BACK TO THE LAND 281 



head and the sad face of the city men and women 

 it too often means that they are bearing the heavy 

 burdens of the struggle for bread, and are paying 

 too great a penalty for the privilege of city life. 

 And these conditions are bound to grow more 

 acute in this land of ours because we have almost 

 reached the end of newer lands being opened for 

 settlement, and our lands now under cultivation 

 will enhance in value until they will be owned by 

 the wealthier class and so the man without means 

 will be unable to obtain land and will be forced to 

 endure city existence. 



Then too many city men are the round pegs try- 

 ing to fit themselves into the square holes. 

 Nearly half the men who are trying to transact 

 city business in all branches of trade and the pro- 

 fessions are without sufficient ability to perform 

 the duties their business requires. The author has 

 seen scores of professional men who could not suc- 

 cessfully practice their professions and what was 

 more distressing would never be able to learn how 

 to do so. The same condition obtains in all lines 

 of city business and we are willing to admit that 

 many of these men could not successfully transact 

 the duties required of the business of farming so 

 as to be successful. This fact makes it harder to 

 advise correctly upon the "back to the farm" 

 movement. 



Several propositions are established. There 

 are too many people in our cities. 



There are too many city people in distressed 

 conditions. The burden of life or the struggle for 

 bread is too great for them to bear. 



