Yet, without the work of the captain, the sailors would be lost, and their work would be in vain. So it is, Plato argued, with philosophers. The major philosophical difference underlying rural and urban living is the relationship of people with nature. If nature is the home of human beings, then they must care for that home wisely. This circumstance does not confront urban people so forcefully as it confronts rural people.
Future production requires conservation and preservation of the soil, the waters, and the forests.
This principle seems less relevant in an urban setting, where production can often be pressed to whatever level the market will bear. In such a culture, the public exhibition of purchasing power becomes a hallmark of both wasteful production and of elevated social status. An incident in the life of industrialist Henry Ford illustrates this point well. Some people took exception to this tendency, and countered it with a rural educational philosophy. He headed Theodore Roosevelt's Commission on Country Life, created in 1908.