irit pervading the ranks of farmers is rapidly
changing. We have been in a state of transition in agriculture. But the
farther shore has been reached and the bridge is possible. The army of
rural advancement is being recruited with great rapidity. The advance
guard is more than a body of scouts, it is an effective brigade.

I want also to make a plea for the mossback. He must not be condemned
utterly. Remember that competition among farmers has been intense; that
rural environment breeds conservatism. Remember also that the farmer
cannot change his methods as rapidly as can some other business men.
Remember, too, that there is comparatively small chance for speculation
in agriculture; that large aggregates of capital cannot be collected for
farming, and consequently, that the approved means for securing immense
wealth, great industrial advancement, and huge enterprises are nearly
absent in agriculture. Remember that the voices calling from the city
deplete the country of many good farmers as well as of many poor ones.
Moreover, there are many men on farms who perhaps don't care for
farming, but who for some reason cannot get away. On the farm a man need
not starve; he can make a livelihood. Doubtless this simple fact is
responsible for a multitude of mossbacks. They can live without
strenuous endeavor. Possibly a good many of us are strenuous because we
are pushed into it. So I have a good deal of sympathy for the mossback,
and a mild sort of scorn for some of his critics, who probably could not
do any better than he is doing if they essayed the gentle art of
agriculture. I also have sympathy for the mossback particularly because
he is the man that needs attention. The new farmer takes the initiative.
He patronizes these opportunities that we have been talking about. But
the mossback, because he is discouraged, or because he is ignorant, or
perhaps merely because he is conservative, takes little interest in
these things. About one farmer in ten belongs to some sort of farmers'
association. Thousands of farmers do not take an agricultural paper, and
perhaps millions of them have not read an agricultural book. Right here
comes in another fact. Every "new" farmer when full grown competes with
every mossback. The educated farmer makes it still harder for the
ignorant farmer to progress.

The future of the American farmer is one of the most pregnant social
problems with which we have to deal. There is indeed an issue involve