4 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



success. They who fail to adjust themselves are carried as by an 

 ebbing tide to failure. It is therefore of the utmost practical 

 importance that this broad view of rural economy and agricul- 

 tural history shall be acquired by every agricultural student. It is 

 important to the individual farmer who is charged primarily 

 with the duty of running a successful farm in order to bring 

 " up a successful family. To embark on an agricultural enterprise 

 which is dying is to try to swim against the tide, whereas to 

 embark on an enterprise which is growing is to swim with the 

 tide. It is important also to the agricultural statesman who must, 

 so far as government can be of assistance to our basic industry, 

 direct the machinery of government in the interest of agriculture. 

 To attempt by government effort to stimulate an industry which, 

 under the natural operation of economic forces, will necessarily 

 decay, is a waste of human effort. It is better to lend encourage- 

 ment and aid to those who are growing, in order that they may 

 grow strong and healthy, than merely to try to arrest the decay of 

 those who are already in process of decaying. 



