LOOKING FORWARD 405 
of the hundredth meridian is competent to 
furnish a living for a family of workers, if the 
workers be intelligent as well as industrious. 
Farm lands are each year being brought closer 
to markets by steam and electric roads; tele- 
phone and telegraphic wires give immediate ser- 
vice; and the daily distribution of mails brings 
the producer into close touch with the consumer. 
The day of isolation and seclusion has passed, 
and the farmer is a personal factor in the mar- 
ket. He is learning the advantages of coépera- 
tion, both in producing and in disposing of his 
wares; he has paid off his mortgage and has 
money in the bank; he is a power in politics, 
and by far the most dependable element in the 
state. Like the wrestler of old, who gained new 
strength whenever his foot touched the ground, 
our country gains fresh vigor from every man who 
takes to the soil. 
In preaching a hejira to the country, I do not 
forget the interests of the children. Let no one 
dread country life for the young until they come 
to the full pith and stature of maturity; for 
their chances of doing things worth doing in the 
world are four to one against those of children 
who are city-bred. Four-fifths of the men and 
women who do great things are country-bred. 
This is out of all proportion to the birth-rate as 
between country and city, and one is at a loss to 
account for the disproportion, unless it is to be 
credited to environment. Is it due to pure air 
