. Western agriculture. i-mated that thirty per cent of increase in the city populationof the United States has been due to the migration from thecountry to the city. There are two groups of causes for thismigration. (1) Those primary forces which he deep in civili-zation and are the fundamental causes of progress must expect that in the future, as in the past, young menand young women, born in the country with excellent vitalityand possessing not only great capacity for work but ambi-tion to succeed in the big things in the world, will continueto go where that work is—where life is c
. Western agriculture. i-mated that thirty per cent of increase in the city populationof the United States has been due to the migration from thecountry to the city. There are two groups of causes for thismigration. (1) Those primary forces which he deep in civili-zation and are the fundamental causes of progress must expect that in the future, as in the past, young menand young women, born in the country with excellent vitalityand possessing not only great capacity for work but ambi-tion to succeed in the big things in the world, will continueto go where that work is—where life is complex. Any THE FARM COMMUNITY 439 attempt to stop this movement wouldresultinfailureanddomore harm than good. (2) Other factors which may becalled secondary lie in the relative merits and demerits ofrural social institutions and conditions. Some of thesewhich result in the city drift may be mentioned: failure ofthe farm community to supply necessary recreation andenjoyment, bad sanitary conditions, poor schools, and. Figure 193.—A farm community under irrigation canal. inadequate churches. These conditions may be graduallyimproved, and, if they can beimproved,therewillnodoubtbesome check of the movement. It is significant that the tre-mendous city drift has gone on in spite of much back-to-the-farm preaching. Any plan of successful rural social improve-ment must aim to improve conditions for those on the farmrather than to check the movement from the farm. Rural Recreation. An important function of play isthe breaking down of prejudice and misunderstanding insociety and the establishment of a basis for co-operative enterprises can be made successful aconsciousness of kind and the ability on the part of everymember of the group to understand and sympathize withthe interests of every other member are necessary. This 440 WEB TERN AGRICULTURE ability is conspicuously lacking among farmers. FarmersUnions and other co-operative organizations have been ratheru
Size: 2179px × 1147px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
