MANAGEMENT 251 



In the first place there is the army of the unemployed in 

 every large city. It is urged that they be put upon these small 

 tracts of land and allowed to make a living. While this method, 

 even if it would work, is a solution of an urban rather than of a 

 rural problem, being merely a scheme whereby the cities may 

 relieve themselves of a burden of their own creation by shifting 

 it upon the country, yet the rural economist ought to consider it 

 on general philanthropic grounds. Experience has shown, how- 

 ever, that, as a general rule, men who cannot get employment 

 or make a living in an American city, with its growing indus- 

 tries and expanding opportunities, will seldom be able to make 

 a living in the country, even if given the free use of a small 

 parcel of land. Occasionally there is a man whose health or 

 whose temperament unfits him for life in a crowded city or for 

 work in a gang under the surveillance of a boss, who could do 

 well under rural conditions, where work is in the open air, and 

 where it can be performed independently. For such men it is 

 a real godsend to be given an opportunity to get back to the 

 land, and the three-acre farm may be the best thing for a 

 small percentage of these, though the majority of them would 

 do better to take positions as farm hands on farms of a larger 

 size. While a majority of those who attempt to make their own 

 living on these minute farms make rather poor livings, even 

 this may prove an attractive alternative in a country where so- 

 cial conditions are bad ; that is, where trades are overcrowded 

 anci wages low. In general, the worse the social conditions 

 are, the more men there will be to whom the three-acre farm 

 will be an advantage. But so long as wages, especially the 

 wa^es of farm labor, are as good as they are in this country, 

 the number to whom this type of farming will appeal will 

 remain small. 



A larger class who might be benefited by these small farms 

 consists of laborers and artisans having employment ii> regular 



