i8 CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS 



Habits, ideas, traditions, and ideals have long 

 life in the rural community. Changes come 

 slowly. There is a tendency to tread the well- 

 worn paths. The farmer does not easily keep 

 in touch with rapid modern development, unless 

 the movements or methods directly affect him. 

 Physical agencies which improve social condi 

 tions, such as electric lights, telephones, and 

 pavements, come to the city first. The atmos 

 phere of the country speaks peace and quiet. 

 Nature's routine of sunshine and storm, of 

 summer and winter, encourages routine and 

 repetition in the man who works with her. 



A complement of this rural conservatism, 

 which at first thought seems a paradox, but 

 which probably grows out of these same condi 

 tions of isolation, is the intense radicalism of a 

 rural community when once it breaks away from 

 its moorings. Many farmers are unduly suspi 

 cious of others' motives; yet the same people 

 often succumb to the wiles of the charlatan, 

 whether medical or political. Farmers are 

 usually conservative in politics and intensely 

 loyal to party; but the Populist movement indi 

 cates the tendency to extremes when the old 

 allegiance is left behind. Old methods of farm 

 ing may be found alongside ill-considered 



