THE RURAL RENAISSANCE
=Darkest Before the Dawn.=--Prior to the present widespread discussion,
which it is hoped will lead to a rural renaissance, the condition and
the prospects of country life and the country school looked dark and
discouraging. Country life seemed to be passing into the shadow and the
storm. It seemed as if the country was being not only deserted but
forgotten. The urban trend, as we have seen, moved on apace. Farms were
being deserted or, if cultivated at all, were passing more and more into
the hands of renters. The owners were farming by proxy. This meant
decreased production and impoverished soil. It meant one-crop, or
small-grain farming; it meant a class of renters or tenants with only
temporary homes, and hence with only a partial interest. The inevitable
result would be an impoverished rural life and poor rural schools.
Without a realization of the seriousness of the situation and the trend
on the part of the people at large, all these conditions prevailed to a
greater or less extent. The people seemed unaware of the fact that rural
life was not keeping pace with the progress of the world around. In New
England whole districts were practically deserted, and her abandoned
farms told the tale. In Virginia and in most of the older states similar
conditions existed. The people migrated either to the cities or to the
newer and cheaper agricultural regions of the West.
=The Awakening.=--But the time came when the newer lands were not so
available and when social and economic pressure forced the whole problem
of rural life upon the attention of the nation. Difficulty in adjustment
to surroundings always constitutes a problem, and a problem always
arouses thought. When our adjustment is easy and successful it is
effected largely through habit; but when it is obstructed or thwarted,
thought and reason must come to the rescue. Investigation, comparison,
and reflection are then drafted for a solution. This is what happened a
few years ago. The whole situation, it is true, had been in mind
previously, but only in a half conscious or subconscious way. It was
being felt or sensed, more or less clearly, that there was something
wrong, that there was a great unsupplied need, in rural life; but the
thought had no definite shape. The restiveness, the restlessness, was
there but no distinct and articulate voices gave utterance to any
definite policy or determination. There was no clearly formulated
consensus of thought as to what ought to be done. Prior to this time the
thought of the people had not been focused on country life at all. The
attention of the rural districts was not on themselves; they were not
really self-conscious of their condition or that there was any important
problem before them. But not many years ago, owing to various movements,
which were both causes and effects, the whole country began to be
aroused to the importance of the subjects which I have been discussing.
The Committee of Twelve on Rural Schools appointed by the National
Educational Association had reported the phases of the rural life
problem in 1897; but many declarations and reports of that kind are
necessary to stir the whole country. Hence no decisive movement, even in
rural education, became noticeable for several years. But this report
did much good; it not only formulated educational thought and policy in
regard to the subject but it also awakened thought and discussion
outside of the teaching profession.
=The Agricultural Colleges.=--The agricultural colleges and experimental
stations in the several states had also been active for some years and
had formulated a body of knowledge in regard to agricultural principles
and methods. They had distributed this information widely among the
farmers of the country. The latter, at first, looked askance at these
colleges and their propaganda, and often refused to accept their
suggestions and advice on the ground that it was "mere theory," and that
farmers could not be taught practical agriculture by mere "book men" and
"theorizers." The practical man often despises theory, not realizing
that practice without theory is usually blind. But the growing science
of agriculture was working like a leaven for the improvement of farm
life in all its phases, and to-day the agricultural colleges and
experiment stations are the well-springs of information for practical
farmers everywhere. Bulletins of information are published and
distributed regularly, and farmers are being brought into closer and
closer touch with these institutions.
=Conventions.=--During this awakening period, conventions of various
kinds are held, which give the farmers an opportunity to hear and to
participate in discussions pertaining to the problems with which they
are wrestling. They come together in district, county, or state
conventions, and the result has been that a class consciousness, an
_esprit de corps_, is being developed. Farmers hear and see bigger and
better things; their world is enlarged and their minds are stimulated;
they are induced to think in larger units. Thought, like water, seeks
its level, and in conventions of this kind the individual "levels up."
He goes home inspired to do better and greater things, and spreads the
new gospel among his neighbors. At the conventions he hears a variety of
topics discussed, including good roads, house plans, sanitation,
schools, and others too numerous to mention.
=Other Awakening Agencies.=--The agricultural paper, which practically
every farmer takes and which every farmer should take, brings to the
farm home each week the most modern findings on all phases of country
life. The rural free delivery and the parcel post bring the daily mail
to the farmer's door. The rural telephone is becoming general, and also
the automobile and other rapid and convenient modes of communication and
transportation. All these things have helped to develop a clearer
consciousness of country life, its problems and its needs.
=The Farmer in Politics.=--Add to all the foregoing considerations the
fact that, in every state legislature and in Congress, the number of
rural representatives is constantly increasing, and we see clearly that
the country districts are awakening to a realization not only of their
needs but of their rights. All of these conditions have helped to turn
the eyes of the whole people, in state and nation, to long neglected
problems.
=The National Commission.=--So the various agencies and factors
enumerated above and others besides, all working more or less
consciously and all conspiring together, finally resulted in the
appointment of a National Commission on Rural Life, the results and
findings of which were made the subject of a special message from the
president to Congress in 1909. The report of the commission was issued
from the Government Printing Office in Washington as Document Number
705, and should be read by every farmer in the country. This commission
was the resultant of many forces exerted around family firesides, in the
schoolroom, in the press, on the platform, in conventions, in
legislatures, and in the halls of Congress. For the first time in this
country, the conditions and possibilities of rural life were made the
subjects of investigation and report to a national body. Thus the
Commission became thenceforth a potent cause of the attention and
impetus since given to the problems we are discussing.
=Mixed Farming.=--In recent years, too, what may be called "scientific
farming" has become a decided "movement" and is now very extensively
practiced. This includes diversified farming, rotation of crops, stock
raising, the breeding of improved stock, better plowing, and a host of
matters connected with the farmer's occupation. Thus farming is becoming
neither a job nor an avocation, but a genuine vocation, or profession.
It requires for its success all the brains, all the ingenuity, all the
attention and push that an intelligent man can give it; and, withal, it
promises all the variety, the interest, the happiness, and the success
that any profession can offer.
=Now Before the Country.=--The movement in behalf of a richer rural life
and of better rural schools is now before the country. It is the subject
of discussion everywhere. It is in the limelight; the literature on the
subject is voluminous; books without number, on all phases of the
subject, are coming from the press. Educational papers and magazines,
and even the lay press, are devoting unstinted space to discussions on
country life and the rural school. The country has the whole question
"on the run," with a fair prospect of an early capture. On pages 182-186
we give a bibliography of a small portion of the literature on these
questions which has come out recently.
=Educational Extension.=--Within the last few years the movement known
as "extension work," connected with the educational institutions, has
had a rapid growth. The state universities, agricultural colleges, and
normal schools in almost every state are doing their utmost to carry
instruction and education in a variety of forms to communities beyond
their walls. They are vying with each other in their extension
departments, in extra-mural service of every possible kind. In many
places institutions are even furnishing musical performances and other
forms of entertainment at cost, in competition with the private bureaus,
thus saving communities the profits of the bureau and the expense of the
middlemen. The University of Wisconsin has been in recent years the
leader in this extension work. Minnesota, and most of the central and
western states are active in the campaign of carrying education and
culture to outlying communities. Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota
have recently pooled their forces for some exchange of service in
extension work.
=Library Extension Work.=--In Wisconsin, the state library is under the
direction of the university extension department, and collections of
books, which may be retained for a definite length of time, may be
secured by any town or community in the state. In this way a library may
do excellent service.
=Some Froth.=--No doubt some froth will be produced by the stirring of
the waters which are moving in some places with whirlpool rapidity.
There is considerable sound and fury, no doubt, in the discussions and
in the things attempted in these uplifting movements. There is a
considerable amount of smoke in proportion to the fire beneath. But,
even with the froth, the noise, and the smoke, there is some latent
power, some energy, beneath and behind it all. The main thing is that
the power, the energy, the thought, the enthusiasm of the nation have
been started on the right way. We can discount and overlook the vagaries
and foibles which will undoubtedly play around the outskirts of the
movement. Every new movement shows similar phenomena. Much will be said,
written, and done which is mere surface display. But while these may do
little good, they will do no harm and are indicative of the inner and
vital determination of the people to confront the difficulties.
=Thought and Attitude.=--Our thought and our attitude make any kind of
work or any kind of position desirable and worthy, or the reverse. Many
vicious leaders poison the minds of workers and make them dissatisfied
with their work and their employers by suggesting a wrong spirit and
attitude. We do not advocate passive submission to wrongs; nor on the
other hand do we think that the interests of the laborer are to be
subserved by infusing into his mind jealousy and envy and discontent
with his lot.
A young man goes through the practice and games of football, enduring
exertion and pain which he would not allow any other person to force
upon him; at the same time, he has a song in his heart. On a camping
trip a person will submit to rigors and privations which he would think
intolerable at home. Whatever is socially fashionable is done with
pleasure; the mind is the great factor. If one is interested in his
work, it is pleasant--indeed more enjoyable than play; but if there is
no interest it is all drudgery and pain. The attitude, the motive, the
will make all the difference in the world. In the rural renaissance,
farm life may become more and more fashionable. This is by no means
impossible. Country life has no such rigors as the football field or the
outing in the wilds. When as a people we have passed from the sensuous
and erotic wave on the crest of which we seem at present to be carried
along, we can with profit, intellectually, morally, socially, and
physically, "go forth under the open sky and list to Nature's
teachings." Everything except the present glare of excitement beckons
back to the land, back to the country. Whether as a people we shall
effectively check the urban trend, will, in the not distant future, test
the self-control, the foresight, the wisdom, and the character of the
manhood and womanhood of this nation.