PROBLEMS OF COUNTRY LIFE 99 



figure in a successful democracy, then this gulf must somehow 

 be bridged. 



It must never be forgotten in this connection that in a suc- 

 cessful democracy occuping territory of continental proportions, 

 approximately one-third of all the people will live upon the land. 

 Moreover, it is this third and not the mass representing organized 

 industry or the fraction representing "business," through which 

 the line of descent will mainly run. Who these people are, 

 therefore, that live upon the land, which third of our population 

 they represent, and what they are thinking about day by day 

 and year by year as the generations come and go, may easily make 

 all the difference between success and failure in the experiment 

 of democratic government, to which all the world now stands 

 committed and in which experiment the United States occupies 

 a position of associated leadership as conspicuous as it was 

 inevitable. 



Specifically, then, what is it that agriculture needs and does 

 not have but that is essential to the highest success and the 

 greatest safety both of the farming people and of the nation as a 

 whole ? What are some of the things that must be provided from 

 the national end after the individual, by his education, his in- 

 dustry, and his thrift, has done all that may fairly be expected 

 of him, and the State he lives in has done what it can? 



If agriculture were solely #n individual enterprise we should 

 simply consult the farmer about his needs and desires. But 

 agriculture is more than farming and the public must be party 

 to any policies affecting the production of its food, the manage- 

 ment of its lands, or the social and political welfare of its people. 

 The question, therefore, what does agriculture need? must 

 be divided and considered both from the point of view of the 

 farmer and from that of the public in its largest capacity 

 that is to say, the nation, present and prospective. 



First of all, then, what more does the farmer need? If this 

 question should be put to the observer from the parlor car or to 

 the publicist, he would likely say that the farmer needs to work 

 to a better purpose and to be more careful of his equipment; 

 that he doubtless needs more capital as he certainly needs to 

 organize his affairs according to modern business methods, and to 

 know better than he does what things cost him. 



