170 The State and the Farmer 



ment. The extension work is the necessary 

 distributive phase that aims, even though 

 unconsciously, to overcome the effects of too 

 much centralization at a distance. In spite of 

 its crudity and formlessness, it is perhaps the 

 directest effort yet made toward inspiring local 

 initiative, and probably the best single contri- 

 bution to the new social order of which I have 

 been speaking. 



The extension work of the agricultural col- 

 leges can hardly be said to need redirecting, 

 because it has yet scarcely found its direction. 

 Its purpose should be nothing less than to 

 reach every farm and every farmer within its 

 state or territory. Its purpose is not academic: 

 it is service. But this work will find its great- 

 est effectiveness and exercise economy of 

 effort by dealing more with small groups 

 of men than with isolated men, even if it 

 is necessary to organize the groups in the 

 first place. These groups will be represented 

 in larger organizations. We have the germ of 

 these larger groups in the "experiment un- 

 ions " and similar organizations that are now 



