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THE RURAL LIFE PROBLEM OF THE UNITED STATES
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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
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THE RURAL LIFE PROBLEM OF THE UNITED STATES
NOTES OF AN IRISH OBSERVER
BY
SIR HORACE PLUNKETT
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1919
_All rights reserved_
COPYRIGHT, 1910,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published May, 1910. Reprinted October, 1910;
January, 1911; October, 1912; September, 1913; January, 1917.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
PREFATORY NOTE
The thoughts contained in the following pages relate to one side of the
life of a country which has been to me, as to many Irishmen, a second
home. They are offered in friendly recognition of kindness I cannot hope
to repay, received largely as a student of American social and economic
problems, from public-spirited Americans who, I know, will appreciate
most highly any slight service to their country.
The substance of the book appeared in five articles contributed to the
New York _Outlook_ under the title "Conservation and Rural Life."
Several American friends, deeply interested in the Rural Life problem,
asked me to republish the series. In doing so, I have felt that I ought
to present a more comprehensive view of my subject than either the space
allowed or the more casual publication demanded.
I have to thank the editors of the _Outlook_ for the generous
hospitality of their columns, and for full freedom to republish what
belongs to them.
HORACE PLUNKETT.
THE PLUNKETT HOUSE, DUBLIN,
April, 1910.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE SUBJECT AND THE POINT OF VIEW
PAGE
The subject defined--A reconstruction of rural life in
English-speaking communities essential to the progress of
Western civilisation--A movement for a new rural
civilisation to be proposed--The author's point of view
derived from thirty years of Irish and American
experience--The physical contrast and moral resemblances in
the Irish and American rural problems--Mr. Roosevelt's
interest in this aspect of the question--His Conservation
and Country Life policies 1
CHAPTER II
THE LAUNCHING OF TWO ROOSEVELT POLICIES
The sane emotionalism of American public opinion--Gifford
Pinchot as the Apostle of Conservation--His test of
national efficiency--Mr. James J. Hill's notable
pronouncements upon the wastage of natural resources--The
evolution of the Conservation policy--Historical and
present causes of national extravagance--The Conference of
Governors and their pronouncement upon Conservation--Mr.
Roosevelt's Country Life policy--His estimate of the lasting
importance of the Conservation and Country Life ideas--The
popularity of the Conservation policy and the lack of
interest in the Country Life policy--The Country Life
Commission's inquiries and the reality of the problem--The
need and opportunity for reconstruction of rural life 17
CHAPTER III
THE ORIGIN AND CONSEQUENCES OF RURAL NEGLECT
The origin of rural neglect in English-speaking countries
traced to the Industrial Revolution in England--Effect of
modern economic changes upon the mutual relations of town
and country populations--Respects in which the old relations
ought to be restored--Three economic reasons for the study
of rural conditions--The social consequences of rural
neglect--The political importance of rustic experience to
reënforce urban intelligence in modern democracies--The
analogue of the European exodus in the United States--The
moral aspects of rural neglect--The danger to national
efficiency of sacrificing agricultural to commercial and
industrial interests--The happy circumstance of Mr.
Roosevelt's interest in rural well-being 35
CHAPTER IV
THE INNER LIFE OF THE AMERICAN FARMER
Reasons why the rural problem resulting from urban
predominance exists only in English-speaking
countries--Neglect of farmer more easily excused in the
United States than elsewhere owing to his apparent
prosperity--Country Life Commission's pronouncement on rural
backwardness--Why the matter must be taken up by the
towns--A survey of American rural life--The problem
economically and sociologically considered in the Middle
West--Causes and character of rural backwardness in the
Southern States--The boll-weevil and the hookworm as
illustrations of unconcern for the well-being of rural
communities--The problem in the New England States not
typically American--The progressive attitude of some
communities in the Far West in rural reform 57
CHAPTER V
THE WEAK SPOT IN AMERICAN RURAL ECONOMY
The three elements of a rural existence--Mr. Roosevelt's
formula: "Better farming, better business, better living"--A
comparative analysis of urban and rural business methods
shows that herein lies chief cause of rural
backwardness--Reasons why farmers fail to adopt methods of
combination--A description of the coöperative system in its
application to agriculture--The introduction and development
of agricultural coöperation in Ireland--The Raiffeisen
Credit Association successful in poorest Irish
districts--Summary of coöperative achievement by Irish
farmers--British imitation of Irish agricultural organising
methods--A criticism of American farmers'
organisations--Lack of combination for business purposes the
cause of political impotence--Urgent need for a
reorganisation of American agriculture upon coöperative lines 83
CHAPTER VI
THE WAY TO BETTER FARMING AND BETTER LIVING
The retarded application of science to agriculture and
neglect of agricultural education--Present progress in
agricultural education--Full benefit of education must await
coöperative organisation--Connection between coöperation and
social progress--Mr. Roosevelt on the cause and cure of
rural discontent--Two views upon the principles of rural
betterment--The part coöperation is playing in Irish rural
society--General observations on town and country
pleasures--The social necessity for a redirection of rural
education--The rural labour problem--The position of women
in farm life--The reason why the remedy for rural
backwardness must come from without--The paradox of the problem 117
CHAPTER VII
THE TWO THINGS NEEDFUL
Summary of diagnosis and indication of treatment--Chief aim
the coördination of agencies available for social work in
the country--Numerical strength and fine social spirit
abroad, but leadership needed--Mutual interest of advocates
of Conservation and of rural reform--The psychological
difficulty due to predominance of urban idea--Roman history
repeating itself in New York--The natural leaders of the
Country Life movement to be found in the cities--The objects
of the movement defined--Two new institutions to be created;
the one executive and organising, the other academic--The
National Conservation Association qualified to initiate and
direct the movement--Possibly an American Agricultural
Organisation Society should be founded for the work--The
chief practical work the introduction of agricultural
coöperation--Necessity for joining forces with existing
philanthropic agencies--Suggested enlistment of country
clergy in coöperative propagandism--The Country Life
Institute, its purpose and functions--Reason why one body
cannot undertake work assigned to the two new
institutions--The financial requirements of the
Institute--Summary and conclusions 145
THE RURAL LIFE PROBLEM
CHAPTER I
THE SUBJECT AND THE POINT OF VIEW
I submit in the following pages a proposition and a proposal--a
distinction which an old-country writer of English may, perhaps, be
permitted to preserve. The proposition is that, in the United States, as
in other English-speaking communities, the city has been developed to
the neglect of the country. I shall not have to labour the argument, as
nobody seriously disputes the contention; but I shall trace the main
causes of the neglect, and indicate what, in my view, must be its
inevitable consequences. If I make my case, it will appear that our
civilisation has thus become dangerously one-sided, and that, in the
interests of national well-being, it is high time for steps to be taken
to counteract the townward tendency.
My definite proposal to those who accept these conclusions is that a
Country Life movement, upon lines which will be laid down, should be
initiated by existing associations, whose efforts should be supplemented
by a new organisation which I shall call a Country Life Institute. There
are in the United States a multiplicity of agencies, both public and
voluntary, available for this work. But the army of workers in this
field of social service needs two things: first, some definite plan for
coördinating their several activities, and, next, some recognised source
of information collected from the experience of the Old and the New
World. It is the purpose of these pages to show that these needs are
real and can be met.
Two obvious questions will here suggest themselves. Why should the
United States--of all countries in the world--be chosen for such a theme
instead of a country like Ireland, where the population depends mainly
upon agriculture? What qualifications has an Irishman, be he never so
competent to advise upon the social and economic problems of his own
country, to talk to Americans about the life of their rural population?
I admit at once that, while I have made some study of American
agriculture and rural economy, my actual work upon the problem of which
I write has been restricted to Ireland. But I claim, with some pride,
that, in thought upon rural economy, Ireland is ahead of any
English-speaking country. She has troubles of her own, some inherent in
the adverse physical conditions, and others due to well-known historical
causes, that too often impede the action to which her best thoughts
should lead. But the very fact that those who grapple with Irish
problems have to work through failure to success will certainly not
lessen the value to the social student of the experience gained. I
recognise, however, that I must give the reader so much of personal
narrative as is required to enable him to estimate the value of my
facts, and of the conclusions which I base upon them.
To have enjoyed an Irish-American existence, to have been profoundly
interested in, and more or less in touch with, public affairs in both
countries, to have been an unwilling politician in Ireland and not a
politician at all in America, is, to say the least, an unusual
experience for an Irishman. But such has been my record during the last
twenty years. Soon after graduating at Oxford, I was advised to live in
mountain air for a while, and for the next decade I was a ranchman along
the foothills of the Rockies. To those who knew that my heart was in
Ireland, I used to explain that I might some day be in politics at home,
and must take care of my lungs. In 1889 I returned to live and work in
my own country, but I retained business interests, including some
farming operations, in the Western States. Ever since then I have taken
my annual holiday across the Atlantic, and have studied rural
conditions over a wider area in the United States than my business
interests demanded.
For eight years, commencing in 1892, I was a Member of Parliament. My
legislative ambition was to get something done for Irish industry, and
especially Irish agriculture. Having secured the assistance of an
unprecedented combination of representative Irishmen, known as the
Recess Committee (because it sat during the Parliamentary recess), we
succeeded in getting the addition we wanted to the machinery of Irish
Government. The functions of the new institution are sufficiently
indicated by its cumbrous Parliamentary title, "The Department of
Agriculture and other Industries and for Technical Instruction for
Ireland." I mention this official experience because it not only
intensified my desire to study American conditions, but it also brought
me frequently to Washington to study the working of those Federal
institutions which are concerned for the welfare of the rural
population. There I enjoyed the unfailing courtesy of American public
servants to the foreign inquirer.
On one of these visits, in the winter of 1905-1906, I called upon
President Roosevelt to pay him my respects, and to express to him my
obligations to some members of his Administration. I wished especially
to acknowledge my indebtedness to that veteran statesman, Secretary
Wilson, the value of whose long service to the American farmer it would
be hard to exaggerate. Mr. Roosevelt questioned me as to the exact
object of my inquiries, and asked me to come again and discuss with him
more fully than was possible at the moment certain economic and social
questions which had engaged much of his own thoughts. He was greatly
interested to learn that in Ireland we have been approaching many of
these questions from his own point of view. He made me tell him the
story of Irish land legislation, and of recent Irish movements for the
improvement of agricultural conditions. Ever since, his interest in
these Irish questions--to _the_ Irish Question we gave a wide berth--has
been maintained on account of their bearing upon his Rural Life policy,
for I had shown him how the economic strengthening and social elevation
of the Irish farmer had become a matter of urgent Irish concern. I
recall many things he said on that occasion, which show that his two
great policies of Conservation and Country Life reform were maturing in
his mind. I need hardly say how deeply interesting these policies are to
me, embracing as they do economic and social problems, the working out
of which in my own country happens to be the task to which I have
devoted the best years of my life.
I must now offer to the reader so much of the story of the Country Life
movement in my own country as will enable him to understand its
interest to Mr. Roosevelt and to many another worker upon the analogous
problems of the United States. Ireland is passing through an agrarian
revolution. There, as in many other European countries, the title to
most of the agricultural land rested upon conquest. The English attempt
to colonise Ireland never completely succeeded nor completely failed;
consequently the Irish never ceased to repudiate the title of the alien
landlord. In 1881 Mr. Gladstone introduced one of the greatest agrarian
reforms in history--rent-fixing by judicial authority--which was
certainly a bold attempt to put an end to a desolating conflict,
centuries old.
The scheme failed,--whether, as some hold, from its inherent defects, or
from the circumstances of the time, is an open question. It is but fair
to its author to point out that a rapidly increasing foreign
competition, chiefly from the newly opened tracts of virgin soil in the
New World, led to a fall in agricultural prices, which made the first
rents fixed appear too high. Quicker and cheaper transit, together with
processes for keeping produce fresh over the longest routes, soon showed
that the new market conditions had come to stay. A bad land system on a
rising market might succeed better than a good one on a falling. The
land tenure reforms begun in 1881, having broken down under stress of
foreign competition, and Purchase Acts on a smaller scale having been
tentatively tried in the interval, in 1903 Parliament finally decreed
that sufficient money should be provided to buy out all the remaining
agricultural land. In a not remote future, some two hundred million
pounds sterling--a billion dollars--will have been advanced by the
British Government to enable the tenants to purchase their holdings, the
money to be repaid in easy instalments during periods averaging over
sixty years.
Twenty years ago this general course of events was foreseen, and a few
Irishmen conceived and set to work upon what has come to be Ireland's
Rural Life policy. The position taken up was simple. What Parliament was
about to do would pull down the whole structure of Ireland's
agricultural economy, and would clear away the chief hindrance to
economic and social progress. But upon the ground thus cleared the
edifice of a new rural social economy would have to be built. This work,
although it needs the fostering care of government, and liberal
facilities for a system of education intimately related to the people's
working lives, belongs mainly to the sphere of voluntary effort.
The new movement, which was started in 1889 to meet the circumstances I
have indicated, was thus a movement for the up-building of country life.
It anticipated the lines of the formula which Mr. Roosevelt adopted in
his Message transmitting to Congress the Report of the Country Life
Commission--better farming, better business, better living: we began
with better business, which consisted in the introduction of
agricultural coöperation into the farming industry, for several reasons
which will appear later, and for one which I must mention here. We found
that we could not develop in unorganised farmers a political influence
strong enough to enable them to get the Government to do its part
towards better farming. Owing to the new agricultural opinion which had
been developed indirectly by organising the farmer, we were able to win
from Parliament the department I have named above. This institution was
so framed and endowed that it is able to give to the Irish farmers all
the assistance which can be legitimately given by public agencies and at
public expense. The assistance consists chiefly of education. But
education is interpreted in the widest sense. Practical instruction to
old and young, in schools, upon the farms, and at meetings, lectures,
experiments, and demonstrations, the circulation of useful information
and advice, and all the usual methods known to progressive governments,
are being introduced with the chief aim of enabling the farmer to apply
to the practice of farming the teachings of modern science. Better
living, which includes making country life more interesting and
attractive, is sought by using voluntary associations, some organised
primarily for business purposes, and others, having no business aim, for
social and intellectual ends. But Irish rural reformers are agreed that
by far the most important step towards a higher and a better rural life
would be a redirection of education in the country schools. To this I
shall return in the proper place.
I can now proceed with my American experiences without leaving any doubt
as to the point of view from which I approach the problem of rural life
in the United States. Having engaged in actual work upon that problem in
Ireland, where a combination of economic changes and political events
has made its solution imperative, and having been long in personal
touch with rural conditions in some Western States, my interest in
certain policies which were maturing at Washington may be easily
surmised. There I found that, with wholly different conditions to be
dealt with, the thoughts of the President and of others in his
confidence were, as regards the main issue, moving in the same direction
as my own. They too had come to feel that the welfare of the rural
population had been too long neglected, and that it was high time to
consider how the neglect might be repaired. In his annual message to
Congress in 1904, Mr. Roosevelt had made it clear that he was fully
conscious of this necessity. "Nearly half of the people of this
country," he wrote, "devote their energies to growing things from the
soil. Until a recent date little has been done to prepare these millions
for their life work." I did not realise at the time the full import of
these sentences. Nor did I foresee that the problem of rural life was
to be forced to the front by the awakening of public opinion, upon
another issue differing from and yet closely related to the subject of
these pages. Mr. Roosevelt was thinking out the Conservation idea, which
I believe will some day be recognised as the greatest of his policies.