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PlAIN TRUTH December 1972
A RURAL TOWN
in Mid Americe tries
hord to provide for its residents. Older
folks, left, enjoy gomes of dominoes
ond snooker in the Antlers Smoke–
house, St. John, Kansas. Below, local
schools provide chollenging educationol
opportunities for the young.
populacion will be urban. One such
sciencisc is Dr. Harrison Brown, who
sees an agracian world ahead. He also
speculaces about our presenr machine
civil izarion:
" If machine civilizacion should , be–
cause of sorne carastrophe, [such as
rradc wa r, dcplccíon of fuel supplies
o r nuclear war
J
scop funcrioning,
i
t
will p robably ncver again come inro
exisrcncc....
" In vicw of this possibili ry, the
mosr probable partero for rhe furure
of mankind is rhar sooner or larer rhc
enrire world will become an agrarían
one."
(The Cha/lmge of Mans Future.
Viking Press,
.Y., 1954, pp.
223.
224, 226.)
Today's agrarian socieries live close
ro che land in a world of scarciry. Sur–
viva! is rheir daily srruggle. Yer
chey
are nor dependent on rhe "ourside"
world. Wi th some norabie examples
ro rhe conrrary, mosr agracian so–
cierics havc littlc ro offer rhe world in
che way of cultural advancemenrs.
China, of coursc, has maincained a
conrinu iry of culrure and civilizarion
for rhousands of years and ye t has re–
mai ned agracian rhroughour irs hi s–
tory. Evcn roday mosr of Ch ina's
750,000,000 pcople are rmal farmers.
The Wesrern world could lcarn an
imporranc lesson from Ch ina and
orhcr agracian socierics. In our ci ríes.
we could hardly survive even a shorr
nacional emcrgcncy, such as mighr
happcn in warrime, if transporrarion
lincs were severcd. Grain and sraple
srockpiles are purposely kepr low in
ordcr ro kcep farm prices ac a profic–
ablc levd. Ciries have lirrle space for
gardens, and urbanices have lircle rime
- or know-how - to maincain
rhem. High land prices force farmers
and small-rime gardcners out of rhc
cit)' · T hc struggle for fi nancia! sur-
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