256 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



income it must be inferred that productional methods on the farm are 

 much in arrears of those employed in city occupations. There remains, 

 of course, the speculation as to the extent to which urban interests 

 " farm the farmer." Feeble selling methods on the part of the farmer 

 result in low prices for his goods and affect the total and per capita 

 agricultural production as given in census reports. But even with 

 allowance made for the superior profit-taking facilities of city occupa- 

 tions, it would seem beyond question that per capita production in the 

 country is relatively low. 



Evidently if more people enter farming, other things equal, the 

 prices received by the farmer will fall due to overproduction and a still 

 lower standard of living result. If more scientific methods of farming 

 are employed, thus increasing agricultural production, prices will tend 

 to fall unless there is an exodus of farmers or selling organizations 

 among farmers to hold prices up. With a higher percentage of popula- 

 tion going into farming and with more scientific methods the glut of 

 farm products would be severe, unless relief were found in regulating 

 the quantity of farm products raised for purposes of maintaining prices. 

 The limited physical capacity of society to consume farm products is a 

 fact to be taken into account. 



Even if the prices of city commodities were greatly decreased and 

 the prices of agricultural products increased, while the income to agri- 

 culture would warrant a higher percentage of population in the coun- 

 try, the absolute amount of agricultural products consumed by society 

 would remain about the same for a given national population, assuming 

 that no scarcity of agricultural products already existed. In the event 

 of larger income to agriculture a larger relative population is con- 

 ceivable only on the assumption that agricultural production remains 

 about the same, possibly through the shortening of hours of labor by 

 which overproduction would be avoided. 



In response to economic laws the drift to cities may be expected to 

 continue indefinitely. "We must accept the fact that agriculture is not 

 by any means the dominant occupation, but is relatively decreasing in 

 importance, its logical precedence in the creation of values of course 

 being conceded. But it would be unreasonable to urge a larger relative 

 agricultural population without simultaneously urging organization 

 among farmers to regulate production or to hold prices to a level which 

 would enable them to approximate the standard of living characteristic 

 of cities, unless cheap farmers are desired as well as cheap food. The 

 arguments for a relatively larger agricultural production should not be 

 ex parte, for such would prove the farmer's undoing if not refuted by 

 protective efforts among farmers themselves. 



