WANTED: A RURAL POLICY 99 



zation of personal leadership, lay and professional, 

 volunteer and paid, is vital. 



6. The Rest of the People. We must also recognize 

 that the people of the nation as a whole and the welfare 

 of the entire country must be taken into consideration 

 in an agricultural policy that is best for the farmer and 

 all the farmers, but we want also a policy that, in the 

 long run, will be best for the country, and we should 

 have, if possible, the support of the entire country on 

 behalf of the widest rural policy. 



Perhaps this outline will make clearer than anything 

 so far said, how deficient we are in the making of a 

 policy in our rural affairs, as well as the ideal which 

 the greatest efficiency demands that we keep in mind. 



SOME OBSERVATIONS 



It may be worth while to mention a few topics that 

 are sure to be discussed when the formulation of a 

 rural policy is seriously undertaken. 



What Are the Main Advantages in Naming a Pol- 

 icy? A well developed agricultural policy ought to 

 give greater certainty of aim or purpose. Much of 

 our educational and organizing work is scattered in its 

 aim instead of being bent unrelentingly toward a definite 

 course. A clear policy ought to assist in avoiding 

 duplication of effort. Now we have a multiplicity of 

 agencies, many of them seeking almost the same ends 

 and frequently overlapping their forces. It is also 

 noticeable that in this hodge-podge of effort, due not 

 only to duplication but sometimes to friction and mis- 

 understanding, many important fields of service are 

 neglected. As one of our country life leaders has said, 

 we must have neither " overlapping nor overlooking." 

 The policy ought therefore to conserve mightily the 



