8o The State and the Farmer 



The now common phrase " back to the 

 country," has a deeper significance than most 

 of us, I fancy, have caught. It means not only 

 that certain persons are going, or talking 

 about going, from the city to the country, but 

 that initiative is being reflected from centers 

 — largely governmental centers — back into the 

 country. There is developing a ganglionic in- 

 tellectual organization, as in years past there 

 has developed a similar economic organization. 



It is easy to trace the over-influence of the 

 city in country affairs. The cities, for example, 

 because they provide the market, are begin- 

 ning to dictate the mode of producing milk, 

 sometimes with too little consideration for the 

 farming conditions. This work is properly a 

 state function rather than a city function. The 

 present agitation on bovine tuberculosis 

 exhibits a similar influence. 



The kinds of help. 



I think that I see at least six classes of help- 

 ful activities for the betterment of rural con- 

 ditions : (i) The discovery of local fact ; (2) 



