12 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



The dairy farmer enjoyed certain substantial advantages over the grain 

 grower. His work was less seasonal than that of any other farmer and 

 provided employment for himself, his family, and his employees the whole 

 year around. His profits, likewise, were fairly evenly distributed through- 

 out the year, instead of coming in only at crop-marketing time. He had 

 less to fear from high transportation charges, for his products were of 

 small bulk in comparison to their value, and freight rates loomed corre- 

 spondingly less important. His investment in land was moderate, and the 

 stability of conditions under which he operated tended to make his credit 

 good. What he asked of government was mainly low taxes, protection 

 against substitutes, and aid in the never ending search for greater produc- 

 tion at lower cost. 13 



It must not be forgotten that on most farms, whether in the corn belt, or 

 in one of the chief wheat-growing regions, or in the area chiefly devoted 

 to the dairy industry, there was generally a considerable amount of mixed 

 farming. In the Middle West almost all varieties of cereal crops such as 

 oats, barley, rye, and buckwheat were grown successfully. Milk and butter- 

 fat came from the same farms that also marketed swine and beef cattle. 

 Fruits and vegetables were raised everywhere for domestic consumption 

 and on a few truck farms for market. Potatoes were an important specialty 

 in limited areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Missouri. Sugar beets were 

 raised in parts of Nebraska, tobacco growing achieved some importance 

 in Wisconsin, and chickens, turkeys, geese, and ducks were universal. 

 But in spite of these many side issues, the most important activities of 

 farmers in the western Middle West centered on corn or corn and live- 

 stock, on wheat, and on dairy farming. 14 



Another circumstance, clearly apparent to the most casual observer, was 

 the prevalence of the single-family farm. There were exceptions, of course, 

 but in general the farmer of this region lived on his own or on rented land 

 and carried on his farming activities mainly with such aid as he could 

 obtain from his wife and children. The larger his crop of boys and girls 



13. Benton H. Wilcox, "A Reconsideration of the Character and Economic Basis 

 of Northwestern Radicalism" (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of 

 Wisconsin, 1933), pp. 33, 56. 



14. See the appended map showing type-of-f arming areas in 1930 in Elliott, Types 

 of Farming. 



