194 CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS 



the farmers have not responded to these forward 

 movements. The countryman is naturally con- 

 servative. Not only that, but there are some 

 serious questions that he has to meet in his busi- 

 ness and in his life. He finds it extremely and 

 increasingly difficult to get adequate labor. He 

 has not been able to take sufficient advantage 

 of the power of co-operation. The industrial 

 and social development of the city has lured 

 away his children. And yet one cannot help 

 feeling that these really remarkable advances 

 of the past decade are prophetic of a steady im- 

 provement in rural conditions, of a larger 

 development of rural life, of a greater prosperity 

 for agriculture. 



With regard to the future, it seems to me that, 

 on the social side, the progress of the next few 

 years is to be along the lines, indicated above, 

 which have characterized the past ten or a dozen 

 years. Still further improved means of com- 

 munication will tend to banish isolation and its 

 drawbacks. Realization of the benefits of 

 organization and ability to co-operate will 

 vastly strengthen class power. The means X)f 

 agricultural education will be developed very 

 rapidly, with the ideal in mind of being able to 

 furnish some sort of agricultural training for 



