Page:A History of the Pacific Northwest.djvu/341

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be extended by the town to its rural constituency once the community limits have been determined, which is obviously the first step. A rational and generous zone system of truck and jitney fees, a physician's fee scale which should distribute the expense of medical attendance somewhat more equitably between town and country dwellers, a plan of delivering groceries, fresh meats, etc., to farm customers at moderate expense, and a freight transportation service placed at the farmerscall are some of the obvious means of serving the rural needs. A number of small towns have already responded to the suggestion, and have initiated plans for town and country co-operation which have the promise of excellent results for both.

The wheat growing communities; how can they have a social life? The least hopeful of the agricultural communities from the social aspect are those which depend upon large scale wheat growing. As was pointed out in Chapter XVIII above, the profits of wheat growing increase with the size of the farms devoted to it, up to a point not easily passed. The result has been the progressive elimination of the small farmer or homesteader, the joining of field to field, under the same management, until community life as such has in many places disappeared. In some sections school houses, churches, and other evidences of a former social prosperity are abandoned and decaying in the midst of continuous wheat fields. The owners of the great wheat farms often live in the larger towns, leaving hired men or "renters "on the farms. These