26 



AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



The decline in rural population was a source of considerable worry to 

 farm and city residents alike. Thoughtful observers sought long and 

 earnestly for a remedy. Something must be done, they concluded, to im- 

 prove "social conditions in the open country." The thesis almost univer- 

 sally accepted was that if the schools, churches, roads, home conveniences, 

 and social activities of the farm could only be made to equal those of the 

 city, there would be no further serious lack of people on the farm. The 

 rural free delivery of mail and the party telephone line helped some but 

 hardly enough to overcome the "isolation and utter barrenness" of country 

 life. The need for good roads seemed obvious, but many landowners, fear- 

 ful lest they have to foot the gigantic tax bill involved, were strangely 

 skeptical. Besides, if the roads were improved, wouldn't the farmers use 

 them mainly to go to town ? What could be done to renovate the country 

 church and make it a more satisfying social center? What could be done 

 to promote the formation of social organizations comparable to the once 

 active but now almost forgotten Grange ? What could be done to provide 

 sports and amusements in the country comparable with those so readily 

 available in the city? Until answers for such questions as these could be 

 found, it was idle to preach the gospel of back-to-the-farm. The matter of 

 first importance was to keep the people on the farm who were already 

 there. 48 



The status of the rural town was hardly better than that of the open 

 country. Such local manufacturing activities as flour milling, wagon 

 making, general blacksmithing, and tanning had once made each town 

 a little industrial center. But establishments of larger capital, located at 

 strategic points, had put most of the local manufacturers out of business. 

 Even as merchandising centers the towns were running down. Sales direct 

 to the farm from the factory or from mail-order houses cut in seriously 

 on the profits of the small-town merchant. Retired farmers, with their 

 chronic fear of taxes, kept civic improvements at a minimum. Boys and 

 girls from the towns, no less than those from the farms, were hypnotized 

 by the good wages and the bright lights of the city. The time had been 



XXXIV (November 12, 1909), p. 1451; XXXV (February n, 1910), p. 219; XXXVI 

 (February 10, 1911), p. 214; XXXIX (July 3, 1914), p. 973. 



48. Senate Document 705, 60 Congress, 2 session, p. 14; Wallaces' Farmer, 

 XXXIV (October 22, 1909), p. 1338; XXXV (January 7, 1910), p. 2. 



