PROBLEMS OF RURAL SOCIAL LIFE 



375 



immediately perceive how much influence this change was calculated to 

 exercise upon the character and course of civilization. The social prepon- 

 derance, the government of society, passed suddenly from the towns to the 

 country ; private property became of more importance than public property; 

 private life than public life. Such was the first and purely material effect 

 of the triumph of feudal society. The further we examine into it, the more 

 will the consequence of this single fact be unfolded to our eyes. 1 



Elsewhere Guizot points out the well-known fact that the 

 rise of modern civilization is again reversing the order and 

 tending to concentrate population, wealth, and power in the 

 cities, and to emphasize urban rather than rural ideals. 



Farming vs. talking as a field for ambition. One striking 

 evidence of the general dominance of urban over rural ideals in 

 America is the almost total indifference of our people to agri- 

 culture as a field of distinguished achievement. Great efficiency 

 in the practical application of science to agriculture, or in the 

 organization of the factors of agricultural production, are recog- 

 nized in the abstract by every thoughtful person as of the high- 

 est possible value to the country as a whole ; but in the concrete 

 we pay very little attention to it. The ancient remark about the 

 value of the man who makes two blades of grass to grow where 

 one had grown before, as compared with the politician (or the 

 talker), we approve in a general way, but specifically we think 

 a great deal more of the talker. The man who applies great ex- 

 ecutive ability and scientific knowledge to agriculture may get 

 good crops and make profit for himself ; he may also win local 

 recognition, particularly among farmers ; but unless he talks or 

 writes about it, he does not gain general recognition among the 

 people at large. In proof of this, let any one look through 

 " Who's Who in America," which is supposed to contain the 

 names of those who have achieved marked success in every 

 lar^e field of human endeavor. Judging by its pages, either 



1 Guizot, F., The History of Civilization (London, 1856), Vol. I, p. 68. 



