260 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



of land to pass out of our hands into the possession 

 of speculators. These and other forces are de- 

 stroying agriculture. A diminishing agricultural 

 population means diminishing food production. In- 

 creasing city population means increasing food con- 

 sumption. This means an increasing cost of living, 

 an increase that is bound to continue unless a vio- 

 lent reversal of our land policy is brought about. 

 The city uses up people. It destroys their virility. 

 The country is the great vitalizing force. Yet peo- 

 ple are being crowded off the land, not because they 

 are unwilling to go to it, but because our land laws, 

 transportation agencies, inadequate credit, and mar- 

 keting facilities are gradually stifling the agricultural 

 life of the nation and bringing about premature ag- 

 ricultural decay. In my opinion America is face to 

 face with the gravest kind of a problem. In some 

 respects it is one of the gravest economic problems 

 that has confronted the country. We cannot have 

 a healthy life unless we have a healthy agriculture. 

 We cannot have healthy agriculture unless econo- 

 nomic and social conditions make agriculture attrac- 

 tive. And students of the subject are coming to 

 see that this can only be brought about by the in- 

 terposition of the government in an intelligent, 

 constructive, and scientific way to protect agricul- 

 ture as well as the farmer from the exploitation from 

 which he is suffering. 

 The poHcy we have pursued has brought us face 



