ountry life, have all
aroused an interest in and presage a new attention to rural conditions.
This is well. The sociologist can hardly afford to omit the rural
classes from the scope of his study, especially if he desires to
investigate the practical phases of his subject. Moreover, no one with
intelligent notions of affairs should be ignorant of the forces that
control rural life.

In view of this apparent change in the attitude of people toward the
farm problem, it may not be idle to suggest some possible errors that
should be avoided when we are thinking of rural society. The student
will doubtless approach his problem fortified against misconceptions--he
probably has thoughtfully established his view-point. But the average
person in the city is likely to call up the image of his ancestral home
of a generation ago, if he were born in the country, or, if not, to draw
upon his observations made on a summer vacation or on casual business
trips into the interior. Or he takes his picture from _Shore Acres_ and
the _Old Homestead_. In any case it is not improbable that the image may
be faulty and as a consequence his appreciation of present conditions
wholly inadequate. Let us consider some of these possible sources of
misconception.

In the first place it is not fair to compare country life as a whole
with the best city conditions. This is often done. The observer usually
has education, culture, leisure, the experience of travel, more or less
wealth; his acquaintance is mostly with people of like attainments.
When he fails to find a rural environment that corresponds in some
degree to his own and that of his friends, he is quick to conclude that
the country has nothing to offer him, that only the city ministers to
the higher wants of man. He forgets that he is one of a thousand in the
city, and does not represent average city life. He fails to compare the
average country conditions with the average city conditions, manifestly
the only fair basis for comparison. Or he may err still more grievously.
He may set opposite each other the worst country conditions and the
better city conditions. He ought in all justice to balance country slum
with city slum; and certainly so if he insists on trying to find
palaces, great libraries, eloquent preachers, theaters, and rapid
transit in each rural community. City life goes to extremes; country
life, while varied, is more even. In the country there is little of
large wealth, luxury,