COUNTRY LIFE, OLD AND NEW 



in country life tiiat not only influence the moral tone of 

 the community but also affect land values. They do not 

 hesitate, when the time comes, to spend a few hundred 

 dollars on the higher education that will help their chil- 

 dren the better to enjoy life in the country and equip 

 them better to cope with the complex farm problems 

 that an advanced type of civilization always brings. 



History shows that land ownership by the many 

 tends to develop a more general interest in national life 

 and public affairs than does the concentration of land 

 ownership in the hands of the few. This fact has been 

 manifested in our own country in the general response 

 from our farm homes for recruits to defend our na- 

 tional life in time of war. The farmer is keen to grasp 

 the fact that great moral and economic issues in public 

 life influence his business as quickly as any business in 

 the country. The fact, too, that farming is an industry 

 that requires skill and intellectual acumen along many 

 lines tends to broaden the farmer, while the division of 

 labor required of the workman in many other industries 

 tends to narrowness. No class of men to-day is more in- 

 dependent in thought and action, on great public ques- 

 tions, than farmers of advanced type. This has shown 

 itself more strikingly in political hfe in the past decade 

 or two than ever before. Local, State and national issues 

 are being studied from the broad viewpoint of public 

 good rather than from the narrow one of partisan 



C"73 



