458 RURAL MICUIGAN 



Kansas it was 31 per cent;, in North Dakota 41, and 

 Washington 43 per cent.^ There has been, however, 

 a large influx of country dwellers into the large 

 cities, especially the centers of automobile manufac- 

 ture, until the movement was checked by the adverse 

 industrial conditions of the winter of 1920-1921. 

 This had the effect of causing the abandonment of 

 many farms to an extent which, in the summer of 

 1920, was truly alarming. An estimate of the State 

 crop reporting service, based on an investigation 

 conducted in April, 1920, through the public schools, 

 was to the effect that 18,232 farms would not be 

 worked that year, and that 11,831 farms were not 

 operated in 1919. It was estimated that of the 

 214,565 farm-houses in the State, 30,300 (in 1920) 

 were vacant, and tlmt some two-thirds of these were 

 not occupied in 1919. The total number of men and 

 boys on the farms of Michigan was given as approxi- 

 mately 230,000, which represented a loss of 20,000 

 during the year preceding, and a still further drop 

 from the figure of 276,000 of three years previous.^ 

 Taking the average size of farms as 91.5 acres, there 

 appeared to be an average of one man or boy to 

 operate each 82.5 acres. The effectiveness of this 

 force was still further reduced by the attendance 

 of boys at school for a part of the time, while most 

 of the men were above the age of fifty. It was obvi- 

 ous that the superior attractiveness of urban life had 

 done its work. 



> The U. .V. Monthly Crop Reporter, April, 1921, 45. 

 ""Mioh. Crop Rept'., May, 19.20, 4. 



