THE GLEANERS 75 



two distinct lines, distinct as to method, yet 

 marching toward the same goal : 



First, comes the reclamation of waste land. 



Second, comes the intensifying of cultural 

 methods forcing each single arable acre to 

 produce two or three times as much food as 

 it produced under the elemental system 

 guided by the sunshine-and-rain gage of pro- 

 duction. 



The Farmer of To-morrow must either 

 speed up the rate of production on fat, highly 

 capitalized corn-belt acres, by means of an 

 additional expenditure of capital or else look 

 about him for raw, non-producing land, upon 

 which to expend his labor to fit it as a com- 

 petitor of the fat acres which are beyond his 

 means. 



When a horse begins to eat its head off there 

 are two ways out of the difficulty: Either 

 work the beast hard enough to earn its keep 

 or look about for a means of transportation 

 with a more reasonable appetite. 



Land has the habit of "eating its head off" 

 too. It becomes greedy when it becomes 

 scarce, when it assumes value. It exacts in- 

 terest rent, and finally rent grows so greedy 

 that there is nothing left for wages. Then 



