FARM PROFITS AND WELFARE 65 



But the most alluring and the most dangerous as- 

 pect of this general statement about " these things tak- 

 ing care of themselves " is the idea that once a region 

 becomes prosperous, then automatically the people 

 themselves see to it that living conditions are improved 

 in proportion. Once more we may admit that a pov- 

 erty-stricken country simply cannot support a good 

 farm life. But the facts are that a rich country also 

 often fails to support a good farm life. Why do so 

 many " well-to-do " farmers move to " town "? As a 

 rule in order to have living advantages that they do not 

 have in the country. The very profits that should go 

 into improving local conditions go to rob the farm com- 

 munity. There are whole regions where the individual 

 farmers have grown rich and the farm life in the com- 

 munity where they made their wealth has grown 

 poorer. Is it not strange also, that we must devise 

 laws, and organizations, and systems of education to 

 help the farmer make a profit out of his business, but 

 that we don't need to help him in those matters of home 

 and community " uplift " because they " will take care 

 of themselves"? Why not let profit take care of 

 itself? Surely every farmer wants a profit. 



The economist, who is supposed not to be senti- 

 mental, but who is obliged to weigh the motives that 

 lead to wealth production, tells us that when men begin 

 to secure more than a bare subsistence, what they want 

 is likely to be the measure of what they get. " Greater 

 profits in agriculture depend upon standards or pros- 

 pective standards of living and comfort." If a farmer 

 has an automobile ambition instead of a buggy ambi- 

 tion, he makes his farm yield enough profit to enable 

 him to buy an automobile. The desire for a piano is 

 a stimulus to make the old farm buy a piano. If a com- 



