144 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



than is a clerk ready to run a grocery store before he can earn 

 good wages as a clerk in that store. 



The farm as a home. There are thousands of persons who live 

 on farms and who continue with their city occupation. Living on 

 a small place enables one to raise milk, vegetables, eggs, and fruit 

 for home use and often some for sale. This greatly reduces the 

 cost of living. It gives a chance to provide useful and wholesome 

 work that is such a vital part of the training of children. One 

 of the greatest helps in encouraging this manner of living is 

 the locating of factories in small villages or towns where the 

 workers can get out to the land. Trolley lines have given a great 

 stimulus to this method of living. In the last ten years there has 

 been a great increase in the number of such places. Railroad 

 freight rates and freight accommodations have often been unfa- 

 vorable for the small town. This has been one of the chief 

 obstacles to a still greater extension of this excellent movement. 



Large farms and corporatio7i farming. Large fortunes are usu- 

 ally made either by speculation or by making a little profit from 

 each of a large number of workers. Many large fortunes have 

 been made by buying land when it was cheap and holding it until 

 it became expensive. Other fortunes have been made by dealing 

 in farm land. But straight farming very rarely creates even small 

 fortunes. Only rarely is there a farm business that compares in 

 size with large manufacturing plants. There are many reasons 

 why " bonanza farms " or corporation farms do not often pay. 



The factory system is based on high-priced supervision. Most 

 of the workers have only a few things to learn, and they are under 

 close supervision. It is impossible to give close supervision to 

 large farming enterprises because the workers are so scattered. 

 For general farming, 40 to 80 acres of crops can be raised 

 per worker. The number of men that might be gathered under 

 one roof under the supervision of one superintendent would in 

 farming be scattered over half a county. 



For nearly all farm operations it is necessary that each worker 

 be intelligent and that he take an interest in the work. We can- 

 not have a boss watching the man on a mowing machine. If some 

 one has to watch the driver, he may as well replace the driver and 



