94 ECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE FARMER 



country is the best and most complete life possible to a human 

 being. " Country life" continues this writer, "is the best cradle 

 of the race. To have a good home and rear a family in the heart 

 of a great city is well-nigh impossible for the average laboring man. 

 The struggle for existence is too fierce, and the opportunity in 

 childhood and youth for self-expression and initiative is too meager. 

 The environment is too vast, complex and overwhelming, with 

 nothing worth while for the child to do. Individuals may stand, 

 but generations will slip on such an inclined plane of life." 4 While 

 the surface attractions of the city are more alluring, yet country 

 life is "the finest life on earth" is the Dean's conclusion. 



We have already mentioned in this book that George Washing- 

 ton was a successful farmer. He enjoyed not only the economic 

 but all the other returns of agriculture. In the closing years of 

 his life he wrote as follows to the great English student of farming, 

 Arthur Young: "The more I am acquainted with agricultural 

 affairs the better I am pleased with them, insomuch that I can 

 nowhere find so great satisfaction as in those innocent and useful 

 pursuits. In indulging these feelings, I am led to reflect how much 

 more delightful to an undebauched mind is the task of making 

 improvements on the earth than all the vain glory which can be 

 acquired from ravaging it by the most uninterrupted career 

 of conquest." 



QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 



1. What is the significance of the economic factor in drawing people to or 



away from the farm? 



2. Does farming pay? What factors are to be considered in answering this 



question? 



3. Cite the findings of a federal "survey" giving the farmer's annual income. 



Does this study include the value of house rent and the use of a garden? 



4. Cite the examples of successful farming given by Mr. Shade. 



5. According to Bradford Knapp what is the great problem of to-day? Give 



the facts on which he bases his statement. State his three reasons for 

 the city drift of population. 



6. Cite Goldenweiser's conclusions as to the relative prosperity of the farmer. 



7. Cite the conclusions of Vogt on the same subject. 



8. Explain the "survey" method, as exemplified by Warren and Livermore. 



Define these terms: capital; receipts; expenses; farm income; labor 

 income. 



9. What has been the estimated money value of those products contributed 



by the farm to the farmer's living? 



10. Show difficulty of comparing farm and city incomes. Illustrate. What 



are the chief advantages of city life, not represented by money cost? 



11. Is the farmer's income too low? Indicate the kind of "income" you are 



discussing. 



12. Cite the conclusions of Dean Kennedy. 



13. Quote from letter of Washington to Arthur Young. 



4 Kennedy, Joseph. Rural Life and the Rural School, Ch. 15. 



