110 COMMISSION ON COUNTRY LIFE 



a stratified society should be developed in this 

 country. We have here no remnants of a feudal 

 system, fortunately no system of entail, and no 

 clearly drawn distinction between agricultural 

 and other classes. We are as yet a new country 

 with undeveloped resources, many far-away pas- 

 tures, which, as is well known, are always green 

 and inviting. Our farmers have been moving 

 and numbers of them have not yet become so well 

 settled as to speak habitually of their farm as 

 "home." We have farmers from every European 

 nation and with every phase of religious belief 

 often grouped in large communities, naturally 

 drawn together by a common language and a 

 common faith, and yielding but slowly to the 

 dominating and controlling forces of American 

 farm life. Even where there was once social 

 organization, as in the New England town (or 

 township), the competition of the newly settled 

 West and the wonderful development of urban 

 civilization have disintegrated it. The middle- 

 aged farmer of the central states sells the old 

 homestead without much hesitation or regret 

 and moves westward to find a greater acreage 

 for his sons and daughters. The farmer of the 



