AGRICULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 473 



mouths in this city to feed, hundreds and thousands of acres of as fine farm 

 land as may be found on the Atlantic slope, have depreciated in value from 33 

 to 50 per cent. What do these startling facts and figures demonstrate ? They 

 do not disprove that, under ordinarily favorable conditions, a judicious diver- 

 sification in farm husbandry is most conducive to comfort, prosperity, and 

 success, but they do conclusively demonstrate that, with our present environ- 

 ments and surroundings, to adopt it as a factor ' essential to our agricultural 

 salvation ' would be to follow a fatal delusion. 



*' But, Mr. Chairman, there are other and still more serious and important 

 phases of this subject to be considered. 



" From 1870 to 1880 the number of farms in the United States, under 3 

 acres, decreased 38 per cent, while those of 100 to 500 acres increased 300 

 per cent. The number of farms of 3 to 10 acres decreased 21 per cent, 

 while those from 500 to 1000 acres increased 478 per cent. The number 

 of 10 to 20 acres decreased 13 per cent, while those of 1000 or more acres 

 increased 770 per cent. In 1880 we had 145,553 less farms under 50 acres 

 than we had in 1870, and yet our agricultural population had increased, during 

 that decade, 29 per cent. 



" To my mind, no more serious aspect of the situation, or of the downward 

 tendency of the times, can be found than is presented in these figures. They 

 stand as a strong witness to the fearful and deplorable truth that, through the 

 rapid congestion of wealth, enriching the few at the expense of the many, our 

 population is being rapidly resolved into two classes the extremely rich and 

 the extremely poor classes which, in all ages, have proven themselves to be 

 the weakest defenders of civil liberty. To the student of history, and to those 

 who have given thought to the theory of our government and the genius of our 

 free institutions, this rapid absorption of the small farms, and this rapid ex- 

 pansion of large landed estates, portends the sure approach of the crucial era 

 of our republican form of government. And when that day shall come, upon 

 whom will devolve the responsibility and task of preserving and perpetuating 

 the blessings of free government and of civil liberty, but the great conserva- 

 tive, patriotic middle class of our population? Will that people be pre- 

 pared to meet it? In seeking a true answer, we cannot turn a deaf ear to 

 the ominous declaration proclaimed in the following figures, which point un- 

 erringly the road which is strewn with the ruins of wrecked republics : 



" WEALTH OF THE UNITED STATES. 



1850. 

 Total value of taxed and untaxed property . $13,500,000,000 



Assessed value of property 5,275,000,000 



Of which the farmers were assessed . . . 4,500,000,000 



1860. 



Total value of taxed and untaxed property . $31,000,000,000 



Assessed value of property 12,000,000,000 



Of which the farmers were assessed . . . 10,500,000,000 



