16 CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS 



attention to the fact that social institutions are 

 absolutely necessary means of securing these 

 essential factors of industrial success. In the 

 solution of the farm problem we must deliber 

 ately invoke the influence of quickened means of 

 communication, of co-operation among farmers, 

 of various means of education, and possibly even 

 of religious institutions, to stimulate and direct in 

 dustrial activity. What needs present emphasis 

 is the fact that there is a definite, real, social end 

 to be held in view as the goal of rural endeavor. 

 The highest possible social status for the farming 

 class is that end. 



We may now, as briefly as possible, describe 

 some of the difficulties that lie in the path of the 

 farmers in their ambition to attain greater class 

 efficiency and larger class influence, and some 

 of the means at hand for minimizing the diffi 

 culties. A complete discussion of the farm 

 problem should, of course, include thorough 

 consideration of the technical, the business, and 

 the economic questions implied by the struggle 

 for industrial success; for industrial success is 

 prerequisite to the achievement of the greatest 

 social power of the farming class. But we 

 shall consider only the social aspects of the 

 problem. 



