18 COMMISSION ON COUNTRY LIFE 



of Agriculture, the colleges of agriculture and 

 the experiment stations in the states, and the 

 national farmers' organizations. These institu- 

 tions and organizations are now properly assum- 

 ing leadership in country life affairs, and con- 

 sequently in many of the public questions of 

 national bearing. With these agencies must be 

 mentioned state departments of agriculture, 

 agricultural societies and organizations of very 

 many kinds, teachers in schools, workers in 

 church and other religious associations, travelling 

 libraries, and many other groups, all working with 

 commendable zeal to further the welfare of the 

 people of the open country. 



THE MOST PROMINENT DEFICIENCIES. 



Yet it is true, notwithstanding all this progress 

 as measured by historical standards, that agri- 

 culture is not commercially as profitable as it is 

 entitled to be for the labor and energy that the 

 farmer expends and the risks that he assumes, and 

 that the social conditions in the open country 

 are far short of their possibilities. We must 

 measure our agricultural efficiency by its pos- 

 sibilities rather than by comparison with previ- 

 ous conditions. The farmer is almost necessarily 

 handicapped in the development of his business 

 because his capital is small, and the volume of 



