THE RURAL LIFE PROBLEM
OF THE
UNITED STATES
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO
DALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
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THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO
THE
RURAL LIFE PROBLEM
OF THE
UNITED STATES
NOTES OF AN IRISH OBSERVER
BY
SIR HORACE PLUNKETT
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1919
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1910,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published May, 1910.
Reprinted October, 1910;January, 1911; October,
1912; September, 1913; January, 1917.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
PREFATORY NOTE
The thoughts contained in the following pages relate to one side of thelife of a country which has been to me, as to many Irishmen, a secondhome. They are offered in friendly recognition of kindness I cannot hopeto repay, received largely as a student of American social and economicproblems, from public-spirited Americans who, I know, will appreciatemost highly any slight service to their country.
The substance of the book appeared in five articles contributed to theNew York Outlook under the title "Conservation and Rural Life."Several American friends, deeply interested in the Rural Life problem,asked me to republish the series. In doing so, I have felt that I oughtto present a more comprehensive view of my subject than either the spaceallowed or the more casual publication demanded.
I have to thank the editors of the Outlook for the generoushospitality of their columns, and for full freedom to republish whatbelongs to them.
HORACE PLUNKETT.
The Plunkett House, Dublin,
April, 1910.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
The Subject and the Point of View
The subject defined—A reconstruction of rural lifein English-speaking communities essential to the progress of Western civilisation—A movementfor a new rural civilisation to be proposed—The author's point of view derived fromthirty years of Irish and American experience—The physical contrast and moral resemblancesin the Irish and American rural problems—Mr. Roosevelt's interest in this aspectof the question—His Conservation and Country Life policies
CHAPTER II
The Launching of Two Roosevelt Policies
The sane emotionalism of American public opinion—GiffordPinchot as the Apostle of Conservation—His test of national efficiency—Mr