5 8 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



how they can make a profit, and then it will be time 

 enough to talk about the " frills " indeed these lesser 

 difficulties will find their solution in the mere fact that 

 farm people, having more money to spend, will spend 

 it for better churches and schools. We hear this sort 

 of advice not only from some farmers, but unfortu- 

 nately more frequently from official leaders of farmers, 

 even from agricultural college professors. It needs 

 sharply to be challenged. It is barely even a half 

 truth, and it is working great damage to the best inter- 

 ests of the American farmer. 



Another mischievous doctrine, somewhat akin to the 

 other, asserts that country people are " just like other 

 folks." Of course, they are. The statement is abso- 

 lutely true, if by it we mean that American farmers are 

 not a special class or caste, to be set off by themselves, 

 with peculiar methods of living and with unique needs. 

 But it is untrue if it implies that the rural environment 

 has little or no influence and that there is no such thing 

 as the rural mind or point of view, or if it leads us to 

 act upon the idea that the plans and methods successful 

 in city work can be bodily transferred to the country. 

 That idea has done much harm. It has spoiled many 

 efforts at rural school improvement. It has retarded 

 a statesmanlike attack on the country church problem. 

 It has perhaps kept the government from attending as 

 it should to the needs of the country. 



THE FARMER'S VIEW 



When the Roosevelt Country Life Commission ten 

 years ago set out upon its journey for information, there 

 was at the outset in some parts of the country a good 

 deal of resentment expressed because the very existence 

 of the Commission seemed to imply the need of " up- 



