312 THE HUMAN ELEMENT 



culture, not with despair, but with a feeling of assured trust and 

 confidence. 



Any such transformation in the men would require, 

 however, to be supplemented by efficiency on the part 

 of the women, for the wives and daughters of small 

 holders may play an even more important role in the 

 insuring of success than if they were the wives and 

 daughters of large farmers. I would not for one 

 moment suggest that they should toil in the fields and 

 gardens as the women members of peasant proprietors' 

 families in France and Germany do, performing arduous 

 tasks entirely unsuited to them, and converting them- 

 selves into little more than beasts of burden. But, 

 without going to such extremes as this, there is no 

 doubt that the success or failure of many a small hold- 

 ing turns on the capability of the small holder's wife, 

 not only as a household manager, but also as a helper 

 in the lighter work and an assistant supervisor of the 

 general operations. 



