FARMERS TO THE FRONT 157 



better equipped for it than he is ? This is not likely. 

 The farms need the young men, and it is to the inter- 

 est of the nation that they should stay on the farm. 

 There would be more than enough work for all if 

 the conditions were right and if the workers could 

 only be assured that it would pay to farm to the 

 limit. With larger profits the farmer could afford to 

 pay better wages and to grant a shorter working day 

 to the men employed by him, and so those toilers who 

 are now stranded in the city would be drawn to the 

 farm, to the great advantage both of agriculture and 

 themselves. 



The possibilities in this direction are very great, 

 and they should be attractive. Nothing is more need- 

 ed in this country than a redistribution of the popu- 

 lation wisely and judiciously made. To secure this 

 we must make farming as attractive as it was meant 

 to be by God when He created a garden and put a 

 man in it to dress it. The poet Cowley writes: 

 "God the first garden made, and the first city Cain," 

 and Cowper assures us that "God made the country, 

 and man made the town." True to his nature man 

 has done what he could to spoil the country, God's 

 handiwork. It can be, to some extent at least, re- 

 stored to its lost estate. And it is fortunate that 

 much is already being done to accomplish this. We 

 have only to cooperate intelligently with forces al- 

 ready at work in order to keep the country from be- 

 ing depopulated and the city from being overcrowd- 

 ed. In some other countries rural life is popular. 



