140 The State and the Farmer 



subject for charity ; but it is due him that 

 handicaps be removed and that he be allowed 

 full opportunity for development. Special 

 legislation of many kinds, from tariffs to cor- 

 poration laws, have favored other and central- 

 ized interests, and have encouraged the growth 

 in many quarters of colossal selfishness. The 

 farmer has been the forgotten man. What we 

 appropriate to him for education and know- 

 ledge is a small offset to the special privileges 

 that have been given to other men ; it is his 

 peculiar recognition from government, and 

 education, in the end, should produce a more 

 wholesome result than any other aid that gov- 

 ernment can render to its citizens, and this 

 should inspire the best kind of voluntary 

 effort. 



Importance of the rural school. 



In our eagerness to serve the agricultural 

 interests, we are likely to place relatively too 

 much emphasis on the importance of estabhsh- 

 ing of new institutions, whereas the greatest 

 effectiveness and even the quickest results may 



