THE FARMER TAKES A HAND

by Marquis Childs ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 10, 1952

The author of Sweden: The Middle Way shows, more than a decade later, that ""it can happen here"". For cooperatives are fast becoming integral to American rural life. This is the story of R(ural) E(lectrification) A(dministration) and the cooperative associations that have come into being because the private utility companies refused to go along. Area electrification was not on the cards, they said. And area electrification has proved the answer for the cooperatives. It has been an uphill struggle. The challenge is still to be met on many grounds. The private companies, once they see that the cooperatives are being organized- and being successful- are paying back loans- are going into generating and transmission fields -- are securing federal power reserves where the private companies are pricing power too high -- the private companies are setting up powerful lobbies in Washington, and are fighting- not too fairly- on the home grounds. The record of what electrification has done to bring a new prosperity and a new way of life to rural America is an indisputable answer. Marquis Childs has told it in terms of the drama of the battle, in one section after another; and in terms of the drama of the new life that proves the battle is being won. The book is repetitive, uneven in the telling. But it has so much to say, that perhaps he is stumbling over his own words. Anyhow, it is worth reading.

Pub Date: April 10, 1952

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1952

Categories: NONFICTION