SOME ECONOMIC INTERESTS 151 



ducing and distributing agricultural products, the agricultural 

 people now perform a smaller part of the complete operations 

 than was the case formerly. For example, cheese was manu- 

 factured in the home; now it is a factory product. There is a 

 smaller proportion of meat slaughtered and cured on the farm 

 than formerly. Farmers perform a smaller part of the hauling 

 of farm produce to market because the railroads more thoroughly 

 cover the country. 



Many persons, in calling attention to the decreasing propor- 

 tion of the population living in rural districts, feel that this is a 

 national calamity. Indeed if it should happen that an increas- 

 ing proportion of our people were found on farms it would be a 

 sure sign that our agricultural people were losing their efficiency 

 and should be cause for alarm. If conditions in the United 

 States were similar to those in China there would be between 

 70 and 75 per cent, of the population engaged in agriculture 

 or dependent on it for their subsistence, whereas in the United 

 States in 1910, only 35 per cent, were so engaged. In other 

 words, the agricultural element in the population of the United 

 States is twice as efficient as the agricultural element in the 

 population of China, to say nothing of the difference in the 

 standards of living of the population of China and that of the 

 United States. 



The evidence of the fact that the agricultural element in the 

 population of the United States is becoming more efficient is 

 abundant. The per capita crop production based on total 

 population increased 30 per cent, between 1856 and 1915, while 

 the percentage that the males engaged in agriculture formed of 

 those engaged in all occupations decreased from 50 to 35 per 

 cent, in the last 30 years. In other words, we are producing 

 more crops per capita and use a smaller percentage of our total 

 population for the purpose. 



Thus it is evident that the reason for the decreasing per- 

 centage of all peoples found in rural districts and the migration 

 of young men and women from our farms, is that as the agri- 

 cultural element in the population becomes more efficient, a 

 smaller percentage of them is needed on farms and they have 

 to seek employment in the non-agricultural industries. 



The higher death rate, age for age, in urban districts depletes 



