4 Cooperation in Agriculture 



where its relations to capital and to society have become 

 a grave question of public policy. 



READJUSTMENT IN AGRICULTURE HAS BEEN SLOW 



The American farmer has adjusted himself more slowly 

 to these industrial and social changes than either capital 

 or labor. The reasons for this are partly inherent in 

 the man who works on the land and partly in agriculture 

 itself. The farmer is both a capitalist and a laborer and 

 usually not a specialist in either. His capital is compara- 

 tively small. He is seldom skilled in the art of dealing 

 with men or with modern industrial methods ; he is not 

 primarily a business man. He is more or less isolated. 

 Compare him with the capitalist or the laborer and it 

 will be seen that his vocation makes him more self-de- 

 pendent than either. His daily routine centers around 

 his family and the upbuilding of the home, rather than 

 around the operations of other people or the industrializ- 

 ing of his farming operations. He is naturally conserva- 

 tive. The average individual farmer who is able and intel- 

 ligent can succeed at all times without concerted action with 

 other farmers, while the success of the individual laborer 

 or the small capitalist in later days has been more difficult 

 of attainment unless strengthened by thorough organiza- 

 tion and the federation of similar interests. 



INDUSTRIAL METHODS DIFFICULT TO APPLY TO AGRICUL- 

 TURE 



The average farmers are not even specialists in farm- 

 ing. They produce a variety of general crops, each having 



