FOREWORD 



I am an optimist. 



I believe the world is going to be a better world for 

 our common humanity in the next decade — the next 

 generation — the next century — than ever before in the 

 long history of the race. And I believe the next passion 

 of mankind will be for the soil — that there we shall 

 "take Occasion by the hand and make the bounds of 

 freedom wider yet." But, if there is to be a transition 

 in the life of the land — if new forms of industry and 

 society are to emerge — then this will be due to the fact 

 that the old life on the land has failed, is breaking down, 

 and is doomed to pass away. 



That is what I believe to be true. In saying so, I 

 sound no note of pessimism, but rather the note of hope, 

 of confidence, of boundless faith in what the future is 

 to bring forth. I know the land is to be the healing 

 and the saving of the people — of our people and of all 

 the peoples. 



There is no other refuge. 



But before we can build the new life we must clearly 

 understand that the old life has failed, and why it has 

 failed. Then we must proceed to discover the principles 

 upon which the new and better life is to be founded. 

 In doing so, must we not inevitably draw nearer to the 



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