RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 3 



standards in public affairs, than have hitherto prevailed. We have 

 indications that the tendency of governing bodies in Canada is to 

 give a lead to human activity along these lines, and we may be sure 

 that, in so far as government policies fail to recognize the growing 

 sentiment in favour of scientific methods, as opposed to the hap- 

 hazard methods of the past, they will fail in result. 



Rural Problems that Need Emphasis 



Broadly speaking, we require to lay emphasis on the following 

 needs as a means of conserving human and natural resources in con- 

 nection with any policy inaugurated in the future: 



(1) The planning and development of land by methods which 

 will secure health, amenity, convenience and efficiency, and the 

 rejection of those methods that lead to injurious speculation. 



(2) The promotion of scientific training, improved educational 

 facilities and means of social intercourse. 



(3) The establishment of an efficient government organization 

 and improved facilities for securing co-operation, rural credit, and 

 development of rural industries. 



We have to deal primarily with the first of these needs, and only 

 incidentally and partially with the other two — but all of them are 

 inter- dependent and cannot be separated in any sound scheme for 

 improving rural conditions. 



Conservation and Development 



It is perhaps necessary to explain briefly why such matters, as 

 are dealt with in this report, are regarded as problems of conservation. 

 Briefly, the answer may be given that the land question, and all ques- 

 tions of conservation of natural resources, are fundamental questions, 

 because they have to do with life. "The final aim of all effort, whe- 

 ther individual or social, is life itself, its preservation and increase in 

 quantity or quality or both."* We have to ask ourselves whether 

 the rural policy in Canada in the past has had conservation and de- 

 velopment of life as its final aim. Conservation means economy and 

 development at the same time. To conserve the forests means to 

 prevent waste — for without that prevention there cannot be economy 

 — and, simultaneously, to develop new growth. To conserve land 

 resources means to prevent deterioration of the productive uses of 

 the land that has already been equipped and improved, and simul- 

 taneously to develop more intensive use of such land, as well as to 



• The Land and the People. — Times Series 



