AGRICULTURAL SITUATION AND OPPORTUNITY 147 



increasingly important place, relative to the total wealth 

 and occupations of all our people. 



INCREASED EFFICIENCY 



The total value of our agricultural products has grown 

 from a few hundred millions in the early part of the nine- 

 teenth century to the enormous total value in 1919, of 

 twenty-four billion seven hundred million dollars. It has 

 more than tripled in value since 1900. In 1820 the total 

 number of persons in the United States which had to be 

 supplied with food from our farms was only nine million, 

 six hundred and thirty-three thousand, eight hundred and 

 twenty-two. By 1860 it had grown to thirty-one million, 

 four hundred and forty-three thousand, three hundred and 

 twenty-one persons, while in 1920, sixty years later, the 

 number had grown to one hundred and five million, seven 

 hundred and eight thousand, seven hundred and seventy- 

 one. 



A still more startling evidence of growth and change is 

 the fact that while one hundred years ago but four and 

 nine-tenths per cent of the population was urban, to-day 

 more than one-half (51.4) of our people live in cities. 

 Indeed, less than one-third of our workers were engaged 

 in agricultural pursuits in 1920 as compared with eighty- 

 seven and one-tenth per cent one hundred years before. 



The situation might have been serious had not the Amer- 

 ican farmer increased his man efficiency tremendously. Dr. 

 G. F. Warren has shown that the farmers' efforts are now 

 fifty-nine per cent more productive than they were fifty 

 years before. Further evidence of this can be seen in the 

 production of cereals. In 1860 the total pounds of all 

 kinds of grain produced by our farmers amounted to two 

 thousand and ninety-six pounds for each person in the 



