10 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



These losses have not been due to inefficiency on the part of th© 

 farmers. Practically all of them were incurred by men who had 

 been doing fairly well until they entered the period of drastic defla- 

 tion. Some few were caused by overexpansion in the purchase of 

 land during the period of high prices. In general, however, the 

 trouble has been due to the deflation in prices of farm products and 

 the increased cost of production and of the necessaries farmers must 

 buy. 



THE DRIFT TO THE CITIES. 



This drift from the farms to the cities is due in part to inability 

 to make a decent living on the farm and in part to the fact that the 

 Nation has been willing to pay higher wages relatively for workers 

 in the industries of various sorts than for workers who are producing 

 food. As long as the unfavorable ratio between agriculture and 

 urban occupations continues an abnormal movement from the farms 

 is not only to be expected but desired. It is one of the ways by 

 which normal balance between agriculture and industry in time may 

 be restored. 



From the national viewpoint, however, this movement is to be 

 deplored both because of the conditions which seem to make it neces- 

 sary and because it is draining from the country such a large per- 

 centage of the more intelligent and ambitious young farmers. 

 Agriculture always produces a large surplus population, and under 

 normal conditions feeds into the cities large numbers of the less 

 intelligent, who because of this are not well adapted to modern 

 farming, which requires intelligence of a high order, but are better 

 off in the cities which provide them supervised work. It also sends 

 many young men of superior intelligence who seek wider opportu- 

 nities than exist in the country. In the past both classes have gone 

 to the cities without detriment to either the urban centers or the 

 open country, but conditions which have prevailed for the past three 

 or four years have made drafts upon the best the country produces 

 altogether heavier than is good for either the country or the Nation. 



DECIilNE IN MORALE. 



The Nation has suffered in another way. The drastic economies 

 which have become necessary on the farms have greatly reduced 

 farm standards of living. They have compelled overwork by the 

 farmers, unaccustomed farm work by farm mothers, increased work 



