Produced by Tom Roch, Barbara Kosker and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images produced by Core Historical Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University) RURAL PROBLEMS OF TODAY RURAL PROBLEMS OF TODAY ERNEST R. GROVES _Author of "Moral Sanitation," "Using the Resources of the Country Church," etc._ ASSOCIATION PRESS NEW YORK: 124 EAST 28TH STREET 1918 COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS TO GLADYS HOAGLAND WHOSE UNSELFISH AND INTELLIGENT CARE OF CATHERINE AND ERNESTINE HAS JUSTIFIED THE ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE OF THEIR MOTHER PREFACE This book is written for the men and women who love the country and are interested in its social welfare. Fortunately there are many such, and each year their number is increasing. Rural life has as many sides as there are human interests. This book looks out upon country-life conditions from a viewpoint comparatively neglected. It attempts to approach rural social life from the psychological angle. The purpose of the book forces it from the well-beaten pathways, but this effort to give emphasis to the mental side of rural problems is not an attempt to discount the other significant aspects of the rural environment. The field of rural service is large enough to contain all who desire by serious study to advance at some point the happiness, prosperity, and wholesomeness that belong by social right to those who live and work in the country. The author desires to thank the following for the privilege of using material previously published: American Sociological Society, _American Journal of Sociology_, National Conference of Social Work, Association Press, and _Rural Manhood_. E. R. G. Durham, N. H. April 1, 1918. CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE vii I. THE RURAL WORKER AND THE COUNTRY HOME 1 II. THE FAMILY IN OUR COUNTRY LIFE 15 III. THE RURAL WORKER AND THE COUNTRY SCHOOLS 41 IV. THE COUNTRY CHURCH AND THE RURAL WORKER 53 V. MENTAL HYGIENE IN RURAL DISTRICTS 71 VI. THE SOCIAL VALUE OF RURAL EXPERIENCE 89 VII. RURAL VS. URBAN ENVIRONMENT 103 VIII. THE MIND OF THE FARMER 117 IX. PSYCHIC CAUSES OF RURAL MIGRATION 135 X. RURAL SOCIALIZING AGENCIES 149 XI. THE WORLD-WAR AND RURAL LIFE 169 THE RURAL WORKER AND THE COUNTRY HOME I THE RURAL WORKER AND THE COUNTRY HOME