PREFACE 



FOR many years I have been meditating upon the mat- 

 ters that have been written about in this book. I have 

 lectured about them to students and talked about them 

 to farmers and other folks. Long ago I planned to 

 write them out in a book or series of books, but I have 

 found it nearly impossible to write satisfactorily in the 

 midst of administrative duties. Good thinking and 

 good writing on themes such as these require from most 

 of us, time, fresh energy, and sufficient relaxation of 

 mind to enable one to chew the cuds of reflection. Ex- 

 ecutives find it difficult to secure these requisites. I am 

 finishing these pages under the pressure of a demand to 

 join at once colleagues overseas in educational work 

 among our soldiers. 



All that I have attempted in this book, is to endeavor 

 to state the larger problems which the farmer must face 

 during reconstruction and to indicate the significance 

 and character of the relations between him and the rest 

 of society in this new era. There has been little at- 

 tempt to furnish solutions of specific problems; rather 

 to indicate a few of the fundamental principles and 

 methods by which agricultural improvement and an ad- 

 justment to world affairs can be made. 



My thanks are due to colleagues in the Division of 

 Rural Social Science at the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 College, Dr. Alexander E. Cance and Professor John 

 Phelan, for helpful comment and criticism; and par- 



