STATUS OF AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISE 245 



is concerned with rural welfare. Therefore, all leg- 

 islation designed to aid Agricultural producers should 

 be based on established facts and made to conform 

 to sound principles of public policy. 



A national land policy is basic to any program of 

 rural improvement. There is need for a scientific 

 classification of the land area of the United States 

 with reference to its economic utilization. Areas 

 peculiarly adapted to forests, grazing, and crop pro- 

 duction should be indicated carefully. The detailed 

 classification should include marginal lands and 

 adaptable crop areas. Reclamation should comprise 

 an important aspect of a land development policy. 



The welfare of farm producers should be con- 

 sidered in connection with the problem of land 

 utilization. An adequate system of selecting settlers 

 based upon adaptability or specialized agricultural 

 production should be considered. There are too 

 many farmers today cultivating marginal land. In 

 an effort to bring production up to a subsistence 

 basis many of these farmers are following a poor 

 cropping system or undertaking to cultivate a 

 greater acreage than their capital investment justi- 

 fies. This fact has had little public" consideration, 

 but it constitutes one of the most important prob- 

 lems connected with rural economy. 



There is also need to apply economic principles to 

 land values. Everyone knows that inflation of land 

 values has been one of the causes of farm distress. 

 Speculation lies at the root of this trouble. The 



