Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 37 



it out, I happen to have seen it put to the test in the 

 course of western development a number of times. 

 Great changes have come in western methods of life, 

 including life on the land, during the past forty years. 

 Old industries have been revolutionized; new industries 

 created. So, also with the institutions of social and 

 civic life. And almost without exception leadership has 

 come, if not from the city-born and bred, at least from 

 the city-trained. These men brought keen minds, sharp- 

 ened on the city grindstone. They brought a brood of 

 new ideas that, in the view of the resident rural popu- 

 lation, would "never work"; yet, they did "work," 

 broadening the foundations of general prosperity, and 

 adding enormously to the sum of individual and com- 

 munity wealth. 



Old methods of irrigation, old kinds of crops, old 

 ways of harvesting and marketing — these were not good 

 enough for the sharp-eyed, keen-brained men who had 

 turned from the fierce rivalries of urban life to seek 

 success on the soil. Neither were the old schools, 

 churches, homes and hotels good enough for them. 

 They craved better things. And, with a swiftness and 

 thoroughness that made the old rural folk gape with 

 amazement, they brought better things to pass. And, 

 along with their progressive horticulture, they took 

 large doses of progressive politics. 



Without the support of statistics (dry at best, and 

 often misleading) but with faith founded on wide ob- 

 servation, I can say that human initiative loses nothing 

 from urban experience. 



Finally, we come to the interesting and vital question : 

 Which is better for the average person, the country 





