REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 25 



ment of land, the buyer should at least have full and complete 

 information for his guidance. 



It appears that under existing conditions, we should not attempt to 

 stimulate unduly the normal rate of settlement, but rather to guide 

 and protect the normal movement along lines which will insure a rea- 

 sonable degree of success in the development of new lands with a 

 minimum of wasted capital and human effort. It yet remains to be 

 determined whether this purpose can best be accomplished by gov- 

 ernmental action, by private enterprise with comprehensive attempts 

 to educate both land-settlement agencies and prospective settlers in 

 the methods most favorable to success, or by private agencies sys- 

 tematically regulated. 



liIPE ON THE FARM. 



Life on the farm and in the rural community gives rise to problems 

 the solution of which is of vital importance to American agriculture 

 and American civilization. It has been demonstrated that these 

 problems are susceptible of scientific investigation. Valuable studies 

 already have been made by the Office of Farm Management and 

 Farm Economics, and they should be enlarged and others instituted, 

 including especially studies relating to the human aspect of tenancy 

 and landlordism, migration from farm life, population groups, and 

 community planning. 



In our country, agriculture, manufacture, transportation, mer- 

 chandising, and professional service — strong competitors with one 

 another for both capital and workers — are all expected to hold their 

 own. The history of agriculture seems to show, however, that farm- 

 ing is in periodic danger of losing its grip on both capital and 

 workmen and of allowing them to slip away into city industries. 

 Statesmen have always viewed with alarm the tip of the scales from 

 farming to industry and from country life to urban life. When the 

 farm loses its balance to the city, the Nation is threatened with a 

 food shortage or with dependence upon foreign countries for essen- 

 tial foodstuffs. But the shortage of food is not the only danger. 

 When American agriculture begins to lose ground, the political 

 stability of the Nation is endangered. 



SHIFT FROM COUNTRY TO CITIES. 



The returns from the 1920 census are not yet sufficiently complete to 

 make a full statement of what has occurred during the last decade in 

 the shifting of populati(ms between city and country. The reports 

 on soinewliat more than one-third of the counties of the United 

 States, liowever, indicate an actual reduction in the rural population 

 in many counties of New EnglaiKl and New York, in some parts of 

 24435— AGR 1020 3 



