86 OUR USE OF THE LAND 



all of these attempts to regulate the use of the land must be 

 a part of the democratic process. This means that the policies 

 carried out by the government agencies must reflect the will of 

 the majority of the people. They must work no hardship on 

 one group for the benefit of another. They must protect the 

 personal liberty of individuals. From the point of view of eco' 

 nomics, they must provide a fair income to the farmer without 

 placing an undue burden on the consumer. They must also give 

 the tenant farmer a chance to own his land, the sub'marginal 

 farmer a chance to have a part in what politicians talk so much 

 about the abundant life. From the point of view of soil fer' 

 tility, they must stop erosion and the waste of land. They must 

 find a way of preserving the basic resource of our society, 

 which is the land. When all those things have been accom' 

 plished, one thing will be clear: such a plan will balance ac' 

 curately the needs of man and the needs of the soil. One way 

 of finding out just how these various government bureaus are 

 trying to accomplish this very complicated end is to put your' 

 self in the shoes of the man who is directly affected by their 

 work, that is, the farmer. 



THE FARMER 



Suppose you have a farm in Wisconsin. About 150 acres 

 of it is good bottom land, and about 25 acres is cut'over land, 

 and another 25 acres is land washing down into the tributaries 

 of the St. Croix River. You raise corn, hogs to eat the corn 

 and sell as pork, hay and small grains to feed your dairy cattle. 

 In 1932 you were broke, or so close to it, it didn't make much 

 difference. You couldn't sell your milk, your hogs, your corn, 

 or your wheat. You hadn't any money to stop the washing on 

 the eroding 25 acres. You owed $1000 on 50 acres you bought 

 in 1918, and the bank was threatening to take the land away 

 from you. 



In the late spring of 1933 the county agent comes around 



