148 BACKGROUND AND MEANS OF SERVICE 



country. In 1920, in spite of an increase of two hundred 

 thirty-six per cent in population, the total pounds of grain 

 produced per person had increased to twenty-six hundred 

 and twenty-eight. Even the latter amount was a decrease 

 from the high point of 1880 when the amount was twenty- 

 eight hundred and forty-seven pounds per person. To 

 state it another way, the rural population produced one 

 hundred seventeen per cent more grain per worker in 1920 

 than in 1860. 



OVER-PRODUCTION 



This relatively great increase in agricultural production 

 had a tremendous influence on the business of farming. 

 Prior to the Civil War the agriculture of the country, 

 though expanding rapidly, had been practically normal in 

 relation to the total population. Immediately after the 

 Civil War, however, under the stimulus of high prices, free 

 government land and the too rapid building of railroads 

 under government subsidies, new areas of land were opened 

 up faster than new population needed an increased food 

 supply, with the inevitable result of an over production of 

 food, and hence of cheap food. 



The most striking result of this condition was the be- 

 ginning of a great movement from the country to the 

 cities. Cheap food meant cheap labor and cheap material, 

 and these two factors made possible a period of city build- 

 ing and of urban development which was the most remark- 

 able characteristic of the last century in the United States 

 and which has not yet come to an end. A better idea of 

 just what this means is obtained when we contrast ourselves 

 with China, where about eighty per cent of the population 

 are engaged in food production, whereas our own system 

 of agriculture and the efficiency of our farmers in the 

 United States makes it possible for more than two-thirds 



