a cripple, if not a corpse. Only a few years ago, an intelligent
+magazine writer, in discussing the subject of farmers' organizations,
+made the statement, "The Grange is dead." But the assertion was not
+true. The popular impression must be revised. The Grange has
+accomplished more for agriculture than has any other farm organization.
+Not only is it at the present time active, but it has more real
+influence than it has ever had before; and it is more nearly a
+_national_ farmers' organization than any other in existence today.
+
+The Grange is also the oldest of the general organizations for farmers.
+Though the notion of organizing the farmers was undoubtedly broached
+early in the history of the country, the germ idea that actually grew
+into the Grange is about forty years old, and should be credited to Mr.
+O. H. Kelley, a Boston young man who settled on a Minnesota farm in
+1849. He wrote considerably for the agricultural press; and this
+experience helped to bring him to the conclusion that the great need of
+agriculture was the education of the agriculturist. He soon came to feel
+that existing agencies for this purpose--farm papers and fairs--were
+insufficient. In 1866, as agent for the Department of Agriculture, Mr.
+Kelley made a tour of the South, with the view of gaining a knowledge of
+the agricultural and mineral resources of that section. On this tour he
+became impressed with the fact that politicians would never restore
+peace to the country; that if it came at all, it would have to come
+through fraternity. As his thought ripened he broached to friends the
+idea of a "secret society of agriculturists, as an element to restore
+kindly feelings among the people."
+
+Thus the Grange was born of two needs, one fundamental and the other
+immediate. The fundamental need of agriculture was that farmers should
+be better educated for their business; and the immediate need was that
+of cultivating the spirit of brotherhood between the North and the
+South. The latter need no longer exists; but the fundamental need still
+remains and is sufficient excuse for the Grange's existence today. Mr.
+Kelley interested six other men in the new idea; and in December, 1867,
+these "seven founders of the order" organized the National Grange of
+Patrons of Husbandry. Mr. Kelley is the only one of these seven men now
+living.
+
+Thus was begun a movement for organization that had resulted by 1873 in
+the formation of over 20,000 Granges in 28 states, comprising not less
+than 750,000 members; and in that year the National Grange, as a
+representative body, was officially organized. For four or five years
+this unexampled prosperity continued; then the reports show a feeling of
+weakness creeping in. In fact, the order as a whole steadily declined in
+numbers and prestige during the whole of the decade following 1880. The
+losses were most serious, however, in the South and West; for in New
+England and the Middle States it retained its vitality, and, indeed,
+grew steadily.
+
+During the last fifteen years there has been a widespread revival of
+interest in the organization and the outlook is exceedingly promising.
+During the decade following 1890 the membership increased not less than
+75 per cent. During the last few years the rate of gain has been even
+greater. The following table gives the official records in the five
+leading Grange states:
+
+
+     =========================================================
+                  |        1900          |        1905
+                  | ------------------------------------------
+                  | Granges  |  Members  | Granges  |  Members
+     -------------|-------------------------------------------
+     New York     |   550    |   43,000  |   582    |   66,500
+     Maine        |   275    |   29,000  |   387    |   49,000
+     Michigan     |   420    |   25,000  |   731    |   45,000
+     Pennsylvania |   526    |   20,000  |   560    |   34,000
+     New Hampshire|   260    |   24,000  |   263    |   28,000
+     ---------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+These states lead, but the order is also active and strong in Vermont,
+Connecticut, Ohio, Massachusetts. Thirty states pay dues to the
+National Grange treasury, and twenty-six were represented by delegates
+at the last National Grange. Since 1905 there has been substantial
+growth in most of these twenty-six states, both in numbers of Granges
+and in membership.
+
+The official title of the Grange is "Patrons of Husbandry," of the
+members, "Patrons," and of the various divisions, "Granges." The
+"subordinate Grange," or local lodge, is the Grange unit. Its area of
+jurisdiction has, nominally, a diameter of about five miles; more
+roughly, "a Grange to a township" is the working ideal among the
+organizers. The membership consists of men and women, and of young
+people over fourteen years of age, who may apply and by vote be
+accepted. Constitutionally, those whose interests are not immediately
+with agriculture are ineligible to membership; and care is also
+exercised that only those who are of good repute shall be recommended.
+The presiding officer of each Grange is the "master;" while among the
+twelve other officers the "lecturer" is the most important, and
+virtually acts as programme committee, with charge of the educational
+work of the body. Meetings are held weekly or fortnightly. Each regular
+meeting has first its business session, and then its "lecturer's hour,"
+or literary session, usually with an intervening recess for social
+greetings, etc. The programmes are prepared by the lecturer, and consist
+of general discussions, essays, talks, debates, readings, recitations,
+and music; an attempt being made to suit the tastes and talents of all
+members, young and old. Many Granges have built and own their halls,
+which are usually equipped with kitchen and dining-room, in addition to
+audience rooms; for periodical "feasts" are as regular a feature of the
+association as are the initiations of new members.
+
+The Granges of a county or other given district often organize
+themselves into a "Pomona Grange." The "State Grange" is a delegate
+body, meeting annually; delegates being chosen by the subordinate and
+Pomona Granges. The "National Grange" is composed of the masters of
+State Granges and their wives, and is also an annual gathering. The
+National Grange is the legislative body of the order, and has full
+authority in all matters of doctrine and practice. But to State Granges
+is left the determination of policy and administration for the states.
+The State Granges, in turn, legislate for the subordinate Granges, while
+also passing down to them ample local powers. The machinery is thus
+strongly centralized, and subordinate Granges are absolutely dependent
+units of a great whole. Yet the principle of home rule pervades the
+organization; and local associations are responsible for their own
+methods and the results of their work, though their officers usually
+work in harmony with the State and National Granges.
+
+Perhaps the clearest conception of what the order originally meant to do
+can be gained from a few quotations from the Declaration of Purposes of
+the National Grange, which was promulgated over thirty years ago, and is
+still in force:
+
+
+     We shall endeavor to advance our cause by laboring to accomplish
+     the following objects:
+
+     To develop a better and higher manhood and womanhood among
+     ourselves. To enhance the comfort and attractions of our homes and
+     to strengthen our attachments to our pursuits. To foster mutual
+     understanding and co-operation. To maintain inviolate our laws, and
+     to emulate each other in labor, to hasten the good time coming. To
+     reduce our expenses, both individual and corporate. To buy less and
+     produce more, in order to make our farms self-sustaining. To
+     diversify our crops and crop no more than we can cultivate. To
+     condense the weight of our exports, selling less in the bushel and
+     more on hoof and in fleece; less in lint and more in warp and woof.
+     To systematize our work, and calculate intelligently on
+     probabilities. To discountenance the credit system, the mortgage
+     system, the fashion system, and every other system tending to
+     prodigality and bankruptcy.
+
+     We propose meeting together, talking together, working together,
+     buying together, selling together, and, in general, acting together
+     for our mutual protection and advancement, as occasion may require.
+     We shall avoid litigation, as much as possible, by arbitration in
+     the Grange. We shall constantly strive to secure entire harmony,
+     good will, vital brotherhood, among ourselves, and to make our
+     order perpetual. We shall earnestly endeavor to suppress personal,
+     local, sectional, and national prejudices, all unhealthy rivalry,
+     all selfish ambition. Faithful adherence to these principles will
+     insure our mental, moral, social, and material advancement.
+
+     For our business interests we desire to bring producers and
+     consumers, farmers and manufacturers, into the most direct and
+     friendly relations possible. Hence we must dispense with a surplus
+     of middle-men, not that we are unfriendly to them, but we do not
+     need them. Their surplus and their exactions diminish our profits.
+
+     We wage no aggressive warfare against any other interests whatever.
+     On the contrary, all our acts and all our efforts, so far as
+     business is concerned, are not only for the benefit of the producer
+     and consumer, but also for all other interests that tend to bring
+     these two parties into speedy and economical contact. Hence we hold
+     that transportation companies of every kind are necessary to our
+     success, that their interests are intimately connected with our
+     interests.
+
+     We are opposed to such spirit and management of any corporation or
+     enterprise as tends to oppress the people, and rob them of their
+     just profits. We are not enemies to capital, but we oppose the
+     tyranny of monopolies. We long to see the antagonism between
+     capital and labor removed by common consent, and by an enlightened
+     statesmanship worthy of the nineteenth century. We are opposed to
+     excessive salaries, high rates of interest, and exorbitant
+     per-cent. profits in trade.
+
+     We shall advance the cause of education among ourselves and for our
+     children, by all just means within our power. We especially
+     advocate for our agricultural and industrial colleges that
+     practical agriculture, domestic science, and all the arts which
+     adorn the home be taught in their courses of study.
+
+     We emphatically and sincerely assert the oft-repeated truth taught
+     in our organic law, that the Grange--national, state, or
+     subordinate--is not a political or party organization. No Grange,
+     if true to its obligations, can discuss political or religious
+     questions, or call political conventions, or nominate candidates,
+     or even discuss their merits at its meetings.
+
+     We always bear in mind that no one, by becoming a Patron of
+     Husbandry, gives up that inalienable right and duty which belongs
+     to every American citizen, to take a proper interest in the
+     politics of his country. On the contrary, it is his duty to do all
+     he can in his own party to put down bribery, corruption, and
+     trickery; to see that none but competent, faithful, and honest men,
+     who will unflinchingly stand by our industrial interests, are
+     nominated for all positions of trust; and to have carried out the
+     principle which should characterize every Patron, that the office
+     should seek the man, and not the man the office.
+
+
+To enumerate the achievements of the Grange would be to recall the
+progress of agriculture during the past third of a century. It has been
+a motor force in many helpful movements, and in many ways has organized
+and incorporated the best thought of the most intelligent farmers, about
+means for rural advancement. It has been an integral part of, and a most
+potent factor in, the expansion of American farm life.
+
+The greatest achievement of the order is that it has taught the farmers
+of America the value of co-operation and the power of organized effort.
+The lesson has not been fully learned, it is true; but the success of
+the institution testifies that it is possible for farmers to work in
+harmony. It is worth observing that this result has been achieved on
+conservative lines. It is comparatively easy to organize on radical
+lines; easy to generate enthusiasm by promising some great reform; easy
+to inflame self-interest by picturing millennial conditions, especially
+when the pocket is touched. But quite different is it to arouse and
+sustain interest in a large popular organization whose object is
+education, whose watchword is self-culture. Of course, it would be but
+a half-truth to assert that the order places all its emphasis on the
+sober problems of education. Agitation has had its place; the hope of
+better things for the farmer, to be achieved through legislation and
+business co-operation, has been an inspiration to activity; but the
+noteworthy fact remains that it has secured a fair degree of
+organization and co-operation among farmers chiefly by appeals to their
+larger and nobler interests.
+
+That the association has vastly improved the social opportunities of
+farmers is a trite saying among old observers of its work. It forces
+isolation out of the saddle. The regular meetings of the local bodies
+rapidly and surely develop the social instinct among the members. Pomona
+Granges bring together members from all parts of the county and make
+them acquainted with one another. The State Grange draws its membership
+from every corner of the state; and as its personnel changes each year,
+thousands are in the course of a few years given the wider outlook, the
+more extended acquaintance, and the broader view that participation in
+such a gathering affords. Special social features add their influence.
+
+As an educator on public questions the Grange has done a noble work. At
+nearly every meeting in this country, some topic of public concern is
+brought up by essay, talk, general discussion, or formal debate. The
+views of the "village Hampdens" may not always be economically
+scientific or scholarly. But it might surprise many people to see how
+well read the members are and how clearly they can express their ideas.
+Their discussions are not seldom informative, and that they make public
+opinion in rural communities is beyond cavil. The persistent advocacy of
+specific reforms has directed the thought of the members toward the
+larger issues that so often rise above the haze of partisan politics.
+
+The order has prepared the soil for adequate agricultural education.
+While the agricultural colleges formerly had many enemies among the
+farmers, and received scornful opprobrium from those whom they were
+endeavoring to help, almost without exception the Granges have praised
+the colleges, welcomed their work, and urged farmers to educate their
+sons at these institutions. Farmers' institutes, the agricultural
+experiment stations, and the federal Department of Agriculture have been
+equally welcomed by the Grange sentiment. The Grange has always taught
+the need of better rural education. It has also tended to develop its
+members, so that they may not only appreciate education, but that they
+may be themselves living examples of the value of such education.
+Farmers' institute lecturers frequently say, "You can always tell when
+you reach a community where a Grange exists." In that meeting will be
+found men who have read and thought on farm and public themes, men who
+are not only ready in discussion, apt in statement, and eager to
+question, but men acquainted with parliamentary law, who know how such
+assemblages should be conducted, and who can preside with dignity and
+grace.
+
+The order has undoubtedly aided materially in obliterating sectionalism.
+That achievement was one of its avowed objects. There is no question but
+it assisted in cementing North and South; and that it has brought East
+and West into closer sympathy is equally true. Other farm organizations
+have found their incentive in the order. These it has never frowned on,
+though believing and always hoping that it might attract the majority of
+farmers to its own ranks, and by this unity become a more powerful
+factor in securing the rights and developing the opportunities of the
+rural classes of America. It has always discountenanced the credit
+system; and that cash payments by farmers to merchants are far more
+common than a quarter-century ago may be fairly credited, in part at
+least, to its influence.
+
+To describe the many specific legislative achievements which the Granges
+of the nation and of the several states have accomplished would be
+tedious. Merely to enumerate a few of them must suffice here. A
+convenient summary is made from an official circular recently issued by
+the National Grange. The order has had a large influence in securing the
+following: The separation of certain agricultural colleges from
+universities which were receiving the land-grant funds, but were not, in
+the opinion of the farmers, duly contributing to agricultural education;
+the confining of the appropriations under the second Morrill act of 1890
+strictly to instruction in agriculture and mechanical arts; the Hatch
+Act of 1887, establishing an experiment station in each state and
+territory; making the head of the Department of Agriculture a cabinet
+official; the agitation resulting in the famous Iowa court decision,
+that railroad franchises are subject to the power that created them; the
+establishment of the Inter-State Commerce Commission; tax reform in
+many states; laws favoring pure food and dairy products; preventing
+extension of patents on sewing machines; the establishment of rural free
+mail delivery.
+
+The methods of work are many and varied. In addition to the regular
+literary and social programmes previously mentioned, socials are held at
+the homes of members, entertainments of various kinds occur at the
+Grange hall, and in many ways the association becomes the center of the
+social and intellectual interest of the community. It is debating
+society, club, lecture course, parliamentary society, theater, and
+circulating library. In fact, it lends itself to almost any function
+that will instruct, entertain, benefit, or assist its members
+financially, morally, intellectually, or socially. Of course, not every
+Grange is awake to its opportunities; but as a rule, where a live one
+exists it is the acknowledged leader in social movements.
+
+It is not uncommon for Granges to hold fairs for the exhibition of
+agricultural and domestic products. The State Fair of New Hampshire has
+been largely managed by the Grange. In many cases Granges as
+organizations will exhibit at the ordinary county or district fair.
+Picnics and field meetings are coming to be very popular in some
+states. They are held during the summer season, at a time when work is
+least pressing, and are usually attended by speakers of prominence in
+the order. Many subordinate Granges give public lecture courses during
+the winter, securing speakers on general themes. They also arrange for
+entertainments of a popular character.
+
+The order also participates in activities that are not strictly Grange
+work. For instance, in Michigan, the State Grange for several years
+carried on a "Fresh-Air Work," by which over 1,000 working-girls,
+children, and hard-working mothers with babies, from the larger cities,
+were given a two-weeks' vacation in country homes. The philanthropic
+agencies of the cities arranged for transportation and secured the
+beneficiaries, while the Grange obtained the places for them. Granges
+are always active in the organization of farmers' institutes,
+agricultural fairs, etc. In Michigan they have assisted in the
+organization of associations which are designed to bring together both
+teachers and parents for discussion of rural-school problems.
+
+On two important matters the Grange has been misunderstood, not only by
+the public, but more unfortunately, sometimes by its own members. In
+his _Division and Reunion_, President Woodrow Wilson speaks of it under
+the sub-title of "New Parties." Professor Alexander Johnston, in his
+_American Politics_ was more discriminating, for he said of it: "In its
+nature it is not political." But he also said: "Its object is
+co-operation among farmers, in purchasing and in other business
+interests." The first conception of the character of the order is wholly
+misleading; the second is inadequate.
+
+The Grange is not a party. It never was a party. During the "Granger
+legislation" period, many members doubtless misconceived the true
+function of the Grange, and abused the power organization gave them,
+while the popular mind credited the association with many notions for
+which it was not responsible. It has never organized itself as a
+farmers' party. The National Grange has endeavored to keep strictly
+aloof from partisan politics. It is possible that in some states the
+influence of the organization was, in the early days, used for partisan
+purposes; but the penalty was fully paid in the disruption of the order
+in those states. The Grange today regards partisanship as poisonous to
+its life, and does not allow it on its shelves.
+
+This is not to say that the Grange makes no appeal to legislation. It
+is possible that in some cases it places too much faith in law as a
+means of emancipation from economic bondage; but, in the main, its
+legislative point of view is sane and conservative. It believes that
+such ills as are due to bad or imperfect legislation can be, at least
+partly, relieved by good or more perfect legislation. Nor does it limit
+its interest to measures that concern the farmer alone. It is
+unalterably opposed to class legislation, and aims to keep its own
+skirts clear--to avoid even the suspicion of offence in this particular.
+
+It may be asked, How does the order manage to advocate public measures
+without becoming involved in partisan squabbles? Simply by ceasing to
+discuss a question the moment it becomes a party football. For instance:
+the monetary policy of the government was warmly discussed until the
+conventions of 1896 made it clear that it was to be a party issue.
+Again: the Grange has consistently urged the construction and ownership
+of the Interoceanic Canal by the United States government; but it was
+silent on the larger question of "imperialism," not because the question
+was not of importance, but because it became a subject of party
+controversy. This neutral policy as to party questions imposes certain
+limitations on the influence of the organization; but experience has
+demonstrated that this, more than any other thing, is responsible for
+the fact that the Grange still lives and thrives.
+
+The other misconception lies in the sentence quoted from Professor
+Johnston, that the Grange has for its object "co-operation among farmers
+in purchasing and in other business interests;" the implication being
+that business was the chief function. It is generally admitted that in
+the early days thousands joined the order "for what there was in it;"
+believing that the organization furnished a means for abolishing the
+middlemen, and putting ready money into the pockets of the farmers. When
+these sordid souls were disillusioned, their enthusiasm went down to the
+zero of activity. They misunderstood, or interpreted too radically, a
+well-defined, conservative, legitimate purpose of the Grange to
+co-operate on business lines. The order did believe that farmers could
+do without the surplus of middlemen; it did purpose to aid the farmer
+financially, though this purpose was not its main function. In the
+earlier period Grange stores were organized. A few of these are in
+successful operation today, but the policy as a whole has been
+abandoned.
+
+Another plan, discussed over thirty years ago, has during the past
+decade come to assume practical importance as a method of co-operation
+on business lines. The plan, in brief, is that various State Granges
+contract with manufacturing and jobbing houses to furnish members of the
+order with goods at practically wholesale rates. Goods are ordered by
+the subordinate Granges, under seal of the order; are purchased on a
+cash basis; and are shipped to the purchasing agent of the Grange, and
+by him distributed to the individual buyers. Such materials as binder
+twine, salt, harness, Paris green, all kinds of farm implements,
+vehicles, sewing-machines, and fruit trees are purchased advantageously.
+Even staple groceries, etc., are sometimes bought in this way. Members
+often save enough in single purchases to pay all their expenses for the
+Grange. There is no capital invested; there are no debts imposed upon
+himself by the purchaser; and there has not been extreme difficulty in
+securing favorable contracts. The plan seems destined to continued
+enlargement and usefulness as a legitimate phase of business
+co-operation. Michigan Granges purchased not less than $350,000 worth
+of goods during 1905, under such a plan. The estimate for Maine is over
+half a million dollars.
+
+In several states the organization successfully conducts mutual fire
+insurance companies; active membership in the Grange being an essential
+requisite for membership in the insurance company. Wherever these
+companies have become well established, it is asserted that they
+maintain a lower rate of assessment than even the popular "farmers'
+mutuals." In New York there are twenty-three Grange companies, with
+policies aggregating $85,000,000, the average cost for the year 1905
+being $1.96 per thousand. Single companies claim to have secured even
+better rates. This insurance not only pays individuals, but it attracts
+and holds members. In New Hampshire a fairly successful Grange life
+insurance company exists.
+
+In co-operative selling, the order has so far accomplished very little,
+except locally and among individuals or Granges. There is a supreme
+difficulty in the way of successful transfers among patrons themselves,
+as members desiring to buy wish the very lowest prices; those desiring
+to sell, the very highest prices. Arbitration under such circumstances
+is not easy. The fundamental obstacle to members selling together on
+the general market is that, in most cases, all members do not have the
+same things to sell. A co-operative creamery, for instance, is organized
+on the basis of a _product_--butter; the Grange is organized on the
+basis of _manhood_--and each man may have his crop or stock specialty.
+This difficulty, though grave, is not, perhaps, insuperable, and will
+tend to disappear as membership enlarges. But it is only fair to state
+that, so far, the Grange has not been able to devise any successful plan
+for co-operative selling, applicable on a large scale.
+
+There are two or three features that deserve further mention. One is the
+position of the family in the Grange. It is stated that the Grange was
+the first secret organization to place woman on a plane of perfect
+equality with man. In every association each female member has a vote.
+Woman has four special offices assigned to her sex, and is eligible to
+any office in the gift of the order. The majority of subordinate
+lecturers are women; many subordinate and even Pomona masters are women;
+Michigan's state lecturer is a woman who is revolutionizing the
+educational work of the order in that state; while Minnesota had for
+some years a competent and earnest woman as state master. Every
+delegate to every State Grange is a dual delegate--man and wife. The
+state master and his wife are delegates to the National Grange. Women
+serve on all committees in these gatherings, and a woman's voice is
+frequently heard in debates. And not only the wife, but, as previously
+stated, the children above fourteen years of age may attain full
+membership. A large proportion of every healthy Grange consists of young
+people, who have their share in the active work. Thus it will be seen
+that the order conserves the family life. It is doubtful if any other
+social institution in rural communities, not excepting the church, so
+completely interests the entire family.
+
+The organization is also a conservator of morals. While sectarian
+discussions are as foreign to its purposes as is partisan politics, and
+while it does not even pretend to take the place of the church, it is
+built on a truly religious foundation. Its ritual is permeated, in word
+and in sentiment, by the religious spirit. Every meeting opens and
+closes with prayer. Moral character is constantly eulogized and
+glorified in Grange esoteric literature. The membership comes almost
+exclusively from that large class of farmers who are moral,
+high-minded, God-fearing men and women.
+
+The Grange has been opposed, both by farmers and by others, because
+secrecy is not a desirable attribute; but the experience of forty years
+and the uniform testimony of all leaders in the work declare that this
+was a wise provision. No influential member has, so far as it is known,
+proposed that the order should be dismantled of its secret features. The
+ritualistic work is not burdensome. Occasionally the processes of
+initiation may take time that ought to be allotted to educational work;
+but, if the initiation is properly conducted, it has of itself a high
+educational value.
+
+The financial status of the Grange itself is worth noting. The fees for
+joining are merely nominal, while the dues are only ten cents a month
+per member. These fees and dues support the subordinate Granges, the
+State Grange, and the National Grange. There are no high-salaried
+officials in the order, and few salaried positions of any kind. The
+National Grange today has nearly $100,000 in its treasury, and several
+State Granges have substantial reserves. This policy is pursued, not for
+the love of hoarding, but because it is believed that it tends to the
+permanency and solidarity of the order.
+
+The Grange is a live institution; it has within itself the capacity for
+satisfying a great need in rural society; and it is destined to growth
+and larger and more permanent usefulness. It is based on correct
+principles: organization, co-operation, education. It is neither a
+political party nor a business agency. It is progressively
+conservative--or conservatively progressive. It is neither ultra-radical
+nor forever in the rut. Its chief work is on cultural lines. It includes
+the entire family. It is now growing, and there is every reason for
+thinking that this growth is of a permanent character.
+
+The Grange is ambitious to take its place beside the school and the
+church, as one of a trinity of forces that shall mold the life of the
+farmer on the broadest possible basis--material, intellectual, social,
+and ethical. Is there any good reason why this ambition is not worthy,
+or why its goal should not be won?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+OPPORTUNITIES FOR FARM WOMEN
+
+
+While rural life is often supposed to be fatally deficient in facilities
+for growth because of its isolation, the women living on our farms are
+thought to be the especial victims of this lack of social opportunity.
+No doubt there is much of truth in the popular opinion. Modern city life
+unquestionably tends to enliven, to sharpen, to put a razor-edge on
+capacity. Naturally the women as well as the men of the city are thus
+stimulated. An instance of the opportunities constantly presented to the
+city women is the rapid multiplication of women's clubs, which,
+especially in smaller towns, are absolutely revolutionizing the life of
+womankind. But have not the women of the country some resources of a
+similar character? Can they not in some way break the bonds of
+isolation? Are there not for them some of the blessings that come from a
+highly organized society? Are there not, in the country also,
+opportunities for the co-operation of mind and heart for common service?
+I think all these questions can be answered in the affirmative. It is
+at least worth while to endeavor to describe several means by which the
+woman of the farm can keep pace with her urban sister, and under
+conditions not so discouraging as many may suppose.
+
+Probably no movement has had such a profound significance for the farm
+women of America as has the Grange movement. We have already discussed
+the general aspects of Grange work. It must be remembered that the
+farmer's wife is practically equal with her husband in Grange law and
+practice. She votes, she may hold office, even the higher executive
+offices. A delegate to the State Grange is always two--a man and his
+wife if he has one. The wife serves on committees and votes as she
+pleases. This equality extends throughout the order. The woman bears her
+share of work; she reads papers; she directs the social phases of the
+Grange; she talks on farm topics if she wants to; she debates school
+affairs; she visits neighboring Granges. All this means education, and
+education of a very valuable sort, the effects of which permeate so
+thoroughly those communities where the Grange has long been established
+that one hardly realizes the work that has been accomplished. For it is
+not at all an exaggeration to assert that a positive revolution often
+comes about from the planting of a Grange in a neighborhood where no
+such organization has ever existed. It finds most of the women
+diffident, many of them with restricted views, few of them with the
+instinct for social service developed beyond the needs of friendly
+neighbors. In the Grange these women find new acquaintances, learn the
+power of concerted action, meet the responsibility of office, get to
+their feet for a few words--unheard-of courage! Such speech is usually
+brief and perhaps not ready, but it is likely to be cogent, because it
+is born of experience and "stops when through." County and perhaps State
+Granges add their experiences. And so on through the years these shy,
+reserved, possibly narrow, lives come to flower. And the Grange has
+furnished the dynamic. Strong leaders among farm women have been
+developed by the opportunities the Grange has afforded them. And
+thousands of other women in all parts of the country have by this same
+means grown out of their narrowness, "discovered themselves," and become
+comparatively cultured, well read, able to take a woman's place in this
+day of woman's power as a public factor. It is safe to say that the
+Grange has been the greatest single influence in America with respect to
+the development of the women of the farm.
+
+Another factor in the life of farm women which has arisen in more recent
+years is the farmers' institute. The audiences in some cases are largely
+of men, but as a rule the attendance of women averages one-third to
+one-half. Until very recent years the women joined with the men in all
+sessions of the institute, and their presence was recognized by
+appropriate subjects on the programme, frequently presented by women
+themselves. Several years ago Minnesota and Wisconsin initiated separate
+meetings for women, held simultaneously with the main meeting, for
+purposes of instruction in domestic science. Michigan, a little later,
+developed the "women's section" of the farmers' institute. This is held
+one afternoon of the usual two-day session of the institute in a hall
+separate from the general meeting, and only women attend. Two topics are
+presented for discussion, one by a woman sent by the state, the other by
+a woman from the town or a neighboring farm. Topics concerning
+child-training, making housework easier, home life on the farm, and even
+themes relating to the problems that center about the sex question, are
+thoroughly discussed. Women take part much more freely than they do in
+the general sessions of the institute. Across the border, in Ontario,
+the women have formed separate institutes, as they have also in Indiana.
+
+All this means a new opportunity for the farm woman. The Grange is an
+organization, and its members gain all the development that comes from
+engaging in the work required to maintain a semi-literary and social
+organization. The institute, on the other hand, is an event, and there
+cluster about it all the inspiration and suggestion that can come from
+any notable convention for which one will sacrifice not a little in
+order to attend. Institute work for women is in its beginnings.
+
+So far we have found that existing institutions for women in rural
+districts bring together merely the women of the farm. In the women's
+section of the institutes half the audience is usually from the town.
+This meeting occurs, however, but once a year, and the social effect of
+the commingling of city and farm women can prove only suggestive of the
+desirability of further opportunity for similar gatherings. At a
+Michigan institute some years ago this desire fructified, and the
+product was a "Town and Country Club." This club secured a majority of
+its membership, of some ninety, from among women residing on farms. Its
+meetings are bi-weekly. It is to be hoped that this sort of club may be
+organized in large numbers. It represents another step in the
+emancipation of the farm woman, because it brings her into contact with
+her city sister--and contact that is immediate, vital, inspiring,
+continuous, and mutually helpful. It may be thought unnecessary to form
+a new set of clubs for the purpose indicated, but the fact seems to be
+that the ordinary women's club even in small towns has failed to reach
+the woman who makes her home upon the farm.
+
+Another feature of this idea of the Town and Country Club is the "rest
+room" for farmers' wives. In a number of cases where this has been
+tried, the women of the village or town provide a room as near the
+shopping center of the town as possible, where the country women can
+find a place to rest, to lunch, and to leave their children. These rooms
+are fitted up in a neat but inexpensive manner with the necessary
+conveniences, and are entirely free to those for whom they were
+intended. If these rooms are well managed, they offer not only a very
+practical form of assistance to the women of the farm, but they may be
+the means of developing a form of co-operation between the women of the
+village and the farm, and eventually leading to some permanent scheme of
+mutual work. Possibilities of this sort of thing are easily recognized.
+
+In the realms of higher education the girl who is to stay upon the farm
+has not been wholly neglected. In Kansas, Iowa, Connecticut, Illinois,
+Ohio, and Michigan, at least, and in connection with the agricultural
+colleges of those states, courses for women (including domestic science)
+have been provided. They are well patronized by girls from the farm.
+Many of these girls do not marry farmers; many of them do. And their
+college training having thus been secured in an atmosphere more or less
+agricultural, they must inevitably take rank among their sisters of the
+farm as leaders in demonstrating what farm life for women may be.
+
+Nor should it be forgotten that the tremendous movement of recent years
+which has so multiplied standard reading-matter, both periodicals and
+books, has reached the farm. A census of country post-offices will
+reveal the fact that the standard magazines go regularly to thousands
+of farm homes. Agricultural papers, religious papers, and even dailies
+find multitudes of intelligent readers among farmers.
+
+With the advent of better highways, electric car lines, rural free
+delivery, and the rural telephone, each of which is looming on the
+horizon as an important feature of American farm life; with the Grange
+or similar organization in every school district; with the development
+of courses for women at all our colleges of agriculture, and the logical
+complement of such courses in the form of college extension--farmers'
+institutes, reading-courses, traveling libraries, lecture and
+correspondence courses--we shall find farm life taking on a new dress,
+and perhaps farmers' wives may come to enjoy the envy of those women who
+are unfortunate enough not to have married farmers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE COUNTRY CHURCH AND PROGRESS
+
+
+The only way to an understanding of the relation of the church to rural
+progress is through an appreciation of the place which the church as a
+social institution may have among other social institutions affecting
+rural life. Moreover, to know the value of these institutions one must
+first know the rural social needs. May we not then, even at the risk of
+repetition, take a brief survey of these needs and institutions, in
+order that we may more clearly attain the proper point of view?
+
+At the outset let us be sure that we have sympathy with the countryman
+as such. It is often argued that the rural question, or any phase of it,
+as for instance the question of the rural church, is important because
+the country supplies the best blood to the city--and a roll-call of the
+famous country-born is read to prove the point. This may be all true.
+But it is only a partial view, for it places the emphasis upon the
+leaving of the farm, whereas the emphasis should be placed upon the farm
+and those who stay there. We may praise the country because it
+furnishes brain and brawn for the world's work; we may argue for country
+life because it possesses a good environment in which to rear a family;
+we may demand a school system that shall give the country child as good
+a chance as the city child has. In all this we do well. But we do not
+yet stand face to face with the rural problem.
+
+For the rural problem is the problem of those who farm. It is the
+problem of the man behind the plow. It is he that is the center of
+interest. His business, his success, his manhood, his family, his
+environment, his education, his future--these constitute the problem of
+the farm. Half our people make their living from the brown soil. In
+virtue, in intelligence, in real worth, this half compare favorably with
+the other half who saw wood, and shovel sand, and pull throttles, and
+prepare briefs, and write sermons. The business of agriculture provides
+directly for the material welfare of nearly forty millions of our
+people. It supports gigantic railway systems, fills the hulls of immense
+ships, furnishes raw material for thousands of industries. This rural
+hemisphere of American economic and social life is surely worthy the
+thought of the captain of industry, of the statesman, of the economist,
+of the educator, of the preacher. We may also, without danger of being
+put to confusion, assume that the tiller of the soil is in essential
+character very much like other people. Farmer nature is usually a fair
+specimen of human nature. Nevertheless the environment of the farmer is
+a peculiar one. Individually as well as socially he is comparatively
+isolated. He meets but little social friction. The class to which he
+belongs is largely a segregated class, physically and socially.
+
+All these things give to the rural social problem a distinctive
+character and give rise to the great social needs of the farmer. What
+are these needs? I name three: (1) _Completer organization._ Farmers do
+not co-operate easily. They never had to co-operate largely under the
+old régime, for pioneer farming placed a premium on individualism. The
+present century however, with its emphasis upon organization and
+co-operation, calls the farmer to the task with the warning cry that
+unless he does organize he is in danger of losing his present
+industrial, political, and social status. (2) _Better education._ The
+rural schools may not be so deficient as to deserve all the scorn heaped
+upon them by educational reformers; but it is little enough to say that
+they can be vastly improved. They are not keeping up with city schools.
+The country is especially lacking in good high-school privileges. Of
+technical training too, in spite of forty years of agricultural
+colleges, the country is sadly in need. Neither in primary grades, in
+high schools, in special schools, is there an adequate amount of study
+of the principles of agriculture--principles which an age of science
+demands must be mastered if the independent farmer is to be a success.
+(3) _Quicker communication._ Isolation has been the bugbear of farm
+life. It must be overcome partly by physical means. There must be a
+closer touch between individuals of the class, and between farmers and
+the dwellers in the town and city.
+
+These social needs are in some degree met by the farmers' organizations,
+by the rural and agricultural schools, and by the development of new
+means of communication. There is a host of minor agencies. In other
+chapters I have tried to show how these various institutions are
+endeavoring to meet these rural needs. So important are these factors of
+rural life that we may now raise the question, What should be the
+relation of the rural church to these needs and to the agencies designed
+to meet them? In dealing with this phase of the subject, we may best
+speak of the church most frequently in terms of the pastor, for reasons
+that may appear as we go on.
+
+There are three things the country pastor may do in order to bring his
+church into vital contact with these great sociological movements. Of
+course he _may_ ignore them, but that is church suicide. (1) He may
+recognize them. This means first of all to understand them, to
+appreciate their influence. There is a law of the division of labor that
+applies to institutions as well as to individuals. This law helps us to
+understand how such institutions as the Grange and farmers' institutes
+are doing a work that the church cannot do. They are doing a work that
+needs doing. They are serving human need. No pastor can afford to ignore
+them, much less in sneer at them as unclean; he may well apply the
+lesson of Peter's vision, and accept them as ministers of the kingdom.
+(2) He may encourage and stimulate them. The rural pastor may throw
+himself into the van of those who strive for better farming, for a
+quicker social life, for more adequate educational facilities. He can
+well take up the rôle of promoter--a promoter of righteousness and peace
+through so-called secular means. Thus shall he perform the highest
+function of the prophet--to spiritualize and glorify the common. But the
+rural pastor can go even farther. (3) He may co-operate with them. He
+may thus assist in uniting with the church all of those other agencies
+that make for rural progress, and thus secure a "federation," if not "of
+the world," at least of all the forces that are helping to solve the
+farm problem; and he may thus found a "parliament," if not "of man," at
+least of all who believe that the rural question is worth solving and
+that no one movement is sufficient to solve it.
+
+We come now to the most practical part of our subject, which is, how the
+proposed relation between church and other rural social forces may be
+secured. There are four suggestions along this line.
+
+1. Sociological study by the rural pastor. This is fundamental. In
+general it means a fairly comprehensive study of sociological
+principles, some study of sociological problems, and some practice in
+sociological investigation. As it relates to the rural pastor, it means
+also a knowledge of rural sociology. It implies a grasp of the
+principles and significance of modern agricultural science, an
+understanding of the history, status, and needs of rural and
+agricultural education, an appreciation of and sympathy for the
+co-operative movements among farmers. Does one say, this is asking too
+much of the burdened country pastor with his meager salary and
+widespread parish? Let me ask if the pastor has any other road to power
+except _to know_? Moreover, the task is not so formidable as first
+appears. The pastor is supposed to be a trained student, and since he
+needs to know these things only in broad lines, the acquiring of them
+need not compel the midnight oil. I would, however, urge that every
+pastor have a course in general sociology, either in college or in
+seminary, and if he has the slightest intimation that his lines will be
+cast in country places, that he add a course in rural sociology.
+Inasmuch as the latter course is at present offered in few academic
+institutions in the United States, it might well be urged that brief
+courses in rural sociology be offered at the many summer schools.
+
+But sociological study by the pastor means more than knowledge of the
+general principles of sociology and of the problems of rural sociology;
+it means a minute and comprehensive sociological study of his particular
+parish. This in its simplest form consists of a religious canvass such
+as is frequently made both in country and city. But even this is not
+enough. It should at once be supplemented by a very careful and indeed a
+continuous sociological canvass, in which details about the whole
+business and life of the farm shall be collected and at last assimilated
+into the vital structure of the pastor's knowledge of his problem.
+
+2. The second suggestion looks toward the establishment of a
+social-service church, or an institutional church, or again, as one has
+phrased it, a "country church industrial." There seems to be a growing
+feeling that the country church may become not only the distinctively
+religious center of the neighborhood, but also the social, the
+intellectual, and the aesthetic center. No doubt there is untold power
+in such an idea. No doubt the country church has a peculiarly rich and
+inviting field for community service. It would be gratifying if every
+country pastor would study the possibilities of this idea and endeavor
+to make an experiment with it. I have, however, a supplemental
+suggestion, at this point. It is not possible to make of every rural
+church an institutional church. The church is notably a conservative
+institution. The rural church is in this respect "to the manner born."
+Rural church members are likely to be ultra-conservative, especially as
+to means and methods. Even if this were not true, we might well lament
+any attempt to establish a social-service church that endeavored to make
+the church the sole motive power in rural regeneration, that failed to
+recognize, to encourage, and to co-operate with the other social forces
+which we have mentioned. But if every country pastor cannot have a
+social-service church, is it not possible that every country church
+shall have a social-service pastor? There are some things the church
+cannot _do_; there is nothing it may not through its pastor _inspire_.
+There are some uses to which the country church cannot be put; there are
+no uses to which the country pastor may not be put--as country pastors
+know by experience. The pastor ought to be an authority on social
+salvation as well as on personal salvation. He ought to be guide,
+philosopher, and friend in community affairs as well as in personal
+affairs. Is he not indeed the logical candidate for general social
+leadership in the rural community? He is educated, he is trained to
+think, he is supposed to have broad grasp of the meaning of affairs, he
+usually possesses many of the qualities of leadership. He is
+_relatively_ a fixture. He is less transient than the teacher. He is the
+only man in the community whose tastes are sociological and who is at
+the same time a paid man--all this aside from the question of the
+munificence of his stipend. Let us then have the social-service rural
+church if we can; but let us have the social-service rural pastor at all
+hazards, as the first term in the formula for solving the sociological
+problem of the country church.
+
+3. Co-operation among rural churches. The manifest lack of co-operation
+among churches seems to many laymen to result in a tremendous waster of
+power. Of course it is a very hard problem. But is it insoluble? It
+would seem not. One would think that the plan of union suggested by Dr.
+Strong in _The New Era_ is wholly practicable. But the burden of the
+suggestion at this point is this: Cannot the churches unite sufficiently
+for a thorough religious and sociological canvass? If they cannot
+federate on a theological platform, can they not unite on a statistical
+platform? If they cannot unite for religious work, can they not join
+hands long enough to secure a more intelligent basis for their separate
+work? It seems to me that this sort of union is worth while, and that it
+is something in which there could be full union, in which "there is
+neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free."
+
+4. The pastor may aid if not lead in the federation of rural social
+forces. The idea involved is substantially this: Given a farmers'
+organization that ministers chiefly to industrial and economic ends,
+though incidentally to moral and educational ones; a school system that
+feeds chiefly the accepted educational needs, though acting perhaps as a
+moving force in industrial and social betterment; a church which is
+chiefly a religious institution, but which touches the life of the
+community at many other points--given these things and the obvious next
+step is co-operation among them all, in order that a well-balanced kind
+of social progress may result. This form of federation means the attempt
+to solve the farm problem at all points. It suggests that the army of
+rural progress shall march with the wings abreast the center. It means
+that the farmer, the editor, the educator, the preacher--all, shall see
+the work that needs doing, in all its fulness, and, seeing, shall
+resolve to push ahead side by side.
+
+To sum up: The rural problem is a neglected but exceedingly important
+question. Out of the peculiar environment of the farmer grow his
+peculiar social needs, namely, better organization, fuller and richer
+education, quicker communication. To meet these supreme needs we find a
+growing and already powerful coterie of farmers' organizations, somewhat
+heterogeneous but rapidly developing plans of agricultural education,
+and a marvelous evolution of the means of transportation for body,
+voice, and missive. These needs and these agencies are selected as the
+conspicuous and vital element in the sociological problem that confronts
+the rural pastor. What shall be his attitude toward them? He _may_
+ignore them; but we assume that he will seek to work with them and to
+use them for the greater glory of God. He must then recognize them,
+encourage them, and co-operate with them. To do this successfully he
+must first be a student of sociology; he can then well afford to
+meditate upon the possibilities of making his church in some measure a
+social-service church or at least of making of himself a social-service
+pastor; he can work for church union at least on sociological lines; and
+finally he can do his best to secure an active federation of all the
+forces involved in the rural problem.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A SUMMARY OF RECENT PROGRESS
+
+
+In some respects the most notable recent advance in rural matters
+consists in the improved means of communication in rural districts. The
+country is relatively isolated, and it is this isolation in its extreme
+forms that is the bane of country living. Undue conservatism, lack of
+conformity to progressive views, undue prominence of class feeling, and
+a tendency to be less alert are things that grow out of this isolation;
+but better means of communication decrease these difficulties, and the
+last few years have seen a remarkable advance in this respect. For
+instance, the rural free mail delivery system is only ten years old, and
+yet today there are more than twenty-five thousand routes of this
+character in the United States serving possibly twenty million people
+with daily mail, a great proportion of whom before had very irregular
+mail service. Results are patent and marked. Time is saved in going for
+mail; market reports come daily; farmers are more prompt in their
+business dealings; roads are kept in better shape; there is an
+increased circulation of papers and magazines. Thus the farmer is in
+closer touch with affairs and much more alert to business opportunities,
+to political activities, and to social movements. The circulation of
+daily papers in country districts has increased at a marvelous rate. The
+amount of letter-writing has increased. Rural delivery of mail arouses
+the spirit of "being in the world." Its results have been almost
+revolutionary.
+
+So, too, the rural telephone. Recent investigation in the states of
+Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana showed that out of 200,000 subscribers to
+the independent telephone companies of those states about one-sixth were
+in farm homes. A few years ago, hardly a telephone could be found in a
+farmer's family. This business is constantly increasing. The established
+telephone companies are pushing their work into the country districts,
+small local exchanges are being formed, and soon the farmers, in the
+North at least, will be almost as well served by the telephone as are
+people of the smaller cities.
+
+Interurban electric railways are being built very rapidly and their
+advantage to the farmer is obvious. It is doubtful if their effect has
+been quite so far-reaching as some have suggested. At present they very
+largely parallel existing steam railways, and while they give better
+freight and passenger service and assist materially in diminishing rural
+isolation in the areas which they traverse, their influence does not
+extend very far from the line itself, and they reach relatively small
+areas of the country. However, their value to the farmer is very large,
+and, as they increase in number and in efficiency of service, they will
+become a powerful factor in rural progress.
+
+The good-roads movement is beginning to take on large proportions. It
+is, however, a complicated question. To make first-class roads is a
+costly business, and while a few such roads are of great value in a
+general social way, they do not quite make general country conditions
+ideal. To accomplish this, every road in the country should be a good
+road the year through, and this is an ideal very difficult of
+realization. However, in general, the roads are improving and as rapidly
+as the wealth of the country will permit the road system of the United
+States will be developed. Of course, good roads are a prime requisite
+for rural betterment.
+
+In general, it may be said that during the past decade the improvement
+of means of communication in rural districts has gone forward at a
+marvelously rapid pace. Nor is it exaggerating to say that the movements
+named are re-creating farm life.
+
+During this same period, there has been an almost equally wonderful
+advance in the means of agricultural education. Just twenty years ago
+the experiment-station system of this country was established. It took
+ten years for the stations to organize their work and to gain the
+confidence of the farmers. At present however, they are looked upon with
+great favor by the farming class and are doing a magnificent work. Their
+function is that of research chiefly, although they attempt some control
+service, such as inspection of fertilizers, stock foods, etc. In
+research they aim both to study the more intricate scientific questions
+that relate to agriculture and to carry on experiments that are of more
+obvious and more immediate practical application to existing conditions
+in the various states. There is one of these stations in each state and
+territory, besides a number of stations supported by state funds. The
+Department of Agriculture at Washington has also developed during the
+last ten years until it is performing very large service for
+agriculture. Its annual expenditures aggregate eight or ten million
+dollars, and it has in its employment hundreds of experts carrying on
+laboratory and field research, scouring the world for plants and seeds
+that may be of economic value, and assisting to control plant and animal
+diseases. It is also distributing a vast amount of practical
+information, put in readable form and adapted to the average farmer. Its
+work of seeking to extend the markets of our agricultural products is
+one of its notable successes.
+
+Agricultural schools have been talked about for a century, and during
+the early part of the last century several were started. The first
+permanent agricultural college was opened in 1857, in Michigan. The
+Morrill Act of 1862 gave rise to a system of such colleges and today
+there will be found one in every state and territory, besides several
+for the colored people of the South. Up to 1890, these colleges had been
+not wholly satisfactory and the farming class was not patronizing very
+fully their agricultural courses. The fault belonged both to the college
+and to the farmers. The farmers were skeptical of the value of
+agricultural education, and the colleges were often out of sympathy with
+the real needs of the farmers, and in fact found it difficult to break
+away from the pedagogical ideals of the old educational régime. Since
+1890, however, there has been a complete change of sentiment in this
+respect, particularly in the Middle West. There the "land-grant"
+colleges, whether separate colleges or whether organized as colleges of
+state universities, are securing magnificent buildings for agriculture,
+are offering fully equipped courses, and are enrolling as students some
+of the best men in college, whom they are educating not only for
+agricultural teachers and experimenters but also for practical farmers.
+Of course, there are many grave problems connected with this subject,
+many farmers who do not yet respond to the call for educated
+agriculturists, and some colleges that do not yet appreciate their
+opportunity. But the change for the better has been so marked that all
+agricultural educators are extremely optimistic.
+
+One of the most difficult and most important phases of agricultural
+education is that of a secondary grade. The great proportion of educated
+farmers will probably be trained for their business in secondary
+schools. This problem is being approached from many standpoints. The
+University of Minnesota established, some fourteen years ago, a school
+of agriculture, which now enrols several hundred pupils of both sexes.
+Wisconsin is trying the experiment of two county schools of agriculture.
+Occasionally the public high school will be found offering a course in
+agriculture. Several states are experimenting in one or more of these
+lines, and during the next few years we shall see a large development of
+this phase of agricultural education.
+
+One of the most interesting movements in agricultural education has been
+an attempt to introduce nature-study and even the elements of
+agriculture into the country schools. Cornell University has taken the
+lead in advocating "nature-study" purely, for the schools; and the
+University of Missouri has perhaps been the leader in advocating that
+the work be made even more definite and practical, and that the country
+pupils shall be taught, during their early years even, "the elements of
+agriculture." Both plans are being worked out with a fair degree of
+success, and many other states are carrying out the work in some form or
+other. Of course the idea is not a new one, but its present practical
+application is a timely one, and it will not be long before this branch
+of agricultural education will become a prominent factor in rural
+betterment.
+
+A most suggestive phase of agricultural education is college extension
+work. University extension has had a rather meteoric career in this
+country, in so far as it has been connected with educational
+institutions; although the extension idea is spreading rapidly and is
+being worked out through home study and correspondence courses of all
+sorts. But I think there is scarcely any field in which the real college
+extension idea is today being more successfully applied than in
+agriculture. The work started with farmers' institutes, which were
+instituted about twenty-five years ago and which have been adopted in
+practically all the states of the Union. It has broadened within ten
+years, until now it is carried on not only by farmers' institutes, but
+through home-correspondence courses, the introduction of millions of
+pamphlets into farm homes, demonstrations in spraying, butter-making,
+soil testing, milk testing, and so on.
+
+Ontario presents a good illustration of how a new agriculture can be
+created, in a dozen years, by co-operating methods of agricultural
+education. Her provincial department of agriculture, her experiment
+station, her agricultural college, her various forms of extension work,
+and her various societies of agriculturists have all worked together
+with an unusual degree of harmony for the deliberate purpose of inducing
+Canadian agriculturists to produce the things that will bring the most
+profit. The results have been most astonishing and most gratifying.
+
+The recent progress in the organization of farmers has been less marked
+than has been the development of rural communication and agricultural
+education. Organization is a prime requisite for farmers. They feel this
+truth themselves. For the last forty years, many attempts--some large,
+some small, some successful, some great failures--have been made to this
+end. The problem is an extremely difficult one. Business co-operation
+among farmers is especially difficult and, while co-operation has
+developed quite largely--so much so that the Department of Agriculture
+was able to report, a year ago, a list of five thousand co-operative
+societies of various kinds among farmers--still it cannot be said that
+the farmers are co-operating industrially in a relatively large way.
+They have, however, a multitude of associations and societies. They have
+also the Grange, which is the most successful of all the general
+organizations of farmers in the country. Contrary to public belief, the
+Grange is not defunct, but has been growing at a very rapid pace during
+the last few years and has a large influence especially in the East and
+Middle West. It has practically no existence in the far West and in the
+South. It has a national organization, however, representing some
+twenty-six states. Its influence in Congress is said to be marked. The
+local Granges are doing a very large work, socially, educationally, and
+sometimes financially. The Grange seems to understand itself now. Its
+ideals have been worked out pretty carefully, and its future growth is
+quite certain.
+
+We have suggested that the significant rural social movements of the
+past few years have been the improvement of rural communication, the
+wonderful development of agricultural education, and the fairly
+satisfactory development of organization among farmers. It seems also
+apparent that there is a fourth line of development that might be
+mentioned as being significant, and it may be expressed in a somewhat
+general statement that the interest in agricultural questions has
+increased in a very marked way. There is undoubtedly a new emphasis upon
+country life generally. The people of the cities have been going to the
+country more than ever before. A walk, the length of Beacon Street in
+Boston, at any time from the middle of June to late autumn, convinces
+one that the majority of the people are somewhere in the country. All
+over the North, city people are making country homes for at least a
+portion of the year. There is also a growing interest in the farm and
+farm problems among the general public. Just now the country schools are
+attracting special attention from the educators--so much so that the
+late President Harper stated, not long ago, that the rural-school
+question is the coming question in education. Even the country church is
+being made a subject of discussion in religious circles. It is conceded
+that agriculture presents "problems." And while the throbbing, busy,
+intense life of the city brings perplexing questions to our
+civilization, our people are coming to realize that the agricultural
+population and the agricultural industry are still tremendous factors in
+our national life and success, and that both social and industrial
+conditions in the country are such that there also are grave questions
+to be settled.
+
+In view of the facts which have been given, I think if one were asked to
+give a direct answer to the question, Is the farmer keeping up? one
+could reply, Yes. In some sections of the country, the farmers have not
+responded to these forward movements. The countryman is naturally
+conservative. Not only that, but there are some serious questions that
+he has to meet in his business and in his life. He finds it extremely
+and increasingly difficult to get adequate labor. He has not been able
+to take sufficient advantage of the power of co-operation. The
+industrial and social development of the city has lured away his
+children. And yet one cannot help feeling that these really remarkable
+advances of the past decade are prophetic of a steady improvement in
+rural conditions, of a larger development of rural life, of a greater
+prosperity for agriculture.
+
+With regard to the future, it seems to me that, on the social side, the
+progress of the next few years is to be along the lines, indicated
+above, which have characterized the past ten or a dozen years. Still
+further improved means of communication will tend to banish isolation
+and its drawbacks. Realization of the benefits of organization and
+ability to co-operate will vastly strengthen class power. The means of
+agricultural education will be developed very rapidly, with the ideal in
+mind of being able to furnish some sort of agricultural training for
+every individual who lives upon the farm. The country question, as a
+whole, will attract increasing attention. Gradually it will be seen that
+the rural problem is one of the greatest interest to all our citizens.
+The spirit of co-operation will grow until not only the farmers
+themselves unite for their own class interests but the various social
+agencies--industrial, religious, educational--ministering to rural
+betterment will find themselves also co-operating. Thus, it seems to me,
+the outlook for the future is full of hope. A genuine forward movement
+for rural betterment has had its beginning, is now gathering volume, and
+will soon attain very large proportions.
+
+
+
+
+FORWARD STEPS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE SOCIAL SIDE OF THE FARM QUESTION
+
+
+There is a proverb in Grange circles which expresses also the
+fundamental aim of all agricultural education--"The farmer is of more
+consequence than the farm and should be first improved." The first term
+in all agricultural prosperity is the man behind the plow. Improved
+agriculture is a matter of fertile brain rather than of fertile field.
+Mind culture must precede soil culture.
+
+But if the improved man is the first term in improved agriculture, if he
+is the effective cause of rural progress, he is also the last term and
+the choice product of genuine agricultural advancement. We may
+paraphrase the sordid, "raise more corn to feed more hogs to buy more
+land to raise more corn, etc.," into the divine, "train better farmers
+to make better farming to grow better farmers, etc." We want trained men
+that we may have an advancing agricultural art, that we may make every
+agricultural acre render its maximum. The improved acre, however, must
+yield not only corn but civilization, not only potatoes but culture,
+not only wheat but effective manhood.
+
+But we may carry the point a step farther. The individual farmer is the
+starting-point and the end of agriculture, it is true. But the lone
+farmer is an anomaly, either as a cause or as a product, as the lone man
+is everywhere. As an effective cause we must have co-operating
+individuals, and as an end we desire an improved community and a
+higher-grade _class_ of farmers.
+
+The farm question then is a social question. Valuable as are the
+contributions of science to the problems of soil and plant and animal,
+the ultimate contribution comes from the development of improved men. So
+the real end is not merely to utilize each acre to its utmost, nor to
+provide cheap food for the people who do not farm, nor yet to render
+agriculture industrially strong. The gravest and most far-reaching
+consideration is the social and patriotic one of endeavoring to develop
+and maintain an agricultural class which represents the very best type
+of American manhood and womanhood, to make the farm home the ideal home,
+to bring agriculture to such a state that the business will always
+attract the keen and the strong who at the same time care more for home
+and children and state and freedom than for millions. In other words,
+the maintenance of the typical American farmer--the man who is
+essentially middle class, who is intelligent, who keeps a good standard
+of living, educates his children, serves his country, owns his
+medium-sized farm, and who at death leaves a modest estate--the
+maintenance of the typical American farmer is the real agricultural
+problem.
+
+If this analysis is a correct one, it will vitally affect our plans for
+agricultural training. The student will be taught not only soil physics,
+but social psychology. He will learn not only the action of bacteria in
+milk fermentation, but the underlying causes of the social ferment among
+the farmers of the last thirty years. He will concern himself with the
+value of farmers' organizations as well as with the co-operating
+influences of high-bred corn and high-bred steers. The function and
+organization of the rural school will be as serious a problem to him as
+the building and management of the co-operative creamery. The country
+church and its career will interest him fully as much as does the latest
+successful device for tying milch cows in the stable. He will want to
+get at the kernel of the political questions that confront agriculture
+just as fully and thoroughly as he wishes to master the formulae for
+commercial fertilizers. No man will have acquired an adequate
+agricultural education who has not been trained in rural social science,
+and who does not recognize the bearing of this wide field of thought
+upon the business of farming as well as upon American destiny.
+
+Research, too, will be touched with the social idea. The men who study
+conditions existing in rural communities which have to do with the real
+life of the people--the effects of their environment, the tendencies of
+their habits and customs--will need as thorough preparation for their
+work, and the result of their efforts will be as useful as that of the
+men who labor in field and laboratory.
+
+But the most profound consequence of recognizing the social side of the
+farm question will be the new atmosphere created at the agricultural
+colleges. These institutions are fast gaining leadership in all the
+technical questions of agriculture--leadership gladly granted by
+progressive farmers whenever the institution is managed with
+intelligence and in the spirit of genuine sympathy with farming. But
+these colleges must minister to the _whole farmer_. They must help the
+farmer solve all his problems, whether these problems are scientific, or
+economic, or social, or political. And let it be said in all earnestness
+that in our rapidly shifting industrial order, the farmer's interest in
+the political, social, and economic problems of his calling is fully as
+great as it is in those purely scientific and technical. And rightly so.
+A prime steer is a triumph. But it will not of itself keep the farmer
+free. The 50-bushels-of-wheat acre is a grand business proposition
+provided the general industrial conditions favor the grower as well as
+the consumer. When our agricultural colleges enter into the fullest
+sympathy with all the rural problems, when the farm home and the rural
+school and the country church and the farmer's civic rights and duties
+and all the relations of his business to other industries--when these
+questions are "in the air" of our agricultural colleges, then and then
+alone will these colleges fulfil their true mission of being _all things
+to all farmers_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE NEEDS OF NEW ENGLAND AGRICULTURE
+
+
+One might name a score of important activities that should be encouraged
+in order to better New England agriculture. But the two fundamental
+needs are (1) adaptation and (2) co-operation.
+
+By adaptation is meant such development of agriculture as shall more
+fully utilize existing physical and commercial conditions. The West has
+for seventy-five years pressed hard upon New England farming. But along
+with this western competition has come a new opportunity for the eastern
+farmer. New England farmers as a whole have not quickly enough responded
+to this new opportunity. Many of their troubles may be traced to the
+failure to adapt themselves to the new conditions. The men in New
+England who have met the new opportunity are succeeding.
+
+What does this adaptation consist in? It means, first, the adaptation of
+the New England farmer to his markets. In most parts of the country the
+type of farming is perhaps more dependent upon physical conditions of
+soil and climate than upon the immediate market. In New England the
+reverse is now true, and the type of New England farming must be
+adapted, absolutely and completely, to the demands of its market. New
+England farmers have the most superb markets in the country. Of the six
+million people in New England, approximately 75 per cent. live in the
+cities and villages. There are, in New England, thirty cities having a
+population of twenty-five thousand or more. The great majority of these
+cities are manufacturing cities peopled by the best class of consumers
+in the world--the American skilled artisan. They constitute a nearby
+market that demands fresh products which cannot be transported across a
+continent. New England is also especially favored in its nearness to the
+European market. The New England farmer then must adapt his crops, his
+methods, and his style of farming to his peculiar market.
+
+In the second place, this adaptation must be one of soil, just as
+anywhere else, only the problem here becomes more complicated because of
+the varied character of the farming lands. How to make the valleys and
+the hills, the rocky ridges and the sand plains of New England yield
+their largest possibilities in agriculture is a problem of the greatest
+scientific and industrial interest, and it is the problem that New
+England agriculture has to face. In this connection comes also the need
+of special varieties adapted not only to the market but to the soil and
+climate.
+
+This principle of adaptation is the industrial key to future
+agricultural development in New England. But to achieve this adaptation,
+to make the key work, there is needed the force of social organization.
+The farmer must be reached before the farm can be improved. The man who
+treads the furrow is a greater factor than nitrogen or potash. How is
+this man to be reached, inspired, instructed? Largely by some form of
+organization. The second and greater need therefore is co-operation.
+
+Co-operation means faith in agriculture--a faith too seldom found in the
+Israel of New England's yeomanry. Co-operation means ideals--ideals of
+rural possibilities too seldom dreamed of in the philosophy of the
+Yankee farmer. Co-operation means power--power that cannot be acquired
+by the lone man, not even by the resolute individualism so dominant in
+New England character.
+
+There are three forms of co-operation, all of which are desirable and
+even essential if the most rapid agricultural progress in New England is
+to be secured--co-operation among individuals, among organizations,
+among states.
+
+The farmers of New England must work together. The Grange is stronger in
+New England than in any other portion of the country of similar
+area--yet not one farmer in ten belongs to the Grange. We need not dwell
+on this point, for it is a truth constantly preached through the Grange
+and through other means. Let me suggest two ideas relative to
+co-operation which have not received so much attention.
+
+Each organization has its peculiar work. The school is to train the
+young, the agricultural college to prepare the youth, the farmers'
+institute to instruct and inspire the middle-aged and mature. The
+experiment station seeks to discover the means by which nature and man
+may better work together. The producers' unions endeavor to secure a
+fair price for their goods. The Grange enlarges the views of its members
+and brings the power which comes from working together, buying together,
+meeting together, talking together, acting together. Boards of
+agriculture control conditions of health and disease among animals and
+plants. The country fair educates and interests. The church crowns all
+in its ministrations of spiritual vision, moral uplift, and insistence
+upon character as the supreme end of life.
+
+But no institution can do the work of the others. They are members one
+of another. The hand cannot say to the foot, I have no need of thee. All
+these things make for rural progress. None can be spared. The Grange
+cannot take the place of the church. The institute cannot supplant the
+Grange. The college course cannot reach the adult farmer. The experiment
+station cannot instruct the young. The church cannot secure reforms in
+taxation.
+
+These agencies may however co-operate. Indeed the most rapid and most
+secure rural progress, the broadest and soundest agricultural growth,
+can not take place unless there be this form of co-operation. There will
+come added interest, increased efficiency, larger views, greater
+ambitions in our agricultural development, if, in each state, all of
+these forces work together.
+
+We may therefore welcome most cordially the proposed plan of federating
+the various agricultural societies of each state into one grand
+committee organized for the purpose of forwarding all the agricultural
+interests of that state. Let there be, moreover, a "League for Rural
+Progress," in each state or, at least, an annual conference on rural
+progress, in each state, in which the representatives of the farmers'
+societies, of the schools, of the churches, and indeed all other people
+who have the slightest interest in rural advancement may meet to discuss
+plans and methods which shall better agriculture and the farmer.
+
+But this is not enough. There ought to be co-operation among these
+various social institutions without respect to state lines. The farm
+problem in New England is one problem, although differing in details, it
+is true, in different states. Co-operation should not stop with the
+federating of the organizations of a state. There is no reason, for
+instance, why the agricultural colleges and experiment stations of New
+England should not co-operate. It is not practicable to prevent all
+duplication of work. I do suggest the desirability and the feasibility
+of genuine co-operation.
+
+Why should not those in charge of the rural schools of all New England
+meet together and discuss the difficulties and achievements as they
+exist in different states? Why not have a "New England Society for
+Agricultural Education," in which all organizations and all individuals
+who are interested in any phase of this subject may meet for discussing
+New England problems? Could not boards of agriculture co-operate to some
+extent, especially in farmers' institute work with general plans and
+ideas? Certainly conferences between these boards ought to yield most
+valuable results. Is the idea of a genuine New England fair a mere
+dream?
+
+Cannot the Granges of New England profitably co-operate more fully? It
+is true that there is considerable intervisitation, and yet the rank and
+file of members in one state know comparatively little of the progress
+and methods of the Grange in an adjoining state; this knowledge is
+confined to a few leaders. Would it not be worth while to attempt an
+occasional New England assemblage of Grange members, a representative
+gathering for discussing Grange work and for enthusing the Grange people
+of New England with the possibilities of still further Grange
+development?
+
+The idea of New England as a unit of interest in church matters is
+already exemplified by the appointment of a New England secretary of the
+federation of churches. It is not too much to expect that, in the near
+future, all the means for church federation in New England shall work
+together, because it is evident that co-operation and unity are demanded
+by the nature of the field.
+
+And finally, is it idle to think that there might be a New England
+League for Rural Progress or, at least, a New England Conference on
+Rural Progress, which shall bring from every corner of New England
+representatives of the agricultural colleges, of the Granges, of the
+country church, of the rural school, of the country press, and all other
+individuals who believe in the possibilities of New England agriculture,
+and in the efficiency of the fullest and freest co-operation?
+
+There are several powerful reasons why an attempt to better New England
+agriculture will be greatly aided by co-operation that includes every
+inch of New England soil from Boston harbor to the Berkshires, and from
+Mt. Katahdin to Point Judith.
+
+(1) The importance of New England agriculture. In the appended table is
+attempted a comparison between New England as a unit, the state of
+Michigan representing an average agricultural state, and the state of
+Iowa representing the foremost agricultural state. The figures, taken
+from the Census of 1900, are given in round numbers. Such a table is not
+conclusive as to agricultural conditions. But it is very suggestive as
+to the importance of New England agriculture both industrially and
+socially. It will be seen that, with an area only a little larger than
+Michigan, New England compares in every respect favorably with that
+average state and, in some respects, excels it, while it excels both
+Michigan and Iowa by 65 per cent. in gross value of product per acre of
+improved land.
+
+(2) Agricultural conditions all over New England are quite similar.
+Speaking broadly, the soil and climate of one state are the soil and
+climate of another. The people are of the same stock, the same views,
+the same habits, the same traditions. The demand of the market is fairly
+uniform for different sections. The New England city is the New
+Englander's special possession as a market. Farm labor conditions are
+much the same. In fact, there is hardly a portion of our country, of the
+same area, which in all these respects yields itself more completely to
+the idea of unity.
+
+(3) The hopefulness of the farm problem. Nearly four millions of city
+people live in New England. They must be fed. The nearness of the
+market means high-class products. This means intensive agriculture.
+Intensive agriculture means education and intelligence. The cities are
+growing. Their power of consumption is steadily and rapidly increasing.
+
+(4) The unusual social equipment. It must be remembered that in an area
+but little larger than Iowa, which has one agricultural college and one
+agricultural experiment station and no Granges to speak of, New England
+has, in comparison, six agricultural colleges, six experiment stations,
+six boards of agriculture, over a thousand Granges, and numerous
+agricultural societies. The means of agricultural education in New
+England are more numerous and may be more efficient than in any other
+portion of this country of similar area. Moreover, the cities are now in
+a position to help solve the problem in New England. They have leaders.
+There are in them men with leisure and talent who are interested in this
+problem and who are willing to help solve it.
+
+(5) The sentimental side. A campaign for rural progress, with New
+England as the unit, ought to arouse the pride and enthusiasm of all the
+sons and daughters of New England who still have the privilege of living
+within her borders, as well as the interest and sympathy of all her
+grandsons who, though living under western skies, still cherish in their
+hearts the deepest affection for their Fatherland. Shall not the idea of
+uniting all the forces of agricultural betterment that exist in New
+England be a stimulus to every farmer in the six states, and, indeed,
+attract the sympathy and practical aid of every lover of New England
+soil?
+
+Adaptation, co-operation: these are the primary needs of New England
+agriculture; an adaptation of the farmer and his farm to existing
+conditions, a co-operation that unites individual farmers into various
+associated efforts, that federates the work and influence of the
+different social agencies within the state, and that ultimately secures
+the unity of all New England in a great movement for rural advancement.
+
+
+   ===================================================================
+                        |  New England |   Michigan   |      Iowa
+   -------------------------------------------------------------------
+   Total land area--    |              |              |
+     square miles       |       62,000 |       57,500 |         55,500
+   Number of farms      |      192,000 |      203,000 |        229,000
+   Acreage in farms     |   20,500,000 |   17,500,000 |     34,600,000
+   Acres of improved    |              |              |
+     land               |    8,135,000 |   11,800,000 |     29,900,000
+   Value of farms       | $640,000,000 | $690,000,000 | $1,835,000,000
+   Value of farm        |              |              |
+     products           | $170,000,000 | $147,000,000 |   $365,000,000
+   Persons engaged in   |              |              |
+     agriculture        |      290,000 |      312,000 |        372,000
+   Rural population     |    1,500,000 |    1,200,000 |      1,260,000
+   Value of products per|              |              |
+     acre of improved   |              |              |
+     land               |         $20  |         $12  |           $12
+   Number of Granges    |       1,200  |         725  |
+   Number of Grange     |              |              |
+     members            |     120,000  |      45,000  |
+   -------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+AN UNTILLED FIELD IN AMERICAN EDUCATION
+
+
+Agricultural education in this country has thus far been an attempt to
+apply a knowledge of the laws of the so-called "natural" sciences to the
+practical operations of the farm. Comparatively little attention has
+been paid to the application of the principles of the "social" sciences
+to the life of the farmer. All this is partly explained by the fact that
+the natural sciences were fairly well developed when the needs of the
+farmer called the scientist to work with and for the man behind the
+plow, when a vanishing soil fertility summoned the chemist to the
+service of the grain grower, when the improvement of breeds of stock and
+races of plants began to appeal to the biologist. Moreover, these
+practical applications of the physical and biological sciences are, and
+always will be, a fundamental necessity in the agricultural question.
+
+But in the farm problem we cannot afford to ignore the economic and
+sociological phases. While it may be true that the practical success of
+the individual farmer depends largely upon his business sense and his
+technical education, it is folly to hope that the success of agriculture
+as an industry and the influence of farmers as a class can be based
+solely upon the ability of each farmer to raise a big crop and to sell
+it to advantage. General intelligence, appreciation of the trend of
+economic and social forces, capacity to co-operate, ability to voice his
+needs and his rights, are just as vital acquirements for the farmer as
+knowing how to make two blades of grass grow where but one grew before.
+It finally comes to this, that the American farmer is obliged to study
+the questions that confront him as a member of the industrial order and
+as a factor in the social and political life of the nation, with as much
+zeal and understanding as he is expected to show in the study of those
+natural laws governing the soil and the crops and the animals that he
+owns.
+
+In this connection it is significant to note that farmers themselves are
+already quite as interested in the social problems of their particular
+calling and in the general economic and political questions of the day,
+as they are in science applied to their business of tilling the soil.
+Not necessarily that they minimize the latter, but they seem
+instinctively to recognize that social forces may work them ill or work
+them good according to the direction and power of those forces. This
+statement is illustrated by the fact that the aims, purposes, labors,
+and discussions of the great farmers' organizations like the Grange are
+social in character, having to do with questions that are political,
+economic, sociological.
+
+When, however, we turn to those public educational agencies that are
+intended to assist in the solution of the farm problem, we discover that
+they are giving slight attention to the social side of the question. An
+examination of the catalogues of the agricultural colleges, whether
+separate institutions or colleges of state universities, reveals the
+fact that, beyond elementary work in economics, in civics, and
+occasionally in sociology, little opportunity is given students to study
+the farm question from its social standpoint. With a few exceptions,
+these institutions offer no courses whatever in rural social problems,
+and even in these exceptional cases the work offered is hardly
+commensurate with the importance of the subject. Nearly all our other
+colleges and universities are subject to the same comment. The average
+student of problems in economics and sociology and education gains on
+conception whatever of the importance and character of the rural phases
+of our industrial and social life.
+
+It may be urged in explanation of this state of affairs that the liberal
+study of the social sciences in our colleges and universities and
+especially any large attention to the practical problems of economics
+and sociology, is a comparatively recent thing. This is true and is a
+good excuse. But it does not offer a reason why the social phases of
+agriculture should be longer neglected. The purpose of this article is
+less to criticize than to describe a situation and to urge the
+timeliness of the large development, in the near future, of rural social
+science.
+
+At the outset the queries may arise, What is meant by rural social
+science? and, What is there to be investigated and taught under such a
+head? The answer to the first query has already been intimated. Rural
+social science is the application of the principles of the social
+sciences, especially of economics and sociology, to the problems that
+confront the American farmer. As a reply to the second query there are
+appended at the end of this chapter outlines of possible courses in
+agricultural economics and rural sociology, which were prepared by the
+writer for the exhibit in "rural economy" at the St. Louis exposition.
+There are also subjects that have a political bearing, such as local
+government in the country, and primary reform in rural communities,
+which perhaps ought not to be omitted. So, too, various phases of home
+life and of art might be touched upon. The subjects suggested and others
+like them could be conveniently grouped into from two to a dozen
+courses, as circumstances might require.
+
+What classes of people may be expected to welcome and profit by
+instruction of this character? (1) The farmers themselves. Assuming that
+our agricultural colleges are designed, among other functions, to train
+men and women to become influential farmers, no argument is necessary to
+show how studies in rural social science may help qualify these students
+for genuine leadership of their class of toilers. On the other hand, it
+may be remarked that no subjects will better lend themselves to college
+extension work than those named above. Lectures and lecture courses for
+granges, farmers' clubs, farmers' institutes, etc., on such themes would
+arouse the greatest interest. Correspondence and home study courses
+along these lines would be fully as popular as those treating of soils
+and crops. (2) Agricultural educators. The soil physicist or the
+agricultural chemist will not be a less valuable specialist in his own
+line, and he certainly will be a more useful member of the faculty of an
+agricultural college, if he has an appreciative knowledge of the
+farmer's social and economic status. This is even more true of men
+called to administer agricultural education in any of its phases. (3)
+Rural school administrators and the more progressive rural teachers. The
+country school can never become truly a social and intellectual center
+of the community until the rural educators understand the social
+environment of the farmer. (4)Country clergymen. The vision of a
+social-service church in the country will remain but a dream unless,
+added to the possession of a heart for such work, the clergyman knows
+the farm problem sufficiently to appreciate the broader phases of the
+industrial and social life of his people. (5) Editors of farm papers,
+and of the so-called "country" papers. Probably the editors of the
+better class of agricultural papers are less in need of instruction such
+as that suggested than is almost anyone else. Yet the same arguments
+that now lead many young men aspiring to this class of journalism to
+regard a course in scientific agriculture as a vestibule to their work
+may well be used in urging a study of rural social science, especially
+at a time when social and economic problems are pressing upon the
+farmer. As for the country papers, the work of purveying local gossip
+and stirring the party kettle too often obscures the tremendous
+possibilities for a high-class service to the rural community which such
+papers may render. No men, in the agricultural states at least, have
+more real influence in their community than the trained, clean, manly,
+country editors--and there is a multitude of such men. If as a class
+they possessed also a wider appreciation of the farmer's industrial
+difficulties and needs, hardly anyone could give better service to the
+solution of the farm problem than could they. (6) Everybody else! That
+is to say, the agricultural question is big enough and important enough
+to be understood by educated people. The farmers are half our people.
+Farming is our largest single industrial interest. The capital invested
+in agriculture is four-fifths the capital invested in manufacturing and
+railway transportation combined. Whether an individual has a special
+interest in business, in economics, in education, or in religious
+institutions, he ought to know the place of the farm and the farmer in
+that question. No one can have a full appreciation of the social and
+industrial life of the American people who is ignorant of the
+agricultural status.
+
+The natural place to begin work in rural social science is the
+agricultural college. Future farmers and teachers of farmers are
+supposed to be there. The subjects embraced are as important in solving
+the farm problem as are biology, physics, or chemistry. No skilled
+farmer or leader of farmers should be without some reasonably correct
+notions of the principles that determine the position of agriculture in
+the industrial world. A brief study of the elements of political
+economy, of sociology, of civics, is not enough; no more than the study
+of the elements of botany, of chemistry and of zoölogy is enough. The
+specific problems of the farmer that are economic need elucidation
+alongside the study of soils and crops, of plant-and stock-breeding. And
+these economic topics should be thoroughly treated by men trained in
+social science, and not incidentally by men whose chief interest is
+technical agriculture.
+
+The normal schools may well discuss the propriety of adding one or two
+courses which bear on the social and economic situation of the rural
+classes. While these schools do not now send out many teachers into
+rural schools, they may do so under the system of centralized schools;
+and in any event they furnish rural school administrators, as well as
+instructors of rural teachers. There seems to be a growing sentiment
+which demands of the school and of the teacher a closer touch with life
+as it is actually lived. How can rural teachers learn to appreciate the
+social function of the rural school, except they be taught?
+
+Nor is there any reason why the theological seminaries, or at least the
+institutions that prepare the men who become country clergymen, should
+not cover some of the subjects suggested. If the ambition of some people
+to see the country church a social and intellectual center is to be
+realized, the minister must know the rural problem broadly. The same
+arguments that impel the city pastor to become somewhat familiar with
+the economic, social, and civic questions of the day hold with equal
+force when applied to the necessary preparation for the rural ministry.
+
+The universities may be called upon to train teachers and investigators
+in rural social science for service in agricultural colleges, normal
+schools, and theological seminaries. Moreover, there is no good reason
+why any college or university graduate should not know more than he does
+about the farm problem. There can be little doubt that the interest in
+the farm question is very rapidly growing, and that the universities
+will be but meeting a demand if they begin very soon to offer courses in
+rural social science.
+
+The arguments for rural social science rest, let us observe, not only
+upon its direct aid to the farmers themselves, but upon its value as a
+basis for that intelligent social service which preacher, teacher, and
+editor may render the farming class. It is an essential underlying
+condition for the successful federation of rural social forces. Indeed
+it should in some degree be a part of the equipment of every educated
+person.
+
+It may not be out of place to add, in conclusion, that instruction in
+rural social problems should be placed in the hands of men who are
+thoroughly trained in social science as well as accurate, experienced,
+and sympathetic observers of rural conditions. It would be mischievous
+indeed if in the desire to be progressive any educational institution
+should offer courses in rural social science which gave superficial or
+erroneous ideas about the scientific principles involved, or which
+encouraged in any degree whatever the notion that the farmer's business
+and welfare are not vitally and forever bound up with the business and
+welfare of all other classes.
+
+
+OUTLINE FOR A BRIEF COURSE IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS
+
+
+  I. Characteristics of the Agricultural Industry.
+     Dependence upon nature.
+     Capital and labor as applied to agriculture.
+     The laws of rent and of decreasing returns in agriculture.
+     Relation of agriculture to other industries and to the welfare of
+       mankind.
+
+ II. History of the Agricultural Industry.
+     In ancient times.
+     Status in Europe prior to the eighteenth century.
+     The struggle to maintain its standing after the advent of commerce
+       and manufacture.
+     In the United States.
+       The pioneer stage.
+       Development of commercial agriculture.
+       The new farming.
+
+III. Present Status of the Farming Industry.
+     The world's food supply.
+     Agricultural resources of the United States.
+       Geographical factors.
+         Soils, climate, fertility, natural enemies, etc.
+     Statistics of farms, farm wealth, production, etc.
+     Leading sub-industries, cereals, stock, etc.
+     Distribution of production.
+
+ IV. The Agricultural Market.
+     Description of the market--local, domestic, foreign.
+     Mechanism of the market.
+       Banks and local exchange facilities.
+       Middlemen.
+       Boards of trade.
+     Prices of agricultural products.
+       Movements of prices.
+       Agricultural competition.
+       Depressions of agriculture.
+       Influence of "options."
+     Transportation of agricultural products.
+       Primary transportation--wagon roads and trolley lines.
+       Railroad and water transportation.
+         Facilities.
+         Rates.
+         Discriminations.
+         Delivery methods.
+       Incidents of the transportation system--elevators, etc.
+       Imperfect distribution of agricultural products.
+     Development of the market.
+       Increase of consumption of products--manufacture of farm products
+         as a factor.
+       The factor of choicer products.
+       The factor of better distribution of products.
+       The local market as a factor.
+       The foreign market as a factor.
+
+  V. Business Co-operation in Agriculture.
+     Historical sketch.
+     Present status.
+       Production.
+       Marketing.
+       Buying.
+       Miscellaneous business co-operation.
+     Difficulties and tendencies.
+
+ VI. Agriculture and Legislation.
+     Land laws and land policies of the United States.
+     Agriculture and the tariff.
+     Taxation and agriculture.
+     Food and dairy laws.
+     Government aid to agriculture.
+
+VII. General Problems.
+     Agricultural labor.
+     Machinery and agriculture.
+     Interest rates, indebtedness, etc.
+     Tenant farming.
+     Large vs. small farming.
+     Business methods.
+     Immigration and agriculture.
+
+
+OUTLINE FOR A BRIEF COURSE IN RURAL SOCIOLOGY
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+1. Definitions.
+2. Relation of the sociological to the economic, the technical, and the
+     scientific phases of agriculture.
+
+
+Part I
+
+THE RURAL SOCIAL STATUS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Movements of the Farm Population
+
+1. Statistical survey.
+2. The movement to the West.
+     History, causes.
+3. The movement to the cities.
+   _a_) Growth of cities.
+   _b_) Depletion of rural population in certain localities.
+4. Causes of the movement to the cities.
+   _a_) Industrial, social, and psychological causes.
+5. Results of the movements of the farm population.
+   _a_) Results both good and bad.
+   _b_) Résumé of industrial and social results.
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Social Condition of the Rural Population
+
+Nativity; color; illiteracy; families; health; temperance; crime;
+morality; pauperism; defectives; insanity; etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The Social Psychology of Rural Life
+
+1. Isolation and its results.
+2. The farm home and its environment.
+3. Traits of family life.
+4. Traits of individual life.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+The Social Aspect of Current Agricultural Questions
+
+1. Tenant farming.
+2. Large vs. small farms.
+3. Farm labor.
+4. Irregular incomes.
+5. Farm machinery.
+6. Specialization in farming.
+7. Immigration.
+
+
+Part II
+
+SOCIAL FACTORS IN RURAL PROGRESS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Means of Communication in Rural Districts
+
+1. Importance and status of rural communication.
+2. The new movements for better rural communication.
+   _a_) Highways.
+   _b_) Rural free mail delivery.
+   _c_) Rural telephone.
+   _d_) Interurban electric railways.
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Farmers' Organizations
+
+1. Value of.
+2. Difficulties in organizing.
+3. Forms that organizations may take.
+4. History and work of farmers' organizations in the United States.
+5. General deductions from study of farmers' organizations.
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Rural Education
+
+1. Distinction between rural and agricultural education.
+2. The country school.
+   _a_) Its importance, organization, maintenance, instruction, and
+     supervision.
+   _b_) The rural school as a social center.
+   _c_) The township unit, the consolidated school, the centralized
+     school.
+3. High-school privileges for rural pupils.
+4. The rural library.
+5. Other agencies for rural education.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Means of Agricultural Education
+
+1. Historical.
+2. Research in agriculture.
+3. Agricultural instruction to resident students.
+   _a_) Higher education in agriculture.
+   _b_) Secondary education in agriculture.
+   _c_) Primary education in agriculture.
+4. Extension teaching in agriculture.
+5. Miscellaneous agencies for agricultural education.
+   _a_) Farmers' societies.
+   _b_) The farm press.
+   _c_) The county paper.
+   _d_) Industrial departments of steam railways.
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+The Rural Church
+
+1. Present status.
+2. Difficulties in country church work.
+3. The awakening in the rural church.
+4. The institutional rural church.
+5. The Y. M. C. A. in the country.
+6. The rural Sunday school.
+7. The rural social settlement.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+The Social Ideal for Agriculture
+
+1. The importance of social agencies.
+2. The preservation of the "American farmer" essential.
+3. Relation of this ideal to our American civilization.
+4. The federation or co-operation of rural social agencies.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+FEDERATION FOR RURAL PROGRESS
+
+
+It is almost trite to assert the need of the "socialization"--to use a
+much-worked phrase--of the country. It is possible that this need is not
+greater than in the cities, but it is different. Among no class of
+people is individualism so rampant as among farmers. For more than a
+century the American farmer led the freest possible social life. His
+independence was his glory. But, when the day of co-operation dawned, he
+found himself out of tune with the movement, was disinclined to join the
+ranks of organized effort, and he prefers even yet his personal and
+local independence to the truer freedom which can be secured only
+through co-operative endeavor. Moreover, the social aspect of the rural
+problem is important not merely because the farmer is slow to
+co-operate. The farm problem is to be met by the activities of social
+institutions.
+
+We may say (assuming the home life, of course) that the church, the
+school, and the farmers' organization are the great rural social
+institutions. They are the forces now most efficient, and the ones that
+promise to abide. This classification may appear to be a mere truism,
+when we suggest that under the church should be placed all those
+movements that have a distinctively religious motive, under the school
+all those agencies that are primarily educational in design, and under
+farmers' organizations those associations whose chief function is to
+settle questions which concern the farmer as a business man and a
+citizen. But the classification answers fairly well. It includes
+practically every device that has been suggested for rural betterment.
+
+There are two interesting facts about these rural institutions: (1) None
+of them is doing a tithe of what it ought to be doing to help solve the
+farm problem. The church is apparently just about holding its own,
+though that is doubted by some observers. Rural schools are not, as a
+rule, keeping pace with the demands being made upon them; comparatively
+few students in the whole country are studying scientific agriculture.
+Not one farmer in twenty belongs to a strong farmers' organization. (2)
+All these institutions are awakening to the situation. Progress during
+the last decade has been especially gratifying. Co-operative efforts
+among farmers are more cautious, but more successful. The Grange has
+nearly doubled its membership since 1890; and it, as well as other farm
+organizations, has more real power than ever before. The rural-school
+question is one of the liveliest topics today among farmers as well as
+educators. Opportunities for agricultural education have had a marvelous
+development within a decade. Discussion about rural church federation,
+the rural institutional church, rural social settlements, and even
+experiments in these lines are becoming noticeably frequent. The Young
+Men's Christian Association has, its officers think, found the way to
+reach the country young man.
+
+The institutions which we have just discussed, together with the
+improvement that comes from such physical agencies as assist quicker
+communication (good wagon roads, telephones, rural mail delivery,
+electric roads), constitute the social forces that are to be depended
+upon in rural betterment. None can be spared or ignored. The function of
+each must be understood and its importance recognized. To imagine that
+substantial progress can result from the emphasis of any one agency to
+the exclusion of any other is a mistake. To assert this is not to
+quarrel with the statement we frequently hear nowadays that "the
+_church_ should be the social and intellectual center of the
+neighborhood;" or that "the _school_ should be the social and
+intellectual center of the neighborhood;" or that "the _Grange_ should
+be the social and intellectual center of the neighborhood." It is
+fortunate that these statements have been made. They show an
+appreciation of a function of these agencies that has been neglected.
+The first item in rural social progress is that the country preacher,
+the rural teacher, the country doctor, the country editor, the
+agricultural editor, the agricultural college professor, and especially
+the farmer himself, shall see the social need of the farm community. But
+to assert, for instance, that the church shall be _the_ social center of
+that community may lead to a partial and even to a fanatical view of
+things. I would not restrain in the slightest the enthusiasm of any
+pastor who wants to make his church occupy a central position in
+community life, nor of the teacher who wants to bring her school into
+relation with all the economic and social life of the farm, nor of the
+leader of the farmers' organization who sees the good that may be done
+through the social and intellectual training which his organization can
+give. But if there is danger that the preacher in the pursuit of this
+ideal, shall ignore the social function of the school and of the
+farmers' organization, or that the teacher, or the farmer, or anybody
+else who is interested, shall fail to see that there is a logical
+division of labor among rural social forces, and that it is only the
+intelligent and efficient and harmonious co-operation of all these
+forces that will insure the best progress, then to such I appeal with
+all the power at my command to recognize not only the breadth of the
+whole movement, but to appreciate the limitations of their own special
+interests. There are things that the church cannot do and should not
+attempt to do. There are things the school cannot do and should not
+attempt to do. Accepting our conventional division of social agencies,
+we may say that efficient rural progress stands upon a tripod of forces,
+and that balance can be maintained only when each is used in its proper
+measure.
+
+We reach now the heart of the topic, which is how these various social
+forces may be brought into co-operation--a co-operation that is
+intelligent and real. I would suggest, first of all, the encouragement
+of all efforts along this line that are already under way. For
+instance, there are scattered all over this country individual pastors
+who are seeking to make their churches the social and intellectual
+beacon-lights of the community. There are other individuals who are
+endeavoring to apply the social-settlement idea to the needs of the
+country. There are associations which attempt to bring together the
+teachers and the school patrons for mutual discussion of educational
+topics. In numerous instances the farmers' organizations include in
+their membership the country pastor, the district school teacher and
+perhaps the country doctor. In these and doubtless in other ways the
+idea we are dealing with is being promulgated, and up to a certain point
+this fact of promiscuous initiative is entirely satisfactory and
+desirable. So long as the work is done it makes little difference who
+does it. Every attempt to bring any of these agencies into closer touch
+with the farm community is to be welcomed most heartily. But beyond a
+certain limit this promiscuous work must be unsatisfactory. The efforts
+and interests of any one social agency are bound to be partial. Indeed
+the more effective such an agency is, the more partial it is likely to
+be. Intensity is gained at the expense of breadth. The need for
+federation exists in the desirability of securing both the intensity and
+the breadth.
+
+The precise method of securing this federation of effort is not easy to
+foresee. It can be determined only by trial. It must be worked out in
+harmony with varying conditions. Some very general plans at once suggest
+themselves: (1) Let the agricultural college in each state take the lead
+in the movement, acting not so much as an organization as a
+clearing-house and a go-between. Let it direct conferences on the
+subject, and seek to bring all who are interested in rural affairs into
+touch and sympathy. (2) Have a "League for Rural Progress," made up of
+representatives from the churches, the agricultural colleges, the
+departments of public instruction, the farm press, various farmers'
+organizations, etc. (3) Enlarge the "Hesperia movement," which now seeks
+to secure co-operation between school and farmers' organization, by
+including in it the church.
+
+It may be of interest to note that this idea of a federation of rural
+social forces is getting a foothold and has indeed already crystallized
+into organization. A brief description of what has actually been done
+will therefore not be out of place.
+
+So far as the writer is aware, the first meeting based on the definite
+idea of co-operation between school, church, and Grange was held at
+Morris, Connecticut, in the summer of 1901 and was organized by Rev. F.
+A. Holden, then pastor at Morris. This meeting was a very successful
+local affair, held in connection with "Old Home Week" celebration.
+
+Probably the first attempt to hold a similar meeting on a large scale
+was the conference at the Agricultural College, Michigan, in February,
+1902. It was a joint meeting of the Michigan Political Science
+Association and the Agricultural College and farmers' institutes. The
+practical initiative was taken by the Political Science Association
+under the leadership of its secretary, Professor Henry C. Adams, who had
+the cordial co-operation of President Snyder of the Agricultural College
+and Professor C. D. Smith, then superintendent of farmers' institutes.
+It was a notable gathering, and its promoters were rejoiced to see the
+splendid attendance of farmers particularly; teachers and clergymen did
+not attend as freely as might have been expected. The programme was a
+strong one and included men of national reputation and topics covering a
+wide range of interests.
+
+The addresses were published in the _Michigan Farmers' Institute
+Bulletin_ for 1901-02, and were also gathered into a publication of the
+Michigan Political Science Association under the title _Social Problems
+of the Farmer_.
+
+The state of Rhode Island has organized on a permanent basis. In 1904
+there was held in Kingston, at the College of Agriculture and Mechanic
+Arts, a "Conference on Rural Progress." It was a one-day meeting, well
+attended by representative farmers, clergymen, and educators. A
+committee was appointed to discuss further procedure, and the next year
+there was held in the halls of Brown University a two-days' conference.
+The programme included addresses on: The Grange, The Country Church,
+School Gardens, and several phases of practical agriculture. Among the
+speakers were the assistant secretary of agriculture, Hon. N. J.
+Bachelder, now Master of the National Grange, and Dr. Josiah Strong.
+
+In the spring of 1906 there was organized "The Rhode Island League for
+Rural Progress," which was constituted through representation from the
+following organizations: State Board of Agriculture; Rhode Island
+College of Agriculture; State Federation of Churches; State Grange;
+State Association of School Superintendents; State League of Improvement
+Societies; Washington County Agricultural Society; Newport Agricultural
+Society; Rhode Island Horticultural Society; Newport Horticultural
+Society; Rhode Island Poultry Association; Florists and Gardeners' Club;
+Kingston Improvement Association.
+
+This league held the Third Annual Conference on Rural Progress, April 10
+and 11, 1906, the first day's session being at Brown University,
+Providence, and the second day's at East Greenwich. Its fourth meeting
+was held in Newport in March, 1907. In Rhode Island the idea lying back
+of this conference has certainly approved itself to all who are
+interested in rural matters.
+
+The following is the constitution of the league:
+
+
+     CONSTITUTION
+
+     Rhode Island League for Rural Progress
+
+     I. NAME.--The name of this body shall be the "Rhode Island League
+     for Rural Progress."
+
+     II. OBJECT.--The object of the League shall be to secure the
+     co-operation of the various individuals, organizations, and
+     agencies which are working for any phase of rural advancement in
+     this state.
+
+     III. MEMBERSHIP.--Any organization interested in rural advancement,
+     which may desire to co-operate with the work of the League, may be
+     represented in the League.
+
+     Any individual in the state interested in rural progress may become
+     a member of the League upon the payment of one dollar annual fee.
+
+     IV. OFFICERS.--The administrative work of the League shall be
+     conducted by a council, to be composed of one delegate from each
+     organization represented in the League, to serve until superseded.
+     The council at the time of each annual conference shall choose from
+     among its members a president, a vice-president, and a
+     secretary-treasurer, and these officers shall act as an executive
+     committee.
+
+     V. MEETINGS.--The meetings of the League shall be held at the call
+     of the executive committee. There shall, however, be at least one
+     annual Conference on rural progress held under the auspices of the
+     League.
+
+     VI. FINANCES.--The funds necessary to forward the work of the
+     League may come from three sources:
+
+     _a_) Contributions made by organizations belonging to the League
+     and represented on the council, such contributions to be voluntary
+     and in such amount as the respective organizations may designate.
+     The council may, however, make up a schedule of desired
+     contributions from the various organizations and present it to the
+     different organizations.
+
+     _b_) Membership fees from individual members, $1.00 per year from
+     each member.
+
+     _c_) Private subscriptions.
+
+
+Probably the first successful attempt to organize a permanent league for
+rural progress was accomplished in 1904 through the efforts of Rev. G.
+T. Nesmith, of Hebron, Ill. It was called "The McHenry County
+Federation," and has held three annual meetings and seems to be on a
+solid basis. Mr. Nesmith has endeavored to keep the purpose of the
+league on a high plane by endeavoring to state clearly the object of the
+federation, which is, "that the people of McHenry County might have
+life, and have it more abundantly, and this life was not to be a narrow
+life. It was the largest aggregate and highest symmetry of the sixfold
+ends of individual and community action, viz., health, wealth,
+knowledge, sociability, beauty, and righteousness." He also endeavored
+to make it clear that "the federation does not seek to supplant the
+other forces. It rather seeks to be a clearing-house of the ideas of all
+the federated organizations; to be a mount of vision from which each may
+look and get a complete vision of life; to be a fraternal bond which
+shall link all together in common ties of sympathy, fellowship, and
+co-operation."
+
+The results thus far obtained are perhaps best described by quoting the
+words of Mr. G. W. Conn, Jr., superintendent of schools of McHenry
+County:
+
+
+     There is one noticeable omission in the constitution--a provision
+     for the proper financing of the federation. This is partially
+     explained by the fact that the federation has largely centered
+     about the county Teachers' Association and the county Farmers'
+     Institute, organizations that are supported in a financial way by
+     the county and the state appropriations. These appropriations, in
+     addition to some voluntary gifts, have been sufficient to meet the
+     necessary expenses of the meetings.
+
+     I think that I am safe in saying that the interest and also the
+     attendance has probably increased 100 per cent. at each session.
+     Each year has also seen a much larger percentage of our local men
+     and women helping out on the programme. It is a little early in its
+     history to expect much evidence of material results, but I believe
+     that results are already putting in an appearance, especially from
+     the esthetic standpoint. Without doubt more trees have been planted
+     about the country homes and along the country roadsides of this
+     county than in any two preceding years. In a great many places
+     roads have been cleaned. Refuse and weeds have been removed and
+     burned. Landscape gardening on a simple scale is putting in an
+     appearance in places where it was little expected. The naming of
+     farms is another feature that is rapidly growing. Boys' country
+     clubs are being formed and this year, for the first time, three of
+     these clubs met with the federation, had a banquet, and formed a
+     county organization.
+
+     Of course not all of these movements are rightfully to be
+     attributed to the direct influence of the county federation. The
+     public schools of the county have been largely instrumental in
+     stirring the public conscience to a livelier appreciation of the
+     beautiful. The regular observance of Arbor and Bird Days in our
+     schools has done much toward initiating this movement. However, the
+     federation has been the great factor in uniting otherwise
+     independent organizations into one large machine for stirring the
+     social consciousness and molding public sentiment. It has proved to
+     be an efficient association in at least three ways, in
+     co-ordinating our efforts, harmonizing our methods, and broadening
+     the field of operation.
+
+
+The constitution of this league is given herewith in full:
+
+
+     1. NAME.--The name of this organization shall be, The McHenry
+     County Federation of Rural Forces.
+
+     2. OBJECT.--The object of the Federation is to gain a higher
+     symmetry and a larger aggregate of health, wealth, knowledge,
+     sociability, beauty, and righteousness to the citizens of McHenry
+     County.
+
+     3. ELEMENTS OF THE FEDERATION.--The Federation shall consist of the
+     following organizations: The Farmers' Institute, Teachers'
+     Association, Domestic Science Association, Pastors' Association,
+     Women's Christian Temperance Union, and the Young Men's Christian
+     Association.
+
+     4. MEMBERSHIP.--Any county organization may become a member of the
+     federation by recommendation of the Executive Committee.
+
+     5. OFFICERS.--The officers of the Federation shall consist of a
+     president, as many vice-presidents as there are component
+     organizations, a secretary-treasurer, and an Executive Committee.
+
+     6. COMMITTEES.--The Executive Committee shall be composed of the
+     president, the secretary-treasurer, and the presidents of the
+     component organizations.
+
+     There shall be an Auditing Committee and a Committee on
+     Resolutions, each consisting of three members and to be appointed
+     by the president.
+
+     The Nominating Committee shall consist of two members from each of
+     the component organizations and they shall be appointed by the
+     president.
+
+     7. DUTIES.--The Executive Committee shall select the date and fix
+     the place of every meeting. They shall also prepare the programme.
+
+     The presidents of the component organizations shall be _ex-officio_
+     vice-presidents of the Federation.
+
+     8. AUDITING.--All bills shall be paid by the treasurer after the
+     same have been countersigned by the Auditing Committee.
+
+     9. TERM OF OFFICE.--The terms of all officers shall be one year or
+     until their successors are elected.
+
+     10. HOW ELECTED.--All officers shall be elected by ballot.
+
+
+The Massachusetts Conference for Town and Village Betterment has dealt
+with some phases of the federation idea. Its object is "to contribute to
+the formation of a strong, definite, and united purpose among the forces
+working for the improvement of civic and social conditions in
+Massachusetts, by bringing together all town and village improvement
+societies, citizen's associations, civic clubs, and other organizations
+interested in this purpose."
+
+The Massachusetts Agricultural College, in celebrating the fortieth
+anniversary of its opening to students, October 2, 1907, held a four
+days' conference on rural progress. The programme covered nearly the
+whole field of rural development and was made possible by the
+co-operation of the State Board of Agriculture, the State Grange, the
+Massachusetts Civic League, the Connecticut Valley Congregational Club,
+the State Committee of the Y. M. C. A., the Western Massachusetts
+Library Club, and the Head-Masters' Club of the Connecticut Valley. No
+permanent organization was formed, but the general idea of federation of
+rural social forces was fully emphasized and thoroughly appreciated.
+
+An attempt was made in the spring of 1907 to bring together the various
+elements of rural progress in all the New England states. Under the
+initiative of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture there was
+held in March, 1907, a New England Conference on Rural Progress. This
+meeting was held very largely for the purpose of discovering the
+sentiment among the leaders of New England agriculture with respect to
+the desirability and practicability of federating on so large a scale.
+In addition to the main meeting, the presidents of the agricultural
+colleges of New England were called together in a special section, and
+the same was true of the directors of the New England experiment
+stations, the masters of the various state granges, the secretaries of
+the various state boards of agriculture, and the leaders in the New
+England Federation of Churches.
+
+The idea of federation was clearly approved by the delegates present,
+and a temporary organization was effected. It was voted to hold a
+similar conference in Boston in the spring of 1908.
+
+It is probably true that the first and most important step in bringing
+about a federation of rural social forces is to educate all concerned to
+the _desirability_ of such a federation--to sow the seeds of the idea.
+So far as machinery is concerned it may not be necessary to form any new
+organization. Indeed, what is chiefly necessary is a sort of
+_clearing-house_ for an exchange of ideas and plans among all who are at
+work on any phase of the rural social problem. There is need of a
+central bureau that shall emphasize the necessity of a study of
+agricultural economics and rural sociology, and press the value of
+co-operation in the work of social progress in the country. There is
+need that somewhere "tab" shall be kept on the whole rural social
+movement. We need a directing force to assure a comprehensive view and
+study of the whole rural problem. It is important that some
+investigations should be carried on that are not likely to be taken up
+by some other agency. It would be desirable to have a certain amount of
+publication, and in various other ways to carry on a campaign of
+education. Above all, it would be desirable to initiate local, state,
+and national conferences pervaded by the spirit and purpose of securing
+the hearty co-operation of all rural social forces, of all the
+organizations that have any rural connection whatever, and of all
+individuals who have the slightest genuine interest in any phase of the
+farm problem.
+
+Such a bureau should keep in constant touch with, secure the confidence
+of, and supply appropriate literature to, country teachers, preachers,
+editors, doctors, and business men, and, more than all, to intelligent
+and progressive farmers. And let me add at this point, that it must be
+fully understood that the work contemplated cannot possibly achieve
+large success unless it is done _with_ the farmers, rather than _for_
+the farmers. The problem is far from that of doing a missionary work for
+a down-trodden and ignorant class. It is a much less heroic, a much more
+commonplace task. It is simply carrying the idea of co-operation of
+individuals a step farther, and endeavoring to secure the co-operation
+of interests that have precisely the same goal, although traveling upon
+different roads. The prime purpose of the movement is to bring the
+specialist into close touch with the more general phases of the problem,
+to secure breadth and wholeness, to assure well-balanced effort.
+
+
+     [NOTE.--A paper with the title of this chapter was read before the
+     American Civic Association in 1901, at Minneapolis. A portion of
+     the paper is retained here. The history of the development of the
+     idea of federation is brought down to the present time.]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chapters in Rural Progress, by 
+Kenyon L. Butterfield
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Chapters in Rural Progress, by Kenyon L. Butterfield
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Chapters in Rural Progress
+
+Author: Kenyon L. Butterfield
+
+Release Date: October 20, 2008 [EBook #26975]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Tom Roch, Martin Pettit and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images produced by Core Historical
+Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS</h1>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h4>THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS<br />CHICAGO, ILLINOIS</h4>
+
+<hr class="smler" />
+
+<h4>Agents</h4>
+
+<h4>THE BAKER &amp; TAYLOR COMPANY<br />NEW YORK</h4>
+
+<h4>THE CUNNINGHAM, CURTISS &amp; WELCH COMPANY<br />LOS ANGELES</h4>
+
+<hr class="smler" />
+
+<h4>THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS<br />LONDON AND EDINBURGH</h4>
+
+<h4>THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA<br />TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI</h4>
+
+<h4>THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY<br />SHANGHAI</h4>
+
+<h4>KARL W. HIERSEMANN<br />LEIPZIG</h4>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center"><img src="images/titlepage.jpg" width='396' height='666' alt="CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS BY KENYON L. BUTTERFIELD President of the Massachusetts Agricultural College
+THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS" /></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Copyright 1907 By<br />The University of Chicago</span></h4>
+
+<hr class="smler" />
+
+<h4>All Rights Reserved</h4>
+
+<hr class="smler" />
+
+<h4>Published Febraury 1908<br />Second Impression June 1909<br />Third Impression May 1911<br />
+Fourth Impression February 1913<br />Fifth Impression October 1916</h4>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h4>Composed and Printed By<br />The University of Chicago Press<br />Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.</h4>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3>TO MY FATHER<br />IRA HOWARD BUTTERFIELD</h3>
+
+<h4>WHOSE CONSTANT CONCERN FOR RURAL WELFARE<br />AND LIFE-LONG SERVICE TO RURAL INTERESTS<br />
+HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE CHIEF<br />INCENTIVES TO THE STUDIES<br />LYING BEHIND THIS BOOK</h4>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2>
+
+<p>This book does not offer a complete analysis of the rural problem; but
+attempts, in general, to present some of the more significant phases of
+that problem, and, in particular, to describe some of the agencies at
+work in solving it. Several of the chapters were originally magazine
+articles, and, though all have been revised and in some cases entirely
+rewritten, they have the limitations of such articles. Other chapters
+consist of more formal addresses. Necessarily there will be found some
+lack of uniformity in style and in method of presentation, and
+occasional duplication of argument or statement.</p>
+
+<p>For permission to use articles, in whole or in part, I have to thank the
+editors of the <i>Chautauquan</i>, <i>Arena</i>, <i>Forum</i>, <i>Review of Reviews</i>,
+<i>Popular Science Monthly</i>, <i>Michigan Alumnus</i>, <i>New England Farmer</i>,
+<i>Cornell Countryman</i>; also Professor L. R. Taft, superintendent of
+Farmers' Institutes in Michigan, and the officers of the American Civic
+Association. Two chapters comprise material heretofore unpublished.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<div class="index">
+<ul>
+<li><span class="mono"><a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE.</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<h3><a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a></h3>
+
+<div class="index">
+<ul>
+<li><span class="mono">CHAPTER</span></li>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Study of Rural Life</li>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Problems of Progress</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<h3><a href="#THE_OUTLOOK">THE OUTLOOK</a></h3>
+
+<div class="index">
+<ul>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Expansion of Farm Life</li>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;The New Farmer</li>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;Culture from the Corn-Lot</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<h3><a href="#AGENCIES_OF_PROGRESS">AGENCIES OF PROGRESS</a></h3>
+
+<div class="index">
+<ul>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;Education for the Farmer</li>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;Farmers' Institutes</li>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Hesperia Movement</li>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Rural School and the Community</li>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Grange</li>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;Opportunities for Farm Women</li>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Country Church and Progress</li>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;A Summary of Recent Progress</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<h3><a href="#FORWARD_STEPS">FORWARD STEPS</a></h3>
+
+<div class="index">
+<ul>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Social Side of the Farm Question</li>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Needs of New England Agriculture</li>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;An Untilled Field in American Education</li>
+<li><span class="mono">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII.</a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;Federation for Rural Progress</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>THE STUDY OF RURAL LIFE</h3>
+
+<p>The American farm problem, particularly its sociological aspect, has not
+as yet had the attention that it deserves from students. Much less have
+the questions that concern rural social advancement found the popular
+mind; in truth, the general city public has not been deeply interested in the farmer.</p>
+
+<p>But there seem to be recent indications that the sentiment is changing.
+The heated discussions in New England about Mr. Hartt's interesting
+clinic over a decadent hill-town, the suggestive fast-day proclamation
+of Governor Rollins of New Hampshire a few years ago, the marvelous
+development of agricultural education, the renewed study of the rural
+school, the widespread and growing delight in country life, have all
+aroused an interest in and presage a new attention to rural conditions.
+This is well. The sociologist can hardly afford to omit the rural
+classes from the scope of his study, especially if he desires to
+investigate the practical phases of his subject. Moreover, no one with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>
+intelligent notions of affairs should be ignorant of the forces that control rural life.</p>
+
+<p>In view of this apparent change in the attitude of people toward the
+farm problem, it may not be idle to suggest some possible errors that
+should be avoided when we are thinking of rural society. The student
+will doubtless approach his problem fortified against misconceptions&mdash;he
+probably has thoughtfully established his view-point. But the average
+person in the city is likely to call up the image of his ancestral home
+of a generation ago, if he were born in the country, or, if not, to draw
+upon his observations made on a summer vacation or on casual business
+trips into the interior. Or he takes his picture from <i>Shore Acres</i> and
+the <i>Old Homestead</i>. In any case it is not improbable that the image may
+be faulty and as a consequence his appreciation of present conditions
+wholly inadequate. Let us consider some of these possible sources of misconception.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place it is not fair to compare country life as a whole
+with the best city conditions. This is often done. The observer usually
+has education, culture, leisure, the experience of travel, more or less
+wealth; his acquaintance is mostly with people of like attainments.
+When<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> he fails to find a rural environment that corresponds in some
+degree to his own and that of his friends, he is quick to conclude that
+the country has nothing to offer him, that only the city ministers to
+the higher wants of man. He forgets that he is one of a thousand in the
+city, and does not represent average city life. He fails to compare the
+average country conditions with the average city conditions, manifestly
+the only fair basis for comparison. Or he may err still more grievously.
+He may set opposite each other the worst country conditions and the
+better city conditions. He ought in all justice to balance country slum
+with city slum; and certainly so if he insists on trying to find
+palaces, great libraries, eloquent preachers, theaters, and rapid
+transit in each rural community. City life goes to extremes; country
+life, while varied, is more even. In the country there is little of
+large wealth, luxury, and ease; little also of extreme poverty, reeking
+crime, unutterable filth, moral sewage. Farmers are essentially a middle
+class and no comparison is fair that does not keep this fact ever in mind.</p>
+
+<p>We sometimes hear the expression, "Country life is so barren&mdash;that to me
+is its most discouraging aspect." Much country life is truly barren;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>
+but much more of it is so only relatively and not essentially. We must
+admit that civilization is at least partially veneer; polish does
+wonders for the appearance of folks as well as of furniture. But while
+the beauty of "heart of oak" is enhanced by its "finish," its utility is
+not destroyed by a failure to polish it. Now, much of the so-called
+barrenness of country life is the oak minus the polish. We come to
+regard polish as essential; it is largely relative. And not only may we
+apply the wrong standard to the situation, but our eyes may deceive us.
+To the uninitiated a clod of dry earth is the most unpromising of
+objects&mdash;it is cousin to the stone, and the type of barrenness. But to
+the elect it is pregnant with the possibilities of seed-time and
+harvest, of a full fruitage, of abundance and content for man and beast.
+And there is many a farm home, plain to an extreme, devoid of the
+veneer, a home that to the man of the town seems lacking in all the
+things that season life, but a home which virtue, intelligence, thrift,
+and courage transform into a garden of roses and a type of heaven. I do
+not justify neglect of the finer material things of life, nor plead for
+drab and homespun as passports to the courts of excellence; but I insist
+that the plainness, simple living, absence of luxury, lack<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> of polish
+that may be met with in the country, do not necessarily accompany a
+condition barren of the essentials of the higher life.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes rural communities are ridiculed because of the trivial nature
+of their gossip, interests, and ambitions. There may be some justice in
+the criticism, though the situation is pathetic rather than humorous.
+But is the charge wholly just? In comparing country with town we are
+comparing two environments; necessarily, therefore, objects of gossip,
+interests, and ambitions differ therein. We expect that. It is no
+criticism to assert that fact. The test is not that of an existing
+difference, but of an essential quality. Is not Ben Bolt's new top buggy
+as legitimate a topic for discussion as is Arthur John Smythe's new
+automobile? Does not the price of wheat mean as much to the hard-working
+grower as to the broker who may never see a grain of it? May not the
+grove at Turtle Lake yield as keen enjoyment as do the continental
+forests? Is the ambition to own a fine farm more ignoble than the desire
+to own shares in a copper mine? It really does not matter so much what
+one gossips about or what one's delights are or what the carving of the
+rungs on ambition's ladder; the vital question is the effect of these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+things on character. Do they stunt or encourage the inner life? It must
+be admitted that country people do not always accept their environing
+opportunities for enjoying the higher life of mind and heart. But do
+they differ in this respect from their cousins of the town?</p>
+
+<p>We must remember, too, that this is a large country, and that a study of
+rural conditions in a certain community, township, county, state, or
+section may not give us the correct basis upon which to determine the
+agricultural status of the country.</p>
+
+<p>Nor must we make the mistake of confusing conservatism and decadence.
+That the city will in many particulars always progress more rapidly than
+the country is inevitable. But speed is not the ultimate criterion of a
+full life. Again must we apply the test whether the gain is relative or
+essential. Telephones, free mail delivery, electric car lines, operas,
+great libraries, cathedrals&mdash;all come to the city first, some of them
+solely to the city. The country cannot hope to be other than inherently
+conservative as regards such institutions. But may there not be found
+such adaptations of or substitutes for these institutions as shall not
+only preserve the rural community from decadence, but, indeed, build it
+up into strength, beauty, and purity?</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p><p>Comparative lack of identical resources need not mean poverty of
+attainment. Let us agree that relatively the country will lag behind the
+town. Is the country continually gaining in those things that are
+fundamentally important and that minister to its best life? is the kernal question.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the most common error in studying rural conditions is the
+failure to distinguish the vital difference between the urban problem
+and the rural problem. <i>Sociologically the city problem is that of
+congestion; the rural problem is that of isolation.</i> The social
+conditions of country and city are wholly different. Institutions that
+succeed in alleviating social disorders in the town may or may not
+succeed in the country&mdash;in any event they must be adapted to country
+needs. This applies to organizations, schools, libraries, social
+settlements. And the adaptation must be one not only of form but of
+spirit. In other words, the farm problem is a peculiar problem,
+demanding special study, a new point of view, and sometimes unique institutions.</p>
+
+<p>Those accustomed to large cities make a pretty broad classification of
+"country." A town of five thousand people is to them "country." But it
+is not country. The problem of the village and the small town is not the
+rural<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> problem, take it the nation over. The smaller the town, the more
+nearly it approaches to rural conditions, but its essential problem is
+not that of the farm.</p>
+
+<p>And, finally, let no one suppose that philanthropy is the chief medicine
+for the social ill-health of the country. The intelligent student who
+possesses the true spirit of helpfulness may find in the rural problem
+ample scope for both his brain and his heart. But he will make a
+fundamental and irreparable error if he starts out with the notion that
+pity, charity, and direct gifts will win the day. You may flatter the
+American farmer; you cannot patronize him. He demands and needs, not
+philanthropy, but simple justice, equal opportunity, and better
+facilities for education. He is neither slave nor pauper.</p>
+
+<p>To conclude: There is a farm problem, and it is worth solving. But it
+differs from the city problem. And if, as is to be hoped, the recently
+renewed interest in this question is to be permanent, we trust that
+those who desire to make it a special study, as well as those whose
+interest in it is general and widely human, may from the start avoid the
+errors that are likely to obscure rural conditions when viewed through
+city eyes.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>THE PROBLEMS OF PROGRESS<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h3>
+
+<p>It is impossible to acquire a keen and permanent interest in the rural
+problem unless one first of all is cognizant of its significance. And
+lack of knowledge at this point may in part account for the fact already
+alluded to that in America the farm problem has not been adequately
+studied. So stupendous has been the development of our manufacturing
+industries, so marvelous the growth of our urban population, so pressing
+the questions raised by modern city life, that the social and economic
+interests of the American farmer have, as a rule, received minor
+consideration. We are impressed with the rise of cities like Chicago,
+forgetting for the moment that half of the American people still live
+under rural conditions. We are perplexed by the labor wars that are
+waged about us, for the time unmindful that one-third of the workers of
+this country make their living immediately from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> soil. We are
+astounded, and perhaps alarmed, at the great centralization of capital,
+possibly not realizing that the capital invested in agriculture in the
+United States nearly equals the combined capital invested in the
+manufacturing and railway industries. But if we pause to consider the
+scope and nature of the economic and social interests involved, we
+cannot avoid the conclusion that the farm problem is worthy of serious
+thought from students of our national welfare.</p>
+
+<p>We are aware that agriculture does not hold the same relative rank among
+our industries that it did in former years, and that our city population
+has increased far more rapidly than has our rural population. We do not
+ignore the fact that urban industries are developing more rapidly than
+is agriculture, nor deny the seriousness of the actual depletion of
+rural population, and even of community decadence, in some portions of
+the Union. But these facts merely add to the importance of the farm
+question. And it should not be forgotten that there has been a large and
+constant growth both of our agricultural wealth and of our rural
+population. During the last half-century there was a gain of 500 per
+cent. in the value of farm property, while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> the non-urban population
+increased 250 per cent. Agriculture has been one of the chief elements
+of America's industrial greatness, it is still our dominant economic
+interest, and it will long remain at least a leading industry. The
+people of the farm have furnished a sturdy citizenship and have been the
+primary source of much of our best leadership in political, business,
+and professional life. For an indefinite future, a large proportion of
+the American people will continue to live in a rural environment.</p>
+
+<h4>WHAT IS THE FARM PROBLEM?</h4>
+
+<p>Current agricultural discussion would lead us to think that the farm
+problem is largely one of technique. The possibilities of the
+agricultural industry, in the light of applied science, emphasize the
+need of the farmer for more complete knowledge of soil and plant and
+animal, and for increased proficiency in utilizing this knowledge to
+secure greater production at less cost. This is a fundamental need. It
+lies at the basis of success in farming. But it is not the farm problem.</p>
+
+<p>Business skill must be added, business methods enforced. The farmer must
+be not only a more skilful produce-grower, but also a keener<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+produce-seller. But the moment we enter the realm of the market we step
+outside the individualistic aspect of the problem as embodied in the
+current doctrine of technical agricultural teaching, and are forced to
+consider the social aspect as emphasized, first of all, in the economic
+category of price. Here we find many factors&mdash;transportation cost,
+general market conditions at home and abroad, the status of other
+industries, and even legislative activities. The farm problem becomes an
+industrial question, not solely one of technical and business skill.
+Moreover, the problem is one of a successful industry as a whole, not
+merely the personal successes of even a respectable number of individual
+farmers. The farming class must progress as a unit.</p>
+
+<p>But have we yet reached the heart of the question? Is the farm problem
+one of technique plus business skill, plus these broad economic
+considerations? Is it not perfectly possible that agriculture as an
+industry may remain in a fairly satisfactory condition, and yet the
+farming class fail to maintain its status in the general social order?
+Is it not, for instance, quite within the bounds of probability to
+imagine a good degree of economic strength in the agricultural industry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>
+existing side by side with either a peasant r&eacute;gime or a
+landlord-and-tenant system? Yet would we expect from either system the
+same social fruitage that has been harvested from our American yeomanry?</p>
+
+<p>We conclude, then, that <i>the farm problem consists in maintaining upon
+our farms a class of people who have succeeded in procuring for
+themselves the highest possible class status, not only in the
+industrial, but in the political and the social order&mdash;a relative
+status, moreover, that is measured by the demands of American ideals.</i>
+The farm problem thus connects itself with the whole question of
+democratic civilization. This is not mere platitude. For we cannot
+properly judge the significance and the relation of the different
+industrial activities of our farmers, and especially the value of the
+various social agencies for rural betterment, except by the standard of
+class status. It is here that we seem to find the only satisfactory
+philosophy of rural progress.</p>
+
+<p>We would not for a moment discredit the fundamental importance of
+movements that have for their purpose the improved technical skill of
+our farmers, better business management of the farm, and wiser study and
+control of market conditions. Indeed, we would call<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> attention to the
+fact that social institutions are absolutely necessary means of securing
+these essential factors of industrial success. In the solution of the
+farm problem we must deliberately invoke the influence of quickened
+means of communication, of co-operation among farmers, of various means
+of education, and possibly even of religious institutions, to stimulate
+and direct industrial activity. What needs present emphasis is the fact
+that there is a definite, real, social end to be held in view as the
+goal of rural endeavor. The highest possible social status for the
+farming class is that end.</p>
+
+<p>We may now, as briefly as possible, describe some of the difficulties
+that lie in the path of the farmers in their ambition to attain greater
+class efficiency and larger class influence, and some of the means at
+hand for minimizing the difficulties. A complete discussion of the farm
+problem should, of course, include thorough consideration of the
+technical, the business, and the economic questions implied by the
+struggle for industrial success; for industrial success is prerequisite
+to the achievement of the greatest social power of the farming class.
+But we shall consider only the social aspects of the problem.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+
+<h4>RURAL ISOLATION</h4>
+
+<p>Perhaps the one great underlying social difficulty among American
+farmers is their comparatively isolated mode of life. The farmer's
+family is isolated from other families. A small city of perhaps twenty
+thousand population will contain from four hundred to six hundred
+families per square mile, whereas a typical agricultural community in a
+prosperous agricultural state will hardly average more than ten families
+per square mile. The farming class is isolated from other classes.
+Farmers, of course, mingle considerably in a business and political way
+with the men of their trading town and county seat; but, broadly
+speaking, farmers do not associate freely with people living under urban
+conditions and possessing other than the rural point of view. It would
+be venturesome to suggest very definite generalizations with respect to
+the precise influence of these conditions, because, so far as the writer
+is aware, the psychology of isolation has not been worked out. But two
+or three conclusions seem to be admissible, and for that matter rather
+generally accepted.</p>
+
+<p>The well-known conservatism of the farming class is doubtless largely
+due to class isolation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> Habits, ideas, traditions, and ideals have long
+life in the rural community. Changes come slowly. There is a tendency to
+tread the well-worn paths. The farmer does not easily keep in touch with
+rapid modern development, unless the movements or methods directly
+affect him. Physical agencies which improve social conditions, such as
+electric lights, telephones, and pavements, come to the city first. The
+atmosphere of the country speaks peace and quiet. Nature's routine of
+sunshine and storm, of summer and winter, encourages routine and
+repetition in the man who works with her.</p>
+
+<p>A complement of this rural conservatism, which at first thought seems a
+paradox, but which probably grows out of these same conditions of
+isolation, is the intense radicalism of a rural community when once it
+breaks away from its moorings. Many farmers are unduly suspicious of
+others' motives; yet the same people often succumb to the wiles of the
+charlatan, whether medical or political. Farmers are usually
+conservative in politics and intensely loyal to party; but the Populist
+movement indicates the tendency to extremes when the old allegiance is
+left behind. Old methods of farming may be found alongside
+ill-considered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> attempts to raise new crops or to utilize untried
+machines.</p>
+
+<p>Other effects of rural isolation are seen in a class provincialism that
+is hard to eradicate, and in the development of minds less alert to
+seize business advantages and less far-sighted than are developed by the
+intense industrial life of the town. There is time to brood over wrongs,
+real and imaginary. Personal prejudices often grow to be rank and
+coarse-fibered. Neighborhood feuds are not uncommon and are often
+virulent. Leadership is made difficult and sometimes impossible. It is
+easy to fall into personal habits that may mark off the farmer from
+other classes of similar intelligence, and that bar him from his
+rightful social place.</p>
+
+<p>It would, however, be distinctly unfair to the farm community if we did
+not emphasize some of the advantages that grow out of the rural mode of
+life. Farmers have time to think, and the typical American farmer is a
+man who has thought much and often deeply. A spirit of sturdy
+independence is generated, and freedom of will and of action is
+encouraged. Family life is nowhere so educative as in the country. The
+whole family co-operates for common ends, and in its individual members
+are bred the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> qualities of industry, patience, and perseverance. The
+manual work of the schools is but a makeshift for the old-fashioned
+training of the country-grown boy. Country life is an admirable
+preparation for the modern industrial and professional career.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, rural isolation is a real evil. Present-day living is so
+distinctively social, progress is so dependent upon social agencies,
+social development is so rapid, that if the farmer is to keep his status
+he must be fully in step with the rest of the army. He must secure the
+social view-point. The disadvantages of rural isolation are largely in
+the realm of the social relations, its advantages mostly on the
+individual and moral side. Farm life makes a strong individual; it is a
+serious menace to the achievement of class power.</p>
+
+<p>A cure for isolation sometimes suggested is the gathering of the farmers
+into villages. This remedy, however, is of doubtful value. In the first
+place, the scheme is not immediately practicable. About three and
+one-half billions of dollars are now invested in farm buildings, and it
+will require some motive more powerful than that inspired by academic
+logic to transfer, even gradually, this investment to village groups.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
+Moreover, it is possible to dispute the desirability of the remedy. The
+farm village at best must be a mere hamlet. It can secure for the farmer
+very few of the urban advantages he may want, except that of permitting
+closer daily intercourse between families. And it is questionable if the
+petty society of such a village can compensate for the freedom and
+purity of rural family life now existing. It may even be asserted with
+some degree of positiveness that the small village, on the moral and
+intellectual sides, is distinctly inferior to the isolated farm home.</p>
+
+<p>At the present time rural isolation in America is being overcome by the
+development of better means of communication among farmers who still
+live on their farms. So successful are these means of communication
+proving that we cannot avoid the conclusion that herein lies the remedy.
+Improved wagon roads, the rural free mail delivery, the farm telephone,
+trolley lines through country districts, are bringing about a positive
+revolution in country living. They are curing the evils of isolation,
+without in the slightest degree robbing the farm of its manifest
+advantages for family life. The farmers are being welded into a more
+compact society. They are being nurtured to greater alertness of mind,
+to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> greater keenness of observation, and the foundations are being laid
+for vastly enlarged social activities. The problem now is to extend
+these advantages to every rural community&mdash;in itself a task of huge
+proportions. If this can be done and isolation can be reduced to a
+minimum, the solution of all the other rural social problems will become
+vastly easier.</p>
+
+<h4>FARMERS' ORGANIZATION</h4>
+
+<p>Organization is one of the pressing social problems that American
+farmers have to face. The importance of the question is intrinsic,
+because of the general social necessity for co-operation which
+characterizes modern life. Society is becoming consciously
+self-directive. The immediate phase of this growing self-direction lies
+in the attempts of various social groups to organize their powers for
+group advantage. And if, as seems probable, this group activity is to
+remain a dominant feature of social progress, even in a fairly coherent
+society, it is manifest that there will result more or less of
+competition among groups.</p>
+
+<p>The farming class, if at all ambitious for group influence, can hardly
+avoid this tendency to organization. Farmers, indeed more than any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
+other class, need to organize. Their isolation makes thorough
+organization especially imperative. And the argument for co-operation
+gains force from the fact that relatively the agricultural population is
+declining. In the old days farmers ruled because of mere mass. That is
+no longer possible. The na&iuml;ve statement that "farmers must organize
+because other classes are organizing" is really good social philosophy.</p>
+
+<p>In the group competition just referred to there is a tendency for class
+interests to be put above general social welfare. This is a danger to be
+avoided in organization, not an argument against it. So the farmers'
+organization should be guarded, at this point, by adherence to the
+principle that organization must not only develop class power, but must
+be so directed as to permit the farmers to lend the full strength of
+their class to general social progress.</p>
+
+<p>Organization thus becomes a test of class efficiency, and consequently a
+prerequisite for solving the farm problem. Can the farming class secure
+and maintain a fairly complete organization? Can it develop efficient
+leaders? Can it announce, in sound terms, its proposed group policy? Can
+it lend the group influence to genuine social progress? If so, the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>organization of farmers becomes a movement of pre-eminent importance.</p>
+
+<p>Organization, moreover, is a powerful educational force. It arouses
+discussion of fundamental questions, diffuses knowledge, gives practice
+in public affairs, trains individuals in executive work, and, in fine,
+stimulates, as nothing else can, a class which is in special need of social incentive.</p>
+
+<p>Organization is, however, difficult of accomplishment. While it would
+take us too far afield to discuss the history of farmers' organizations
+in America, we may briefly suggest some of the difficulties involved.
+For forty years the question has been a prominent one among the farmers,
+and these years have seen the rise and decline of several large
+associations. There have been apparently two great factors contributing
+to the downfall of these organizations. The first was a misapprehension,
+on the part of the farmers, of the feasibility of organizing themselves
+as a political phalanx; the second, a sentimental belief in the
+possibilities of business co-operation among farmers, more especially in
+lines outside their vocation. There is no place for class politics in
+America. There are some things legislation cannot cure. There are
+serious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> limitations to co-operative endeavor. It took many hard
+experiences for our farmers to learn these truths. But back of all lie
+some inherent difficulties, as, for instance, the number of people
+involved, their isolation, sectional interests, ingrained habits of
+independent action, of individual initiative, of suspicion of others'
+motives. There is often lack of perspective, and unwillingness to invest
+in a procedure that does not promise immediate returns. The mere fact of
+failure has discredited the organization idea. There is lack of
+leadership; for the farm industry, while it often produces men of strong
+mind, keen perception, resolute will, does not, as a rule, develop
+executive capacity for large enterprises.</p>
+
+<p>It is frequently asserted that farmers are the only class that has not
+organized. This is not strictly true. The difficulties enumerated are
+real difficulties and have seriously retarded farm organization. But if
+the progress made is not satisfactory, it is at least encouraging. On
+the purely business side, over five thousand co-operative societies
+among American farmers have been reported. In co-operative buying of
+supplies, co-operative selling of products, and co-operative insurance
+the volume of transactions reaches large figures. A host of societies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+of a purely educational nature exists among stock-breeders,
+fruit-growers, dairymen. It is true that no one general organization of
+farmers, embracing a large proportion of the class, has as yet been
+perfected. The nearest approach to it is the Grange, which, contrary to
+a popular notion, is in a prosperous condition, with a really large
+influence upon the social, financial, educational, and legislative
+interests of the farming class. It has had a steady growth during the
+past ten years, and is a quiet but powerful factor in rural progress.
+The Grange is perhaps too conservative in its administrative policy. It
+has not at least succeeded in converting to its fold the farmers of the
+great Mississippi Valley. But it has workable machinery, it disavows
+partisan politics and selfish class interests, and it subordinates
+financial benefits, while emphasizing educational and broadly political
+advantages. It seems fair to interpret the principles of the Grange as
+wholly in line with the premise of this paper, that the farmers need to
+preserve their status, politically, industrially, and socially, and that
+organization is one of the fundamental methods they must use. The
+Grange, therefore, deserves to succeed, and indeed is succeeding.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p><p>The field of agricultural organization is an extensive one. But if the
+farm problem is to be solved satisfactorily, the American farmers must
+first secure reasonably complete organization.</p>
+
+<h4>RURAL EDUCATION</h4>
+
+<p>It is hardly necessary to assert that the education of that portion of
+the American people who live upon the land involves a question of the
+greatest significance. The subject naturally divides itself into two
+phases, one of which may be designated as rural education proper, the
+other as agricultural education. Rural education has to do with the
+education of people, more especially of the young, who live under rural
+conditions; agricultural education aims to prepare men and women for the
+specific vocation of agriculture. The rural school typifies the first;
+the agricultural school, the second. Rural education is but a section of
+the general school question; agricultural education is a branch of
+technical training. These two phases of the education of the farm
+population meet at many points, they must work in harmony, and together
+they form a distinct educational problem.</p>
+
+<p>The serious difficulties in the rural school<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> question are perhaps
+three: first, to secure a modern school, in efficiency somewhat
+comparable to the town school, without unduly increasing the school tax;
+second, so to enrich the curriculum and so to expand the functions of
+the school that the school shall become a vital and coherent part of the
+community life, on the one hand translating the rural environment into
+terms of character and mental efficiency, and on the other hand serving
+perfectly as a stepping-stone to the city schools and to urban careers;
+third, to provide adequate high-school facilities in the rural
+community.</p>
+
+<p>The centralization of district schools and the transportation of pupils
+will probably prove to be more nearly a solution of all these
+difficulties than will any other one scheme. The plan permits the
+payment of higher wages for teachers and ought to secure better
+instruction; it permits the employment of special teachers, as for
+nature-study or agriculture; it increases the efficiency of
+superintendence; it costs but little, if any, more than the district
+system; it leaves the school amid rural surroundings, while introducing
+into the schoolroom itself a larger volume, so to speak, of
+world-atmosphere; it contains possibilities for community service; it
+can easily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> be expanded into a high school of reputable grade.</p>
+
+<p>There are two dangers, both somewhat grave, likely to arise from an
+urgent campaign for centralization. Even if the movement makes as great
+progress as could reasonably be expected, for a generation to come a
+large share, if not a major portion, of rural pupils will still be
+taught in the small, isolated, district school; there is danger that
+this district school may be neglected. Moreover, increased school
+machinery always invites undue reliance upon machine-like methods.
+Centralization permits, but does not guarantee, greater efficiency. A
+system like this one must be vitalized by constant and close touch with
+the life and needs and aspirations of the rural community itself.</p>
+
+<p>Wherever centralization is not adopted, the consolidation of two or
+three schools&mdash;a modified form of centralization&mdash;may prove helpful.
+Where the district school still persists, there are one or two
+imperative requirements. Teachers must have considerably higher wages
+and longer tenure. There must be more efficient supervision. The state
+must assist in supporting the school, although only in part. The small
+schools must be correlated with some form<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> of high school. The last
+point is of great importance because of the comparative absence in
+country communities of opportunity near at hand for <i>good</i> high-school training.</p>
+
+<p>Agricultural education is distinctively technical, not in the restricted
+sense of mere technique, or even of applied science, but in the sense
+that it must be frankly vocational. It has to do with the preparation of
+men and women for the business of farming and for life in the rural
+community.</p>
+
+<p>Agricultural education should begin in the primary school. In this
+school the point of view, however, should be broadly pedagogical rather
+than immediately vocational. Fortunately, the wise teaching of
+nature-study, the training of pupils to know and to love nature, the
+constant illustrations from the rural environment, the continual appeal
+to personal observation and experience, absolute loyalty to the farm
+point of view, are not only sound pedagogy, but form the best possible
+background for future vocational study. Whether we call this early work
+"nature-study" or call it "agriculture" matters less than that the
+fundamental principle be recognized. It must first of all <i>educate</i>. The
+greatest difficulty in introducing such work into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> the primary school is
+to secure properly equipped teachers.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the most stupendous undertaking in agricultural education is the
+adequate development of secondary education in agriculture. The
+overwhelming majority of young people who secure any agricultural
+schooling whatever must get it in institutions that academically are of
+secondary grade. This is a huge task. If developed to supply existing
+needs, it will call for an enormous expenditure of money and for the
+most careful planning. From the teaching view-point it is a difficult
+problem. Modern agriculture is based upon the sciences; it will not do,
+therefore, to establish schools in the mere art of farming. But these
+agricultural high schools must deal with pupils who are comparatively
+immature, and who almost invariably have had no preparation in science.
+Nor should the courses at these schools be ultra-technical. They are to
+prepare men and women for life on the farm&mdash;men and women who are to
+lead in rural development, and who must get some inkling at least of the
+real farm question and its solution. The agricultural school, therefore,
+presents a problem of great difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>A perennial question in agricultural education<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> is: What is the function
+of the agricultural college? We have not time to trace the history of
+these colleges, nor to elaborate the various views relative to their
+mission. But let us for a moment discuss their proper function in the
+light of the proposition that the preservation of the farmers' status is
+the real farm problem; for the college can be justified only as it finds
+its place among the social agencies helpful in the solution of the farm question.</p>
+
+<p>In so far as the agricultural college, through its experiment station or
+otherwise, is an organ of research, it should carry its investigations
+into the economic and sociological fields, as well as pursue experiments
+in soil fertility and animal nutrition.</p>
+
+<p>In the teaching of students, the agricultural college will continue the
+important work of training men for agricultural research, agricultural
+teaching, and expert supervision of various agricultural enterprises.
+But the college should put renewed emphasis upon its ability to send
+well-trained men to the farms, there to live their lives, there to find
+their careers, and there to lead in the movements for rural progress. A
+decade ago it was not easy to find colleges which believed that this
+could be done, and some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>agricultural educators have even disavowed such
+a purpose as a proper object of the colleges. But the strongest
+agricultural colleges today have pride in just such a purpose. And why
+not? We not only need men thus trained as leaders in every rural
+community, but, if the farming business cannot be made to offer a career
+to a reasonable number of college-trained men, it is a sure sign that
+only by the most herculean efforts can the farmers maintain their status
+as a class. If agriculture must be turned over wholly to the untrained
+and to the half-trained, if it cannot satisfy the ambition of strong,
+well-educated men and women, its future, from the social point of view, is indeed gloomy.</p>
+
+<p>The present-day course of study in the agricultural college does not,
+however, fully meet this demand for rural leadership. The farm problem
+has been regarded as a technical question, and a technical training has
+been offered the student. The agricultural college, therefore, needs
+"socializing." Agricultural economics and rural sociology should occupy
+a large place in the curriculum. The men who go from the college to the
+farm should appreciate the significance of the agricultural question,
+and should be trained to organize their forces for genuine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> rural
+progress. The college should, as far as possible, become the leader in
+the whole movement for solving the farm problem.</p>
+
+<p>The farm home has not come in for its share of attention in existing
+schemes of agricultural education. The kitchen and the dining-room have
+as much to gain from science as have the dairy and the orchard. The
+inspiration of vocational knowledge must be the possession of her who is
+the entrepreneur of the family, the home-maker. The agricultural
+colleges through their departments of domestic science&mdash;better, of
+"home-making"&mdash;should inaugurate a comprehensive movement for carrying
+to the farm home a larger measure of the advantages which modern science
+is showering upon humanity.</p>
+
+<p>The agricultural college must also lead in a more adequate development
+of extension teaching. Magnificent work has already been done through
+farmers' institutes, reading courses, co-operative experiments,
+demonstrations, and correspondence. But the field is so immense, the
+number of people involved so enormous, the difficulties of reaching them
+so many, that it offers a genuine problem, and one of peculiar
+significance, not only because of the generally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> recognized need of
+adult education, but also because of the isolation of the farmers.</p>
+
+<p>It should be said that in no line of rural betterment has so much
+progress been made in America as in agricultural education. Merely to
+describe the work that is being done through nature-study and
+agriculture in the public schools, through agricultural schools, through
+our magnificent agricultural colleges, through farmers' institutes, and
+especially through the experiment stations and the federal Department of
+Agriculture in agricultural research and in the distribution of the best
+agricultural information&mdash;merely to inventory these movements properly
+would take the time available for this discussion. What has been said
+relative to agricultural education is less in way of criticism of
+existing methods than in way of suggestion as to fundamental needs.</p>
+
+<h4>THE ETHICAL AND RELIGIOUS PROBLEM</h4>
+
+<p>Wide generalizations as to the exact moral situation in the rural
+community are impossible. Conditions have not been adequately studied.
+It is probably safe to say that the country environment is extremely
+favorable for pure family life, for temperance, and for bodily and
+mental health.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> To picture the country a paradise is, however, mere
+silliness. There are in the country, as elsewhere, evidences of
+vulgarity in language, of coarseness in thought, of social impurity, of
+dishonesty in business. There is room in the country for all the ethical
+teaching that can be given.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is it easy to discuss the country church question. Conditions vary
+in different parts of the Union, and no careful study has been made of
+the problem. As a general proposition, it may be said that there are too
+many churches in the country, and that these are illy supported.
+Consequently, they have in many cases inferior ministers. Sectarianism
+is probably more divisive than in the city, not only because of the
+natural conservatism of the people and a natural disinclination to
+change their views, but because sectarian quarrels are perhaps more
+easily fomented and less easily harmonized than anywhere else. Moreover,
+in the city a person can usually find a denomination to his liking. In
+the country, even with the present overchurched condition, this is difficult.</p>
+
+<p>The ideal solution of the country church problem is to have in each
+rural community one strong church adequately supported, properly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+equipped, ministered to by an able man&mdash;a church which leads in
+community service. The path to the realization of such an ideal is rough
+and thorny. Church federation, however, promises large results in this
+direction and should be especially encouraged.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever outward form the solution of the country church question may
+take, there seem to be several general principles involved in a
+satisfactory attempt to meet the issue. In the first place, the country
+church offers a problem by itself, socially considered. Methods
+successful in the city may not succeed in the country. The country
+church question must then be studied thoroughly and on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Again, the same principle of financial aid to be utilized in the case of
+the schools must be invoked here. The wealth of the whole church must
+contribute to the support of the church everywhere. The strong must help
+the weak. The city must help the country. But this aid must be given by
+co-operation, not by condescension. The demand cannot be met by home
+missionary effort nor by church-building contributions; the principle
+goes far deeper than that. Some device must be secured which binds
+together the whole church, along denominational lines if must be,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> for a
+full development of church work in every community in the land.</p>
+
+<p>Furthermore, there is supreme necessity for adding dignity to the
+country parish. Too often at present the rural parish is regarded either
+as a convenient laboratory for the clerical novice, or as an asylum for
+the decrepit or inefficient. The country parish must be a parish for our
+ablest and strongest. The ministry of the most Christlike must be to the
+hill-towns of Galilee as well as to Jerusalem.</p>
+
+<p>There is still another truth that the country church cannot afford to
+ignore. The rural church question is peculiarly interwoven with the
+industrial and social problems of the farm. A declining agriculture
+cannot foster a growing church. An active church can render especially
+strong service to a farm community, in its influence upon the religious
+life, the home life, the educational life, the social life, and even
+upon the industrial life. Nowhere else are these various phases of
+society's activities so fully members one of another as in the country.
+The country church should co-operate with other rural social agencies.
+This means that the country pastor should assume a certain leadership in
+movements for rural progress. He is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> splendidly fitted, by the nature of
+his work and by his position in the community, to co-operate with
+earnest farmers for the social and economic, as well as the moral and
+spiritual, upbuilding of the farm community. But he must know the farm
+problem. Here is an opportunity for theological seminaries: let them
+make rural sociology a required subject. And, better, here is a
+magnificent field of labor for the right kind of young men. The country
+pastorate may thus prove to be, as it ought to be, a place of honor and
+rare privilege. In any event, the country church, to render its proper
+service, not alone must minister to the individual soul, but must throw
+itself into the struggle for rural betterment, must help solve the farm
+problem.</p>
+
+<h4>FEDERATION OF FORCES</h4>
+
+<p>The suggestion that the country church should ally itself with other
+agencies of rural progress may be carried a step farther. Rural social
+forces should be federated. The object of such federation is to
+emphasize the real nature of the farm problem, to interest many people
+in its solution, and to secure the co-operation of the various rural
+social agencies, each of which has its sphere, but also its limitations.
+The method<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> of federation is to bring together, for conference and for
+active work, farmers&mdash;especially representatives of farmers'
+organizations, agricultural educators, rural school-teachers and
+supervisors, country clergymen, country editors; in fact, all who have a
+genuine interest in the farm problem. Thus will come clearer views of
+the questions at issue, broader plans for reform, greater incentive to
+action, and more rapid progress.</p>
+
+<h4>CONCLUSION</h4>
+
+<p>In this brief analysis of the social problems of American farmers it has
+been possible merely to outline those aspects of the subject that seem
+to be fundamental. It is hoped that the importance of each problem has
+been duly emphasized, that the wisest methods of progress have been
+indicated, and that the relation of the various social agencies to the
+main question has been clearly brought out. Let us leave the subject by
+emphasizing once more the character of the ultimate farm problem. This
+problem may be stated more concretely, if not more accurately, than was
+done at the opening of the paper, by saying that the ideal of rural
+betterment is to preserve upon our farms the typical American farmer.
+The American farmer has been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>essentially a middle-class man. It is this
+type we must maintain. Agriculture must be made to yield returns in
+wealth, in opportunity, in contentment, in social position, sufficient
+to attract and to hold to it a class of intelligent, educated American
+citizens. This is an end vital to the preservation of American
+democratic ideals. It is a result that will not achieve itself; social
+agencies must be invoked for its accomplishment. It demands the
+intelligent and earnest co-operation of all who love the soil and who
+seek America's permanent welfare.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The material for this chapter is taken from an address
+entitled "Social Problems of American Farmers," which was read before
+the Congress of Arts and Science, section of The Rural Community, at St.
+Louis, September, 1904.</p></div></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h2><a name="THE_OUTLOOK" id="THE_OUTLOOK"></a>THE OUTLOOK</h2>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>THE EXPANSION OF FARM LIFE</h3>
+
+<p>Narrowness is perhaps the charge most often brought against American
+farm life. To a certain extent this charge may be just, though the
+comparisons that usually lead up to the conclusion do not always
+discriminate. It must be remembered that there are degrees of
+desirability in farm life, and that at the least there are multitudes of
+rural communities where bright flowers still bloom, where the shade is
+refreshing, and the waters are sweet. But, granting for the time that in
+the main rural life is less pleasant, less rich, less expansive than
+city life, we shall urge that this era of restriction is rapidly drawing
+to a close. There are forces at work that are molding rural life by new
+standards, and the old r&eacute;gime is passing. We shall soon be able to say
+of the country that "old things have passed away; all things have become
+new."</p>
+
+<p>This statement may seem too optimistic to some who can marshal an array
+of facts to prove that bigotry, narrowness, and the whole family of ills
+begotten by isolation still thrive in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> country. It is true that our
+picture is not all of rose tints. But what of that? If it were not true
+there would be no farm problem; the country would have to convert the
+town. The fact remains that rural life is undergoing a rapid expansion.
+Materially, socially, and intellectually, the farmer is broadening. Old
+prejudices are fading. The plowman is no longer content to keep his eye
+forever on the furrow. The revival has been in slow progress for some
+time and has not yet reached its zenith; indeed, the movement is but
+well under way. For while the new day came long ago to some rural
+communities and they are basking in a noonday sun, yet in far too many
+localities the faintest gray of dawn is all that rouses hope.</p>
+
+<p>The fundamental change that is taking place is the gradual adoption of
+the new agriculture. "Book-farmin'" is still decried, and many
+"perfessers" have a rocky road to travel in their attempts to guide the
+masses through the labyrinth of scientific knowledge that has been
+constructed during the last decade or two. This difficulty has not been
+wholly the farmer's fault&mdash;the scientist would often have been more
+persuasive had his wings been clipped. But there is a decided "getting
+together" nowadays<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>&mdash;the farmer and the man of science have at last
+found common ground. And while the pendulum of agricultural prosperity
+shall always swing to and fro, there are, to change the figure, reasons
+for believing that an increasing number of farmers have rooted the tree
+of permanent success.</p>
+
+<p>To enumerate some of these reasons: (1) Thousands of farmers are farming
+on a scientific basis. They use the results of soil and fertilizer
+analysis; they cultivate, not to kill weeds so much as to conserve
+moisture; horticulturists spray their trees according to formulas laid
+down by experimenters; dairymen use the "Babcock test" for determining
+the fat content of milk; stock-feeders utilize the scientists' feeding
+rations. (2) The number of specialists among farmers is increasing. This
+is a sign of progress surely. More and more farmers are coming to push a
+single line of work. (3) New methods are being rapidly adopted. Fifteen
+years ago hardly a fruit-grower sprayed for insect and fungus pests;
+today it is rare to find one who does not. The co-operative creamery has
+not only revolutionized the character of the butter product made by the
+factory system, but it has set the pace for thousands of private
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>dairymen who are now making first-class dairy butter. (4) In general
+the whole idea of <i>intensive</i> farming is gaining ground.</p>
+
+<p>This specialization, or intensification, of agriculture makes a new
+demand, upon those who pursue it, in the way of mental and business
+training. This training is being furnished by a multitude of agencies,
+and the younger generation of farmers is taking proper advantage of the
+opportunities thus offered. What are some of these regular agencies? (1)
+An alert farm press, containing contributions from both successful
+farmers and scientific workers. (2) Farmers' institutes, which are
+traveling schools of technical instruction for farmers. (3) The
+bulletins issued by the government experiment stations located in every
+state, and by the federal Department of Agriculture. (4) Special winter
+courses (of from two to twelve weeks), offered at nearly all the
+agricultural colleges of the country, for instruction in practical
+agriculture. (5) Regular college courses in agriculture at these same
+colleges. (6) Extension instruction by lectures and correspondence. (7)
+A growing book literature of technical agriculture. (8) More encouraging
+than all else is the spirit of inquiry that prevails among farmers the
+country over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>&mdash;the recognition that there is a basis of science in
+agriculture. No stronger pleas for the advancement of agricultural
+education can be found than those that have recently been formulated by
+farmers themselves.</p>
+
+<p>If this regeneration of farm life were wholly material it would be worth
+noting; for it promises a prosperity built on foundations sufficiently
+strong to withstand ordinary storms. Yet this is but a chapter of the
+story. Not only are our American farmers making a study of their
+business, bringing to it the resources of advancing knowledge and good
+mental training, and hence deriving from it the strong, alert mental
+character that comes to all business men who pursue equally intelligent
+methods, but the farmers are by no means neglecting their duty to
+broaden along general intellectual lines. Farmers have always been
+interested in politics; there is no reason to think that their interest
+is declining. The Grange and other organizations keep their attention on
+current problems. Traveling libraries, school libraries, and Grange
+libraries are giving new opportunities for general reading, and the
+farmer's family is not slow to accept the chance. Low prices for
+magazines and family papers bring to these periodicals an increasing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
+list from the rural offices. Rural free mail delivery promises, among
+many other results of vast importance, to enlarge the circulation of
+daily papers among farmers not less than tenfold.</p>
+
+<p>The really great lesson that farmers are rapidly learning is to work
+together. They have been the last class to organize, and jealousy,
+distrust, and isolation have made such organizations as they have had
+comparatively ineffective. But gradually they are learning to
+compromise, to work in harmony, to sink merely personal views, to trust
+their own leaders, to keep troth in financially co-operative projects.
+There will be no Farmers' Party organized; but the higher politics is
+gaining among farmers, and more and more independent voting may be
+expected from the rural precincts. Farmers are learning to pool such of
+their interests as can be furthered by legislation.</p>
+
+<p>It is also true that the whole aspect of social life in the country is
+undergoing a profound evolutionary movement. Farmers are meeting one
+another more frequently than they used to. They have more picnics and
+holidays. They travel more. They go sight-seeing. They take advantage of
+excursions. Their social life is more mobile than formerly. Farmers
+have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> more comforts and luxuries than ever before. They dress better
+than they did. More of them ride in carriages than formerly. They buy
+neater and better furniture. The newer houses are prettier and more
+comfortable than their predecessors. Bicycles and cameras are not
+uncommon in the rural home. Rural telephone exchanges are relatively a
+new thing, but the near future will see the telephone a part of the
+ordinary furniture of the rural household; while electric car lines
+promise to be the final link in the chain of advantages that is rapidly
+transforming rural life&mdash;robbing it of its isolation, giving it balance
+and poise, softening its hard outlines, and in general achieving its
+thorough regeneration.</p>
+
+<p>This sketch is no fancy tale. The movement described is genuine and
+powerful. The busy city world may not note the signs of progress.
+Well-minded philanthropists may feel that the rural districts are in
+special need of their services. Even to the watchers on the walls there
+is much of discouragement in the advancement that <i>isn't</i> being made.
+Yet it needs no prophet's eye to see that a vast change for the better
+in rural life and conditions is now in progress.</p>
+
+<p>No student of these conditions expects or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>desires that the evolution
+shall be Acadian in its results. It is to be hoped indeed that country
+sweets shall not lose their delights; that the farmer himself may find
+in his surroundings spiritual and mental ambrosia. But what is wanted,
+and what is rapidly coming, is the breaking down of those barriers which
+have so long differentiated country from urban life; the extinction of
+that social ostracism which has been the farmer's fate; the obliteration
+of that line which for many a youth has marked the bounds of
+opportunity: in fact, the creation of a rural society whose advantages,
+rewards, prerogatives, chances for service, means of culture, and
+pleasures are representative of the best and sanest life that the
+accumulated wisdom of the ages can prescribe for mankind.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE NEW FARMER</h3>
+
+<p>All farmers may be divided into three classes. There is the "old"
+farmer, there is the "new" farmer, and there is the "mossback." The old
+farmer represents the ancient r&eacute;gime. The new farmer is the modern
+business agriculturist. The mossback is a mediaeval survival. The old
+farmer was in his day a new farmer; he was "up with the times," as the
+times then were. The new farmer is merely the worthy son of a noble
+sire; he is the modern embodiment of the old farmer's progressiveness.
+The mossback is the man who tries to use the old methods under the new
+conditions; he is not "up" with the present times, but "back" with the
+old times. Though he lives and moves in the present, he really has his
+being in the past.</p>
+
+<p>The old farmer is the man who conquered the American continent. His axe
+struck the crown from the monarchs of the wood, and the fertile farms of
+Ohio are the kingdom he created. He broke the sod of the rich prairies,
+and the tasseling cornfields of Iowa tell the story of his deeds.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> He
+hitched his plow to the sun, and his westward lengthening furrows fill
+the world's granary.</p>
+
+<p>The new farmer has his largest conquests yet to make. But he has put his
+faith in the strong arm of science; he has at his hand the commercial
+mechanism of a world of business. He believes he will win because he is
+in league with the ongoing forces of our civilization.</p>
+
+<p>The mossback cannot win, because he prefers a flintlock to a Mauser. He
+has his eyes upon the ground, and uses snails instead of stars for
+horses.</p>
+
+<p>The old farmer was a pioneer, and he had all the courage, enterprise,
+and resourcefulness of the pioneer. He was virile, above all things
+else. He owned and controlled everything in sight. He was a
+state-builder. Half a century ago, in the Middle West, the strong men
+and the influential families were largely farmers. Even professional men
+owned and managed farms, frequently living upon them. The smell of the
+soil sweetened musty law books, deodorized the doctor's den, and floated
+as incense above the church altars.</p>
+
+<p>The new farmer lives in a day when the nation is not purely an
+agricultural nation, but is also a manufacturing and a trading nation.
+He <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>belongs no longer to the dominant class, so far as commercial and
+social and political influence are concerned. But none of these things
+move him. For he realizes that out of this seeming decline of
+agriculture grow his best opportunities. He discards pioneer methods
+because pioneering is not now an effective art.</p>
+
+<p>The mossback sees perhaps clearly enough these changes, but he does not
+understand their meaning, nor does he know how to meet them. He is
+dazzled by the romantic halo of the good old times, dumfounded by the
+electric energy of the present, discouraged and distracted by the
+pressure of forces that crush his hopes and stifle his strength.</p>
+
+<p>Economically, the old farmer was not a business man, but a barterer. The
+rule of barter still survives in the country grocery where butter and
+eggs are traded for sugar and salt. The old farmer was industrially
+self-sufficient. He did not farm on a commercial basis. He raised apples
+for eating and for cider, not for market&mdash;there was no apple market. He
+had very little ready money, he bought and sold few products. He traded.
+Even his grain, which afterward became the farmer's great cash crop, was
+raised in small quantities and ground at the nearest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> mill&mdash;not for
+export, but for a return migration to the family flour-barrel.</p>
+
+<p>The new farmer has always existed&mdash;because he is the old farmer growing.
+He has kept pace with our industrial evolution. When the r&eacute;gime of
+barter passed away, he ceased to barter. When the world's market became
+a fact, he raised wheat for the world's market. As agriculture became a
+business, he became a business man. As agricultural science began to
+contribute to the art of farming, he studied applied science. As
+industrial education developed, he founded and patronized institutions
+for agricultural education. As alertness and enterprise began to be
+indispensable in commercial activity, he grew alert and enterprising.</p>
+
+<p>The mossback is the man who has either misread the signs of the times,
+or who has not possessed the speed demanded in the two-minute class. He
+is the old farmer gone to seed. He tries to fit the old methods to the
+new r&eacute;gime.</p>
+
+<p>But it is not sufficient to picture the new farmer. You must explain
+him. What is it that makes the new farmer? Who is he? What are his
+tools? In the first place, you cannot explain the new farmer unless you
+know the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> old farmer. You cannot have the new farmer unless you also
+have the mossback. The new farmer is a comparative person, as it were.
+You have to define him in terms of the mossback. The contrast is not
+between the old farmer and the new, for that is merely a question of
+relative conditions in different epochs of time. The contrast is between
+the new farmer and the mossback, for that is a question of men and of
+their relative efficiency as members of the industrial order. Then, of
+course, you must observe the individual traits that characterize the new
+farmer, such as keenness, business instinct, readiness to adopt new
+methods, and, in fact, all the qualities that make a man a success today
+in any calling. For the new farmer, in respect to his personal
+qualities, is not a sport, a phenomenon. He does not stand out as a
+distinct and peculiar specimen. He is a successful American citizen who
+grows corn instead of making steel rails.</p>
+
+<p>But you have not yet explained the new farmer. These personal traits do
+not explain him. It may be possible to explain an individual and his
+success by calling attention to his characteristics, and yet you cannot
+completely analyze him and his career unless you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>understand the
+conditions under which he works&mdash;the industrial and social environment.
+Much less can you explain a class of people by describing their personal
+characteristics. You must reach out into the great current of life that
+is about them, and discern the direction and power of that current.</p>
+
+<p>Now, the conditions that tend to make the new farmer possible may be
+grouped in an old-fashioned way under two heads. In the old scientific
+phrases the two forces that make the new farmer are the "struggle for
+life" and "environment," or, to use other words, competition and
+opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>Competition has pressed severely upon the farmer, competition at home
+and competition from other countries. At one time the heart of the
+wheat-growing industry of this country was near Rochester, N. Y., in the
+Genesee Valley; but the canal and the railway soon made possible the
+occupation of the great granary of the west. A multitude of ambitious
+young men soon took possession of that granary, and the flour-mills were
+moved from Rochester to Minneapolis. This is an old story, but the same
+forces are still at work. There has been developed a world-market. The
+sheep of the Australian bush have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> become competitors of the flocks that
+feed upon the green Vermont mountains and the Ohio hills. The plains of
+Argentina grow wheat for London. Russia, Siberia, and India pour a
+constant stream of golden grain into the industrial centers of Western
+Europe, and the price of American wheat is fixed in London. These forces
+have produced still another kind of competition; namely, specialization
+among farmers. Localities particularly adapted to special crops are
+becoming centers where skill and intelligence bring the industry to its
+height. The truck-farming of the South Atlantic region, the fruit
+growing of western Michigan, the butter factories of Wisconsin and
+Minnesota, have crowded almost to suffocation the small market-gardener
+of the northern town, the man with a dozen peach trees, and the farmer
+who keeps two cows and trades the surplus butter for calico. These
+things have absolutely forced progress upon the farmer. It is indeed a
+"struggle for life." Out of it comes the "survival of the fittest," and
+the fittest is the new farmer.</p>
+
+<p>But along with competition has come opportunity. Indeed, out of these
+very facts that have made competition so strenuous spring the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> most
+marvelous opportunities for the progressive farmer. Specialization
+brings out the best that there is in the locality and the man. It gives
+a chance to apply science to farming. Our transportation system permits
+the peach growers of Grand Rapids to place their crops at a profit in
+the markets of Buffalo and Pittsburg; the rich orchards and vineyards of
+Southern California find their chief outlet in the cities of the
+manufacturing Northeast&mdash;three thousand miles away. During the forty
+years, from 1860, the exports of wheat from this country increased from
+four million bushels annually to one hundred and forty million bushels;
+of corn, from three and one-third million bushels to one hundred and
+seventy-five million bushels; of beef products, from twenty million
+pounds to three hundred and seventy million pounds; of pork products,
+from ninety-eight million pounds to seventeen hundred million pounds.
+And not only do the grain and stock farmers find this outlet for their
+surplus products, but we are beginning to ship abroad high-grade fruit
+and first-class dairy products in considerable quantities. Low rates of
+freight, modern methods of refrigeration, express freight trains, fast
+freight steamers&mdash;the whole machinery of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> commercial and financial
+world are at the service of the new farmer. Science, also, has found a
+world of work in ministering to the needs of agriculture, and in a
+hundred different ways the new farmer finds helps that have sprung up
+from the broadcast sowing of the hand of science.</p>
+
+<p>But perhaps even more remarkable opportunities come to the new farmer in
+those social agencies that tend to remove the isolation of the country;
+that assist in educating the farmer broadly; that give farmers as a
+class more influence in legislature and congress, and that, in fine,
+make rural life more worth the living. The new farmer cannot be
+explained until one is somewhat familiar with the character of these
+rural social agencies. They have already been enumerated and classified
+in a previous chapter; they will be more fully described in subsequent
+chapters.</p>
+
+<p>It must not be supposed that every successful farmer is necessarily a
+supporter of all of these social agencies. He may be a prosperous farmer
+just because he is good at the art of farming, or because he is a keen
+business man. But more and more he is coming to see that these things
+are opportunities that he cannot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> afford to disregard. Indeed, some of
+these institutions are largely the creation of the new farmer himself.
+He is using them as tools to fashion a better rural social structure.</p>
+
+<p>But they also fashion him. They serve to explain him, in great part.
+Competition inspires the farmer to his best efforts. The opportunity
+offered by these new and growing advantages gives him the implements
+wherewith to make his rightful niche in the social and industrial
+system.</p>
+
+<p>It would be erroneous to suppose that the new farmer is a <i>rara avis</i>.
+He is not. The spirit pervading the ranks of farmers is rapidly
+changing. We have been in a state of transition in agriculture. But the
+farther shore has been reached and the bridge is possible. The army of
+rural advancement is being recruited with great rapidity. The advance
+guard is more than a body of scouts, it is an effective brigade.</p>
+
+<p>I want also to make a plea for the mossback. He must not be condemned
+utterly. Remember that competition among farmers has been intense; that
+rural environment breeds conservatism. Remember also that the farmer
+cannot change his methods as rapidly as can some other business men.
+Remember, too, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> there is comparatively small chance for speculation
+in agriculture; that large aggregates of capital cannot be collected for
+farming, and consequently, that the approved means for securing immense
+wealth, great industrial advancement, and huge enterprises are nearly
+absent in agriculture. Remember that the voices calling from the city
+deplete the country of many good farmers as well as of many poor ones.
+Moreover, there are many men on farms who perhaps don't care for
+farming, but who for some reason cannot get away. On the farm a man need
+not starve; he can make a livelihood. Doubtless this simple fact is
+responsible for a multitude of mossbacks. They can live without
+strenuous endeavor. Possibly a good many of us are strenuous because we
+are pushed into it. So I have a good deal of sympathy for the mossback,
+and a mild sort of scorn for some of his critics, who probably could not
+do any better than he is doing if they essayed the gentle art of
+agriculture. I also have sympathy for the mossback particularly because
+he is the man that needs attention. The new farmer takes the initiative.
+He patronizes these opportunities that we have been talking about. But
+the mossback, because he is discouraged, or because he is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>ignorant, or
+perhaps merely because he is conservative, takes little interest in
+these things. About one farmer in ten belongs to some sort of farmers'
+association. Thousands of farmers do not take an agricultural paper, and
+perhaps millions of them have not read an agricultural book. Right here
+comes in another fact. Every "new" farmer when full grown competes with
+every mossback. The educated farmer makes it still harder for the
+ignorant farmer to progress.</p>
+
+<p>The future of the American farmer is one of the most pregnant social
+problems with which we have to deal. There is indeed an issue involved
+in the success of the new farmer that is still more fundamental than any
+yet mentioned. The old farmer had a social standing that made him
+essentially a middle-class man. He was a landholder, he was independent,
+he was successful. He was the typical American citizen. The old farmer
+was father to the best blood of America. His sons and his sons' sons
+have answered to the roll call of our country's warriors, statesmen,
+writers, captains of industry.</p>
+
+<p>Can the new farmer maintain the same relative social status? And if he
+can, is he to be an aristocrat, a landlord, a captain of industry, and
+to bear rule over the mossback? And is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> the tribe of mossbacks destined
+to increase and become a caste of permanent tenants or peasants? Is the
+future American farmer to be the typical new farmer of the present, or
+are we traveling toward a social condition in which the tillers of the
+soil will be underlings? Is there coming a time when the "man with the
+hoe" will be the true picture of the American farmer, with a low
+standard of living, without ideals, without a chance for progress?</p>
+
+<p>We must eliminate the mossback. It is to be done largely by education
+and by co-operation. There must be a campaign for rural progress. There
+must be a union of the country school teacher, of the agricultural
+college professor, of the rural pastor, of the country editor, with the
+farmers themselves, for the production of an increased crop of new
+farmers. Anything that makes farm life more worth living, anything that
+banishes rural isolation, anything that dignifies the business of
+farming and makes it more prosperous, anything that broadens the
+farmer's horizon, anything that gives him a greater grasp of the rural
+movement, anything that makes him a better citizen, a better business
+man, or a better <i>man</i>, means the passing of the mossback.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>CULTURE FROM THE CORN LOT<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></h3>
+
+<p>The question of questions that the college student asks himself is, What
+am I going to be? The surface query is, What am I going to <i>do</i>? But in
+his heart of hearts he ponders the deeper questions: What may I become
+in real intellectual and moral worth? How large a man, measured by the
+divine standards, will it be possible for me to grow into?</p>
+
+<p>These are the great questions because growth is the great end of life.
+That is what we are here for, to grow. To develop all our talents, all
+our possibilities, to increase our native powers of body, mind, and
+soul&mdash;this is life. It is important that we have a vocation. We must do
+something, and do it well. But the real end is not in working at a
+profession but in developing our abilities. Our symmetrical growth is
+the measure of our success as human beings.</p>
+
+<p>As the student looks out over the ocean of life and scans the horizon
+for signs of the wise course for him to take, he should decide whether<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+the particular mode of life that now appeals to him will yield the
+greatest possible measure of growth. He must consult his tastes, his
+talents, his opportunities, his training. And the test question is, Will
+this line of work yield me the growth, the culture, I desire?</p>
+
+<p>But what are the elements that yield culture to an individual? Using
+culture in a very broad sense as a synonym for growth, we may say that
+the things contributing most to the culture of the average person are
+his work, his leisure, and his service to others. We may now try to
+answer the question we started with, as it presents itself to many a
+student in the agricultural colleges of our country. Will agriculture as
+a business, will the farm life and environment, contribute to the growth
+which I desire for myself? Can I extract culture from the corn lot?</p>
+
+<p>Let us first see if the work or vocation of farming gives culture. My
+answer would be that there is scarcely an occupation to be named that
+requires broader knowledge, more accurate observation, or the exercise
+of better judgment than does modern farming. The farmer deals with the
+application of many sciences. He must be an alert business man. He
+requires executive talent of no mean order. The study of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> occupation
+in its wider phases leads him into direct contact with political
+economy, social movements, and problems of government. The questions
+confronting him as a farmer relate themselves to the leading realms of
+human knowledge and experience. I speak of course of the progressive
+farmer, who makes the best use of his opportunities. He can hardly hope
+to become immensely wealthy, but he can maintain that modest standard of
+living that usually is the lot of our most useful and cultured people
+and that ministers as a rule most fully to the ideal family life. The
+truly modern farmer cannot help growing.</p>
+
+<p>There is much hard work on the farm. Yet on the whole there is fully as
+much leisure as in most other occupations. There is time to read, and
+books are today so easily accessible that living in the country is no
+bar to the bookshelf. Better than time to read is time to think. The
+farmer has always been a man who pondered things in his heart. He has
+had a chance to meditate. No culture is sound except it has been bought
+by much thinking; all else is veneer. Farm life gives in good measure
+this time to think. But it is in nature that the farmer finds or may
+find his most fertile field for culture.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> Here he is at home. Here he
+may revel if he will. Here he may find the sources of mind-liberation
+and of soul-emancipation. He may be the envy of everyone who dwells in
+the city because he lives so near to nature's heart. Bird and flower,
+sky and tree, rock and running brook speak to him a various language. He
+may read God's classics, listen to the music of divine harmonies, and
+roam the picture galleries of the Eternal. So too in his dealings with
+his kind, he lives close to men and women who are frank, virile, direct,
+clean, independent. The culture coming from such associations is above
+price. One learns to pierce all shams, to honor essential manhood, to
+keep pure the fountains of sympathy, ambition, and love. Thus on the
+farm one may find full opportunity for that second means of culture,
+leisure.</p>
+
+<p>Another powerful agency for cultivating the human soul is service.
+Indeed, service is the dynamic of life. To be of use is the ambition
+that best stimulates real growth. Culture is the end of life, the spirit
+of service the motive power. So it is of this I would speak perhaps most
+fully, not only because it is a vital means of culture, but because it
+is also peculiarly the privilege and duty of the college man and the
+college<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> woman. For let it be said that if any college student secures a
+diploma of any degree without having been seized upon by a high ambition
+to be of some use in the work of helping humanity forward, then have
+that person's years of study been in vain, and his teaching also vain.
+The college man comes not to be ministered unto but to minister. He has
+been poorly taught if he leaves college with no thought but for his
+material success. He must have had a vision of service, his lips touched
+with a coal from the altar of social usefulness, and his heart
+cultivated to respond to the call for any need he can supply, "Here am
+I, send me."</p>
+
+<p>I think it may safely be said that there is no field which offers better
+chance for leadership to the average college man or woman than does the
+farm. Take, for instance, politics. The majority of our states are
+agricultural states. The majority of our counties are agricultural
+counties. The agricultural vote is the determining factor in a large
+proportion of our elections. It follows inevitably that honest, strong
+farmers with the talent for leadership and the ability to handle
+themselves in competition with other political leaders have a
+marvelously fine chance for useful service.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p><p>So is it in educational questions. Nowhere may the citizen come into
+closer contact with the educational problems of the day than through
+service on the rural school board. If he brings to this position trained
+intelligence, some acquaintance with educational questions, and a desire
+to keep in touch with the advancement of the times, he can do for his
+community a service that can hardly be imagined.</p>
+
+<p>Take another field&mdash;that of organization for farmers, constituting a
+problem of great significance. As yet this class of people is relatively
+unorganized, but the movement is growing and the need of well-trained
+leadership is vital. I cannot speak too strongly of the chance here
+offered for active, intelligent, masterful men and women in being of use
+as leaders and officials in the Grange and other farmers' organizations.</p>
+
+<p>So with the church question. One of the reasons for the slow progress of
+the country church is the conservatism in the pews as well as in the
+pulpit. The ardent member of the Young Men's Christian Association in
+college may feel that, in the country, there will be no outlet for his
+ambition to be of religious use to his fellow-men. This is a mistake.
+The work of the Young Men's Christian Association itself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> in the country
+districts is just beginning, and promises large growth. Wider service in
+the church, a community federation or union of different churches, the
+work of young people's societies and of the Sunday schools&mdash;all these
+afford abundant opportunity for the man or the woman qualified and
+willing.</p>
+
+<p>There are other lines of usefulness. Although I have stated that on the
+farm the opportunities for personal culture are great, it must be
+confessed that these opportunities are not fully utilized by the average
+farmer's family. Here then is a very wide field, especially for the
+farmer's wife. For if she is a cultivated college woman, she can through
+the woman's club, the Grange, the school, the nature-study club, the
+traveling library, and in scores of ways exercise an influence for good
+on the community that may have far greater results than would come from
+her efforts if expended in the average city. The farm home too has
+latent capacities that are yet to be developed. It ought to be the ideal
+home and, in many cases, it is. But there are not enough of such ideal
+homes in the country. No college woman with a desire to do her full
+service in the world ought for an instant to despise the chance for
+service as it exists on the farm.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p><p>All of these opportunities so briefly suggested might be enlarged upon
+almost indefinitely, but the mere mention of them emphasizes the call
+for this service and this leadership. Nowhere are leaders more needed
+than in the country. The country has been robbed of many of its
+strongest and best. The city and perhaps the nation are gainers: but the
+country has suffered. From one point of view, the future of our farming
+communities depends upon the quality of leadership that we are to find
+there during the next generation.</p>
+
+<p>So we come back to our question, Can the farm be made to yield to the
+man or woman, residing upon it and making a living from it, that measure
+of growth and all-round development that the ambitious person wishes to
+attain? And our answer is, Yes. In its work, its leisure, its field for
+service, it may minister to sound culture. If you love the life and work
+of the farm, do not hesitate to choose that occupation for fear of
+becoming narrow or stunted. You can live there the full, free life. You
+can grow to your full stature there. You can get culture from the corn lot.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Addressed to students in an agricultural college.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h2><a name="AGENCIES_OF_PROGRESS" id="AGENCIES_OF_PROGRESS"></a>THE AGENCIES OF PROGRESS</h2>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>EDUCATION FOR THE FARMER</h3>
+
+<p>The two generations living subsequent to the year 1875 are to be
+witnesses of an era in American history that will be known as the age of
+industrial education. These years are to be the boundaries of a period
+when the general principle that every individual shall be properly
+trained for his or her occupation in life is to receive its practical
+application. Future generations will doubtless extend marvelously the
+limits to which the principle can be pushed in its ministrations to
+human endeavor, but we are in the time when the principle is first to
+receive general acceptation and is to be regarded as a fundamentally
+necessary fact of human progress.</p>
+
+<p>We are already "witnesses of the light." Even within the memory of young
+men has it come to pass that the old wine skins of the old educational
+institutions have been filled with the new wine of science and of
+knowledge and training applied to the industries and businesses of life.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p><p>Agriculture has perhaps been slow to feel the current of the new wine
+as it flows from the wine press of fast-growing industrial and social
+need. But the least hopeful of us can, I am sure, already see signs of a
+vast awakening. The farm, as well as the pulpit, the bar, the
+schoolroom, the shop, the counting-room, is breathing in the new idea
+that knowledge and training can be made of use to every man.</p>
+
+<p>This awakening is due not merely to the desire of agriculturists to be
+in fashion, nor to the efforts of agricultural pedagogues, but to a real
+need. It is common knowledge that in America we have not farmed, but
+have mined the soil. We have "skimmed the cream" of fertility, and
+passed on to conquer new areas of virgin soil. This pioneer farming has
+required hard work, enterprise, courage, and all the noble traits of
+character that have made our American pioneers famous and that have
+within a century subdued a wilderness to civilization. But the farmer of
+today faces a new situation. The fertile lands are fairly well occupied.
+The old lands are depleted. These old lands must be handled skilfully if
+they are to produce profitably. They must be used because there is
+little else to use, and because they are near the best<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> markets.
+Meantime, scientists have been studying the deep things of nature, and
+have been learning the laws that govern soil, plant, and animal. Thus we
+have the farmer's need met by the theorist's discoveries. The farmer, to
+avail himself of these discoveries must know their meaning and be able
+to apply the general principle to the specific case. This means
+agricultural education.</p>
+
+<p>Then again, the consumption of high-class products increases at least as
+rapidly as does our wealth. The demand comes not alone from the rich,
+but from the middle classes of our cities. Skilled artisans are large
+consumers of choice meats, fruits, and vegetables. To grow these
+high-grade products means skill, and skill means training, and training
+in the large sense means education.</p>
+
+<p>The need for agricultural education, is, then, a real and vital one. It
+is pressed upon us by economic and social conditions. It is in line with
+the movement of the age.</p>
+
+<p>In discussing agricultural education, we must not forget that the farmer
+is also a citizen and a man. He should be an intelligent citizen, and
+should therefore study questions of government. As a man, he should be
+the equal of other men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> of his same social rank. He therefore needs a
+good general education. He is more than mere farmer. While as farmer he
+must connect his business with its environment and out of his
+surroundings gain sound culture; while he should know nature, not only
+as its master, but as its friend; he should also be in sympathy with all
+that makes modern civilization worth while. And even as mere farmer, he
+finds himself face to face with grave social problems. He must not only
+produce but he must sell, and his selling powers are governed by
+conditions of the market, by transportation facilities and practices,
+and are affected by the laws of the land. Hence he must be a student of
+these problems and must know the broad phases of agriculture and its
+relations to other industries.</p>
+
+<p>No intelligent man doubts the need of agricultural education. Let us,
+then, say a word about the kind of education demanded. This question is
+settled very largely by the discussion we have just had about the need
+of this education. First of all, this education will give a fair mastery
+of the principles that govern proper soil management and plant and
+animal growth. This is fundamental. The farmer is dealing with natural
+laws, and he must know in them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> their applications. He cannot be blind
+to their dominance. They insist on recognition. They are jealous masters
+and good servants. Nature serves only the man who obeys her. To obey he
+must know. The truth shall make him free. How to secure larger crops of
+better products at less cost and still maintain soil fertility, is the
+first demand of modern agriculture, and its solution depends in large
+measure upon education.</p>
+
+<p>But education does not stop here. The farmer is also a seller as well as
+a producer. He is a business man. He is manager of an industry. He is an
+investor of capital. So the question will arise, Can he get any help
+from education in the handling of the business phases of his farm? He
+certainly can. You cannot teach a man business in the sense of supplying
+him with good sense, business judgment, ability to handle men, and so
+on. But you can study the general conditions that govern the business of
+agriculture, and you can report the results of your researches to the
+practical farmer; and he, if he is willing, may learn much that will be
+helpful to him in deciding the many difficult questions that confront
+him as a business man. Farm administration in its largest sense will,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
+then, be a most important phase of agricultural education.</p>
+
+<p>It is quite possible for the individual farmer to succeed admirably if
+he is equipped with a sound training in the principles of production and
+in farm management. But there are still larger questions that farmers as
+a class must meet if agriculture is to have its full success and if the
+farmer himself is to occupy the social position he ought to have.
+Agriculture is an industry among industries. Farmers are a class among
+classes. As an industry, agriculture has relations to other industries.
+It is subject to economic laws. It involves something more than growing
+and selling. The nature of the market, railroad rates, effects of the
+tariff and of taxation, are questions vital to agriculture. So with the
+farmers socially considered. Their opportunities for social life, their
+school facilities, their church privileges, their associations and
+organizations&mdash;all these are important matters. So agricultural
+education will not fail to call attention to these larger questions.</p>
+
+<p>The well-educated farmer will, then, be trained in three lines of
+thought&mdash;first, that which deals with the growth of products; second,
+that which deals with the selling of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> products; and third, that which
+deals with agriculture as an industry and farmers as a class of people.</p>
+
+<p>We may next discuss as briefly as possible the methods by which
+agricultural education may be advanced. We may not consider all of them,
+but rather attend only to some of those agencies that seem of peculiar
+interest just at this time.</p>
+
+<p>There is one underlying requisite of successful agricultural education
+that is all-important. It is faith in agriculture. Any man to succeed
+grandly must have absolute faith in his business. So the farmer must
+believe in agriculture. Agriculture cannot attain its highest rank
+unless the men engaged in it believe in it most profoundly. They must
+believe that a man can make money in farming. They must love the farm
+life and surroundings. They must believe that the best days of
+agriculture are ahead of us, not behind us. They must believe that men
+can find in agriculture a chance to use brains and to develop talents
+and to utilize education. Agricultural education rests on this faith.
+Give us a state filled with such farmers and we can guarantee a strong
+system of agricultural education. But the seeds of education cannot grow
+in a soil barren of the richness of sentiment for and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>confidence in the
+farm. Our agricultural colleges have been criticized because they have
+graduated so few farmers. But the fault is not all with the colleges.
+The farmers also are to blame. They have not had faith enough in the
+farm to advise young men to go to college to prepare for farming. They
+admit the value of education for the law, for building railroads, but
+not for farming. This must be changed, is being changed. The last ten
+years have seen a revolution in this respect, and the result is a mighty
+increase in agricultural educational interest.</p>
+
+<p>One powerful means of agricultural education is the farmers'
+organization or association. All our dairy, horticultural, poultry, and
+live-stock associations are great educators. So of an organization like
+the Grange, its chief work is education. It brings mind in contact with
+mind; it gives chance for discussion and interchange of ideas; it trains
+in power of expression; it teaches the virtue of co-operation. Farmers
+blunder when they fail to encourage organization. Sometimes, out of
+foolish notions of independence, they neglect to unite their forces.
+They are utterly blind to their best interests when they do so. They
+should <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>encourage organization if for no other reason than for the
+splendid educational advantages that flow from it.</p>
+
+<p>However, our chief interest is, perhaps, in those institutions that are
+formed purposely and especially for agricultural education and which are
+usually supported out of public funds. There are three great fields of
+endeavor in which these institutions are working. The first step is to
+know&mdash;to know the truth. So in agriculture we must know. Know what? Know
+how nature works. So the man of science studies the soil and finds out
+what plant-food it contains, how the water acts in it, what heat and air
+do, and the inter-relation of all these elements. He studies the plant
+and its habits and tries to discover how it grows and how it can be
+improved for man's use. He studies the animal and endeavors to learn
+what are the best foods for it and what laws govern its adaptation to
+human food. He studies climate and tries to find out what plants and
+animals are most appropriate to different locations. He studies
+injurious insects and diseases and devises remedies for them. He
+discovers, experiments. So we have research as the first term in
+agricultural education. The institutions of research are our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> experiment
+stations and United States Department of Agriculture. Their work may be
+likened to the plowing of the field. They strive to know how nature
+works, and how man can make use of her laws in the growing of plant and animal.</p>
+
+<p>The next thing is to teach. The farmer too must know. Knowledge confined
+to the scientist has little practical use. It is the farmer who can use
+it. Moreover, new teachers must be trained, new experimenters equipped,
+and leaders in every direction prepared. So we have agricultural
+colleges and schools. If experiment is to be likened to plowing, the
+work of the schools may be compared to sowing and cultivating.</p>
+
+<p>Agricultural colleges have been in existence in America almost fifty
+years. Their careers have been both inspiring and disappointing. They
+have had to train their own teachers, create a body of knowledge, break
+down the bars of educational prejudice. This work has taken time. The
+results justify the time and effort. For today agricultural education is
+becoming organized, the subjects of study are well planned, and
+competent men are teaching and experimenting. The disappointment is
+twofold. They have not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> graduated as many farmers as they should have.
+This is due not wholly to wrong notions in the colleges. It is, as
+suggested before, partly due to the lack of faith in agriculture on the
+part of the farmers themselves. But the colleges are in part to blame.
+Many of them have not been in close touch with the farmers. They have
+often been out of sympathy with the interests of the farmers. They have
+too frequently been servile imitators of the traditions of the older
+colleges, instead of striking out boldly on a line of original and
+helpful work for agriculture. Today, however, we see a rapid change
+going on in most of our agricultural colleges. They are seeking to help
+solve the farmers' difficulties. They are training young men for farm
+life. The farmers are responding to this new interest and are beginning
+to have great confidence in the colleges.</p>
+
+<p>It is sometimes said that most farmers who get an agricultural education
+cannot be trained in the colleges. Doubtless this is true. Probably a
+very small proportion even of educated farmers can or will graduate from
+a full course in an agricultural college. Many will do so. There is no
+reason why a large proportion of the graduates of our college courses in
+agriculture may not go to the farm. I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> no sympathy with the idea
+that those courses are too elaborate for those young men who want to
+farm. It must be recognized, however, that even if our agricultural
+colleges shall graduate hundreds and thousands every year who return to
+the farm, it still leaves the great majority of farmers untouched in an
+educational way unless other means are devised. But there are other means at hand.</p>
+
+<p>We have first the agricultural school. The typical agricultural high
+school gives a course of two or three years, offering work of
+high-school grade in mathematics and English, with about half the time
+devoted to teaching in agriculture. Many young men want to get an
+insight into the principles of modern agriculture, but cannot afford
+time or money for college work. This course fits their need. A splendid
+school of this design has been in successful operation in Minnesota for
+more than a dozen years, and has nearly five hundred students. In
+Wisconsin there are two county schools of agriculture for a similar
+purpose. Other schools could be named.</p>
+
+<p>The agricultural colleges also offer shorter courses of college grade,
+perhaps of two years. These are very practical and useful courses. Not
+only that, but nearly all the colleges give<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> special winter courses of
+from ten days to fourteen weeks. These are patronized by thousands of
+young men. So in many ways are the colleges meeting the need. We all
+agree that it is desirable for a young man to take a full college
+course, even in agriculture. But it is better to have a half-loaf than
+no bread. Yes, better to have a <i>slice</i> than no bread. The colleges
+furnish the whole loaf, the half-loaf, and the slice. And young men are nourished by all.</p>
+
+<p>One reason why agricultural education has not made more rapid progress
+is because the children of the country schools have been taught in such
+a manner as to lead them to think that there is no chance for brains in
+farming. Both their home influence and their school atmosphere have, in
+most cases perhaps, been working against their choice of agriculture as
+a vocation. It therefore becomes important that these children shall be
+so taught that they can see the opportunity in farming. They must,
+moreover, be so trained that they will be nature students; for the
+farmer above all men must be a nature student. So we see the need of
+introducing into our rural schools nature-study for the young pupils and
+elementary agriculture for the older ones. This is being successfully
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>accomplished in many cases, and is arousing the greatest interest and
+meeting with gratifying success. We shall within ten years have a new
+generation of young men and women ready for college who have had their
+eyes opened as never before to the beauties of nature and to the
+fascination there is in the farmer's task of using nature for his own advantage.</p>
+
+<p>But when we have increased the attendance at our agricultural colleges
+tenfold; when we have hundreds of agricultural schools teaching
+thousands of our youth the fundamentals of agriculture; when each rural
+school in our broad land is instilling into the minds of children the
+nearness and beauty of nature and is teaching the young eyes to see and
+the young ears to hear what God hath wrought in his many works of land
+and sea and sky, in soil, and plant, and living animal&mdash;even when that
+happy day shall dawn will we find multitudes of men and women on our
+farms still untouched by agricultural education. These people must be
+reached. The mere fact that their school days are forever behind them is
+no reason why they shall not receive somewhat of the inspiration and
+guidance that flow from the schools. So we have an imperative demand for
+the extension of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>agricultural teaching out from the schools to the farm
+community. The school thus not only sheds its light upon those who are
+within its gates, but sets out on the beautiful errand of carrying this
+same light into every farm home in the land. This work is being done
+today by thousands of farmers' institutes, by demonstrations in spraying
+and in many other similar lines, by home-study courses and
+correspondence courses, by co-operative experiments, by the distribution
+of leaflets and bulletins, by lectures at farmers' gatherings, by
+traveling schools of dairying. These methods and others like them are
+being invoked for the purpose of bringing to the farmers in their homes
+and neighborhoods some of the benefits that the colleges and schools
+bestow upon their pupils.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen something of the need of agricultural education, of the
+kind of education required, and of the means used to secure it. Does not
+this discussion at least show the supreme importance of the question?
+Will not the farmers rally themselves to and league themselves with the
+men who are trying to forward the best interests of the farm? Shall we
+not all work together for the betterment both of the farm and of the farmer?</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>FARMERS' INSTITUTES</h3>
+
+<p>A decade and a half ago, there was a vigorous campaign for the
+establishment of university extension throughout the United States.
+Generally speaking the campaign was a losing one&mdash;with but a few
+successes amid general failure. But many years before this agitation,
+there was begun a work among farmers, which in form and spirit was
+university extension, and which has constantly developed until it is
+today one of the most potent among the forces making for rural progress.
+This work has been done chiefly by what are now universally known as
+farmers' institutes.</p>
+
+<p>The typical farmers' institute is a meeting usually lasting two days,
+held for the purpose of discussing subjects that relate to the interests
+of farmers, more particularly those of a practical character. As a rule,
+the speakers to whom set topics are assigned are composed of two
+classes: the first class is made up of experts, either professors or
+experimenters in agricultural colleges and similar institutions, or
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>practical farmers who have made such a study of, and such a conspicuous
+success in, some branch of agriculture that they may well be called
+experts; the second class comprises farmers living in the locality in
+which the institute is held. The experts are expected to understand
+general principles or methods, and the local speakers the conditions
+peculiar to the neighborhood.</p>
+
+<p>The meeting usually begins in the forenoon and ends with the afternoon
+session of the second day&mdash;five sessions being held. As a rule, not over
+two or three separate topics are treated in any one session, and in a
+well-planned institute topics of a like character are grouped together,
+so that there may be a fruit session, a dairy session, etc. Each topic
+is commonly introduced by a talk or paper of twenty to forty minutes'
+length. This is followed by a general discussion in which those in the
+audience are invited to ask questions of the speaker relevant to the
+topic under consideration, or to express opinions and give experiences
+of their own.</p>
+
+<p>This is a rough outline of the average farmers' institute, but of course
+there are many variations. There are one-day meetings and there are
+three-day meetings, and in recent years the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> one-day meetings have grown
+in favor; in some states local speakers take little part; in some
+institutes a question-box is a very prominent feature, in others it is
+omitted altogether; in some cases the evening programme is made up of
+educational topics, or of home topics, or is even arranged largely for
+amusement; in other instances the evening session is omitted. In most
+institutes women are recognized through programme topics of special
+interest to them.</p>
+
+<p>It is not important to trace the early history of the farmers' institute
+movement, and indeed it is not very easy to say precisely when and where
+the modern institute originated. Farmers' meetings of various sorts were
+held early in the century. As far back as 1853 the secretary of the
+Massachusetts Board of Agriculture recommended that farmers' institutes
+be made an established means of agricultural education. By 1871 Illinois
+and Iowa held meetings called farmers' institutes, itinerant in
+character, and designed to call together both experts and farmers, but
+neither state kept up the work systematically. Both Vermont and New
+Hampshire have held institutes annually since 1871, though they did not
+bear that name in the early years. Michigan has a unique record, having<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>
+held regularly, since 1876, annual farmers' institutes, "so known and
+designated," which always have contained practically the essential
+features of the present-day institute. The Michigan legislature passed a
+law in 1861 providing for "lectures to others than students of the
+Agricultural College," and has made biennial appropriations for
+institutes since 1877. Ohio, in 1881, extended the institute idea to
+include every county in the state.</p>
+
+<p>More important than the origin of the farmers' institute movement is the
+present status. Practically every state and territory in the Union
+carries on institutes under some form or other. In somewhat more than
+half the states, the authorities of the land-grant colleges have charge
+of the work. In the other states, the board of agriculture or the
+department of agriculture has control.</p>
+
+<p>In 1905-6 there were held 3,500 institutes, in 45 states and
+territories, with a total reported attendance of 1,300,000 people, at a
+cost of nearly $350,000. The work is largely supported by the state
+treasuries, some of the states showing a most generous spirit. The
+annual state appropriations for the work in leading institute states are
+as follows: Pennsylvania, $20,500;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> New York, $20,000; Minnesota,
+$18,000; Illinois, $17,150; Ohio, $16,747; Wisconsin, $12,000; Indiana,
+$10,000. In these states practically every county has annually from one
+to five institutes.</p>
+
+<p>Institutes in no two states are managed in the same way, but the system
+has fitted itself to local notions and perhaps to local needs. A rough
+division may be made&mdash;those states which have some form of central
+control and those which do not have. Even among states having a central
+management are found all degrees of centralization; Wisconsin and Ohio
+may be taken as the extremes. In Wisconsin the director of institutes,
+who is an employee of the university, has practically complete charge of
+the institutes. He assigns the places where the meetings are to be held,
+basing his decision upon the location of former institutes in the
+various counties, upon the eagerness which the neighborhoods seem to
+manifest toward securing the institute, etc. He arranges the programme
+for each meeting, suiting the topics and speakers to local needs,
+prepares advertising materials, and sets the dates of the meeting. A
+local correspondent looks after a proper hall for meeting, distributes
+the advertising posters, and bears a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> certain responsibility for the
+success of the institute. Meetings are arranged in series, and a corps
+of two or three lecturers is sent by the director upon a week's tour.
+One of these lecturers is called a conductor. He usually presides over
+the institute and keeps the discussions in proper channels. Practice
+makes him an expert. The state lecturers do most of the talking. Local
+speakers do not bear any large share in the programme. Questions are
+freely asked, however.</p>
+
+<p>Ohio has an institute society in each county, and this society largely
+controls its own institutes. The secretary of the State Board of
+Agriculture, who has charge of the system, assigns dates and speakers to
+each institute. After that everything is in the hands of the local
+society, which chooses the topics to be presented by the state speakers,
+advertises the meeting, and the society president acts as presiding
+officer. Local speakers usually occupy half the time.</p>
+
+<p>It does not seem as if either of these plans in its entirety were
+ideal&mdash;the one an extreme of centralized control, the other an extreme
+of local management. Yet in practice both plans work well. No states in
+the Union have better<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> institutes nor better results from institute work
+than Wisconsin and Ohio. Skill, intelligence, and tact count for more
+than particular institutions.</p>
+
+<p>New York may be said to follow the Wisconsin plan. Minnesota goes even a
+step farther; instead of holding several series of institutes
+simultaneously in different parts of the state, attended by different
+"crews," the whole corps of state speakers attends every institute. No
+set programmes are arranged. Everything depends upon local conditions.
+This system is expensive, but under present guidance very effective.
+Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylvania have adopted systems which are a
+mean between the plan of centralization and the plan of localization.
+Illinois has a plan admirably designed to encourage local interest,
+while providing for central management.</p>
+
+<p>Few other states have carried institute work so far as the states
+already named, and in some cases there seems to be a prejudice against a
+well-centralized and fully-developed system&mdash;a feeling that each
+locality may be self-sufficing in institute work. But this attitude is
+wearing away, for experience serves to demonstrate fully the value of
+system. The danger of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>centralization is bureaucracy; but in institute
+work, if the management fails to provide for local needs, and to furnish
+acceptable speakers, vigorous protests soon correct the aberration.</p>
+
+<p>It has been stated that in America we have no educational <i>system</i>&mdash;that
+spontaneity is the dominant feature of American education. This is
+certainly true of farmers' institutes. So it has transpired that
+numerous special features have come in to use in various
+states&mdash;features of value and interest. It may be worth while to suggest
+some of the more characteristic of these features, without attempting an
+exact category.</p>
+
+<p>Formerly the only way in which women were recognized at the institutes
+was by home and social topics on the programme, though women have always
+attended the meetings freely. Some years ago Minnesota and Wisconsin
+added women speakers to their list of state speakers, and in the case of
+Wisconsin, at least, held a separate session for women, simultaneously
+with one or two sessions of the regular institute, with demonstration
+lectures in cooking as the chief features. Michigan holds "women's
+sections" in connection with institutes, but general topics are taken
+up. In Ontario separate women's institutes have been organized. In
+Illinois a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> State Association of Domestic Science has grown out of the
+institutes. Thus institute work has broadened to the advantage of farm
+women.</p>
+
+<p>At many institutes there are exhibits of farm and domestic products&mdash;a
+sort of midwinter fair. Oftentimes the merchants of the town in which
+the institute is held offer premiums as an inducement to the farmers.</p>
+
+<p>In Wisconsin an educational feature of much value takes the form of
+stock-judging&mdash;usually at the regular autumn fairs. The judges give
+their reasons for their decisions, thus emphasizing the qualities that
+go to make up a perfect or desirable animal.</p>
+
+<p>In several states there is held an annual state institute called a
+"round-up," "closing institute," or the like. It is intended to be a
+largely attended and representative state convention of agriculturists,
+for the purpose of discussing topics of general interest to men and
+women from the farms. These meetings are frequently very large and
+enthusiastic gatherings.</p>
+
+<p>The county institute society is a part of the organization in some
+instances very well developed. It gives permanency to the work and
+arouses local interest and pride.</p>
+
+<p>The development of men and women into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> suitable state speakers is an
+interesting phase. As a rule the most acceptable speakers are men who
+have made a success in some branch of farming, and who also have
+cultivated the gift of clear and simple expression. Not a few of these
+men become adepts in public speaking and achieve a reputation outside of
+their own states. In several states there is held a "normal
+institute"&mdash;an autumn meeting lasting a week or two weeks, and bringing
+together, usually at the state college of agriculture, the men who are
+to give the lectures at the institutes of the winter to follow. The
+object of the gathering is to bring the lecturers into close contact
+with the latest things in agricultural science, and to train them for
+more effective work.</p>
+
+<p>A few years ago the United States Department of Agriculture employed an
+experienced institute director to give all his time to the study and
+promotion of farmers' institutes. This incident is suggestive of the
+important place which institutes have secured in the work for better
+farming.</p>
+
+<p>The results of a generation of institute work are not easy to summarize.
+It is safe to make a broad generalization by asserting that this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> form
+of agricultural education has contributed in a remarkable degree to
+better farming. The best methods of farming have been advocated from the
+institute platform. Agricultural college professors, and agricultural
+experimenters have talked of the relations of science to practical
+farming. The farmers have come to depend upon the institute as a means
+for gaining up-to-date information.</p>
+
+<p>And if institutes have informed, they have also done what is still
+better&mdash;they have inspired. They have gone into many a dormant farm
+community and awakened the whole neighborhood to a quicker life. They
+have started discussions, set men thinking, brought in a breath of fresh
+air. They have given to many a farmer an opportunity for
+self-development as a ready speaker.</p>
+
+<p>Other educational agencies, such as the agricultural colleges and
+experiment stations, have profited by institutes. No one thing has done
+more than the institutes to popularize agricultural education, to stir
+up interest in the colleges, to make the farmers feel in touch with the
+scientists.</p>
+
+<p>Farmers' institutes are a phase of university extension, and it is as a
+part of the extension <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>movement that they are bound to increase in value
+and importance. Reading-courses and correspondence-courses are growing
+factors in this extension movement, but the power of the spoken word is
+guarantee that the farmers' institute cannot be superseded in fact. And
+it is worth noting again, that while university extension has not been
+the success in this country which its friends of a decade ago fondly
+prophesied for it, its humbler cousin&mdash;agricultural college
+extension&mdash;has been a conspicuous success, and is acquiring a constantly
+increasing power among the educational agencies that are trying to deal
+with the farm problem.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE HESPERIA MOVEMENT</h3>
+
+<p>The gulf between parent and teacher is too common a phenomenon to need
+exposition. The existence of the chasm is probably due more to
+carelessness, to the pressure of time, or to indolence than to any more
+serious delinquencies; yet all will admit the disastrous effects that
+flow from the fact that there is not the close intellectual and
+spiritual sympathy that there should be between the school and the home.
+It needs no argument to demonstrate the value of any movement that has
+for its purpose the bridging of the gulf. But it is an omen of
+encouragement to find that there are forces at work designed to bring
+teacher and school patron into a closer working harmony. A statement of
+the history and methods of some of these agencies may therefore well
+have a place in a discussion of rural progress. For the movements to be
+described are essentially rural-school movements. Of first interest is
+an attempt which has been made in the state of Michigan to bridge the
+gulf&mdash;to create a common standing-ground for both<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> teacher and
+parent&mdash;and on that basis to carry on an educational campaign that it is
+hoped will result in the many desirable conditions which, a priori,
+might be expected from such a union. At present the movement is confined
+practically to the rural schools. It consists in the organization of a
+county Teachers and Patrons' Association, with a membership of teachers
+and school patrons, properly officered. Its chief method of work is to
+hold one or more meetings a year, usually in the country or in small
+villages, and the programme is designed to cover educational questions
+in such a way as to be of interest and profit to both teachers and farmers.</p>
+
+<p>This movement was indigenous to Michigan&mdash;its founders worked out the
+scheme on their own initiative, and to this day its promoters have never
+drawn upon any resources outside the state for suggestion or plan. But
+if the friends of rural education elsewhere shall be attracted by this
+method of solving one of the vexed phases of their problem, I hope that
+they will describe it as "the Hesperia movement." For the movement
+originated in Hesperia, was developed there, and its entire success in
+Hesperia was the reason for its further adoption. Hesperia deserves any
+renown that may chance to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> come from the widespread organization of
+Teachers and Patrons' Associations.</p>
+
+<p>And where is Hesperia? It lies about forty miles north and west of Grand
+Rapids&mdash;a mere dot of a town, a small country village at least twelve or
+fifteen miles from any railroad. It is on the extreme eastern side of
+Oceana County, surrounded by fertile farming lands, which have been
+populated by a class of people who may be taken as a type of
+progressive, successful, intelligent American farmers. Many of them are
+of Scotch origin. Partly because of their native energy, partly,
+perhaps, because their isolation made it necessary to develop their own
+institutions, these people believe in and support good schools, the
+Grange, and many progressive movements.</p>
+
+<p>For several years there had existed in Oceana County the usual county
+teachers' association. But, because Hesperia was so far from the center
+of the county, and because it was not easily accessible, the teachers
+who taught schools in the vicinity could rarely secure a meeting of the
+association at Hesperia; and in turn they found it difficult to attend
+the meetings held in the western part of the county. A few years ago it
+chanced that this group of teachers was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>composed of especially bright,
+energetic, and original young men and women. They determined to have an
+association of their own. It occurred to someone that it would add
+strength to their organization if the farmers were asked to meet with
+them. The idea seemed to "take," and the meetings became quite popular.
+This was during the winter of 1885-86. Special credit for this early
+venture belongs to Mr. E. L. Brooks, still of Hesperia and an
+ex-president of the present association, and to Dr. C. N. Sowers, of
+Benton Harbor, Mich., who was one of the teachers during the winter
+named, and who was elected secretary of the Board of School Examiners in 1887. Mr. Brooks writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>The programmes were so arranged that the participants in
+discussions and in the reading of papers were about equally divided
+between teachers and patrons. An active interest was awakened from
+the start. For one thing, it furnished a needed social gathering
+during the winter for the farmers. The meetings were held on
+Saturdays, and the schoolhouse favored was usually well filled. The
+meetings were not held at any one schoolhouse, but were made to
+circulate among the different schools. These gatherings were so
+successful that similar societies were organized in other portions of the country.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>In 1892, Mr. D. E. McClure, who has since<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> (1896-1900) been deputy
+superintendent of public instruction of Michigan, was elected
+county-school commissioner of Oceana County. Mr. McClure is a man of
+great enthusiasm and made a most successful commissioner. He conceived
+the idea that this union of teachers and patrons could be made of the
+greatest value, in stimulating both teachers and farmers to renewed
+interest in the real welfare of the children as well as a means of
+securing needed reforms. His first effort was to prepare a list of books
+suitable for pupils in all grades of the rural schools. He also prepared
+a rural lecture-course, as well as a plan for securing libraries for the
+schools. All these propositions were adopted by a union meeting of
+teachers and farmers. His next step was to unite the interests of
+eastern Oceana County and western Newaygo County (Newaygo lying directly
+east of Oceana), and in 1893 there was organized the "Oceana and Newaygo
+Counties Joint Grangers and Teachers' Association," the word "Granger"
+being inserted because of the activity of the Grange in support of the
+movement. Mr. McClure has pardonable pride in this effort of his, and
+his own words will best describe the development of the movement:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p><blockquote><p>This association meets Thursday night and continues in session
+until Saturday night. Some of the best speakers in America have
+addressed the association. Dr. Arnold Tompkins, in speaking before
+the association, said it was a wonderful association and the only
+one of its character in the United States.</p>
+
+<p>What was my ideal in organizing such associations?</p>
+
+<p>1. To unite the farmers who pay the taxes that support the schools,
+the home-makers, the teachers, the pupils, into a co-operative work
+for better rural-school education.</p>
+
+<p>2. To give wholesome entertainment in the rural districts, which
+from necessity are more or less isolated.</p>
+
+<p>3. To create a taste for good American literature in home and
+school, and higher ideals of citizenship.</p>
+
+<p>4. Summed up in all, to make the rural schools character-builders,
+to rid the districts of surroundings which destroy character, such
+as unkept school yards, foul, nasty outhouses, poor, unfit
+teachers. These reforms, you understand, come only through a
+healthy educational sentiment which is aroused by a sympathetic
+co-operation of farm, home, and school.</p>
+
+<p>What results have I been able to discover growing out of this work?
+Ideals grow so slowly that one cannot measure much progress in a
+few years. We are slaves to conditions, no matter how hard, and we
+suffer them to exist rather than arouse ourselves and shake them
+off. The immediate results are better schools, yards,
+out-buildings, schoolrooms, teachers, literature for rural people to read.</p>
+
+<p>Many a father and mother whose lives have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> broken upon the
+wheel of labor have heard some of America's orators, have read some
+of the world's best books, because of this movement, and their
+lives have been made happier, more influential, more hopeful.</p>
+
+<p>Thousands of people have been inspired, made better, at the Hesperia meetings.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>In western Michigan the annual gathering at Hesperia is known far and
+wide as "the big meeting." The following extract from the Michigan
+<i>Moderator-Topics</i> indicates in the editor's breezy way the impression
+the meeting for 1906 made upon an observer:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Hesperia scores another success. Riding over the fourteen miles
+from the railroad to Hesperia with Governor Warner and D. E.
+McClure, we tried to make the latter believe that the crowd would
+not be forthcoming on that first night of the fourteenth annual
+"big meeting." It was zero weather and mighty breezy. For such a
+movement to succeed two years is creditable, to hold out for five
+is wonderful, to last ten is marvelous, but to grow bigger and
+better for fourteen years is a little short of miraculous. McClure
+is recognized as the father of the movement and his faith didn't
+waver a hair's breadth. And sure enough there was the
+crowd&mdash;standing room only, to hear the governor and see the great
+cartoonist J. T. McCutcheon of the <i>Chicago Tribune</i>. For three
+evenings and two days the big hall is crowded with patrons, pupils
+and teachers from the towns and country round. During the fourteen
+years that these meetings have been held, the country community has
+heard some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> of the world's greatest speakers. The plan has been
+adopted by other counties in Michigan and other states both east
+and west. Its possibilities are well-nigh unlimited and its power
+for good is immeasurable. Everyone connected with it may well feel
+proud of the success attending the now famous "Hesperia Movement."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>In 1897, Kent County, Michigan (of which Grand Rapids is the county
+seat), organized a Teachers and Patrons' Association that is worth a
+brief description, although in more recent years its work has been
+performed by other agencies. It nevertheless serves as a good example of
+a well-organized association designed to unite the school and home
+interests of rural communities. It was for several years signally
+successful in arousing interest in all parts of the county. Besides, it
+made a departure from the Oceana-Newaygo plan which must be considered
+advantageous for most counties. The Hesperia meeting is an annual
+affair, with big crowds and abundant enthusiasm. The Kent County
+association was itinerant. The membership included teachers, school
+officers, farmers generally, and even pupils. An attempt was made to
+hold monthly meetings during the school year, but for various reasons
+only five or six meetings a year were held. The meetings usually
+occurred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> in some Grange hall, the Grange furnishing entertainment for
+the guests. There were usually three sessions&mdash;Friday evening and
+Saturday forenoon and afternoon. The average attendance was nearly five
+hundred, about one-tenth being teachers; many teachers as well as
+farmers went considerable distances to attend.</p>
+
+<p>The Kent County association did not collect any fees from its members,
+the Teachers' Institute fund of the county being sufficient to provide
+for the cost of lectures at the association meetings. Permission for
+this use of the fund was obtained from the state superintendent of
+public instruction. Some counties have a membership fee; at Hesperia,
+the fee is 50 cents, and a membership ticket entitles its holder to a
+reserved seat at all sessions. The Kent County association also
+suggested a reading-course for its members.</p>
+
+<p>The success of the work in Kent County was due primarily to the fact
+that the educators and the farmers and their leaders are in especially
+close sympathy. And right there is the vital element of success in this
+work. The initiative must be taken by the educators, but the plan must
+be thoroughly democratic, and teacher and farmer must be equally
+recognized in all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>particulars. The results of the work in Kent County
+were thus summarized by the commissioner of schools of the county:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>To teachers, the series of meetings is a series of mid-year
+institutes. Every argument in favor of institutes applies with all
+its force to these associations. To farmers they afford a near-by
+lecture course, accessible to all members of the family, and of as
+high grade as those maintained in the larger villages. To the
+schools, the value is in the general sentiment and interest
+awakened. The final vote on any proposed school improvement is
+taken at the annual school meeting, and the prevailing sentiment in
+the neighborhood has everything to do with this vote. And not only
+this, but the general interest of patrons may help and cheer both
+teacher and pupils throughout the year. On the other hand,
+indifference and neglect may freeze the life out of the most
+promising school. There is no estimating the value to the schools
+in this respect.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The Kent County association had a very simple constitution. It is
+appended here for the benefit of any who may desire to begin this
+beneficent work of endeavoring to draw more closely together rural
+schools and country homes.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class="center"><span class="smcap">Article I.&mdash;Name</span></p>
+
+<p>This association shall be known as "The Kent County Teachers and Patrons' Association."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Article II.&mdash;Membership</span></p>
+
+<p>Any person may become a member of this association by assenting to
+this constitution and paying the required membership fee.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Article III.&mdash;Objects</span></p>
+
+<p>The object of this association shall be the promotion of better
+educational facilities in all ways and the encouragement of social
+and intellectual culture among its members.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Article IV.&mdash;Meetings</span></p>
+
+<p>At least five meetings of the association shall be held each year,
+during the months of October, November, January, February, and
+March, the dates and places of meetings to be determined and
+announced by the executive committee. Special meetings may be
+called at the election of the executive committee.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Article V.&mdash;Officers</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Section 1.</span> The officers of the association shall be a president, a
+vice-president, a secretary, a treasurer, and an executive
+committee composed of five members to be appointed by the
+president.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sec. 2.</span> The election of officers shall occur at the regular meeting
+of the association in the month of October.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sec. 3.</span> The duties of each officer shall be such as parliamentary
+usage assigns, respectively, according to Cushing's Manual.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sec. 4.</span> It shall be the duty of the executive committee to arrange
+a schedule of meetings and to provide<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> suitable lecturers and
+instructors for the same on or before the first day of September of
+each year. It shall be the further duty of this committee to devise
+means to defray the expenses incurred for lecturers and
+instructors. All meetings shall be public, and no charge for
+admission shall be made, except by order of the executive committee.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Article VI.&mdash;Course of Reading</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Section 1.</span> The executive committee may also recommend a course of
+reading to be pursued by members, and it shall be their duty to
+make such other recommendations from time to time as shall have for
+their object the more effective carrying out of the purposes of the association.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Whether the Oceana County plan of a set annual meeting or the Kent
+County plan of numerous itinerant meetings is the better one depends
+much on the situation. It is not improbable that itinerant meetings,
+with an annual "round-up" meeting of the popular type as the great event
+of the school year, would be very satisfactory.</p>
+
+<p>Other counties in the state have taken up the Hesperia idea. In some
+cases associations similar to the Kent County association have been
+developed. More recently the work has frequently been carried on by the
+county commissioner of schools directly. "Institutes on wheels"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> have
+become a factor in the campaign for better rural schools. One commissioner writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>My aim has been to bring into very close relationship teachers,
+patrons, and pupils. This is done, in part, in the following
+manner: I engage, for a week's work at a time, some educator of
+state or national reputation to ride with me on my visitation of
+schools. Through the day, schools are visited, pupils' work
+inspected, and in the evening, a rally is held in the locality
+visited in that day. A circuit is made during the week, and Friday
+evening and the Saturday following a general round-up is held. The
+results of this work have been far reaching. Teachers, patrons, and
+pupils are brought into close relationship and a higher standard of
+education is developed.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The form of organization matters little. The essential idea of the
+"Hesperia movement" was to bring together the teacher and the school
+patron on a common platform, to a common meeting-place, to discuss
+subjects of common interest. This idea must be vitalized in the rural
+community before that progress in rural-school matters which we desire
+shall become a fact.</p>
+
+<p>It is only fair to say that administrators of rural-school systems in
+several states are attempting in one way or another, and have done so
+for some years, to bring together teachers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> and school patrons. In Iowa
+there are mothers' clubs organized for the express purpose of promoting
+the best interests of the schools. In many of the communities the county
+superintendent organizes excursions, and holds school contests which are
+largely attended by patrons of the schools.</p>
+
+<p>Ohio has what is known as the "Ohio School Improvement Federation." Its
+objects are: (1) to create a wholesome educational sentiment in the
+citizenship of the state; (2) to remove the school from partisan
+politics; (3) to make teaching a profession, protected and justly
+compensated. County associations of the federation are being organized
+and the effort is being made to reach the patrons of the schools and to
+create the right public sentiment. In many of the teachers' institutes
+there is one session devoted entirely to subjects that are of special
+interest to the school-board members and to the patrons of the schools.
+Educational rallies are held in many of the townships, at which effort
+is made to get together all the citizens and have an exhibit of school work.</p>
+
+<p>In Minnesota, a law was passed recently to the effect that school
+officers within a county may attend one educational convention a year
+upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> call of the county superintendent. They receive therefor, three
+dollars for one day's services and five cents mileage each way for
+attendance. Already a number of very successful conventions have been
+held, wherein all school districts in the counties have been represented.</p>
+
+<p>The county institutes in Pennsylvania are largely attended by the public
+and are designed to reach patrons as well as teachers.</p>
+
+<p>In Kansas, county superintendents have organized school-patrons'
+associations and school-board associations, both of which definitely
+purpose to bring together the school and the home and the officers of
+the school into one body and to co-operate with individuals for the
+purpose of bettering the school conditions.</p>
+
+<p>Doubtless other states are carrying on similar methods.</p>
+
+<p>An interesting movement wholly independent of the Hesperia plan has
+recently been put into operation under the leadership of Principal Myron
+T. Scudder of the State Normal School, New Paltz, N. Y. He has organized
+a series of country-school conferences. They grew out of a recognized
+need, but were an evolution rather than a definite scheme. The school
+commissioner, the teachers, and the Grange people of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> the community have
+joined in making up the conference. An attempt is also made to interest
+the pupils. At one conference there was organized an athletic league for
+the benefit of the boys of the country school. The practical phases of
+nature-study and manual training are treated on the programme, and at
+least one session is made a parents' meeting. There is no organization whatever.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. A. E. Winship, of the <i>Journal of Education</i>, Boston, had the
+following editorial in the issue of June 21, 1906:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>It is now fourteen years since D. E. McClure spoke into being the
+Hesperia movement, which is a great union of educational and farmer
+forces, in a midwinter Chautauqua, as it were. Twelve miles from
+the railroad, in the slight village of Hesperia, a one-street
+village, one side of the street being in one county and the other
+side in another, for three days and evenings in midwinter each
+year, in a ramshackle building, eight hundred people from all parts
+of the two counties sit in reserved seats, for which they pay a
+good price, and listen to one or two notable speakers and a number
+of local functionaries. One-half of the time is devoted to
+education and the other to farm interests.</p>
+
+<p>It is a great idea, well worked out, and after fourteen years it
+maintains its lustiness, but I confess to disappointment that the
+idea has not spread more extensively. It is so useful there, and
+the idea is so suggestive, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> it should have been well-nigh
+universal, and yet despite occasional bluffs at it, I know of no
+serious effort to adopt it elsewhere, unless the midwinter meeting
+at Shelby, in one of these two counties, can be considered a spread
+of the idea. This child of the Hesperia movement, in one of the two
+counties, and only twenty miles away, had this year many more in
+attendance than have ever been at Hesperia.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>This work of uniting more closely the interests, sympathies, and
+intelligence of the teachers and patrons of the rural school has had a
+test in Michigan of sufficient length to prove that it is a practicable
+scheme. No one questions the desirability of the ends it is prepared to
+compass, and experience in Michigan shows not only that where the
+educators have sufficient enterprise, tact, enthusiasm, and persistence
+the necessary organizations can be perfected, but that substantial
+results follow. For the sake of better rural schools, then, it is
+sincerely to be hoped that the "Hesperia movement" may find expression
+in numerous teachers and patrons' associations in at least the great
+agricultural states.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>THE RURAL SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY</h3>
+
+<p>Among the great phenomena of our time is the growth of the school
+idea&mdash;the realization of the part that the school plays in our
+civilization and in the training of our youth for life. Our New England
+fathers started the school in order that their children might learn to
+read the Scriptures, and thus that they might get right ideas of their
+religious duty. Even after this aim was outgrown, our schools for
+generations did little more than to teach the use of the mere tools of
+knowledge; to read, to write, and to cipher were the great gains of the
+schoolroom. Even geography and grammar were rather late arrivals. Then
+came the idea that the school should train children for citizenship, and
+it was argued that the chief reason why schools should be supported at
+public expense was in order that good citizens should be trained there.
+History and civil government were put into the course in obedience to
+this theory. Another step was taken when physiology was added, because
+it was an acknowledgment that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> schools should do something to train
+youth in the individual art of living. Still another step was taken when
+manual training and domestic science were brought into our city schools,
+because these studies emphasize the fact that the schools must do
+something to train workers. And finally we have at present the idea
+gaining a strong foothold that the schools must train the child to fill
+its place in the world of men; to see all the relations of life; to be
+fitted to live in human society. This idea really embraces all of the
+other ideas. It implies that the schools shall not only teach each
+individual the elements of knowledge, that they shall train for
+citizenship, that they shall train men in the art of living, that they
+shall aid in preparing for an occupation, but that they shall do <i>all</i>
+of these things, and do them not merely for the good of the individual,
+but for the good of society as a whole.</p>
+
+<p>And not only is there a feeling that the pupil in school can be brought
+into closer touch with the life of the community, but that the school as
+an institution can be made more useful to the community as a whole. This
+double thought has been expressed in the phrase, "Make the school a
+social center," and practically it is being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> slowly worked out in
+numerous city schools. How far can this idea be developed in the country
+school?</p>
+
+<p>The purpose of this chapter is not to deal in the theory of the subject,
+nor to argue particularly for this view of the function of the school,
+but rather to try to show some methods by which the rural school and the
+farm community actually can be brought into closer relations. In this
+way we may perhaps indicate that there is a better chance for
+co-operation between the rural school and the farm community than we
+have been accustomed to believe, and that this closer relation is worth
+striving for. Five methods will be suggested by which the rural school
+can become a social center. Some of these have already been tried in
+rural communities, some of them have been tried in cities, and some of
+them have not been tried at all.</p>
+
+<p>1. The first means of making the rural school a social center is through
+the course of study. It is here that the introduction of nature-study
+into our rural schools would be especially helpful. This nature-study
+when properly followed approves itself both to educators and to farmers.
+It is a pedagogical principle recognized by every modern teacher that in
+education it is necessary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> to consider the environment of the child, so
+that the school may not be to him "a thing remote and foreign." The
+value of nature-study is recognized not only in thus making possible an
+intelligent study of the country child's environment, but in teaching a
+love of nature, in giving habits of correct observation, and in
+preparing for the more fruitful study of science in later years. Our
+best farmers are also coming to see that nature-study in the rural
+schools is a necessity, because it will tend to give a knowledge of the
+laws that govern agriculture, because it will teach the children to love
+the country, because it will show the possibilities of living an
+intellectual life upon the farm. Nature-study, therefore, will have a
+very direct influence in bringing the child into close touch with the
+whole life of the farm community.</p>
+
+<p>But it is not so much a matter of introducing new studies&mdash;the old
+studies can be taught in such a way as to make them seem vital and
+human. Take, for instance, geography. It used to be approached from the
+standpoint of the solar system. It now begins with the schoolhouse and
+the pupils' homes, and works outward from the things that the child sees
+and knows to the things that it must imagine. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>History, writing,
+reading, the sciences, and even other subjects can be taught so as to
+connect them vitally and definitely with the life of the farm community.
+To quote Colonel Parker, who suggests the valuable results of such a
+method of teaching:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>It would make a strong, binding union of the home and the school,
+the farm methods and the school methods. It would bring the farm
+into the school and project the school into the farm. It would give
+parent and teacher one motive in the carrying out of which both
+could heartily join. The parent would appreciate and judge fairly
+the work of the school, the teacher would honor, dignify and
+elevate the work of the farm.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The study of the landscape of the near-by country, the study of the
+streams, the study of the soils, studies that have to do with the
+location of homes, of villages, the study of the weather, of the common
+plants, of domestic animals&mdash;all of these things will give the child a
+better start in education, a better comprehension of the life he is to
+live, a better idea of the business of farming, a better notion about
+the importance of agriculture, and will tend to fit him better for
+future life either on the farm or anywhere else, than could any amount
+of the old-fashioned book knowledge. Is it not a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> strange fact that so
+many farmers will decry book knowledge when applied to the business of
+farming, and at the same time set so much store by the book learning
+that is given in the common arithmetic, the old-fashioned reader, and
+the dry grammar of the typical school? Of course anyone pleading for
+this sort of study in the rural schools must make it clear that the
+ordinary accomplishments of reading, writing, and ciphering are not to
+be neglected. As a matter of fact, pupils under this method can be just
+as well trained in these branches as under the old plan. The point to be
+emphasized, however, is that a course of study constructed on this
+theory will tend to bring the school and the community closer together,
+will make the school of more use to the community, will give the
+community more interest in the school, while at the same time it will
+better prepare pupils to do their work in life.</p>
+
+<p>2. A second way of making the rural school a social center is through
+the social activities of the pupils. This means that the pupils as a
+body can co-operate for certain purposes, and that this co-operation
+will not only secure some good results of an immediate character,
+results that can be seen and appreciated by everyone,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> but that it will
+teach the spirit of co-operation&mdash;and there is hardly anything more
+needed today in rural life than this spirit of co-operation. The schools
+can perform no better service than in training young people to work
+together for common ends. In this work such things as special day
+programmes, as for Arbor Day, Washington's Birthday, Pioneer Day; the
+holding of various school exhibitions; the preparation of exhibits for
+county fairs, and similar endeavors, are useful and are being carried
+out in many of our rural schools. But the best example of this work is a
+plan that is being used in the state of Maine, and is performed through
+the agency of what is called a School Improvement League. The purposes
+of the league are: (1) to improve school grounds and buildings; (2) to
+furnish suitable reading-matter for pupils and people; (3) to provide
+works of art for schoolrooms. There are three forms of the league, the
+local leagues organized in each school; the town leagues, whose
+membership consists of the officers of the local leagues; and a state
+league, whose members are delegates from the town leagues and members of
+the local leagues who hold school diplomas. Any pupil, teacher, school
+officer, or any other citizen may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> join the league on payment of the
+dues. The minimum dues are one cent a month for each pupil, for other
+members not less than ten cents a term. But these dues may be made
+larger by vote of the league. Each town league sends a delegate to the
+meeting of the state league. Each league has the usual number of
+officers elected for one term. These leagues were first organized in
+1898 and they have already accomplished much. They have induced school
+committees to name various rural schools for distinguished American
+citizens, as Washington, Lincoln, and so forth. They give exhibitions
+and entertainments for the purpose of raising funds. Sometimes they use
+these funds to buy books for the schoolroom. The books are then loaned
+to the members of the league; at the end of the term this set of books
+is exchanged for another set of books from another school in the same
+township. In this way, at a slight expense, each school may have the use
+of a large number of books every year. The same thing is done with
+pictures and works of art, these being purchased and exchanged in the
+same way. Through the efforts of the league schoolhouses have been
+improved, inside and out, and the school grounds improved. It is not so
+much the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> doing of new things that has been attempted by this league.
+The important item is that the school has been <i>organized</i> for these
+definite purposes, and the work is carried on systematically from year
+to year. It needs no argument to show the value of this sort of
+co-operation to the pupil, to the teacher, to the school, to the
+parents, and ultimately to the community as a whole.</p>
+
+<p>3. A third method is through co-operation between the home and the
+school, between the teacher and pupils on one side, and parents and
+taxpayers on the other side. Parents sometimes complain that the average
+school is a sort of mill, or machine, into which their children are
+placed and turned out just so fast, and in just such condition. But if
+this is the case, it is partly the fault of the parents who do not keep
+in close enough touch with the work of the school. It is not that
+parents are not interested in their children, but it is rather that they
+look at the school as something separate from the ordinary affairs of
+life. Now, nothing can be more necessary than that this notion should be
+done away with. There must be the closest co-operation between the home
+and school. How can this co-operation be brought about? Frequently
+parents are urged to visit the schools.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> This is all right and proper,
+but it is not enough. There must be a closer relation than this. The
+teacher must know more about the home life of her pupils, and the
+parents must know far more about the whole purpose and spirit, as well
+as the method, of the school. A great deal of good has been done by the
+joint meeting of teachers and school officers. It is a very wise device,
+and should be kept up. But altogether the most promising development
+along this line is the so-called "Hesperia movement," described in
+another chapter. These meetings of school patrons and teachers take up
+the work of the school in a way that will interest both teachers and
+farmers. They bring the teachers and farmers into closer touch socially
+and intellectually. They disperse fogs of misunderstanding. They inspire
+to closer co-operation. They create mutual sympathy. They are sure to
+result in bringing the teacher into closer touch with community life and
+with the social problems of the farm. And they are almost equally sure
+to arouse the interest of the entire community, not only in the school
+as an institution and in the possibilities of the work it may do, but
+also in the work of that teacher who is for the time being serving a
+particular rural school.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p><p>4. A fourth method is by making the schoolhouse a meeting-place for the
+community, more especially for the intellectual and aesthetic activities
+of the community. A good example of this kind of work is the John Spry
+School of Chicago. In connection with this school there is a lecture
+course each winter; there is a musical society that meets every Tuesday
+evening; there is a men's club that meets every two weeks to discuss
+municipal problems and the improvement of home conditions; there is a
+woman's club to study for general improvement and social service; there
+is a mothers' council meeting every two weeks; there is a literary and
+dramatic society, meeting every week, composed of members of high-school
+age, and studying Shakespeare particularly; there is a dressmaking and
+aid society meeting two evenings a week, to study the cutting of
+patterns, garment-making, etc.; a food-study and cooking club, also
+meeting two evenings a week; an inventive and mechanical club, meeting
+two evenings a week, and tending to develop the inventive and mechanical
+genius of a group of young men; an art club; and a boy's club, with
+music, games, reading-lessons, reading of books and magazines, intended
+for boys of fourteen or fifteen years of age. These<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> things are all
+under the direction of the school, they are free, they are designed to
+educate. It will not be feasible for the rural school to carry out such
+a programme as this, but do we realize how large are the possibilities
+of this idea of making the rural school a community center? No doubt one
+of the advantages of the centralized rural school will be to give a
+central meeting-place for the township, and to encourage work of the
+character that has been described. Of course, the Grange and farmers'
+clubs are doing much along these lines, but is it not possible for the
+district school also to do some useful work of this character?
+Singing-schools and debating clubs were quite a common thing in the
+rural schools forty years ago, and there are many rural schools today
+that are doing work of this very kind. Is there any reason, for example,
+why the country schoolhouse should not offer an evening school during a
+portion of the winter, where the older pupils who have left the regular
+work of the school can carry on studies, especially in agriculture and
+domestic science? There is need for this sort of thing, and if our
+agricultural colleges, and the departments of public instruction, and
+the local school supervisors, and the country<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> teachers, and the farmers
+themselves, could come a little closer together on these questions the thing could be done!</p>
+
+<p>5. Fifth and last, as a method for making the school a social center, is
+the suggestion that the teacher herself shall become something of a
+leader in the farm community. The teacher ought to be not only a teacher
+of the pupils, but in some sense a teacher of the community. Is there
+not need that someone should take the lead in inspiring everyone in the
+community to read better books, to buy better pictures, to take more
+interest in the things that make for culture and progress? There are
+special difficulties in a country community. The rural teacher is
+usually a transient; she secures a city school as soon as she can; she
+is often poorly paid; she is sometimes inexperienced; frequently the
+labor of the school absorbs all her time and energy. Unfortunately these
+things are so, but they ought not to be so. And we shall never have the
+ideal rural school until we have conditions favorable to the kind of
+work just described. The country teacher ought to understand the country
+community, ought to have some knowledge of the problems that the farmers
+have to face, ought to have some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>appreciation of the peculiar
+conditions of farm life. Every teacher should have some knowledge of
+rural sociology. The normal schools should make this subject a required
+subject in the course, especially for country teachers. Teachers'
+institutes and reading-circles should in some way provide this sort of
+thing. This is one of the most important means of bringing the rural
+school into closer touch with the farm community. Ten years ago Henry
+Sabin, of Iowa, one of the keenest students of the rural-school problem,
+in speaking of the supervision of country schools, said:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>The supervisor of rural schools should be acquainted with the
+material resources of his district. He should know not only what
+constitutes good farming, but the prevailing industry of the region
+should be so familiar to him that he can converse intelligently
+with the inhabitants, and convince them that he knows something
+besides books. The object is not alone to gain influence over them,
+but to bring the school into touch with the home life of the
+community about. It is not to invite the farmer to the school, but
+to take the school to the farm, and to show the pupils that here
+before their eyes are the foundations upon which have been built
+the great natural sciences.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The programme needed to unite rural school and farm community is then,
+first, to enrich the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> course of study by adding nature-study and
+agriculture, and about these co-ordinating the conventional school
+subjects; second, to encourage the co-operation of the pupils,
+especially for the improvement of the school and its surroundings;
+third, to bring together for discussion and acquaintance the teachers
+and the patrons of the school; fourth, so far as possible to make the
+schoolhouse a meeting-place for the community, for young people as well
+as for older people, where music, art, social culture, literature, study
+of farming, and in fact, anything that has to do with rural education,
+may be fostered; and fifth, to expect the teacher to have a knowledge of
+the industrial and general social conditions of agriculture, especially
+those of the community in which her lot is cast.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GRANGE</h3>
+
+<p>The difficulty of uniting the farmers of America for any form of
+co-operative endeavor long ago became proverbial. The business of
+farming encouraged individualism; comparative isolation bred
+independence; and restricted means of communication made union
+physically difficult, even among those who might be disposed to unite.
+It was not strange, therefore, that the agricultural masses developed a
+state of mind unfavorable for organization&mdash;that they became suspicious
+of one another, jealous of leadership, unwilling to keep the pledges of
+union, and unable to sink personal views and prejudices.</p>
+
+<p>It must not be supposed, however, that the farmers themselves have
+failed to realize the situation, or that no genuinely progressive steps
+have been taken to remedy it. During the last four decades at least, the
+strongest men that the rural classes have produced have labored with
+their fellows, both in season and out of season, for union of effort;
+and their efforts have been by no means in vain. It is true that some of
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> attempts at co-operation have been ill-judged, even fantastic. It
+is true that much of the machinery of organization failed to work and
+can be found on the social junk-pile, in company with other discarded
+implements not wholly rural in origin. But it is also true that great
+progress has been made; that the spirit of co-operation is rapidly
+emerging as a factor in rural social life; and that the weapons of rural
+organization have a temper all the better, perhaps, because they were
+fashioned on the anvil of defeat.</p>
+
+<p>Among all these efforts to unite the farming classes, by far the most
+characteristic and the most successful is the Grange. The truth of this
+statement will immediately be questioned by those whose memory recalls
+the early rush to the Grange, "Granger legislation," and similar
+phenomena, as well as by those whose impressions have been gleaned from
+reading the periodicals of the late seventies, when the Grange tide had
+begun to ebb. Indeed, it seems to be the popular impression that the
+Grange is not at present a force of consequence, that long ago it became
+a cripple, if not a corpse. Only a few years ago, an intelligent
+magazine writer, in discussing the subject of farmers' organizations,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
+made the statement, "The Grange is dead." But the assertion was not
+true. The popular impression must be revised. The Grange has
+accomplished more for agriculture than has any other farm organization.
+Not only is it at the present time active, but it has more real
+influence than it has ever had before; and it is more nearly a
+<i>national</i> farmers' organization than any other in existence today.</p>
+
+<p>The Grange is also the oldest of the general organizations for farmers.
+Though the notion of organizing the farmers was undoubtedly broached
+early in the history of the country, the germ idea that actually grew
+into the Grange is about forty years old, and should be credited to Mr.
+O. H. Kelley, a Boston young man who settled on a Minnesota farm in
+1849. He wrote considerably for the agricultural press; and this
+experience helped to bring him to the conclusion that the great need of
+agriculture was the education of the agriculturist. He soon came to feel
+that existing agencies for this purpose&mdash;farm papers and fairs&mdash;were
+insufficient. In 1866, as agent for the Department of Agriculture, Mr.
+Kelley made a tour of the South, with the view of gaining a knowledge of
+the agricultural and mineral resources of that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>section. On this tour he
+became impressed with the fact that politicians would never restore
+peace to the country; that if it came at all, it would have to come
+through fraternity. As his thought ripened he broached to friends the
+idea of a "secret society of agriculturists, as an element to restore
+kindly feelings among the people."</p>
+
+<p>Thus the Grange was born of two needs, one fundamental and the other
+immediate. The fundamental need of agriculture was that farmers should
+be better educated for their business; and the immediate need was that
+of cultivating the spirit of brotherhood between the North and the
+South. The latter need no longer exists; but the fundamental need still
+remains and is sufficient excuse for the Grange's existence today. Mr.
+Kelley interested six other men in the new idea; and in December, 1867,
+these "seven founders of the order" organized the National Grange of
+Patrons of Husbandry. Mr. Kelley is the only one of these seven men now living.</p>
+
+<p>Thus was begun a movement for organization that had resulted by 1873 in
+the formation of over 20,000 Granges in 28 states, comprising not less
+than 750,000 members; and in that year the National Grange, as a
+representative body,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> was officially organized. For four or five years
+this unexampled prosperity continued; then the reports show a feeling of
+weakness creeping in. In fact, the order as a whole steadily declined in
+numbers and prestige during the whole of the decade following 1880. The
+losses were most serious, however, in the South and West; for in New
+England and the Middle States it retained its vitality, and, indeed, grew steadily.</p>
+
+<p>During the last fifteen years there has been a widespread revival of
+interest in the organization and the outlook is exceedingly promising.
+During the decade following 1890 the membership increased not less than
+75 per cent. During the last few years the rate of gain has been even
+greater. The following table gives the official records in the five leading Grange states:</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<table border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" summary="official records in the five leading Grange states">
+  <tr>
+    <td rowspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td colspan="2" class="center">1900</td>
+    <td colspan="2" class="center">1905</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Grange</td>
+    <td>Members</td>
+    <td>Grange</td>
+    <td>Members</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>New York<br />Maine<br />Michigan<br />Pennsylvania<br />New Hampshire&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="right">550<br />275<br />420<br />526<br />260</td>
+    <td class="right">43,000<br />29,000<br />25,000<br />20,000<br />24,000</td>
+    <td class="right">582<br />387<br />731<br />560<br />263</td>
+    <td class="right">66,500<br />49,000<br />45,000<br />34,000<br />28,000</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>These states lead, but the order is also active and strong in Vermont,
+Connecticut, Ohio,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> Massachusetts. Thirty states pay dues to the
+National Grange treasury, and twenty-six were represented by delegates
+at the last National Grange. Since 1905 there has been substantial
+growth in most of these twenty-six states, both in numbers of Granges
+and in membership.</p>
+
+<p>The official title of the Grange is "Patrons of Husbandry," of the
+members, "Patrons," and of the various divisions, "Granges." The
+"subordinate Grange," or local lodge, is the Grange unit. Its area of
+jurisdiction has, nominally, a diameter of about five miles; more
+roughly, "a Grange to a township" is the working ideal among the
+organizers. The membership consists of men and women, and of young
+people over fourteen years of age, who may apply and by vote be
+accepted. Constitutionally, those whose interests are not immediately
+with agriculture are ineligible to membership; and care is also
+exercised that only those who are of good repute shall be recommended.
+The presiding officer of each Grange is the "master;" while among the
+twelve other officers the "lecturer" is the most important, and
+virtually acts as programme committee, with charge of the educational
+work of the body. Meetings are held weekly or fortnightly. Each regular
+meeting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> has first its business session, and then its "lecturer's hour,"
+or literary session, usually with an intervening recess for social
+greetings, etc. The programmes are prepared by the lecturer, and consist
+of general discussions, essays, talks, debates, readings, recitations,
+and music; an attempt being made to suit the tastes and talents of all
+members, young and old. Many Granges have built and own their halls,
+which are usually equipped with kitchen and dining-room, in addition to
+audience rooms; for periodical "feasts" are as regular a feature of the
+association as are the initiations of new members.</p>
+
+<p>The Granges of a county or other given district often organize
+themselves into a "Pomona Grange." The "State Grange" is a delegate
+body, meeting annually; delegates being chosen by the subordinate and
+Pomona Granges. The "National Grange" is composed of the masters of
+State Granges and their wives, and is also an annual gathering. The
+National Grange is the legislative body of the order, and has full
+authority in all matters of doctrine and practice. But to State Granges
+is left the determination of policy and administration for the states.
+The State Granges, in turn, legislate for the subordinate Granges, while
+also passing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> down to them ample local powers. The machinery is thus
+strongly centralized, and subordinate Granges are absolutely dependent
+units of a great whole. Yet the principle of home rule pervades the
+organization; and local associations are responsible for their own
+methods and the results of their work, though their officers usually
+work in harmony with the State and National Granges.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the clearest conception of what the order originally meant to do
+can be gained from a few quotations from the Declaration of Purposes of
+the National Grange, which was promulgated over thirty years ago, and is
+still in force:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>We shall endeavor to advance our cause by laboring to accomplish
+the following objects:</p>
+
+<p>To develop a better and higher manhood and womanhood among
+ourselves. To enhance the comfort and attractions of our homes and
+to strengthen our attachments to our pursuits. To foster mutual
+understanding and co-operation. To maintain inviolate our laws, and
+to emulate each other in labor, to hasten the good time coming. To
+reduce our expenses, both individual and corporate. To buy less and
+produce more, in order to make our farms self-sustaining. To
+diversify our crops and crop no more than we can cultivate. To
+condense the weight of our exports, selling less in the bushel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> and
+more on hoof and in fleece; less in lint and more in warp and woof.
+To systematize our work, and calculate intelligently on
+probabilities. To discountenance the credit system, the mortgage
+system, the fashion system, and every other system tending to
+prodigality and bankruptcy.</p>
+
+<p>We propose meeting together, talking together, working together,
+buying together, selling together, and, in general, acting together
+for our mutual protection and advancement, as occasion may require.
+We shall avoid litigation, as much as possible, by arbitration in
+the Grange. We shall constantly strive to secure entire harmony,
+good will, vital brotherhood, among ourselves, and to make our
+order perpetual. We shall earnestly endeavor to suppress personal,
+local, sectional, and national prejudices, all unhealthy rivalry,
+all selfish ambition. Faithful adherence to these principles will
+insure our mental, moral, social, and material advancement.</p>
+
+<p>For our business interests we desire to bring producers and
+consumers, farmers and manufacturers, into the most direct and
+friendly relations possible. Hence we must dispense with a surplus
+of middle-men, not that we are unfriendly to them, but we do not
+need them. Their surplus and their exactions diminish our profits.</p>
+
+<p>We wage no aggressive warfare against any other interests whatever.
+On the contrary, all our acts and all our efforts, so far as
+business is concerned, are not only for the benefit of the producer
+and consumer, but also for all other interests that tend to bring
+these two parties into speedy and economical contact. Hence we hold
+that transportation companies of every kind are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> necessary to our
+success, that their interests are intimately connected with our interests.</p>
+
+<p>We are opposed to such spirit and management of any corporation or
+enterprise as tends to oppress the people, and rob them of their
+just profits. We are not enemies to capital, but we oppose the
+tyranny of monopolies. We long to see the antagonism between
+capital and labor removed by common consent, and by an enlightened
+statesmanship worthy of the nineteenth century. We are opposed to
+excessive salaries, high rates of interest, and exorbitant
+per-cent. profits in trade.</p>
+
+<p>We shall advance the cause of education among ourselves and for our
+children, by all just means within our power. We especially
+advocate for our agricultural and industrial colleges that
+practical agriculture, domestic science, and all the arts which
+adorn the home be taught in their courses of study.</p>
+
+<p>We emphatically and sincerely assert the oft-repeated truth taught
+in our organic law, that the Grange&mdash;national, state, or
+subordinate&mdash;is not a political or party organization. No Grange,
+if true to its obligations, can discuss political or religious
+questions, or call political conventions, or nominate candidates,
+or even discuss their merits at its meetings.</p>
+
+<p>We always bear in mind that no one, by becoming a Patron of
+Husbandry, gives up that inalienable right and duty which belongs
+to every American citizen, to take a proper interest in the
+politics of his country. On the contrary, it is his duty to do all
+he can in his own party to put down bribery, corruption, and
+trickery; to see that none but competent, faithful, and honest men,
+who will unflinchingly stand by our industrial interests, are
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>nominated for all positions of trust; and to have carried out the
+principle which should characterize every Patron, that the office
+should seek the man, and not the man the office.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>To enumerate the achievements of the Grange would be to recall the
+progress of agriculture during the past third of a century. It has been
+a motor force in many helpful movements, and in many ways has organized
+and incorporated the best thought of the most intelligent farmers, about
+means for rural advancement. It has been an integral part of, and a most
+potent factor in, the expansion of American farm life.</p>
+
+<p>The greatest achievement of the order is that it has taught the farmers
+of America the value of co-operation and the power of organized effort.
+The lesson has not been fully learned, it is true; but the success of
+the institution testifies that it is possible for farmers to work in
+harmony. It is worth observing that this result has been achieved on
+conservative lines. It is comparatively easy to organize on radical
+lines; easy to generate enthusiasm by promising some great reform; easy
+to inflame self-interest by picturing millennial conditions, especially
+when the pocket is touched. But quite different is it to arouse and
+sustain interest in a large popular organization whose object is
+education, whose watchword<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> is self-culture. Of course, it would be but
+a half-truth to assert that the order places all its emphasis on the
+sober problems of education. Agitation has had its place; the hope of
+better things for the farmer, to be achieved through legislation and
+business co-operation, has been an inspiration to activity; but the
+noteworthy fact remains that it has secured a fair degree of
+organization and co-operation among farmers chiefly by appeals to their
+larger and nobler interests.</p>
+
+<p>That the association has vastly improved the social opportunities of
+farmers is a trite saying among old observers of its work. It forces
+isolation out of the saddle. The regular meetings of the local bodies
+rapidly and surely develop the social instinct among the members. Pomona
+Granges bring together members from all parts of the county and make
+them acquainted with one another. The State Grange draws its membership
+from every corner of the state; and as its personnel changes each year,
+thousands are in the course of a few years given the wider outlook, the
+more extended acquaintance, and the broader view that participation in
+such a gathering affords. Special social features add their influence.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p><p>As an educator on public questions the Grange has done a noble work. At
+nearly every meeting in this country, some topic of public concern is
+brought up by essay, talk, general discussion, or formal debate. The
+views of the "village Hampdens" may not always be economically
+scientific or scholarly. But it might surprise many people to see how
+well read the members are and how clearly they can express their ideas.
+Their discussions are not seldom informative, and that they make public
+opinion in rural communities is beyond cavil. The persistent advocacy of
+specific reforms has directed the thought of the members toward the
+larger issues that so often rise above the haze of partisan politics.</p>
+
+<p>The order has prepared the soil for adequate agricultural education.
+While the agricultural colleges formerly had many enemies among the
+farmers, and received scornful opprobrium from those whom they were
+endeavoring to help, almost without exception the Granges have praised
+the colleges, welcomed their work, and urged farmers to educate their
+sons at these institutions. Farmers' institutes, the agricultural
+experiment stations, and the federal Department of Agriculture have been
+equally welcomed by the Grange sentiment. The Grange has always<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> taught
+the need of better rural education. It has also tended to develop its
+members, so that they may not only appreciate education, but that they
+may be themselves living examples of the value of such education.
+Farmers' institute lecturers frequently say, "You can always tell when
+you reach a community where a Grange exists." In that meeting will be
+found men who have read and thought on farm and public themes, men who
+are not only ready in discussion, apt in statement, and eager to
+question, but men acquainted with parliamentary law, who know how such
+assemblages should be conducted, and who can preside with dignity and grace.</p>
+
+<p>The order has undoubtedly aided materially in obliterating sectionalism.
+That achievement was one of its avowed objects. There is no question but
+it assisted in cementing North and South; and that it has brought East
+and West into closer sympathy is equally true. Other farm organizations
+have found their incentive in the order. These it has never frowned on,
+though believing and always hoping that it might attract the majority of
+farmers to its own ranks, and by this unity become a more powerful
+factor in securing the rights and developing the opportunities of the
+rural classes of America. It has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> always discountenanced the credit
+system; and that cash payments by farmers to merchants are far more
+common than a quarter-century ago may be fairly credited, in part at
+least, to its influence.</p>
+
+<p>To describe the many specific legislative achievements which the Granges
+of the nation and of the several states have accomplished would be
+tedious. Merely to enumerate a few of them must suffice here. A
+convenient summary is made from an official circular recently issued by
+the National Grange. The order has had a large influence in securing the
+following: The separation of certain agricultural colleges from
+universities which were receiving the land-grant funds, but were not, in
+the opinion of the farmers, duly contributing to agricultural education;
+the confining of the appropriations under the second Morrill act of 1890
+strictly to instruction in agriculture and mechanical arts; the Hatch
+Act of 1887, establishing an experiment station in each state and
+territory; making the head of the Department of Agriculture a cabinet
+official; the agitation resulting in the famous Iowa court decision,
+that railroad franchises are subject to the power that created them; the
+establishment of the Inter-State Commerce <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>Commission; tax reform in
+many states; laws favoring pure food and dairy products; preventing
+extension of patents on sewing machines; the establishment of rural free mail delivery.</p>
+
+<p>The methods of work are many and varied. In addition to the regular
+literary and social programmes previously mentioned, socials are held at
+the homes of members, entertainments of various kinds occur at the
+Grange hall, and in many ways the association becomes the center of the
+social and intellectual interest of the community. It is debating
+society, club, lecture course, parliamentary society, theater, and
+circulating library. In fact, it lends itself to almost any function
+that will instruct, entertain, benefit, or assist its members
+financially, morally, intellectually, or socially. Of course, not every
+Grange is awake to its opportunities; but as a rule, where a live one
+exists it is the acknowledged leader in social movements.</p>
+
+<p>It is not uncommon for Granges to hold fairs for the exhibition of
+agricultural and domestic products. The State Fair of New Hampshire has
+been largely managed by the Grange. In many cases Granges as
+organizations will exhibit at the ordinary county or district fair.
+Picnics and field meetings are coming to be very popular<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> in some
+states. They are held during the summer season, at a time when work is
+least pressing, and are usually attended by speakers of prominence in
+the order. Many subordinate Granges give public lecture courses during
+the winter, securing speakers on general themes. They also arrange for
+entertainments of a popular character.</p>
+
+<p>The order also participates in activities that are not strictly Grange
+work. For instance, in Michigan, the State Grange for several years
+carried on a "Fresh-Air Work," by which over 1,000 working-girls,
+children, and hard-working mothers with babies, from the larger cities,
+were given a two-weeks' vacation in country homes. The philanthropic
+agencies of the cities arranged for transportation and secured the
+beneficiaries, while the Grange obtained the places for them. Granges
+are always active in the organization of farmers' institutes,
+agricultural fairs, etc. In Michigan they have assisted in the
+organization of associations which are designed to bring together both
+teachers and parents for discussion of rural-school problems.</p>
+
+<p>On two important matters the Grange has been misunderstood, not only by
+the public, but more unfortunately, sometimes by its own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> members. In
+his <i>Division and Reunion</i>, President Woodrow Wilson speaks of it under
+the sub-title of "New Parties." Professor Alexander Johnston, in his
+<i>American Politics</i> was more discriminating, for he said of it: "In its
+nature it is not political." But he also said: "Its object is
+co-operation among farmers, in purchasing and in other business
+interests." The first conception of the character of the order is wholly
+misleading; the second is inadequate.</p>
+
+<p>The Grange is not a party. It never was a party. During the "Granger
+legislation" period, many members doubtless misconceived the true
+function of the Grange, and abused the power organization gave them,
+while the popular mind credited the association with many notions for
+which it was not responsible. It has never organized itself as a
+farmers' party. The National Grange has endeavored to keep strictly
+aloof from partisan politics. It is possible that in some states the
+influence of the organization was, in the early days, used for partisan
+purposes; but the penalty was fully paid in the disruption of the order
+in those states. The Grange today regards partisanship as poisonous to
+its life, and does not allow it on its shelves.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p><p>This is not to say that the Grange makes no appeal to legislation. It
+is possible that in some cases it places too much faith in law as a
+means of emancipation from economic bondage; but, in the main, its
+legislative point of view is sane and conservative. It believes that
+such ills as are due to bad or imperfect legislation can be, at least
+partly, relieved by good or more perfect legislation. Nor does it limit
+its interest to measures that concern the farmer alone. It is
+unalterably opposed to class legislation, and aims to keep its own
+skirts clear&mdash;to avoid even the suspicion of offence in this particular.</p>
+
+<p>It may be asked, How does the order manage to advocate public measures
+without becoming involved in partisan squabbles? Simply by ceasing to
+discuss a question the moment it becomes a party football. For instance:
+the monetary policy of the government was warmly discussed until the
+conventions of 1896 made it clear that it was to be a party issue.
+Again: the Grange has consistently urged the construction and ownership
+of the Interoceanic Canal by the United States government; but it was
+silent on the larger question of "imperialism," not because the question
+was not of importance, but because it became a subject of party
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>controversy. This neutral policy as to party questions imposes certain
+limitations on the influence of the organization; but experience has
+demonstrated that this, more than any other thing, is responsible for
+the fact that the Grange still lives and thrives.</p>
+
+<p>The other misconception lies in the sentence quoted from Professor
+Johnston, that the Grange has for its object "co-operation among farmers
+in purchasing and in other business interests;" the implication being
+that business was the chief function. It is generally admitted that in
+the early days thousands joined the order "for what there was in it;"
+believing that the organization furnished a means for abolishing the
+middlemen, and putting ready money into the pockets of the farmers. When
+these sordid souls were disillusioned, their enthusiasm went down to the
+zero of activity. They misunderstood, or interpreted too radically, a
+well-defined, conservative, legitimate purpose of the Grange to
+co-operate on business lines. The order did believe that farmers could
+do without the surplus of middlemen; it did purpose to aid the farmer
+financially, though this purpose was not its main function. In the
+earlier period Grange stores were organized. A few of these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> are in
+successful operation today, but the policy as a whole has been
+abandoned.</p>
+
+<p>Another plan, discussed over thirty years ago, has during the past
+decade come to assume practical importance as a method of co-operation
+on business lines. The plan, in brief, is that various State Granges
+contract with manufacturing and jobbing houses to furnish members of the
+order with goods at practically wholesale rates. Goods are ordered by
+the subordinate Granges, under seal of the order; are purchased on a
+cash basis; and are shipped to the purchasing agent of the Grange, and
+by him distributed to the individual buyers. Such materials as binder
+twine, salt, harness, Paris green, all kinds of farm implements,
+vehicles, sewing-machines, and fruit trees are purchased advantageously.
+Even staple groceries, etc., are sometimes bought in this way. Members
+often save enough in single purchases to pay all their expenses for the
+Grange. There is no capital invested; there are no debts imposed upon
+himself by the purchaser; and there has not been extreme difficulty in
+securing favorable contracts. The plan seems destined to continued
+enlargement and usefulness as a legitimate phase of business
+co-operation. Michigan Granges purchased not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> less than $350,000 worth
+of goods during 1905, under such a plan. The estimate for Maine is over
+half a million dollars.</p>
+
+<p>In several states the organization successfully conducts mutual fire
+insurance companies; active membership in the Grange being an essential
+requisite for membership in the insurance company. Wherever these
+companies have become well established, it is asserted that they
+maintain a lower rate of assessment than even the popular "farmers'
+mutuals." In New York there are twenty-three Grange companies, with
+policies aggregating $85,000,000, the average cost for the year 1905
+being $1.96 per thousand. Single companies claim to have secured even
+better rates. This insurance not only pays individuals, but it attracts
+and holds members. In New Hampshire a fairly successful Grange life
+insurance company exists.</p>
+
+<p>In co-operative selling, the order has so far accomplished very little,
+except locally and among individuals or Granges. There is a supreme
+difficulty in the way of successful transfers among patrons themselves,
+as members desiring to buy wish the very lowest prices; those desiring
+to sell, the very highest prices. Arbitration under such circumstances
+is not easy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> The fundamental obstacle to members selling together on
+the general market is that, in most cases, all members do not have the
+same things to sell. A co-operative creamery, for instance, is organized
+on the basis of a <i>product</i>&mdash;butter; the Grange is organized on the
+basis of <i>manhood</i>&mdash;and each man may have his crop or stock specialty.
+This difficulty, though grave, is not, perhaps, insuperable, and will
+tend to disappear as membership enlarges. But it is only fair to state
+that, so far, the Grange has not been able to devise any successful plan
+for co-operative selling, applicable on a large scale.</p>
+
+<p>There are two or three features that deserve further mention. One is the
+position of the family in the Grange. It is stated that the Grange was
+the first secret organization to place woman on a plane of perfect
+equality with man. In every association each female member has a vote.
+Woman has four special offices assigned to her sex, and is eligible to
+any office in the gift of the order. The majority of subordinate
+lecturers are women; many subordinate and even Pomona masters are women;
+Michigan's state lecturer is a woman who is revolutionizing the
+educational work of the order in that state; while Minnesota had for
+some years a competent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> and earnest woman as state master. Every
+delegate to every State Grange is a dual delegate&mdash;man and wife. The
+state master and his wife are delegates to the National Grange. Women
+serve on all committees in these gatherings, and a woman's voice is
+frequently heard in debates. And not only the wife, but, as previously
+stated, the children above fourteen years of age may attain full
+membership. A large proportion of every healthy Grange consists of young
+people, who have their share in the active work. Thus it will be seen
+that the order conserves the family life. It is doubtful if any other
+social institution in rural communities, not excepting the church, so
+completely interests the entire family.</p>
+
+<p>The organization is also a conservator of morals. While sectarian
+discussions are as foreign to its purposes as is partisan politics, and
+while it does not even pretend to take the place of the church, it is
+built on a truly religious foundation. Its ritual is permeated, in word
+and in sentiment, by the religious spirit. Every meeting opens and
+closes with prayer. Moral character is constantly eulogized and
+glorified in Grange esoteric literature. The membership comes almost
+exclusively from that large class of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> farmers who are moral,
+high-minded, God-fearing men and women.</p>
+
+<p>The Grange has been opposed, both by farmers and by others, because
+secrecy is not a desirable attribute; but the experience of forty years
+and the uniform testimony of all leaders in the work declare that this
+was a wise provision. No influential member has, so far as it is known,
+proposed that the order should be dismantled of its secret features. The
+ritualistic work is not burdensome. Occasionally the processes of
+initiation may take time that ought to be allotted to educational work;
+but, if the initiation is properly conducted, it has of itself a high educational value.</p>
+
+<p>The financial status of the Grange itself is worth noting. The fees for
+joining are merely nominal, while the dues are only ten cents a month
+per member. These fees and dues support the subordinate Granges, the
+State Grange, and the National Grange. There are no high-salaried
+officials in the order, and few salaried positions of any kind. The
+National Grange today has nearly $100,000 in its treasury, and several
+State Granges have substantial reserves. This policy is pursued, not for
+the love of hoarding, but because it is believed that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> it tends to the
+permanency and solidarity of the order.</p>
+
+<p>The Grange is a live institution; it has within itself the capacity for
+satisfying a great need in rural society; and it is destined to growth
+and larger and more permanent usefulness. It is based on correct
+principles: organization, co-operation, education. It is neither a
+political party nor a business agency. It is progressively
+conservative&mdash;or conservatively progressive. It is neither ultra-radical
+nor forever in the rut. Its chief work is on cultural lines. It includes
+the entire family. It is now growing, and there is every reason for
+thinking that this growth is of a permanent character.</p>
+
+<p>The Grange is ambitious to take its place beside the school and the
+church, as one of a trinity of forces that shall mold the life of the
+farmer on the broadest possible basis&mdash;material, intellectual, social,
+and ethical. Is there any good reason why this ambition is not worthy,
+or why its goal should not be won?</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>OPPORTUNITIES FOR FARM WOMEN</h3>
+
+<p>While rural life is often supposed to be fatally deficient in facilities
+for growth because of its isolation, the women living on our farms are
+thought to be the especial victims of this lack of social opportunity.
+No doubt there is much of truth in the popular opinion. Modern city life
+unquestionably tends to enliven, to sharpen, to put a razor-edge on
+capacity. Naturally the women as well as the men of the city are thus
+stimulated. An instance of the opportunities constantly presented to the
+city women is the rapid multiplication of women's clubs, which,
+especially in smaller towns, are absolutely revolutionizing the life of
+womankind. But have not the women of the country some resources of a
+similar character? Can they not in some way break the bonds of
+isolation? Are there not for them some of the blessings that come from a
+highly organized society? Are there not, in the country also,
+opportunities for the co-operation of mind and heart for common service?
+I think all these questions can be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> answered in the affirmative. It is
+at least worth while to endeavor to describe several means by which the
+woman of the farm can keep pace with her urban sister, and under
+conditions not so discouraging as many may suppose.</p>
+
+<p>Probably no movement has had such a profound significance for the farm
+women of America as has the Grange movement. We have already discussed
+the general aspects of Grange work. It must be remembered that the
+farmer's wife is practically equal with her husband in Grange law and
+practice. She votes, she may hold office, even the higher executive
+offices. A delegate to the State Grange is always two&mdash;a man and his
+wife if he has one. The wife serves on committees and votes as she
+pleases. This equality extends throughout the order. The woman bears her
+share of work; she reads papers; she directs the social phases of the
+Grange; she talks on farm topics if she wants to; she debates school
+affairs; she visits neighboring Granges. All this means education, and
+education of a very valuable sort, the effects of which permeate so
+thoroughly those communities where the Grange has long been established
+that one hardly realizes the work that has been accomplished.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> For it is
+not at all an exaggeration to assert that a positive revolution often
+comes about from the planting of a Grange in a neighborhood where no
+such organization has ever existed. It finds most of the women
+diffident, many of them with restricted views, few of them with the
+instinct for social service developed beyond the needs of friendly
+neighbors. In the Grange these women find new acquaintances, learn the
+power of concerted action, meet the responsibility of office, get to
+their feet for a few words&mdash;unheard-of courage! Such speech is usually
+brief and perhaps not ready, but it is likely to be cogent, because it
+is born of experience and "stops when through." County and perhaps State
+Granges add their experiences. And so on through the years these shy,
+reserved, possibly narrow, lives come to flower. And the Grange has
+furnished the dynamic. Strong leaders among farm women have been
+developed by the opportunities the Grange has afforded them. And
+thousands of other women in all parts of the country have by this same
+means grown out of their narrowness, "discovered themselves," and become
+comparatively cultured, well read, able to take a woman's place in this
+day of woman's power as a public factor. It is safe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> to say that the
+Grange has been the greatest single influence in America with respect to
+the development of the women of the farm.</p>
+
+<p>Another factor in the life of farm women which has arisen in more recent
+years is the farmers' institute. The audiences in some cases are largely
+of men, but as a rule the attendance of women averages one-third to
+one-half. Until very recent years the women joined with the men in all
+sessions of the institute, and their presence was recognized by
+appropriate subjects on the programme, frequently presented by women
+themselves. Several years ago Minnesota and Wisconsin initiated separate
+meetings for women, held simultaneously with the main meeting, for
+purposes of instruction in domestic science. Michigan, a little later,
+developed the "women's section" of the farmers' institute. This is held
+one afternoon of the usual two-day session of the institute in a hall
+separate from the general meeting, and only women attend. Two topics are
+presented for discussion, one by a woman sent by the state, the other by
+a woman from the town or a neighboring farm. Topics concerning
+child-training, making housework easier, home life on the farm, and even
+themes relating to the problems that center about the sex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> question, are
+thoroughly discussed. Women take part much more freely than they do in
+the general sessions of the institute. Across the border, in Ontario,
+the women have formed separate institutes, as they have also in Indiana.</p>
+
+<p>All this means a new opportunity for the farm woman. The Grange is an
+organization, and its members gain all the development that comes from
+engaging in the work required to maintain a semi-literary and social
+organization. The institute, on the other hand, is an event, and there
+cluster about it all the inspiration and suggestion that can come from
+any notable convention for which one will sacrifice not a little in
+order to attend. Institute work for women is in its beginnings.</p>
+
+<p>So far we have found that existing institutions for women in rural
+districts bring together merely the women of the farm. In the women's
+section of the institutes half the audience is usually from the town.
+This meeting occurs, however, but once a year, and the social effect of
+the commingling of city and farm women can prove only suggestive of the
+desirability of further opportunity for similar gatherings. At a
+Michigan institute some years ago this desire fructified, and the
+product was a "Town and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> Country Club." This club secured a majority of
+its membership, of some ninety, from among women residing on farms. Its
+meetings are bi-weekly. It is to be hoped that this sort of club may be
+organized in large numbers. It represents another step in the
+emancipation of the farm woman, because it brings her into contact with
+her city sister&mdash;and contact that is immediate, vital, inspiring,
+continuous, and mutually helpful. It may be thought unnecessary to form
+a new set of clubs for the purpose indicated, but the fact seems to be
+that the ordinary women's club even in small towns has failed to reach
+the woman who makes her home upon the farm.</p>
+
+<p>Another feature of this idea of the Town and Country Club is the "rest
+room" for farmers' wives. In a number of cases where this has been
+tried, the women of the village or town provide a room as near the
+shopping center of the town as possible, where the country women can
+find a place to rest, to lunch, and to leave their children. These rooms
+are fitted up in a neat but inexpensive manner with the necessary
+conveniences, and are entirely free to those for whom they were
+intended. If these rooms are well managed, they offer not only a very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>
+practical form of assistance to the women of the farm, but they may be
+the means of developing a form of co-operation between the women of the
+village and the farm, and eventually leading to some permanent scheme of
+mutual work. Possibilities of this sort of thing are easily recognized.</p>
+
+<p>In the realms of higher education the girl who is to stay upon the farm
+has not been wholly neglected. In Kansas, Iowa, Connecticut, Illinois,
+Ohio, and Michigan, at least, and in connection with the agricultural
+colleges of those states, courses for women (including domestic science)
+have been provided. They are well patronized by girls from the farm.
+Many of these girls do not marry farmers; many of them do. And their
+college training having thus been secured in an atmosphere more or less
+agricultural, they must inevitably take rank among their sisters of the
+farm as leaders in demonstrating what farm life for women may be.</p>
+
+<p>Nor should it be forgotten that the tremendous movement of recent years
+which has so multiplied standard reading-matter, both periodicals and
+books, has reached the farm. A census of country post-offices will
+reveal the fact that the standard magazines go regularly to thousands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+of farm homes. Agricultural papers, religious papers, and even dailies
+find multitudes of intelligent readers among farmers.</p>
+
+<p>With the advent of better highways, electric car lines, rural free
+delivery, and the rural telephone, each of which is looming on the
+horizon as an important feature of American farm life; with the Grange
+or similar organization in every school district; with the development
+of courses for women at all our colleges of agriculture, and the logical
+complement of such courses in the form of college extension&mdash;farmers'
+institutes, reading-courses, traveling libraries, lecture and
+correspondence courses&mdash;we shall find farm life taking on a new dress,
+and perhaps farmers' wives may come to enjoy the envy of those women who
+are unfortunate enough not to have married farmers.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE COUNTRY CHURCH AND PROGRESS</h3>
+
+<p>The only way to an understanding of the relation of the church to rural
+progress is through an appreciation of the place which the church as a
+social institution may have among other social institutions affecting
+rural life. Moreover, to know the value of these institutions one must
+first know the rural social needs. May we not then, even at the risk of
+repetition, take a brief survey of these needs and institutions, in
+order that we may more clearly attain the proper point of view?</p>
+
+<p>At the outset let us be sure that we have sympathy with the countryman
+as such. It is often argued that the rural question, or any phase of it,
+as for instance the question of the rural church, is important because
+the country supplies the best blood to the city&mdash;and a roll-call of the
+famous country-born is read to prove the point. This may be all true.
+But it is only a partial view, for it places the emphasis upon the
+leaving of the farm, whereas the emphasis should be placed upon the farm
+and those who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> stay there. We may praise the country because it
+furnishes brain and brawn for the world's work; we may argue for country
+life because it possesses a good environment in which to rear a family;
+we may demand a school system that shall give the country child as good
+a chance as the city child has. In all this we do well. But we do not
+yet stand face to face with the rural problem.</p>
+
+<p>For the rural problem is the problem of those who farm. It is the
+problem of the man behind the plow. It is he that is the center of
+interest. His business, his success, his manhood, his family, his
+environment, his education, his future&mdash;these constitute the problem of
+the farm. Half our people make their living from the brown soil. In
+virtue, in intelligence, in real worth, this half compare favorably with
+the other half who saw wood, and shovel sand, and pull throttles, and
+prepare briefs, and write sermons. The business of agriculture provides
+directly for the material welfare of nearly forty millions of our
+people. It supports gigantic railway systems, fills the hulls of immense
+ships, furnishes raw material for thousands of industries. This rural
+hemisphere of American economic and social life is surely worthy the
+thought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> of the captain of industry, of the statesman, of the economist,
+of the educator, of the preacher. We may also, without danger of being
+put to confusion, assume that the tiller of the soil is in essential
+character very much like other people. Farmer nature is usually a fair
+specimen of human nature. Nevertheless the environment of the farmer is
+a peculiar one. Individually as well as socially he is comparatively
+isolated. He meets but little social friction. The class to which he
+belongs is largely a segregated class, physically and socially.</p>
+
+<p>All these things give to the rural social problem a distinctive
+character and give rise to the great social needs of the farmer. What
+are these needs? I name three: (1) <i>Completer organization.</i> Farmers do
+not co-operate easily. They never had to co-operate largely under the
+old r&eacute;gime, for pioneer farming placed a premium on individualism. The
+present century however, with its emphasis upon organization and
+co-operation, calls the farmer to the task with the warning cry that
+unless he does organize he is in danger of losing his present
+industrial, political, and social status. (2) <i>Better education.</i> The
+rural schools may not be so deficient as to deserve all the scorn heaped
+upon them by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> educational reformers; but it is little enough to say that
+they can be vastly improved. They are not keeping up with city schools.
+The country is especially lacking in good high-school privileges. Of
+technical training too, in spite of forty years of agricultural
+colleges, the country is sadly in need. Neither in primary grades, in
+high schools, in special schools, is there an adequate amount of study
+of the principles of agriculture&mdash;principles which an age of science
+demands must be mastered if the independent farmer is to be a success.
+(3) <i>Quicker communication.</i> Isolation has been the bugbear of farm
+life. It must be overcome partly by physical means. There must be a
+closer touch between individuals of the class, and between farmers and
+the dwellers in the town and city.</p>
+
+<p>These social needs are in some degree met by the farmers' organizations,
+by the rural and agricultural schools, and by the development of new
+means of communication. There is a host of minor agencies. In other
+chapters I have tried to show how these various institutions are
+endeavoring to meet these rural needs. So important are these factors of
+rural life that we may now raise the question, What should be the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>
+relation of the rural church to these needs and to the agencies designed
+to meet them? In dealing with this phase of the subject, we may best
+speak of the church most frequently in terms of the pastor, for reasons
+that may appear as we go on.</p>
+
+<p>There are three things the country pastor may do in order to bring his
+church into vital contact with these great sociological movements. Of
+course he <i>may</i> ignore them, but that is church suicide. (1) He may
+recognize them. This means first of all to understand them, to
+appreciate their influence. There is a law of the division of labor that
+applies to institutions as well as to individuals. This law helps us to
+understand how such institutions as the Grange and farmers' institutes
+are doing a work that the church cannot do. They are doing a work that
+needs doing. They are serving human need. No pastor can afford to ignore
+them, much less in sneer at them as unclean; he may well apply the
+lesson of Peter's vision, and accept them as ministers of the kingdom.
+(2) He may encourage and stimulate them. The rural pastor may throw
+himself into the van of those who strive for better farming, for a
+quicker social life, for more adequate educational facilities. He can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>
+well take up the r&ocirc;le of promoter&mdash;a promoter of righteousness and peace
+through so-called secular means. Thus shall he perform the highest
+function of the prophet&mdash;to spiritualize and glorify the common. But the
+rural pastor can go even farther. (3) He may co-operate with them. He
+may thus assist in uniting with the church all of those other agencies
+that make for rural progress, and thus secure a "federation," if not "of
+the world," at least of all the forces that are helping to solve the
+farm problem; and he may thus found a "parliament," if not "of man," at
+least of all who believe that the rural question is worth solving and
+that no one movement is sufficient to solve it.</p>
+
+<p>We come now to the most practical part of our subject, which is, how the
+proposed relation between church and other rural social forces may be
+secured. There are four suggestions along this line.</p>
+
+<p>1. Sociological study by the rural pastor. This is fundamental. In
+general it means a fairly comprehensive study of sociological
+principles, some study of sociological problems, and some practice in
+sociological investigation. As it relates to the rural pastor, it means
+also a knowledge of rural sociology. It implies a grasp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> of the
+principles and significance of modern agricultural science, an
+understanding of the history, status, and needs of rural and
+agricultural education, an appreciation of and sympathy for the
+co-operative movements among farmers. Does one say, this is asking too
+much of the burdened country pastor with his meager salary and
+widespread parish? Let me ask if the pastor has any other road to power
+except <i>to know</i>? Moreover, the task is not so formidable as first
+appears. The pastor is supposed to be a trained student, and since he
+needs to know these things only in broad lines, the acquiring of them
+need not compel the midnight oil. I would, however, urge that every
+pastor have a course in general sociology, either in college or in
+seminary, and if he has the slightest intimation that his lines will be
+cast in country places, that he add a course in rural sociology.
+Inasmuch as the latter course is at present offered in few academic
+institutions in the United States, it might well be urged that brief
+courses in rural sociology be offered at the many summer schools.</p>
+
+<p>But sociological study by the pastor means more than knowledge of the
+general principles of sociology and of the problems of rural sociology;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>
+it means a minute and comprehensive sociological study of his particular
+parish. This in its simplest form consists of a religious canvass such
+as is frequently made both in country and city. But even this is not
+enough. It should at once be supplemented by a very careful and indeed a
+continuous sociological canvass, in which details about the whole
+business and life of the farm shall be collected and at last assimilated
+into the vital structure of the pastor's knowledge of his problem.</p>
+
+<p>2. The second suggestion looks toward the establishment of a
+social-service church, or an institutional church, or again, as one has
+phrased it, a "country church industrial." There seems to be a growing
+feeling that the country church may become not only the distinctively
+religious center of the neighborhood, but also the social, the
+intellectual, and the aesthetic center. No doubt there is untold power
+in such an idea. No doubt the country church has a peculiarly rich and
+inviting field for community service. It would be gratifying if every
+country pastor would study the possibilities of this idea and endeavor
+to make an experiment with it. I have, however, a supplemental
+suggestion, at this point. It is not possible to make of every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> rural
+church an institutional church. The church is notably a conservative
+institution. The rural church is in this respect "to the manner born."
+Rural church members are likely to be ultra-conservative, especially as
+to means and methods. Even if this were not true, we might well lament
+any attempt to establish a social-service church that endeavored to make
+the church the sole motive power in rural regeneration, that failed to
+recognize, to encourage, and to co-operate with the other social forces
+which we have mentioned. But if every country pastor cannot have a
+social-service church, is it not possible that every country church
+shall have a social-service pastor? There are some things the church
+cannot <i>do</i>; there is nothing it may not through its pastor <i>inspire</i>.
+There are some uses to which the country church cannot be put; there are
+no uses to which the country pastor may not be put&mdash;as country pastors
+know by experience. The pastor ought to be an authority on social
+salvation as well as on personal salvation. He ought to be guide,
+philosopher, and friend in community affairs as well as in personal
+affairs. Is he not indeed the logical candidate for general social
+leadership in the rural community? He is educated, he is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> trained to
+think, he is supposed to have broad grasp of the meaning of affairs, he
+usually possesses many of the qualities of leadership. He is
+<i>relatively</i> a fixture. He is less transient than the teacher. He is the
+only man in the community whose tastes are sociological and who is at
+the same time a paid man&mdash;all this aside from the question of the
+munificence of his stipend. Let us then have the social-service rural
+church if we can; but let us have the social-service rural pastor at all
+hazards, as the first term in the formula for solving the sociological
+problem of the country church.</p>
+
+<p>3. Co-operation among rural churches. The manifest lack of co-operation
+among churches seems to many laymen to result in a tremendous waster of
+power. Of course it is a very hard problem. But is it insoluble? It
+would seem not. One would think that the plan of union suggested by Dr.
+Strong in <i>The New Era</i> is wholly practicable. But the burden of the
+suggestion at this point is this: Cannot the churches unite sufficiently
+for a thorough religious and sociological canvass? If they cannot
+federate on a theological platform, can they not unite on a statistical
+platform? If they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> cannot unite for religious work, can they not join
+hands long enough to secure a more intelligent basis for their separate
+work? It seems to me that this sort of union is worth while, and that it
+is something in which there could be full union, in which "there is
+neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free."</p>
+
+<p>4. The pastor may aid if not lead in the federation of rural social
+forces. The idea involved is substantially this: Given a farmers'
+organization that ministers chiefly to industrial and economic ends,
+though incidentally to moral and educational ones; a school system that
+feeds chiefly the accepted educational needs, though acting perhaps as a
+moving force in industrial and social betterment; a church which is
+chiefly a religious institution, but which touches the life of the
+community at many other points&mdash;given these things and the obvious next
+step is co-operation among them all, in order that a well-balanced kind
+of social progress may result. This form of federation means the attempt
+to solve the farm problem at all points. It suggests that the army of
+rural progress shall march with the wings abreast the center. It means
+that the farmer, the editor, the educator, the preacher&mdash;all, shall see
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> work that needs doing, in all its fulness, and, seeing, shall
+resolve to push ahead side by side.</p>
+
+<p>To sum up: The rural problem is a neglected but exceedingly important
+question. Out of the peculiar environment of the farmer grow his
+peculiar social needs, namely, better organization, fuller and richer
+education, quicker communication. To meet these supreme needs we find a
+growing and already powerful coterie of farmers' organizations, somewhat
+heterogeneous but rapidly developing plans of agricultural education,
+and a marvelous evolution of the means of transportation for body,
+voice, and missive. These needs and these agencies are selected as the
+conspicuous and vital element in the sociological problem that confronts
+the rural pastor. What shall be his attitude toward them? He <i>may</i>
+ignore them; but we assume that he will seek to work with them and to
+use them for the greater glory of God. He must then recognize them,
+encourage them, and co-operate with them. To do this successfully he
+must first be a student of sociology; he can then well afford to
+meditate upon the possibilities of making his church in some measure a
+social-service church or at least of making of himself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> a social-service
+pastor; he can work for church union at least on sociological lines; and
+finally he can do his best to secure an active federation of all the
+forces involved in the rural problem.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3>A SUMMARY OF RECENT PROGRESS</h3>
+
+<p>In some respects the most notable recent advance in rural matters
+consists in the improved means of communication in rural districts. The
+country is relatively isolated, and it is this isolation in its extreme
+forms that is the bane of country living. Undue conservatism, lack of
+conformity to progressive views, undue prominence of class feeling, and
+a tendency to be less alert are things that grow out of this isolation;
+but better means of communication decrease these difficulties, and the
+last few years have seen a remarkable advance in this respect. For
+instance, the rural free mail delivery system is only ten years old, and
+yet today there are more than twenty-five thousand routes of this
+character in the United States serving possibly twenty million people
+with daily mail, a great proportion of whom before had very irregular
+mail service. Results are patent and marked. Time is saved in going for
+mail; market reports come daily; farmers are more prompt in their
+business dealings; roads are kept in better shape; there is an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>
+increased circulation of papers and magazines. Thus the farmer is in
+closer touch with affairs and much more alert to business opportunities,
+to political activities, and to social movements. The circulation of
+daily papers in country districts has increased at a marvelous rate. The
+amount of letter-writing has increased. Rural delivery of mail arouses
+the spirit of "being in the world." Its results have been almost
+revolutionary.</p>
+
+<p>So, too, the rural telephone. Recent investigation in the states of
+Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana showed that out of 200,000 subscribers to
+the independent telephone companies of those states about one-sixth were
+in farm homes. A few years ago, hardly a telephone could be found in a
+farmer's family. This business is constantly increasing. The established
+telephone companies are pushing their work into the country districts,
+small local exchanges are being formed, and soon the farmers, in the
+North at least, will be almost as well served by the telephone as are
+people of the smaller cities.</p>
+
+<p>Interurban electric railways are being built very rapidly and their
+advantage to the farmer is obvious. It is doubtful if their effect has
+been quite so far-reaching as some have suggested.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> At present they very
+largely parallel existing steam railways, and while they give better
+freight and passenger service and assist materially in diminishing rural
+isolation in the areas which they traverse, their influence does not
+extend very far from the line itself, and they reach relatively small
+areas of the country. However, their value to the farmer is very large,
+and, as they increase in number and in efficiency of service, they will
+become a powerful factor in rural progress.</p>
+
+<p>The good-roads movement is beginning to take on large proportions. It
+is, however, a complicated question. To make first-class roads is a
+costly business, and while a few such roads are of great value in a
+general social way, they do not quite make general country conditions
+ideal. To accomplish this, every road in the country should be a good
+road the year through, and this is an ideal very difficult of
+realization. However, in general, the roads are improving and as rapidly
+as the wealth of the country will permit the road system of the United
+States will be developed. Of course, good roads are a prime requisite
+for rural betterment.</p>
+
+<p>In general, it may be said that during the past decade the improvement
+of means of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>communication in rural districts has gone forward at a
+marvelously rapid pace. Nor is it exaggerating to say that the movements
+named are re-creating farm life.</p>
+
+<p>During this same period, there has been an almost equally wonderful
+advance in the means of agricultural education. Just twenty years ago
+the experiment-station system of this country was established. It took
+ten years for the stations to organize their work and to gain the
+confidence of the farmers. At present however, they are looked upon with
+great favor by the farming class and are doing a magnificent work. Their
+function is that of research chiefly, although they attempt some control
+service, such as inspection of fertilizers, stock foods, etc. In
+research they aim both to study the more intricate scientific questions
+that relate to agriculture and to carry on experiments that are of more
+obvious and more immediate practical application to existing conditions
+in the various states. There is one of these stations in each state and
+territory, besides a number of stations supported by state funds. The
+Department of Agriculture at Washington has also developed during the
+last ten years until it is performing very large service for
+agriculture. Its annual expenditures <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>aggregate eight or ten million
+dollars, and it has in its employment hundreds of experts carrying on
+laboratory and field research, scouring the world for plants and seeds
+that may be of economic value, and assisting to control plant and animal
+diseases. It is also distributing a vast amount of practical
+information, put in readable form and adapted to the average farmer. Its
+work of seeking to extend the markets of our agricultural products is
+one of its notable successes.</p>
+
+<p>Agricultural schools have been talked about for a century, and during
+the early part of the last century several were started. The first
+permanent agricultural college was opened in 1857, in Michigan. The
+Morrill Act of 1862 gave rise to a system of such colleges and today
+there will be found one in every state and territory, besides several
+for the colored people of the South. Up to 1890, these colleges had been
+not wholly satisfactory and the farming class was not patronizing very
+fully their agricultural courses. The fault belonged both to the college
+and to the farmers. The farmers were skeptical of the value of
+agricultural education, and the colleges were often out of sympathy with
+the real needs of the farmers, and in fact found it difficult to break
+away from the pedagogical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> ideals of the old educational r&eacute;gime. Since
+1890, however, there has been a complete change of sentiment in this
+respect, particularly in the Middle West. There the "land-grant"
+colleges, whether separate colleges or whether organized as colleges of
+state universities, are securing magnificent buildings for agriculture,
+are offering fully equipped courses, and are enrolling as students some
+of the best men in college, whom they are educating not only for
+agricultural teachers and experimenters but also for practical farmers.
+Of course, there are many grave problems connected with this subject,
+many farmers who do not yet respond to the call for educated
+agriculturists, and some colleges that do not yet appreciate their
+opportunity. But the change for the better has been so marked that all
+agricultural educators are extremely optimistic.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most difficult and most important phases of agricultural
+education is that of a secondary grade. The great proportion of educated
+farmers will probably be trained for their business in secondary
+schools. This problem is being approached from many standpoints. The
+University of Minnesota established, some fourteen years ago, a school
+of agriculture, which now enrols several hundred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> pupils of both sexes.
+Wisconsin is trying the experiment of two county schools of agriculture.
+Occasionally the public high school will be found offering a course in
+agriculture. Several states are experimenting in one or more of these
+lines, and during the next few years we shall see a large development of
+this phase of agricultural education.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most interesting movements in agricultural education has been
+an attempt to introduce nature-study and even the elements of
+agriculture into the country schools. Cornell University has taken the
+lead in advocating "nature-study" purely, for the schools; and the
+University of Missouri has perhaps been the leader in advocating that
+the work be made even more definite and practical, and that the country
+pupils shall be taught, during their early years even, "the elements of
+agriculture." Both plans are being worked out with a fair degree of
+success, and many other states are carrying out the work in some form or
+other. Of course the idea is not a new one, but its present practical
+application is a timely one, and it will not be long before this branch
+of agricultural education will become a prominent factor in rural betterment.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p><p>A most suggestive phase of agricultural education is college extension
+work. University extension has had a rather meteoric career in this
+country, in so far as it has been connected with educational
+institutions; although the extension idea is spreading rapidly and is
+being worked out through home study and correspondence courses of all
+sorts. But I think there is scarcely any field in which the real college
+extension idea is today being more successfully applied than in
+agriculture. The work started with farmers' institutes, which were
+instituted about twenty-five years ago and which have been adopted in
+practically all the states of the Union. It has broadened within ten
+years, until now it is carried on not only by farmers' institutes, but
+through home-correspondence courses, the introduction of millions of
+pamphlets into farm homes, demonstrations in spraying, butter-making,
+soil testing, milk testing, and so on.</p>
+
+<p>Ontario presents a good illustration of how a new agriculture can be
+created, in a dozen years, by co-operating methods of agricultural
+education. Her provincial department of agriculture, her experiment
+station, her agricultural college, her various forms of extension work,
+and her various societies of agriculturists have all worked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> together
+with an unusual degree of harmony for the deliberate purpose of inducing
+Canadian agriculturists to produce the things that will bring the most
+profit. The results have been most astonishing and most gratifying.</p>
+
+<p>The recent progress in the organization of farmers has been less marked
+than has been the development of rural communication and agricultural
+education. Organization is a prime requisite for farmers. They feel this
+truth themselves. For the last forty years, many attempts&mdash;some large,
+some small, some successful, some great failures&mdash;have been made to this
+end. The problem is an extremely difficult one. Business co-operation
+among farmers is especially difficult and, while co-operation has
+developed quite largely&mdash;so much so that the Department of Agriculture
+was able to report, a year ago, a list of five thousand co-operative
+societies of various kinds among farmers&mdash;still it cannot be said that
+the farmers are co-operating industrially in a relatively large way.
+They have, however, a multitude of associations and societies. They have
+also the Grange, which is the most successful of all the general
+organizations of farmers in the country. Contrary to public belief, the
+Grange is not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> defunct, but has been growing at a very rapid pace during
+the last few years and has a large influence especially in the East and
+Middle West. It has practically no existence in the far West and in the
+South. It has a national organization, however, representing some
+twenty-six states. Its influence in Congress is said to be marked. The
+local Granges are doing a very large work, socially, educationally, and
+sometimes financially. The Grange seems to understand itself now. Its
+ideals have been worked out pretty carefully, and its future growth is quite certain.</p>
+
+<p>We have suggested that the significant rural social movements of the
+past few years have been the improvement of rural communication, the
+wonderful development of agricultural education, and the fairly
+satisfactory development of organization among farmers. It seems also
+apparent that there is a fourth line of development that might be
+mentioned as being significant, and it may be expressed in a somewhat
+general statement that the interest in agricultural questions has
+increased in a very marked way. There is undoubtedly a new emphasis upon
+country life generally. The people of the cities have been going to the
+country more than ever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> before. A walk, the length of Beacon Street in
+Boston, at any time from the middle of June to late autumn, convinces
+one that the majority of the people are somewhere in the country. All
+over the North, city people are making country homes for at least a
+portion of the year. There is also a growing interest in the farm and
+farm problems among the general public. Just now the country schools are
+attracting special attention from the educators&mdash;so much so that the
+late President Harper stated, not long ago, that the rural-school
+question is the coming question in education. Even the country church is
+being made a subject of discussion in religious circles. It is conceded
+that agriculture presents "problems." And while the throbbing, busy,
+intense life of the city brings perplexing questions to our
+civilization, our people are coming to realize that the agricultural
+population and the agricultural industry are still tremendous factors in
+our national life and success, and that both social and industrial
+conditions in the country are such that there also are grave questions to be settled.</p>
+
+<p>In view of the facts which have been given, I think if one were asked to
+give a direct answer to the question, Is the farmer keeping up? one
+could reply, Yes. In some sections of the country,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> the farmers have not
+responded to these forward movements. The countryman is naturally
+conservative. Not only that, but there are some serious questions that
+he has to meet in his business and in his life. He finds it extremely
+and increasingly difficult to get adequate labor. He has not been able
+to take sufficient advantage of the power of co-operation. The
+industrial and social development of the city has lured away his
+children. And yet one cannot help feeling that these really remarkable
+advances of the past decade are prophetic of a steady improvement in
+rural conditions, of a larger development of rural life, of a greater
+prosperity for agriculture.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to the future, it seems to me that, on the social side, the
+progress of the next few years is to be along the lines, indicated
+above, which have characterized the past ten or a dozen years. Still
+further improved means of communication will tend to banish isolation
+and its drawbacks. Realization of the benefits of organization and
+ability to co-operate will vastly strengthen class power. The means of
+agricultural education will be developed very rapidly, with the ideal in
+mind of being able to furnish some sort of agricultural training for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
+every individual who lives upon the farm. The country question, as a
+whole, will attract increasing attention. Gradually it will be seen that
+the rural problem is one of the greatest interest to all our citizens.
+The spirit of co-operation will grow until not only the farmers
+themselves unite for their own class interests but the various social
+agencies&mdash;industrial, religious, educational&mdash;ministering to rural
+betterment will find themselves also co-operating. Thus, it seems to me,
+the outlook for the future is full of hope. A genuine forward movement
+for rural betterment has had its beginning, is now gathering volume, and
+will soon attain very large proportions.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h2><a name="FORWARD_STEPS" id="FORWARD_STEPS"></a>FORWARD STEPS</h2>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SOCIAL SIDE OF THE FARM QUESTION</h3>
+
+<p>There is a proverb in Grange circles which expresses also the
+fundamental aim of all agricultural education&mdash;"The farmer is of more
+consequence than the farm and should be first improved." The first term
+in all agricultural prosperity is the man behind the plow. Improved
+agriculture is a matter of fertile brain rather than of fertile field.
+Mind culture must precede soil culture.</p>
+
+<p>But if the improved man is the first term in improved agriculture, if he
+is the effective cause of rural progress, he is also the last term and
+the choice product of genuine agricultural advancement. We may
+paraphrase the sordid, "raise more corn to feed more hogs to buy more
+land to raise more corn, etc.," into the divine, "train better farmers
+to make better farming to grow better farmers, etc." We want trained men
+that we may have an advancing agricultural art, that we may make every
+agricultural acre render its maximum. The improved acre, however, must
+yield not only corn but civilization, not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> only potatoes but culture,
+not only wheat but effective manhood.</p>
+
+<p>But we may carry the point a step farther. The individual farmer is the
+starting-point and the end of agriculture, it is true. But the lone
+farmer is an anomaly, either as a cause or as a product, as the lone man
+is everywhere. As an effective cause we must have co-operating
+individuals, and as an end we desire an improved community and a
+higher-grade <i>class</i> of farmers.</p>
+
+<p>The farm question then is a social question. Valuable as are the
+contributions of science to the problems of soil and plant and animal,
+the ultimate contribution comes from the development of improved men. So
+the real end is not merely to utilize each acre to its utmost, nor to
+provide cheap food for the people who do not farm, nor yet to render
+agriculture industrially strong. The gravest and most far-reaching
+consideration is the social and patriotic one of endeavoring to develop
+and maintain an agricultural class which represents the very best type
+of American manhood and womanhood, to make the farm home the ideal home,
+to bring agriculture to such a state that the business will always
+attract the keen and the strong who at the same time care more for home
+and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> children and state and freedom than for millions. In other words,
+the maintenance of the typical American farmer&mdash;the man who is
+essentially middle class, who is intelligent, who keeps a good standard
+of living, educates his children, serves his country, owns his
+medium-sized farm, and who at death leaves a modest estate&mdash;the
+maintenance of the typical American farmer is the real agricultural
+problem.</p>
+
+<p>If this analysis is a correct one, it will vitally affect our plans for
+agricultural training. The student will be taught not only soil physics,
+but social psychology. He will learn not only the action of bacteria in
+milk fermentation, but the underlying causes of the social ferment among
+the farmers of the last thirty years. He will concern himself with the
+value of farmers' organizations as well as with the co-operating
+influences of high-bred corn and high-bred steers. The function and
+organization of the rural school will be as serious a problem to him as
+the building and management of the co-operative creamery. The country
+church and its career will interest him fully as much as does the latest
+successful device for tying milch cows in the stable. He will want to
+get at the kernel of the political questions that confront agriculture<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>
+just as fully and thoroughly as he wishes to master the formulae for
+commercial fertilizers. No man will have acquired an adequate
+agricultural education who has not been trained in rural social science,
+and who does not recognize the bearing of this wide field of thought
+upon the business of farming as well as upon American destiny.</p>
+
+<p>Research, too, will be touched with the social idea. The men who study
+conditions existing in rural communities which have to do with the real
+life of the people&mdash;the effects of their environment, the tendencies of
+their habits and customs&mdash;will need as thorough preparation for their
+work, and the result of their efforts will be as useful as that of the
+men who labor in field and laboratory.</p>
+
+<p>But the most profound consequence of recognizing the social side of the
+farm question will be the new atmosphere created at the agricultural
+colleges. These institutions are fast gaining leadership in all the
+technical questions of agriculture&mdash;leadership gladly granted by
+progressive farmers whenever the institution is managed with
+intelligence and in the spirit of genuine sympathy with farming. But
+these colleges must minister to the <i>whole farmer</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> They must help the
+farmer solve all his problems, whether these problems are scientific, or
+economic, or social, or political. And let it be said in all earnestness
+that in our rapidly shifting industrial order, the farmer's interest in
+the political, social, and economic problems of his calling is fully as
+great as it is in those purely scientific and technical. And rightly so.
+A prime steer is a triumph. But it will not of itself keep the farmer
+free. The 50-bushels-of-wheat acre is a grand business proposition
+provided the general industrial conditions favor the grower as well as
+the consumer. When our agricultural colleges enter into the fullest
+sympathy with all the rural problems, when the farm home and the rural
+school and the country church and the farmer's civic rights and duties
+and all the relations of his business to other industries&mdash;when these
+questions are "in the air" of our agricultural colleges, then and then
+alone will these colleges fulfil their true mission of being <i>all things
+to all farmers</i>.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE NEEDS OF NEW ENGLAND AGRICULTURE</h3>
+
+<p>One might name a score of important activities that should be encouraged
+in order to better New England agriculture. But the two fundamental
+needs are (1) adaptation and (2) co-operation.</p>
+
+<p>By adaptation is meant such development of agriculture as shall more
+fully utilize existing physical and commercial conditions. The West has
+for seventy-five years pressed hard upon New England farming. But along
+with this western competition has come a new opportunity for the eastern
+farmer. New England farmers as a whole have not quickly enough responded
+to this new opportunity. Many of their troubles may be traced to the
+failure to adapt themselves to the new conditions. The men in New
+England who have met the new opportunity are succeeding.</p>
+
+<p>What does this adaptation consist in? It means, first, the adaptation of
+the New England farmer to his markets. In most parts of the country the
+type of farming is perhaps more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> dependent upon physical conditions of
+soil and climate than upon the immediate market. In New England the
+reverse is now true, and the type of New England farming must be
+adapted, absolutely and completely, to the demands of its market. New
+England farmers have the most superb markets in the country. Of the six
+million people in New England, approximately 75 per cent. live in the
+cities and villages. There are, in New England, thirty cities having a
+population of twenty-five thousand or more. The great majority of these
+cities are manufacturing cities peopled by the best class of consumers
+in the world&mdash;the American skilled artisan. They constitute a nearby
+market that demands fresh products which cannot be transported across a
+continent. New England is also especially favored in its nearness to the
+European market. The New England farmer then must adapt his crops, his
+methods, and his style of farming to his peculiar market.</p>
+
+<p>In the second place, this adaptation must be one of soil, just as
+anywhere else, only the problem here becomes more complicated because of
+the varied character of the farming lands. How to make the valleys and
+the hills, the rocky ridges and the sand plains of New England<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> yield
+their largest possibilities in agriculture is a problem of the greatest
+scientific and industrial interest, and it is the problem that New
+England agriculture has to face. In this connection comes also the need
+of special varieties adapted not only to the market but to the soil and
+climate.</p>
+
+<p>This principle of adaptation is the industrial key to future
+agricultural development in New England. But to achieve this adaptation,
+to make the key work, there is needed the force of social organization.
+The farmer must be reached before the farm can be improved. The man who
+treads the furrow is a greater factor than nitrogen or potash. How is
+this man to be reached, inspired, instructed? Largely by some form of
+organization. The second and greater need therefore is co-operation.</p>
+
+<p>Co-operation means faith in agriculture&mdash;a faith too seldom found in the
+Israel of New England's yeomanry. Co-operation means ideals&mdash;ideals of
+rural possibilities too seldom dreamed of in the philosophy of the
+Yankee farmer. Co-operation means power&mdash;power that cannot be acquired
+by the lone man, not even by the resolute individualism so dominant in
+New England character.</p>
+
+<p>There are three forms of co-operation, all of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> which are desirable and
+even essential if the most rapid agricultural progress in New England is
+to be secured&mdash;co-operation among individuals, among organizations,
+among states.</p>
+
+<p>The farmers of New England must work together. The Grange is stronger in
+New England than in any other portion of the country of similar
+area&mdash;yet not one farmer in ten belongs to the Grange. We need not dwell
+on this point, for it is a truth constantly preached through the Grange
+and through other means. Let me suggest two ideas relative to
+co-operation which have not received so much attention.</p>
+
+<p>Each organization has its peculiar work. The school is to train the
+young, the agricultural college to prepare the youth, the farmers'
+institute to instruct and inspire the middle-aged and mature. The
+experiment station seeks to discover the means by which nature and man
+may better work together. The producers' unions endeavor to secure a
+fair price for their goods. The Grange enlarges the views of its members
+and brings the power which comes from working together, buying together,
+meeting together, talking together, acting together. Boards of
+agriculture control conditions of health and disease among animals and
+plants. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>country fair educates and interests. The church crowns all
+in its ministrations of spiritual vision, moral uplift, and insistence
+upon character as the supreme end of life.</p>
+
+<p>But no institution can do the work of the others. They are members one
+of another. The hand cannot say to the foot, I have no need of thee. All
+these things make for rural progress. None can be spared. The Grange
+cannot take the place of the church. The institute cannot supplant the
+Grange. The college course cannot reach the adult farmer. The experiment
+station cannot instruct the young. The church cannot secure reforms in
+taxation.</p>
+
+<p>These agencies may however co-operate. Indeed the most rapid and most
+secure rural progress, the broadest and soundest agricultural growth,
+can not take place unless there be this form of co-operation. There will
+come added interest, increased efficiency, larger views, greater
+ambitions in our agricultural development, if, in each state, all of
+these forces work together.</p>
+
+<p>We may therefore welcome most cordially the proposed plan of federating
+the various agricultural societies of each state into one grand
+committee organized for the purpose of forwarding all the agricultural
+interests of that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> state. Let there be, moreover, a "League for Rural
+Progress," in each state or, at least, an annual conference on rural
+progress, in each state, in which the representatives of the farmers'
+societies, of the schools, of the churches, and indeed all other people
+who have the slightest interest in rural advancement may meet to discuss
+plans and methods which shall better agriculture and the farmer.</p>
+
+<p>But this is not enough. There ought to be co-operation among these
+various social institutions without respect to state lines. The farm
+problem in New England is one problem, although differing in details, it
+is true, in different states. Co-operation should not stop with the
+federating of the organizations of a state. There is no reason, for
+instance, why the agricultural colleges and experiment stations of New
+England should not co-operate. It is not practicable to prevent all
+duplication of work. I do suggest the desirability and the feasibility
+of genuine co-operation.</p>
+
+<p>Why should not those in charge of the rural schools of all New England
+meet together and discuss the difficulties and achievements as they
+exist in different states? Why not have a "New England Society for
+Agricultural Education,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> in which all organizations and all individuals
+who are interested in any phase of this subject may meet for discussing
+New England problems? Could not boards of agriculture co-operate to some
+extent, especially in farmers' institute work with general plans and
+ideas? Certainly conferences between these boards ought to yield most
+valuable results. Is the idea of a genuine New England fair a mere
+dream?</p>
+
+<p>Cannot the Granges of New England profitably co-operate more fully? It
+is true that there is considerable intervisitation, and yet the rank and
+file of members in one state know comparatively little of the progress
+and methods of the Grange in an adjoining state; this knowledge is
+confined to a few leaders. Would it not be worth while to attempt an
+occasional New England assemblage of Grange members, a representative
+gathering for discussing Grange work and for enthusing the Grange people
+of New England with the possibilities of still further Grange
+development?</p>
+
+<p>The idea of New England as a unit of interest in church matters is
+already exemplified by the appointment of a New England secretary of the
+federation of churches. It is not too much to expect that, in the near
+future, all the means<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> for church federation in New England shall work
+together, because it is evident that co-operation and unity are demanded
+by the nature of the field.</p>
+
+<p>And finally, is it idle to think that there might be a New England
+League for Rural Progress or, at least, a New England Conference on
+Rural Progress, which shall bring from every corner of New England
+representatives of the agricultural colleges, of the Granges, of the
+country church, of the rural school, of the country press, and all other
+individuals who believe in the possibilities of New England agriculture,
+and in the efficiency of the fullest and freest co-operation?</p>
+
+<p>There are several powerful reasons why an attempt to better New England
+agriculture will be greatly aided by co-operation that includes every
+inch of New England soil from Boston harbor to the Berkshires, and from
+Mt. Katahdin to Point Judith.</p>
+
+<p>(1) The importance of New England agriculture. In the appended table is
+attempted a comparison between New England as a unit, the state of
+Michigan representing an average agricultural state, and the state of
+Iowa representing the foremost agricultural state. The figures, taken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
+from the Census of 1900, are given in round numbers. Such a table is not
+conclusive as to agricultural conditions. But it is very suggestive as
+to the importance of New England agriculture both industrially and
+socially. It will be seen that, with an area only a little larger than
+Michigan, New England compares in every respect favorably with that
+average state and, in some respects, excels it, while it excels both
+Michigan and Iowa by 65 per cent. in gross value of product per acre of
+improved land.</p>
+
+<p>(2) Agricultural conditions all over New England are quite similar.
+Speaking broadly, the soil and climate of one state are the soil and
+climate of another. The people are of the same stock, the same views,
+the same habits, the same traditions. The demand of the market is fairly
+uniform for different sections. The New England city is the New
+Englander's special possession as a market. Farm labor conditions are
+much the same. In fact, there is hardly a portion of our country, of the
+same area, which in all these respects yields itself more completely to
+the idea of unity.</p>
+
+<p>(3) The hopefulness of the farm problem. Nearly four millions of city
+people live in New England. They must be fed. The nearness of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> the
+market means high-class products. This means intensive agriculture.
+Intensive agriculture means education and intelligence. The cities are
+growing. Their power of consumption is steadily and rapidly increasing.</p>
+
+<p>(4) The unusual social equipment. It must be remembered that in an area
+but little larger than Iowa, which has one agricultural college and one
+agricultural experiment station and no Granges to speak of, New England
+has, in comparison, six agricultural colleges, six experiment stations,
+six boards of agriculture, over a thousand Granges, and numerous
+agricultural societies. The means of agricultural education in New
+England are more numerous and may be more efficient than in any other
+portion of this country of similar area. Moreover, the cities are now in
+a position to help solve the problem in New England. They have leaders.
+There are in them men with leisure and talent who are interested in this
+problem and who are willing to help solve it.</p>
+
+<p>(5) The sentimental side. A campaign for rural progress, with New
+England as the unit, ought to arouse the pride and enthusiasm of all the
+sons and daughters of New England who still have the privilege of living
+within her borders,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> as well as the interest and sympathy of all her
+grandsons who, though living under western skies, still cherish in their
+hearts the deepest affection for their Fatherland. Shall not the idea of
+uniting all the forces of agricultural betterment that exist in New
+England be a stimulus to every farmer in the six states, and, indeed,
+attract the sympathy and practical aid of every lover of New England
+soil?</p>
+
+<p>Adaptation, co-operation: these are the primary needs of New England
+agriculture; an adaptation of the farmer and his farm to existing
+conditions, a co-operation that unites <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>individual farmers into various
+associated efforts, that federates the work and influence of the
+different social agencies within the state, and that ultimately secures
+the unity of all New England in a great movement for rural advancement.</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<table border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" summary="Granges">
+  <tr>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="center">New England</td>
+    <td class="center">Michigan</td>
+    <td class="center">Iowa</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Total land area&mdash;square miles<br />Number of farms<br />Acreage in farms<br />
+Acres of improved land<br />Value of farms<br />Value of farm products<br />
+Persons engaged in agriculture<br />Rural population<br />Value of products per acre of improved land<br />
+Number of Granges<br />Number of Grange members</td>
+    <td class="right">62,000<br />192,000<br />20,500,000<br />8,135,000<br />$640,000,000<br />
+$170,000,000<br />290,000<br />1,500,000<br />$20<br />1,200<br />120,000</td>
+    <td class="right">57,500<br />203,000<br />17,500,000<br />11,800,000<br />$690,000,000<br />
+$147,000,000<br />312,000<br />1,200,000<br />$12<br />725<br />45,000</td>
+    <td class="right">55,500<br />229,000<br />34,600,000<br />29,900,000<br />$1,835,000,000<br />
+$365,000,000<br />372,000<br />1,260,000<br />$12<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<h3>AN UNTILLED FIELD IN AMERICAN EDUCATION</h3>
+
+<p>Agricultural education in this country has thus far been an attempt to
+apply a knowledge of the laws of the so-called "natural" sciences to the
+practical operations of the farm. Comparatively little attention has
+been paid to the application of the principles of the "social" sciences
+to the life of the farmer. All this is partly explained by the fact that
+the natural sciences were fairly well developed when the needs of the
+farmer called the scientist to work with and for the man behind the
+plow, when a vanishing soil fertility summoned the chemist to the
+service of the grain grower, when the improvement of breeds of stock and
+races of plants began to appeal to the biologist. Moreover, these
+practical applications of the physical and biological sciences are, and
+always will be, a fundamental necessity in the agricultural question.</p>
+
+<p>But in the farm problem we cannot afford to ignore the economic and
+sociological phases. While it may be true that the practical success<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> of
+the individual farmer depends largely upon his business sense and his
+technical education, it is folly to hope that the success of agriculture
+as an industry and the influence of farmers as a class can be based
+solely upon the ability of each farmer to raise a big crop and to sell
+it to advantage. General intelligence, appreciation of the trend of
+economic and social forces, capacity to co-operate, ability to voice his
+needs and his rights, are just as vital acquirements for the farmer as
+knowing how to make two blades of grass grow where but one grew before.
+It finally comes to this, that the American farmer is obliged to study
+the questions that confront him as a member of the industrial order and
+as a factor in the social and political life of the nation, with as much
+zeal and understanding as he is expected to show in the study of those
+natural laws governing the soil and the crops and the animals that he
+owns.</p>
+
+<p>In this connection it is significant to note that farmers themselves are
+already quite as interested in the social problems of their particular
+calling and in the general economic and political questions of the day,
+as they are in science applied to their business of tilling the soil.
+Not necessarily that they minimize the latter, but they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> seem
+instinctively to recognize that social forces may work them ill or work
+them good according to the direction and power of those forces. This
+statement is illustrated by the fact that the aims, purposes, labors,
+and discussions of the great farmers' organizations like the Grange are
+social in character, having to do with questions that are political,
+economic, sociological.</p>
+
+<p>When, however, we turn to those public educational agencies that are
+intended to assist in the solution of the farm problem, we discover that
+they are giving slight attention to the social side of the question. An
+examination of the catalogues of the agricultural colleges, whether
+separate institutions or colleges of state universities, reveals the
+fact that, beyond elementary work in economics, in civics, and
+occasionally in sociology, little opportunity is given students to study
+the farm question from its social standpoint. With a few exceptions,
+these institutions offer no courses whatever in rural social problems,
+and even in these exceptional cases the work offered is hardly
+commensurate with the importance of the subject. Nearly all our other
+colleges and universities are subject to the same comment. The average
+student of problems in economics and sociology and education gains on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>
+conception whatever of the importance and character of the rural phases
+of our industrial and social life.</p>
+
+<p>It may be urged in explanation of this state of affairs that the liberal
+study of the social sciences in our colleges and universities and
+especially any large attention to the practical problems of economics
+and sociology, is a comparatively recent thing. This is true and is a
+good excuse. But it does not offer a reason why the social phases of
+agriculture should be longer neglected. The purpose of this article is
+less to criticize than to describe a situation and to urge the
+timeliness of the large development, in the near future, of rural social
+science.</p>
+
+<p>At the outset the queries may arise, What is meant by rural social
+science? and, What is there to be investigated and taught under such a
+head? The answer to the first query has already been intimated. Rural
+social science is the application of the principles of the social
+sciences, especially of economics and sociology, to the problems that
+confront the American farmer. As a reply to the second query there are
+appended at the end of this chapter outlines of possible courses in
+agricultural economics and rural sociology, which were prepared by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>
+writer for the exhibit in "rural economy" at the St. Louis exposition.
+There are also subjects that have a political bearing, such as local
+government in the country, and primary reform in rural communities,
+which perhaps ought not to be omitted. So, too, various phases of home
+life and of art might be touched upon. The subjects suggested and others
+like them could be conveniently grouped into from two to a dozen
+courses, as circumstances might require.</p>
+
+<p>What classes of people may be expected to welcome and profit by
+instruction of this character? (1) The farmers themselves. Assuming that
+our agricultural colleges are designed, among other functions, to train
+men and women to become influential farmers, no argument is necessary to
+show how studies in rural social science may help qualify these students
+for genuine leadership of their class of toilers. On the other hand, it
+may be remarked that no subjects will better lend themselves to college
+extension work than those named above. Lectures and lecture courses for
+granges, farmers' clubs, farmers' institutes, etc., on such themes would
+arouse the greatest interest. Correspondence and home study courses
+along these lines would be fully as popular as those treating<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> of soils
+and crops. (2) Agricultural educators. The soil physicist or the
+agricultural chemist will not be a less valuable specialist in his own
+line, and he certainly will be a more useful member of the faculty of an
+agricultural college, if he has an appreciative knowledge of the
+farmer's social and economic status. This is even more true of men
+called to administer agricultural education in any of its phases. (3)
+Rural school administrators and the more progressive rural teachers. The
+country school can never become truly a social and intellectual center
+of the community until the rural educators understand the social
+environment of the farmer. (4)Country clergymen. The vision of a
+social-service church in the country will remain but a dream unless,
+added to the possession of a heart for such work, the clergyman knows
+the farm problem sufficiently to appreciate the broader phases of the
+industrial and social life of his people. (5) Editors of farm papers,
+and of the so-called "country" papers. Probably the editors of the
+better class of agricultural papers are less in need of instruction such
+as that suggested than is almost anyone else. Yet the same arguments
+that now lead many young men aspiring to this class of journalism to
+regard a course in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> scientific agriculture as a vestibule to their work
+may well be used in urging a study of rural social science, especially
+at a time when social and economic problems are pressing upon the
+farmer. As for the country papers, the work of purveying local gossip
+and stirring the party kettle too often obscures the tremendous
+possibilities for a high-class service to the rural community which such
+papers may render. No men, in the agricultural states at least, have
+more real influence in their community than the trained, clean, manly,
+country editors&mdash;and there is a multitude of such men. If as a class
+they possessed also a wider appreciation of the farmer's industrial
+difficulties and needs, hardly anyone could give better service to the
+solution of the farm problem than could they. (6) Everybody else! That
+is to say, the agricultural question is big enough and important enough
+to be understood by educated people. The farmers are half our people.
+Farming is our largest single industrial interest. The capital invested
+in agriculture is four-fifths the capital invested in manufacturing and
+railway transportation combined. Whether an individual has a special
+interest in business, in economics, in education, or in religious
+institutions, he ought to know the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> place of the farm and the farmer in
+that question. No one can have a full appreciation of the social and
+industrial life of the American people who is ignorant of the
+agricultural status.</p>
+
+<p>The natural place to begin work in rural social science is the
+agricultural college. Future farmers and teachers of farmers are
+supposed to be there. The subjects embraced are as important in solving
+the farm problem as are biology, physics, or chemistry. No skilled
+farmer or leader of farmers should be without some reasonably correct
+notions of the principles that determine the position of agriculture in
+the industrial world. A brief study of the elements of political
+economy, of sociology, of civics, is not enough; no more than the study
+of the elements of botany, of chemistry and of zo&ouml;logy is enough. The
+specific problems of the farmer that are economic need elucidation
+alongside the study of soils and crops, of plant-and stock-breeding. And
+these economic topics should be thoroughly treated by men trained in
+social science, and not incidentally by men whose chief interest is
+technical agriculture.</p>
+
+<p>The normal schools may well discuss the propriety of adding one or two
+courses which bear on the social and economic situation of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> rural
+classes. While these schools do not now send out many teachers into
+rural schools, they may do so under the system of centralized schools;
+and in any event they furnish rural school administrators, as well as
+instructors of rural teachers. There seems to be a growing sentiment
+which demands of the school and of the teacher a closer touch with life
+as it is actually lived. How can rural teachers learn to appreciate the
+social function of the rural school, except they be taught?</p>
+
+<p>Nor is there any reason why the theological seminaries, or at least the
+institutions that prepare the men who become country clergymen, should
+not cover some of the subjects suggested. If the ambition of some people
+to see the country church a social and intellectual center is to be
+realized, the minister must know the rural problem broadly. The same
+arguments that impel the city pastor to become somewhat familiar with
+the economic, social, and civic questions of the day hold with equal
+force when applied to the necessary preparation for the rural ministry.</p>
+
+<p>The universities may be called upon to train teachers and investigators
+in rural social science for service in agricultural colleges, normal
+schools, and theological seminaries. Moreover,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> there is no good reason
+why any college or university graduate should not know more than he does
+about the farm problem. There can be little doubt that the interest in
+the farm question is very rapidly growing, and that the universities
+will be but meeting a demand if they begin very soon to offer courses in
+rural social science.</p>
+
+<p>The arguments for rural social science rest, let us observe, not only
+upon its direct aid to the farmers themselves, but upon its value as a
+basis for that intelligent social service which preacher, teacher, and
+editor may render the farming class. It is an essential underlying
+condition for the successful federation of rural social forces. Indeed
+it should in some degree be a part of the equipment of every educated
+person.</p>
+
+<p>It may not be out of place to add, in conclusion, that instruction in
+rural social problems should be placed in the hands of men who are
+thoroughly trained in social science as well as accurate, experienced,
+and sympathetic observers of rural conditions. It would be mischievous
+indeed if in the desire to be progressive any educational institution
+should offer courses in rural social science which gave superficial or
+erroneous ideas about the scientific principles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> involved, or which
+encouraged in any degree whatever the notion that the farmer's business
+and welfare are not vitally and forever bound up with the business and
+welfare of all other classes.</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="center">OUTLINE FOR A BRIEF COURSE IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. Characteristics of the Agricultural Industry.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Dependence upon nature.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Capital and labor as applied to agriculture.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The laws of rent and of decreasing returns in agriculture.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Relation of agriculture to other industries and to the welfare of mankind.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">II. History of the Agricultural Industry.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">In ancient times.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Status in Europe prior to the eighteenth century.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The struggle to maintain its standing after the advent of commerce and manufacture.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">In the United States.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">The pioneer stage.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Development of commercial agriculture.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">The new farming.</span><br />
+<br />
+III. Present Status of the Farming Industry.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The world's food supply.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Agricultural resources of the United States.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Geographical factors.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Soils, climate, fertility, natural enemies, etc.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Statistics of farms, farm wealth, production, etc.</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Leading sub-industries, cereals, stock, etc.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Distribution of production.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">IV. The Agricultural Market.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Description of the market&mdash;local, domestic, foreign.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Mechanism of the market.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Banks and local exchange facilities.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Middlemen.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Boards of trade.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Prices of agricultural products.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Movements of prices.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Agricultural competition.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Depressions of agriculture.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Influence of "options."</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Transportation of agricultural products.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Primary transportation&mdash;wagon roads and trolley lines.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Railroad and water transportation.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Facilities.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Rates.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Discriminations.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Delivery methods.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Incidents of the transportation system&mdash;elevators, etc.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Imperfect distribution of agricultural products.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Development of the market.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Increase of consumption of products&mdash;manufacture of farm products as a factor.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">The factor of choicer products.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">The factor of better distribution of products.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">The local market as a factor.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">The foreign market as a factor.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">V. Business Co-operation in Agriculture.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Historical sketch.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Present status.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Production.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Marketing.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Buying.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Miscellaneous business co-operation.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Difficulties and tendencies.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">VI. Agriculture and Legislation.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Land laws and land policies of the United States.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Agriculture and the tariff.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Taxation and agriculture.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Food and dairy laws.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Government aid to agriculture.</span><br />
+<br />
+VII. General Problems.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Agricultural labor.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Machinery and agriculture.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Interest rates, indebtedness, etc.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Tenant farming.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Large vs. small farming.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Business methods.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Immigration and agriculture.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="tbrk">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="center">OUTLINE FOR A BRIEF COURSE IN RURAL SOCIOLOGY</p>
+
+<p class="center">INTRODUCTION</p>
+
+<p>
+1. Definitions.<br />
+2. Relation of the sociological to the economic, the technical, and the scientific phases of agriculture.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center">Part I</p>
+
+<p class="center">THE RURAL SOCIAL STATUS</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Chapter I</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">Movements of the Farm Population</p>
+
+<p>
+1. Statistical survey.<br />
+2. The movement to the West.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">History, causes.</span><br />
+3. The movement to the cities.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>a</i>) Growth of cities.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>b</i>) Depletion of rural population in certain localities.</span><br />
+4. Causes of the movement to the cities.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>a</i>) Industrial, social, and psychological causes.</span><br />
+5. Results of the movements of the farm population.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>a</i>) Results both good and bad.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>b</i>) R&eacute;sum&eacute; of industrial and social results.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Chapter II</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">Social Condition of the Rural Population</p>
+
+<p>Nativity; color; illiteracy; families; health; temperance; crime;
+morality; pauperism; defectives; insanity; etc.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Chapter III</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">The Social Psychology of Rural Life</p>
+
+<p>
+1. Isolation and its results.<br />
+2. The farm home and its environment.<br />
+3. Traits of family life.<br />
+4. Traits of individual life.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Chapter IV</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">The Social Aspect of Current Agricultural Questions</p>
+
+<p>
+1. Tenant farming.<br />
+2. Large vs. small farms.<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>3. Farm labor.<br />
+4. Irregular incomes.<br />
+5. Farm machinery.<br />
+6. Specialization in farming.<br />
+7. Immigration.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">Part II</p>
+
+<p class="center">SOCIAL FACTORS IN RURAL PROGRESS</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Chapter I</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">Means of Communication in Rural Districts</p>
+
+<p>
+1. Importance and status of rural communication.<br />
+2. The new movements for better rural communication.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>a</i>) Highways.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>b</i>) Rural free mail delivery.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>c</i>) Rural telephone.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>d</i>) Interurban electric railways.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Chapter II</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">Farmers' Organizations</p>
+
+<p>
+1. Value of.<br />
+2. Difficulties in organizing.<br />
+3. Forms that organizations may take.<br />
+4. History and work of farmers' organizations in the United States.<br />
+5. General deductions from study of farmers' organizations.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Chapter III</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">Rural Education</p>
+
+<p>
+1. Distinction between rural and agricultural education.<br />
+2. The country school.<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>a</i>) Its importance, organization, maintenance, instruction, and supervision.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>b</i>) The rural school as a social center.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>c</i>) The township unit, the consolidated school, the centralized school.</span><br />
+3. High-school privileges for rural pupils.<br />
+4. The rural library.<br />
+5. Other agencies for rural education.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Chapter IV</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">Means of Agricultural Education</p>
+
+<p>
+1. Historical.<br />
+2. Research in agriculture.<br />
+3. Agricultural instruction to resident students.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>a</i>) Higher education in agriculture.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>b</i>) Secondary education in agriculture.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>c</i>) Primary education in agriculture.</span><br />
+4. Extension teaching in agriculture.<br />
+5. Miscellaneous agencies for agricultural education.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>a</i>) Farmers' societies.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>b</i>) The farm press.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>c</i>) The county paper.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>d</i>) Industrial departments of steam railways.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Chapter V</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">The Rural Church</p>
+
+<p>
+1. Present status.<br />
+2. Difficulties in country church work.<br />
+3. The awakening in the rural church.<br />
+4. The institutional rural church.<br />
+5. The Y. M. C. A. in the country.<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>6. The rural Sunday school.<br />
+7. The rural social settlement.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Chapter VI</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">The Social Ideal for Agriculture</p>
+
+<p>
+1. The importance of social agencies.<br />
+2. The preservation of the "American farmer" essential.<br />
+3. Relation of this ideal to our American civilization.<br />
+4. The federation or co-operation of rural social agencies.<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<h3>FEDERATION FOR RURAL PROGRESS</h3>
+
+<p>It is almost trite to assert the need of the "socialization"&mdash;to use a
+much-worked phrase&mdash;of the country. It is possible that this need is not
+greater than in the cities, but it is different. Among no class of
+people is individualism so rampant as among farmers. For more than a
+century the American farmer led the freest possible social life. His
+independence was his glory. But, when the day of co-operation dawned, he
+found himself out of tune with the movement, was disinclined to join the
+ranks of organized effort, and he prefers even yet his personal and
+local independence to the truer freedom which can be secured only
+through co-operative endeavor. Moreover, the social aspect of the rural
+problem is important not merely because the farmer is slow to
+co-operate. The farm problem is to be met by the activities of social
+institutions.</p>
+
+<p>We may say (assuming the home life, of course) that the church, the
+school, and the farmers' organization are the great rural social
+institutions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> They are the forces now most efficient, and the ones that
+promise to abide. This classification may appear to be a mere truism,
+when we suggest that under the church should be placed all those
+movements that have a distinctively religious motive, under the school
+all those agencies that are primarily educational in design, and under
+farmers' organizations those associations whose chief function is to
+settle questions which concern the farmer as a business man and a
+citizen. But the classification answers fairly well. It includes
+practically every device that has been suggested for rural betterment.</p>
+
+<p>There are two interesting facts about these rural institutions: (1) None
+of them is doing a tithe of what it ought to be doing to help solve the
+farm problem. The church is apparently just about holding its own,
+though that is doubted by some observers. Rural schools are not, as a
+rule, keeping pace with the demands being made upon them; comparatively
+few students in the whole country are studying scientific agriculture.
+Not one farmer in twenty belongs to a strong farmers' organization. (2)
+All these institutions are awakening to the situation. Progress during
+the last decade has been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>especially gratifying. Co-operative efforts
+among farmers are more cautious, but more successful. The Grange has
+nearly doubled its membership since 1890; and it, as well as other farm
+organizations, has more real power than ever before. The rural-school
+question is one of the liveliest topics today among farmers as well as
+educators. Opportunities for agricultural education have had a marvelous
+development within a decade. Discussion about rural church federation,
+the rural institutional church, rural social settlements, and even
+experiments in these lines are becoming noticeably frequent. The Young
+Men's Christian Association has, its officers think, found the way to
+reach the country young man.</p>
+
+<p>The institutions which we have just discussed, together with the
+improvement that comes from such physical agencies as assist quicker
+communication (good wagon roads, telephones, rural mail delivery,
+electric roads), constitute the social forces that are to be depended
+upon in rural betterment. None can be spared or ignored. The function of
+each must be understood and its importance recognized. To imagine that
+substantial progress can result from the emphasis of any one agency to
+the exclusion of any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> other is a mistake. To assert this is not to
+quarrel with the statement we frequently hear nowadays that "the
+<i>church</i> should be the social and intellectual center of the
+neighborhood;" or that "the <i>school</i> should be the social and
+intellectual center of the neighborhood;" or that "the <i>Grange</i> should
+be the social and intellectual center of the neighborhood." It is
+fortunate that these statements have been made. They show an
+appreciation of a function of these agencies that has been neglected.
+The first item in rural social progress is that the country preacher,
+the rural teacher, the country doctor, the country editor, the
+agricultural editor, the agricultural college professor, and especially
+the farmer himself, shall see the social need of the farm community. But
+to assert, for instance, that the church shall be <i>the</i> social center of
+that community may lead to a partial and even to a fanatical view of
+things. I would not restrain in the slightest the enthusiasm of any
+pastor who wants to make his church occupy a central position in
+community life, nor of the teacher who wants to bring her school into
+relation with all the economic and social life of the farm, nor of the
+leader of the farmers' organization who sees the good that may be done
+through the social<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> and intellectual training which his organization can
+give. But if there is danger that the preacher in the pursuit of this
+ideal, shall ignore the social function of the school and of the
+farmers' organization, or that the teacher, or the farmer, or anybody
+else who is interested, shall fail to see that there is a logical
+division of labor among rural social forces, and that it is only the
+intelligent and efficient and harmonious co-operation of all these
+forces that will insure the best progress, then to such I appeal with
+all the power at my command to recognize not only the breadth of the
+whole movement, but to appreciate the limitations of their own special
+interests. There are things that the church cannot do and should not
+attempt to do. There are things the school cannot do and should not
+attempt to do. Accepting our conventional division of social agencies,
+we may say that efficient rural progress stands upon a tripod of forces,
+and that balance can be maintained only when each is used in its proper
+measure.</p>
+
+<p>We reach now the heart of the topic, which is how these various social
+forces may be brought into co-operation&mdash;a co-operation that is
+intelligent and real. I would suggest, first of all, the encouragement
+of all efforts along this line that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> are already under way. For
+instance, there are scattered all over this country individual pastors
+who are seeking to make their churches the social and intellectual
+beacon-lights of the community. There are other individuals who are
+endeavoring to apply the social-settlement idea to the needs of the
+country. There are associations which attempt to bring together the
+teachers and the school patrons for mutual discussion of educational
+topics. In numerous instances the farmers' organizations include in
+their membership the country pastor, the district school teacher and
+perhaps the country doctor. In these and doubtless in other ways the
+idea we are dealing with is being promulgated, and up to a certain point
+this fact of promiscuous initiative is entirely satisfactory and
+desirable. So long as the work is done it makes little difference who
+does it. Every attempt to bring any of these agencies into closer touch
+with the farm community is to be welcomed most heartily. But beyond a
+certain limit this promiscuous work must be unsatisfactory. The efforts
+and interests of any one social agency are bound to be partial. Indeed
+the more effective such an agency is, the more partial it is likely to
+be. Intensity is gained at the expense of breadth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> The need for
+federation exists in the desirability of securing both the intensity and
+the breadth.</p>
+
+<p>The precise method of securing this federation of effort is not easy to
+foresee. It can be determined only by trial. It must be worked out in
+harmony with varying conditions. Some very general plans at once suggest
+themselves: (1) Let the agricultural college in each state take the lead
+in the movement, acting not so much as an organization as a
+clearing-house and a go-between. Let it direct conferences on the
+subject, and seek to bring all who are interested in rural affairs into
+touch and sympathy. (2) Have a "League for Rural Progress," made up of
+representatives from the churches, the agricultural colleges, the
+departments of public instruction, the farm press, various farmers'
+organizations, etc. (3) Enlarge the "Hesperia movement," which now seeks
+to secure co-operation between school and farmers' organization, by
+including in it the church.</p>
+
+<p>It may be of interest to note that this idea of a federation of rural
+social forces is getting a foothold and has indeed already crystallized
+into organization. A brief description of what has actually been done
+will therefore not be out of place.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p><p>So far as the writer is aware, the first meeting based on the definite
+idea of co-operation between school, church, and Grange was held at
+Morris, Connecticut, in the summer of 1901 and was organized by Rev. F.
+A. Holden, then pastor at Morris. This meeting was a very successful
+local affair, held in connection with "Old Home Week" celebration.</p>
+
+<p>Probably the first attempt to hold a similar meeting on a large scale
+was the conference at the Agricultural College, Michigan, in February,
+1902. It was a joint meeting of the Michigan Political Science
+Association and the Agricultural College and farmers' institutes. The
+practical initiative was taken by the Political Science Association
+under the leadership of its secretary, Professor Henry C. Adams, who had
+the cordial co-operation of President Snyder of the Agricultural College
+and Professor C. D. Smith, then superintendent of farmers' institutes.
+It was a notable gathering, and its promoters were rejoiced to see the
+splendid attendance of farmers particularly; teachers and clergymen did
+not attend as freely as might have been expected. The programme was a
+strong one and included men of national reputation and topics covering a
+wide range of interests.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p><p>The addresses were published in the <i>Michigan Farmers' Institute
+Bulletin</i> for 1901-02, and were also gathered into a publication of the
+Michigan Political Science Association under the title <i>Social Problems
+of the Farmer</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The state of Rhode Island has organized on a permanent basis. In 1904
+there was held in Kingston, at the College of Agriculture and Mechanic
+Arts, a "Conference on Rural Progress." It was a one-day meeting, well
+attended by representative farmers, clergymen, and educators. A
+committee was appointed to discuss further procedure, and the next year
+there was held in the halls of Brown University a two-days' conference.
+The programme included addresses on: The Grange, The Country Church,
+School Gardens, and several phases of practical agriculture. Among the
+speakers were the assistant secretary of agriculture, Hon. N. J.
+Bachelder, now Master of the National Grange, and Dr. Josiah Strong.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring of 1906 there was organized "The Rhode Island League for
+Rural Progress," which was constituted through representation from the
+following organizations: State Board of Agriculture; Rhode Island
+College of Agriculture; State Federation of Churches; State<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> Grange;
+State Association of School Superintendents; State League of Improvement
+Societies; Washington County Agricultural Society; Newport Agricultural
+Society; Rhode Island Horticultural Society; Newport Horticultural
+Society; Rhode Island Poultry Association; Florists and Gardeners' Club;
+Kingston Improvement Association.</p>
+
+<p>This league held the Third Annual Conference on Rural Progress, April 10
+and 11, 1906, the first day's session being at Brown University,
+Providence, and the second day's at East Greenwich. Its fourth meeting
+was held in Newport in March, 1907. In Rhode Island the idea lying back
+of this conference has certainly approved itself to all who are
+interested in rural matters.</p>
+
+<p>The following is the constitution of the league:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class="center">CONSTITUTION</p>
+
+<p class="center">Rhode Island League for Rural Progress</p>
+
+<p>I. <span class="smcap">Name.</span>&mdash;The name of this body shall be the "Rhode Island League
+for Rural Progress."</p>
+
+<p>II. <span class="smcap">Object.</span>&mdash;The object of the League shall be to secure the
+co-operation of the various individuals, organizations, and
+agencies which are working for any phase of rural advancement in
+this state.</p>
+
+<p>III. <span class="smcap">Membership.</span>&mdash;Any organization interested in rural advancement,
+which may desire to co-operate with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> the work of the League, may be
+represented in the League.</p>
+
+<p>Any individual in the state interested in rural progress may become
+a member of the League upon the payment of one dollar annual fee.</p>
+
+<p>IV. <span class="smcap">Officers.</span>&mdash;The administrative work of the League shall be
+conducted by a council, to be composed of one delegate from each
+organization represented in the League, to serve until superseded.
+The council at the time of each annual conference shall choose from
+among its members a president, a vice-president, and a
+secretary-treasurer, and these officers shall act as an executive
+committee.</p>
+
+<p>V. <span class="smcap">Meetings.</span>&mdash;The meetings of the League shall be held at the call
+of the executive committee. There shall, however, be at least one
+annual Conference on rural progress held under the auspices of the
+League.</p>
+
+<p>VI. <span class="smcap">Finances.</span>&mdash;The funds necessary to forward the work of the
+League may come from three sources:</p>
+
+<p><i>a</i>) Contributions made by organizations belonging to the League
+and represented on the council, such contributions to be voluntary
+and in such amount as the respective organizations may designate.
+The council may, however, make up a schedule of desired
+contributions from the various organizations and present it to the
+different organizations.</p>
+
+<p><i>b</i>) Membership fees from individual members, $1.00 per year from
+each member.</p>
+
+<p><i>c</i>) Private subscriptions.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Probably the first successful attempt to organize a permanent league for
+rural progress was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> accomplished in 1904 through the efforts of Rev. G.
+T. Nesmith, of Hebron, Ill. It was called "The McHenry County
+Federation," and has held three annual meetings and seems to be on a
+solid basis. Mr. Nesmith has endeavored to keep the purpose of the
+league on a high plane by endeavoring to state clearly the object of the
+federation, which is, "that the people of McHenry County might have
+life, and have it more abundantly, and this life was not to be a narrow
+life. It was the largest aggregate and highest symmetry of the sixfold
+ends of individual and community action, viz., health, wealth,
+knowledge, sociability, beauty, and righteousness." He also endeavored
+to make it clear that "the federation does not seek to supplant the
+other forces. It rather seeks to be a clearing-house of the ideas of all
+the federated organizations; to be a mount of vision from which each may
+look and get a complete vision of life; to be a fraternal bond which
+shall link all together in common ties of sympathy, fellowship, and co-operation."</p>
+
+<p>The results thus far obtained are perhaps best described by quoting the
+words of Mr. G. W. Conn, Jr., superintendent of schools of McHenry County:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p><blockquote><p>There is one noticeable omission in the constitution&mdash;a provision
+for the proper financing of the federation. This is partially
+explained by the fact that the federation has largely centered
+about the county Teachers' Association and the county Farmers'
+Institute, organizations that are supported in a financial way by
+the county and the state appropriations. These appropriations, in
+addition to some voluntary gifts, have been sufficient to meet the
+necessary expenses of the meetings.</p>
+
+<p>I think that I am safe in saying that the interest and also the
+attendance has probably increased 100 per cent. at each session.
+Each year has also seen a much larger percentage of our local men
+and women helping out on the programme. It is a little early in its
+history to expect much evidence of material results, but I believe
+that results are already putting in an appearance, especially from
+the esthetic standpoint. Without doubt more trees have been planted
+about the country homes and along the country roadsides of this
+county than in any two preceding years. In a great many places
+roads have been cleaned. Refuse and weeds have been removed and
+burned. Landscape gardening on a simple scale is putting in an
+appearance in places where it was little expected. The naming of
+farms is another feature that is rapidly growing. Boys' country
+clubs are being formed and this year, for the first time, three of
+these clubs met with the federation, had a banquet, and formed a
+county organization.</p>
+
+<p>Of course not all of these movements are rightfully to be
+attributed to the direct influence of the county federation. The
+public schools of the county have been largely instrumental in
+stirring the public conscience to a livelier<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> appreciation of the
+beautiful. The regular observance of Arbor and Bird Days in our
+schools has done much toward initiating this movement. However, the
+federation has been the great factor in uniting otherwise
+independent organizations into one large machine for stirring the
+social consciousness and molding public sentiment. It has proved to
+be an efficient association in at least three ways, in
+co-ordinating our efforts, harmonizing our methods, and broadening
+the field of operation.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The constitution of this league is given herewith in full:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>1. <span class="smcap">Name.</span>&mdash;The name of this organization shall be, The McHenry
+County Federation of Rural Forces.</p>
+
+<p>2. <span class="smcap">Object.</span>&mdash;The object of the Federation is to gain a higher
+symmetry and a larger aggregate of health, wealth, knowledge,
+sociability, beauty, and righteousness to the citizens of McHenry County.</p>
+
+<p>3. <span class="smcap">Elements of the Federation.</span>&mdash;The Federation shall consist of the
+following organizations: The Farmers' Institute, Teachers'
+Association, Domestic Science Association, Pastors' Association,
+Women's Christian Temperance Union, and the Young Men's Christian Association.</p>
+
+<p>4. <span class="smcap">Membership.</span>&mdash;Any county organization may become a member of the
+federation by recommendation of the Executive Committee.</p>
+
+<p>5. <span class="smcap">Officers.</span>&mdash;The officers of the Federation shall consist of a
+president, as many vice-presidents as there are component
+organizations, a secretary-treasurer, and an Executive Committee.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p><p>6. <span class="smcap">Committees.</span>&mdash;The Executive Committee shall be composed of the
+president, the secretary-treasurer, and the presidents of the component organizations.</p>
+
+<p>There shall be an Auditing Committee and a Committee on
+Resolutions, each consisting of three members and to be appointed by the president.</p>
+
+<p>The Nominating Committee shall consist of two members from each of
+the component organizations and they shall be appointed by the president.</p>
+
+<p>7. <span class="smcap">Duties.</span>&mdash;The Executive Committee shall select the date and fix
+the place of every meeting. They shall also prepare the programme.</p>
+
+<p>The presidents of the component organizations shall be <i>ex-officio</i>
+vice-presidents of the Federation.</p>
+
+<p>8. <span class="smcap">Auditing.</span>&mdash;All bills shall be paid by the treasurer after the
+same have been countersigned by the Auditing Committee.</p>
+
+<p>9. <span class="smcap">Term of Office.</span>&mdash;The terms of all officers shall be one year or
+until their successors are elected.</p>
+
+<p>10. <span class="smcap">How Elected.</span>&mdash;All officers shall be elected by ballot.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The Massachusetts Conference for Town and Village Betterment has dealt
+with some phases of the federation idea. Its object is "to contribute to
+the formation of a strong, definite, and united purpose among the forces
+working for the improvement of civic and social conditions in
+Massachusetts, by bringing together all town and village improvement
+societies, citizen's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> associations, civic clubs, and other organizations
+interested in this purpose."</p>
+
+<p>The Massachusetts Agricultural College, in celebrating the fortieth
+anniversary of its opening to students, October 2, 1907, held a four
+days' conference on rural progress. The programme covered nearly the
+whole field of rural development and was made possible by the
+co-operation of the State Board of Agriculture, the State Grange, the
+Massachusetts Civic League, the Connecticut Valley Congregational Club,
+the State Committee of the Y. M. C. A., the Western Massachusetts
+Library Club, and the Head-Masters' Club of the Connecticut Valley. No
+permanent organization was formed, but the general idea of federation of
+rural social forces was fully emphasized and thoroughly appreciated.</p>
+
+<p>An attempt was made in the spring of 1907 to bring together the various
+elements of rural progress in all the New England states. Under the
+initiative of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture there was
+held in March, 1907, a New England Conference on Rural Progress. This
+meeting was held very largely for the purpose of discovering the
+sentiment among the leaders of New England agriculture with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>respect to
+the desirability and practicability of federating on so large a scale.
+In addition to the main meeting, the presidents of the agricultural
+colleges of New England were called together in a special section, and
+the same was true of the directors of the New England experiment
+stations, the masters of the various state granges, the secretaries of
+the various state boards of agriculture, and the leaders in the New
+England Federation of Churches.</p>
+
+<p>The idea of federation was clearly approved by the delegates present,
+and a temporary organization was effected. It was voted to hold a
+similar conference in Boston in the spring of 1908.</p>
+
+<p>It is probably true that the first and most important step in bringing
+about a federation of rural social forces is to educate all concerned to
+the <i>desirability</i> of such a federation&mdash;to sow the seeds of the idea.
+So far as machinery is concerned it may not be necessary to form any new
+organization. Indeed, what is chiefly necessary is a sort of
+<i>clearing-house</i> for an exchange of ideas and plans among all who are at
+work on any phase of the rural social problem. There is need of a
+central bureau that shall emphasize the necessity of a study of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>agricultural economics and rural sociology, and press the value of
+co-operation in the work of social progress in the country. There is
+need that somewhere "tab" shall be kept on the whole rural social
+movement. We need a directing force to assure a comprehensive view and
+study of the whole rural problem. It is important that some
+investigations should be carried on that are not likely to be taken up
+by some other agency. It would be desirable to have a certain amount of
+publication, and in various other ways to carry on a campaign of
+education. Above all, it would be desirable to initiate local, state,
+and national conferences pervaded by the spirit and purpose of securing
+the hearty co-operation of all rural social forces, of all the
+organizations that have any rural connection whatever, and of all
+individuals who have the slightest genuine interest in any phase of the
+farm problem.</p>
+
+<p>Such a bureau should keep in constant touch with, secure the confidence
+of, and supply appropriate literature to, country teachers, preachers,
+editors, doctors, and business men, and, more than all, to intelligent
+and progressive farmers. And let me add at this point, that it must be
+fully understood that the work <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>contemplated cannot possibly achieve
+large success unless it is done <i>with</i> the farmers, rather than <i>for</i>
+the farmers. The problem is far from that of doing a missionary work for
+a down-trodden and ignorant class. It is a much less heroic, a much more
+commonplace task. It is simply carrying the idea of co-operation of
+individuals a step farther, and endeavoring to secure the co-operation
+of interests that have precisely the same goal, although traveling upon
+different roads. The prime purpose of the movement is to bring the
+specialist into close touch with the more general phases of the problem,
+to secure breadth and wholeness, to assure well-balanced effort.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>[<span class="smcap">Note</span>.&mdash;A paper with the title of this chapter was read before the
+American Civic Association in 1901, at Minneapolis. A portion of
+the paper is retained here. The history of the development of the
+idea of federation is brought down to the present time.]</p></blockquote>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+Project Gutenberg's Chapters in Rural Progress, by Kenyon L. Butterfield
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Chapters in Rural Progress
+
+Author: Kenyon L. Butterfield
+
+Release Date: October 20, 2008 [EBook #26975]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Tom Roch, Martin Pettit and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images produced by Core Historical
+Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS
+
+
+THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
+CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
+
+
+Agents
+
+THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY
+NEW YORK
+
+THE CUNNINGHAM, CURTISS & WELCH COMPANY
+LOS ANGELES
+
+THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
+LONDON AND EDINBURGH
+
+THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA
+TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI
+
+THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY
+SHANGHAI
+
+KARL W. HIERSEMANN
+LEIPZIG
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS
+
+BY
+
+KENYON L. BUTTERFIELD
+
+_President of the Massachusetts Agricultural College_
+
+[Illustration: Publisher's logo]
+
+THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
+CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
+
+
+COPYRIGHT 1907 BY
+THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
+
+All Rights Reserved
+
+Published February 1908
+Second Impression June 1909
+Third Impression May 1911
+Fourth Impression February 1913
+Fifth Impression October 1916
+
+Composed and Printed By
+The University of Chicago Press
+Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
+
+
+                  TO MY FATHER
+             IRA HOWARD BUTTERFIELD
+
+     WHOSE CONSTANT CONCERN FOR RURAL WELFARE
+     AND LIFE-LONG SERVICE TO RURAL INTERESTS
+           HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE CHIEF
+           INCENTIVES TO THE STUDIES
+             LYING BEHIND THIS BOOK
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+This book does not offer a complete analysis of the rural problem; but
+attempts, in general, to present some of the more significant phases of
+that problem, and, in particular, to describe some of the agencies at
+work in solving it. Several of the chapters were originally magazine
+articles, and, though all have been revised and in some cases entirely
+rewritten, they have the limitations of such articles. Other chapters
+consist of more formal addresses. Necessarily there will be found some
+lack of uniformity in style and in method of presentation, and
+occasional duplication of argument or statement.
+
+For permission to use articles, in whole or in part, I have to thank the
+editors of the _Chautauquan_, _Arena_, _Forum_, _Review of Reviews_,
+_Popular Science Monthly_, _Michigan Alumnus_, _New England Farmer_,
+_Cornell Countryman_; also Professor L. R. Taft, superintendent of
+Farmers' Institutes in Michigan, and the officers of the American Civic
+Association. Two chapters comprise material heretofore unpublished.
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+CHAPTER                                           PAGE
+
+   I. The Study of Rural Life                        3
+
+  II. The Problems of Progress                      11
+
+
+THE OUTLOOK
+
+III. The Expansion of Farm Life                     45
+
+ IV. The New Farmer                                 53
+
+  V. Culture from the Corn-Lot                      66
+
+
+AGENCIES OF PROGRESS
+
+  VI. Education for the Farmer                      77
+
+ VII. Farmers' Institutes                           92
+
+VIII. The Hesperia Movement                        104
+
+  IX. The Rural School and the Community           121
+
+   X. The Grange                                   136
+
+  XI. Opportunities for Farm Women                 162
+
+ XII. The Country Church and Progress              170
+
+XIII. A Summary of Recent Progress                 183
+
+
+FORWARD STEPS
+
+ XIV. The Social Side of the Farm Question         199
+
+  XV. The Needs of New England Agriculture         204
+
+ XVI. An Untilled Field in American Education      216
+
+XVII. Federation for Rural Progress                233
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE STUDY OF RURAL LIFE
+
+
+The American farm problem, particularly its sociological aspect, has not
+as yet had the attention that it deserves from students. Much less have
+the questions that concern rural social advancement found the popular
+mind; in truth, the general city public has not been deeply interested
+in the farmer.
+
+But there seem to be recent indications that the sentiment is changing.
+The heated discussions in New England about Mr. Hartt's interesting
+clinic over a decadent hill-town, the suggestive fast-day proclamation
+of Governor Rollins of New Hampshire a few years ago, the marvelous
+development of agricultural education, the renewed study of the rural
+school, the widespread and growing delight in country life, have all
+aroused an interest in and presage a new attention to rural conditions.
+This is well. The sociologist can hardly afford to omit the rural
+classes from the scope of his study, especially if he desires to
+investigate the practical phases of his subject. Moreover, no one with
+intelligent notions of affairs should be ignorant of the forces that
+control rural life.
+
+In view of this apparent change in the attitude of people toward the
+farm problem, it may not be idle to suggest some possible errors that
+should be avoided when we are thinking of rural society. The student
+will doubtless approach his problem fortified against misconceptions--he
+probably has thoughtfully established his view-point. But the average
+person in the city is likely to call up the image of his ancestral home
+of a generation ago, if he were born in the country, or, if not, to draw
+upon his observations made on a summer vacation or on casual business
+trips into the interior. Or he takes his picture from _Shore Acres_ and
+the _Old Homestead_. In any case it is not improbable that the image may
+be faulty and as a consequence his appreciation of present conditions
+wholly inadequate. Let us consider some of these possible sources of
+misconception.
+
+In the first place it is not fair to compare country life as a whole
+with the best city conditions. This is often done. The observer usually
+has education, culture, leisure, the experience of travel, more or less
+wealth; his acquaintance is mostly with people of like attainments.
+When he fails to find a rural environment that corresponds in some
+degree to his own and that of his friends, he is quick to conclude that
+the country has nothing to offer him, that only the city ministers to
+the higher wants of man. He forgets that he is one of a thousand in the
+city, and does not represent average city life. He fails to compare the
+average country conditions with the average city conditions, manifestly
+the only fair basis for comparison. Or he may err still more grievously.
+He may set opposite each other the worst country conditions and the
+better city conditions. He ought in all justice to balance country slum
+with city slum; and certainly so if he insists on trying to find
+palaces, great libraries, eloquent preachers, theaters, and rapid
+transit in each rural community. City life goes to extremes; country
+life, while varied, is more even. In the country there is little of
+large wealth, luxury, and ease; little also of extreme poverty, reeking
+crime, unutterable filth, moral sewage. Farmers are essentially a middle
+class and no comparison is fair that does not keep this fact ever in
+mind.
+
+We sometimes hear the expression, "Country life is so barren--that to me
+is its most discouraging aspect." Much country life is truly barren;
+but much more of it is so only relatively and not essentially. We must
+admit that civilization is at least partially veneer; polish does
+wonders for the appearance of folks as well as of furniture. But while
+the beauty of "heart of oak" is enhanced by its "finish," its utility is
+not destroyed by a failure to polish it. Now, much of the so-called
+barrenness of country life is the oak minus the polish. We come to
+regard polish as essential; it is largely relative. And not only may we
+apply the wrong standard to the situation, but our eyes may deceive us.
+To the uninitiated a clod of dry earth is the most unpromising of
+objects--it is cousin to the stone, and the type of barrenness. But to
+the elect it is pregnant with the possibilities of seed-time and
+harvest, of a full fruitage, of abundance and content for man and beast.
+And there is many a farm home, plain to an extreme, devoid of the
+veneer, a home that to the man of the town seems lacking in all the
+things that season life, but a home which virtue, intelligence, thrift,
+and courage transform into a garden of roses and a type of heaven. I do
+not justify neglect of the finer material things of life, nor plead for
+drab and homespun as passports to the courts of excellence; but I insist
+that the plainness, simple living, absence of luxury, lack of polish
+that may be met with in the country, do not necessarily accompany a
+condition barren of the essentials of the higher life.
+
+Sometimes rural communities are ridiculed because of the trivial nature
+of their gossip, interests, and ambitions. There may be some justice in
+the criticism, though the situation is pathetic rather than humorous.
+But is the charge wholly just? In comparing country with town we are
+comparing two environments; necessarily, therefore, objects of gossip,
+interests, and ambitions differ therein. We expect that. It is no
+criticism to assert that fact. The test is not that of an existing
+difference, but of an essential quality. Is not Ben Bolt's new top buggy
+as legitimate a topic for discussion as is Arthur John Smythe's new
+automobile? Does not the price of wheat mean as much to the hard-working
+grower as to the broker who may never see a grain of it? May not the
+grove at Turtle Lake yield as keen enjoyment as do the continental
+forests? Is the ambition to own a fine farm more ignoble than the desire
+to own shares in a copper mine? It really does not matter so much what
+one gossips about or what one's delights are or what the carving of the
+rungs on ambition's ladder; the vital question is the effect of these
+things on character. Do they stunt or encourage the inner life? It must
+be admitted that country people do not always accept their environing
+opportunities for enjoying the higher life of mind and heart. But do
+they differ in this respect from their cousins of the town?
+
+We must remember, too, that this is a large country, and that a study of
+rural conditions in a certain community, township, county, state, or
+section may not give us the correct basis upon which to determine the
+agricultural status of the country.
+
+Nor must we make the mistake of confusing conservatism and decadence.
+That the city will in many particulars always progress more rapidly than
+the country is inevitable. But speed is not the ultimate criterion of a
+full life. Again must we apply the test whether the gain is relative or
+essential. Telephones, free mail delivery, electric car lines, operas,
+great libraries, cathedrals--all come to the city first, some of them
+solely to the city. The country cannot hope to be other than inherently
+conservative as regards such institutions. But may there not be found
+such adaptations of or substitutes for these institutions as shall not
+only preserve the rural community from decadence, but, indeed, build it
+up into strength, beauty, and purity?
+
+Comparative lack of identical resources need not mean poverty of
+attainment. Let us agree that relatively the country will lag behind the
+town. Is the country continually gaining in those things that are
+fundamentally important and that minister to its best life? is the
+kernal question.
+
+Perhaps the most common error in studying rural conditions is the
+failure to distinguish the vital difference between the urban problem
+and the rural problem. _Sociologically the city problem is that of
+congestion; the rural problem is that of isolation._ The social
+conditions of country and city are wholly different. Institutions that
+succeed in alleviating social disorders in the town may or may not
+succeed in the country--in any event they must be adapted to country
+needs. This applies to organizations, schools, libraries, social
+settlements. And the adaptation must be one not only of form but of
+spirit. In other words, the farm problem is a peculiar problem,
+demanding special study, a new point of view, and sometimes unique
+institutions.
+
+Those accustomed to large cities make a pretty broad classification of
+"country." A town of five thousand people is to them "country." But it
+is not country. The problem of the village and the small town is not the
+rural problem, take it the nation over. The smaller the town, the more
+nearly it approaches to rural conditions, but its essential problem is
+not that of the farm.
+
+And, finally, let no one suppose that philanthropy is the chief medicine
+for the social ill-health of the country. The intelligent student who
+possesses the true spirit of helpfulness may find in the rural problem
+ample scope for both his brain and his heart. But he will make a
+fundamental and irreparable error if he starts out with the notion that
+pity, charity, and direct gifts will win the day. You may flatter the
+American farmer; you cannot patronize him. He demands and needs, not
+philanthropy, but simple justice, equal opportunity, and better
+facilities for education. He is neither slave nor pauper.
+
+To conclude: There is a farm problem, and it is worth solving. But it
+differs from the city problem. And if, as is to be hoped, the recently
+renewed interest in this question is to be permanent, we trust that
+those who desire to make it a special study, as well as those whose
+interest in it is general and widely human, may from the start avoid the
+errors that are likely to obscure rural conditions when viewed through
+city eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE PROBLEMS OF PROGRESS[1]
+
+
+It is impossible to acquire a keen and permanent interest in the rural
+problem unless one first of all is cognizant of its significance. And
+lack of knowledge at this point may in part account for the fact already
+alluded to that in America the farm problem has not been adequately
+studied. So stupendous has been the development of our manufacturing
+industries, so marvelous the growth of our urban population, so pressing
+the questions raised by modern city life, that the social and economic
+interests of the American farmer have, as a rule, received minor
+consideration. We are impressed with the rise of cities like Chicago,
+forgetting for the moment that half of the American people still live
+under rural conditions. We are perplexed by the labor wars that are
+waged about us, for the time unmindful that one-third of the workers of
+this country make their living immediately from the soil. We are
+astounded, and perhaps alarmed, at the great centralization of capital,
+possibly not realizing that the capital invested in agriculture in the
+United States nearly equals the combined capital invested in the
+manufacturing and railway industries. But if we pause to consider the
+scope and nature of the economic and social interests involved, we
+cannot avoid the conclusion that the farm problem is worthy of serious
+thought from students of our national welfare.
+
+We are aware that agriculture does not hold the same relative rank among
+our industries that it did in former years, and that our city population
+has increased far more rapidly than has our rural population. We do not
+ignore the fact that urban industries are developing more rapidly than
+is agriculture, nor deny the seriousness of the actual depletion of
+rural population, and even of community decadence, in some portions of
+the Union. But these facts merely add to the importance of the farm
+question. And it should not be forgotten that there has been a large and
+constant growth both of our agricultural wealth and of our rural
+population. During the last half-century there was a gain of 500 per
+cent. in the value of farm property, while the non-urban population
+increased 250 per cent. Agriculture has been one of the chief elements
+of America's industrial greatness, it is still our dominant economic
+interest, and it will long remain at least a leading industry. The
+people of the farm have furnished a sturdy citizenship and have been the
+primary source of much of our best leadership in political, business,
+and professional life. For an indefinite future, a large proportion of
+the American people will continue to live in a rural environment.
+
+
+WHAT IS THE FARM PROBLEM?
+
+Current agricultural discussion would lead us to think that the farm
+problem is largely one of technique. The possibilities of the
+agricultural industry, in the light of applied science, emphasize the
+need of the farmer for more complete knowledge of soil and plant and
+animal, and for increased proficiency in utilizing this knowledge to
+secure greater production at less cost. This is a fundamental need. It
+lies at the basis of success in farming. But it is not the farm problem.
+
+Business skill must be added, business methods enforced. The farmer must
+be not only a more skilful produce-grower, but also a keener
+produce-seller. But the moment we enter the realm of the market we step
+outside the individualistic aspect of the problem as embodied in the
+current doctrine of technical agricultural teaching, and are forced to
+consider the social aspect as emphasized, first of all, in the economic
+category of price. Here we find many factors--transportation cost,
+general market conditions at home and abroad, the status of other
+industries, and even legislative activities. The farm problem becomes an
+industrial question, not solely one of technical and business skill.
+Moreover, the problem is one of a successful industry as a whole, not
+merely the personal successes of even a respectable number of individual
+farmers. The farming class must progress as a unit.
+
+But have we yet reached the heart of the question? Is the farm problem
+one of technique plus business skill, plus these broad economic
+considerations? Is it not perfectly possible that agriculture as an
+industry may remain in a fairly satisfactory condition, and yet the
+farming class fail to maintain its status in the general social order?
+Is it not, for instance, quite within the bounds of probability to
+imagine a good degree of economic strength in the agricultural industry
+existing side by side with either a peasant regime or a
+landlord-and-tenant system? Yet would we expect from either system the
+same social fruitage that has been harvested from our American yeomanry?
+
+We conclude, then, that _the farm problem consists in maintaining upon
+our farms a class of people who have succeeded in procuring for
+themselves the highest possible class status, not only in the
+industrial, but in the political and the social order--a relative
+status, moreover, that is measured by the demands of American ideals._
+The farm problem thus connects itself with the whole question of
+democratic civilization. This is not mere platitude. For we cannot
+properly judge the significance and the relation of the different
+industrial activities of our farmers, and especially the value of the
+various social agencies for rural betterment, except by the standard of
+class status. It is here that we seem to find the only satisfactory
+philosophy of rural progress.
+
+We would not for a moment discredit the fundamental importance of
+movements that have for their purpose the improved technical skill of
+our farmers, better business management of the farm, and wiser study and
+control of market conditions. Indeed, we would call attention to the
+fact that social institutions are absolutely necessary means of securing
+these essential factors of industrial success. In the solution of the
+farm problem we must deliberately invoke the influence of quickened
+means of communication, of co-operation among farmers, of various means
+of education, and possibly even of religious institutions, to stimulate
+and direct industrial activity. What needs present emphasis is the fact
+that there is a definite, real, social end to be held in view as the
+goal of rural endeavor. The highest possible social status for the
+farming class is that end.
+
+We may now, as briefly as possible, describe some of the difficulties
+that lie in the path of the farmers in their ambition to attain greater
+class efficiency and larger class influence, and some of the means at
+hand for minimizing the difficulties. A complete discussion of the farm
+problem should, of course, include thorough consideration of the
+technical, the business, and the economic questions implied by the
+struggle for industrial success; for industrial success is prerequisite
+to the achievement of the greatest social power of the farming class.
+But we shall consider only the social aspects of the problem.
+
+
+RURAL ISOLATION
+
+Perhaps the one great underlying social difficulty among American
+farmers is their comparatively isolated mode of life. The farmer's
+family is isolated from other families. A small city of perhaps twenty
+thousand population will contain from four hundred to six hundred
+families per square mile, whereas a typical agricultural community in a
+prosperous agricultural state will hardly average more than ten families
+per square mile. The farming class is isolated from other classes.
+Farmers, of course, mingle considerably in a business and political way
+with the men of their trading town and county seat; but, broadly
+speaking, farmers do not associate freely with people living under urban
+conditions and possessing other than the rural point of view. It would
+be venturesome to suggest very definite generalizations with respect to
+the precise influence of these conditions, because, so far as the writer
+is aware, the psychology of isolation has not been worked out. But two
+or three conclusions seem to be admissible, and for that matter rather
+generally accepted.
+
+The well-known conservatism of the farming class is doubtless largely
+due to class isolation. Habits, ideas, traditions, and ideals have long
+life in the rural community. Changes come slowly. There is a tendency to
+tread the well-worn paths. The farmer does not easily keep in touch with
+rapid modern development, unless the movements or methods directly
+affect him. Physical agencies which improve social conditions, such as
+electric lights, telephones, and pavements, come to the city first. The
+atmosphere of the country speaks peace and quiet. Nature's routine of
+sunshine and storm, of summer and winter, encourages routine and
+repetition in the man who works with her.
+
+A complement of this rural conservatism, which at first thought seems a
+paradox, but which probably grows out of these same conditions of
+isolation, is the intense radicalism of a rural community when once it
+breaks away from its moorings. Many farmers are unduly suspicious of
+others' motives; yet the same people often succumb to the wiles of the
+charlatan, whether medical or political. Farmers are usually
+conservative in politics and intensely loyal to party; but the Populist
+movement indicates the tendency to extremes when the old allegiance is
+left behind. Old methods of farming may be found alongside
+ill-considered attempts to raise new crops or to utilize untried
+machines.
+
+Other effects of rural isolation are seen in a class provincialism that
+is hard to eradicate, and in the development of minds less alert to
+seize business advantages and less far-sighted than are developed by the
+intense industrial life of the town. There is time to brood over wrongs,
+real and imaginary. Personal prejudices often grow to be rank and
+coarse-fibered. Neighborhood feuds are not uncommon and are often
+virulent. Leadership is made difficult and sometimes impossible. It is
+easy to fall into personal habits that may mark off the farmer from
+other classes of similar intelligence, and that bar him from his
+rightful social place.
+
+It would, however, be distinctly unfair to the farm community if we did
+not emphasize some of the advantages that grow out of the rural mode of
+life. Farmers have time to think, and the typical American farmer is a
+man who has thought much and often deeply. A spirit of sturdy
+independence is generated, and freedom of will and of action is
+encouraged. Family life is nowhere so educative as in the country. The
+whole family co-operates for common ends, and in its individual members
+are bred the qualities of industry, patience, and perseverance. The
+manual work of the schools is but a makeshift for the old-fashioned
+training of the country-grown boy. Country life is an admirable
+preparation for the modern industrial and professional career.
+
+Nevertheless, rural isolation is a real evil. Present-day living is so
+distinctively social, progress is so dependent upon social agencies,
+social development is so rapid, that if the farmer is to keep his status
+he must be fully in step with the rest of the army. He must secure the
+social view-point. The disadvantages of rural isolation are largely in
+the realm of the social relations, its advantages mostly on the
+individual and moral side. Farm life makes a strong individual; it is a
+serious menace to the achievement of class power.
+
+A cure for isolation sometimes suggested is the gathering of the farmers
+into villages. This remedy, however, is of doubtful value. In the first
+place, the scheme is not immediately practicable. About three and
+one-half billions of dollars are now invested in farm buildings, and it
+will require some motive more powerful than that inspired by academic
+logic to transfer, even gradually, this investment to village groups.
+Moreover, it is possible to dispute the desirability of the remedy. The
+farm village at best must be a mere hamlet. It can secure for the farmer
+very few of the urban advantages he may want, except that of permitting
+closer daily intercourse between families. And it is questionable if the
+petty society of such a village can compensate for the freedom and
+purity of rural family life now existing. It may even be asserted with
+some degree of positiveness that the small village, on the moral and
+intellectual sides, is distinctly inferior to the isolated farm home.
+
+At the present time rural isolation in America is being overcome by the
+development of better means of communication among farmers who still
+live on their farms. So successful are these means of communication
+proving that we cannot avoid the conclusion that herein lies the remedy.
+Improved wagon roads, the rural free mail delivery, the farm telephone,
+trolley lines through country districts, are bringing about a positive
+revolution in country living. They are curing the evils of isolation,
+without in the slightest degree robbing the farm of its manifest
+advantages for family life. The farmers are being welded into a more
+compact society. They are being nurtured to greater alertness of mind,
+to greater keenness of observation, and the foundations are being laid
+for vastly enlarged social activities. The problem now is to extend
+these advantages to every rural community--in itself a task of huge
+proportions. If this can be done and isolation can be reduced to a
+minimum, the solution of all the other rural social problems will become
+vastly easier.
+
+
+FARMERS' ORGANIZATION
+
+Organization is one of the pressing social problems that American
+farmers have to face. The importance of the question is intrinsic,
+because of the general social necessity for co-operation which
+characterizes modern life. Society is becoming consciously
+self-directive. The immediate phase of this growing self-direction lies
+in the attempts of various social groups to organize their powers for
+group advantage. And if, as seems probable, this group activity is to
+remain a dominant feature of social progress, even in a fairly coherent
+society, it is manifest that there will result more or less of
+competition among groups.
+
+The farming class, if at all ambitious for group influence, can hardly
+avoid this tendency to organization. Farmers, indeed more than any
+other class, need to organize. Their isolation makes thorough
+organization especially imperative. And the argument for co-operation
+gains force from the fact that relatively the agricultural population is
+declining. In the old days farmers ruled because of mere mass. That is
+no longer possible. The naive statement that "farmers must organize
+because other classes are organizing" is really good social philosophy.
+
+In the group competition just referred to there is a tendency for class
+interests to be put above general social welfare. This is a danger to be
+avoided in organization, not an argument against it. So the farmers'
+organization should be guarded, at this point, by adherence to the
+principle that organization must not only develop class power, but must
+be so directed as to permit the farmers to lend the full strength of
+their class to general social progress.
+
+Organization thus becomes a test of class efficiency, and consequently a
+prerequisite for solving the farm problem. Can the farming class secure
+and maintain a fairly complete organization? Can it develop efficient
+leaders? Can it announce, in sound terms, its proposed group policy? Can
+it lend the group influence to genuine social progress? If so, the
+organization of farmers becomes a movement of pre-eminent importance.
+
+Organization, moreover, is a powerful educational force. It arouses
+discussion of fundamental questions, diffuses knowledge, gives practice
+in public affairs, trains individuals in executive work, and, in fine,
+stimulates, as nothing else can, a class which is in special need of
+social incentive.
+
+Organization is, however, difficult of accomplishment. While it would
+take us too far afield to discuss the history of farmers' organizations
+in America, we may briefly suggest some of the difficulties involved.
+For forty years the question has been a prominent one among the farmers,
+and these years have seen the rise and decline of several large
+associations. There have been apparently two great factors contributing
+to the downfall of these organizations. The first was a misapprehension,
+on the part of the farmers, of the feasibility of organizing themselves
+as a political phalanx; the second, a sentimental belief in the
+possibilities of business co-operation among farmers, more especially in
+lines outside their vocation. There is no place for class politics in
+America. There are some things legislation cannot cure. There are
+serious limitations to co-operative endeavor. It took many hard
+experiences for our farmers to learn these truths. But back of all lie
+some inherent difficulties, as, for instance, the number of people
+involved, their isolation, sectional interests, ingrained habits of
+independent action, of individual initiative, of suspicion of others'
+motives. There is often lack of perspective, and unwillingness to invest
+in a procedure that does not promise immediate returns. The mere fact of
+failure has discredited the organization idea. There is lack of
+leadership; for the farm industry, while it often produces men of strong
+mind, keen perception, resolute will, does not, as a rule, develop
+executive capacity for large enterprises.
+
+It is frequently asserted that farmers are the only class that has not
+organized. This is not strictly true. The difficulties enumerated are
+real difficulties and have seriously retarded farm organization. But if
+the progress made is not satisfactory, it is at least encouraging. On
+the purely business side, over five thousand co-operative societies
+among American farmers have been reported. In co-operative buying of
+supplies, co-operative selling of products, and co-operative insurance
+the volume of transactions reaches large figures. A host of societies
+of a purely educational nature exists among stock-breeders,
+fruit-growers, dairymen. It is true that no one general organization of
+farmers, embracing a large proportion of the class, has as yet been
+perfected. The nearest approach to it is the Grange, which, contrary to
+a popular notion, is in a prosperous condition, with a really large
+influence upon the social, financial, educational, and legislative
+interests of the farming class. It has had a steady growth during the
+past ten years, and is a quiet but powerful factor in rural progress.
+The Grange is perhaps too conservative in its administrative policy. It
+has not at least succeeded in converting to its fold the farmers of the
+great Mississippi Valley. But it has workable machinery, it disavows
+partisan politics and selfish class interests, and it subordinates
+financial benefits, while emphasizing educational and broadly political
+advantages. It seems fair to interpret the principles of the Grange as
+wholly in line with the premise of this paper, that the farmers need to
+preserve their status, politically, industrially, and socially, and that
+organization is one of the fundamental methods they must use. The
+Grange, therefore, deserves to succeed, and indeed is succeeding.
+
+The field of agricultural organization is an extensive one. But if the
+farm problem is to be solved satisfactorily, the American farmers must
+first secure reasonably complete organization.
+
+
+RURAL EDUCATION
+
+It is hardly necessary to assert that the education of that portion of
+the American people who live upon the land involves a question of the
+greatest significance. The subject naturally divides itself into two
+phases, one of which may be designated as rural education proper, the
+other as agricultural education. Rural education has to do with the
+education of people, more especially of the young, who live under rural
+conditions; agricultural education aims to prepare men and women for the
+specific vocation of agriculture. The rural school typifies the first;
+the agricultural school, the second. Rural education is but a section of
+the general school question; agricultural education is a branch of
+technical training. These two phases of the education of the farm
+population meet at many points, they must work in harmony, and together
+they form a distinct educational problem.
+
+The serious difficulties in the rural school question are perhaps
+three: first, to secure a modern school, in efficiency somewhat
+comparable to the town school, without unduly increasing the school tax;
+second, so to enrich the curriculum and so to expand the functions of
+the school that the school shall become a vital and coherent part of the
+community life, on the one hand translating the rural environment into
+terms of character and mental efficiency, and on the other hand serving
+perfectly as a stepping-stone to the city schools and to urban careers;
+third, to provide adequate high-school facilities in the rural
+community.
+
+The centralization of district schools and the transportation of pupils
+will probably prove to be more nearly a solution of all these
+difficulties than will any other one scheme. The plan permits the
+payment of higher wages for teachers and ought to secure better
+instruction; it permits the employment of special teachers, as for
+nature-study or agriculture; it increases the efficiency of
+superintendence; it costs but little, if any, more than the district
+system; it leaves the school amid rural surroundings, while introducing
+into the schoolroom itself a larger volume, so to speak, of
+world-atmosphere; it contains possibilities for community service; it
+can easily be expanded into a high school of reputable grade.
+
+There are two dangers, both somewhat grave, likely to arise from an
+urgent campaign for centralization. Even if the movement makes as great
+progress as could reasonably be expected, for a generation to come a
+large share, if not a major portion, of rural pupils will still be
+taught in the small, isolated, district school; there is danger that
+this district school may be neglected. Moreover, increased school
+machinery always invites undue reliance upon machine-like methods.
+Centralization permits, but does not guarantee, greater efficiency. A
+system like this one must be vitalized by constant and close touch with
+the life and needs and aspirations of the rural community itself.
+
+Wherever centralization is not adopted, the consolidation of two or
+three schools--a modified form of centralization--may prove helpful.
+Where the district school still persists, there are one or two
+imperative requirements. Teachers must have considerably higher wages
+and longer tenure. There must be more efficient supervision. The state
+must assist in supporting the school, although only in part. The small
+schools must be correlated with some form of high school. The last
+point is of great importance because of the comparative absence in
+country communities of opportunity near at hand for _good_ high-school
+training.
+
+Agricultural education is distinctively technical, not in the restricted
+sense of mere technique, or even of applied science, but in the sense
+that it must be frankly vocational. It has to do with the preparation of
+men and women for the business of farming and for life in the rural
+community.
+
+Agricultural education should begin in the primary school. In this
+school the point of view, however, should be broadly pedagogical rather
+than immediately vocational. Fortunately, the wise teaching of
+nature-study, the training of pupils to know and to love nature, the
+constant illustrations from the rural environment, the continual appeal
+to personal observation and experience, absolute loyalty to the farm
+point of view, are not only sound pedagogy, but form the best possible
+background for future vocational study. Whether we call this early work
+"nature-study" or call it "agriculture" matters less than that the
+fundamental principle be recognized. It must first of all _educate_. The
+greatest difficulty in introducing such work into the primary school is
+to secure properly equipped teachers.
+
+Perhaps the most stupendous undertaking in agricultural education is the
+adequate development of secondary education in agriculture. The
+overwhelming majority of young people who secure any agricultural
+schooling whatever must get it in institutions that academically are of
+secondary grade. This is a huge task. If developed to supply existing
+needs, it will call for an enormous expenditure of money and for the
+most careful planning. From the teaching view-point it is a difficult
+problem. Modern agriculture is based upon the sciences; it will not do,
+therefore, to establish schools in the mere art of farming. But these
+agricultural high schools must deal with pupils who are comparatively
+immature, and who almost invariably have had no preparation in science.
+Nor should the courses at these schools be ultra-technical. They are to
+prepare men and women for life on the farm--men and women who are to
+lead in rural development, and who must get some inkling at least of the
+real farm question and its solution. The agricultural school, therefore,
+presents a problem of great difficulty.
+
+A perennial question in agricultural education is: What is the function
+of the agricultural college? We have not time to trace the history of
+these colleges, nor to elaborate the various views relative to their
+mission. But let us for a moment discuss their proper function in the
+light of the proposition that the preservation of the farmers' status is
+the real farm problem; for the college can be justified only as it finds
+its place among the social agencies helpful in the solution of the farm
+question.
+
+In so far as the agricultural college, through its experiment station or
+otherwise, is an organ of research, it should carry its investigations
+into the economic and sociological fields, as well as pursue experiments
+in soil fertility and animal nutrition.
+
+In the teaching of students, the agricultural college will continue the
+important work of training men for agricultural research, agricultural
+teaching, and expert supervision of various agricultural enterprises.
+But the college should put renewed emphasis upon its ability to send
+well-trained men to the farms, there to live their lives, there to find
+their careers, and there to lead in the movements for rural progress. A
+decade ago it was not easy to find colleges which believed that this
+could be done, and some agricultural educators have even disavowed such
+a purpose as a proper object of the colleges. But the strongest
+agricultural colleges today have pride in just such a purpose. And why
+not? We not only need men thus trained as leaders in every rural
+community, but, if the farming business cannot be made to offer a career
+to a reasonable number of college-trained men, it is a sure sign that
+only by the most herculean efforts can the farmers maintain their status
+as a class. If agriculture must be turned over wholly to the untrained
+and to the half-trained, if it cannot satisfy the ambition of strong,
+well-educated men and women, its future, from the social point of view,
+is indeed gloomy.
+
+The present-day course of study in the agricultural college does not,
+however, fully meet this demand for rural leadership. The farm problem
+has been regarded as a technical question, and a technical training has
+been offered the student. The agricultural college, therefore, needs
+"socializing." Agricultural economics and rural sociology should occupy
+a large place in the curriculum. The men who go from the college to the
+farm should appreciate the significance of the agricultural question,
+and should be trained to organize their forces for genuine rural
+progress. The college should, as far as possible, become the leader in
+the whole movement for solving the farm problem.
+
+The farm home has not come in for its share of attention in existing
+schemes of agricultural education. The kitchen and the dining-room have
+as much to gain from science as have the dairy and the orchard. The
+inspiration of vocational knowledge must be the possession of her who is
+the entrepreneur of the family, the home-maker. The agricultural
+colleges through their departments of domestic science--better, of
+"home-making"--should inaugurate a comprehensive movement for carrying
+to the farm home a larger measure of the advantages which modern science
+is showering upon humanity.
+
+The agricultural college must also lead in a more adequate development
+of extension teaching. Magnificent work has already been done through
+farmers' institutes, reading courses, co-operative experiments,
+demonstrations, and correspondence. But the field is so immense, the
+number of people involved so enormous, the difficulties of reaching them
+so many, that it offers a genuine problem, and one of peculiar
+significance, not only because of the generally recognized need of
+adult education, but also because of the isolation of the farmers.
+
+It should be said that in no line of rural betterment has so much
+progress been made in America as in agricultural education. Merely to
+describe the work that is being done through nature-study and
+agriculture in the public schools, through agricultural schools, through
+our magnificent agricultural colleges, through farmers' institutes, and
+especially through the experiment stations and the federal Department of
+Agriculture in agricultural research and in the distribution of the best
+agricultural information--merely to inventory these movements properly
+would take the time available for this discussion. What has been said
+relative to agricultural education is less in way of criticism of
+existing methods than in way of suggestion as to fundamental needs.
+
+
+THE ETHICAL AND RELIGIOUS PROBLEM
+
+Wide generalizations as to the exact moral situation in the rural
+community are impossible. Conditions have not been adequately studied.
+It is probably safe to say that the country environment is extremely
+favorable for pure family life, for temperance, and for bodily and
+mental health. To picture the country a paradise is, however, mere
+silliness. There are in the country, as elsewhere, evidences of
+vulgarity in language, of coarseness in thought, of social impurity, of
+dishonesty in business. There is room in the country for all the ethical
+teaching that can be given.
+
+Nor is it easy to discuss the country church question. Conditions vary
+in different parts of the Union, and no careful study has been made of
+the problem. As a general proposition, it may be said that there are too
+many churches in the country, and that these are illy supported.
+Consequently, they have in many cases inferior ministers. Sectarianism
+is probably more divisive than in the city, not only because of the
+natural conservatism of the people and a natural disinclination to
+change their views, but because sectarian quarrels are perhaps more
+easily fomented and less easily harmonized than anywhere else. Moreover,
+in the city a person can usually find a denomination to his liking. In
+the country, even with the present overchurched condition, this is
+difficult.
+
+The ideal solution of the country church problem is to have in each
+rural community one strong church adequately supported, properly
+equipped, ministered to by an able man--a church which leads in
+community service. The path to the realization of such an ideal is rough
+and thorny. Church federation, however, promises large results in this
+direction and should be especially encouraged.
+
+Whatever outward form the solution of the country church question may
+take, there seem to be several general principles involved in a
+satisfactory attempt to meet the issue. In the first place, the country
+church offers a problem by itself, socially considered. Methods
+successful in the city may not succeed in the country. The country
+church question must then be studied thoroughly and on the ground.
+
+Again, the same principle of financial aid to be utilized in the case of
+the schools must be invoked here. The wealth of the whole church must
+contribute to the support of the church everywhere. The strong must help
+the weak. The city must help the country. But this aid must be given by
+co-operation, not by condescension. The demand cannot be met by home
+missionary effort nor by church-building contributions; the principle
+goes far deeper than that. Some device must be secured which binds
+together the whole church, along denominational lines if must be, for a
+full development of church work in every community in the land.
+
+Furthermore, there is supreme necessity for adding dignity to the
+country parish. Too often at present the rural parish is regarded either
+as a convenient laboratory for the clerical novice, or as an asylum for
+the decrepit or inefficient. The country parish must be a parish for our
+ablest and strongest. The ministry of the most Christlike must be to the
+hill-towns of Galilee as well as to Jerusalem.
+
+There is still another truth that the country church cannot afford to
+ignore. The rural church question is peculiarly interwoven with the
+industrial and social problems of the farm. A declining agriculture
+cannot foster a growing church. An active church can render especially
+strong service to a farm community, in its influence upon the religious
+life, the home life, the educational life, the social life, and even
+upon the industrial life. Nowhere else are these various phases of
+society's activities so fully members one of another as in the country.
+The country church should co-operate with other rural social agencies.
+This means that the country pastor should assume a certain leadership in
+movements for rural progress. He is splendidly fitted, by the nature of
+his work and by his position in the community, to co-operate with
+earnest farmers for the social and economic, as well as the moral and
+spiritual, upbuilding of the farm community. But he must know the farm
+problem. Here is an opportunity for theological seminaries: let them
+make rural sociology a required subject. And, better, here is a
+magnificent field of labor for the right kind of young men. The country
+pastorate may thus prove to be, as it ought to be, a place of honor and
+rare privilege. In any event, the country church, to render its proper
+service, not alone must minister to the individual soul, but must throw
+itself into the struggle for rural betterment, must help solve the farm
+problem.
+
+
+FEDERATION OF FORCES
+
+The suggestion that the country church should ally itself with other
+agencies of rural progress may be carried a step farther. Rural social
+forces should be federated. The object of such federation is to
+emphasize the real nature of the farm problem, to interest many people
+in its solution, and to secure the co-operation of the various rural
+social agencies, each of which has its sphere, but also its limitations.
+The method of federation is to bring together, for conference and for
+active work, farmers--especially representatives of farmers'
+organizations, agricultural educators, rural school-teachers and
+supervisors, country clergymen, country editors; in fact, all who have a
+genuine interest in the farm problem. Thus will come clearer views of
+the questions at issue, broader plans for reform, greater incentive to
+action, and more rapid progress.
+
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+In this brief analysis of the social problems of American farmers it has
+been possible merely to outline those aspects of the subject that seem
+to be fundamental. It is hoped that the importance of each problem has
+been duly emphasized, that the wisest methods of progress have been
+indicated, and that the relation of the various social agencies to the
+main question has been clearly brought out. Let us leave the subject by
+emphasizing once more the character of the ultimate farm problem. This
+problem may be stated more concretely, if not more accurately, than was
+done at the opening of the paper, by saying that the ideal of rural
+betterment is to preserve upon our farms the typical American farmer.
+The American farmer has been essentially a middle-class man. It is this
+type we must maintain. Agriculture must be made to yield returns in
+wealth, in opportunity, in contentment, in social position, sufficient
+to attract and to hold to it a class of intelligent, educated American
+citizens. This is an end vital to the preservation of American
+democratic ideals. It is a result that will not achieve itself; social
+agencies must be invoked for its accomplishment. It demands the
+intelligent and earnest co-operation of all who love the soil and who
+seek America's permanent welfare.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[1] The material for this chapter is taken from an address entitled
+"Social Problems of American Farmers," which was read before the
+Congress of Arts and Science, section of The Rural Community, at St.
+Louis, September, 1904.
+
+
+
+
+THE OUTLOOK
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE EXPANSION OF FARM LIFE
+
+
+Narrowness is perhaps the charge most often brought against American
+farm life. To a certain extent this charge may be just, though the
+comparisons that usually lead up to the conclusion do not always
+discriminate. It must be remembered that there are degrees of
+desirability in farm life, and that at the least there are multitudes of
+rural communities where bright flowers still bloom, where the shade is
+refreshing, and the waters are sweet. But, granting for the time that in
+the main rural life is less pleasant, less rich, less expansive than
+city life, we shall urge that this era of restriction is rapidly drawing
+to a close. There are forces at work that are molding rural life by new
+standards, and the old regime is passing. We shall soon be able to say
+of the country that "old things have passed away; all things have become
+new."
+
+This statement may seem too optimistic to some who can marshal an array
+of facts to prove that bigotry, narrowness, and the whole family of ills
+begotten by isolation still thrive in the country. It is true that our
+picture is not all of rose tints. But what of that? If it were not true
+there would be no farm problem; the country would have to convert the
+town. The fact remains that rural life is undergoing a rapid expansion.
+Materially, socially, and intellectually, the farmer is broadening. Old
+prejudices are fading. The plowman is no longer content to keep his eye
+forever on the furrow. The revival has been in slow progress for some
+time and has not yet reached its zenith; indeed, the movement is but
+well under way. For while the new day came long ago to some rural
+communities and they are basking in a noonday sun, yet in far too many
+localities the faintest gray of dawn is all that rouses hope.
+
+The fundamental change that is taking place is the gradual adoption of
+the new agriculture. "Book-farmin'" is still decried, and many
+"perfessers" have a rocky road to travel in their attempts to guide the
+masses through the labyrinth of scientific knowledge that has been
+constructed during the last decade or two. This difficulty has not been
+wholly the farmer's fault--the scientist would often have been more
+persuasive had his wings been clipped. But there is a decided "getting
+together" nowadays--the farmer and the man of science have at last
+found common ground. And while the pendulum of agricultural prosperity
+shall always swing to and fro, there are, to change the figure, reasons
+for believing that an increasing number of farmers have rooted the tree
+of permanent success.
+
+To enumerate some of these reasons: (1) Thousands of farmers are farming
+on a scientific basis. They use the results of soil and fertilizer
+analysis; they cultivate, not to kill weeds so much as to conserve
+moisture; horticulturists spray their trees according to formulas laid
+down by experimenters; dairymen use the "Babcock test" for determining
+the fat content of milk; stock-feeders utilize the scientists' feeding
+rations. (2) The number of specialists among farmers is increasing. This
+is a sign of progress surely. More and more farmers are coming to push a
+single line of work. (3) New methods are being rapidly adopted. Fifteen
+years ago hardly a fruit-grower sprayed for insect and fungus pests;
+today it is rare to find one who does not. The co-operative creamery has
+not only revolutionized the character of the butter product made by the
+factory system, but it has set the pace for thousands of private
+dairymen who are now making first-class dairy butter. (4) In general
+the whole idea of _intensive_ farming is gaining ground.
+
+This specialization, or intensification, of agriculture makes a new
+demand, upon those who pursue it, in the way of mental and business
+training. This training is being furnished by a multitude of agencies,
+and the younger generation of farmers is taking proper advantage of the
+opportunities thus offered. What are some of these regular agencies? (1)
+An alert farm press, containing contributions from both successful
+farmers and scientific workers. (2) Farmers' institutes, which are
+traveling schools of technical instruction for farmers. (3) The
+bulletins issued by the government experiment stations located in every
+state, and by the federal Department of Agriculture. (4) Special winter
+courses (of from two to twelve weeks), offered at nearly all the
+agricultural colleges of the country, for instruction in practical
+agriculture. (5) Regular college courses in agriculture at these same
+colleges. (6) Extension instruction by lectures and correspondence. (7)
+A growing book literature of technical agriculture. (8) More encouraging
+than all else is the spirit of inquiry that prevails among farmers the
+country over--the recognition that there is a basis of science in
+agriculture. No stronger pleas for the advancement of agricultural
+education can be found than those that have recently been formulated by
+farmers themselves.
+
+If this regeneration of farm life were wholly material it would be worth
+noting; for it promises a prosperity built on foundations sufficiently
+strong to withstand ordinary storms. Yet this is but a chapter of the
+story. Not only are our American farmers making a study of their
+business, bringing to it the resources of advancing knowledge and good
+mental training, and hence deriving from it the strong, alert mental
+character that comes to all business men who pursue equally intelligent
+methods, but the farmers are by no means neglecting their duty to
+broaden along general intellectual lines. Farmers have always been
+interested in politics; there is no reason to think that their interest
+is declining. The Grange and other organizations keep their attention on
+current problems. Traveling libraries, school libraries, and Grange
+libraries are giving new opportunities for general reading, and the
+farmer's family is not slow to accept the chance. Low prices for
+magazines and family papers bring to these periodicals an increasing
+list from the rural offices. Rural free mail delivery promises, among
+many other results of vast importance, to enlarge the circulation of
+daily papers among farmers not less than tenfold.
+
+The really great lesson that farmers are rapidly learning is to work
+together. They have been the last class to organize, and jealousy,
+distrust, and isolation have made such organizations as they have had
+comparatively ineffective. But gradually they are learning to
+compromise, to work in harmony, to sink merely personal views, to trust
+their own leaders, to keep troth in financially co-operative projects.
+There will be no Farmers' Party organized; but the higher politics is
+gaining among farmers, and more and more independent voting may be
+expected from the rural precincts. Farmers are learning to pool such of
+their interests as can be furthered by legislation.
+
+It is also true that the whole aspect of social life in the country is
+undergoing a profound evolutionary movement. Farmers are meeting one
+another more frequently than they used to. They have more picnics and
+holidays. They travel more. They go sight-seeing. They take advantage of
+excursions. Their social life is more mobile than formerly. Farmers
+have more comforts and luxuries than ever before. They dress better
+than they did. More of them ride in carriages than formerly. They buy
+neater and better furniture. The newer houses are prettier and more
+comfortable than their predecessors. Bicycles and cameras are not
+uncommon in the rural home. Rural telephone exchanges are relatively a
+new thing, but the near future will see the telephone a part of the
+ordinary furniture of the rural household; while electric car lines
+promise to be the final link in the chain of advantages that is rapidly
+transforming rural life--robbing it of its isolation, giving it balance
+and poise, softening its hard outlines, and in general achieving its
+thorough regeneration.
+
+This sketch is no fancy tale. The movement described is genuine and
+powerful. The busy city world may not note the signs of progress.
+Well-minded philanthropists may feel that the rural districts are in
+special need of their services. Even to the watchers on the walls there
+is much of discouragement in the advancement that _isn't_ being made.
+Yet it needs no prophet's eye to see that a vast change for the better
+in rural life and conditions is now in progress.
+
+No student of these conditions expects or desires that the evolution
+shall be Acadian in its results. It is to be hoped indeed that country
+sweets shall not lose their delights; that the farmer himself may find
+in his surroundings spiritual and mental ambrosia. But what is wanted,
+and what is rapidly coming, is the breaking down of those barriers which
+have so long differentiated country from urban life; the extinction of
+that social ostracism which has been the farmer's fate; the obliteration
+of that line which for many a youth has marked the bounds of
+opportunity: in fact, the creation of a rural society whose advantages,
+rewards, prerogatives, chances for service, means of culture, and
+pleasures are representative of the best and sanest life that the
+accumulated wisdom of the ages can prescribe for mankind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE NEW FARMER
+
+
+All farmers may be divided into three classes. There is the "old"
+farmer, there is the "new" farmer, and there is the "mossback." The old
+farmer represents the ancient regime. The new farmer is the modern
+business agriculturist. The mossback is a mediaeval survival. The old
+farmer was in his day a new farmer; he was "up with the times," as the
+times then were. The new farmer is merely the worthy son of a noble
+sire; he is the modern embodiment of the old farmer's progressiveness.
+The mossback is the man who tries to use the old methods under the new
+conditions; he is not "up" with the present times, but "back" with the
+old times. Though he lives and moves in the present, he really has his
+being in the past.
+
+The old farmer is the man who conquered the American continent. His axe
+struck the crown from the monarchs of the wood, and the fertile farms of
+Ohio are the kingdom he created. He broke the sod of the rich prairies,
+and the tasseling cornfields of Iowa tell the story of his deeds. He
+hitched his plow to the sun, and his westward lengthening furrows fill
+the world's granary.
+
+The new farmer has his largest conquests yet to make. But he has put his
+faith in the strong arm of science; he has at his hand the commercial
+mechanism of a world of business. He believes he will win because he is
+in league with the ongoing forces of our civilization.
+
+The mossback cannot win, because he prefers a flintlock to a Mauser. He
+has his eyes upon the ground, and uses snails instead of stars for
+horses.
+
+The old farmer was a pioneer, and he had all the courage, enterprise,
+and resourcefulness of the pioneer. He was virile, above all things
+else. He owned and controlled everything in sight. He was a
+state-builder. Half a century ago, in the Middle West, the strong men
+and the influential families were largely farmers. Even professional men
+owned and managed farms, frequently living upon them. The smell of the
+soil sweetened musty law books, deodorized the doctor's den, and floated
+as incense above the church altars.
+
+The new farmer lives in a day when the nation is not purely an
+agricultural nation, but is also a manufacturing and a trading nation.
+He belongs no longer to the dominant class, so far as commercial and
+social and political influence are concerned. But none of these things
+move him. For he realizes that out of this seeming decline of
+agriculture grow his best opportunities. He discards pioneer methods
+because pioneering is not now an effective art.
+
+The mossback sees perhaps clearly enough these changes, but he does not
+understand their meaning, nor does he know how to meet them. He is
+dazzled by the romantic halo of the good old times, dumfounded by the
+electric energy of the present, discouraged and distracted by the
+pressure of forces that crush his hopes and stifle his strength.
+
+Economically, the old farmer was not a business man, but a barterer. The
+rule of barter still survives in the country grocery where butter and
+eggs are traded for sugar and salt. The old farmer was industrially
+self-sufficient. He did not farm on a commercial basis. He raised apples
+for eating and for cider, not for market--there was no apple market. He
+had very little ready money, he bought and sold few products. He traded.
+Even his grain, which afterward became the farmer's great cash crop, was
+raised in small quantities and ground at the nearest mill--not for
+export, but for a return migration to the family flour-barrel.
+
+The new farmer has always existed--because he is the old farmer growing.
+He has kept pace with our industrial evolution. When the regime of
+barter passed away, he ceased to barter. When the world's market became
+a fact, he raised wheat for the world's market. As agriculture became a
+business, he became a business man. As agricultural science began to
+contribute to the art of farming, he studied applied science. As
+industrial education developed, he founded and patronized institutions
+for agricultural education. As alertness and enterprise began to be
+indispensable in commercial activity, he grew alert and enterprising.
+
+The mossback is the man who has either misread the signs of the times,
+or who has not possessed the speed demanded in the two-minute class. He
+is the old farmer gone to seed. He tries to fit the old methods to the
+new regime.
+
+But it is not sufficient to picture the new farmer. You must explain
+him. What is it that makes the new farmer? Who is he? What are his
+tools? In the first place, you cannot explain the new farmer unless you
+know the old farmer. You cannot have the new farmer unless you also
+have the mossback. The new farmer is a comparative person, as it were.
+You have to define him in terms of the mossback. The contrast is not
+between the old farmer and the new, for that is merely a question of
+relative conditions in different epochs of time. The contrast is between
+the new farmer and the mossback, for that is a question of men and of
+their relative efficiency as members of the industrial order. Then, of
+course, you must observe the individual traits that characterize the new
+farmer, such as keenness, business instinct, readiness to adopt new
+methods, and, in fact, all the qualities that make a man a success today
+in any calling. For the new farmer, in respect to his personal
+qualities, is not a sport, a phenomenon. He does not stand out as a
+distinct and peculiar specimen. He is a successful American citizen who
+grows corn instead of making steel rails.
+
+But you have not yet explained the new farmer. These personal traits do
+not explain him. It may be possible to explain an individual and his
+success by calling attention to his characteristics, and yet you cannot
+completely analyze him and his career unless you understand the
+conditions under which he works--the industrial and social environment.
+Much less can you explain a class of people by describing their personal
+characteristics. You must reach out into the great current of life that
+is about them, and discern the direction and power of that current.
+
+Now, the conditions that tend to make the new farmer possible may be
+grouped in an old-fashioned way under two heads. In the old scientific
+phrases the two forces that make the new farmer are the "struggle for
+life" and "environment," or, to use other words, competition and
+opportunity.
+
+Competition has pressed severely upon the farmer, competition at home
+and competition from other countries. At one time the heart of the
+wheat-growing industry of this country was near Rochester, N. Y., in the
+Genesee Valley; but the canal and the railway soon made possible the
+occupation of the great granary of the west. A multitude of ambitious
+young men soon took possession of that granary, and the flour-mills were
+moved from Rochester to Minneapolis. This is an old story, but the same
+forces are still at work. There has been developed a world-market. The
+sheep of the Australian bush have become competitors of the flocks that
+feed upon the green Vermont mountains and the Ohio hills. The plains of
+Argentina grow wheat for London. Russia, Siberia, and India pour a
+constant stream of golden grain into the industrial centers of Western
+Europe, and the price of American wheat is fixed in London. These forces
+have produced still another kind of competition; namely, specialization
+among farmers. Localities particularly adapted to special crops are
+becoming centers where skill and intelligence bring the industry to its
+height. The truck-farming of the South Atlantic region, the fruit
+growing of western Michigan, the butter factories of Wisconsin and
+Minnesota, have crowded almost to suffocation the small market-gardener
+of the northern town, the man with a dozen peach trees, and the farmer
+who keeps two cows and trades the surplus butter for calico. These
+things have absolutely forced progress upon the farmer. It is indeed a
+"struggle for life." Out of it comes the "survival of the fittest," and
+the fittest is the new farmer.
+
+But along with competition has come opportunity. Indeed, out of these
+very facts that have made competition so strenuous spring the most
+marvelous opportunities for the progressive farmer. Specialization
+brings out the best that there is in the locality and the man. It gives
+a chance to apply science to farming. Our transportation system permits
+the peach growers of Grand Rapids to place their crops at a profit in
+the markets of Buffalo and Pittsburg; the rich orchards and vineyards of
+Southern California find their chief outlet in the cities of the
+manufacturing Northeast--three thousand miles away. During the forty
+years, from 1860, the exports of wheat from this country increased from
+four million bushels annually to one hundred and forty million bushels;
+of corn, from three and one-third million bushels to one hundred and
+seventy-five million bushels; of beef products, from twenty million
+pounds to three hundred and seventy million pounds; of pork products,
+from ninety-eight million pounds to seventeen hundred million pounds.
+And not only do the grain and stock farmers find this outlet for their
+surplus products, but we are beginning to ship abroad high-grade fruit
+and first-class dairy products in considerable quantities. Low rates of
+freight, modern methods of refrigeration, express freight trains, fast
+freight steamers--the whole machinery of the commercial and financial
+world are at the service of the new farmer. Science, also, has found a
+world of work in ministering to the needs of agriculture, and in a
+hundred different ways the new farmer finds helps that have sprung up
+from the broadcast sowing of the hand of science.
+
+But perhaps even more remarkable opportunities come to the new farmer in
+those social agencies that tend to remove the isolation of the country;
+that assist in educating the farmer broadly; that give farmers as a
+class more influence in legislature and congress, and that, in fine,
+make rural life more worth the living. The new farmer cannot be
+explained until one is somewhat familiar with the character of these
+rural social agencies. They have already been enumerated and classified
+in a previous chapter; they will be more fully described in subsequent
+chapters.
+
+It must not be supposed that every successful farmer is necessarily a
+supporter of all of these social agencies. He may be a prosperous farmer
+just because he is good at the art of farming, or because he is a keen
+business man. But more and more he is coming to see that these things
+are opportunities that he cannot afford to disregard. Indeed, some of
+these institutions are largely the creation of the new farmer himself.
+He is using them as tools to fashion a better rural social structure.
+
+But they also fashion him. They serve to explain him, in great part.
+Competition inspires the farmer to his best efforts. The opportunity
+offered by these new and growing advantages gives him the implements
+wherewith to make his rightful niche in the social and industrial
+system.
+
+It would be erroneous to suppose that the new farmer is a _rara avis_.
+He is not. The spirit pervading the ranks of farmers is rapidly
+changing. We have been in a state of transition in agriculture. But the
+farther shore has been reached and the bridge is possible. The army of
+rural advancement is being recruited with great rapidity. The advance
+guard is more than a body of scouts, it is an effective brigade.
+
+I want also to make a plea for the mossback. He must not be condemned
+utterly. Remember that competition among farmers has been intense; that
+rural environment breeds conservatism. Remember also that the farmer
+cannot change his methods as rapidly as can some other business men.
+Remember, too, that there is comparatively small chance for speculation
+in agriculture; that large aggregates of capital cannot be collected for
+farming, and consequently, that the approved means for securing immense
+wealth, great industrial advancement, and huge enterprises are nearly
+absent in agriculture. Remember that the voices calling from the city
+deplete the country of many good farmers as well as of many poor ones.
+Moreover, there are many men on farms who perhaps don't care for
+farming, but who for some reason cannot get away. On the farm a man need
+not starve; he can make a livelihood. Doubtless this simple fact is
+responsible for a multitude of mossbacks. They can live without
+strenuous endeavor. Possibly a good many of us are strenuous because we
+are pushed into it. So I have a good deal of sympathy for the mossback,
+and a mild sort of scorn for some of his critics, who probably could not
+do any better than he is doing if they essayed the gentle art of
+agriculture. I also have sympathy for the mossback particularly because
+he is the man that needs attention. The new farmer takes the initiative.
+He patronizes these opportunities that we have been talking about. But
+the mossback, because he is discouraged, or because he is ignorant, or
+perhaps merely because he is conservative, takes little interest in
+these things. About one farmer in ten belongs to some sort of farmers'
+association. Thousands of farmers do not take an agricultural paper, and
+perhaps millions of them have not read an agricultural book. Right here
+comes in another fact. Every "new" farmer when full grown competes with
+every mossback. The educated farmer makes it still harder for the
+ignorant farmer to progress.
+
+The future of the American farmer is one of the most pregnant social
+problems with which we have to deal. There is indeed an issue involved
+in the success of the new farmer that is still more fundamental than any
+yet mentioned. The old farmer had a social standing that made him
+essentially a middle-class man. He was a landholder, he was independent,
+he was successful. He was the typical American citizen. The old farmer
+was father to the best blood of America. His sons and his sons' sons
+have answered to the roll call of our country's warriors, statesmen,
+writers, captains of industry.
+
+Can the new farmer maintain the same relative social status? And if he
+can, is he to be an aristocrat, a landlord, a captain of industry, and
+to bear rule over the mossback? And is the tribe of mossbacks destined
+to increase and become a caste of permanent tenants or peasants? Is the
+future American farmer to be the typical new farmer of the present, or
+are we traveling toward a social condition in which the tillers of the
+soil will be underlings? Is there coming a time when the "man with the
+hoe" will be the true picture of the American farmer, with a low
+standard of living, without ideals, without a chance for progress?
+
+We must eliminate the mossback. It is to be done largely by education
+and by co-operation. There must be a campaign for rural progress. There
+must be a union of the country school teacher, of the agricultural
+college professor, of the rural pastor, of the country editor, with the
+farmers themselves, for the production of an increased crop of new
+farmers. Anything that makes farm life more worth living, anything that
+banishes rural isolation, anything that dignifies the business of
+farming and makes it more prosperous, anything that broadens the
+farmer's horizon, anything that gives him a greater grasp of the rural
+movement, anything that makes him a better citizen, a better business
+man, or a better _man_, means the passing of the mossback.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CULTURE FROM THE CORN LOT[2]
+
+
+The question of questions that the college student asks himself is, What
+am I going to be? The surface query is, What am I going to _do_? But in
+his heart of hearts he ponders the deeper questions: What may I become
+in real intellectual and moral worth? How large a man, measured by the
+divine standards, will it be possible for me to grow into?
+
+These are the great questions because growth is the great end of life.
+That is what we are here for, to grow. To develop all our talents, all
+our possibilities, to increase our native powers of body, mind, and
+soul--this is life. It is important that we have a vocation. We must do
+something, and do it well. But the real end is not in working at a
+profession but in developing our abilities. Our symmetrical growth is
+the measure of our success as human beings.
+
+As the student looks out over the ocean of life and scans the horizon
+for signs of the wise course for him to take, he should decide whether
+the particular mode of life that now appeals to him will yield the
+greatest possible measure of growth. He must consult his tastes, his
+talents, his opportunities, his training. And the test question is, Will
+this line of work yield me the growth, the culture, I desire?
+
+But what are the elements that yield culture to an individual? Using
+culture in a very broad sense as a synonym for growth, we may say that
+the things contributing most to the culture of the average person are
+his work, his leisure, and his service to others. We may now try to
+answer the question we started with, as it presents itself to many a
+student in the agricultural colleges of our country. Will agriculture as
+a business, will the farm life and environment, contribute to the growth
+which I desire for myself? Can I extract culture from the corn lot?
+
+Let us first see if the work or vocation of farming gives culture. My
+answer would be that there is scarcely an occupation to be named that
+requires broader knowledge, more accurate observation, or the exercise
+of better judgment than does modern farming. The farmer deals with the
+application of many sciences. He must be an alert business man. He
+requires executive talent of no mean order. The study of his occupation
+in its wider phases leads him into direct contact with political
+economy, social movements, and problems of government. The questions
+confronting him as a farmer relate themselves to the leading realms of
+human knowledge and experience. I speak of course of the progressive
+farmer, who makes the best use of his opportunities. He can hardly hope
+to become immensely wealthy, but he can maintain that modest standard of
+living that usually is the lot of our most useful and cultured people
+and that ministers as a rule most fully to the ideal family life. The
+truly modern farmer cannot help growing.
+
+There is much hard work on the farm. Yet on the whole there is fully as
+much leisure as in most other occupations. There is time to read, and
+books are today so easily accessible that living in the country is no
+bar to the bookshelf. Better than time to read is time to think. The
+farmer has always been a man who pondered things in his heart. He has
+had a chance to meditate. No culture is sound except it has been bought
+by much thinking; all else is veneer. Farm life gives in good measure
+this time to think. But it is in nature that the farmer finds or may
+find his most fertile field for culture. Here he is at home. Here he
+may revel if he will. Here he may find the sources of mind-liberation
+and of soul-emancipation. He may be the envy of everyone who dwells in
+the city because he lives so near to nature's heart. Bird and flower,
+sky and tree, rock and running brook speak to him a various language. He
+may read God's classics, listen to the music of divine harmonies, and
+roam the picture galleries of the Eternal. So too in his dealings with
+his kind, he lives close to men and women who are frank, virile, direct,
+clean, independent. The culture coming from such associations is above
+price. One learns to pierce all shams, to honor essential manhood, to
+keep pure the fountains of sympathy, ambition, and love. Thus on the
+farm one may find full opportunity for that second means of culture,
+leisure.
+
+Another powerful agency for cultivating the human soul is service.
+Indeed, service is the dynamic of life. To be of use is the ambition
+that best stimulates real growth. Culture is the end of life, the spirit
+of service the motive power. So it is of this I would speak perhaps most
+fully, not only because it is a vital means of culture, but because it
+is also peculiarly the privilege and duty of the college man and the
+college woman. For let it be said that if any college student secures a
+diploma of any degree without having been seized upon by a high ambition
+to be of some use in the work of helping humanity forward, then have
+that person's years of study been in vain, and his teaching also vain.
+The college man comes not to be ministered unto but to minister. He has
+been poorly taught if he leaves college with no thought but for his
+material success. He must have had a vision of service, his lips touched
+with a coal from the altar of social usefulness, and his heart
+cultivated to respond to the call for any need he can supply, "Here am
+I, send me."
+
+I think it may safely be said that there is no field which offers better
+chance for leadership to the average college man or woman than does the
+farm. Take, for instance, politics. The majority of our states are
+agricultural states. The majority of our counties are agricultural
+counties. The agricultural vote is the determining factor in a large
+proportion of our elections. It follows inevitably that honest, strong
+farmers with the talent for leadership and the ability to handle
+themselves in competition with other political leaders have a
+marvelously fine chance for useful service.
+
+So is it in educational questions. Nowhere may the citizen come into
+closer contact with the educational problems of the day than through
+service on the rural school board. If he brings to this position trained
+intelligence, some acquaintance with educational questions, and a desire
+to keep in touch with the advancement of the times, he can do for his
+community a service that can hardly be imagined.
+
+Take another field--that of organization for farmers, constituting a
+problem of great significance. As yet this class of people is relatively
+unorganized, but the movement is growing and the need of well-trained
+leadership is vital. I cannot speak too strongly of the chance here
+offered for active, intelligent, masterful men and women in being of use
+as leaders and officials in the Grange and other farmers' organizations.
+
+So with the church question. One of the reasons for the slow progress of
+the country church is the conservatism in the pews as well as in the
+pulpit. The ardent member of the Young Men's Christian Association in
+college may feel that, in the country, there will be no outlet for his
+ambition to be of religious use to his fellow-men. This is a mistake.
+The work of the Young Men's Christian Association itself in the country
+districts is just beginning, and promises large growth. Wider service in
+the church, a community federation or union of different churches, the
+work of young people's societies and of the Sunday schools--all these
+afford abundant opportunity for the man or the woman qualified and
+willing.
+
+There are other lines of usefulness. Although I have stated that on the
+farm the opportunities for personal culture are great, it must be
+confessed that these opportunities are not fully utilized by the average
+farmer's family. Here then is a very wide field, especially for the
+farmer's wife. For if she is a cultivated college woman, she can through
+the woman's club, the Grange, the school, the nature-study club, the
+traveling library, and in scores of ways exercise an influence for good
+on the community that may have far greater results than would come from
+her efforts if expended in the average city. The farm home too has
+latent capacities that are yet to be developed. It ought to be the ideal
+home and, in many cases, it is. But there are not enough of such ideal
+homes in the country. No college woman with a desire to do her full
+service in the world ought for an instant to despise the chance for
+service as it exists on the farm.
+
+All of these opportunities so briefly suggested might be enlarged upon
+almost indefinitely, but the mere mention of them emphasizes the call
+for this service and this leadership. Nowhere are leaders more needed
+than in the country. The country has been robbed of many of its
+strongest and best. The city and perhaps the nation are gainers: but the
+country has suffered. From one point of view, the future of our farming
+communities depends upon the quality of leadership that we are to find
+there during the next generation.
+
+So we come back to our question, Can the farm be made to yield to the
+man or woman, residing upon it and making a living from it, that measure
+of growth and all-round development that the ambitious person wishes to
+attain? And our answer is, Yes. In its work, its leisure, its field for
+service, it may minister to sound culture. If you love the life and work
+of the farm, do not hesitate to choose that occupation for fear of
+becoming narrow or stunted. You can live there the full, free life. You
+can grow to your full stature there. You can get culture from the corn
+lot.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[2] Addressed to students in an agricultural college.
+
+
+
+
+THE AGENCIES OF PROGRESS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+EDUCATION FOR THE FARMER
+
+
+The two generations living subsequent to the year 1875 are to be
+witnesses of an era in American history that will be known as the age of
+industrial education. These years are to be the boundaries of a period
+when the general principle that every individual shall be properly
+trained for his or her occupation in life is to receive its practical
+application. Future generations will doubtless extend marvelously the
+limits to which the principle can be pushed in its ministrations to
+human endeavor, but we are in the time when the principle is first to
+receive general acceptation and is to be regarded as a fundamentally
+necessary fact of human progress.
+
+We are already "witnesses of the light." Even within the memory of young
+men has it come to pass that the old wine skins of the old educational
+institutions have been filled with the new wine of science and of
+knowledge and training applied to the industries and businesses of life.
+
+Agriculture has perhaps been slow to feel the current of the new wine
+as it flows from the wine press of fast-growing industrial and social
+need. But the least hopeful of us can, I am sure, already see signs of a
+vast awakening. The farm, as well as the pulpit, the bar, the
+schoolroom, the shop, the counting-room, is breathing in the new idea
+that knowledge and training can be made of use to every man.
+
+This awakening is due not merely to the desire of agriculturists to be
+in fashion, nor to the efforts of agricultural pedagogues, but to a real
+need. It is common knowledge that in America we have not farmed, but
+have mined the soil. We have "skimmed the cream" of fertility, and
+passed on to conquer new areas of virgin soil. This pioneer farming has
+required hard work, enterprise, courage, and all the noble traits of
+character that have made our American pioneers famous and that have
+within a century subdued a wilderness to civilization. But the farmer of
+today faces a new situation. The fertile lands are fairly well occupied.
+The old lands are depleted. These old lands must be handled skilfully if
+they are to produce profitably. They must be used because there is
+little else to use, and because they are near the best markets.
+Meantime, scientists have been studying the deep things of nature, and
+have been learning the laws that govern soil, plant, and animal. Thus we
+have the farmer's need met by the theorist's discoveries. The farmer, to
+avail himself of these discoveries must know their meaning and be able
+to apply the general principle to the specific case. This means
+agricultural education.
+
+Then again, the consumption of high-class products increases at least as
+rapidly as does our wealth. The demand comes not alone from the rich,
+but from the middle classes of our cities. Skilled artisans are large
+consumers of choice meats, fruits, and vegetables. To grow these
+high-grade products means skill, and skill means training, and training
+in the large sense means education.
+
+The need for agricultural education, is, then, a real and vital one. It
+is pressed upon us by economic and social conditions. It is in line with
+the movement of the age.
+
+In discussing agricultural education, we must not forget that the farmer
+is also a citizen and a man. He should be an intelligent citizen, and
+should therefore study questions of government. As a man, he should be
+the equal of other men of his same social rank. He therefore needs a
+good general education. He is more than mere farmer. While as farmer he
+must connect his business with its environment and out of his
+surroundings gain sound culture; while he should know nature, not only
+as its master, but as its friend; he should also be in sympathy with all
+that makes modern civilization worth while. And even as mere farmer, he
+finds himself face to face with grave social problems. He must not only
+produce but he must sell, and his selling powers are governed by
+conditions of the market, by transportation facilities and practices,
+and are affected by the laws of the land. Hence he must be a student of
+these problems and must know the broad phases of agriculture and its
+relations to other industries.
+
+No intelligent man doubts the need of agricultural education. Let us,
+then, say a word about the kind of education demanded. This question is
+settled very largely by the discussion we have just had about the need
+of this education. First of all, this education will give a fair mastery
+of the principles that govern proper soil management and plant and
+animal growth. This is fundamental. The farmer is dealing with natural
+laws, and he must know in them their applications. He cannot be blind
+to their dominance. They insist on recognition. They are jealous masters
+and good servants. Nature serves only the man who obeys her. To obey he
+must know. The truth shall make him free. How to secure larger crops of
+better products at less cost and still maintain soil fertility, is the
+first demand of modern agriculture, and its solution depends in large
+measure upon education.
+
+But education does not stop here. The farmer is also a seller as well as
+a producer. He is a business man. He is manager of an industry. He is an
+investor of capital. So the question will arise, Can he get any help
+from education in the handling of the business phases of his farm? He
+certainly can. You cannot teach a man business in the sense of supplying
+him with good sense, business judgment, ability to handle men, and so
+on. But you can study the general conditions that govern the business of
+agriculture, and you can report the results of your researches to the
+practical farmer; and he, if he is willing, may learn much that will be
+helpful to him in deciding the many difficult questions that confront
+him as a business man. Farm administration in its largest sense will,
+then, be a most important phase of agricultural education.
+
+It is quite possible for the individual farmer to succeed admirably if
+he is equipped with a sound training in the principles of production and
+in farm management. But there are still larger questions that farmers as
+a class must meet if agriculture is to have its full success and if the
+farmer himself is to occupy the social position he ought to have.
+Agriculture is an industry among industries. Farmers are a class among
+classes. As an industry, agriculture has relations to other industries.
+It is subject to economic laws. It involves something more than growing
+and selling. The nature of the market, railroad rates, effects of the
+tariff and of taxation, are questions vital to agriculture. So with the
+farmers socially considered. Their opportunities for social life, their
+school facilities, their church privileges, their associations and
+organizations--all these are important matters. So agricultural
+education will not fail to call attention to these larger questions.
+
+The well-educated farmer will, then, be trained in three lines of
+thought--first, that which deals with the growth of products; second,
+that which deals with the selling of products; and third, that which
+deals with agriculture as an industry and farmers as a class of people.
+
+We may next discuss as briefly as possible the methods by which
+agricultural education may be advanced. We may not consider all of them,
+but rather attend only to some of those agencies that seem of peculiar
+interest just at this time.
+
+There is one underlying requisite of successful agricultural education
+that is all-important. It is faith in agriculture. Any man to succeed
+grandly must have absolute faith in his business. So the farmer must
+believe in agriculture. Agriculture cannot attain its highest rank
+unless the men engaged in it believe in it most profoundly. They must
+believe that a man can make money in farming. They must love the farm
+life and surroundings. They must believe that the best days of
+agriculture are ahead of us, not behind us. They must believe that men
+can find in agriculture a chance to use brains and to develop talents
+and to utilize education. Agricultural education rests on this faith.
+Give us a state filled with such farmers and we can guarantee a strong
+system of agricultural education. But the seeds of education cannot grow
+in a soil barren of the richness of sentiment for and confidence in the
+farm. Our agricultural colleges have been criticized because they have
+graduated so few farmers. But the fault is not all with the colleges.
+The farmers also are to blame. They have not had faith enough in the
+farm to advise young men to go to college to prepare for farming. They
+admit the value of education for the law, for building railroads, but
+not for farming. This must be changed, is being changed. The last ten
+years have seen a revolution in this respect, and the result is a mighty
+increase in agricultural educational interest.
+
+One powerful means of agricultural education is the farmers'
+organization or association. All our dairy, horticultural, poultry, and
+live-stock associations are great educators. So of an organization like
+the Grange, its chief work is education. It brings mind in contact with
+mind; it gives chance for discussion and interchange of ideas; it trains
+in power of expression; it teaches the virtue of co-operation. Farmers
+blunder when they fail to encourage organization. Sometimes, out of
+foolish notions of independence, they neglect to unite their forces.
+They are utterly blind to their best interests when they do so. They
+should encourage organization if for no other reason than for the
+splendid educational advantages that flow from it.
+
+However, our chief interest is, perhaps, in those institutions that are
+formed purposely and especially for agricultural education and which are
+usually supported out of public funds. There are three great fields of
+endeavor in which these institutions are working. The first step is to
+know--to know the truth. So in agriculture we must know. Know what? Know
+how nature works. So the man of science studies the soil and finds out
+what plant-food it contains, how the water acts in it, what heat and air
+do, and the inter-relation of all these elements. He studies the plant
+and its habits and tries to discover how it grows and how it can be
+improved for man's use. He studies the animal and endeavors to learn
+what are the best foods for it and what laws govern its adaptation to
+human food. He studies climate and tries to find out what plants and
+animals are most appropriate to different locations. He studies
+injurious insects and diseases and devises remedies for them. He
+discovers, experiments. So we have research as the first term in
+agricultural education. The institutions of research are our experiment
+stations and United States Department of Agriculture. Their work may be
+likened to the plowing of the field. They strive to know how nature
+works, and how man can make use of her laws in the growing of plant and
+animal.
+
+The next thing is to teach. The farmer too must know. Knowledge confined
+to the scientist has little practical use. It is the farmer who can use
+it. Moreover, new teachers must be trained, new experimenters equipped,
+and leaders in every direction prepared. So we have agricultural
+colleges and schools. If experiment is to be likened to plowing, the
+work of the schools may be compared to sowing and cultivating.
+
+Agricultural colleges have been in existence in America almost fifty
+years. Their careers have been both inspiring and disappointing. They
+have had to train their own teachers, create a body of knowledge, break
+down the bars of educational prejudice. This work has taken time. The
+results justify the time and effort. For today agricultural education is
+becoming organized, the subjects of study are well planned, and
+competent men are teaching and experimenting. The disappointment is
+twofold. They have not graduated as many farmers as they should have.
+This is due not wholly to wrong notions in the colleges. It is, as
+suggested before, partly due to the lack of faith in agriculture on the
+part of the farmers themselves. But the colleges are in part to blame.
+Many of them have not been in close touch with the farmers. They have
+often been out of sympathy with the interests of the farmers. They have
+too frequently been servile imitators of the traditions of the older
+colleges, instead of striking out boldly on a line of original and
+helpful work for agriculture. Today, however, we see a rapid change
+going on in most of our agricultural colleges. They are seeking to help
+solve the farmers' difficulties. They are training young men for farm
+life. The farmers are responding to this new interest and are beginning
+to have great confidence in the colleges.
+
+It is sometimes said that most farmers who get an agricultural education
+cannot be trained in the colleges. Doubtless this is true. Probably a
+very small proportion even of educated farmers can or will graduate from
+a full course in an agricultural college. Many will do so. There is no
+reason why a large proportion of the graduates of our college courses in
+agriculture may not go to the farm. I have no sympathy with the idea
+that those courses are too elaborate for those young men who want to
+farm. It must be recognized, however, that even if our agricultural
+colleges shall graduate hundreds and thousands every year who return to
+the farm, it still leaves the great majority of farmers untouched in an
+educational way unless other means are devised. But there are other
+means at hand.
+
+We have first the agricultural school. The typical agricultural high
+school gives a course of two or three years, offering work of
+high-school grade in mathematics and English, with about half the time
+devoted to teaching in agriculture. Many young men want to get an
+insight into the principles of modern agriculture, but cannot afford
+time or money for college work. This course fits their need. A splendid
+school of this design has been in successful operation in Minnesota for
+more than a dozen years, and has nearly five hundred students. In
+Wisconsin there are two county schools of agriculture for a similar
+purpose. Other schools could be named.
+
+The agricultural colleges also offer shorter courses of college grade,
+perhaps of two years. These are very practical and useful courses. Not
+only that, but nearly all the colleges give special winter courses of
+from ten days to fourteen weeks. These are patronized by thousands of
+young men. So in many ways are the colleges meeting the need. We all
+agree that it is desirable for a young man to take a full college
+course, even in agriculture. But it is better to have a half-loaf than
+no bread. Yes, better to have a _slice_ than no bread. The colleges
+furnish the whole loaf, the half-loaf, and the slice. And young men are
+nourished by all.
+
+One reason why agricultural education has not made more rapid progress
+is because the children of the country schools have been taught in such
+a manner as to lead them to think that there is no chance for brains in
+farming. Both their home influence and their school atmosphere have, in
+most cases perhaps, been working against their choice of agriculture as
+a vocation. It therefore becomes important that these children shall be
+so taught that they can see the opportunity in farming. They must,
+moreover, be so trained that they will be nature students; for the
+farmer above all men must be a nature student. So we see the need of
+introducing into our rural schools nature-study for the young pupils and
+elementary agriculture for the older ones. This is being successfully
+accomplished in many cases, and is arousing the greatest interest and
+meeting with gratifying success. We shall within ten years have a new
+generation of young men and women ready for college who have had their
+eyes opened as never before to the beauties of nature and to the
+fascination there is in the farmer's task of using nature for his own
+advantage.
+
+But when we have increased the attendance at our agricultural colleges
+tenfold; when we have hundreds of agricultural schools teaching
+thousands of our youth the fundamentals of agriculture; when each rural
+school in our broad land is instilling into the minds of children the
+nearness and beauty of nature and is teaching the young eyes to see and
+the young ears to hear what God hath wrought in his many works of land
+and sea and sky, in soil, and plant, and living animal--even when that
+happy day shall dawn will we find multitudes of men and women on our
+farms still untouched by agricultural education. These people must be
+reached. The mere fact that their school days are forever behind them is
+no reason why they shall not receive somewhat of the inspiration and
+guidance that flow from the schools. So we have an imperative demand for
+the extension of agricultural teaching out from the schools to the farm
+community. The school thus not only sheds its light upon those who are
+within its gates, but sets out on the beautiful errand of carrying this
+same light into every farm home in the land. This work is being done
+today by thousands of farmers' institutes, by demonstrations in spraying
+and in many other similar lines, by home-study courses and
+correspondence courses, by co-operative experiments, by the distribution
+of leaflets and bulletins, by lectures at farmers' gatherings, by
+traveling schools of dairying. These methods and others like them are
+being invoked for the purpose of bringing to the farmers in their homes
+and neighborhoods some of the benefits that the colleges and schools
+bestow upon their pupils.
+
+We have seen something of the need of agricultural education, of the
+kind of education required, and of the means used to secure it. Does not
+this discussion at least show the supreme importance of the question?
+Will not the farmers rally themselves to and league themselves with the
+men who are trying to forward the best interests of the farm? Shall we
+not all work together for the betterment both of the farm and of the
+farmer?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+FARMERS' INSTITUTES
+
+
+A decade and a half ago, there was a vigorous campaign for the
+establishment of university extension throughout the United States.
+Generally speaking the campaign was a losing one--with but a few
+successes amid general failure. But many years before this agitation,
+there was begun a work among farmers, which in form and spirit was
+university extension, and which has constantly developed until it is
+today one of the most potent among the forces making for rural progress.
+This work has been done chiefly by what are now universally known as
+farmers' institutes.
+
+The typical farmers' institute is a meeting usually lasting two days,
+held for the purpose of discussing subjects that relate to the interests
+of farmers, more particularly those of a practical character. As a rule,
+the speakers to whom set topics are assigned are composed of two
+classes: the first class is made up of experts, either professors or
+experimenters in agricultural colleges and similar institutions, or
+practical farmers who have made such a study of, and such a conspicuous
+success in, some branch of agriculture that they may well be called
+experts; the second class comprises farmers living in the locality in
+which the institute is held. The experts are expected to understand
+general principles or methods, and the local speakers the conditions
+peculiar to the neighborhood.
+
+The meeting usually begins in the forenoon and ends with the afternoon
+session of the second day--five sessions being held. As a rule, not over
+two or three separate topics are treated in any one session, and in a
+well-planned institute topics of a like character are grouped together,
+so that there may be a fruit session, a dairy session, etc. Each topic
+is commonly introduced by a talk or paper of twenty to forty minutes'
+length. This is followed by a general discussion in which those in the
+audience are invited to ask questions of the speaker relevant to the
+topic under consideration, or to express opinions and give experiences
+of their own.
+
+This is a rough outline of the average farmers' institute, but of course
+there are many variations. There are one-day meetings and there are
+three-day meetings, and in recent years the one-day meetings have grown
+in favor; in some states local speakers take little part; in some
+institutes a question-box is a very prominent feature, in others it is
+omitted altogether; in some cases the evening programme is made up of
+educational topics, or of home topics, or is even arranged largely for
+amusement; in other instances the evening session is omitted. In most
+institutes women are recognized through programme topics of special
+interest to them.
+
+It is not important to trace the early history of the farmers' institute
+movement, and indeed it is not very easy to say precisely when and where
+the modern institute originated. Farmers' meetings of various sorts were
+held early in the century. As far back as 1853 the secretary of the
+Massachusetts Board of Agriculture recommended that farmers' institutes
+be made an established means of agricultural education. By 1871 Illinois
+and Iowa held meetings called farmers' institutes, itinerant in
+character, and designed to call together both experts and farmers, but
+neither state kept up the work systematically. Both Vermont and New
+Hampshire have held institutes annually since 1871, though they did not
+bear that name in the early years. Michigan has a unique record, having
+held regularly, since 1876, annual farmers' institutes, "so known and
+designated," which always have contained practically the essential
+features of the present-day institute. The Michigan legislature passed a
+law in 1861 providing for "lectures to others than students of the
+Agricultural College," and has made biennial appropriations for
+institutes since 1877. Ohio, in 1881, extended the institute idea to
+include every county in the state.
+
+More important than the origin of the farmers' institute movement is the
+present status. Practically every state and territory in the Union
+carries on institutes under some form or other. In somewhat more than
+half the states, the authorities of the land-grant colleges have charge
+of the work. In the other states, the board of agriculture or the
+department of agriculture has control.
+
+In 1905-6 there were held 3,500 institutes, in 45 states and
+territories, with a total reported attendance of 1,300,000 people, at a
+cost of nearly $350,000. The work is largely supported by the state
+treasuries, some of the states showing a most generous spirit. The
+annual state appropriations for the work in leading institute states are
+as follows: Pennsylvania, $20,500; New York, $20,000; Minnesota,
+$18,000; Illinois, $17,150; Ohio, $16,747; Wisconsin, $12,000; Indiana,
+$10,000. In these states practically every county has annually from one
+to five institutes.
+
+Institutes in no two states are managed in the same way, but the system
+has fitted itself to local notions and perhaps to local needs. A rough
+division may be made--those states which have some form of central
+control and those which do not have. Even among states having a central
+management are found all degrees of centralization; Wisconsin and Ohio
+may be taken as the extremes. In Wisconsin the director of institutes,
+who is an employee of the university, has practically complete charge of
+the institutes. He assigns the places where the meetings are to be held,
+basing his decision upon the location of former institutes in the
+various counties, upon the eagerness which the neighborhoods seem to
+manifest toward securing the institute, etc. He arranges the programme
+for each meeting, suiting the topics and speakers to local needs,
+prepares advertising materials, and sets the dates of the meeting. A
+local correspondent looks after a proper hall for meeting, distributes
+the advertising posters, and bears a certain responsibility for the
+success of the institute. Meetings are arranged in series, and a corps
+of two or three lecturers is sent by the director upon a week's tour.
+One of these lecturers is called a conductor. He usually presides over
+the institute and keeps the discussions in proper channels. Practice
+makes him an expert. The state lecturers do most of the talking. Local
+speakers do not bear any large share in the programme. Questions are
+freely asked, however.
+
+Ohio has an institute society in each county, and this society largely
+controls its own institutes. The secretary of the State Board of
+Agriculture, who has charge of the system, assigns dates and speakers to
+each institute. After that everything is in the hands of the local
+society, which chooses the topics to be presented by the state speakers,
+advertises the meeting, and the society president acts as presiding
+officer. Local speakers usually occupy half the time.
+
+It does not seem as if either of these plans in its entirety were
+ideal--the one an extreme of centralized control, the other an extreme
+of local management. Yet in practice both plans work well. No states in
+the Union have better institutes nor better results from institute work
+than Wisconsin and Ohio. Skill, intelligence, and tact count for more
+than particular institutions.
+
+New York may be said to follow the Wisconsin plan. Minnesota goes even a
+step farther; instead of holding several series of institutes
+simultaneously in different parts of the state, attended by different
+"crews," the whole corps of state speakers attends every institute. No
+set programmes are arranged. Everything depends upon local conditions.
+This system is expensive, but under present guidance very effective.
+Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylvania have adopted systems which are a
+mean between the plan of centralization and the plan of localization.
+Illinois has a plan admirably designed to encourage local interest,
+while providing for central management.
+
+Few other states have carried institute work so far as the states
+already named, and in some cases there seems to be a prejudice against a
+well-centralized and fully-developed system--a feeling that each
+locality may be self-sufficing in institute work. But this attitude is
+wearing away, for experience serves to demonstrate fully the value of
+system. The danger of centralization is bureaucracy; but in institute
+work, if the management fails to provide for local needs, and to furnish
+acceptable speakers, vigorous protests soon correct the aberration.
+
+It has been stated that in America we have no educational _system_--that
+spontaneity is the dominant feature of American education. This is
+certainly true of farmers' institutes. So it has transpired that
+numerous special features have come in to use in various
+states--features of value and interest. It may be worth while to suggest
+some of the more characteristic of these features, without attempting an
+exact category.
+
+Formerly the only way in which women were recognized at the institutes
+was by home and social topics on the programme, though women have always
+attended the meetings freely. Some years ago Minnesota and Wisconsin
+added women speakers to their list of state speakers, and in the case of
+Wisconsin, at least, held a separate session for women, simultaneously
+with one or two sessions of the regular institute, with demonstration
+lectures in cooking as the chief features. Michigan holds "women's
+sections" in connection with institutes, but general topics are taken
+up. In Ontario separate women's institutes have been organized. In
+Illinois a State Association of Domestic Science has grown out of the
+institutes. Thus institute work has broadened to the advantage of farm
+women.
+
+At many institutes there are exhibits of farm and domestic products--a
+sort of midwinter fair. Oftentimes the merchants of the town in which
+the institute is held offer premiums as an inducement to the farmers.
+
+In Wisconsin an educational feature of much value takes the form of
+stock-judging--usually at the regular autumn fairs. The judges give
+their reasons for their decisions, thus emphasizing the qualities that
+go to make up a perfect or desirable animal.
+
+In several states there is held an annual state institute called a
+"round-up," "closing institute," or the like. It is intended to be a
+largely attended and representative state convention of agriculturists,
+for the purpose of discussing topics of general interest to men and
+women from the farms. These meetings are frequently very large and
+enthusiastic gatherings.
+
+The county institute society is a part of the organization in some
+instances very well developed. It gives permanency to the work and
+arouses local interest and pride.
+
+The development of men and women into suitable state speakers is an
+interesting phase. As a rule the most acceptable speakers are men who
+have made a success in some branch of farming, and who also have
+cultivated the gift of clear and simple expression. Not a few of these
+men become adepts in public speaking and achieve a reputation outside of
+their own states. In several states there is held a "normal
+institute"--an autumn meeting lasting a week or two weeks, and bringing
+together, usually at the state college of agriculture, the men who are
+to give the lectures at the institutes of the winter to follow. The
+object of the gathering is to bring the lecturers into close contact
+with the latest things in agricultural science, and to train them for
+more effective work.
+
+A few years ago the United States Department of Agriculture employed an
+experienced institute director to give all his time to the study and
+promotion of farmers' institutes. This incident is suggestive of the
+important place which institutes have secured in the work for better
+farming.
+
+The results of a generation of institute work are not easy to summarize.
+It is safe to make a broad generalization by asserting that this form
+of agricultural education has contributed in a remarkable degree to
+better farming. The best methods of farming have been advocated from the
+institute platform. Agricultural college professors, and agricultural
+experimenters have talked of the relations of science to practical
+farming. The farmers have come to depend upon the institute as a means
+for gaining up-to-date information.
+
+And if institutes have informed, they have also done what is still
+better--they have inspired. They have gone into many a dormant farm
+community and awakened the whole neighborhood to a quicker life. They
+have started discussions, set men thinking, brought in a breath of fresh
+air. They have given to many a farmer an opportunity for
+self-development as a ready speaker.
+
+Other educational agencies, such as the agricultural colleges and
+experiment stations, have profited by institutes. No one thing has done
+more than the institutes to popularize agricultural education, to stir
+up interest in the colleges, to make the farmers feel in touch with the
+scientists.
+
+Farmers' institutes are a phase of university extension, and it is as a
+part of the extension movement that they are bound to increase in value
+and importance. Reading-courses and correspondence-courses are growing
+factors in this extension movement, but the power of the spoken word is
+guarantee that the farmers' institute cannot be superseded in fact. And
+it is worth noting again, that while university extension has not been
+the success in this country which its friends of a decade ago fondly
+prophesied for it, its humbler cousin--agricultural college
+extension--has been a conspicuous success, and is acquiring a constantly
+increasing power among the educational agencies that are trying to deal
+with the farm problem.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE HESPERIA MOVEMENT
+
+
+The gulf between parent and teacher is too common a phenomenon to need
+exposition. The existence of the chasm is probably due more to
+carelessness, to the pressure of time, or to indolence than to any more
+serious delinquencies; yet all will admit the disastrous effects that
+flow from the fact that there is not the close intellectual and
+spiritual sympathy that there should be between the school and the home.
+It needs no argument to demonstrate the value of any movement that has
+for its purpose the bridging of the gulf. But it is an omen of
+encouragement to find that there are forces at work designed to bring
+teacher and school patron into a closer working harmony. A statement of
+the history and methods of some of these agencies may therefore well
+have a place in a discussion of rural progress. For the movements to be
+described are essentially rural-school movements. Of first interest is
+an attempt which has been made in the state of Michigan to bridge the
+gulf--to create a common standing-ground for both teacher and
+parent--and on that basis to carry on an educational campaign that it is
+hoped will result in the many desirable conditions which, a priori,
+might be expected from such a union. At present the movement is confined
+practically to the rural schools. It consists in the organization of a
+county Teachers and Patrons' Association, with a membership of teachers
+and school patrons, properly officered. Its chief method of work is to
+hold one or more meetings a year, usually in the country or in small
+villages, and the programme is designed to cover educational questions
+in such a way as to be of interest and profit to both teachers and
+farmers.
+
+This movement was indigenous to Michigan--its founders worked out the
+scheme on their own initiative, and to this day its promoters have never
+drawn upon any resources outside the state for suggestion or plan. But
+if the friends of rural education elsewhere shall be attracted by this
+method of solving one of the vexed phases of their problem, I hope that
+they will describe it as "the Hesperia movement." For the movement
+originated in Hesperia, was developed there, and its entire success in
+Hesperia was the reason for its further adoption. Hesperia deserves any
+renown that may chance to come from the widespread organization of
+Teachers and Patrons' Associations.
+
+And where is Hesperia? It lies about forty miles north and west of Grand
+Rapids--a mere dot of a town, a small country village at least twelve or
+fifteen miles from any railroad. It is on the extreme eastern side of
+Oceana County, surrounded by fertile farming lands, which have been
+populated by a class of people who may be taken as a type of
+progressive, successful, intelligent American farmers. Many of them are
+of Scotch origin. Partly because of their native energy, partly,
+perhaps, because their isolation made it necessary to develop their own
+institutions, these people believe in and support good schools, the
+Grange, and many progressive movements.
+
+For several years there had existed in Oceana County the usual county
+teachers' association. But, because Hesperia was so far from the center
+of the county, and because it was not easily accessible, the teachers
+who taught schools in the vicinity could rarely secure a meeting of the
+association at Hesperia; and in turn they found it difficult to attend
+the meetings held in the western part of the county. A few years ago it
+chanced that this group of teachers was composed of especially bright,
+energetic, and original young men and women. They determined to have an
+association of their own. It occurred to someone that it would add
+strength to their organization if the farmers were asked to meet with
+them. The idea seemed to "take," and the meetings became quite popular.
+This was during the winter of 1885-86. Special credit for this early
+venture belongs to Mr. E. L. Brooks, still of Hesperia and an
+ex-president of the present association, and to Dr. C. N. Sowers, of
+Benton Harbor, Mich., who was one of the teachers during the winter
+named, and who was elected secretary of the Board of School Examiners in
+1887. Mr. Brooks writes:
+
+
+     The programmes were so arranged that the participants in
+     discussions and in the reading of papers were about equally divided
+     between teachers and patrons. An active interest was awakened from
+     the start. For one thing, it furnished a needed social gathering
+     during the winter for the farmers. The meetings were held on
+     Saturdays, and the schoolhouse favored was usually well filled. The
+     meetings were not held at any one schoolhouse, but were made to
+     circulate among the different schools. These gatherings were so
+     successful that similar societies were organized in other portions
+     of the country.
+
+
+In 1892, Mr. D. E. McClure, who has since (1896-1900) been deputy
+superintendent of public instruction of Michigan, was elected
+county-school commissioner of Oceana County. Mr. McClure is a man of
+great enthusiasm and made a most successful commissioner. He conceived
+the idea that this union of teachers and patrons could be made of the
+greatest value, in stimulating both teachers and farmers to renewed
+interest in the real welfare of the children as well as a means of
+securing needed reforms. His first effort was to prepare a list of books
+suitable for pupils in all grades of the rural schools. He also prepared
+a rural lecture-course, as well as a plan for securing libraries for the
+schools. All these propositions were adopted by a union meeting of
+teachers and farmers. His next step was to unite the interests of
+eastern Oceana County and western Newaygo County (Newaygo lying directly
+east of Oceana), and in 1893 there was organized the "Oceana and Newaygo
+Counties Joint Grangers and Teachers' Association," the word "Granger"
+being inserted because of the activity of the Grange in support of the
+movement. Mr. McClure has pardonable pride in this effort of his, and
+his own words will best describe the development of the movement:
+
+
+     This association meets Thursday night and continues in session
+     until Saturday night. Some of the best speakers in America have
+     addressed the association. Dr. Arnold Tompkins, in speaking before
+     the association, said it was a wonderful association and the only
+     one of its character in the United States.
+
+     What was my ideal in organizing such associations?
+
+     1. To unite the farmers who pay the taxes that support the schools,
+     the home-makers, the teachers, the pupils, into a co-operative work
+     for better rural-school education.
+
+     2. To give wholesome entertainment in the rural districts, which
+     from necessity are more or less isolated.
+
+     3. To create a taste for good American literature in home and
+     school, and higher ideals of citizenship.
+
+     4. Summed up in all, to make the rural schools character-builders,
+     to rid the districts of surroundings which destroy character, such
+     as unkept school yards, foul, nasty outhouses, poor, unfit
+     teachers. These reforms, you understand, come only through a
+     healthy educational sentiment which is aroused by a sympathetic
+     co-operation of farm, home, and school.
+
+     What results have I been able to discover growing out of this work?
+     Ideals grow so slowly that one cannot measure much progress in a
+     few years. We are slaves to conditions, no matter how hard, and we
+     suffer them to exist rather than arouse ourselves and shake them
+     off. The immediate results are better schools, yards,
+     out-buildings, schoolrooms, teachers, literature for rural people
+     to read.
+
+     Many a father and mother whose lives have been broken upon the
+     wheel of labor have heard some of America's orators, have read some
+     of the world's best books, because of this movement, and their
+     lives have been made happier, more influential, more hopeful.
+
+     Thousands of people have been inspired, made better, at the
+     Hesperia meetings.
+
+
+In western Michigan the annual gathering at Hesperia is known far and
+wide as "the big meeting." The following extract from the Michigan
+_Moderator-Topics_ indicates in the editor's breezy way the impression
+the meeting for 1906 made upon an observer:
+
+
+     Hesperia scores another success. Riding over the fourteen miles
+     from the railroad to Hesperia with Governor Warner and D. E.
+     McClure, we tried to make the latter believe that the crowd would
+     not be forthcoming on that first night of the fourteenth annual
+     "big meeting." It was zero weather and mighty breezy. For such a
+     movement to succeed two years is creditable, to hold out for five
+     is wonderful, to last ten is marvelous, but to grow bigger and
+     better for fourteen years is a little short of miraculous. McClure
+     is recognized as the father of the movement and his faith didn't
+     waver a hair's breadth. And sure enough there was the
+     crowd--standing room only, to hear the governor and see the great
+     cartoonist J. T. McCutcheon of the _Chicago Tribune_. For three
+     evenings and two days the big hall is crowded with patrons, pupils
+     and teachers from the towns and country round. During the fourteen
+     years that these meetings have been held, the country community has
+     heard some of the world's greatest speakers. The plan has been
+     adopted by other counties in Michigan and other states both east
+     and west. Its possibilities are well-nigh unlimited and its power
+     for good is immeasurable. Everyone connected with it may well feel
+     proud of the success attending the now famous "Hesperia Movement."
+
+
+In 1897, Kent County, Michigan (of which Grand Rapids is the county
+seat), organized a Teachers and Patrons' Association that is worth a
+brief description, although in more recent years its work has been
+performed by other agencies. It nevertheless serves as a good example of
+a well-organized association designed to unite the school and home
+interests of rural communities. It was for several years signally
+successful in arousing interest in all parts of the county. Besides, it
+made a departure from the Oceana-Newaygo plan which must be considered
+advantageous for most counties. The Hesperia meeting is an annual
+affair, with big crowds and abundant enthusiasm. The Kent County
+association was itinerant. The membership included teachers, school
+officers, farmers generally, and even pupils. An attempt was made to
+hold monthly meetings during the school year, but for various reasons
+only five or six meetings a year were held. The meetings usually
+occurred in some Grange hall, the Grange furnishing entertainment for
+the guests. There were usually three sessions--Friday evening and
+Saturday forenoon and afternoon. The average attendance was nearly five
+hundred, about one-tenth being teachers; many teachers as well as
+farmers went considerable distances to attend.
+
+The Kent County association did not collect any fees from its members,
+the Teachers' Institute fund of the county being sufficient to provide
+for the cost of lectures at the association meetings. Permission for
+this use of the fund was obtained from the state superintendent of
+public instruction. Some counties have a membership fee; at Hesperia,
+the fee is 50 cents, and a membership ticket entitles its holder to a
+reserved seat at all sessions. The Kent County association also
+suggested a reading-course for its members.
+
+The success of the work in Kent County was due primarily to the fact
+that the educators and the farmers and their leaders are in especially
+close sympathy. And right there is the vital element of success in this
+work. The initiative must be taken by the educators, but the plan must
+be thoroughly democratic, and teacher and farmer must be equally
+recognized in all particulars. The results of the work in Kent County
+were thus summarized by the commissioner of schools of the county:
+
+
+     To teachers, the series of meetings is a series of mid-year
+     institutes. Every argument in favor of institutes applies with all
+     its force to these associations. To farmers they afford a near-by
+     lecture course, accessible to all members of the family, and of as
+     high grade as those maintained in the larger villages. To the
+     schools, the value is in the general sentiment and interest
+     awakened. The final vote on any proposed school improvement is
+     taken at the annual school meeting, and the prevailing sentiment in
+     the neighborhood has everything to do with this vote. And not only
+     this, but the general interest of patrons may help and cheer both
+     teacher and pupils throughout the year. On the other hand,
+     indifference and neglect may freeze the life out of the most
+     promising school. There is no estimating the value to the schools
+     in this respect.
+
+
+The Kent County association had a very simple constitution. It is
+appended here for the benefit of any who may desire to begin this
+beneficent work of endeavoring to draw more closely together rural
+schools and country homes.
+
+
+     ARTICLE I.--NAME
+
+     This association shall be known as "The Kent County Teachers and
+     Patrons' Association."
+
+
+     ARTICLE II.--MEMBERSHIP
+
+     Any person may become a member of this association by assenting to
+     this constitution and paying the required membership fee.
+
+
+     ARTICLE III.--OBJECTS
+
+     The object of this association shall be the promotion of better
+     educational facilities in all ways and the encouragement of social
+     and intellectual culture among its members.
+
+
+     ARTICLE IV.--MEETINGS
+
+     At least five meetings of the association shall be held each year,
+     during the months of October, November, January, February, and
+     March, the dates and places of meetings to be determined and
+     announced by the executive committee. Special meetings may be
+     called at the election of the executive committee.
+
+
+     ARTICLE V.--OFFICERS
+
+     SECTION 1. The officers of the association shall be a president, a
+     vice-president, a secretary, a treasurer, and an executive
+     committee composed of five members to be appointed by the
+     president.
+
+     SEC. 2. The election of officers shall occur at the regular meeting
+     of the association in the month of October.
+
+     SEC. 3. The duties of each officer shall be such as parliamentary
+     usage assigns, respectively, according to Cushing's Manual.
+
+     SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the executive committee to arrange
+     a schedule of meetings and to provide suitable lecturers and
+     instructors for the same on or before the first day of September of
+     each year. It shall be the further duty of this committee to devise
+     means to defray the expenses incurred for lecturers and
+     instructors. All meetings shall be public, and no charge for
+     admission shall be made, except by order of the executive
+     committee.
+
+
+     ARTICLE VI.--COURSE OF READING
+
+     SECTION 1. The executive committee may also recommend a course of
+     reading to be pursued by members, and it shall be their duty to
+     make such other recommendations from time to time as shall have for
+     their object the more effective carrying out of the purposes of the
+     association.
+
+
+Whether the Oceana County plan of a set annual meeting or the Kent
+County plan of numerous itinerant meetings is the better one depends
+much on the situation. It is not improbable that itinerant meetings,
+with an annual "round-up" meeting of the popular type as the great event
+of the school year, would be very satisfactory.
+
+Other counties in the state have taken up the Hesperia idea. In some
+cases associations similar to the Kent County association have been
+developed. More recently the work has frequently been carried on by the
+county commissioner of schools directly. "Institutes on wheels" have
+become a factor in the campaign for better rural schools. One
+commissioner writes:
+
+
+     My aim has been to bring into very close relationship teachers,
+     patrons, and pupils. This is done, in part, in the following
+     manner: I engage, for a week's work at a time, some educator of
+     state or national reputation to ride with me on my visitation of
+     schools. Through the day, schools are visited, pupils' work
+     inspected, and in the evening, a rally is held in the locality
+     visited in that day. A circuit is made during the week, and Friday
+     evening and the Saturday following a general round-up is held. The
+     results of this work have been far reaching. Teachers, patrons, and
+     pupils are brought into close relationship and a higher standard of
+     education is developed.
+
+
+The form of organization matters little. The essential idea of the
+"Hesperia movement" was to bring together the teacher and the school
+patron on a common platform, to a common meeting-place, to discuss
+subjects of common interest. This idea must be vitalized in the rural
+community before that progress in rural-school matters which we desire
+shall become a fact.
+
+It is only fair to say that administrators of rural-school systems in
+several states are attempting in one way or another, and have done so
+for some years, to bring together teachers and school patrons. In Iowa
+there are mothers' clubs organized for the express purpose of promoting
+the best interests of the schools. In many of the communities the county
+superintendent organizes excursions, and holds school contests which are
+largely attended by patrons of the schools.
+
+Ohio has what is known as the "Ohio School Improvement Federation." Its
+objects are: (1) to create a wholesome educational sentiment in the
+citizenship of the state; (2) to remove the school from partisan
+politics; (3) to make teaching a profession, protected and justly
+compensated. County associations of the federation are being organized
+and the effort is being made to reach the patrons of the schools and to
+create the right public sentiment. In many of the teachers' institutes
+there is one session devoted entirely to subjects that are of special
+interest to the school-board members and to the patrons of the schools.
+Educational rallies are held in many of the townships, at which effort
+is made to get together all the citizens and have an exhibit of school
+work.
+
+In Minnesota, a law was passed recently to the effect that school
+officers within a county may attend one educational convention a year
+upon call of the county superintendent. They receive therefor, three
+dollars for one day's services and five cents mileage each way for
+attendance. Already a number of very successful conventions have been
+held, wherein all school districts in the counties have been
+represented.
+
+The county institutes in Pennsylvania are largely attended by the public
+and are designed to reach patrons as well as teachers.
+
+In Kansas, county superintendents have organized school-patrons'
+associations and school-board associations, both of which definitely
+purpose to bring together the school and the home and the officers of
+the school into one body and to co-operate with individuals for the
+purpose of bettering the school conditions.
+
+Doubtless other states are carrying on similar methods.
+
+An interesting movement wholly independent of the Hesperia plan has
+recently been put into operation under the leadership of Principal Myron
+T. Scudder of the State Normal School, New Paltz, N. Y. He has organized
+a series of country-school conferences. They grew out of a recognized
+need, but were an evolution rather than a definite scheme. The school
+commissioner, the teachers, and the Grange people of the community have
+joined in making up the conference. An attempt is also made to interest
+the pupils. At one conference there was organized an athletic league for
+the benefit of the boys of the country school. The practical phases of
+nature-study and manual training are treated on the programme, and at
+least one session is made a parents' meeting. There is no organization
+whatever.
+
+Dr. A. E. Winship, of the _Journal of Education_, Boston, had the
+following editorial in the issue of June 21, 1906:
+
+
+     It is now fourteen years since D. E. McClure spoke into being the
+     Hesperia movement, which is a great union of educational and farmer
+     forces, in a midwinter Chautauqua, as it were. Twelve miles from
+     the railroad, in the slight village of Hesperia, a one-street
+     village, one side of the street being in one county and the other
+     side in another, for three days and evenings in midwinter each
+     year, in a ramshackle building, eight hundred people from all parts
+     of the two counties sit in reserved seats, for which they pay a
+     good price, and listen to one or two notable speakers and a number
+     of local functionaries. One-half of the time is devoted to
+     education and the other to farm interests.
+
+     It is a great idea, well worked out, and after fourteen years it
+     maintains its lustiness, but I confess to disappointment that the
+     idea has not spread more extensively. It is so useful there, and
+     the idea is so suggestive, that it should have been well-nigh
+     universal, and yet despite occasional bluffs at it, I know of no
+     serious effort to adopt it elsewhere, unless the midwinter meeting
+     at Shelby, in one of these two counties, can be considered a spread
+     of the idea. This child of the Hesperia movement, in one of the two
+     counties, and only twenty miles away, had this year many more in
+     attendance than have ever been at Hesperia.
+
+
+This work of uniting more closely the interests, sympathies, and
+intelligence of the teachers and patrons of the rural school has had a
+test in Michigan of sufficient length to prove that it is a practicable
+scheme. No one questions the desirability of the ends it is prepared to
+compass, and experience in Michigan shows not only that where the
+educators have sufficient enterprise, tact, enthusiasm, and persistence
+the necessary organizations can be perfected, but that substantial
+results follow. For the sake of better rural schools, then, it is
+sincerely to be hoped that the "Hesperia movement" may find expression
+in numerous teachers and patrons' associations in at least the great
+agricultural states.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE RURAL SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY
+
+
+Among the great phenomena of our time is the growth of the school
+idea--the realization of the part that the school plays in our
+civilization and in the training of our youth for life. Our New England
+fathers started the school in order that their children might learn to
+read the Scriptures, and thus that they might get right ideas of their
+religious duty. Even after this aim was outgrown, our schools for
+generations did little more than to teach the use of the mere tools of
+knowledge; to read, to write, and to cipher were the great gains of the
+schoolroom. Even geography and grammar were rather late arrivals. Then
+came the idea that the school should train children for citizenship, and
+it was argued that the chief reason why schools should be supported at
+public expense was in order that good citizens should be trained there.
+History and civil government were put into the course in obedience to
+this theory. Another step was taken when physiology was added, because
+it was an acknowledgment that the schools should do something to train
+youth in the individual art of living. Still another step was taken when
+manual training and domestic science were brought into our city schools,
+because these studies emphasize the fact that the schools must do
+something to train workers. And finally we have at present the idea
+gaining a strong foothold that the schools must train the child to fill
+its place in the world of men; to see all the relations of life; to be
+fitted to live in human society. This idea really embraces all of the
+other ideas. It implies that the schools shall not only teach each
+individual the elements of knowledge, that they shall train for
+citizenship, that they shall train men in the art of living, that they
+shall aid in preparing for an occupation, but that they shall do _all_
+of these things, and do them not merely for the good of the individual,
+but for the good of society as a whole.
+
+And not only is there a feeling that the pupil in school can be brought
+into closer touch with the life of the community, but that the school as
+an institution can be made more useful to the community as a whole. This
+double thought has been expressed in the phrase, "Make the school a
+social center," and practically it is being slowly worked out in
+numerous city schools. How far can this idea be developed in the country
+school?
+
+The purpose of this chapter is not to deal in the theory of the subject,
+nor to argue particularly for this view of the function of the school,
+but rather to try to show some methods by which the rural school and the
+farm community actually can be brought into closer relations. In this
+way we may perhaps indicate that there is a better chance for
+co-operation between the rural school and the farm community than we
+have been accustomed to believe, and that this closer relation is worth
+striving for. Five methods will be suggested by which the rural school
+can become a social center. Some of these have already been tried in
+rural communities, some of them have been tried in cities, and some of
+them have not been tried at all.
+
+1. The first means of making the rural school a social center is through
+the course of study. It is here that the introduction of nature-study
+into our rural schools would be especially helpful. This nature-study
+when properly followed approves itself both to educators and to farmers.
+It is a pedagogical principle recognized by every modern teacher that in
+education it is necessary to consider the environment of the child, so
+that the school may not be to him "a thing remote and foreign." The
+value of nature-study is recognized not only in thus making possible an
+intelligent study of the country child's environment, but in teaching a
+love of nature, in giving habits of correct observation, and in
+preparing for the more fruitful study of science in later years. Our
+best farmers are also coming to see that nature-study in the rural
+schools is a necessity, because it will tend to give a knowledge of the
+laws that govern agriculture, because it will teach the children to love
+the country, because it will show the possibilities of living an
+intellectual life upon the farm. Nature-study, therefore, will have a
+very direct influence in bringing the child into close touch with the
+whole life of the farm community.
+
+But it is not so much a matter of introducing new studies--the old
+studies can be taught in such a way as to make them seem vital and
+human. Take, for instance, geography. It used to be approached from the
+standpoint of the solar system. It now begins with the schoolhouse and
+the pupils' homes, and works outward from the things that the child sees
+and knows to the things that it must imagine. History, writing,
+reading, the sciences, and even other subjects can be taught so as to
+connect them vitally and definitely with the life of the farm community.
+To quote Colonel Parker, who suggests the valuable results of such a
+method of teaching:
+
+
+     It would make a strong, binding union of the home and the school,
+     the farm methods and the school methods. It would bring the farm
+     into the school and project the school into the farm. It would give
+     parent and teacher one motive in the carrying out of which both
+     could heartily join. The parent would appreciate and judge fairly
+     the work of the school, the teacher would honor, dignify and
+     elevate the work of the farm.
+
+
+The study of the landscape of the near-by country, the study of the
+streams, the study of the soils, studies that have to do with the
+location of homes, of villages, the study of the weather, of the common
+plants, of domestic animals--all of these things will give the child a
+better start in education, a better comprehension of the life he is to
+live, a better idea of the business of farming, a better notion about
+the importance of agriculture, and will tend to fit him better for
+future life either on the farm or anywhere else, than could any amount
+of the old-fashioned book knowledge. Is it not a strange fact that so
+many farmers will decry book knowledge when applied to the business of
+farming, and at the same time set so much store by the book learning
+that is given in the common arithmetic, the old-fashioned reader, and
+the dry grammar of the typical school? Of course anyone pleading for
+this sort of study in the rural schools must make it clear that the
+ordinary accomplishments of reading, writing, and ciphering are not to
+be neglected. As a matter of fact, pupils under this method can be just
+as well trained in these branches as under the old plan. The point to be
+emphasized, however, is that a course of study constructed on this
+theory will tend to bring the school and the community closer together,
+will make the school of more use to the community, will give the
+community more interest in the school, while at the same time it will
+better prepare pupils to do their work in life.
+
+2. A second way of making the rural school a social center is through
+the social activities of the pupils. This means that the pupils as a
+body can co-operate for certain purposes, and that this co-operation
+will not only secure some good results of an immediate character,
+results that can be seen and appreciated by everyone, but that it will
+teach the spirit of co-operation--and there is hardly anything more
+needed today in rural life than this spirit of co-operation. The schools
+can perform no better service than in training young people to work
+together for common ends. In this work such things as special day
+programmes, as for Arbor Day, Washington's Birthday, Pioneer Day; the
+holding of various school exhibitions; the preparation of exhibits for
+county fairs, and similar endeavors, are useful and are being carried
+out in many of our rural schools. But the best example of this work is a
+plan that is being used in the state of Maine, and is performed through
+the agency of what is called a School Improvement League. The purposes
+of the league are: (1) to improve school grounds and buildings; (2) to
+furnish suitable reading-matter for pupils and people; (3) to provide
+works of art for schoolrooms. There are three forms of the league, the
+local leagues organized in each school; the town leagues, whose
+membership consists of the officers of the local leagues; and a state
+league, whose members are delegates from the town leagues and members of
+the local leagues who hold school diplomas. Any pupil, teacher, school
+officer, or any other citizen may join the league on payment of the
+dues. The minimum dues are one cent a month for each pupil, for other
+members not less than ten cents a term. But these dues may be made
+larger by vote of the league. Each town league sends a delegate to the
+meeting of the state league. Each league has the usual number of
+officers elected for one term. These leagues were first organized in
+1898 and they have already accomplished much. They have induced school
+committees to name various rural schools for distinguished American
+citizens, as Washington, Lincoln, and so forth. They give exhibitions
+and entertainments for the purpose of raising funds. Sometimes they use
+these funds to buy books for the schoolroom. The books are then loaned
+to the members of the league; at the end of the term this set of books
+is exchanged for another set of books from another school in the same
+township. In this way, at a slight expense, each school may have the use
+of a large number of books every year. The same thing is done with
+pictures and works of art, these being purchased and exchanged in the
+same way. Through the efforts of the league schoolhouses have been
+improved, inside and out, and the school grounds improved. It is not so
+much the doing of new things that has been attempted by this league.
+The important item is that the school has been _organized_ for these
+definite purposes, and the work is carried on systematically from year
+to year. It needs no argument to show the value of this sort of
+co-operation to the pupil, to the teacher, to the school, to the
+parents, and ultimately to the community as a whole.
+
+3. A third method is through co-operation between the home and the
+school, between the teacher and pupils on one side, and parents and
+taxpayers on the other side. Parents sometimes complain that the average
+school is a sort of mill, or machine, into which their children are
+placed and turned out just so fast, and in just such condition. But if
+this is the case, it is partly the fault of the parents who do not keep
+in close enough touch with the work of the school. It is not that
+parents are not interested in their children, but it is rather that they
+look at the school as something separate from the ordinary affairs of
+life. Now, nothing can be more necessary than that this notion should be
+done away with. There must be the closest co-operation between the home
+and school. How can this co-operation be brought about? Frequently
+parents are urged to visit the schools. This is all right and proper,
+but it is not enough. There must be a closer relation than this. The
+teacher must know more about the home life of her pupils, and the
+parents must know far more about the whole purpose and spirit, as well
+as the method, of the school. A great deal of good has been done by the
+joint meeting of teachers and school officers. It is a very wise device,
+and should be kept up. But altogether the most promising development
+along this line is the so-called "Hesperia movement," described in
+another chapter. These meetings of school patrons and teachers take up
+the work of the school in a way that will interest both teachers and
+farmers. They bring the teachers and farmers into closer touch socially
+and intellectually. They disperse fogs of misunderstanding. They inspire
+to closer co-operation. They create mutual sympathy. They are sure to
+result in bringing the teacher into closer touch with community life and
+with the social problems of the farm. And they are almost equally sure
+to arouse the interest of the entire community, not only in the school
+as an institution and in the possibilities of the work it may do, but
+also in the work of that teacher who is for the time being serving a
+particular rural school.
+
+4. A fourth method is by making the schoolhouse a meeting-place for the
+community, more especially for the intellectual and aesthetic activities
+of the community. A good example of this kind of work is the John Spry
+School of Chicago. In connection with this school there is a lecture
+course each winter; there is a musical society that meets every Tuesday
+evening; there is a men's club that meets every two weeks to discuss
+municipal problems and the improvement of home conditions; there is a
+woman's club to study for general improvement and social service; there
+is a mothers' council meeting every two weeks; there is a literary and
+dramatic society, meeting every week, composed of members of high-school
+age, and studying Shakespeare particularly; there is a dressmaking and
+aid society meeting two evenings a week, to study the cutting of
+patterns, garment-making, etc.; a food-study and cooking club, also
+meeting two evenings a week; an inventive and mechanical club, meeting
+two evenings a week, and tending to develop the inventive and mechanical
+genius of a group of young men; an art club; and a boy's club, with
+music, games, reading-lessons, reading of books and magazines, intended
+for boys of fourteen or fifteen years of age. These things are all
+under the direction of the school, they are free, they are designed to
+educate. It will not be feasible for the rural school to carry out such
+a programme as this, but do we realize how large are the possibilities
+of this idea of making the rural school a community center? No doubt one
+of the advantages of the centralized rural school will be to give a
+central meeting-place for the township, and to encourage work of the
+character that has been described. Of course, the Grange and farmers'
+clubs are doing much along these lines, but is it not possible for the
+district school also to do some useful work of this character?
+Singing-schools and debating clubs were quite a common thing in the
+rural schools forty years ago, and there are many rural schools today
+that are doing work of this very kind. Is there any reason, for example,
+why the country schoolhouse should not offer an evening school during a
+portion of the winter, where the older pupils who have left the regular
+work of the school can carry on studies, especially in agriculture and
+domestic science? There is need for this sort of thing, and if our
+agricultural colleges, and the departments of public instruction, and
+the local school supervisors, and the country teachers, and the farmers
+themselves, could come a little closer together on these questions the
+thing could be done!
+
+5. Fifth and last, as a method for making the school a social center, is
+the suggestion that the teacher herself shall become something of a
+leader in the farm community. The teacher ought to be not only a teacher
+of the pupils, but in some sense a teacher of the community. Is there
+not need that someone should take the lead in inspiring everyone in the
+community to read better books, to buy better pictures, to take more
+interest in the things that make for culture and progress? There are
+special difficulties in a country community. The rural teacher is
+usually a transient; she secures a city school as soon as she can; she
+is often poorly paid; she is sometimes inexperienced; frequently the
+labor of the school absorbs all her time and energy. Unfortunately these
+things are so, but they ought not to be so. And we shall never have the
+ideal rural school until we have conditions favorable to the kind of
+work just described. The country teacher ought to understand the country
+community, ought to have some knowledge of the problems that the farmers
+have to face, ought to have some appreciation of the peculiar
+conditions of farm life. Every teacher should have some knowledge of
+rural sociology. The normal schools should make this subject a required
+subject in the course, especially for country teachers. Teachers'
+institutes and reading-circles should in some way provide this sort of
+thing. This is one of the most important means of bringing the rural
+school into closer touch with the farm community. Ten years ago Henry
+Sabin, of Iowa, one of the keenest students of the rural-school problem,
+in speaking of the supervision of country schools, said:
+
+
+     The supervisor of rural schools should be acquainted with the
+     material resources of his district. He should know not only what
+     constitutes good farming, but the prevailing industry of the region
+     should be so familiar to him that he can converse intelligently
+     with the inhabitants, and convince them that he knows something
+     besides books. The object is not alone to gain influence over them,
+     but to bring the school into touch with the home life of the
+     community about. It is not to invite the farmer to the school, but
+     to take the school to the farm, and to show the pupils that here
+     before their eyes are the foundations upon which have been built
+     the great natural sciences.
+
+
+The programme needed to unite rural school and farm community is then,
+first, to enrich the course of study by adding nature-study and
+agriculture, and about these co-ordinating the conventional school
+subjects; second, to encourage the co-operation of the pupils,
+especially for the improvement of the school and its surroundings;
+third, to bring together for discussion and acquaintance the teachers
+and the patrons of the school; fourth, so far as possible to make the
+schoolhouse a meeting-place for the community, for young people as well
+as for older people, where music, art, social culture, literature, study
+of farming, and in fact, anything that has to do with rural education,
+may be fostered; and fifth, to expect the teacher to have a knowledge of
+the industrial and general social conditions of agriculture, especially
+those of the community in which her lot is cast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE GRANGE
+
+
+The difficulty of uniting the farmers of America for any form of
+co-operative endeavor long ago became proverbial. The business of
+farming encouraged individualism; comparative isolation bred
+independence; and restricted means of communication made union
+physically difficult, even among those who might be disposed to unite.
+It was not strange, therefore, that the agricultural masses developed a
+state of mind unfavorable for organization--that they became suspicious
+of one another, jealous of leadership, unwilling to keep the pledges of
+union, and unable to sink personal views and prejudices.
+
+It must not be supposed, however, that the farmers themselves have
+failed to realize the situation, or that no genuinely progressive steps
+have been taken to remedy it. During the last four decades at least, the
+strongest men that the rural classes have produced have labored with
+their fellows, both in season and out of season, for union of effort;
+and their efforts have been by no means in vain. It is true that some of
+the attempts at co-operation have been ill-judged, even fantastic. It
+is true that much of the machinery of organization failed to work and
+can be found on the social junk-pile, in company with other discarded
+implements not wholly rural in origin. But it is also true that great
+progress has been made; that the spirit of co-operation is rapidly
+emerging as a factor in rural social life; and that the weapons of rural
+organization have a temper all the better, perhaps, because they were
+fashioned on the anvil of defeat.
+
+Among all these efforts to unite the farming classes, by far the most
+characteristic and the most successful is the Grange. The truth of this
+statement will immediately be questioned by those whose memory recalls
+the early rush to the Grange, "Granger legislation," and similar
+phenomena, as well as by those whose impressions have been gleaned from
+reading the periodicals of the late seventies, when the Grange tide had
+begun to ebb. Indeed, it seems to be the popular impression that the
+Grange is not at present a force of consequence, that long ago it became
+a cripple, if not a corpse. Only a few years ago, an intelligent
+magazine writer, in discussing the subject of farmers' organizations,
+made the statement, "The Grange is dead." But the assertion was not
+true. The popular impression must be revised. The Grange has
+accomplished more for agriculture than has any other farm organization.
+Not only is it at the present time active, but it has more real
+influence than it has ever had before; and it is more nearly a
+_national_ farmers' organization than any other in existence today.
+
+The Grange is also the oldest of the general organizations for farmers.
+Though the notion of organizing the farmers was undoubtedly broached
+early in the history of the country, the germ idea that actually grew
+into the Grange is about forty years old, and should be credited to Mr.
+O. H. Kelley, a Boston young man who settled on a Minnesota farm in
+1849. He wrote considerably for the agricultural press; and this
+experience helped to bring him to the conclusion that the great need of
+agriculture was the education of the agriculturist. He soon came to feel
+that existing agencies for this purpose--farm papers and fairs--were
+insufficient. In 1866, as agent for the Department of Agriculture, Mr.
+Kelley made a tour of the South, with the view of gaining a knowledge of
+the agricultural and mineral resources of that section. On this tour he
+became impressed with the fact that politicians would never restore
+peace to the country; that if it came at all, it would have to come
+through fraternity. As his thought ripened he broached to friends the
+idea of a "secret society of agriculturists, as an element to restore
+kindly feelings among the people."
+
+Thus the Grange was born of two needs, one fundamental and the other
+immediate. The fundamental need of agriculture was that farmers should
+be better educated for their business; and the immediate need was that
+of cultivating the spirit of brotherhood between the North and the
+South. The latter need no longer exists; but the fundamental need still
+remains and is sufficient excuse for the Grange's existence today. Mr.
+Kelley interested six other men in the new idea; and in December, 1867,
+these "seven founders of the order" organized the National Grange of
+Patrons of Husbandry. Mr. Kelley is the only one of these seven men now
+living.
+
+Thus was begun a movement for organization that had resulted by 1873 in
+the formation of over 20,000 Granges in 28 states, comprising not less
+than 750,000 members; and in that year the National Grange, as a
+representative body, was officially organized. For four or five years
+this unexampled prosperity continued; then the reports show a feeling of
+weakness creeping in. In fact, the order as a whole steadily declined in
+numbers and prestige during the whole of the decade following 1880. The
+losses were most serious, however, in the South and West; for in New
+England and the Middle States it retained its vitality, and, indeed,
+grew steadily.
+
+During the last fifteen years there has been a widespread revival of
+interest in the organization and the outlook is exceedingly promising.
+During the decade following 1890 the membership increased not less than
+75 per cent. During the last few years the rate of gain has been even
+greater. The following table gives the official records in the five
+leading Grange states:
+
+
+     =========================================================
+                  |        1900          |        1905
+                  | ------------------------------------------
+                  | Granges  |  Members  | Granges  |  Members
+     -------------|-------------------------------------------
+     New York     |   550    |   43,000  |   582    |   66,500
+     Maine        |   275    |   29,000  |   387    |   49,000
+     Michigan     |   420    |   25,000  |   731    |   45,000
+     Pennsylvania |   526    |   20,000  |   560    |   34,000
+     New Hampshire|   260    |   24,000  |   263    |   28,000
+     ---------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+These states lead, but the order is also active and strong in Vermont,
+Connecticut, Ohio, Massachusetts. Thirty states pay dues to the
+National Grange treasury, and twenty-six were represented by delegates
+at the last National Grange. Since 1905 there has been substantial
+growth in most of these twenty-six states, both in numbers of Granges
+and in membership.
+
+The official title of the Grange is "Patrons of Husbandry," of the
+members, "Patrons," and of the various divisions, "Granges." The
+"subordinate Grange," or local lodge, is the Grange unit. Its area of
+jurisdiction has, nominally, a diameter of about five miles; more
+roughly, "a Grange to a township" is the working ideal among the
+organizers. The membership consists of men and women, and of young
+people over fourteen years of age, who may apply and by vote be
+accepted. Constitutionally, those whose interests are not immediately
+with agriculture are ineligible to membership; and care is also
+exercised that only those who are of good repute shall be recommended.
+The presiding officer of each Grange is the "master;" while among the
+twelve other officers the "lecturer" is the most important, and
+virtually acts as programme committee, with charge of the educational
+work of the body. Meetings are held weekly or fortnightly. Each regular
+meeting has first its business session, and then its "lecturer's hour,"
+or literary session, usually with an intervening recess for social
+greetings, etc. The programmes are prepared by the lecturer, and consist
+of general discussions, essays, talks, debates, readings, recitations,
+and music; an attempt being made to suit the tastes and talents of all
+members, young and old. Many Granges have built and own their halls,
+which are usually equipped with kitchen and dining-room, in addition to
+audience rooms; for periodical "feasts" are as regular a feature of the
+association as are the initiations of new members.
+
+The Granges of a county or other given district often organize
+themselves into a "Pomona Grange." The "State Grange" is a delegate
+body, meeting annually; delegates being chosen by the subordinate and
+Pomona Granges. The "National Grange" is composed of the masters of
+State Granges and their wives, and is also an annual gathering. The
+National Grange is the legislative body of the order, and has full
+authority in all matters of doctrine and practice. But to State Granges
+is left the determination of policy and administration for the states.
+The State Granges, in turn, legislate for the subordinate Granges, while
+also passing down to them ample local powers. The machinery is thus
+strongly centralized, and subordinate Granges are absolutely dependent
+units of a great whole. Yet the principle of home rule pervades the
+organization; and local associations are responsible for their own
+methods and the results of their work, though their officers usually
+work in harmony with the State and National Granges.
+
+Perhaps the clearest conception of what the order originally meant to do
+can be gained from a few quotations from the Declaration of Purposes of
+the National Grange, which was promulgated over thirty years ago, and is
+still in force:
+
+
+     We shall endeavor to advance our cause by laboring to accomplish
+     the following objects:
+
+     To develop a better and higher manhood and womanhood among
+     ourselves. To enhance the comfort and attractions of our homes and
+     to strengthen our attachments to our pursuits. To foster mutual
+     understanding and co-operation. To maintain inviolate our laws, and
+     to emulate each other in labor, to hasten the good time coming. To
+     reduce our expenses, both individual and corporate. To buy less and
+     produce more, in order to make our farms self-sustaining. To
+     diversify our crops and crop no more than we can cultivate. To
+     condense the weight of our exports, selling less in the bushel and
+     more on hoof and in fleece; less in lint and more in warp and woof.
+     To systematize our work, and calculate intelligently on
+     probabilities. To discountenance the credit system, the mortgage
+     system, the fashion system, and every other system tending to
+     prodigality and bankruptcy.
+
+     We propose meeting together, talking together, working together,
+     buying together, selling together, and, in general, acting together
+     for our mutual protection and advancement, as occasion may require.
+     We shall avoid litigation, as much as possible, by arbitration in
+     the Grange. We shall constantly strive to secure entire harmony,
+     good will, vital brotherhood, among ourselves, and to make our
+     order perpetual. We shall earnestly endeavor to suppress personal,
+     local, sectional, and national prejudices, all unhealthy rivalry,
+     all selfish ambition. Faithful adherence to these principles will
+     insure our mental, moral, social, and material advancement.
+
+     For our business interests we desire to bring producers and
+     consumers, farmers and manufacturers, into the most direct and
+     friendly relations possible. Hence we must dispense with a surplus
+     of middle-men, not that we are unfriendly to them, but we do not
+     need them. Their surplus and their exactions diminish our profits.
+
+     We wage no aggressive warfare against any other interests whatever.
+     On the contrary, all our acts and all our efforts, so far as
+     business is concerned, are not only for the benefit of the producer
+     and consumer, but also for all other interests that tend to bring
+     these two parties into speedy and economical contact. Hence we hold
+     that transportation companies of every kind are necessary to our
+     success, that their interests are intimately connected with our
+     interests.
+
+     We are opposed to such spirit and management of any corporation or
+     enterprise as tends to oppress the people, and rob them of their
+     just profits. We are not enemies to capital, but we oppose the
+     tyranny of monopolies. We long to see the antagonism between
+     capital and labor removed by common consent, and by an enlightened
+     statesmanship worthy of the nineteenth century. We are opposed to
+     excessive salaries, high rates of interest, and exorbitant
+     per-cent. profits in trade.
+
+     We shall advance the cause of education among ourselves and for our
+     children, by all just means within our power. We especially
+     advocate for our agricultural and industrial colleges that
+     practical agriculture, domestic science, and all the arts which
+     adorn the home be taught in their courses of study.
+
+     We emphatically and sincerely assert the oft-repeated truth taught
+     in our organic law, that the Grange--national, state, or
+     subordinate--is not a political or party organization. No Grange,
+     if true to its obligations, can discuss political or religious
+     questions, or call political conventions, or nominate candidates,
+     or even discuss their merits at its meetings.
+
+     We always bear in mind that no one, by becoming a Patron of
+     Husbandry, gives up that inalienable right and duty which belongs
+     to every American citizen, to take a proper interest in the
+     politics of his country. On the contrary, it is his duty to do all
+     he can in his own party to put down bribery, corruption, and
+     trickery; to see that none but competent, faithful, and honest men,
+     who will unflinchingly stand by our industrial interests, are
+     nominated for all positions of trust; and to have carried out the
+     principle which should characterize every Patron, that the office
+     should seek the man, and not the man the office.
+
+
+To enumerate the achievements of the Grange would be to recall the
+progress of agriculture during the past third of a century. It has been
+a motor force in many helpful movements, and in many ways has organized
+and incorporated the best thought of the most intelligent farmers, about
+means for rural advancement. It has been an integral part of, and a most
+potent factor in, the expansion of American farm life.
+
+The greatest achievement of the order is that it has taught the farmers
+of America the value of co-operation and the power of organized effort.
+The lesson has not been fully learned, it is true; but the success of
+the institution testifies that it is possible for farmers to work in
+harmony. It is worth observing that this result has been achieved on
+conservative lines. It is comparatively easy to organize on radical
+lines; easy to generate enthusiasm by promising some great reform; easy
+to inflame self-interest by picturing millennial conditions, especially
+when the pocket is touched. But quite different is it to arouse and
+sustain interest in a large popular organization whose object is
+education, whose watchword is self-culture. Of course, it would be but
+a half-truth to assert that the order places all its emphasis on the
+sober problems of education. Agitation has had its place; the hope of
+better things for the farmer, to be achieved through legislation and
+business co-operation, has been an inspiration to activity; but the
+noteworthy fact remains that it has secured a fair degree of
+organization and co-operation among farmers chiefly by appeals to their
+larger and nobler interests.
+
+That the association has vastly improved the social opportunities of
+farmers is a trite saying among old observers of its work. It forces
+isolation out of the saddle. The regular meetings of the local bodies
+rapidly and surely develop the social instinct among the members. Pomona
+Granges bring together members from all parts of the county and make
+them acquainted with one another. The State Grange draws its membership
+from every corner of the state; and as its personnel changes each year,
+thousands are in the course of a few years given the wider outlook, the
+more extended acquaintance, and the broader view that participation in
+such a gathering affords. Special social features add their influence.
+
+As an educator on public questions the Grange has done a noble work. At
+nearly every meeting in this country, some topic of public concern is
+brought up by essay, talk, general discussion, or formal debate. The
+views of the "village Hampdens" may not always be economically
+scientific or scholarly. But it might surprise many people to see how
+well read the members are and how clearly they can express their ideas.
+Their discussions are not seldom informative, and that they make public
+opinion in rural communities is beyond cavil. The persistent advocacy of
+specific reforms has directed the thought of the members toward the
+larger issues that so often rise above the haze of partisan politics.
+
+The order has prepared the soil for adequate agricultural education.
+While the agricultural colleges formerly had many enemies among the
+farmers, and received scornful opprobrium from those whom they were
+endeavoring to help, almost without exception the Granges have praised
+the colleges, welcomed their work, and urged farmers to educate their
+sons at these institutions. Farmers' institutes, the agricultural
+experiment stations, and the federal Department of Agriculture have been
+equally welcomed by the Grange sentiment. The Grange has always taught
+the need of better rural education. It has also tended to develop its
+members, so that they may not only appreciate education, but that they
+may be themselves living examples of the value of such education.
+Farmers' institute lecturers frequently say, "You can always tell when
+you reach a community where a Grange exists." In that meeting will be
+found men who have read and thought on farm and public themes, men who
+are not only ready in discussion, apt in statement, and eager to
+question, but men acquainted with parliamentary law, who know how such
+assemblages should be conducted, and who can preside with dignity and
+grace.
+
+The order has undoubtedly aided materially in obliterating sectionalism.
+That achievement was one of its avowed objects. There is no question but
+it assisted in cementing North and South; and that it has brought East
+and West into closer sympathy is equally true. Other farm organizations
+have found their incentive in the order. These it has never frowned on,
+though believing and always hoping that it might attract the majority of
+farmers to its own ranks, and by this unity become a more powerful
+factor in securing the rights and developing the opportunities of the
+rural classes of America. It has always discountenanced the credit
+system; and that cash payments by farmers to merchants are far more
+common than a quarter-century ago may be fairly credited, in part at
+least, to its influence.
+
+To describe the many specific legislative achievements which the Granges
+of the nation and of the several states have accomplished would be
+tedious. Merely to enumerate a few of them must suffice here. A
+convenient summary is made from an official circular recently issued by
+the National Grange. The order has had a large influence in securing the
+following: The separation of certain agricultural colleges from
+universities which were receiving the land-grant funds, but were not, in
+the opinion of the farmers, duly contributing to agricultural education;
+the confining of the appropriations under the second Morrill act of 1890
+strictly to instruction in agriculture and mechanical arts; the Hatch
+Act of 1887, establishing an experiment station in each state and
+territory; making the head of the Department of Agriculture a cabinet
+official; the agitation resulting in the famous Iowa court decision,
+that railroad franchises are subject to the power that created them; the
+establishment of the Inter-State Commerce Commission; tax reform in
+many states; laws favoring pure food and dairy products; preventing
+extension of patents on sewing machines; the establishment of rural free
+mail delivery.
+
+The methods of work are many and varied. In addition to the regular
+literary and social programmes previously mentioned, socials are held at
+the homes of members, entertainments of various kinds occur at the
+Grange hall, and in many ways the association becomes the center of the
+social and intellectual interest of the community. It is debating
+society, club, lecture course, parliamentary society, theater, and
+circulating library. In fact, it lends itself to almost any function
+that will instruct, entertain, benefit, or assist its members
+financially, morally, intellectually, or socially. Of course, not every
+Grange is awake to its opportunities; but as a rule, where a live one
+exists it is the acknowledged leader in social movements.
+
+It is not uncommon for Granges to hold fairs for the exhibition of
+agricultural and domestic products. The State Fair of New Hampshire has
+been largely managed by the Grange. In many cases Granges as
+organizations will exhibit at the ordinary county or district fair.
+Picnics and field meetings are coming to be very popular in some
+states. They are held during the summer season, at a time when work is
+least pressing, and are usually attended by speakers of prominence in
+the order. Many subordinate Granges give public lecture courses during
+the winter, securing speakers on general themes. They also arrange for
+entertainments of a popular character.
+
+The order also participates in activities that are not strictly Grange
+work. For instance, in Michigan, the State Grange for several years
+carried on a "Fresh-Air Work," by which over 1,000 working-girls,
+children, and hard-working mothers with babies, from the larger cities,
+were given a two-weeks' vacation in country homes. The philanthropic
+agencies of the cities arranged for transportation and secured the
+beneficiaries, while the Grange obtained the places for them. Granges
+are always active in the organization of farmers' institutes,
+agricultural fairs, etc. In Michigan they have assisted in the
+organization of associations which are designed to bring together both
+teachers and parents for discussion of rural-school problems.
+
+On two important matters the Grange has been misunderstood, not only by
+the public, but more unfortunately, sometimes by its own members. In
+his _Division and Reunion_, President Woodrow Wilson speaks of it under
+the sub-title of "New Parties." Professor Alexander Johnston, in his
+_American Politics_ was more discriminating, for he said of it: "In its
+nature it is not political." But he also said: "Its object is
+co-operation among farmers, in purchasing and in other business
+interests." The first conception of the character of the order is wholly
+misleading; the second is inadequate.
+
+The Grange is not a party. It never was a party. During the "Granger
+legislation" period, many members doubtless misconceived the true
+function of the Grange, and abused the power organization gave them,
+while the popular mind credited the association with many notions for
+which it was not responsible. It has never organized itself as a
+farmers' party. The National Grange has endeavored to keep strictly
+aloof from partisan politics. It is possible that in some states the
+influence of the organization was, in the early days, used for partisan
+purposes; but the penalty was fully paid in the disruption of the order
+in those states. The Grange today regards partisanship as poisonous to
+its life, and does not allow it on its shelves.
+
+This is not to say that the Grange makes no appeal to legislation. It
+is possible that in some cases it places too much faith in law as a
+means of emancipation from economic bondage; but, in the main, its
+legislative point of view is sane and conservative. It believes that
+such ills as are due to bad or imperfect legislation can be, at least
+partly, relieved by good or more perfect legislation. Nor does it limit
+its interest to measures that concern the farmer alone. It is
+unalterably opposed to class legislation, and aims to keep its own
+skirts clear--to avoid even the suspicion of offence in this particular.
+
+It may be asked, How does the order manage to advocate public measures
+without becoming involved in partisan squabbles? Simply by ceasing to
+discuss a question the moment it becomes a party football. For instance:
+the monetary policy of the government was warmly discussed until the
+conventions of 1896 made it clear that it was to be a party issue.
+Again: the Grange has consistently urged the construction and ownership
+of the Interoceanic Canal by the United States government; but it was
+silent on the larger question of "imperialism," not because the question
+was not of importance, but because it became a subject of party
+controversy. This neutral policy as to party questions imposes certain
+limitations on the influence of the organization; but experience has
+demonstrated that this, more than any other thing, is responsible for
+the fact that the Grange still lives and thrives.
+
+The other misconception lies in the sentence quoted from Professor
+Johnston, that the Grange has for its object "co-operation among farmers
+in purchasing and in other business interests;" the implication being
+that business was the chief function. It is generally admitted that in
+the early days thousands joined the order "for what there was in it;"
+believing that the organization furnished a means for abolishing the
+middlemen, and putting ready money into the pockets of the farmers. When
+these sordid souls were disillusioned, their enthusiasm went down to the
+zero of activity. They misunderstood, or interpreted too radically, a
+well-defined, conservative, legitimate purpose of the Grange to
+co-operate on business lines. The order did believe that farmers could
+do without the surplus of middlemen; it did purpose to aid the farmer
+financially, though this purpose was not its main function. In the
+earlier period Grange stores were organized. A few of these are in
+successful operation today, but the policy as a whole has been
+abandoned.
+
+Another plan, discussed over thirty years ago, has during the past
+decade come to assume practical importance as a method of co-operation
+on business lines. The plan, in brief, is that various State Granges
+contract with manufacturing and jobbing houses to furnish members of the
+order with goods at practically wholesale rates. Goods are ordered by
+the subordinate Granges, under seal of the order; are purchased on a
+cash basis; and are shipped to the purchasing agent of the Grange, and
+by him distributed to the individual buyers. Such materials as binder
+twine, salt, harness, Paris green, all kinds of farm implements,
+vehicles, sewing-machines, and fruit trees are purchased advantageously.
+Even staple groceries, etc., are sometimes bought in this way. Members
+often save enough in single purchases to pay all their expenses for the
+Grange. There is no capital invested; there are no debts imposed upon
+himself by the purchaser; and there has not been extreme difficulty in
+securing favorable contracts. The plan seems destined to continued
+enlargement and usefulness as a legitimate phase of business
+co-operation. Michigan Granges purchased not less than $350,000 worth
+of goods during 1905, under such a plan. The estimate for Maine is over
+half a million dollars.
+
+In several states the organization successfully conducts mutual fire
+insurance companies; active membership in the Grange being an essential
+requisite for membership in the insurance company. Wherever these
+companies have become well established, it is asserted that they
+maintain a lower rate of assessment than even the popular "farmers'
+mutuals." In New York there are twenty-three Grange companies, with
+policies aggregating $85,000,000, the average cost for the year 1905
+being $1.96 per thousand. Single companies claim to have secured even
+better rates. This insurance not only pays individuals, but it attracts
+and holds members. In New Hampshire a fairly successful Grange life
+insurance company exists.
+
+In co-operative selling, the order has so far accomplished very little,
+except locally and among individuals or Granges. There is a supreme
+difficulty in the way of successful transfers among patrons themselves,
+as members desiring to buy wish the very lowest prices; those desiring
+to sell, the very highest prices. Arbitration under such circumstances
+is not easy. The fundamental obstacle to members selling together on
+the general market is that, in most cases, all members do not have the
+same things to sell. A co-operative creamery, for instance, is organized
+on the basis of a _product_--butter; the Grange is organized on the
+basis of _manhood_--and each man may have his crop or stock specialty.
+This difficulty, though grave, is not, perhaps, insuperable, and will
+tend to disappear as membership enlarges. But it is only fair to state
+that, so far, the Grange has not been able to devise any successful plan
+for co-operative selling, applicable on a large scale.
+
+There are two or three features that deserve further mention. One is the
+position of the family in the Grange. It is stated that the Grange was
+the first secret organization to place woman on a plane of perfect
+equality with man. In every association each female member has a vote.
+Woman has four special offices assigned to her sex, and is eligible to
+any office in the gift of the order. The majority of subordinate
+lecturers are women; many subordinate and even Pomona masters are women;
+Michigan's state lecturer is a woman who is revolutionizing the
+educational work of the order in that state; while Minnesota had for
+some years a competent and earnest woman as state master. Every
+delegate to every State Grange is a dual delegate--man and wife. The
+state master and his wife are delegates to the National Grange. Women
+serve on all committees in these gatherings, and a woman's voice is
+frequently heard in debates. And not only the wife, but, as previously
+stated, the children above fourteen years of age may attain full
+membership. A large proportion of every healthy Grange consists of young
+people, who have their share in the active work. Thus it will be seen
+that the order conserves the family life. It is doubtful if any other
+social institution in rural communities, not excepting the church, so
+completely interests the entire family.
+
+The organization is also a conservator of morals. While sectarian
+discussions are as foreign to its purposes as is partisan politics, and
+while it does not even pretend to take the place of the church, it is
+built on a truly religious foundation. Its ritual is permeated, in word
+and in sentiment, by the religious spirit. Every meeting opens and
+closes with prayer. Moral character is constantly eulogized and
+glorified in Grange esoteric literature. The membership comes almost
+exclusively from that large class of farmers who are moral,
+high-minded, God-fearing men and women.
+
+The Grange has been opposed, both by farmers and by others, because
+secrecy is not a desirable attribute; but the experience of forty years
+and the uniform testimony of all leaders in the work declare that this
+was a wise provision. No influential member has, so far as it is known,
+proposed that the order should be dismantled of its secret features. The
+ritualistic work is not burdensome. Occasionally the processes of
+initiation may take time that ought to be allotted to educational work;
+but, if the initiation is properly conducted, it has of itself a high
+educational value.
+
+The financial status of the Grange itself is worth noting. The fees for
+joining are merely nominal, while the dues are only ten cents a month
+per member. These fees and dues support the subordinate Granges, the
+State Grange, and the National Grange. There are no high-salaried
+officials in the order, and few salaried positions of any kind. The
+National Grange today has nearly $100,000 in its treasury, and several
+State Granges have substantial reserves. This policy is pursued, not for
+the love of hoarding, but because it is believed that it tends to the
+permanency and solidarity of the order.
+
+The Grange is a live institution; it has within itself the capacity for
+satisfying a great need in rural society; and it is destined to growth
+and larger and more permanent usefulness. It is based on correct
+principles: organization, co-operation, education. It is neither a
+political party nor a business agency. It is progressively
+conservative--or conservatively progressive. It is neither ultra-radical
+nor forever in the rut. Its chief work is on cultural lines. It includes
+the entire family. It is now growing, and there is every reason for
+thinking that this growth is of a permanent character.
+
+The Grange is ambitious to take its place beside the school and the
+church, as one of a trinity of forces that shall mold the life of the
+farmer on the broadest possible basis--material, intellectual, social,
+and ethical. Is there any good reason why this ambition is not worthy,
+or why its goal should not be won?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+OPPORTUNITIES FOR FARM WOMEN
+
+
+While rural life is often supposed to be fatally deficient in facilities
+for growth because of its isolation, the women living on our farms are
+thought to be the especial victims of this lack of social opportunity.
+No doubt there is much of truth in the popular opinion. Modern city life
+unquestionably tends to enliven, to sharpen, to put a razor-edge on
+capacity. Naturally the women as well as the men of the city are thus
+stimulated. An instance of the opportunities constantly presented to the
+city women is the rapid multiplication of women's clubs, which,
+especially in smaller towns, are absolutely revolutionizing the life of
+womankind. But have not the women of the country some resources of a
+similar character? Can they not in some way break the bonds of
+isolation? Are there not for them some of the blessings that come from a
+highly organized society? Are there not, in the country also,
+opportunities for the co-operation of mind and heart for common service?
+I think all these questions can be answered in the affirmative. It is
+at least worth while to endeavor to describe several means by which the
+woman of the farm can keep pace with her urban sister, and under
+conditions not so discouraging as many may suppose.
+
+Probably no movement has had such a profound significance for the farm
+women of America as has the Grange movement. We have already discussed
+the general aspects of Grange work. It must be remembered that the
+farmer's wife is practically equal with her husband in Grange law and
+practice. She votes, she may hold office, even the higher executive
+offices. A delegate to the State Grange is always two--a man and his
+wife if he has one. The wife serves on committees and votes as she
+pleases. This equality extends throughout the order. The woman bears her
+share of work; she reads papers; she directs the social phases of the
+Grange; she talks on farm topics if she wants to; she debates school
+affairs; she visits neighboring Granges. All this means education, and
+education of a very valuable sort, the effects of which permeate so
+thoroughly those communities where the Grange has long been established
+that one hardly realizes the work that has been accomplished. For it is
+not at all an exaggeration to assert that a positive revolution often
+comes about from the planting of a Grange in a neighborhood where no
+such organization has ever existed. It finds most of the women
+diffident, many of them with restricted views, few of them with the
+instinct for social service developed beyond the needs of friendly
+neighbors. In the Grange these women find new acquaintances, learn the
+power of concerted action, meet the responsibility of office, get to
+their feet for a few words--unheard-of courage! Such speech is usually
+brief and perhaps not ready, but it is likely to be cogent, because it
+is born of experience and "stops when through." County and perhaps State
+Granges add their experiences. And so on through the years these shy,
+reserved, possibly narrow, lives come to flower. And the Grange has
+furnished the dynamic. Strong leaders among farm women have been
+developed by the opportunities the Grange has afforded them. And
+thousands of other women in all parts of the country have by this same
+means grown out of their narrowness, "discovered themselves," and become
+comparatively cultured, well read, able to take a woman's place in this
+day of woman's power as a public factor. It is safe to say that the
+Grange has been the greatest single influence in America with respect to
+the development of the women of the farm.
+
+Another factor in the life of farm women which has arisen in more recent
+years is the farmers' institute. The audiences in some cases are largely
+of men, but as a rule the attendance of women averages one-third to
+one-half. Until very recent years the women joined with the men in all
+sessions of the institute, and their presence was recognized by
+appropriate subjects on the programme, frequently presented by women
+themselves. Several years ago Minnesota and Wisconsin initiated separate
+meetings for women, held simultaneously with the main meeting, for
+purposes of instruction in domestic science. Michigan, a little later,
+developed the "women's section" of the farmers' institute. This is held
+one afternoon of the usual two-day session of the institute in a hall
+separate from the general meeting, and only women attend. Two topics are
+presented for discussion, one by a woman sent by the state, the other by
+a woman from the town or a neighboring farm. Topics concerning
+child-training, making housework easier, home life on the farm, and even
+themes relating to the problems that center about the sex question, are
+thoroughly discussed. Women take part much more freely than they do in
+the general sessions of the institute. Across the border, in Ontario,
+the women have formed separate institutes, as they have also in Indiana.
+
+All this means a new opportunity for the farm woman. The Grange is an
+organization, and its members gain all the development that comes from
+engaging in the work required to maintain a semi-literary and social
+organization. The institute, on the other hand, is an event, and there
+cluster about it all the inspiration and suggestion that can come from
+any notable convention for which one will sacrifice not a little in
+order to attend. Institute work for women is in its beginnings.
+
+So far we have found that existing institutions for women in rural
+districts bring together merely the women of the farm. In the women's
+section of the institutes half the audience is usually from the town.
+This meeting occurs, however, but once a year, and the social effect of
+the commingling of city and farm women can prove only suggestive of the
+desirability of further opportunity for similar gatherings. At a
+Michigan institute some years ago this desire fructified, and the
+product was a "Town and Country Club." This club secured a majority of
+its membership, of some ninety, from among women residing on farms. Its
+meetings are bi-weekly. It is to be hoped that this sort of club may be
+organized in large numbers. It represents another step in the
+emancipation of the farm woman, because it brings her into contact with
+her city sister--and contact that is immediate, vital, inspiring,
+continuous, and mutually helpful. It may be thought unnecessary to form
+a new set of clubs for the purpose indicated, but the fact seems to be
+that the ordinary women's club even in small towns has failed to reach
+the woman who makes her home upon the farm.
+
+Another feature of this idea of the Town and Country Club is the "rest
+room" for farmers' wives. In a number of cases where this has been
+tried, the women of the village or town provide a room as near the
+shopping center of the town as possible, where the country women can
+find a place to rest, to lunch, and to leave their children. These rooms
+are fitted up in a neat but inexpensive manner with the necessary
+conveniences, and are entirely free to those for whom they were
+intended. If these rooms are well managed, they offer not only a very
+practical form of assistance to the women of the farm, but they may be
+the means of developing a form of co-operation between the women of the
+village and the farm, and eventually leading to some permanent scheme of
+mutual work. Possibilities of this sort of thing are easily recognized.
+
+In the realms of higher education the girl who is to stay upon the farm
+has not been wholly neglected. In Kansas, Iowa, Connecticut, Illinois,
+Ohio, and Michigan, at least, and in connection with the agricultural
+colleges of those states, courses for women (including domestic science)
+have been provided. They are well patronized by girls from the farm.
+Many of these girls do not marry farmers; many of them do. And their
+college training having thus been secured in an atmosphere more or less
+agricultural, they must inevitably take rank among their sisters of the
+farm as leaders in demonstrating what farm life for women may be.
+
+Nor should it be forgotten that the tremendous movement of recent years
+which has so multiplied standard reading-matter, both periodicals and
+books, has reached the farm. A census of country post-offices will
+reveal the fact that the standard magazines go regularly to thousands
+of farm homes. Agricultural papers, religious papers, and even dailies
+find multitudes of intelligent readers among farmers.
+
+With the advent of better highways, electric car lines, rural free
+delivery, and the rural telephone, each of which is looming on the
+horizon as an important feature of American farm life; with the Grange
+or similar organization in every school district; with the development
+of courses for women at all our colleges of agriculture, and the logical
+complement of such courses in the form of college extension--farmers'
+institutes, reading-courses, traveling libraries, lecture and
+correspondence courses--we shall find farm life taking on a new dress,
+and perhaps farmers' wives may come to enjoy the envy of those women who
+are unfortunate enough not to have married farmers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE COUNTRY CHURCH AND PROGRESS
+
+
+The only way to an understanding of the relation of the church to rural
+progress is through an appreciation of the place which the church as a
+social institution may have among other social institutions affecting
+rural life. Moreover, to know the value of these institutions one must
+first know the rural social needs. May we not then, even at the risk of
+repetition, take a brief survey of these needs and institutions, in
+order that we may more clearly attain the proper point of view?
+
+At the outset let us be sure that we have sympathy with the countryman
+as such. It is often argued that the rural question, or any phase of it,
+as for instance the question of the rural church, is important because
+the country supplies the best blood to the city--and a roll-call of the
+famous country-born is read to prove the point. This may be all true.
+But it is only a partial view, for it places the emphasis upon the
+leaving of the farm, whereas the emphasis should be placed upon the farm
+and those who stay there. We may praise the country because it
+furnishes brain and brawn for the world's work; we may argue for country
+life because it possesses a good environment in which to rear a family;
+we may demand a school system that shall give the country child as good
+a chance as the city child has. In all this we do well. But we do not
+yet stand face to face with the rural problem.
+
+For the rural problem is the problem of those who farm. It is the
+problem of the man behind the plow. It is he that is the center of
+interest. His business, his success, his manhood, his family, his
+environment, his education, his future--these constitute the problem of
+the farm. Half our people make their living from the brown soil. In
+virtue, in intelligence, in real worth, this half compare favorably with
+the other half who saw wood, and shovel sand, and pull throttles, and
+prepare briefs, and write sermons. The business of agriculture provides
+directly for the material welfare of nearly forty millions of our
+people. It supports gigantic railway systems, fills the hulls of immense
+ships, furnishes raw material for thousands of industries. This rural
+hemisphere of American economic and social life is surely worthy the
+thought of the captain of industry, of the statesman, of the economist,
+of the educator, of the preacher. We may also, without danger of being
+put to confusion, assume that the tiller of the soil is in essential
+character very much like other people. Farmer nature is usually a fair
+specimen of human nature. Nevertheless the environment of the farmer is
+a peculiar one. Individually as well as socially he is comparatively
+isolated. He meets but little social friction. The class to which he
+belongs is largely a segregated class, physically and socially.
+
+All these things give to the rural social problem a distinctive
+character and give rise to the great social needs of the farmer. What
+are these needs? I name three: (1) _Completer organization._ Farmers do
+not co-operate easily. They never had to co-operate largely under the
+old regime, for pioneer farming placed a premium on individualism. The
+present century however, with its emphasis upon organization and
+co-operation, calls the farmer to the task with the warning cry that
+unless he does organize he is in danger of losing his present
+industrial, political, and social status. (2) _Better education._ The
+rural schools may not be so deficient as to deserve all the scorn heaped
+upon them by educational reformers; but it is little enough to say that
+they can be vastly improved. They are not keeping up with city schools.
+The country is especially lacking in good high-school privileges. Of
+technical training too, in spite of forty years of agricultural
+colleges, the country is sadly in need. Neither in primary grades, in
+high schools, in special schools, is there an adequate amount of study
+of the principles of agriculture--principles which an age of science
+demands must be mastered if the independent farmer is to be a success.
+(3) _Quicker communication._ Isolation has been the bugbear of farm
+life. It must be overcome partly by physical means. There must be a
+closer touch between individuals of the class, and between farmers and
+the dwellers in the town and city.
+
+These social needs are in some degree met by the farmers' organizations,
+by the rural and agricultural schools, and by the development of new
+means of communication. There is a host of minor agencies. In other
+chapters I have tried to show how these various institutions are
+endeavoring to meet these rural needs. So important are these factors of
+rural life that we may now raise the question, What should be the
+relation of the rural church to these needs and to the agencies designed
+to meet them? In dealing with this phase of the subject, we may best
+speak of the church most frequently in terms of the pastor, for reasons
+that may appear as we go on.
+
+There are three things the country pastor may do in order to bring his
+church into vital contact with these great sociological movements. Of
+course he _may_ ignore them, but that is church suicide. (1) He may
+recognize them. This means first of all to understand them, to
+appreciate their influence. There is a law of the division of labor that
+applies to institutions as well as to individuals. This law helps us to
+understand how such institutions as the Grange and farmers' institutes
+are doing a work that the church cannot do. They are doing a work that
+needs doing. They are serving human need. No pastor can afford to ignore
+them, much less in sneer at them as unclean; he may well apply the
+lesson of Peter's vision, and accept them as ministers of the kingdom.
+(2) He may encourage and stimulate them. The rural pastor may throw
+himself into the van of those who strive for better farming, for a
+quicker social life, for more adequate educational facilities. He can
+well take up the role of promoter--a promoter of righteousness and peace
+through so-called secular means. Thus shall he perform the highest
+function of the prophet--to spiritualize and glorify the common. But the
+rural pastor can go even farther. (3) He may co-operate with them. He
+may thus assist in uniting with the church all of those other agencies
+that make for rural progress, and thus secure a "federation," if not "of
+the world," at least of all the forces that are helping to solve the
+farm problem; and he may thus found a "parliament," if not "of man," at
+least of all who believe that the rural question is worth solving and
+that no one movement is sufficient to solve it.
+
+We come now to the most practical part of our subject, which is, how the
+proposed relation between church and other rural social forces may be
+secured. There are four suggestions along this line.
+
+1. Sociological study by the rural pastor. This is fundamental. In
+general it means a fairly comprehensive study of sociological
+principles, some study of sociological problems, and some practice in
+sociological investigation. As it relates to the rural pastor, it means
+also a knowledge of rural sociology. It implies a grasp of the
+principles and significance of modern agricultural science, an
+understanding of the history, status, and needs of rural and
+agricultural education, an appreciation of and sympathy for the
+co-operative movements among farmers. Does one say, this is asking too
+much of the burdened country pastor with his meager salary and
+widespread parish? Let me ask if the pastor has any other road to power
+except _to know_? Moreover, the task is not so formidable as first
+appears. The pastor is supposed to be a trained student, and since he
+needs to know these things only in broad lines, the acquiring of them
+need not compel the midnight oil. I would, however, urge that every
+pastor have a course in general sociology, either in college or in
+seminary, and if he has the slightest intimation that his lines will be
+cast in country places, that he add a course in rural sociology.
+Inasmuch as the latter course is at present offered in few academic
+institutions in the United States, it might well be urged that brief
+courses in rural sociology be offered at the many summer schools.
+
+But sociological study by the pastor means more than knowledge of the
+general principles of sociology and of the problems of rural sociology;
+it means a minute and comprehensive sociological study of his particular
+parish. This in its simplest form consists of a religious canvass such
+as is frequently made both in country and city. But even this is not
+enough. It should at once be supplemented by a very careful and indeed a
+continuous sociological canvass, in which details about the whole
+business and life of the farm shall be collected and at last assimilated
+into the vital structure of the pastor's knowledge of his problem.
+
+2. The second suggestion looks toward the establishment of a
+social-service church, or an institutional church, or again, as one has
+phrased it, a "country church industrial." There seems to be a growing
+feeling that the country church may become not only the distinctively
+religious center of the neighborhood, but also the social, the
+intellectual, and the aesthetic center. No doubt there is untold power
+in such an idea. No doubt the country church has a peculiarly rich and
+inviting field for community service. It would be gratifying if every
+country pastor would study the possibilities of this idea and endeavor
+to make an experiment with it. I have, however, a supplemental
+suggestion, at this point. It is not possible to make of every rural
+church an institutional church. The church is notably a conservative
+institution. The rural church is in this respect "to the manner born."
+Rural church members are likely to be ultra-conservative, especially as
+to means and methods. Even if this were not true, we might well lament
+any attempt to establish a social-service church that endeavored to make
+the church the sole motive power in rural regeneration, that failed to
+recognize, to encourage, and to co-operate with the other social forces
+which we have mentioned. But if every country pastor cannot have a
+social-service church, is it not possible that every country church
+shall have a social-service pastor? There are some things the church
+cannot _do_; there is nothing it may not through its pastor _inspire_.
+There are some uses to which the country church cannot be put; there are
+no uses to which the country pastor may not be put--as country pastors
+know by experience. The pastor ought to be an authority on social
+salvation as well as on personal salvation. He ought to be guide,
+philosopher, and friend in community affairs as well as in personal
+affairs. Is he not indeed the logical candidate for general social
+leadership in the rural community? He is educated, he is trained to
+think, he is supposed to have broad grasp of the meaning of affairs, he
+usually possesses many of the qualities of leadership. He is
+_relatively_ a fixture. He is less transient than the teacher. He is the
+only man in the community whose tastes are sociological and who is at
+the same time a paid man--all this aside from the question of the
+munificence of his stipend. Let us then have the social-service rural
+church if we can; but let us have the social-service rural pastor at all
+hazards, as the first term in the formula for solving the sociological
+problem of the country church.
+
+3. Co-operation among rural churches. The manifest lack of co-operation
+among churches seems to many laymen to result in a tremendous waster of
+power. Of course it is a very hard problem. But is it insoluble? It
+would seem not. One would think that the plan of union suggested by Dr.
+Strong in _The New Era_ is wholly practicable. But the burden of the
+suggestion at this point is this: Cannot the churches unite sufficiently
+for a thorough religious and sociological canvass? If they cannot
+federate on a theological platform, can they not unite on a statistical
+platform? If they cannot unite for religious work, can they not join
+hands long enough to secure a more intelligent basis for their separate
+work? It seems to me that this sort of union is worth while, and that it
+is something in which there could be full union, in which "there is
+neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free."
+
+4. The pastor may aid if not lead in the federation of rural social
+forces. The idea involved is substantially this: Given a farmers'
+organization that ministers chiefly to industrial and economic ends,
+though incidentally to moral and educational ones; a school system that
+feeds chiefly the accepted educational needs, though acting perhaps as a
+moving force in industrial and social betterment; a church which is
+chiefly a religious institution, but which touches the life of the
+community at many other points--given these things and the obvious next
+step is co-operation among them all, in order that a well-balanced kind
+of social progress may result. This form of federation means the attempt
+to solve the farm problem at all points. It suggests that the army of
+rural progress shall march with the wings abreast the center. It means
+that the farmer, the editor, the educator, the preacher--all, shall see
+the work that needs doing, in all its fulness, and, seeing, shall
+resolve to push ahead side by side.
+
+To sum up: The rural problem is a neglected but exceedingly important
+question. Out of the peculiar environment of the farmer grow his
+peculiar social needs, namely, better organization, fuller and richer
+education, quicker communication. To meet these supreme needs we find a
+growing and already powerful coterie of farmers' organizations, somewhat
+heterogeneous but rapidly developing plans of agricultural education,
+and a marvelous evolution of the means of transportation for body,
+voice, and missive. These needs and these agencies are selected as the
+conspicuous and vital element in the sociological problem that confronts
+the rural pastor. What shall be his attitude toward them? He _may_
+ignore them; but we assume that he will seek to work with them and to
+use them for the greater glory of God. He must then recognize them,
+encourage them, and co-operate with them. To do this successfully he
+must first be a student of sociology; he can then well afford to
+meditate upon the possibilities of making his church in some measure a
+social-service church or at least of making of himself a social-service
+pastor; he can work for church union at least on sociological lines; and
+finally he can do his best to secure an active federation of all the
+forces involved in the rural problem.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A SUMMARY OF RECENT PROGRESS
+
+
+In some respects the most notable recent advance in rural matters
+consists in the improved means of communication in rural districts. The
+country is relatively isolated, and it is this isolation in its extreme
+forms that is the bane of country living. Undue conservatism, lack of
+conformity to progressive views, undue prominence of class feeling, and
+a tendency to be less alert are things that grow out of this isolation;
+but better means of communication decrease these difficulties, and the
+last few years have seen a remarkable advance in this respect. For
+instance, the rural free mail delivery system is only ten years old, and
+yet today there are more than twenty-five thousand routes of this
+character in the United States serving possibly twenty million people
+with daily mail, a great proportion of whom before had very irregular
+mail service. Results are patent and marked. Time is saved in going for
+mail; market reports come daily; farmers are more prompt in their
+business dealings; roads are kept in better shape; there is an
+increased circulation of papers and magazines. Thus the farmer is in
+closer touch with affairs and much more alert to business opportunities,
+to political activities, and to social movements. The circulation of
+daily papers in country districts has increased at a marvelous rate. The
+amount of letter-writing has increased. Rural delivery of mail arouses
+the spirit of "being in the world." Its results have been almost
+revolutionary.
+
+So, too, the rural telephone. Recent investigation in the states of
+Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana showed that out of 200,000 subscribers to
+the independent telephone companies of those states about one-sixth were
+in farm homes. A few years ago, hardly a telephone could be found in a
+farmer's family. This business is constantly increasing. The established
+telephone companies are pushing their work into the country districts,
+small local exchanges are being formed, and soon the farmers, in the
+North at least, will be almost as well served by the telephone as are
+people of the smaller cities.
+
+Interurban electric railways are being built very rapidly and their
+advantage to the farmer is obvious. It is doubtful if their effect has
+been quite so far-reaching as some have suggested. At present they very
+largely parallel existing steam railways, and while they give better
+freight and passenger service and assist materially in diminishing rural
+isolation in the areas which they traverse, their influence does not
+extend very far from the line itself, and they reach relatively small
+areas of the country. However, their value to the farmer is very large,
+and, as they increase in number and in efficiency of service, they will
+become a powerful factor in rural progress.
+
+The good-roads movement is beginning to take on large proportions. It
+is, however, a complicated question. To make first-class roads is a
+costly business, and while a few such roads are of great value in a
+general social way, they do not quite make general country conditions
+ideal. To accomplish this, every road in the country should be a good
+road the year through, and this is an ideal very difficult of
+realization. However, in general, the roads are improving and as rapidly
+as the wealth of the country will permit the road system of the United
+States will be developed. Of course, good roads are a prime requisite
+for rural betterment.
+
+In general, it may be said that during the past decade the improvement
+of means of communication in rural districts has gone forward at a
+marvelously rapid pace. Nor is it exaggerating to say that the movements
+named are re-creating farm life.
+
+During this same period, there has been an almost equally wonderful
+advance in the means of agricultural education. Just twenty years ago
+the experiment-station system of this country was established. It took
+ten years for the stations to organize their work and to gain the
+confidence of the farmers. At present however, they are looked upon with
+great favor by the farming class and are doing a magnificent work. Their
+function is that of research chiefly, although they attempt some control
+service, such as inspection of fertilizers, stock foods, etc. In
+research they aim both to study the more intricate scientific questions
+that relate to agriculture and to carry on experiments that are of more
+obvious and more immediate practical application to existing conditions
+in the various states. There is one of these stations in each state and
+territory, besides a number of stations supported by state funds. The
+Department of Agriculture at Washington has also developed during the
+last ten years until it is performing very large service for
+agriculture. Its annual expenditures aggregate eight or ten million
+dollars, and it has in its employment hundreds of experts carrying on
+laboratory and field research, scouring the world for plants and seeds
+that may be of economic value, and assisting to control plant and animal
+diseases. It is also distributing a vast amount of practical
+information, put in readable form and adapted to the average farmer. Its
+work of seeking to extend the markets of our agricultural products is
+one of its notable successes.
+
+Agricultural schools have been talked about for a century, and during
+the early part of the last century several were started. The first
+permanent agricultural college was opened in 1857, in Michigan. The
+Morrill Act of 1862 gave rise to a system of such colleges and today
+there will be found one in every state and territory, besides several
+for the colored people of the South. Up to 1890, these colleges had been
+not wholly satisfactory and the farming class was not patronizing very
+fully their agricultural courses. The fault belonged both to the college
+and to the farmers. The farmers were skeptical of the value of
+agricultural education, and the colleges were often out of sympathy with
+the real needs of the farmers, and in fact found it difficult to break
+away from the pedagogical ideals of the old educational regime. Since
+1890, however, there has been a complete change of sentiment in this
+respect, particularly in the Middle West. There the "land-grant"
+colleges, whether separate colleges or whether organized as colleges of
+state universities, are securing magnificent buildings for agriculture,
+are offering fully equipped courses, and are enrolling as students some
+of the best men in college, whom they are educating not only for
+agricultural teachers and experimenters but also for practical farmers.
+Of course, there are many grave problems connected with this subject,
+many farmers who do not yet respond to the call for educated
+agriculturists, and some colleges that do not yet appreciate their
+opportunity. But the change for the better has been so marked that all
+agricultural educators are extremely optimistic.
+
+One of the most difficult and most important phases of agricultural
+education is that of a secondary grade. The great proportion of educated
+farmers will probably be trained for their business in secondary
+schools. This problem is being approached from many standpoints. The
+University of Minnesota established, some fourteen years ago, a school
+of agriculture, which now enrols several hundred pupils of both sexes.
+Wisconsin is trying the experiment of two county schools of agriculture.
+Occasionally the public high school will be found offering a course in
+agriculture. Several states are experimenting in one or more of these
+lines, and during the next few years we shall see a large development of
+this phase of agricultural education.
+
+One of the most interesting movements in agricultural education has been
+an attempt to introduce nature-study and even the elements of
+agriculture into the country schools. Cornell University has taken the
+lead in advocating "nature-study" purely, for the schools; and the
+University of Missouri has perhaps been the leader in advocating that
+the work be made even more definite and practical, and that the country
+pupils shall be taught, during their early years even, "the elements of
+agriculture." Both plans are being worked out with a fair degree of
+success, and many other states are carrying out the work in some form or
+other. Of course the idea is not a new one, but its present practical
+application is a timely one, and it will not be long before this branch
+of agricultural education will become a prominent factor in rural
+betterment.
+
+A most suggestive phase of agricultural education is college extension
+work. University extension has had a rather meteoric career in this
+country, in so far as it has been connected with educational
+institutions; although the extension idea is spreading rapidly and is
+being worked out through home study and correspondence courses of all
+sorts. But I think there is scarcely any field in which the real college
+extension idea is today being more successfully applied than in
+agriculture. The work started with farmers' institutes, which were
+instituted about twenty-five years ago and which have been adopted in
+practically all the states of the Union. It has broadened within ten
+years, until now it is carried on not only by farmers' institutes, but
+through home-correspondence courses, the introduction of millions of
+pamphlets into farm homes, demonstrations in spraying, butter-making,
+soil testing, milk testing, and so on.
+
+Ontario presents a good illustration of how a new agriculture can be
+created, in a dozen years, by co-operating methods of agricultural
+education. Her provincial department of agriculture, her experiment
+station, her agricultural college, her various forms of extension work,
+and her various societies of agriculturists have all worked together
+with an unusual degree of harmony for the deliberate purpose of inducing
+Canadian agriculturists to produce the things that will bring the most
+profit. The results have been most astonishing and most gratifying.
+
+The recent progress in the organization of farmers has been less marked
+than has been the development of rural communication and agricultural
+education. Organization is a prime requisite for farmers. They feel this
+truth themselves. For the last forty years, many attempts--some large,
+some small, some successful, some great failures--have been made to this
+end. The problem is an extremely difficult one. Business co-operation
+among farmers is especially difficult and, while co-operation has
+developed quite largely--so much so that the Department of Agriculture
+was able to report, a year ago, a list of five thousand co-operative
+societies of various kinds among farmers--still it cannot be said that
+the farmers are co-operating industrially in a relatively large way.
+They have, however, a multitude of associations and societies. They have
+also the Grange, which is the most successful of all the general
+organizations of farmers in the country. Contrary to public belief, the
+Grange is not defunct, but has been growing at a very rapid pace during
+the last few years and has a large influence especially in the East and
+Middle West. It has practically no existence in the far West and in the
+South. It has a national organization, however, representing some
+twenty-six states. Its influence in Congress is said to be marked. The
+local Granges are doing a very large work, socially, educationally, and
+sometimes financially. The Grange seems to understand itself now. Its
+ideals have been worked out pretty carefully, and its future growth is
+quite certain.
+
+We have suggested that the significant rural social movements of the
+past few years have been the improvement of rural communication, the
+wonderful development of agricultural education, and the fairly
+satisfactory development of organization among farmers. It seems also
+apparent that there is a fourth line of development that might be
+mentioned as being significant, and it may be expressed in a somewhat
+general statement that the interest in agricultural questions has
+increased in a very marked way. There is undoubtedly a new emphasis upon
+country life generally. The people of the cities have been going to the
+country more than ever before. A walk, the length of Beacon Street in
+Boston, at any time from the middle of June to late autumn, convinces
+one that the majority of the people are somewhere in the country. All
+over the North, city people are making country homes for at least a
+portion of the year. There is also a growing interest in the farm and
+farm problems among the general public. Just now the country schools are
+attracting special attention from the educators--so much so that the
+late President Harper stated, not long ago, that the rural-school
+question is the coming question in education. Even the country church is
+being made a subject of discussion in religious circles. It is conceded
+that agriculture presents "problems." And while the throbbing, busy,
+intense life of the city brings perplexing questions to our
+civilization, our people are coming to realize that the agricultural
+population and the agricultural industry are still tremendous factors in
+our national life and success, and that both social and industrial
+conditions in the country are such that there also are grave questions
+to be settled.
+
+In view of the facts which have been given, I think if one were asked to
+give a direct answer to the question, Is the farmer keeping up? one
+could reply, Yes. In some sections of the country, the farmers have not
+responded to these forward movements. The countryman is naturally
+conservative. Not only that, but there are some serious questions that
+he has to meet in his business and in his life. He finds it extremely
+and increasingly difficult to get adequate labor. He has not been able
+to take sufficient advantage of the power of co-operation. The
+industrial and social development of the city has lured away his
+children. And yet one cannot help feeling that these really remarkable
+advances of the past decade are prophetic of a steady improvement in
+rural conditions, of a larger development of rural life, of a greater
+prosperity for agriculture.
+
+With regard to the future, it seems to me that, on the social side, the
+progress of the next few years is to be along the lines, indicated
+above, which have characterized the past ten or a dozen years. Still
+further improved means of communication will tend to banish isolation
+and its drawbacks. Realization of the benefits of organization and
+ability to co-operate will vastly strengthen class power. The means of
+agricultural education will be developed very rapidly, with the ideal in
+mind of being able to furnish some sort of agricultural training for
+every individual who lives upon the farm. The country question, as a
+whole, will attract increasing attention. Gradually it will be seen that
+the rural problem is one of the greatest interest to all our citizens.
+The spirit of co-operation will grow until not only the farmers
+themselves unite for their own class interests but the various social
+agencies--industrial, religious, educational--ministering to rural
+betterment will find themselves also co-operating. Thus, it seems to me,
+the outlook for the future is full of hope. A genuine forward movement
+for rural betterment has had its beginning, is now gathering volume, and
+will soon attain very large proportions.
+
+
+
+
+FORWARD STEPS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE SOCIAL SIDE OF THE FARM QUESTION
+
+
+There is a proverb in Grange circles which expresses also the
+fundamental aim of all agricultural education--"The farmer is of more
+consequence than the farm and should be first improved." The first term
+in all agricultural prosperity is the man behind the plow. Improved
+agriculture is a matter of fertile brain rather than of fertile field.
+Mind culture must precede soil culture.
+
+But if the improved man is the first term in improved agriculture, if he
+is the effective cause of rural progress, he is also the last term and
+the choice product of genuine agricultural advancement. We may
+paraphrase the sordid, "raise more corn to feed more hogs to buy more
+land to raise more corn, etc.," into the divine, "train better farmers
+to make better farming to grow better farmers, etc." We want trained men
+that we may have an advancing agricultural art, that we may make every
+agricultural acre render its maximum. The improved acre, however, must
+yield not only corn but civilization, not only potatoes but culture,
+not only wheat but effective manhood.
+
+But we may carry the point a step farther. The individual farmer is the
+starting-point and the end of agriculture, it is true. But the lone
+farmer is an anomaly, either as a cause or as a product, as the lone man
+is everywhere. As an effective cause we must have co-operating
+individuals, and as an end we desire an improved community and a
+higher-grade _class_ of farmers.
+
+The farm question then is a social question. Valuable as are the
+contributions of science to the problems of soil and plant and animal,
+the ultimate contribution comes from the development of improved men. So
+the real end is not merely to utilize each acre to its utmost, nor to
+provide cheap food for the people who do not farm, nor yet to render
+agriculture industrially strong. The gravest and most far-reaching
+consideration is the social and patriotic one of endeavoring to develop
+and maintain an agricultural class which represents the very best type
+of American manhood and womanhood, to make the farm home the ideal home,
+to bring agriculture to such a state that the business will always
+attract the keen and the strong who at the same time care more for home
+and children and state and freedom than for millions. In other words,
+the maintenance of the typical American farmer--the man who is
+essentially middle class, who is intelligent, who keeps a good standard
+of living, educates his children, serves his country, owns his
+medium-sized farm, and who at death leaves a modest estate--the
+maintenance of the typical American farmer is the real agricultural
+problem.
+
+If this analysis is a correct one, it will vitally affect our plans for
+agricultural training. The student will be taught not only soil physics,
+but social psychology. He will learn not only the action of bacteria in
+milk fermentation, but the underlying causes of the social ferment among
+the farmers of the last thirty years. He will concern himself with the
+value of farmers' organizations as well as with the co-operating
+influences of high-bred corn and high-bred steers. The function and
+organization of the rural school will be as serious a problem to him as
+the building and management of the co-operative creamery. The country
+church and its career will interest him fully as much as does the latest
+successful device for tying milch cows in the stable. He will want to
+get at the kernel of the political questions that confront agriculture
+just as fully and thoroughly as he wishes to master the formulae for
+commercial fertilizers. No man will have acquired an adequate
+agricultural education who has not been trained in rural social science,
+and who does not recognize the bearing of this wide field of thought
+upon the business of farming as well as upon American destiny.
+
+Research, too, will be touched with the social idea. The men who study
+conditions existing in rural communities which have to do with the real
+life of the people--the effects of their environment, the tendencies of
+their habits and customs--will need as thorough preparation for their
+work, and the result of their efforts will be as useful as that of the
+men who labor in field and laboratory.
+
+But the most profound consequence of recognizing the social side of the
+farm question will be the new atmosphere created at the agricultural
+colleges. These institutions are fast gaining leadership in all the
+technical questions of agriculture--leadership gladly granted by
+progressive farmers whenever the institution is managed with
+intelligence and in the spirit of genuine sympathy with farming. But
+these colleges must minister to the _whole farmer_. They must help the
+farmer solve all his problems, whether these problems are scientific, or
+economic, or social, or political. And let it be said in all earnestness
+that in our rapidly shifting industrial order, the farmer's interest in
+the political, social, and economic problems of his calling is fully as
+great as it is in those purely scientific and technical. And rightly so.
+A prime steer is a triumph. But it will not of itself keep the farmer
+free. The 50-bushels-of-wheat acre is a grand business proposition
+provided the general industrial conditions favor the grower as well as
+the consumer. When our agricultural colleges enter into the fullest
+sympathy with all the rural problems, when the farm home and the rural
+school and the country church and the farmer's civic rights and duties
+and all the relations of his business to other industries--when these
+questions are "in the air" of our agricultural colleges, then and then
+alone will these colleges fulfil their true mission of being _all things
+to all farmers_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE NEEDS OF NEW ENGLAND AGRICULTURE
+
+
+One might name a score of important activities that should be encouraged
+in order to better New England agriculture. But the two fundamental
+needs are (1) adaptation and (2) co-operation.
+
+By adaptation is meant such development of agriculture as shall more
+fully utilize existing physical and commercial conditions. The West has
+for seventy-five years pressed hard upon New England farming. But along
+with this western competition has come a new opportunity for the eastern
+farmer. New England farmers as a whole have not quickly enough responded
+to this new opportunity. Many of their troubles may be traced to the
+failure to adapt themselves to the new conditions. The men in New
+England who have met the new opportunity are succeeding.
+
+What does this adaptation consist in? It means, first, the adaptation of
+the New England farmer to his markets. In most parts of the country the
+type of farming is perhaps more dependent upon physical conditions of
+soil and climate than upon the immediate market. In New England the
+reverse is now true, and the type of New England farming must be
+adapted, absolutely and completely, to the demands of its market. New
+England farmers have the most superb markets in the country. Of the six
+million people in New England, approximately 75 per cent. live in the
+cities and villages. There are, in New England, thirty cities having a
+population of twenty-five thousand or more. The great majority of these
+cities are manufacturing cities peopled by the best class of consumers
+in the world--the American skilled artisan. They constitute a nearby
+market that demands fresh products which cannot be transported across a
+continent. New England is also especially favored in its nearness to the
+European market. The New England farmer then must adapt his crops, his
+methods, and his style of farming to his peculiar market.
+
+In the second place, this adaptation must be one of soil, just as
+anywhere else, only the problem here becomes more complicated because of
+the varied character of the farming lands. How to make the valleys and
+the hills, the rocky ridges and the sand plains of New England yield
+their largest possibilities in agriculture is a problem of the greatest
+scientific and industrial interest, and it is the problem that New
+England agriculture has to face. In this connection comes also the need
+of special varieties adapted not only to the market but to the soil and
+climate.
+
+This principle of adaptation is the industrial key to future
+agricultural development in New England. But to achieve this adaptation,
+to make the key work, there is needed the force of social organization.
+The farmer must be reached before the farm can be improved. The man who
+treads the furrow is a greater factor than nitrogen or potash. How is
+this man to be reached, inspired, instructed? Largely by some form of
+organization. The second and greater need therefore is co-operation.
+
+Co-operation means faith in agriculture--a faith too seldom found in the
+Israel of New England's yeomanry. Co-operation means ideals--ideals of
+rural possibilities too seldom dreamed of in the philosophy of the
+Yankee farmer. Co-operation means power--power that cannot be acquired
+by the lone man, not even by the resolute individualism so dominant in
+New England character.
+
+There are three forms of co-operation, all of which are desirable and
+even essential if the most rapid agricultural progress in New England is
+to be secured--co-operation among individuals, among organizations,
+among states.
+
+The farmers of New England must work together. The Grange is stronger in
+New England than in any other portion of the country of similar
+area--yet not one farmer in ten belongs to the Grange. We need not dwell
+on this point, for it is a truth constantly preached through the Grange
+and through other means. Let me suggest two ideas relative to
+co-operation which have not received so much attention.
+
+Each organization has its peculiar work. The school is to train the
+young, the agricultural college to prepare the youth, the farmers'
+institute to instruct and inspire the middle-aged and mature. The
+experiment station seeks to discover the means by which nature and man
+may better work together. The producers' unions endeavor to secure a
+fair price for their goods. The Grange enlarges the views of its members
+and brings the power which comes from working together, buying together,
+meeting together, talking together, acting together. Boards of
+agriculture control conditions of health and disease among animals and
+plants. The country fair educates and interests. The church crowns all
+in its ministrations of spiritual vision, moral uplift, and insistence
+upon character as the supreme end of life.
+
+But no institution can do the work of the others. They are members one
+of another. The hand cannot say to the foot, I have no need of thee. All
+these things make for rural progress. None can be spared. The Grange
+cannot take the place of the church. The institute cannot supplant the
+Grange. The college course cannot reach the adult farmer. The experiment
+station cannot instruct the young. The church cannot secure reforms in
+taxation.
+
+These agencies may however co-operate. Indeed the most rapid and most
+secure rural progress, the broadest and soundest agricultural growth,
+can not take place unless there be this form of co-operation. There will
+come added interest, increased efficiency, larger views, greater
+ambitions in our agricultural development, if, in each state, all of
+these forces work together.
+
+We may therefore welcome most cordially the proposed plan of federating
+the various agricultural societies of each state into one grand
+committee organized for the purpose of forwarding all the agricultural
+interests of that state. Let there be, moreover, a "League for Rural
+Progress," in each state or, at least, an annual conference on rural
+progress, in each state, in which the representatives of the farmers'
+societies, of the schools, of the churches, and indeed all other people
+who have the slightest interest in rural advancement may meet to discuss
+plans and methods which shall better agriculture and the farmer.
+
+But this is not enough. There ought to be co-operation among these
+various social institutions without respect to state lines. The farm
+problem in New England is one problem, although differing in details, it
+is true, in different states. Co-operation should not stop with the
+federating of the organizations of a state. There is no reason, for
+instance, why the agricultural colleges and experiment stations of New
+England should not co-operate. It is not practicable to prevent all
+duplication of work. I do suggest the desirability and the feasibility
+of genuine co-operation.
+
+Why should not those in charge of the rural schools of all New England
+meet together and discuss the difficulties and achievements as they
+exist in different states? Why not have a "New England Society for
+Agricultural Education," in which all organizations and all individuals
+who are interested in any phase of this subject may meet for discussing
+New England problems? Could not boards of agriculture co-operate to some
+extent, especially in farmers' institute work with general plans and
+ideas? Certainly conferences between these boards ought to yield most
+valuable results. Is the idea of a genuine New England fair a mere
+dream?
+
+Cannot the Granges of New England profitably co-operate more fully? It
+is true that there is considerable intervisitation, and yet the rank and
+file of members in one state know comparatively little of the progress
+and methods of the Grange in an adjoining state; this knowledge is
+confined to a few leaders. Would it not be worth while to attempt an
+occasional New England assemblage of Grange members, a representative
+gathering for discussing Grange work and for enthusing the Grange people
+of New England with the possibilities of still further Grange
+development?
+
+The idea of New England as a unit of interest in church matters is
+already exemplified by the appointment of a New England secretary of the
+federation of churches. It is not too much to expect that, in the near
+future, all the means for church federation in New England shall work
+together, because it is evident that co-operation and unity are demanded
+by the nature of the field.
+
+And finally, is it idle to think that there might be a New England
+League for Rural Progress or, at least, a New England Conference on
+Rural Progress, which shall bring from every corner of New England
+representatives of the agricultural colleges, of the Granges, of the
+country church, of the rural school, of the country press, and all other
+individuals who believe in the possibilities of New England agriculture,
+and in the efficiency of the fullest and freest co-operation?
+
+There are several powerful reasons why an attempt to better New England
+agriculture will be greatly aided by co-operation that includes every
+inch of New England soil from Boston harbor to the Berkshires, and from
+Mt. Katahdin to Point Judith.
+
+(1) The importance of New England agriculture. In the appended table is
+attempted a comparison between New England as a unit, the state of
+Michigan representing an average agricultural state, and the state of
+Iowa representing the foremost agricultural state. The figures, taken
+from the Census of 1900, are given in round numbers. Such a table is not
+conclusive as to agricultural conditions. But it is very suggestive as
+to the importance of New England agriculture both industrially and
+socially. It will be seen that, with an area only a little larger than
+Michigan, New England compares in every respect favorably with that
+average state and, in some respects, excels it, while it excels both
+Michigan and Iowa by 65 per cent. in gross value of product per acre of
+improved land.
+
+(2) Agricultural conditions all over New England are quite similar.
+Speaking broadly, the soil and climate of one state are the soil and
+climate of another. The people are of the same stock, the same views,
+the same habits, the same traditions. The demand of the market is fairly
+uniform for different sections. The New England city is the New
+Englander's special possession as a market. Farm labor conditions are
+much the same. In fact, there is hardly a portion of our country, of the
+same area, which in all these respects yields itself more completely to
+the idea of unity.
+
+(3) The hopefulness of the farm problem. Nearly four millions of city
+people live in New England. They must be fed. The nearness of the
+market means high-class products. This means intensive agriculture.
+Intensive agriculture means education and intelligence. The cities are
+growing. Their power of consumption is steadily and rapidly increasing.
+
+(4) The unusual social equipment. It must be remembered that in an area
+but little larger than Iowa, which has one agricultural college and one
+agricultural experiment station and no Granges to speak of, New England
+has, in comparison, six agricultural colleges, six experiment stations,
+six boards of agriculture, over a thousand Granges, and numerous
+agricultural societies. The means of agricultural education in New
+England are more numerous and may be more efficient than in any other
+portion of this country of similar area. Moreover, the cities are now in
+a position to help solve the problem in New England. They have leaders.
+There are in them men with leisure and talent who are interested in this
+problem and who are willing to help solve it.
+
+(5) The sentimental side. A campaign for rural progress, with New
+England as the unit, ought to arouse the pride and enthusiasm of all the
+sons and daughters of New England who still have the privilege of living
+within her borders, as well as the interest and sympathy of all her
+grandsons who, though living under western skies, still cherish in their
+hearts the deepest affection for their Fatherland. Shall not the idea of
+uniting all the forces of agricultural betterment that exist in New
+England be a stimulus to every farmer in the six states, and, indeed,
+attract the sympathy and practical aid of every lover of New England
+soil?
+
+Adaptation, co-operation: these are the primary needs of New England
+agriculture; an adaptation of the farmer and his farm to existing
+conditions, a co-operation that unites individual farmers into various
+associated efforts, that federates the work and influence of the
+different social agencies within the state, and that ultimately secures
+the unity of all New England in a great movement for rural advancement.
+
+
+   ===================================================================
+                        |  New England |   Michigan   |      Iowa
+   -------------------------------------------------------------------
+   Total land area--    |              |              |
+     square miles       |       62,000 |       57,500 |         55,500
+   Number of farms      |      192,000 |      203,000 |        229,000
+   Acreage in farms     |   20,500,000 |   17,500,000 |     34,600,000
+   Acres of improved    |              |              |
+     land               |    8,135,000 |   11,800,000 |     29,900,000
+   Value of farms       | $640,000,000 | $690,000,000 | $1,835,000,000
+   Value of farm        |              |              |
+     products           | $170,000,000 | $147,000,000 |   $365,000,000
+   Persons engaged in   |              |              |
+     agriculture        |      290,000 |      312,000 |        372,000
+   Rural population     |    1,500,000 |    1,200,000 |      1,260,000
+   Value of products per|              |              |
+     acre of improved   |              |              |
+     land               |         $20  |         $12  |           $12
+   Number of Granges    |       1,200  |         725  |
+   Number of Grange     |              |              |
+     members            |     120,000  |      45,000  |
+   -------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+AN UNTILLED FIELD IN AMERICAN EDUCATION
+
+
+Agricultural education in this country has thus far been an attempt to
+apply a knowledge of the laws of the so-called "natural" sciences to the
+practical operations of the farm. Comparatively little attention has
+been paid to the application of the principles of the "social" sciences
+to the life of the farmer. All this is partly explained by the fact that
+the natural sciences were fairly well developed when the needs of the
+farmer called the scientist to work with and for the man behind the
+plow, when a vanishing soil fertility summoned the chemist to the
+service of the grain grower, when the improvement of breeds of stock and
+races of plants began to appeal to the biologist. Moreover, these
+practical applications of the physical and biological sciences are, and
+always will be, a fundamental necessity in the agricultural question.
+
+But in the farm problem we cannot afford to ignore the economic and
+sociological phases. While it may be true that the practical success of
+the individual farmer depends largely upon his business sense and his
+technical education, it is folly to hope that the success of agriculture
+as an industry and the influence of farmers as a class can be based
+solely upon the ability of each farmer to raise a big crop and to sell
+it to advantage. General intelligence, appreciation of the trend of
+economic and social forces, capacity to co-operate, ability to voice his
+needs and his rights, are just as vital acquirements for the farmer as
+knowing how to make two blades of grass grow where but one grew before.
+It finally comes to this, that the American farmer is obliged to study
+the questions that confront him as a member of the industrial order and
+as a factor in the social and political life of the nation, with as much
+zeal and understanding as he is expected to show in the study of those
+natural laws governing the soil and the crops and the animals that he
+owns.
+
+In this connection it is significant to note that farmers themselves are
+already quite as interested in the social problems of their particular
+calling and in the general economic and political questions of the day,
+as they are in science applied to their business of tilling the soil.
+Not necessarily that they minimize the latter, but they seem
+instinctively to recognize that social forces may work them ill or work
+them good according to the direction and power of those forces. This
+statement is illustrated by the fact that the aims, purposes, labors,
+and discussions of the great farmers' organizations like the Grange are
+social in character, having to do with questions that are political,
+economic, sociological.
+
+When, however, we turn to those public educational agencies that are
+intended to assist in the solution of the farm problem, we discover that
+they are giving slight attention to the social side of the question. An
+examination of the catalogues of the agricultural colleges, whether
+separate institutions or colleges of state universities, reveals the
+fact that, beyond elementary work in economics, in civics, and
+occasionally in sociology, little opportunity is given students to study
+the farm question from its social standpoint. With a few exceptions,
+these institutions offer no courses whatever in rural social problems,
+and even in these exceptional cases the work offered is hardly
+commensurate with the importance of the subject. Nearly all our other
+colleges and universities are subject to the same comment. The average
+student of problems in economics and sociology and education gains on
+conception whatever of the importance and character of the rural phases
+of our industrial and social life.
+
+It may be urged in explanation of this state of affairs that the liberal
+study of the social sciences in our colleges and universities and
+especially any large attention to the practical problems of economics
+and sociology, is a comparatively recent thing. This is true and is a
+good excuse. But it does not offer a reason why the social phases of
+agriculture should be longer neglected. The purpose of this article is
+less to criticize than to describe a situation and to urge the
+timeliness of the large development, in the near future, of rural social
+science.
+
+At the outset the queries may arise, What is meant by rural social
+science? and, What is there to be investigated and taught under such a
+head? The answer to the first query has already been intimated. Rural
+social science is the application of the principles of the social
+sciences, especially of economics and sociology, to the problems that
+confront the American farmer. As a reply to the second query there are
+appended at the end of this chapter outlines of possible courses in
+agricultural economics and rural sociology, which were prepared by the
+writer for the exhibit in "rural economy" at the St. Louis exposition.
+There are also subjects that have a political bearing, such as local
+government in the country, and primary reform in rural communities,
+which perhaps ought not to be omitted. So, too, various phases of home
+life and of art might be touched upon. The subjects suggested and others
+like them could be conveniently grouped into from two to a dozen
+courses, as circumstances might require.
+
+What classes of people may be expected to welcome and profit by
+instruction of this character? (1) The farmers themselves. Assuming that
+our agricultural colleges are designed, among other functions, to train
+men and women to become influential farmers, no argument is necessary to
+show how studies in rural social science may help qualify these students
+for genuine leadership of their class of toilers. On the other hand, it
+may be remarked that no subjects will better lend themselves to college
+extension work than those named above. Lectures and lecture courses for
+granges, farmers' clubs, farmers' institutes, etc., on such themes would
+arouse the greatest interest. Correspondence and home study courses
+along these lines would be fully as popular as those treating of soils
+and crops. (2) Agricultural educators. The soil physicist or the
+agricultural chemist will not be a less valuable specialist in his own
+line, and he certainly will be a more useful member of the faculty of an
+agricultural college, if he has an appreciative knowledge of the
+farmer's social and economic status. This is even more true of men
+called to administer agricultural education in any of its phases. (3)
+Rural school administrators and the more progressive rural teachers. The
+country school can never become truly a social and intellectual center
+of the community until the rural educators understand the social
+environment of the farmer. (4)Country clergymen. The vision of a
+social-service church in the country will remain but a dream unless,
+added to the possession of a heart for such work, the clergyman knows
+the farm problem sufficiently to appreciate the broader phases of the
+industrial and social life of his people. (5) Editors of farm papers,
+and of the so-called "country" papers. Probably the editors of the
+better class of agricultural papers are less in need of instruction such
+as that suggested than is almost anyone else. Yet the same arguments
+that now lead many young men aspiring to this class of journalism to
+regard a course in scientific agriculture as a vestibule to their work
+may well be used in urging a study of rural social science, especially
+at a time when social and economic problems are pressing upon the
+farmer. As for the country papers, the work of purveying local gossip
+and stirring the party kettle too often obscures the tremendous
+possibilities for a high-class service to the rural community which such
+papers may render. No men, in the agricultural states at least, have
+more real influence in their community than the trained, clean, manly,
+country editors--and there is a multitude of such men. If as a class
+they possessed also a wider appreciation of the farmer's industrial
+difficulties and needs, hardly anyone could give better service to the
+solution of the farm problem than could they. (6) Everybody else! That
+is to say, the agricultural question is big enough and important enough
+to be understood by educated people. The farmers are half our people.
+Farming is our largest single industrial interest. The capital invested
+in agriculture is four-fifths the capital invested in manufacturing and
+railway transportation combined. Whether an individual has a special
+interest in business, in economics, in education, or in religious
+institutions, he ought to know the place of the farm and the farmer in
+that question. No one can have a full appreciation of the social and
+industrial life of the American people who is ignorant of the
+agricultural status.
+
+The natural place to begin work in rural social science is the
+agricultural college. Future farmers and teachers of farmers are
+supposed to be there. The subjects embraced are as important in solving
+the farm problem as are biology, physics, or chemistry. No skilled
+farmer or leader of farmers should be without some reasonably correct
+notions of the principles that determine the position of agriculture in
+the industrial world. A brief study of the elements of political
+economy, of sociology, of civics, is not enough; no more than the study
+of the elements of botany, of chemistry and of zoology is enough. The
+specific problems of the farmer that are economic need elucidation
+alongside the study of soils and crops, of plant-and stock-breeding. And
+these economic topics should be thoroughly treated by men trained in
+social science, and not incidentally by men whose chief interest is
+technical agriculture.
+
+The normal schools may well discuss the propriety of adding one or two
+courses which bear on the social and economic situation of the rural
+classes. While these schools do not now send out many teachers into
+rural schools, they may do so under the system of centralized schools;
+and in any event they furnish rural school administrators, as well as
+instructors of rural teachers. There seems to be a growing sentiment
+which demands of the school and of the teacher a closer touch with life
+as it is actually lived. How can rural teachers learn to appreciate the
+social function of the rural school, except they be taught?
+
+Nor is there any reason why the theological seminaries, or at least the
+institutions that prepare the men who become country clergymen, should
+not cover some of the subjects suggested. If the ambition of some people
+to see the country church a social and intellectual center is to be
+realized, the minister must know the rural problem broadly. The same
+arguments that impel the city pastor to become somewhat familiar with
+the economic, social, and civic questions of the day hold with equal
+force when applied to the necessary preparation for the rural ministry.
+
+The universities may be called upon to train teachers and investigators
+in rural social science for service in agricultural colleges, normal
+schools, and theological seminaries. Moreover, there is no good reason
+why any college or university graduate should not know more than he does
+about the farm problem. There can be little doubt that the interest in
+the farm question is very rapidly growing, and that the universities
+will be but meeting a demand if they begin very soon to offer courses in
+rural social science.
+
+The arguments for rural social science rest, let us observe, not only
+upon its direct aid to the farmers themselves, but upon its value as a
+basis for that intelligent social service which preacher, teacher, and
+editor may render the farming class. It is an essential underlying
+condition for the successful federation of rural social forces. Indeed
+it should in some degree be a part of the equipment of every educated
+person.
+
+It may not be out of place to add, in conclusion, that instruction in
+rural social problems should be placed in the hands of men who are
+thoroughly trained in social science as well as accurate, experienced,
+and sympathetic observers of rural conditions. It would be mischievous
+indeed if in the desire to be progressive any educational institution
+should offer courses in rural social science which gave superficial or
+erroneous ideas about the scientific principles involved, or which
+encouraged in any degree whatever the notion that the farmer's business
+and welfare are not vitally and forever bound up with the business and
+welfare of all other classes.
+
+
+OUTLINE FOR A BRIEF COURSE IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS
+
+
+  I. Characteristics of the Agricultural Industry.
+     Dependence upon nature.
+     Capital and labor as applied to agriculture.
+     The laws of rent and of decreasing returns in agriculture.
+     Relation of agriculture to other industries and to the welfare of
+       mankind.
+
+ II. History of the Agricultural Industry.
+     In ancient times.
+     Status in Europe prior to the eighteenth century.
+     The struggle to maintain its standing after the advent of commerce
+       and manufacture.
+     In the United States.
+       The pioneer stage.
+       Development of commercial agriculture.
+       The new farming.
+
+III. Present Status of the Farming Industry.
+     The world's food supply.
+     Agricultural resources of the United States.
+       Geographical factors.
+         Soils, climate, fertility, natural enemies, etc.
+     Statistics of farms, farm wealth, production, etc.
+     Leading sub-industries, cereals, stock, etc.
+     Distribution of production.
+
+ IV. The Agricultural Market.
+     Description of the market--local, domestic, foreign.
+     Mechanism of the market.
+       Banks and local exchange facilities.
+       Middlemen.
+       Boards of trade.
+     Prices of agricultural products.
+       Movements of prices.
+       Agricultural competition.
+       Depressions of agriculture.
+       Influence of "options."
+     Transportation of agricultural products.
+       Primary transportation--wagon roads and trolley lines.
+       Railroad and water transportation.
+         Facilities.
+         Rates.
+         Discriminations.
+         Delivery methods.
+       Incidents of the transportation system--elevators, etc.
+       Imperfect distribution of agricultural products.
+     Development of the market.
+       Increase of consumption of products--manufacture of farm products
+         as a factor.
+       The factor of choicer products.
+       The factor of better distribution of products.
+       The local market as a factor.
+       The foreign market as a factor.
+
+  V. Business Co-operation in Agriculture.
+     Historical sketch.
+     Present status.
+       Production.
+       Marketing.
+       Buying.
+       Miscellaneous business co-operation.
+     Difficulties and tendencies.
+
+ VI. Agriculture and Legislation.
+     Land laws and land policies of the United States.
+     Agriculture and the tariff.
+     Taxation and agriculture.
+     Food and dairy laws.
+     Government aid to agriculture.
+
+VII. General Problems.
+     Agricultural labor.
+     Machinery and agriculture.
+     Interest rates, indebtedness, etc.
+     Tenant farming.
+     Large vs. small farming.
+     Business methods.
+     Immigration and agriculture.
+
+
+OUTLINE FOR A BRIEF COURSE IN RURAL SOCIOLOGY
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+1. Definitions.
+2. Relation of the sociological to the economic, the technical, and the
+     scientific phases of agriculture.
+
+
+Part I
+
+THE RURAL SOCIAL STATUS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Movements of the Farm Population
+
+1. Statistical survey.
+2. The movement to the West.
+     History, causes.
+3. The movement to the cities.
+   _a_) Growth of cities.
+   _b_) Depletion of rural population in certain localities.
+4. Causes of the movement to the cities.
+   _a_) Industrial, social, and psychological causes.
+5. Results of the movements of the farm population.
+   _a_) Results both good and bad.
+   _b_) Resume of industrial and social results.
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Social Condition of the Rural Population
+
+Nativity; color; illiteracy; families; health; temperance; crime;
+morality; pauperism; defectives; insanity; etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+The Social Psychology of Rural Life
+
+1. Isolation and its results.
+2. The farm home and its environment.
+3. Traits of family life.
+4. Traits of individual life.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+The Social Aspect of Current Agricultural Questions
+
+1. Tenant farming.
+2. Large vs. small farms.
+3. Farm labor.
+4. Irregular incomes.
+5. Farm machinery.
+6. Specialization in farming.
+7. Immigration.
+
+
+Part II
+
+SOCIAL FACTORS IN RURAL PROGRESS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Means of Communication in Rural Districts
+
+1. Importance and status of rural communication.
+2. The new movements for better rural communication.
+   _a_) Highways.
+   _b_) Rural free mail delivery.
+   _c_) Rural telephone.
+   _d_) Interurban electric railways.
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Farmers' Organizations
+
+1. Value of.
+2. Difficulties in organizing.
+3. Forms that organizations may take.
+4. History and work of farmers' organizations in the United States.
+5. General deductions from study of farmers' organizations.
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Rural Education
+
+1. Distinction between rural and agricultural education.
+2. The country school.
+   _a_) Its importance, organization, maintenance, instruction, and
+     supervision.
+   _b_) The rural school as a social center.
+   _c_) The township unit, the consolidated school, the centralized
+     school.
+3. High-school privileges for rural pupils.
+4. The rural library.
+5. Other agencies for rural education.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Means of Agricultural Education
+
+1. Historical.
+2. Research in agriculture.
+3. Agricultural instruction to resident students.
+   _a_) Higher education in agriculture.
+   _b_) Secondary education in agriculture.
+   _c_) Primary education in agriculture.
+4. Extension teaching in agriculture.
+5. Miscellaneous agencies for agricultural education.
+   _a_) Farmers' societies.
+   _b_) The farm press.
+   _c_) The county paper.
+   _d_) Industrial departments of steam railways.
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+The Rural Church
+
+1. Present status.
+2. Difficulties in country church work.
+3. The awakening in the rural church.
+4. The institutional rural church.
+5. The Y. M. C. A. in the country.
+6. The rural Sunday school.
+7. The rural social settlement.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+The Social Ideal for Agriculture
+
+1. The importance of social agencies.
+2. The preservation of the "American farmer" essential.
+3. Relation of this ideal to our American civilization.
+4. The federation or co-operation of rural social agencies.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+FEDERATION FOR RURAL PROGRESS
+
+
+It is almost trite to assert the need of the "socialization"--to use a
+much-worked phrase--of the country. It is possible that this need is not
+greater than in the cities, but it is different. Among no class of
+people is individualism so rampant as among farmers. For more than a
+century the American farmer led the freest possible social life. His
+independence was his glory. But, when the day of co-operation dawned, he
+found himself out of tune with the movement, was disinclined to join the
+ranks of organized effort, and he prefers even yet his personal and
+local independence to the truer freedom which can be secured only
+through co-operative endeavor. Moreover, the social aspect of the rural
+problem is important not merely because the farmer is slow to
+co-operate. The farm problem is to be met by the activities of social
+institutions.
+
+We may say (assuming the home life, of course) that the church, the
+school, and the farmers' organization are the great rural social
+institutions. They are the forces now most efficient, and the ones that
+promise to abide. This classification may appear to be a mere truism,
+when we suggest that under the church should be placed all those
+movements that have a distinctively religious motive, under the school
+all those agencies that are primarily educational in design, and under
+farmers' organizations those associations whose chief function is to
+settle questions which concern the farmer as a business man and a
+citizen. But the classification answers fairly well. It includes
+practically every device that has been suggested for rural betterment.
+
+There are two interesting facts about these rural institutions: (1) None
+of them is doing a tithe of what it ought to be doing to help solve the
+farm problem. The church is apparently just about holding its own,
+though that is doubted by some observers. Rural schools are not, as a
+rule, keeping pace with the demands being made upon them; comparatively
+few students in the whole country are studying scientific agriculture.
+Not one farmer in twenty belongs to a strong farmers' organization. (2)
+All these institutions are awakening to the situation. Progress during
+the last decade has been especially gratifying. Co-operative efforts
+among farmers are more cautious, but more successful. The Grange has
+nearly doubled its membership since 1890; and it, as well as other farm
+organizations, has more real power than ever before. The rural-school
+question is one of the liveliest topics today among farmers as well as
+educators. Opportunities for agricultural education have had a marvelous
+development within a decade. Discussion about rural church federation,
+the rural institutional church, rural social settlements, and even
+experiments in these lines are becoming noticeably frequent. The Young
+Men's Christian Association has, its officers think, found the way to
+reach the country young man.
+
+The institutions which we have just discussed, together with the
+improvement that comes from such physical agencies as assist quicker
+communication (good wagon roads, telephones, rural mail delivery,
+electric roads), constitute the social forces that are to be depended
+upon in rural betterment. None can be spared or ignored. The function of
+each must be understood and its importance recognized. To imagine that
+substantial progress can result from the emphasis of any one agency to
+the exclusion of any other is a mistake. To assert this is not to
+quarrel with the statement we frequently hear nowadays that "the
+_church_ should be the social and intellectual center of the
+neighborhood;" or that "the _school_ should be the social and
+intellectual center of the neighborhood;" or that "the _Grange_ should
+be the social and intellectual center of the neighborhood." It is
+fortunate that these statements have been made. They show an
+appreciation of a function of these agencies that has been neglected.
+The first item in rural social progress is that the country preacher,
+the rural teacher, the country doctor, the country editor, the
+agricultural editor, the agricultural college professor, and especially
+the farmer himself, shall see the social need of the farm community. But
+to assert, for instance, that the church shall be _the_ social center of
+that community may lead to a partial and even to a fanatical view of
+things. I would not restrain in the slightest the enthusiasm of any
+pastor who wants to make his church occupy a central position in
+community life, nor of the teacher who wants to bring her school into
+relation with all the economic and social life of the farm, nor of the
+leader of the farmers' organization who sees the good that may be done
+through the social and intellectual training which his organization can
+give. But if there is danger that the preacher in the pursuit of this
+ideal, shall ignore the social function of the school and of the
+farmers' organization, or that the teacher, or the farmer, or anybody
+else who is interested, shall fail to see that there is a logical
+division of labor among rural social forces, and that it is only the
+intelligent and efficient and harmonious co-operation of all these
+forces that will insure the best progress, then to such I appeal with
+all the power at my command to recognize not only the breadth of the
+whole movement, but to appreciate the limitations of their own special
+interests. There are things that the church cannot do and should not
+attempt to do. There are things the school cannot do and should not
+attempt to do. Accepting our conventional division of social agencies,
+we may say that efficient rural progress stands upon a tripod of forces,
+and that balance can be maintained only when each is used in its proper
+measure.
+
+We reach now the heart of the topic, which is how these various social
+forces may be brought into co-operation--a co-operation that is
+intelligent and real. I would suggest, first of all, the encouragement
+of all efforts along this line that are already under way. For
+instance, there are scattered all over this country individual pastors
+who are seeking to make their churches the social and intellectual
+beacon-lights of the community. There are other individuals who are
+endeavoring to apply the social-settlement idea to the needs of the
+country. There are associations which attempt to bring together the
+teachers and the school patrons for mutual discussion of educational
+topics. In numerous instances the farmers' organizations include in
+their membership the country pastor, the district school teacher and
+perhaps the country doctor. In these and doubtless in other ways the
+idea we are dealing with is being promulgated, and up to a certain point
+this fact of promiscuous initiative is entirely satisfactory and
+desirable. So long as the work is done it makes little difference who
+does it. Every attempt to bring any of these agencies into closer touch
+with the farm community is to be welcomed most heartily. But beyond a
+certain limit this promiscuous work must be unsatisfactory. The efforts
+and interests of any one social agency are bound to be partial. Indeed
+the more effective such an agency is, the more partial it is likely to
+be. Intensity is gained at the expense of breadth. The need for
+federation exists in the desirability of securing both the intensity and
+the breadth.
+
+The precise method of securing this federation of effort is not easy to
+foresee. It can be determined only by trial. It must be worked out in
+harmony with varying conditions. Some very general plans at once suggest
+themselves: (1) Let the agricultural college in each state take the lead
+in the movement, acting not so much as an organization as a
+clearing-house and a go-between. Let it direct conferences on the
+subject, and seek to bring all who are interested in rural affairs into
+touch and sympathy. (2) Have a "League for Rural Progress," made up of
+representatives from the churches, the agricultural colleges, the
+departments of public instruction, the farm press, various farmers'
+organizations, etc. (3) Enlarge the "Hesperia movement," which now seeks
+to secure co-operation between school and farmers' organization, by
+including in it the church.
+
+It may be of interest to note that this idea of a federation of rural
+social forces is getting a foothold and has indeed already crystallized
+into organization. A brief description of what has actually been done
+will therefore not be out of place.
+
+So far as the writer is aware, the first meeting based on the definite
+idea of co-operation between school, church, and Grange was held at
+Morris, Connecticut, in the summer of 1901 and was organized by Rev. F.
+A. Holden, then pastor at Morris. This meeting was a very successful
+local affair, held in connection with "Old Home Week" celebration.
+
+Probably the first attempt to hold a similar meeting on a large scale
+was the conference at the Agricultural College, Michigan, in February,
+1902. It was a joint meeting of the Michigan Political Science
+Association and the Agricultural College and farmers' institutes. The
+practical initiative was taken by the Political Science Association
+under the leadership of its secretary, Professor Henry C. Adams, who had
+the cordial co-operation of President Snyder of the Agricultural College
+and Professor C. D. Smith, then superintendent of farmers' institutes.
+It was a notable gathering, and its promoters were rejoiced to see the
+splendid attendance of farmers particularly; teachers and clergymen did
+not attend as freely as might have been expected. The programme was a
+strong one and included men of national reputation and topics covering a
+wide range of interests.
+
+The addresses were published in the _Michigan Farmers' Institute
+Bulletin_ for 1901-02, and were also gathered into a publication of the
+Michigan Political Science Association under the title _Social Problems
+of the Farmer_.
+
+The state of Rhode Island has organized on a permanent basis. In 1904
+there was held in Kingston, at the College of Agriculture and Mechanic
+Arts, a "Conference on Rural Progress." It was a one-day meeting, well
+attended by representative farmers, clergymen, and educators. A
+committee was appointed to discuss further procedure, and the next year
+there was held in the halls of Brown University a two-days' conference.
+The programme included addresses on: The Grange, The Country Church,
+School Gardens, and several phases of practical agriculture. Among the
+speakers were the assistant secretary of agriculture, Hon. N. J.
+Bachelder, now Master of the National Grange, and Dr. Josiah Strong.
+
+In the spring of 1906 there was organized "The Rhode Island League for
+Rural Progress," which was constituted through representation from the
+following organizations: State Board of Agriculture; Rhode Island
+College of Agriculture; State Federation of Churches; State Grange;
+State Association of School Superintendents; State League of Improvement
+Societies; Washington County Agricultural Society; Newport Agricultural
+Society; Rhode Island Horticultural Society; Newport Horticultural
+Society; Rhode Island Poultry Association; Florists and Gardeners' Club;
+Kingston Improvement Association.
+
+This league held the Third Annual Conference on Rural Progress, April 10
+and 11, 1906, the first day's session being at Brown University,
+Providence, and the second day's at East Greenwich. Its fourth meeting
+was held in Newport in March, 1907. In Rhode Island the idea lying back
+of this conference has certainly approved itself to all who are
+interested in rural matters.
+
+The following is the constitution of the league:
+
+
+     CONSTITUTION
+
+     Rhode Island League for Rural Progress
+
+     I. NAME.--The name of this body shall be the "Rhode Island League
+     for Rural Progress."
+
+     II. OBJECT.--The object of the League shall be to secure the
+     co-operation of the various individuals, organizations, and
+     agencies which are working for any phase of rural advancement in
+     this state.
+
+     III. MEMBERSHIP.--Any organization interested in rural advancement,
+     which may desire to co-operate with the work of the League, may be
+     represented in the League.
+
+     Any individual in the state interested in rural progress may become
+     a member of the League upon the payment of one dollar annual fee.
+
+     IV. OFFICERS.--The administrative work of the League shall be
+     conducted by a council, to be composed of one delegate from each
+     organization represented in the League, to serve until superseded.
+     The council at the time of each annual conference shall choose from
+     among its members a president, a vice-president, and a
+     secretary-treasurer, and these officers shall act as an executive
+     committee.
+
+     V. MEETINGS.--The meetings of the League shall be held at the call
+     of the executive committee. There shall, however, be at least one
+     annual Conference on rural progress held under the auspices of the
+     League.
+
+     VI. FINANCES.--The funds necessary to forward the work of the
+     League may come from three sources:
+
+     _a_) Contributions made by organizations belonging to the League
+     and represented on the council, such contributions to be voluntary
+     and in such amount as the respective organizations may designate.
+     The council may, however, make up a schedule of desired
+     contributions from the various organizations and present it to the
+     different organizations.
+
+     _b_) Membership fees from individual members, $1.00 per year from
+     each member.
+
+     _c_) Private subscriptions.
+
+
+Probably the first successful attempt to organize a permanent league for
+rural progress was accomplished in 1904 through the efforts of Rev. G.
+T. Nesmith, of Hebron, Ill. It was called "The McHenry County
+Federation," and has held three annual meetings and seems to be on a
+solid basis. Mr. Nesmith has endeavored to keep the purpose of the
+league on a high plane by endeavoring to state clearly the object of the
+federation, which is, "that the people of McHenry County might have
+life, and have it more abundantly, and this life was not to be a narrow
+life. It was the largest aggregate and highest symmetry of the sixfold
+ends of individual and community action, viz., health, wealth,
+knowledge, sociability, beauty, and righteousness." He also endeavored
+to make it clear that "the federation does not seek to supplant the
+other forces. It rather seeks to be a clearing-house of the ideas of all
+the federated organizations; to be a mount of vision from which each may
+look and get a complete vision of life; to be a fraternal bond which
+shall link all together in common ties of sympathy, fellowship, and
+co-operation."
+
+The results thus far obtained are perhaps best described by quoting the
+words of Mr. G. W. Conn, Jr., superintendent of schools of McHenry
+County:
+
+
+     There is one noticeable omission in the constitution--a provision
+     for the proper financing of the federation. This is partially
+     explained by the fact that the federation has largely centered
+     about the county Teachers' Association and the county Farmers'
+     Institute, organizations that are supported in a financial way by
+     the county and the state appropriations. These appropriations, in
+     addition to some voluntary gifts, have been sufficient to meet the
+     necessary expenses of the meetings.
+
+     I think that I am safe in saying that the interest and also the
+     attendance has probably increased 100 per cent. at each session.
+     Each year has also seen a much larger percentage of our local men
+     and women helping out on the programme. It is a little early in its
+     history to expect much evidence of material results, but I believe
+     that results are already putting in an appearance, especially from
+     the esthetic standpoint. Without doubt more trees have been planted
+     about the country homes and along the country roadsides of this
+     county than in any two preceding years. In a great many places
+     roads have been cleaned. Refuse and weeds have been removed and
+     burned. Landscape gardening on a simple scale is putting in an
+     appearance in places where it was little expected. The naming of
+     farms is another feature that is rapidly growing. Boys' country
+     clubs are being formed and this year, for the first time, three of
+     these clubs met with the federation, had a banquet, and formed a
+     county organization.
+
+     Of course not all of these movements are rightfully to be
+     attributed to the direct influence of the county federation. The
+     public schools of the county have been largely instrumental in
+     stirring the public conscience to a livelier appreciation of the
+     beautiful. The regular observance of Arbor and Bird Days in our
+     schools has done much toward initiating this movement. However, the
+     federation has been the great factor in uniting otherwise
+     independent organizations into one large machine for stirring the
+     social consciousness and molding public sentiment. It has proved to
+     be an efficient association in at least three ways, in
+     co-ordinating our efforts, harmonizing our methods, and broadening
+     the field of operation.
+
+
+The constitution of this league is given herewith in full:
+
+
+     1. NAME.--The name of this organization shall be, The McHenry
+     County Federation of Rural Forces.
+
+     2. OBJECT.--The object of the Federation is to gain a higher
+     symmetry and a larger aggregate of health, wealth, knowledge,
+     sociability, beauty, and righteousness to the citizens of McHenry
+     County.
+
+     3. ELEMENTS OF THE FEDERATION.--The Federation shall consist of the
+     following organizations: The Farmers' Institute, Teachers'
+     Association, Domestic Science Association, Pastors' Association,
+     Women's Christian Temperance Union, and the Young Men's Christian
+     Association.
+
+     4. MEMBERSHIP.--Any county organization may become a member of the
+     federation by recommendation of the Executive Committee.
+
+     5. OFFICERS.--The officers of the Federation shall consist of a
+     president, as many vice-presidents as there are component
+     organizations, a secretary-treasurer, and an Executive Committee.
+
+     6. COMMITTEES.--The Executive Committee shall be composed of the
+     president, the secretary-treasurer, and the presidents of the
+     component organizations.
+
+     There shall be an Auditing Committee and a Committee on
+     Resolutions, each consisting of three members and to be appointed
+     by the president.
+
+     The Nominating Committee shall consist of two members from each of
+     the component organizations and they shall be appointed by the
+     president.
+
+     7. DUTIES.--The Executive Committee shall select the date and fix
+     the place of every meeting. They shall also prepare the programme.
+
+     The presidents of the component organizations shall be _ex-officio_
+     vice-presidents of the Federation.
+
+     8. AUDITING.--All bills shall be paid by the treasurer after the
+     same have been countersigned by the Auditing Committee.
+
+     9. TERM OF OFFICE.--The terms of all officers shall be one year or
+     until their successors are elected.
+
+     10. HOW ELECTED.--All officers shall be elected by ballot.
+
+
+The Massachusetts Conference for Town and Village Betterment has dealt
+with some phases of the federation idea. Its object is "to contribute to
+the formation of a strong, definite, and united purpose among the forces
+working for the improvement of civic and social conditions in
+Massachusetts, by bringing together all town and village improvement
+societies, citizen's associations, civic clubs, and other organizations
+interested in this purpose."
+
+The Massachusetts Agricultural College, in celebrating the fortieth
+anniversary of its opening to students, October 2, 1907, held a four
+days' conference on rural progress. The programme covered nearly the
+whole field of rural development and was made possible by the
+co-operation of the State Board of Agriculture, the State Grange, the
+Massachusetts Civic League, the Connecticut Valley Congregational Club,
+the State Committee of the Y. M. C. A., the Western Massachusetts
+Library Club, and the Head-Masters' Club of the Connecticut Valley. No
+permanent organization was formed, but the general idea of federation of
+rural social forces was fully emphasized and thoroughly appreciated.
+
+An attempt was made in the spring of 1907 to bring together the various
+elements of rural progress in all the New England states. Under the
+initiative of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture there was
+held in March, 1907, a New England Conference on Rural Progress. This
+meeting was held very largely for the purpose of discovering the
+sentiment among the leaders of New England agriculture with respect to
+the desirability and practicability of federating on so large a scale.
+In addition to the main meeting, the presidents of the agricultural
+colleges of New England were called together in a special section, and
+the same was true of the directors of the New England experiment
+stations, the masters of the various state granges, the secretaries of
+the various state boards of agriculture, and the leaders in the New
+England Federation of Churches.
+
+The idea of federation was clearly approved by the delegates present,
+and a temporary organization was effected. It was voted to hold a
+similar conference in Boston in the spring of 1908.
+
+It is probably true that the first and most important step in bringing
+about a federation of rural social forces is to educate all concerned to
+the _desirability_ of such a federation--to sow the seeds of the idea.
+So far as machinery is concerned it may not be necessary to form any new
+organization. Indeed, what is chiefly necessary is a sort of
+_clearing-house_ for an exchange of ideas and plans among all who are at
+work on any phase of the rural social problem. There is need of a
+central bureau that shall emphasize the necessity of a study of
+agricultural economics and rural sociology, and press the value of
+co-operation in the work of social progress in the country. There is
+need that somewhere "tab" shall be kept on the whole rural social
+movement. We need a directing force to assure a comprehensive view and
+study of the whole rural problem. It is important that some
+investigations should be carried on that are not likely to be taken up
+by some other agency. It would be desirable to have a certain amount of
+publication, and in various other ways to carry on a campaign of
+education. Above all, it would be desirable to initiate local, state,
+and national conferences pervaded by the spirit and purpose of securing
+the hearty co-operation of all rural social forces, of all the
+organizations that have any rural connection whatever, and of all
+individuals who have the slightest genuine interest in any phase of the
+farm problem.
+
+Such a bureau should keep in constant touch with, secure the confidence
+of, and supply appropriate literature to, country teachers, preachers,
+editors, doctors, and business men, and, more than all, to intelligent
+and progressive farmers. And let me add at this point, that it must be
+fully understood that the work contemplated cannot possibly achieve
+large success unless it is done _with_ the farmers, rather than _for_
+the farmers. The problem is far from that of doing a missionary work for
+a down-trodden and ignorant class. It is a much less heroic, a much more
+commonplace task. It is simply carrying the idea of co-operation of
+individuals a step farther, and endeavoring to secure the co-operation
+of interests that have precisely the same goal, although traveling upon
+different roads. The prime purpose of the movement is to bring the
+specialist into close touch with the more general phases of the problem,
+to secure breadth and wholeness, to assure well-balanced effort.
+
+
+     [NOTE.--A paper with the title of this chapter was read before the
+     American Civic Association in 1901, at Minneapolis. A portion of
+     the paper is retained here. The history of the development of the
+     idea of federation is brought down to the present time.]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chapters in Rural Progress, by
+Kenyon L. Butterfield
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