ation, the
wonderful development of agricultural education, and the fairly
satisfactory development of organization among farmers. It seems also
apparent that there is a fourth line of development that might be
mentioned as being significant, and it may be expressed in a somewhat
general statement that the interest in agricultural questions has
increased in a very marked way. There is undoubtedly a new emphasis upon
country life generally. The people of the cities have been going to the
country more than ever before. A walk, the length of Beacon Street in
Boston, at any time from the middle of June to late autumn, convinces
one that the majority of the people are somewhere in the country. All
over the North, city people are making country homes for at least a
portion of the year. There is also a growing interest in the farm and
farm problems among the general public. Just now the country schools are
attracting special attention from the educators--so much so that the
late President Harper stated, not long ago, that the rural-school
question is the coming question in education. Even the country church is
being made a subject of discussion in religious circles. It is conceded
that agriculture presents "problems." And while the throbbing, busy,
intense life of the city brings perplexing questions to our
civilization, our people are coming to realize that the agricultural
population and the agricultural industry are still tremendous factors in
our national life and success, and that both social and industrial
conditions in the country are such that there also are grave questions
to be settled.

In view of the facts which have been given, I think if one were asked to
give a direct answer to the question, Is the farmer keeping up? one
could reply, Yes. In some sections of the country, the farmers have not
responded to these forward movements. The countryman is naturally
conservative. Not only that, but there are some serious questions that
he has to meet in his business and in his life. He finds it extremely
and increasingly difficult to get adequate labor. He has not been able
to take sufficient advantage of the power of co-operation. The
industrial and social development of the city has lured away his
children. And yet one cannot help feeling that these really remarkable
advances of the past decade are prophetic of a steady improvement in
rural conditions, of a larger development of rural life, of a greater
prosperity for