234 EURAL LIFE IN CANADA 



charged with religious and political animosities, a peace- 

 making movement based on the principle of self-help by 

 mutual help has been built up. All creeds and parties 

 leave their religious and political difficulties outside, 

 and work together. More than 900 farmers' co-operative 

 societies, with almost 100,000 members, are doing a 

 business of about $15,000,000 a year."* Yet even in 

 this economic betterment the need of a deeper underly- 

 ing ethical uplift is felt. " There is a tendency for 

 societies to consign butter to the Agency when prices 

 are low and to market their butter independently when 

 offered good prices elsewhere, "f 



In the United States a widespread movement for the 

 betterment of rural life is in progress. Attention was 

 first called to the problem from the purely material side. 

 The census of 1880 recorded a decrease of 5,000,000 

 acres under cultivation in the North Atlantic States, 

 every state sharing in the loss. The New England 

 Abandoned Farm discussion and movement followed. 

 State authorities became advertising agencies for for- 

 saken farms, seeking summer residents as purchasers. 

 The better lines since followed are thrown into relief by 

 the very names adopted by the organizations. What 

 was at first a Back-to-the-farm Movement has become a 

 Rural Life Movement. Men have turned from dealing 

 with results to dealing with causes, from palliative 

 measures to remedial ones. 



The first helpful study of the subject, from the reli- 

 gious standpoint and in a constructive way, was made 

 by Dr. Washington Gladden, who in a small volume, 



* Sir Horace Plunkett, in Youth's Companion, Boston. 



t Monographs on Agricultural Corporations, International 

 institute of Agriculture. 



