GENERAL CONDITION 37 



the real efficiency in farm life, and in country life 

 as a whole, is not to be measured by historical 

 standards, but in terms of its possibilities. 

 Considered from this point of view, there are very 

 marked deficiencies. There has been a complete 

 and fundamental change in our whole economic 

 system within the past century. This has re- 

 sulted in profound social changes, and the re- 

 direction of our point of view on life. In some 

 occupations, the readjustment to the new con- 

 ditions has been rapid and complete; in others 

 it has come with difficulty. In all the great 

 series of farm occupations the readjustment has 

 been the most tardy, because the whole structure 

 of a traditional and fundamental system has been 

 involved. It is not strange, therefore, that de- 

 velopment is still arrested in certain respects, 

 that marked inequalities have arisen, or that posi- 

 tive injustice may prevail even to a very marked 

 and widespread extent. All these difficulties are 

 the results of the unequal development of our 

 contemporary civilization. All this may come 

 about without any intention on the part of any 

 one that it should be so. The problems are never- 

 theless just as real, and they must be studied and 

 remedies must be found. 



