The Challenge of the Country: A Study of Country Life Opportunity. Fiske George Walter
study of American conditions, is inclined to think that our great prosperous cities are blundering seriously in not concerning themselves more earnestly with the rural problem: “Has it been sufficiently considered how far the moral and physical health of the modern city depends upon the constant influx of fresh blood from the country, which has ever been the source from which the town draws its best citizenship? You cannot keep on indefinitely skimming the pan and have equally good milk left. Sooner or later, if the balance of trade in this human traffic be not adjusted, the raw material out of which urban society is made will be seriously deteriorated, and the symptoms of national degeneracy will be properly charged against those who neglected to foresee the evil and treat the cause… The people of every state are largely bred in rural districts, and the physical and moral well-being of those districts must eventually influence the quality of the whole people.”11
The seriousness of our problem is sufficiently clear. Our consideration in this chapter has been confined mainly to the personal factors. Certain important social and institutional factors will be further considered in Chapter V under Country Life Deficiencies. With all its serious difficulties and discouragements the rural problem is a splendid challenge to faith. There are many with the narrow city outlook who despair of the rural problem and consider that country life is doomed. There are still others who have faith in the country town and village but have lost their faith in the open country as an abiding place for rural homes. Before giving such people of little faith further hearing, we must voice the testimony of a host of country lovers who have a great and enduring faith in the country as the best place for breeding men, the most natural arena for developing character, the most favorable place for happy homes, and, for a splendid host of country boys and girls the most challenging opportunity for a life of service.
1. – How would you define the Rural Problem?
2. – Illustrate how the growth of the city has affected the rural problem.
3. – Explain the terms rural, urban, city, town, and village.
4. – What misleading comparisons have been made between city and country conditions?
5. – In what six states has the rural population, as a whole, shown a net loss in the last ten years?
6. – To what extent has rural America grown in population the past half century?
7. – Describe the symptoms of a decadent village.
8. – Under what conditions do you find a village improving even when losing population?
9. – Discuss carefully the comparative degeneracy of the city and the country.
10. – Describe some of the stages of rural degeneracy.
11. – What signs of rural degeneracy have come under your personal observation and how do you account for the conditions?
12. – What evidences have you seen of the “urbanizing” of rural life, and what do you think about it?
13. – Why do country boys and girls leave the farm and go to the city?
14. – What must be done to make country life worth while, so that a fair share of the boys and girls may be expected to stay there?
15. – How do you think a farmer ought to treat his boys?
16. – To what extent is the city dependent upon the country.
17. – Why do so many prosperous farmers rent their farms and give up country life?
18. – How does the village problem differ from the problem of the open country?
19. – Do you believe the open country will be permanently occupied by American homes, or must we develop a hamlet system, as in Europe and Asia?
20. – To what extent have you faith in the ultimate solution of the country problem?
CHAPTER II
COUNTRY LIFE OPTIMISM
This tribute to the fundamental value of rural life is a part of the classic inscription, cut in the marble over the massive entrances, on the new union railroad station at Washington, D. C. Its calm, clear faith is reassuring. It reminds us that there is unquestionably an abiding optimism in this matter of country life. It suggests, that in spite of rural depletion and decadence here and there, country life is so essential to our national welfare it will permanently maintain itself. So long as there is a city civilization to be fed and clothed, there must always be a rural civilization to produce the raw materials. The question is, will it be a Christian civilization?
Our opening chapter has made it clear, that if the rural problem is to be handled constructively and successfully, rural life must be made permanently satisfying and worth while. It must not only be attractive enough to retain a fair share of the boys and girls, but also rich enough in opportunity for self-expression, development and service to warrant their investing a life-time there without regrets.
The writer believes there are certain great attractions in country life and certain drawbacks and disadvantages in city life which, if fairly considered by the country boy, would help him to appreciate the privilege of living in the country. It is certainly true that there is a strong and growing sentiment in the city favoring rural life. Many city people are longing for the freedom of the open country and would be glad of the chance to move out on the land for their own sake as well as for the sake of their children.
In this connection the most interesting fact is the new interest in country life opportunity which city boys and young men are manifesting. The discontented country boy who has come to seek his fortune in the city finds there the city boy anxious to fit himself for a successful life in the country! In view of the facts, the farm boy tired of the old farm ought to ponder well Fishin’ ’Zeke’s philosophy:
“Fish don’t bite just for the wishin’,
Keep a pullin’!
Change your bait and keep on fishin’;
Keep a pullin’!
Luck ain’t nailed to any spot;
Men you envy, like as not,
Envy you your job and lot!
Keep a pullin’!”
In many agricultural colleges and state universities, we find an increasing proportion of students coming from the cities for training in the science of agriculture and the arts of rural life. This is a very significant and encouraging fact. It shows us that the tide has begun to turn. Rural life is coming to its own, for country life is beginning to be appreciated again after several decades of disfavor and neglect. Our purpose in this chapter is to discuss these matters in detail.
It is difficult to find a more comprehensive statement of the attractiveness of country life, in concrete terms, than this fine bit of rural optimism entitled The Country Boy’s Creed:
“I believe that the country which God made is more beautiful than the city which man made; that life out-of-doors and in touch with the earth is the natural life of man. I believe that work is work wherever I find it; but that work with Nature is more inspiring than work with the most intricate machinery. I believe that the dignity of labor depends not on what you do, but on how you do it; that opportunity comes to a boy on the farm as often as to a boy in the city; that life is larger and freer and happier on the farm than in the town; that my success depends not upon my location, but upon myself, – not upon my dreams, but upon what I actually do, not upon luck but upon pluck. I believe in working when you work and playing when you play, and in giving and demanding a square deal in every act of life.”12
There are many contented country boys in comfortable modern homes and prosperous rural communities, who heartily
“The Rural Life Problem of the United States,” p. 47.
By Edwin Osgood Grover, the son of a country minister.