l of the modern equipment
necessary to direct it. One of the great engines for moving the public
mind is the newspaper and this is always in the hands of urban
leadership and a share of its power can usually be had by those who have
the necessary "pull" or cash.

Socially the successful farmer belongs to the opposite class. His
success has been obtained for the most part by his skill in handling
natural law. His struggle has been largely with the obstacles that arise
when one attempts to furnish a share of the food supply required by a
hungry world. The farmer's experience with the means of social influence
is limited and in his business there is no need of his impressing
himself upon his fellows. On the other hand it is natural that he
should overvalue the thinking of those who, unlike himself, have
developed the art of making social and political impression. This
tendency to discount his own social contribution in practice--even
though in theory he may often insist upon his paramount social
function--makes the farmer a good follower and a poor leader.

And yet in the nature of things there is nothing to demonstrate that
socially those who have the machinery that is required for the
influencing of public opinion or who have learned the art of impressing
themselves upon their fellows are the most fit to direct the social
mind. The struggle with Nature teaches as much that is of lasting value
for a philosophy of personal or national conduct as comes from
competition between people. Even if the population stimulus of urban
centers brings forth men of great ability who do large things, it by no
means follows that these men are wise merely because they are powerful.
And even if they were justified in claiming superiority at every point
over the successful men of the country, it would not be for the social
good that they be given a monopoly of social prestige.

Contact with men who occupy high places in city commerce will often
convince any one of a neutral and discriminating mind that these men of
social power have suffered loss at some points in their developing
personality as a result of the struggle that has made possible their
success. The present serious discord between capital and labor is
fundamentally born of the belief of some that wealth is as socially
right in all important matters as it is socially powerful and the faith
of others that the social problems that vex men and women would pass
with the destruction