Pioneer democracy has had to learn lessons by experience: the lesson that government on principles of free democracy can accomplish many things which the men of the middle of the nineteenth century did not realize were even possible. They have had to sacrifice something of their passion for individual unrestraint; they have had to learn that the specially trained man, the man fitted for his calling by education and experience, whether in the field of science or of industry, has a place in government; that the rule of the people is effective and enduring only as it incorporates the trained specialist into the organization of that government, whether as umpire between contending interests or as the efficient instrument in the hands of democracy.

Organized democracy after the era of free land has learned that popular government to be successful must not only be legitimately the choice of the whole people; that the offices of that government must not only be open to all, but that in the fierce struggle of nations in the field of economic competition and in the field of war, the salvation and perpetuity of the republic depend upon recognition of the fact that specialization of the organs of the government, the choice of the fit and the capable for office, is quite as important as the extension of popular control. When we lost our free lands and our isolation from the Old World, we lost our immunity from the results of mistakes, of waste, of inefficiency, and of inexperience in our government.

But in the present day we are also learning another lesson which was better known to the pioneers than to their immediate successors. We are learning that the distinction arising from devotion to the interests of the commonwealth is a higher distinction than mere success in economic competition. America is now awarding laurels to the men who sacrifice their triumphs in the rivalry of business in order to give their service to the cause of a liberty-loving nation, their wealth and their genius to the success of her ideals. That craving for distinction which once drew men to pile up wealth and exhibit power over the industrial processes of the nation, is now finding a new outlet in the craving for distinction that comes from a service to the Union, in satisfaction in the use of great talent for the good of the republic.

And all over the nation, in voluntary organizations for aid to the government, is being shown the pioneer principle of association that was expressed in the "house raising." It is shown in the Red Cross, the Y. M. C. A., the Knights of Columbus, the councils and boards of science, commerce, labor, and agriculture; and in all the countless other types, from the association of women in their kitchen who carry out the recommendations of the Food Director and revive the plain living of the pioneer, to the Boy Scouts who are laying the foundations for a self-disciplined and virile generation worthy to follow the trail of the backwoodsmen. It is an inspiring prophecy of the revival of the old pioneer conception of the obligations and opportunities of neighborliness, broadening to a national and even to an international scope. The promise of what that wise and lamented philosopher, Josiah Royce, called "the beloved community." In the spirit of the pioneer's "house raising" lies the salvation of the Republic.

This, then, is the heritage of pioneer experience, a passionate belief that a democracy was possible which should leave the individual a part to play in free society and not make him a cog in a machine operated from above; which trusted in the common man, in his tolerance, his ability to adjust differences with good humor, and to work out an American type from the contributions of all nations a type for which he would fight against those who challenged it in arms, and for which in time of war he would make

sacrifices, even the temporary sacrifice of individual freedom and his life, lest that freedom be lost forever.

QUESTIONS

1. Show how the Westward Expansion has influenced American history. 2. How did the conditions of frontier life mold American character? 3. Trace the development of the conservation program since 1900. Explain the term "conservation."

4. Are we becoming a nation of landlords and tenants? Trace the trend in relative importance of the tenure classes since 1880.

5. Are we at the crossroads in regard to population and food supply? What must we do to prevent this? Upon what does the future food supply of the world depend?

6. Discuss the economic reasons for limiting the size of the family. 7. What lessons did pioneer democracy have to learn?

8. Show that the spirit of the pioneer's "house raising" exists today. Why does Turner say that in this spirit lies the salvation of the Republic?

CHAPTER THREE

THE DRIFT TO THE CITIES

17. CAUSES FOR MIGRATION CITYWARD1

(1) The increase in the proportion of the population engaged in producing commodities and in rendering regular services;

(2) The decrease in the proportion of part-time agricultural workers residing on farms;

(3) The increase in the ratio of working years per capita to the per capita life span, so far as resulting from increased longevity of persons attaining working age;

(4) The decrease in the proportion of farm labor time absorbed in clearing, draining, and fencing land and in equipping land with structural improvements;

(5) The increase in the use of city-made machinery and devices for saving farm labor;

(6) The increase in the use of mineral instead of agricultural sources of fuel and dyes;

(7) The decrease in the relative prominence of agricultural products among the nation's exports;

(8) The decrease in the proportion of all immigrants who become engaged in agriculture in this country;

(9) The decrease in the proportion of farm products consumed on the farm or in near-by markets;

(10) The relative inelasticity or inexpansibility of per capita demand for foodstuffs and agricultural raw materials as compared with the relative elasticity or expansibility of per capita demand for professional services, for personal and commodity transportation, and for the conversion, fabrication, and elaboration of goods; and

(11) The shifting of household manufacturing, farm shop work, and some of the road hauling to persons no longer classified as engaged in agriculture. .

1 From Charles L. Stewart, "Migration to and from Our Farms," in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, pages 57-60 (January, 1925). Reprinted by special permission of the publishers.

Reasons why individuals and families have joined the cityward movements or land-settlement movements are complementary to the causes enumerated. Dependent persons naturally move with migrating breadwinners. Some breadwinners shift on account of similar action by others. Probably the majority move, however, because of rational desires to find new environments suited to their particular abilities and tastes.

18. SOME UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF FARMS 1

The history of the United States is so brief that even the vestigial memories of men grown bookish retain much of it. We may still talk with veterans of the Civil War; they may have talked with men who served in the Revolution. Three generations of but thirty years each carry our farm families back to times when all their hay was mowed by scythes and all their grain was reaped by cradles and sickles, bound by hand, and thrashed by flails. Historians do not write of such matters, but they are talked of in farm homes; many things are written that mean less to the fortunes of Americans.

A grandfather may have been born in 1832, a father may have been born in 1862, and a son, now only thirty, may have been born in 1892. If the three generations have farmed in the United States, they have differed in the fundamentals of their education, in their aspirations, and in their ways of life. Men centuries apart have not differed so much in times past; men of diverse nations and even races need not differ so much today.

The grandfather born in 1832 was lawfully a man in 1853; his formative years included the Mexican War. He was a pioneer and necessarily skilled in many trades. His father's farm provided wool and flax or cotton for the family raiment; the household industries included spinning, weaving, dressmaking, and tailoring. Hometanned skins of farm animals or wild animals were shaped at home into harness, shoes, caps, and often into full costumes. The grandfather was not unschooled; he could read, write, and cipher; his reading was not limited to his Bible, but he read that and did not doubt its meaning. Schooling was a small part of his education.

1 From Clarke F. Ansley, in The Survey, Vol. 51, pages 203-205 (November 15, 1923). Reprinted by special permission of the publishers.