68 The State and the Farmer 



enough talent and ability in the rural country 

 to have set the agricultural status far ahead 

 of its present condition, if it only were called 

 out and allowed to express itself. It lacks 

 opportunity. 



The best public opinion grows where men 

 are most independent, where they are least tied 

 commercially and personally to other men, 

 where they may have an opinion without fear- 

 ing to jeopardize their trade or their position. 

 Commercial men and salaried men are tempted 

 to be trimmers and compromisers. The method 

 of "practical politics" is compromise. This in- 

 dependence can grow much better on land that 

 one owns than in rented houses. It must pro- 

 ceed direct from cause to consequence, as a field 

 of corn grows direct from seed to ear. The pro- 

 cesses of the countryman are direct. They are 

 not over-organized. There is fixity and direct- 

 ness of attention in the country. The man is 

 not diverted by a thousand things. The city 

 boy may know much more than the country 

 boy, but a good deal of what he knows may 

 not be worth knowing. When the man on the 



