48 OUR USE OF THE LAND 



he had to buy stayed up and went higher. American farmers 

 had 50,000,000 acres planted with crops for export and the 

 export market was disappearing like a snake swallowing its 

 tail. Thus the farm problem became a major national problem. 



A farmer's wife in one of Hamlin Garland's stories put the 

 farm problem in a nutshell when she said, "I d'know. Seems 

 as if things get worse an' worse. Corn an' wheat gittin' cheaper 

 'n cheaper. Machinery eatin' up profits got to have machinery 

 to harvest the cheap grain, an' then the machinery eats up 

 profits. Taxes goin' up. Devil to pay all around; I d'know what 

 in thunder is the matter." 41 



This is how some historians have tried to explain the prob- 

 lem. Before the World War the United States was a debtor 

 nation. This meant that the United States had to borrow money 

 from foreign nations to pay for its railroads, factories, and 

 other developments. To repay these debts the United States 

 sold farm produce to the foreign countries. By the time of the 

 World War the United States no longer needed foreign money. 

 Instead it needed a market for the goods produced by the fac- 

 tories that were built with foreign money. Factory products 

 took the place of farm products as America's chief goods for 

 sale to the world. This is a very important point. 



Since the beginning of American history there has been a 

 conflict between the two main groups of American people. 

 On the one side are the city people, the storekeepers, the fac 

 tory owners, and the industrial workers. On the other side are 

 the country people, those who work with the land. Up until 

 the Civil War the people who worked with the land had the 

 upper hand in our government. Since that time, those who 

 work with machines and money have become the most power 

 ful group in our society. Leadership passed from the farmer to 

 the manufacturer and merchant. 



41 Other Main Travelled Roads, Harper # Brothers, New York, 1892, pp. 99- 

 100. 



