THE NEW EARTH 



must be fed, the dependents. Woe be to this 

 world if ever the tillers of the soil adopt the 

 tactics of some of those who control the fin- 

 ished products of the soil! 



The commanding position of those who are 

 engaged in the activities of the New Earth is 

 shown in a still more emphatic manner by the 

 magnitude to which the calling of agriculture 

 has attained. The value of farm products in 

 the United States in a year now, 1906, reaches 

 the enormous sum of six billions, five hundred 

 millions of dollars, a sum too vast to be com- 

 prehended. The report of the Secretary of 

 Agriculture, for 1904, shows that in two years' 

 time the farmers of this country have produced 

 wealth exceeding the output of all the gold 

 mines of the world since the discovery of 

 America by Columbus. Is it too much to say 

 that this American farmer is, by rights, inde- 

 p.endent ? 



In a single month of their busy season the 

 hens of the country lay enough eggs to pay 

 the year's interest on the national debt. In a 

 year they produce one and two-thirds billions 

 of eggs, enough to supply every American 

 with two hundred and forty-five eggs a year. 



374 



