along the Atlantic coast, the pioneers moved on into the wilderness and 

 spread out. Each farm or settlement then became pretty much a self-sustaining 

 unit, usually some miles from the nearest neighbors. 



These human pioneers had to do everything themselves, under difficult 

 conditions. Men, women and children, like plant pioneers in the wilderness, 

 had to be "tough". They had to fight not only the soil and the weather and 

 wild animals, but also the Indians whom they were displacing and other mi- 

 grant pioneers, other colonials. 



From old settlements and farms waves of pioneers kept pushing out, gen- 

 erally westward. Basically, the onward drive comes from the simple fact 

 that agricultural populations always outgrow their lands. But today, as in- 

 creasingly for a hundred years, surplus farm population is not seeking new 

 lands so much as new opportunities in towns and cities. Farmers have been 

 coming to town in ever greater numbers. The farms have been supplying not 

 only their plant and animal products to feed city dwellers, but also the boys 

 and girls to become city dwellers to swell the urban population. 



Human Communities We have seen that plant "pioneers" are tough. 

 In the formation of a natural community the composition of the population 

 changes through the arrival of new species. These can live in the new sur- 

 roundings which their predecessors created. And, on the whole, they can put 

 the material resources and conditions to better use than their predecessors did. 



In the wilderness, men, women and children, like plant pioneers, have to 

 be tough. They have to fight the soil and the wild animals and the weather 

 —and sometimes other human beings. As human communities develop, the 

 population consists continuously of members of the same species. New modes 

 of life are developed, differing from those suited to pioneer conditions. The 

 community offers new opportunities, but it also makes new demands. Divi- 

 sion of labor and specialization increase efficiency, but they increase mutual 

 dependence and demand more co-operation and mutual consideration. 



As in the natural community, a growing human community makes it pos- 

 sible for more tender types to flourish. The skilled craftsman need not be 

 able to do all the different things a pioneer has to do. He is of value in the 

 larger group because he does his own job so well — and there are enough people 

 to use all he can produce. On the other hand, as the number and variety of 

 these tender specialists increase, it becomes "tougher" for the tough pioneer 

 type. He is relatively inefficient in every job he is capable of doing. Skilled 

 miners and skilled farmers become "unskilled laborers" when they look for 

 city jobs. Even if such a pioneer is still tough, the tender engineers and me- 

 chanics soon find ways of doing without his heavy muscle, just as they have 

 learned to do without his mule or ox. 



There are other hardships for the pioneer. He was able to meet pioneer 

 difficulties through his self-reliance, his physical strength and endurance, his 



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