Rural Life and National Welfare

Excerpts: The importance of rural life in the national welfare is relatively greater than the proportion the farm population is of the national population, because each generation of farm people contributes more than its share of people to the next generation, and because agriculture produces more than its share of the primary necessities of life. Furthermore, farming as a way of life in actual behavior, and even more so in thought and philosophy, is a body of tradition accepted by millions of people who do not live on the farm. Psychologically, we are still a rural nation, although the rural population constitutes less than one-half, and the farm population less than one-fourth, of the total population. Our cities have been built to a very large extent, and are still being constantly replenished from the reservoir of farm population. Because we are in the habit of thinking that culture originates in and flows from cities, we are very likely to overlook the fact that there is a constant flow of people moving from farms to urban centers, taking with them habits and attitudes, customs, traditions, and a culture which are essentially rural.