The Country Life Movement

The Country Life Movement BY FRANK S. HARRIS, PH. D., AGRONOMIST, UTAH AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE Anyone keeping in touch with world movements has noticed the great attention given at present in newspapers and magazines and by public speakers to questions of rural progress and welfare. This agitation is usually spoken of as the "Country Life Movement." There is another great movement typified by the expression, "Back to the Land," which is distinct from the first one mentioned. The latter is really a city problem having to do with the relieving of congested centers of population by sending some of the people of the city out to till the land. The "Country Life Movement," which I wish to discuss, should not be confused with this city problem as it is something entirely different. It deals with the problems of the man on the land, the tiller of the soil, who has always furnished the best brain and brawn of the nations. In primitive times practically all the people lived close to nature. They obtained a livelihood by tending their flocks and herds and by harvesting wild or cultivated crops. There were no great cities in the modern sense, and people led simple lives, their wants being supplied without a great amount of commercial intercourse. As discovery progressed, civilization gradually grew more complex. New sets of problems presented themselves and were solved. During the last century science has advanced so fast and facilities for transportation and commerce have been so greatly enlarged that an entirely new set of conditions has arisen from anything previously known in the history of the world. These conditions have made the present a city building age. The rural districts of New England have a lower population than fifty or seventy-five years ago, while many of the cities have grown to a number of times their former size during the same period. This movement to the cities has had the effect of producing

620 IMPROVEMENT ERA a more rapid advancement there than the country districts have enjoyed. Modern conveniences have been contrived for the urban home while the farm house has been under the necessity of retaining many of its old inconveniences. School systems have been developed that have been especially suited to city children, and the text books have been written primarily for those engaged in the commerce for which centers of populations arc so well adapted. Architects have made their plans especially for town houses, fashions in dress have been suited to city conditions, the so-called best systems of etiquette have been those which were arranged for social intercourse in crowded centers, and in all lines the machinery of city life has been given more attention than that of the country ; indeed, people of rural districts who have thought themselves most up-to-date have been those who have copied most closely city ideas in architecture, dress, etiquette and general habits of life. It did not seem to occur to them that the conditions of the country were entirely different from those of the city and needed different rules and customs. The country life movement in its most helpful form is a great awakening in favor of the betterment of rural conditions. It aims to turn attention toward those who live in the open country and on the farm, who do not have the conveniences of the modern city. It proposes to help them in securing their share of the benefits to be derived from the discoveries of science and the advance in learning. This will be accomplished largely by the re-direction of the affairs of the country along lines suited to its needs. Its aim is not the making of people on the farm rich so they can move to the city to enjoy life, but rather the development of a life on the farm which will be complete and satisfying in itself. It should make of the country not a temporary abode of transients, but the permanent home of a civilization suited to its environment and enjoying all that the world can offer in science, art, and learning. When such an adjustment is realized we may expect a manhood and womanhood to come from the land such as it has been the privilege of but few ages to witness. There is in the country so much of industry, honesty, health and wholesomeness, that when these characteristics are blended with the refinement and learning of the age, an advanced condition of humanity is assured.

THE COUNTRY LIFE MOVEMENT 621 Those who are most optimistic about rural development do not wish to keep all the people on the farm. They see in the growth of cities a great opportunity for commerce and other institutions of modern civilization. They simply affirm that the country should take its part in advancement, and that the people in it should have the opportunity of living satisfied, happy lives. The conditions which seem to be contributing most toward this movement at present are the development of scientific and business methods in home and farm management, and the introduction of such conveniences as the telephone, the rural free delivery, trolley lines, automobiles and other helps in communication and transportation. Educational systems are being improved so that people are trained to enjoy manual work rather than to shun it. All these things are bound to have their effect on rural life in helping to give the people who live on the land the conditions they need. There is at present a crying need for leadership in the social betterment of country districts. The young man or woman from the country who has been able to enjoy a college training can find no better field for the exercise of his trained talents than to return to his own community and take active part in this great movement for rural improvement. What more glorious mission is there in life than for a person to spend his best energies in behalf of his own people, to help place his home community on a higher level socially, financially, intellectually and religiously? How much more praiseworthy than to go off among strangers to spend one's life in gratifying some personal whim ! The Latter-day Saints have always been pioneers and have lived close to the land. This is doubtless one of the sources of their strength. They have ever fostered those things in education and social intercourse which are elevating in their nature and which tend toward the uplift of all the people. They should, therefore, be able to take first place in this great country life movement and set an example for others worthy of emulation. Not long ago, while at a conference on rural progress in New York State, the author attended a meeting of those interested in the religious development of country life. At that meeting a clergyman, who is known all over the nation for his interest in the country church, told those present that they should pattern after