THE FARM LAND 53 



that these farm riots had passed the joking stage. By 1933 46 

 police were firing upon farmers who were trying to prevent a 

 sale in Pennsylvania. Finally in Iowa the militia was called out 

 to scatter farmers who were trying to prevent the sale of a 

 neighbor's land. 



Thus American agriculture completed a cycle. This cycle 

 began with the Revolution, when the farmers revolted partly 

 to win new land and establish an agricultural nation. It ended 

 in modern times when the farmers again revolted in an attempt 

 to hold a place in the industrial society which had grown up in 

 the nation they had helped to establish. Many experts believe 

 that the farmers have lost this second battle. They think that 

 American agriculture can continue only if it is aided by funds 

 from the government. They point out that such aid is simply 

 a kind of tariff. The tariff acts, they add, are nothing more 

 than a gift of high prices from the government to industry. 



What has this struggle done to the American farmer and his 

 land? It was a long battle beginning back in the middle of the 

 last century. Like most long wars it has left deep scars. 



THE PROBLEM OF THE LAND 



First consider the land. Land is the basic resource. Without 

 productive land a nation either dies or becomes dependent upon 

 other nations for its essential foods. The vast majority of farm 

 ers who came to America during the early days of its history 

 thought of this country as a place in which there was an in' 

 exhaustible supply of land. Since there was always more land 

 to be had, they saw no point in working to preserve the fer' 

 tility of the soil. Thus much of the rich land of the eastern sea- 

 board was exhausted long before agriculture was really chal' 

 lenged by industry. There were a few scientific farmers like 

 Washington and Jefferson who preached crop rotation, strip 



46 Associated Press, March 30, 1933. 



