216 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



share in the gains of industry? Does he have a fair 

 chance to decide upon the conditions under which he 

 works? 



It is this test of a democracy that is the most serious 

 when applied to American agriculture. The farmer 

 still manages his farm, subject of course to the incon- 

 sistencies of Mother Nature, but it is very doubtful if 

 he manages his business. It takes two to make a bar- 

 gain; yet the individual farmer participates too slightly 

 in pricemaking, either when he sells or when he buys. 

 " He takes what he can get and he pays what he must " 

 is the crude but fairly accurate way of putting it. Nor 

 does he as yet have free access to the great reservoirs of 

 capital and of labor, nor to proper facilities for pro- 

 tection and insurance, that are available to other men 

 who need to use these factors. He is gradually losing 

 the ownership of his land, the most important thing of 

 all. Farmers have an enormous influence as a group 

 of voters at the polls but not very much in constructive 

 politics. They do not assist as much in planning the 

 big movements and in giving direction to the big forces 

 that affect their industry, as is the case with other large 

 groups. 



COOPERATION FOR THE COMMON GOOD 



Our older American democracy staked its success on 

 the freedom of the individual. The newer democracy 

 puts its main stress upon the cooperation of all individ- 

 uals for the common good. " No man liveth unto him- 

 self " was always good morals; in our time it is good 

 citizenship, good government and good business. 

 Complete personal independence is no longer possible, 

 if ever it was. The world's work is done by groups, 

 large and small, more or less compact and well organ- 



