14 AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURING, COMMERCE 



6. Show the past and present rank of agricultural exports and imports. 



7. What portion of the land area of the United States is "in farms" and what 



part is "improved"? Explain these terms. 



8. Compare per cent of increase in population, for a series of decades, with 



increase in production of staple crops and live stock. Show significance 

 of these figures (Fig. 5). 



9. Show at what periods of our history we have followed the doctrines of 



"exploitation" and "conservation" respectively. Explain these terms. 



10. According to Sir Horace Plunkett, what is the rural life problem in the 



United States? 



11. State the conclusions of the Roosevelt Country Life Commission. 



12. Show the, fallacies and the true principles involved in the question of 



increased production of staple crops. 



13. Show the significance of industrial concentration in various fields in recent 



years, such as lumber, banking, and railroads. 



14. Compare Canadian industries as to a similar concentration. 



15. What do present tendencies indicate as to the future ownership of farm 



lands in the United States? 



QUESTIONS SUGGESTED BY THE TEXT 



1. Is a large increase in land values a benefit to the farmers themselves? 



2. What are some reasons for and against an agrarian party? 



3. What portion of the land surface of the United States will likely remain 



forever out of use for agricultural purposes? What are the limiting 

 factors? 



4. From the farmer's standpoint should there be an increase or a limitation 



of output of the staple crops? Reconcile the social and the agrarian 

 viewpoint on the question of increased production. 



5. What evidence is there, if any, of farm land ownership becoming central- 



ized in the hands of big corporations? If corporation farming is more 

 efficient than individual farming, should it not be promoted? 



6. Give examples from your own village or city of the centralization of con- 



trol over local enterprises in a few hands and explain the cause of this 

 centralization. 



REFERENCES 



1. U. S. Census Reports. See especially 8th Census, volume on Agricul- 

 ture (1864); 10th Census, vol. iii; 12th Census, vol. y, xvi-xxxvii. 



2. Report of the Country Life Commission. Edited by L. H. Bailey. 



3. HA WORTH, PAUL LELAND: "George Washington, Farmer." 



4. Report of the Industrial Commission, vol. x, i-lxiv (1901); vol. xix, 

 45-96 (1902). 



5. Report of the Bureau of Corporations on the Lumber Industry (Jan- 

 uary 20, 1913). 



6. BAKER, O. E.: "Arable Land in the United States, Yearbook," Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, 1918, 433^43. 



7. PLUNKETT, SIR HORACE: "Rural Life Problems of the United States." 



8. Yearbooks, Department of Agriculture: 1903 "Nation's Farm 

 Surplus " 479-491. 1904 "Annual Loss Caused by Insects," 461-475. 1905 

 "Diversified Farming in the Cotton Belt," 193-219. 1908 "Causes of 

 Social Rural Conditions: Remedy Small Farms," 311-321. 1909 "Farm- 

 ing as an Occupation for City Bred Men," 239-249. 



9. WRIGHT, C. D.: "Industrial Evolution of the U. S.," Ch. 12. 



10. DAY, CLIVE: "History of Commerce," chs. 51, 52, 53. 



11. NOURSE, E. G.: " Place of Agriculture in Modern Industrial Society." 

 Journal of Political Economy, vol. xxvii, 466-497; 561-577. 



12. HALL, A. D.: "A Pilgrimage of British Farming," 1910-1912, 

 London, 1913. 



