HUMAN EFFORT AS A FACTOR IN PRODUCTION 221 



miner, in that, as his wealth was not the result of a sudden smile of 

 fortune, he does not spend it in sudden moods of reckless generosity. 



The drift cityward is receiving a decided impetus in those country 

 regions best provided with "city conveniences." Communities that 

 had long existed as almost independent social entities, each having a 

 center "at the Corners" where were located the church, the school- 

 house, the store, and the post-office, have had their unity destroyed 

 in these modern days. Formerly, frequent social gatherings were held, 

 when the whole neighborhood would "turn out" the women and 

 children gathering in the afternoons, and the men, both old and 

 young, joining them in the evenings. The sons of farmers married 

 the daughters of farmers, and new farm homes were established, thus 

 perpetuating the community. 



With the coming of improved methods of communication, new 

 groups were soon formed, not on the basis of neighboring farms, but 

 rather on the basis of a freer intellectual choice. Mere physical 

 proximity has less than formerly to do with social grouping. The most 

 intimate acquaintances of the farmer and his family often live in the 

 village or the city several miles away. The sons and daughters of 

 the farmer marry, and are married to, the daughters and sons of the 

 city-dweller. Such marriages result, in the great majority of cases, 

 in new homes established, not on the farms, but in the towns. This 

 is but another way of saying that, with the coming of modern means 

 of communication, so that the actual conditions of life both in the t\ / 

 country and in the city are better understood by all than ever before, V 

 the attracting power of the city for the country-born is much stronger 

 than that of the country for the city-born. 



62. THE BACK-TO-THE-LAND MOVEMENT 1 



"Back to the land" is an attractive slogan, and the clever phrase- 

 maker who amended it to read "forward to the land" made it all the 

 more appealing. Little wonder that the Man in Greasy Overalls or 

 the modern Bob Cratchett who slaves under a green-shaded electric 

 bulb should yield to its seductions. 



It had seemed of late that we heard less of this exhortation. But 

 the war in Europe puts all the old problems in new postures, and 

 several recent utterances give promise that we are to hear again the 

 preaching of a landward crusade. Far be it from me to predict how 



1 Adapted from "The War and the Back-to-the-Land Movement," E. G. 

 Nourse, North American Review, CCIII, No. 2 (February, 1916), 246-48. 



