76 The State and the Farmer 



be concentrative or centripetal agencies, for 

 the most part, piling up wealth in small cities 

 and towns, as 1 have already indicated ; we need 

 to be thoughtful to develop at the same time 

 the distributive or centrifugal agencies to 

 counteract this tendency. 



It is important that the lay of these avenues 

 be such as to develop the country as well as 

 the town. Good roads are a means of doing 

 business expeditiously and economically ; they 

 are also a means of overcoming isolation, and 

 they will have a great influence in organizing 

 social movements in the open country. As all 

 other avenues of commerce have been pri- 

 marily city-feeders, it is of the utmost im- 

 portance that country highways serve country 

 necessities. 



The distributive agencies will be largely 

 social. The development of a country mail 

 service is the beginning of an effective dispers- 

 ive or disseminating institution. We must 

 have a parcels post, — an institution that is 

 opposed on the one side by express companies 

 and often on the other by merchants in the 



