50 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



Regional Self-Support. It is a law of economics that 

 the greatest efficiency in production comes when each 

 region produces that which it can best grow, not neces- 

 sarily that which it can grow better than some other re- 

 gion. Each acre of land should be put to the best use 

 for which it is fitted, considering soil, climate, labor, 

 and market. Therefore it is neither practicable nor 

 desirable that each country, or each state, or each 

 county, or each community, should grow all that it con- 

 sumes. But we have gone so far in producing for the 

 distant market that we have not only neglected the 

 nearby market which is often poorly supplied, but we 

 have incurred an enormous expense for transporting 

 and handling products which go back and forth. We 

 need to establish certain zones or regions that up to a 

 certain point can take care of themselves with refer- 

 ence to the growing of their food. 



The Rural Village. There are perhaps ten million 

 people in America living in villages that are set in a 

 rural environment. The people are not farmers but 

 they live in the midst of farmers. They are not city 

 people. Their very existence depends upon the suc- 

 cess of the farming regions around about, and yet there 

 is often the sharpest antagonism between people of the 

 village and the people of the country. The farmers 

 believe that the village merchants exploit them at every 

 opportunity. There is an odd notion among the 

 merchants that in some way the farmers owe them a liv- 

 ing. This antagonism shows itself in lack of social in- 

 tercourse, in sharp political fights. How can we re- 

 store the balance between the village, which includes the 

 small " city " set in an agricultural region, and the 

 farmers round about? Surely there is a way toward 



