MEANS OF ACQUIRING LAND 



food stuffs and raw materials. Second, the 

 manufacturing industries have been developing 

 rapidly during the same period, giving oppor- 

 tunity for a share of the increasing farm popu- 

 lation to find remunerative employment in the 

 industries of the cities. To quote Dr. A. C. 

 True, "Between 1870 and 1890, speaking rela- 

 tively and in round numbers, two million men 

 gave up farming and went to join the great army 

 of toilers in our cities. Taking their families into 

 account, six million people from the farm were 

 added to the population of the town. . . . Men 

 leave the farms because they are not needed there. 

 The introduction of labor saving machinery and 

 rapid transportation has produced the same result 

 in agriculture as in manufactures. A smaller 

 number of men working in our fields turn out a 

 much greater product than the greater number of 

 laborers could possibly secure in olden times, and 

 the products of all lands are easily carried where 

 they are needed. . . . Within the past twenty-five 

 years, invention has gained the mastery in agri- 

 culture as in other arts. The brain of man has 

 triumphed over his hand here as elsewhere/' 1 



If only the poor moved from country to city, 

 the total wealth of the country would be affected 

 but little by this movement of population. But 

 the rich farmers are quite as apt to move to the 

 cities as are the poor ones, in fact they are per- 



*A. C. True, The Arena, Vol. 17, pp. 538-9. 

 213 



