22 CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS 



greater keenness of observation, and the founda- 

 tions 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 -direc- 

 tion 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 



