Change of Face 113 



:ry part of the men who till the land, and 

 must work out a means of working together. 

 The greatest need is a radical revivifying and 

 redirecting of all rural institutions. This is 

 to take the form of a great constructive work, 

 lifting the individual by developing the asso- 

 ciative spirit in such a way that he may retain 

 his own self-help at the same time that he 

 secures the help of his fellow and the incentive 

 of community action. 



We must bear in mind the necessity for a 

 change of face: we have maintained our posi- 

 tion by means of vast extents of virgin land 

 rather than by the excellence of our agricultural 

 methods. It is interesting to note that one of 

 the most matured European observers charac- 

 terizes our farm management, particularly in 

 the corn-belt, as "unparalleled in its wasteful- 

 ness," setting up "a false economic standard 

 in the industrial life of the agricultural classes, 

 and will prove to be a bad preparation for the 

 less bountiful times that must some day 

 come." Every student of the economic condi- 

 tion must feel that the present unstudied or 

 H 



