RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 7 



The necessarily crude methods of the pioneer stage of development 

 and civilization still prevail in many phases of government. Getting 

 results still counts more with some men than getting the right results 

 in the most efficient and economic way. We lay out towns and town- 

 ships, construct buildings, roads and bridges, and colonize land with- 

 out proper development schemes, on the theory that get- 

 ting things done quickly is more important than getting things done 

 efficiently and well. This theory of going blindly for results, on the 

 principle of "hustling," is the refuge of the unscientific and unimagin- 

 ative mind that is impatient of expert advice or plans, because they 

 are presumed to waste time in preparation which ought to be given to 

 constructive work. 



Necessity for Planning for Purposes of Proper Development 



Yet, of all the constructive work that is done in peace or war, 

 there is none that counts more in obtaining good results than the 

 planning and preparation that goes before the actual performance. 

 To those who hold fast to the theories that nothing is practical that 

 has not been tried by experience, that immediately tangible results 

 must be obtained whatever the outcome, that preliminary financial 

 success must be secured whatever the ultimate effect, it is possible 

 that many of the lessons of recent years will be lost, and that sound 

 schemes will be dismissed as visionary and impracticable. It is hoped 

 that the theories advanced and the suggestions made in this report 

 are both visionary and practicable, for there is no greater heresy than 

 that which regards these two elements as necessarily opposed to one 

 another. It is true statesmanship to look into the future and plan 

 for the future in the light of experience gained from the past, and 

 there are signs that Canada is not lacking in that statesmanship, 

 and that suggestions which are put forward to improve conditions 

 will not be despised because they involve the exercise of some imagi- 

 nation. The main consideration to be borne in mind in this regard 

 is that the planning of territory shall not be an end in itself, but only 

 a means by which the end is to be achieved. That end shall be the 

 proper development of land for the purpose of securing the best re- 

 sults from the application of human activity to natural resources. 



British and Canadian Conditions 



Broadly speaking, the land question is at the root of all social 

 problems, both in rural and in urban territory. It is so in Great 

 Britain, and it is so in Canada. In a recent article T. P. O'Connor, 

 M.P., writing of the present situation in England, describes the pro- 



