Il6 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



farmers, the automobile, are also helping to improve the oppor- 

 tunities for social life in the country. " Iron sharpeneth iron ; 

 so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." Thus the 

 wise man stated long ago the very important truth that the asso- 

 ciation of minds is a stimulus to mental activity. With the 

 remedying of the isolation of farm life, and the creation of 

 opportunities for social intercourse in the country approximating 

 those of the cities, will come, we may reasonably hope, a new 

 era of culture and refinement in the country. This will prevent 

 the increasing wealth of the farming class from being wasted in 

 the crude ostentation so common in our cities. If it is poor 

 economy to feed good corn and hay to scrub stock, it is still 

 poorer economy to feed good bread and meat to scrub men and 

 women, that is, to men and women with no education and with 

 no ideals beyond the satisfaction of their animal instincts. 





