STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 127 



In discussing tlio subject I shall not attempt to depict the defects 

 of farm life in California, but approach tlie subject by indirection. 



Why is it that the farmer's children so eagerly abandon their 

 fatlicr's calling? Why do they flock to the towns and cities? Is it 

 because the occupations of the towns and cities are more productive 

 of wealth? 



That there are occupations in the towns and cities that produce 

 more wealth than farming no one will deny, but it must be remem- 

 bered that the wealtii ])roduced belongs to the few; tliat the retention 

 of wealth is exceedingly uncertain; that all but the small minority 

 gain only a bare subsistence, and die without a home of their own. 

 Ninety per cent of the mercantile classes fail in business, while the 

 clerks, mechanics, and telegraph operators labor all their lives to 

 enrich their employers. Uncertainty characterizes every town and 

 city calling, and every successful man represents ten thousand unsuc- 

 cessful ones. But the farmer is sure of his subsistence. With aver- 

 age industry and intelligence, success belongs to his calling, and, in 

 the long run, farming pays better than any other calling. In the 

 towns and cities the exceptional man meets with eminent success; in 

 the country the average man succeeds in gaining more than enough 

 to supply his wants. From these statements there is no appeal, except 

 to the imagination of the dreamy youth who feeds his hopes with 

 delusions. 



The children of the farmer, except the few, do not rush to the 

 towns and cities because they expect to win wealth ; or, if they do, 

 they fail to manifest that expectation in their methods of labor.'^ 



Besides, the desire for wealth is not the ruling passion of the 

 majority of mankind, however much they may be willing to accept 

 it when it comes. The farmer's children in rushing to towns and 

 cities, never dream of wealth, but they go there, as a rule, with other 

 purposes. 



The farmer sometimes imagines that his children abandon the 

 farm for towns and cities because of the supposed fact that life in 

 town and city is less laborious than farm life. If so, they are led by 

 a delusion, and they can realize their dream only by becoming dudes 

 and loafers. 



City life is quite as exacting in its demand of toil as the life of the 

 farmer, and the average business man is even more heavily taxed 

 than the farmer. The mechanic, merchant clerk, railroad man, tele- 

 graph operator, lawyer, doctor, work more hours, and in most 

 instances, for less pay, than the farmer, while his expenses are much 

 greater. 



It is sometimes said, by way of explanation, that town and city life 

 is more elegant, dignified, and aristocratic than that of the farmer, 

 and, therefore, the life of the city is preferred. The statement con- 

 tains a truth, though the form of it smacks of error. 



The real truth is that the farmer's children feel the influence of an 

 age that is quickening human tastes — enlarging human desires. The 

 very atmosphere of the day inspires the young with a desire for 

 beautiful things, a life of refinement, and no power known to man 

 can forcibly expel these tastes when they are once born. Tastes will 

 be gratified at all costs, whether of peace or of safety, and though 

 everything else goes to the wall. It is only the few who can restrain 

 themselves in the gratification of taste, for a purpose, wheth** of 

 ambition or the love of wealth. If there exists a taste for beautiful 



