]1>18.] PLACE OF THE TAkMEK IX HIE Ii(JlJV POLITIC. 73 



ill tlic lial)it <•!' lautiiiy- (»iir phrases in the future tense to irivt 

 them einpha.sis and lu disengage ourselves frc»ni the en- 

 grossing affairs of the present. It is idle merely to speculate; 

 } ct h\' taking account of essential situations in the ])resent, 

 we can forecast something of the immediate future. How- 

 ever, it is really in terms of the future that we defme the 

 present. All 1 can ho])e to do tonight is to state some of the 

 essential elements m the farmer's relation to his fellowmen, 

 in order that we may take new bearings. This exercise i> 

 particularly important now, when practically the whr)le 

 world is at grips and wdien our accustomed establishments 

 seem to us more or less topsy-turvv. There are certain situa- 

 tions that lie rn the nature of things, and which e\'en war can- 

 not change. ( )ur rc-lation to the surface of the earth still re- 

 mains the same. 



The rural situation is directly inxolved in our ideas of 



democracy and in the estal)lishments that we organize for 



the i-urpose of recording and regularizing our affairs. When 



we speak of the farmer's place in the IxkIv politic in this 



■country, we are thinking naturally of his place in a democracy. 



Some time ago I read in a press despatch, as probably yr>u 

 also read, that Germany is now a democracy having become 

 so within the space of five days. I wondered whether the 

 German people know it. I also asked, in the Far East this 

 last summer of a German of the office-holding class, what the 

 end of the war would be. He replied that it would come as 

 a result of changes and U])heavals in the different countries. 

 I asked him what would be the nature of the change in Ger- 

 many, and he replied that there would be no change inasmuch 

 as Germany is now so democratic that it cannot be improved. 

 I then asked myself whether we mean the same thing when 

 we use the word democracy amongst ourselves or whether it 

 really con^•eys to us any very definite set of ideas. 



It is not my ])urpose to discuss democracy in the abstract 

 tonio-ht, but merelv to define some elements in the farmer's 



O m- 



relation to aff'airs and to the organization of society. We 

 understand, when we come to think of it. that democracy 

 must rest on the land and its division amongst the peoples, 

 for we are all inhabitants of the planet and the surface of it 

 provides our background situation. 



