tors 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
reenforce 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