102 EXPERIMENT STATION" RECOED. 



conditions by legislation. Much difference of opinion developed as to 

 the optimum size of farm properties and the extent to which govern- 

 mental assistance should be given in their acquisition. 



The earnestness of the debate on this question reflects quite clearly 

 the importance now attached to the problems of land ownership and 

 management in the European countries. Public attention is being 

 more and more drawn to them and they are entering more fully on 

 the stage of political and legislative action. To appreciate the sig- 

 nificance of the discussions abroad on this subject the American 

 reader must have a good understanding of the complicated European 

 systems of land tenure and management, as well as of the character 

 of farm operations in those countries. 



Besides the purely economic questions involved in this problem, 

 there are many matters of sentiment, tradition, and social customs 

 and institutions. The prevailing methods of intensive cultivation of 

 the soil with hand tools necessarily call for relatively large numbers 

 of workers on the land. The holdings which single families can 

 operate under such a system are necessarily small from the American 

 point of view and the financial returns are also relatively small. 

 With the spread of general and agricultural education, the conse- 

 quent advance in standards of living, the differences in the economical 

 operation of the farms by the use of large machines, and the applica- 

 tion of scientific principles to agricultural practice, new conditions of 

 the country-life problems are being rapidly created. Moreover the 

 efforts to make the life of the workers in other industries more satis- 

 factory by increasing the amount and regularity of their wages, 

 shortening their hours of labor, and protecting them from hardships 

 through insurance and pensions, are creating among the workers on 

 the farms a very strong desire for improved conditions of work and 

 life. 



Considering the closeness of relations of the European countries, 

 the discussion of these matters in international congresses where dif- 

 ferent points of view can be presented, and where the effort is to dis- 

 cover underlying principles on which action may be based rather than 

 to meet local conditions, is very important. Countries like our own, 

 where the general conditions of agriculture and country life are so 

 very different from those in Europe, may also learn much from such 

 discussions, and if nothing else, may come to see the importance of 

 studying their agricultural conditions broadly with a view to shaping 

 the development of their rural communities along permanently satis- 

 factory lines. 



The comparative importance of agriculture and other industries in 

 different countries was discussed by F. Ryziger, who brought out the 

 very great differences now existing. He showed that direct govern- 

 mental aid to agriculture in most countries constitutes only about 



