222 MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



tiou which 1 have been emphasizing. This it seems to me is significant;: 

 it shows the current of agricultural thought and it invites co-operation 

 on the part of agricultural educators. In the second place, through 

 this problem we soon reach the larger questions in agriculture. We are 

 viewing the })roblem in its entirety. The subject is therefore a broaden- 

 ing one, and 1 think any specialist or any man interested in the practical 

 phases of the question is a more useful man if he really sees the relation, 

 of his particular field to the problem as a whole. In the third place, it 

 gives new meaning to our agricultural life, jdacing it on a much higher 

 plane from the intellectual standpoint and thus bringing the interest of 

 other people to the aid of the farmer. And finally, it encourages co-oper- 

 ation for rural progress, making it clear that the rural question is many- 

 sided, that there is no one panacea for the difficulties, that advancement 

 must take place all along the line. 



The last question I wish to consider is, how can rural sociology be 

 made useful? It certainly should be taugiit in our agricultural colleges 

 in some form or other; no graduate of an agricultural college ought to 

 be ignorant of this phase of the question no matter what his life work is 

 to be. It will, I think, yield itself splendidly to college extension work 

 in agriculture. I think country teachers and educators should be made 

 familiar with the social aspect of the farm problem ; that preachers^- 

 and especially the country clergymen — siiould have an ai)preciation of 

 the question. There is no reason Avhy it may not be given as a course 

 in universities in order that intelligent people generally may have some 

 comprehension of the importance of the agricultural question. 



I have made my paper merely suggestive because I wished to bring 

 the matter to your attention. I hope I have been successful in making 

 very clear just what I mean by the social phase of the rural problem, 

 and that I have been able to impress upon you not alone its importance 

 but also the jtractical means for inducing farther study of the questions^ 

 involved. 



