641 



long after the reality had waned. Jefferson sa^Y agriculture as the most 

 virtuous of employments: "When we get piled upon one another 

 in large cities, ag in Europe, we shall become corrupt as in Europe, 

 and go to eating one another as they do there." ^^ It was better, he 

 said, "to carry provisions and materials to workmen there, than bring 

 them to the provisions and materials, and with them their manners 

 and principles." ^^ 



On the other hand, Alexander Hamilton, while granting the pre- 

 eminence of agriculture, nevertheless considered industry important 

 for "augmentation of the Produce and Revenue of the Society." In- 

 herently, he said, division of labor made for a more productive and 

 prosperous society ; mechanization increased productivity and employ- 

 ment opportunities ; immigration would be encouraged ; and a market 

 would be provided for surplus agricultural products.^ 



Application of the scientific method to agriculture was generally 

 favored in the early Republic. Jeffersonians saw in it a means by 

 which the individual could improve his lot ; Hamiltonians considered 

 it a means to a prosperous and expanding economy. 



MODERN CONTRAST WITH JEFFERSONIAN IDEAL 



The application of technology to agriculture — scientific farming — 

 has had precisely the opposite effect from that Jefferson sought. The 

 subsistence farmer has been replaced by the large farm as the primary 

 source of food and natural fiber. The small farmer is waging a des- 

 perate rearguard action, finding it increasingly difficult to compete. 

 Farming as a way of life is reserved for an ever-dwindling percentage 

 of the population in the United States. Those remaining on the 

 farms— who are still able to succeed — are doing so by specialization. 

 The fact is that the farmer today is a part of a larger industrial sys- 

 tem of mutual interdependence. He does not eat his own wheat; he 

 does not grow his own truck; he relies heavily on the Government to 

 supplement his own uncertain income. All these characteristics are in 

 stark contrast with the Jeffersonian ideal. 



Initially, the application of technology to farming in a new, un- 

 peopled continent where land was abundant meant that the skillful 

 farm manager could expand his acreage and his production per acre. 

 Additional acreage was made available for cultivation by impounding 

 streams in arid regions and irrigating the land. Higher agricultural 

 productivity was achieved by supplemental irrigation. Farms around 

 urban areas, to provide milk and truck garden products, grew along 

 Avith the urbanization of the country. Production of large volume com- 

 modities — wheat, corn, cotton, rice, and the like — was increasingly con- 

 centrated on very large farms. These were able to make heavy use of 

 specialized farm machinery (powered first with animals, then with 



58 "Letter to James Madison, December 20, 1787." In "The Complete Jefferson : Containing 

 his Major Writings, Published and Unpublished, except His Letters." Assembled and ar- 

 ranged bv Saul K. Padover. (New York, Tudor Publishing Company, 1943), page 123. 



^ In Padover, Ibid., pages 678-9. 



«<• Alexander Hamilton. "Report on Manufacturers." In "The Reports of Alexander Hamil- 

 ton." Edited by Jacob E. Cooke. (New York, Harper Torchbooks, Harper and Row, Pub- 

 lishers, 1964), pages 118. 128. 



