out the farmers they should be interested in supporting every
movement for the farmers' weal. As they have more frequent contacts with
other centers and with cities, they will be the first to bring many new
ideas and suggestions to the community, but they must realize that only
as all elements of the community are agreed will any new movement be
permanently successful. There must be loyalty to farm leaders as well as
to those of the village. Indeed, the most successful rural communities
are those in which all are one big community family whose institutional
interests center in the village.

FOOTNOTES:

[15] See George Nasmyth, "Social Progress and the Darwinian Theory."

[16] See P. Kropotkin, "Mutual Aid."

[17] See L. H. Bailey, "The Place of the Village in the Country-Life
Movement," York State Rural Problems, II, 148. Albany, N. Y., 1915.

CHAPTER VI

COMMUNITY ASPECTS OF THE FARM BUSINESS

In the days of the pioneer the farm business was hardly affected by
community conditions. A general store where necessities could be
purchased, a mill where grain could be ground, and a blacksmith shop
were about the only necessary business agencies. The farm was largely
self-sufficient and there was but little real community life. Nor was
there much change in the next generation or two among the farmers who
built substantial homes, supported their neighborhood churches and
schools, and with the free labor of a good-sized family made a
comfortable living. Their interests were chiefly in their families and
neighbors, and questions of local government were about the only
community bond. When new sections of the country were opened up by
railroads and with the growth of cities farm lands increased rapidly in
value, there was an era of speculative farming, which Dr. Warren H.
Wilson has called the era of the "exploiter."[18] A farm was bought with
an idea of its improvement and resale at a good profit, and many farmers
moved from one section to another in search of new land which was both
fertile and cheap.[19] The era of land speculation has by no means
passed, as has been learned to their sorrow by many who bought farms at
inflated prices during the World War, and whenever there is a sudden
rise in land values, speculation will doubtless recur. On the other
hand, as cheap lands become scarce, as the better lands become more
valuable and the amount of capital required to equip and operate a farm
in the better agricul