The Leading of the False God "Production" 51 



sideration in any properly conceived scheme of life. 

 The first consideration is the independent home on 

 the land, which may, or may not, be a farm home. The 

 point is that we want a landed citizenship, rooted in 

 the real proprietorship of the country, and bound to 

 it by the strongest ties of interest and affection. The 

 loss of the family hearthstone carries a deep menace to 

 the future of our institutions. Under the leadership 

 of the false god, Production, we are going fast and far 

 in that direction. This tendency should be reversed 

 rather than encouraged. 



True, we must be fed; but man does not live by 

 bread alone. It is neither wise nor necessary that we 

 should be fed under a system of agriculture that de- 

 stroys the home on the land, abolishes popular pro- 

 prietorship, creates a nation of tenants, cripples indi- 

 vidual initiative, shackles the spirit of family inde- 

 pendence, and degrades the character of our citizen- 

 ship. These are the swift and sure consequences of 

 rural depopulation on one hand, and the growth of 

 congested cities on the other. 



It by no means follows that machinery can be ignored 

 as a factor in agricultural production. Doubtless in- 

 ventive genius will go forward in that field, as in all 

 other departments of civilization. Whatever it can 

 do cheaper and better than human hands, machinery 

 will do in the future, as in the past, and on a constantly 

 expanding scale. But, at whatever cost, it must be 

 made subordinate to the higher good of humanity, as 

 we shall see in subsequent chapters. 



We have entered upon a critical period in American 

 history, and in nothing more so than on the side of our 



