124 THE farmer's relationships. 



experience in the development of a new country has been 

 such that boundless opportunities seemed open to all; all 

 have had, consequently, boundless ambition, and boundless 

 ambitions are never satisfied. 



Of course we may go still deeper, if we desire, and inquire 

 whether unreasonable discontent is iiot part of man's nature, 

 and irremediable except by a slow evolutionary process which 

 shall kill off the discontented, if indeed it is not that class 

 which is likely to survive. But it is bad enough to get out of 

 economics into ethics without leaving that perhaps rather 

 boggy ground fur the wide ocean of psychology, and antropol- 

 ogy, and evolution, wherein no man may touch bottom. And 

 yet, wlien we approach an economic subject, we are compelled 

 to recognize that beneath every problem in economics there lies 

 a deeper problem in ethics which can not be ignored if there 

 is to be intelligent discussion. The ethical problem which 

 underlies the question of the causes of the farmer's discontent, 

 is that of a rational standard of the farmer's life, and as the 

 farmer is not alone in tlie world, of the rational standard of 

 all life. 



In attacking this subject I am compelled to break what, so 

 far as I can discover, is new ground. So far as this subject 

 has been considered at all it has been approached from the 

 standpoint of the artisan or the urban resident. It seems to 

 me that the first class to be considered is the farmers, because 

 this is the only class essential to the existence of the race. 

 Other classes exist for its comfort, and are entitled to due con- 

 .sideration, but from an economic standpoint the farmer is tlie 

 only necessary man. In addition to that, his manner of life 

 is in a great measure fixed by external causes entirely beyond 

 his control, which is true of hardly any other class except 

 .sailors. Early in the morning and late at night the farmer 

 must minister to the animals which serve him. When tlie 

 ground is right, he must cultivate it, sometimes as long as he 

 can see. When the crop is ripe, he must work hard and for 

 long hours to gather it. There can be no eight-hour day 

 for him. Why should he work twelve hours that those who 

 make his shoes or build his houses should work only eight 



