126 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



Rural migrations are toward abundant land. This difference 

 in the character of the two forms of migration is due mainly to 

 the difference in the factors upon which the prosperity of the 

 two classes of population depends. As we have just seen, agri- 

 culture is mainly dependent upon land, and urban industries 

 upon markets. Therefore rural people engaged in agriculture 

 tend to move to those places where land is abundant, while 

 urban people move to those places where markets are wide. 

 Abundance of land and sparseness of population usually mean 

 the same thing; but, for some reason which has never been 

 satisfactorily explained, the larger the city the more trade it 

 seems to attract. However, both these propositions need careful 

 qualification. 



The proposition that rural people tend to move from the 

 more densely to the less densely populated areas needs to be 

 qualified by assuming that the soil is equally fertile, the climate 

 equally attractive, and the government equally free and just, in 

 the different areas. If the soil is infertile, the climate unattrac- 

 tive, or the government despotic, in the sparsely populated area, 

 the migration to that area will be discouraged, and may be turned 

 in the opposite direction. But within the temperate zone, and 

 within such areas as possess abundant rainfall or sufficient water 

 for irrigation purposes, and where the land is controlled by 

 liberal and progressive governments, there is not the slightest 

 doubt that the general movement of rural people has been and 

 still is from densely to sparsely populated regions, or from 

 regions where land is relatively scarce to regions where it is 

 relatively abundant. 



Again, the grower of an agricultural specialty is almost as 

 much in need of a market as is a manufacturer. In order to 

 succeed in this form of agriculture he must locate where there is 

 a market, which will usually be best where population is dens- 

 est. Therefore he will, as a rule, leave the sparsely populated 



