244 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



country agriculture shall be regarded as a primary in- 

 dustry, to be as fully cherished and protected as any 

 other industry. Elementary economic principles, how- 

 ever, assert the unwisdom of carrying this process so 

 far as to seek complete national independence in soil- 

 grown products. It is perhaps possible for each coun- 

 try to feed itself, but is it wise for it to do so? The 

 world's food should be grown where it can be grown to 

 best advantage to the world as a whole. If manufac- 

 tured goods are sold in countries largely agricultural, 

 they must be paid for chiefly in farm products, which in 

 turn must compete with those grown at home. Ex- 

 change of goods among nations makes for economic 

 prosperity as well as for permanent peace. The Amer- 

 ican farmer is willing to cooperate in a world system of 

 fair trade. But he insists that agriculture must be fully 

 considered in all international trade arrangements. It 

 is merely justice that proposals for tariffs, subsidies, 

 preferential arrangements should be made only after 

 thorough study has revealed their prospective bearings 

 upon American agriculture, and only with the consent 

 of the American farmer 



AN ADEQUATE SYSTEM OF RURAL EDUCATION 



The United States has been singularly alert in the 

 development of plans for agricultural education. The 

 federal Department of Agriculture, the great sister- 

 hood of state agricultural colleges and experiment sta- 

 tions, and the wonderful system of extension education 

 just now evolving through the cooperation of these 

 agencies with the county farm bureaus, comprise a 

 scheme of educational activities on behalf of the farmer 

 unapproached elsewhere in the world. Yet we have 

 not secured all that we need. The farmer himself has 



