AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 701 



increase of rural and urban populations, the relative increase of 

 rural and urban wealth, and the relation of agriculture to trans- 

 portation. A second study will be occupied with the increase of 

 farm mortgages and farm tenants, and the remedies proposed in 

 the interest of the farmer. A third or concluding study will con- 

 sider to what extent social influences, the nature of the farmer's 

 business, and special causes, in addition to economic conditions, 

 have promoted the discontent of the American farmer. 



I. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RELATIVE INCREASE OF 

 RURAL AND URBAN POPULATIONS 



No fact of our time is more noteworthy than the rapid multipli- 

 cation and concentration of population in cities. The census of 

 1790 showed that in the United States 3.35 per cent of the popu- 

 lation lived in cities of 8000 or over, while in 1880 the percent- 

 age was 22.57, snd in 1890 it had risen to 29.2. F'rom 1880 to 

 1890, while the whole population gained 24.86 per cent, that of 

 cities increased 61 per cent, and the farming population 15 per 

 cent. Of every 100 increase of population during the same decade 

 only an average of 33 made their homes in the country and in 

 villages of less than 1000 inhabitants ; the other Gy resided in 

 centers of population of 1000 or over. Thus, during the first 

 century of our national life, the proportion of the population sub- 

 ject to the conditions of urban life increased from one-thirtieth 

 to almost one-third. 



Such facts are pointed to by some as evidence that American 

 agriculture is unprofitable and in process of decline. That such a 

 conclusion is necessary, however, does not follow. In every pro- 

 gressive society where the forces of nature have been substituted 

 for those of man, a similar movement of population is taking 

 place. A distinguished writer has said : " The nineteenth century 

 is closing upon a race that is destined, for the great majority, to 

 live in cities, or under conditions more or less strictly urban." In 

 no country have city populations made more phenomenal gains 

 within recent years than in Germany. Berlin, for example, was in 

 1 894 three times as large as in 1 860 ; and although behind New 



