74 The State and the Farmer 



churches, schools and entertainments are there. 

 Farming is a local business : it rests on a par- 

 ticular piece of land; if the farmer is to be 

 effective he must be content in his locality. 

 The development of living local interest is the 

 real root of the rural social question. 



The importance of the personal and local initiative. 



Every one of us, I am sure, feels that good 

 institutions will not save us. Society can be 

 saved and advanced only by increasing the 

 number of competent persons who stand on 

 their own feet. The farmer is proverbially the 

 man who has stood on his own feet. Other 

 persons have stood on other men's feet. The 

 purpose of every good country-life institution 

 is to develop persons who are able to walk 

 alone. We must be careful that we do not 

 develop a man who will go about his farming 

 leaning with one arm on the government and 

 with the other on the college or experiment 

 station, and at every turn asking for recipes 

 in franked packages. It is not the business of 

 government to test every farmer's seeds, but 



