The Agrarian Writings ofO.E. Baker(Part 4)

Dateline: 2 April 2016 AD

(CLICK HERE to go to Part 3 of this series)

This is a continuing series, highlighting some quotes from Oliver Edwin Baker, as found in the 1939 book, Agriculture in Modern Life.

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"It is my conviction that dependence upon the cities for financial credit, for standards of living, styles of behavior, attitudes, and ideals is a dangerous thing for the farming people. "

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"A major cause of rural poverty in the United States lies, in my opinion, in the migration of farm youth to the cities. But I see no solution of the problem of rural poverty in the cessation of that migration, unless it be accompanied by the rise of village and home industry."

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"Unless the farmers and farm women of the nation ... encourage their children to love the farm and the farming people—turn their faces toward the home community instead of the distant city—they will continue in all likelihood to lose the ownership of the land.

Indeed, they may lose more than this. They may lose the activities of the family in the protection and education of the children and youth, and provision of security in illness and old age—in fact, they have been gradually losing these functions of the family during many years. They may lose also the church as a social institution, they are losing it now. They may lose even the democratic organization of the State. As the responsibility of the family decreases, the responsibility of the government increases, and unless the people feel themselves to be a part of the government and direct its policy, the spirit of democracy declines. 

The millions of unemployed in the cities, and the millions more who are apprehensive of unemployment, are a danger to democratic government. The conditions of living and the philosophy of life in the cities are not conducive to the integrity of the family or the preservation of democracy. It is becoming clear that the land is the foundation of the family, and that the family is the foundation of the democratic State.

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"What are the values that rural people esteem? In my childhood they were willingness to work hard and for rather long hours, industry, thrift, frugality, charity, loyalty, particularly to the family. There may have been some changes, some amelioration, since my childhood, because of the infiltration of urban ideas and the trend toward indulgence in luxury; but among the real rural people I should expect to find these characteristics highly esteemed today. Undoubtedly centruies of human existence wringing a livelihood from the soil had shown that these traits were essential to a production adequate to support schools and churches and provide the amenities of civilization. Even today state universities  honor master farmers and homemakers. I think I am not mistaken in saying that the highest praise you can give to a man in rural areas is to say that he is a good farmer, a good father, and a good citizen; and the highest compliment to a farm woman is to say she is a good mother and homemaker."

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"In the new urban culture a different set of virtues is developing. The talk is about material standards of living, about purchasing power, higher wages, fewer hours of labor, over-production, unemployment, relief. The women in the cities, particularly in the middle and upper classes, often talk about clothes and bridge parties and other entertainments. Many men think they must have a new automobile every few years. Both men and women try to "keep up with the Joneses." People apparently judge each other by what they spend, more than what they produce. 

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To go to Part 5 of this 7-part series