pie, and often has tended to foster petty jealousies. It has al- 

 so made the country rich in moral strength and purpose. Men 

 who are advocating honest reforms feel that country people 

 will support them if the questions are rightly understood. 

 (2) The acknowledgment on the part of many country people 

 that life in the cities is more to be desired than life in the op- 

 en country. (3) The example of others who leave the country, 

 especially of the older men and women who go to t6wn to live. 

 (4) The influence of history. As early as the fourteenth cen- 

 tury complaints were made in England, France and Germany 

 that the country was being depopulated. The growth of the 

 American cities during the past fifty years has had its effect 

 on the rural population. (5) The lack of opportunities for 

 amusement and recreation in the country districts. The 

 means for amusement and recreation in this country are be- 

 coming business enterprises and though often cheap and 

 worthless the effect has been to drive out forms of local 

 amusement. (6) The influence of our public school system in 

 the country. Country boys and girls have heard little about 

 the country even in their own schools. The city schools to 

 which country boys and country girls have been sent have 

 tended to draw them from the farm. Country people move to 

 town to educate their boys and girls. 



Remedies. Among the influences already at work to 

 check this drift to the cities the following are of chief impor- 

 tance : 



(1) The development of scientific farming, which is giv- 

 ing the farmer a larger and more certain return, developing 

 the spirit of business enterprise, and showing the younger 

 people that farming is a business which calls for brains as 

 well as brawn. 



(2) The wider use of labor saving machinery and the 

 regulation of the hours of labor, which are lessening the drudg- 

 ery of the farm and making it more and more true that labor 

 on the farm must be skilled. 



(3) The awakened interest in country life, which is bring- 

 ing to the farmer greater social recognition and more oppor- 



38 



