MEANS OF ACQUIRING LAND 



this country, results in the movement of a vast 

 amount of wealth away from the agricultural in- 

 dustry, which must be replaced from some source 

 if the wealth of farmers is not to decline. The 

 general principle may be thus stated: The 

 greater the amount of land and other forms of 

 wealth acquired by one generation and trans- 

 mitted to the farmers of the next, and the more 

 evenly this wealth is distributed, the greater the 

 ease with which the ownership of land may be ac- 

 quired by the succeeding generations of farmers ; 

 but the larger the farm families of a given com- 

 munity, and the larger the percentage of each 

 succeeding generation who seek a livelihood in 

 other industries, the greater the amount of wealth 

 which will be drawn from agriculture into other 

 industries by gift and inheritance, and the smaller 

 the part which inherited wealth will play in the 

 acquisition of landownership. 



The number of persons employed in the various 

 other occupations has increased much more rap- 

 idly than has the number engaged in agriculture. 

 This is shown by the following table which gives 

 the proportion of those engaged in all gainful 

 occupations, which were employed in "agricul- 

 tural pursuits." 1 



1 Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900, Special Re- 

 ports, Occupations, pp. xxx, 1. 



211 



