138 TWELFTH REPORT. 



in the ]»riee of standard farm lands we may obtaia a rough iiieasiire of 

 the inferiority of the margin. The agricultural literature of a scientific 

 character which has been issued in the last few years clearly indicates 

 where the warfare of science is being waged in behalf of the marginal 

 farmer. This literature is full of discussion of the problems of the 

 w^orn-out fields of the South ; the under-drained lands of the North ; 

 of dry farming in the Great Plains, of irrigation farms in the Inter- 

 mountain regions; and of the transportation })roblems of remote dis- 

 tricts. These are our margins of cultivation. 



It is probably true to say that agricultural operations have been less 

 bound by cost limits and by competition than most other industries. 

 The cost of production is difficult to ascertain and the American farmer, 

 hitherto, has not been driven to determine it exactly, because the chief 

 source of difticulty is the relation of any process or product to the re- 

 serve of fertility in the soil. It seems to me clear that during the 

 nineties many crops Avere marketed for less than the cost of ]>roduction, 

 and that the sharp rise in land values in the early nineties and again in 

 recent years has attracted the attention of the farmer to the relation 

 between income and investment, and to the relation between the system 

 of farming used and the permanence of his capital in the soil. This 

 has been reenforced by the "conservation" movement and by the iu- 

 ttuence of the "experiment stations" to which the farmer has been ob- 

 liged to apply for guidance in fighting plant and animal diseases and 

 insect pests. Out of this has come a well-defined movement to change 

 the style of farming in such a manner as to secure better soil treatment. 

 It is as a consequence of this that prices have been moving upwards. 

 They are passing from the levels of an exploitive process to those of a 

 permanent conservative type of farming in which the fertility of the 

 soil will be maintained. 



It may be objected at this point that a conservation moven.ient ought 

 to increase the number of cattle, sheeii and swine on American farms, 

 whereas their numl)er has declined between 11)01 and 101 tl from 179 

 million to 171 million. This would have been true a few years ago, but 

 since the function of leguminous crops has become better understood 

 the farmer has found that the growing of a crop to plow under is a less 

 laborious method of renewing his nitrogen than the handling of cattle. 



Another farming cost which must be alloAved for is farm labor. This 

 has increased because of the necessity of paying an increased premium 

 to induce people to live and work in the country where land is so high 

 that they cannot hope to become proprietors, and where they must deny 

 themselves the attractions of city life which have undoubtedly increased 

 much in a generation. Furthermore the immigrants now coming to 

 us from south-eastern Europe recruit the farming class less than, did 

 those from Germany and Scandinavia.' 

 Disttihutive Expenses. 



When we turn to the distributive or marketing expenses whicli inter- 

 vene before an agricultural ])roduct is transferred to the household of 

 the consumer we have thrust u])on our attention the physical fact that 

 the centers of population and of farm area have been drawing apart 



'Hall. "Immigration."' pp. 42, .50, 56, •>?!, G6 with reference to (Jreeks. Italians. Hebrews, 

 Syrian.s, Armenians, Stovacs, etc. 



