Results and Accomplishments
结果和成就
Country-lifers were most concerned about the state of country schools (the major target of the Country Life Commission established by President Roosevelt in 1908) and churches, two institutions that loomed large in rural society because there were so few others. According to country lifers, the little one-room country schoolhouse was inefficient and should be consolidated with other such schools. The curriculum needed to evolve from an exclusive emphasis on “the three Rs” to include course work that incorporated nature study, agriculture, and home economics. In addition, three R courses were to be modified to mirror country life.
农村问题学家们最关心的是农村学校状况（罗斯福总统1908年设立的农村生活委员会的主要经营项目）和教会状况。相对于其他，这两大体系的建设在农村社会里严重滞后。据农村问题学家意见，简陋的农村小型学校效率低下，应该与其余的小学校进行整合，以提高效率。教学课程也应该改革，改变过去的“三个R”（Reading,Writing,Arithmetic读写算——译者注）为主的课程，课程延展应包含自然科学、农学和家庭经济学等内容。另外，三个R课程也应该改进教学内容，使其贴近乡村生活。
The problem with country churches, according to country-lifers, was that they were small, sectarian, obsessed with doctrinal disputes, and consumed by fire-and-brimstone theology.Churches needed to be enlisted into the campaign to make rural life more attractive and agriculture more productive by preaching the “social gospel” and becoming larger and interdenominational.
农村问题学家称，农村教会问题在于它们规模小、宗派主义严重、致力于学理争论，把时间都耗费在神学论争上了。教会应该投入到具体工作中去，通过宣传“社会福音”来改善农村生活、改进农业生产，扩大规模，削弱宗派争辩。
The attempt to reform rural churches was entirely unsuccessful. Rural people were devoted to their own churches and resented urban attempts to change them. Since forms of worship were matters of private conscience and economies, pressure to change them was unavailing. According to one Manhattan, KS minister, “To feed the flaming passion for big crops is not the task of the country church, and if it stoops to this it will ultimately become the farmer’s worst enemy.”11
改革农村教会的行动一败涂地。乡民们热爱自己的教会，并仇视对其城市化的改革。因为各种形式的礼拜具有独立性，并受经济因素干扰，强制改革只能无功而返。一名堪萨斯州曼哈顿官员说：“为了丰收而给大家加油鼓劲儿，这不是农村教会的职责所在。如果一定要它致力于斯，结果只可能是教会变为农民最大的敌人。”[注11]
The effort to reform the country school was also resisted. Most farmers were attached to their local schools and did not want their children to have to travel longer distances. They were also suspicious of curriculum changes. Unlike the country-lifers, many farmers correctly saw that their children’s futures would be in the cities, and they wanted them to be equipped to deal with the urban environment through a knowledge of the three Rs. School consolidation, however, proceeded, albeit gradually, because rural depopulation and outmigration made it inevitable, but it was not until the late 1940s that many little one-room country schools finally disappeared.12
对农村学校的改革也受到了抵触。大多数农民更希望孩子就近念书，而不是大老远跑到别的地方就读。他们对课程改革也持怀疑态度。不同于农村问题学家的观点，很多农民认为他们的孩子未来应该是在大城市里工作，他们希望孩子能跟城市里的孩子一样学习基础的读写算课程。但是，学校合并项目依然进行，有条不紊，因为农村人口减少和移民迁出让此事成为必然，不过一直持续到20世纪40年代后期，这种小学校才最终消失。[注12]
Changes in economic practices and rural infrastructure were more easily accomplished. Social isolation was lessened with the start of limited rural free delivery of mail in 1896, sparing farmers a long and sometimes arduous trek to town.13 They could stay in closer touch with the world and receive news about the economic and market conditions that affected their lives. At first, town merchants objected to rural free delivery, fearing a loss of business if farmers came to town less frequently. But its popularity with farmers overwhelmed any opposition, and in 1902 it became permanent. Ten years later, Congress approved general parcel post delivery for rural areas, which introduced farmers to many more urban conveniences. Again, local businesses objected. By the early 1920s the radio became one of the most valued of these conveniences. In the words of Will Rogers, “The only thing that can make us give up our radio is poverty. The old radio is the last thing moved out of the house when the sheriff comes in.”14
相对来说，经济发展和农村基础设施改革的完成难度要小得多。从1896年开始的特定范围乡村免费递送项目，使得社会隔绝状况得到改善，节约了农民与城镇联系的时间，在某些情况下，过去要完成这些联系还是件很费事的事情。[注13]他们可以与世界保持联系，并接收与其生活相关的经济和市场信息。开始的时候，镇上的商户拒绝发展乡村免费送货业务，他们担心因此会减少农民赶集的频率，从而影响生意。但是这项业务大受农民欢迎，事实胜于雄辩，到1902年这项业务得到普及。10年后，议会通过邮政系统进入农村地区的决议，这给农民与城市联系提供了更为便捷的条件。地方商户们又开始反对。在20世纪20年代，广播成为了最便捷的信息获取方式。用Will Rogers的话来说就是，“唯一一件让我们放弃广播的事情就是贫穷。收音机是警方抄家时搬出的最后一件东西。”[注14]
Closely intertwined with postal delivery was the “good roads” movement. Rural roads had been deteriorating in the late 19th century and urban devotees of the new sport of bicycling were among the first to notice and call for improvements. When rural free delivery was initiated farmers also realized they had an interest in roads and began to support local efforts to improve and construct them. Not all farmers, however, were enthusiastic about spending money on roads because they thought they might benefit urban travelers more than themselves. However, they were popular with most farmers. In 1916, Congress provided funds under the Federal Highway Act to establish post roads.15 Ironically, although roads and mail delivery improved rural life, they also made available the attractions of city life and thus accelerated the exodus that countrylifers were trying to prevent (fig. 3).
与邮政递送的结合是运动的“最佳路径”。19世纪后期，乡村公路状况开始恶化，而热衷于自行车这一新型运动的都市人首先注意到这个问题，并呼吁进行维护。当农村免费递送业务开展，农民们也认识到他们可以从道路上获取收益，并开始支持地方政府改善和维护公路设施。但是，并不是所有的农民都热心投资公路维护，因为他们认为这项工作更多的是让都市旅行者尝到甜头，这远超过自己的收益。而大多数农民都这么想。1916年，议会通过《联邦公路法案》拨款修建邮政公路。[注15]讽刺的是，尽管公路和邮政递送改善了乡村生活，他们还是被都市生活所吸引，向都市移民的速度不断加快——这正是农村问题专家们不想看到的。（图三）
图3--乡村公路公里数，1921-1970
来源: 1975年美国商业部普查统计局历史统计数据
Also 1916, the Federal Farm Loan Act provided for the establishment of 12 Federal land banks and a system of joint-stock land banks. Congress appropriated the original capital for the banks with the proviso that farmers organize their own local associations. As farmers obtained long-term mortgage loans from the land banks, they were to invest 5 percent of their loans in the capital stock of their local associations, which, in turn, would invest them in the capital of the Federal land banks. Gradually, these funds would replace government-owned capital. Private interests were to capitalize the joint-stock land banks, operating on a profit basis for their stockholders.
此外，1916年，《联邦农地押款法》（Federal Farm Loan Act）筹划设立12个联邦土地银行，建立股份制土地银行体系。如果农民组织起地方合作社，议会将会给银行拨款作为基础资本。农民们可以从土地银行获得长期的抵押贷款，他们可凭借在地方合作社里的资本股份获取一定贷款，并向合作社支付5%的贷款利息，而地方合作社再通过代表身份与联邦土地银行处理整体贷款业务。渐渐地，这些基金取代了政府投资。私人资本投资于股份制土地银行，并通过股东的身份获取收益。
These land banks made it possible for farmers throughout the country to obtain loans for as long as 20 to 40 years and, in many cases, eliminated the need for high interest rates and renewal fees every 3 to 5 years. Thus began a fundamental realignment of farm mortgage lending because other lenders followed suit in order to compete with the land banks.16 The country-lifers’ most important achievement was the extension movement, culminating in the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 that created the Extension Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Since then, this unique partnership among counties, States, and the Federal Government has been the principal way in which agronomists, agricultural researchers, economists, home economists, and others have communicated with rural people.
这些土地银行让全国的农民们可以获得20到40年的长期贷款，并且在很多情况下，还淘汰了高利息率和每3到5年的续费用业务。其他放贷人为了与土地银行竞争，纷纷效法，这样从根本上调整了农业抵押贷款局面。[注16]农村问题专家们最重要的运动则是扩展运动，1914年美国农业部《史密斯-雷弗法案》（Smith-Lever Act）提出的推广服务则标志着该运动达到顶峰。自此，农村、各州和联邦政府之间独特的合作关系主要建立在农学家、农业研究者、经济学家、家庭经济学家等各方与农民的沟通基础上。
The first extension work began in 1899 when George Washington Carver of Tuskegee Institute proposed using a mule-driven wagon to carry machinery, seeds, dairy equipment, and the like around to black farmers.xvii In 1902, Seaman A. Knapp was appointed as a USDA special agent in the South and also began to practice extension. Two years later, Federal funds became available for his use in connection with the damage caused to cotton crops by the Mexican boll weevil. His method of seeking cooperation of the State and local organizations, working with and through farmers, and using demonstration fields to illustrate selection and improved production methods proved very successful. He favored the use of farmers to instruct other farmers. Meanwhile, W. J. Spillman, an agronomist operating in the North and West, was working on problems of farm management. He preferred to use college-trained men organized by district, who worked in close conjunction with the state agricultural colleges and experiment stations. In 1911, Knapp and Spillman’s work was consolidated in USDA’s Office of Farm Management.xviii
第一项扩展工作始于1899年，当时塔斯基吉学院的George Washington Carver提议用骡车给黑人农民运送机器、种子、日常设备等物品。[注17]1902年，农业部南方特别代理人Seaman A. Knapp也开始进行扩展运动。两年后，墨西哥棉铃虫对棉花作物的破坏刺激了联邦基金会的运营。寻求州政府和地方组织的合作方案奏效，通过对农民进行实例介绍，改良生产方式，他验证了这种推广方法的成功。他让农民自己教学，传授技艺。与此同时，西北部农学家W. J. Spillman致力于农业管理问题的研究。他倾向于在地方组织起训练有素的人员，与州农业学院和试验站点进行合作。1911年，Knapp和Spillman的工作被农业部农村管理办公室接手。
After passage of the Smith-Lever Act in 1914, extension work expanded considerably. However, many farmers did not accept the extension agents, suspecting them of promoting the consumption interests of the cities over their own welfare and of being in league with the seed and equipment companies. World War I dispelled these notions. In 1917, more than 1,600 emergency demonstration agents were hired and were given wartime authority to mobilize labor in rural districts and distribute seed loans, thus making farmers more dependent on them. Working through so-called “farm bureaus,” composed primarily of successful and productive farmers, the agents became an integral part of rural life during the war years.xix In the 1920s, the Extension Service cemented its close ties with the American Farm Bureau Federation and its members.
1914年《史密斯-雷弗法案》通过以后，扩展工作全面扩大。但是，很多农民并不接纳扩展代理人的帮助，怀疑他们是从自己利益出发提高城市消费水平，并且担心他们与种子和设备公司相互勾结。第一次世界大战消除了这些想法。1917年，超过1600人数的紧急演示代理被征召，受雇于战时当局，动员农村劳动力，分配种子贷款，这样使得农民更依赖他们。通过所谓的“农村办事处”，组织了一批成功生产的农民。这样，在战争年代代理人成为了农村生活的一部分。[注18]20世纪20年代，推广服务将美国联邦农业局和它的成员紧紧的粘合在一起。
After the war, agricultural prices fell and urban Americans became less concerned about the prospect of agricultural shortages. Rural concerns receded and the Country Life movement dissipated. Agriculture went into a permanent semi-depression. Farmers increasingly sought relief in cooperative marketing schemes and associations. USDA expanded its technical and informational capabilities. Nothing, however, was able to raise prices or increase agricultural income.
战争结束以后，农产品价格下跌，美国城市居民不再那么关注农产品短缺问题。对农村关注下降，乡村生活运动降温。农业走进持续的半萧条期。农民越来越专注于寻找解除合作市场和组织形式的方法。农业部扩大了它的技术和信息能力。但是，没有一个能提高价格，抑或增加农业收入。
1. Gilbert C. Fite, Cotton Fields No More: Southern Agriculture, 1865-1980 (Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1984), pp. 51-54.
2. Gilbert C. Fite, American Farmers: The New Minority (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1981), p. 16.
3. Wayne E. Fuller, The Old Country School: The Story of Rural Education in the Middle West (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), p. 219.
4. T.N. Carver, “Economic Significance of Changes in Country Population,” in Annals of the American Academy of Country Life, vol. XI, March 1912, pp. 21-25.
5. David B. Danbom, The Resisted Revolution: Urban America and the Industrialization of Agriculture, 1900-1930 (Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press, 1979), p. 23.
6. Ibid., p. 38.
7. Ibid., p. 46.
8. William L. Bowers, The Country Life Movement in America: 1900-1920 (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1974), p. 132.
9. Danbom, The Resisted Revolution, p. 32.
10. Ibid., p.35
11. Ibid., p. 82.
12. Ibid., p. 80.
13. Douglas R. Hurt, American Agriculture: A Brief History (Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press, 1994), p. 272.
14. Hurt, American Agriculture, p. 274.
15. Ibid., p. 272.
16. Centennial Committee, Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: USDA, 1963), p. 214.
17. Wayne D. Rasmussen, Taking the University to the People: Seventy-Five Years of Cooperative Extension (Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press, 1988), p. 30.
18. Century of Service, pp. 43-46.
19. Ibid., pp. 90-91.
