WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 103 



making a policy to remember the special interests that 

 are to be taken into account. There is a remarkable 

 tendency on the part of people to plan only with refer- 

 ence to themselves or the special interests with which 

 they are concerned. In making the rural policy, we 

 have to regard at least three elements. 



First of all, there is the individual farmer; his in- 

 terests, his tastes, his needs, his capacities, his preju- 

 dices are part of the material with which we deal. A 

 whole chapter in this book will be devoted to an attempt 

 to show that the individual farmer, however, can most 

 effectively be reached if he is approached as a member 

 of a small group the local rural community. 



Then we have the associations of farmers. Their 

 names are legion. These more nearly represent the 

 farmers than do any governmental agencies, because 

 they are made up of farmers, who speak the farmer's 

 language and enforce the farmer's opinion. It is true 

 that the measures they advocate may not always be wise 

 or scientifically sound, but these associations constitute 

 the big factor in agriculture. If there should arise in 

 America any tendency on the part of publicly supported 

 agencies to ignore the power of volunteer association in 

 agriculture (or to overlook) its ultimate worth in keep- 

 ing the farmers a body of sturdy, independent men and 

 women, it would spell the decline of democracy. 



In the third place, we must remember that the gov- 

 ernment is constantly enlarging its functions and widen- 

 ing the range of its services. Governmental machin- 

 ery, therefore, becomes a constantly increasing power; 

 so if the farmers' associations ignore the departments 

 of agriculture, national and state, the colleges and ex- 

 periment stations, the farm bureaus and the schools, 

 they cut off their right hands. Democracy needs ex- 



