CHAPTER VI 



ECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE FARMER 



Introductory. Whatever schemes may be tried to induce 

 people to go back to the land, the outstanding fact is and must 

 ever be that when the farm pays people will flock to the farm with- 

 out other inducements. The industries of the city offer greater 

 economic inducements than the farm does, either in the size of 

 income or in the certainty or continuity of income. 



Does Fanning Pay? It is difficult bo measure all the returns 

 of farming. These returns include among other things such non- 

 measurable things as independence, since the farmer has no em- 

 ployer to please; joy in labor, since the farmer labors for himself: 

 peace of mind, since panics in the business world will have no 

 influence on the farm's fertility. But the tangible return, the one 

 which can be measured, is the economic income. This economic 

 income goes far to determine the farmer's social status in his 

 community, the amount of leisure at his disposal, and to a large 

 degree his importance and opportunity in a political way. It is 

 the basic underlying factor in the farmer's life. Therefore the 

 importance of this question, "Does Farming Pay?" 



Income of $408 a Year. A great many attempts have been 

 made to estimate the farmer's income; many investigations and 

 " surveys" have been made. The Federal government carried 

 on a careful investigation in the heart of our great farming section, 

 for instance. The following quotation from this investigation 

 illustrates very adequately all phases of this very complex question : 



"The economic condition of the farming population is a matter of great 

 concern to everybody. According to the last census (1910), thirty-two per 

 cent of our population actually live on the farms, and the efficiency and pros- 

 perity of these directly affect the condition of all the rest. Farming has never 

 been regarded as a very remunerative business, and there have been obvious 

 reasons throughout most of our history why the direct and immediate returns 

 could not be large. With fertile prairie land practically free, it was not to be 

 expected that the common crops would bring much more than the labor cost 

 of producing them by the ordinary methods, for while there is a great oppor- 

 tunity in agriculture for the use of intelligence and scientific skill, it is also 

 true that routine farming can be learned and carried on by anyone. During 

 the period when good lands could be had by homestead entry, the opportunity 

 to obtain a farm free was in itself a great inducement to the settlement of 

 vacant lands, and a factor in making low prices on farm products. 



"With the passing of the period of free lands, and as population gained 

 upon farm area, the prices of farm products began to advance. A pronounced 



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