18 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



Here are some of the economic factors undertying 

 the food problem. They are not reassuring. They 

 indicate a decay of agriculture. If unchecked they 

 involve national disaster. They mean a continuing 

 increase in the cost of hving, a lower standard of 

 living, a decadence of the state, and ultimately a 

 nation of city dwellers on the one hand and a farm- 

 ing peasantry on the other, like that found in other 

 countries where the tendencies at work in the United 

 States have reached their logical conclusion. Rome 

 passed through such an evolution. So did modern 

 England. Ireland lost half her people because of 

 bad agricultural conditions that were only arrested 

 when the nation undertook a comprehensive agricul- 

 tural policy in the land-reform legislation inaugurated 

 by Gladstone. 



America is finally awakening to the seriousness 

 of the food problem. We may be led to a study of 

 agriculture and the economic legislation necessary 

 to make farming more attractive. For the ultimate 

 evil is to be found in the economic foundations of 

 agriculture, which must be radically changed. 



First let us consider the present high cost of living 

 and the immediate measures for relief. For that is 

 the immediate condition to be remedied. 



