The Farm Family 



in l\ational Welfare 



by David E. Lindstrom 

 Rural Sociologist, University of Illinois 



D. E. Lindstrom 



\/^V^HE farm family contributes to 

 — i^the wealth of society and particu- 

 X^ larly urban society in two dis- 

 tinct ways as has been shown admirably 

 by Dr. O. E. Baker, United States De- 

 partment of Agricul- 

 ture. First, it con- 

 tributes to human re- 

 sources ; second, it 

 contributes to mate- 

 rial resources. So 

 large a portion of 

 the wealth created by 

 farm families is 

 transferred to city 

 people that a serious 

 pauperization of ag- 

 riculture and its peo- 

 ple is going on in 

 America; this pauperization is now so 

 serious that it is affecting urban almost 

 as much as rural people. 



The nation's population, authorities 

 tell us, probably will become static or 

 start to decline about the year i960 if the 

 present decrease in our birth rate con- 

 tinues; the decline in births is heaviest 

 in urban centers. The peak of births — 

 three million — came in 1921; and the 

 number of births had declined to 2.6 mil- 

 lion by 1934. At this rate less than half 

 the number born ten years ago will be 

 born twenty years hence. The decline in 

 birth rate (the ratio of children under 5 

 years of age to women 15 to 44 years of 

 age) has gone on for more than a cen- 

 tury, and was accentuated by the World 

 War. 



City Births Low 



The decline in birth rates has been most 

 marked in the cities. Towns an<i cities 

 over 2,500 population did not maintain 

 their population through natural increase 

 in 1930. The seven cities, of largely 

 American stock — Portland, Oregon, San 

 Francisco, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Saint 

 Louis, Atlanta, and Nashville — lacked 

 40 percent of having enough children to 

 maintain their populations permanently sta- 

 tionary without accessions from the outside, 

 and all cities over 100,000 population had 

 a deficit of 20 percent, while the smaller 

 cities had a deficit of 7 percent. On the 

 other hand, the rural non-farm (mostly 

 village and sub-urban) population had a 

 surplus of 27 percent, and the farm pop- 

 ulation of 50 percent. 



In Illinois, more than 30 counties sur- 

 veyed in 1930 showed a rate of natural 

 increase insufficient to maintain population 

 without immigration; a relatively large city 

 is located in each of these counties and 

 the rate of natural increase was lowest 

 for the two counties in which the largest 

 cities are located, Chicago in Cook county 



and Peoria in Peoria county. The highest 

 natural increase occurred in Calhoun and 

 Hardin counties. 



A study of size of families shows, more- 

 over, that those of farm laborers are larg- 

 est, and families of professional people are 

 smallest. In 1910, according to a special 

 study made, "farm laborers averaged 9 

 percent more children than tenants and 

 these 12 percent more than owner opera- 

 tors. But farm owner operators average 

 11 percent more than unskilled laborers in 

 the cities, while the unskilled averaged 25 

 percent more than the skilled, and these 



27 percent more than the businessmen." 



In the nation as a whole, and especially 

 in Illinois, the farms have contributed val- 

 uable human resources to the cities. "The 

 net migration from farms during the dec- 

 ade, 1920 to 1929, was about 6,300,000. If 

 It cost $2,250.00 to feed and clothe the 

 average farm child to the age of 15 — 

 about $150.00 a year (nearer $200.00 for 

 Illinois) — then this migration represents 

 a contribution of roughly 14 billions of 

 dollars. In addition, the settlement of 

 farm estates probably transferred from 4 

 to 5 billions of dollars to heirs who had 

 moved to the cities." These resources rep- 

 resent a definite drain of the wealth of rural 

 areas, for the cost of rearing and educat- 

 ing children is still largely borne by the 

 rural areas; and the city has contributed 

 little in return for the share of estates 

 passing to city heirs — indeed, those left 

 on farms are frequently forced to mortgage 

 the property in order to be able to settle 

 with the other heirs .... 



Drained from Farm 



Material as well as human resources are 

 being drained from the country to en- 

 rich the city. In addition to the transfer 

 of wealth in the form of youth and divided 

 estates, rents, interest, and taxes helped 

 make up a total of 25 billions of dollars 

 net which was transferred from the coun- 

 try to the city in the decade 1920-1929. 

 With such a movement of wealth, farm 

 people in America are being gradually dis- 

 possessed of the land they operate. The 

 proportion of farms operated by tenants 

 increased from 35 percent in 1900 to 42 

 percent in 1935. The percentage of farm 

 land operated under lease increased from 

 31 percent in 1900 to 45 percent in 1935. 

 But the most alarming has been the de- 

 crease in equities of farm operators; farm- 

 ers operating their farms owned, free of 

 debt, 54 percent of the value of all farm 

 real estate in 1900; this decreased to 50 

 percent in 1910, to 46 percent in 1920, to 

 42 percent in 1930, and to 37 percent in 

 1935. The equities of the farm operators 

 in all farm real estate in 1930 ranged 

 from an average of less than 30 percent 

 in the three states, Illinois, Iowa, and 

 South Dakota, to an average of 70 per- 

 cent in the three states, Maine, New Hamp- 

 shire, and West Virginia, with a low of 



28 percent in South Dakota and a high of 

 78 percent in Maine. 



HENRY CO. H.Y. & GUESTS 

 Across the table, left to right, ore Celia 

 Johnson of Stark county. Martin Angevin*. 

 Odetta Wayne and Ralph Taylor, all of 

 Henry county. On this side are Marjori* 

 Hammer. John Bolond. Jane Dykema and 

 Lawrence Ewers of Whitside county. They 

 are shown at the second annual banquet 

 of Henry County Rural Youth. Cambridge. 

 March 13. which was attended by 250 

 delegates from 10 counties. 



The process of pauperization cannot con- 

 tinue without affecting seriously urban as 

 well as rural people. No single panacea 

 can meet this issue. Some measures, how- 

 ever, should receive the serious concern of 

 the people. Space will not permit more 

 than their mere mention. 



Farmers have struggled since the Civil 

 War and before for stabilized price struc- 

 ture. The present effort through the AAA 

 is for parity prices by adjusting produc- 

 tion to demand and through a system of 

 storage to eliminate wild price fluctuations. 

 Farmers cannot alone, however, stabilize 

 their prices; industry must cooperate by 

 changing its price fixing schemes to in- 

 troduce greater competition and labor must 

 eliminate the monopoly on wage rates, 

 making them lower in order to en- 

 courage new enterprises and employ great- 

 er numbers of people. 



Long Term Leases 



Farm operators should be offered the op- 

 portunity for longer term tenure on the 

 farms they operate. Some changes in the 

 laws on inheritance so as to retain most 

 of the inheritance for the operator of the 

 farm would help. Longer term farm leases 

 in which a tenant can legally secure com- 

 pensation for improvements made on the 

 farm would induce more careful selection 

 of tenants and a longer term of tenure. 



Society would be benefited, moreover, by 

 providing rural people with adequate edu- 

 cational opportunities, supported in part 

 by the whole of society. Schools should 

 teach the importance of rural life and point 

 out how to preserve and enrich rural 

 values. Churches and other groups should 

 aid in setting up systems of continuing 

 education to take full advantage of state 

 and national resource agencies such as the 

 Extension Service and farm organizations. . . 



A program of stabilized price structure, 

 longer term tenure on farms with an in- 

 creasing owner-operator percentage, the pro- 

 vision of adequate educational opportunities 

 for rural people, the making of farm life 

 more attractive to youth through modern- 

 ization, and an invigorating community life, 

 and participation in programs to advance 

 rural life on the part of the people them- 

 selves, would go far towards stabilizing 

 rural life in America and maintaining • 

 truly democratic civilization. 



APRIL. 1939 



