88 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



race, of which there are, of course, many to be found. (6) Not 

 only is there more chance of friendly relief from fellow-country- 

 men, in case of necessity, in the cities, but public relief agencies 

 and private benevolences are much more available there than in 

 the country. (7) The excitement and novelty of American city 

 life is very attractive to many immigrants just as it is to 

 natives. Trolley cars, skyscrapers, and moving picture shows 

 are wonderfully alluring features. In fact, in addition to the 

 considerations which are peculiar to himself, the immigrant has 

 all the general incentives to seek the city, which operate upon the 

 general population, and which have produced so decided a change 

 in the distribution of population within the last few decades. 



IMMIGRATION AS A SOURCE OF FARM LABORERS 1 



JOHN LEE COULTER 



AGRICULTURE has so long been looked upon as the dumping- 

 ground of all surplus labor in case of city industries, of all 

 poverty-stricken persons in case of famines, and all revolutionary 

 individuals in case of disruption in European countries, that it 

 is hard to realize that we have reached the state where farming 

 in practically all of its branches requires a very high order of 

 intelligence and the capacity to grasp and use a great variety of 

 scientific facts. We may, therefore, say that, although it is true 

 that we need farm labor very much, as a relief for current im- 

 migration agricultural distribution is not promising. 



There are two great classes of immigrants that can find room 

 in various branches of the agricultural industry. The first class 

 is composed of those from overcrowded agricultural communities 

 in their home countries. On account of the high state of de- 

 velopment of their industry they can teach us much which we 

 have failed to take advantage of and which would result in the 

 uplift of many of the sub-industries in agriculture in this 

 country. These should be urged to bring with them their home 

 industries and introduce new phases of agriculture into this 

 country. The United States has been spending millions of 



i Adapted from Annals 33: 373-379, Jan.-June, 1909. 



