66 The State and the Farmer 



obtain. We have no peasantry in the United 

 States, at least not among the whites, and 

 farmers are moving away from peasantry rather 

 than towards it. The great social movement of 

 the world is away from peasanthood. What it 

 may be necessary to do to arrest the drainage 

 to the small city, we shall presently consider. 



The countryman. 



The country problems must be approached 

 sympathetically, from the standpoint of the 

 countryman. The countryman is to live in the 

 country, and to make it or mar it. Those who 

 approach the subject with the idea that the 

 countryman is unresponsive or incompetent, 

 are really not in sight of the problem and 

 would better let it alone. One who judges 

 country life by city standards, — as many city 

 persons do — would also better let the problem 

 alone. Many of the criticisms of the personal 

 appearance and habits of the farmer and the 

 pictures of supposed unthrifty farm proper- 

 ties, only show that the author of them is look- 

 ing at the question from the outside and at 



