88 The State and the Farmer 



founded on occupation (that is, on agricul- 

 ture), since all country interests rest on occu- 

 pation. That is to say, the good social worker 

 should be a farmer, rather than a missionary, 

 charity organizer, officer of correction, or phil- 

 anthropist. It is not a question of slumming. 

 The rural people are not lost : they need 

 opportunity and leadership. So far as pos- 

 sible, the work should be established in real 

 rural regions, outside the towns. The worker 

 should be resident the year round, not migra- 

 tory; and above all he should not be of the 

 summer boarder class. Inasmuch as personal 

 leadership in country work must rest on a 

 good foundation of agricultural knowledge, it 

 follows that the best training place for this 

 class of men is the agricultural school or col- 

 lege. Heretofore, these institutions have de- 

 voted their attention chiefly to technical agri- 

 cultural instruction, but they are now rapidly 

 taking up the social and the larger economic 

 phases of country life. From some of the col- 

 leges, the young men and women go back to 

 the country thoroughly alive to the necessity 



