44 City Homes on Country Lanes 



"In our own country we have had a preponderantly 

 large percentage of population in the country districts 

 as long as means of production were comparatively 

 simple. 



"With improvements of implements a smaller per- 

 centage of people was needed to produce food for the 

 whole population. This percentage has grown smaller 

 with development of implements, latest of which is the 

 tractor. It has been figured that whereas production 

 of a bushel of wheat once took two hours, the time in 

 1920 was reduced to eight minutes. I venture to say 

 that time now is shortened by half. 



"It is interesting to note notwithstanding over 51 

 per cent of our people lived in urban districts, the 

 largest bumper crop in our history was produced last 

 year." 



In his statement, which disposed of any "back to the 

 farm" movement as impossible, Dr. Binder said if those 

 thrown out of their jobs in the fields by highly devel- 

 oped machinery should attempt to remain in rural dis- 

 tricts, producing crops far above the demand, prices 

 would be forced so low that farming would cease to pay. 



He went on : 



"Our capacity for consuming food is limited. But 

 our capacity for consumption of manufactured articles, 

 such as erstwhile farmers turn out instead of vegetables 

 and fruits, is practically unlimited. Three or four 

 square meals a day is our limit, but we may change 

 our coats a dozen times ! We may eat only a dollar's 

 worth of food daily, yet we spend a thousand dollars 

 for a single table!" 



