i8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



progress of abandonment. In the United States, the decline in 

 the value of land has, in many instances, been also very notable. 

 In the New England States at the present time, agricultural 

 land, not remote from large centers of population, can often be 

 bought for a smaller price than fifty years ago would have been 

 regarded as a fair appraisal, and even less than the cost of the 

 buildings and walls at present upon it. Since the last decennial 

 appraisal of real estate in Ohio (in 1880) " there has been a heavy 

 decline. Farm property is from 25 to 50 per cent cheaper to-day 

 than it then was."" *• " In the ten cotton States, the value of agri- 

 cultural land was in 1860 $1,478,000,000 ; in 1880, $1,019,000,000, a 

 decrease of $459,000,000. It would require an addition of 45 per 

 cent of its value in 1880 to raise it to its value in 1860." Mean- 

 while, the population of these same States has increased 53 per 

 cent. " In 1860, the value per acre of improved land in Georgia 

 was $6; in 1886, below $3.50; decrease, $2.50. Were the agricult- 

 ural land divided out among the people, the value per head 

 would have been: in 1860, $150; in 1886, $63; decrease, $87." f 



In the foregoing series of papers an attempt has been made to 

 trace out and exhibit in something like regular order the causes 

 and the extent of the industrial and social changes and accom- 

 panying disturbances which have especially characterized the 

 last fifteen or twenty-five years of the world's history. The idea 

 adopted at the outset, and an adherence to which has subse- 

 quently been kept constantly in view, has been to relate simply 

 but comprehensively what has happened, and thus prepare the 

 way for a solution of the many problems of interest and impor- 

 tance which are the outcome of the situation, rather than attempt 

 the more difficult and to some extent (at present) impossible task 

 of directly formulating and offering satisfactory answers or ex- 

 planations. At the same time the presentation of whatever in 

 the way of deduction from the record of experience has seemed 

 legitimate and likely to aid in the determination of correct con- 

 clusions has not been disregarded, and with a view of further 

 contributing to such results the following additional considera- 

 tions are finally submitted : 



It seems clear that the first and most essential thing for all 

 those who are desirous of determining the extent of the evils 

 which the recent economic disturbances have occasioned, and 

 what course of procedure on the part of society and individuals 

 is likely to prove most remedial of them, is to endeavor to un- 



* "Inaugural Address of Governor Foraker," January, 1837. 



f Report of a committee of citizens of the ten cotton-growing States (" Sam " Barnett, 

 of Georgia, ciiairman), " On the Causes of the Depressed Condition of Agriculture, and 

 the Remedies," 1887. 



