THE PROBLEM OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 73 



reacts upon him, and this not merely, in an esoteric sense, but in the 

 dollars and cents which he pays out. What occurs on and about the 

 farm the farmer can see, understand, and hi some measure control. 

 What occurs elsewhere, however profoundly it may affect him, he 

 may never even hear of and can hardly influence at all. It is essential 

 that the farmer know more than he does of those distant forces, 

 because it is necessary that he adjust himself to conditions which he 

 cannot control. The farmer, for example, cannot control the opera- 

 tions of railroad magnates, the machinations of speculators on grain 

 exchanges, the rate of discount at the Bank of England, or the stand- 

 ard of life of the Indian ryot, but all these help to determine the price 

 he shall receive for his wheat and what he shall pay for the supplies 

 he needs. The intent of this book is to set him thinking more about 

 such things. 



The new farmer is primarily a business man. He is assumed to 

 know how to make crops grow, and usually he does. The main ques- 

 tion is whether he knows how to produce crops which will sell for more 

 than they have cost. If he cannot in the long run do this, his inevit- 

 able destiny is to become the servant of someone who knows how to 

 direct his labor to profitable results. Below this lies the problem as 

 to whether the majority of men possess the business ability requisite 

 to successful farming under modern conditions, and upon the answer 

 to this question depends the future of our rural civilization. If it be 

 decided in the affirmative, the race of independent small farmers will 

 continue; if in the negative, farm labor will come to be exploited by 

 able men conducting huge agricultural operations, just as mechanical 

 labor is now exploited by captains of industry. 



In this age the simple but independent life of the pioneer farmer 

 is no longer possible in America, nor, with our changed habits and 

 desires, would it be agreeable. It would involve a distinct lowering 

 of our present standard of comfort, which, with all our complaint, is 

 far higher than formerly, and would not result in the same content 

 and consequent survival which the same conditions formerly induced. 

 The impossibility of the life will be seen by any farmer who will trace 

 out what would happen should he attempt it. Doubtless the farmer 

 could produce more for his own consumption than he does, but, in the 

 main, under the changed conditions of modern life, he is compelled to 

 sell for money most of his products and buy for money most that he 

 consumes. The mechanical facilities of modern times have enor- 

 mously reduced the cost of production, and improved transportation 



