SHALL I BE A FARMER? 33 



machines, making one of the most important and most 

 dramatic revolutions of history. These machines so 

 increased the productive capacity of the farmer as to result 

 in great overproduction of crops. The proportion of the 

 population required for farming was suddenly decreased 

 so enormously that a rush to the cities was necessary. 

 But men could not go fast enough to keep the balance 

 between city and country. There were too many farmers ! 

 The overproduction was so serious that from 1875 to 1897 

 we had the most serious agricultural depression that the 

 country has ever experienced. As late as 1896, the 

 average price of corn on farms in Nebraska was 13 cents 

 per bushel of shelled corn. 1 The corn from my father's 

 farm, as good corn as ever grew, sold for 8 cents. In 1897, 

 the average price for this state was 17 cents. 1 The 

 Eastern farmers were even worse off. They had pur- 

 chased their farms at inflated prices, and not only worked 

 for almost nothing, but lost capital besides. 



All this time, great fortunes were being piled up in the 

 cities. The farm boys moved to town by the hundreds 

 of thousands, because the city offered good wages and 

 farming did not pay. This movement was the best possible 

 thing for the country, and, in the vast majority of cases, 

 was best for the individual. 



26. The remedy is automatic. When the balance 

 of society is thrown so far out of adjustment, the tendency 

 is to swing too far to the other extreme. The rush to the 

 city continued a little too long, but no back-to-the-farm 

 movement is necessary, or even desirable. A large pro- 

 portion of the farm boys are now remaining on the farm, 

 because it pays. It required only a few years of good 

 prices to check the rush to cities. A good index to the 

 1 U. S. Dept. Agr., 1897, Yearbook, p. 723. 



