WHY BOYS LEAVE FARM 



dents, for they leave the farm, if at all, 

 with a definite purpose, and they are still 

 near the point of their departure. 



Before taking up the details of my in- 

 vestigation, I should say, perhaps, that 

 such an inquiry is well worth making 

 wholly aside from its bearing on technical 

 agricultural questions. In its larger 

 phases, the problem is both an economic 

 and a social question. A migration city- 

 ward imposes problems of addition on the 

 city as well as problems of subtraction on 

 the country. It has a direct relation to 

 all general questions of population. It 

 seriously affects land values, and, there- 

 fore, other values. It has an important 

 bearing on the vital problem as to where 

 our people shall be bred. I have elsewhere 

 tried to show ("The Outlook to Nature ") 

 that farmers constitute the chief nature- 

 bred class of men now remaining to us, and 

 this fact cannot help having a far-reaching 

 effect on the character of future popula- 

 tions. 



I am not now discussing the question as 

 to whether there is, in fact, a general exo- 

 91 



