By JOHN M. GILLETTE. introduction by George E. Vincent, president of
the University of Minnesota. New York, Sturgis & Walton. 301 pp. Price
$1.60; by mail of THE SURVEY $1.75.
There can be no doubt that this work is constructive if we remember that
adequate information is the beginning of all sound construction. The
book is packed with information on all phases of rural life. Whether it
is sociology or not depends upon one’s point of view and one’s bringing
up. It may be economics. Among the eighteen chapters there are included
such topics as Rural and Urban Increase (IV), Improvement of
Agricultural Production (VII), Improving the Business Side of Farming
(VIII), and Rural and Social Institutions and Their Improvement (XV and
XVI). There are numerous tables and illustrations, including an
interesting map of a rural Methodist parish.
One of the most interesting chapters is entitled Social Aspects of Land
and Labor in the United States, though in the first paragraph the reader
is confronted with the statement that “The nation’s population is
ultimately determined by the amount of its arable land.” This is
doubtless a casual statement and ought not to be allowed to mar what is
otherwise an excellent chapter. Of course it is only the nation’s rural
population which is ultimately determined by its arable land. So long as
foreign markets hold out, there is no limit to the urban population
short of lack of building room. Or one might say that the population of
a nation which aims to be self-contained, or physically self-supporting
as distinct from commercially self-supporting, is limited by its arable
land. The reviewer does not remember to have seen so good a discussion
of the problem of agricultural labor as is found in this chapter.
Probably the most valuable chapter is the one on Rural Health and
Sanitation. The author outlines the problem and presents in systematic
order the dangers to rural health and the methods of safeguarding
against them. Under such heads as Water, Garbage and Sewage, Insects and
Animals, Foods, and Transmissible Diseases, he sets forth the chief
problems of farm sanitation, and emphasizes the need of co-operation in
neighborhood sanitation.
The book is a substantial contribution to the growing problem of rural
life and rural adjustment. The author shows a first hand knowledge of
the subject which he treats, and a wide familiarity with statistical and
other documentary sources of information. All sincere students owe him a
debt of gratitude.