28 



READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



The agricultural situation of to-day is novel in many respects. 

 In previous trade cycles of the past forty years, agricultural con- 

 ditions in the West and the South have often tended to act as 



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drags upon the resources of the industrial and commercial centers 

 of the East. The farming population was poor and heavily 

 mortgaged. They had to work very largely on credit, and to wait 

 until the harvest before making the current year's expenditures. 

 They had not means sufficient to harvest their own crops, much 



