EDITORIAL. 105 



must be plan and system in all this varied effort to make it effective, 

 and man}^ ■will feel that there must be a considerable measure of ad- 

 ministrative supervision and control to realize for agriculture and 

 the farming people the purpose which was so ably set forth. 



The other feature of the initial meeting of the Section of Agricul- 

 ture was a s3anposium devoted to The Field of Rural Economics. 

 This was participated in by four speakers, who dealt with several 

 different phases of the general topic. 



In opening the subject, Hon. Carl Vrooman, Assistant Secretary 

 of Agriculture, discussed rural economics from the standpoint of the 

 farmer. He corrected some of the false popular impressions as to 

 the advantage of high acre yields, pointing out that the plain busi- 

 ness question is not how much the farmer could produce if he had no 

 regard for the cost, but how much he can afford to produce under 

 present American conditions. He showed by statistics that the larg- 

 est crops do not necessarily mean the largest net income to the 

 farmer, and that in years of relatively small production he often 

 realizes quite as much from his crops as in years of maximum yield. 



Secretar}^ Vrooman laid much emphasis on the importance of the 

 problems of distribution and marketing, enforcing his remarks by 

 illustrations from his own experience as a farmer. "VVliile frankly 

 admitting the necessity for middlemen and other intermediaries, he 

 protested against any allied interest taking more than a legitimate 

 profit from the farmer. He declared that the average farmer is 

 only making wages; he is not making a profit over his wages and 

 the interest on his investment. Until the problems of agricultural 

 economics are solved there is little encouragement for him in attempt- 

 ing to raise larger crops. Economic justice to the farmer and pro- 

 ducing classes, he said, must be the basis of the higher civilization 

 which we picture. 



In discussing credit in relation to agriculture. Prof. G. N. Lauman 

 of Cornell University maintained that in this country credit has not 

 been generally available to the farmer except at a considerable pre- 

 mium, and that in order to develop American agriculture and rural 

 life it must be made feasible for a man to be successively a farm, 

 laborer, a farm renter, and a farm owner. Short-time credit was 

 held to be a distinctly local matter. The community should rally 

 all its capital to develop itself, and should organize to furnish the 

 basis for a closer association between itself and existing banking and 

 credit facilities. The great social and ethical gains from the small 

 credit imions of Europe was explained, especially in helping the 

 small farmer. 



In order to bring outside capital into agriculture it is necessary to 

 meet the demands which such capital makes. Credit, it was declared, 



