g ADDRESSES 



Thus it is coming more and more to be a story of fat cities and lean country. 

 Must this be so necessarily and always J . 



The relative loss of population by the country threatens every business and 

 every interest. Land values decrease, other farmers move away, the young people 

 drift to the cities, stores and dwellings become vacant, schools and churches 

 dwindle, until finally all life and enterprise drop into decay. Witness the aban- 

 doned farms in Xew England and in Xew York; witness the rural schools with 

 their diminishing attendance; witness the pastorless churches in the country; 

 and. worst of all, witness the decay of manhood itself in some of our country 

 districts! 



This, I say, is the question of the hour. How shall we restore the balance 

 between the urban and the rural forces? Why have men nowhere worked out 

 a perfect relation between town and country? A fair adjustment must be found 

 before we can have a permanent, happy civilization. Is it not true that we 

 have developed the city civilization far beyond that of the country? Both are 

 necessary adjuncts of human life. '-'All political economy," Mr. Hill says, "rests 

 upon the ratio of population to land area, the abundance and value of the prod- 

 ucts of the soil, and the proper balance and inter-relation of different industries." 

 If this be true, surely our manufacturing and agricultural industries are out of 

 balance. Why Because, says Mr. Hill again? "We have been busy as a nation 

 helping the so-called industrial interests of the country in fact, everybody ex- 

 cept the man on the farm." Xo matter how high our culture may rise in its 

 various aspects, until a proper balance between the agricultural and the other 

 industries is established, civilization in America certainly cannot be perfected, 

 nor peace between the classes be long maintained. 



This ominous charge is not explained by any falling off in agricultural 

 production. The farmer is doing his work. Our total agricultural exports keep 

 up. We still hold our own in the w r orld's markets of the great staples. With 

 only 6 per cent of the world's population, we produce 45 per cent of the world's 

 wheat supply and this year 72 per cent of the world's cotton the greatest crop 

 ever produced. The American farmer's total contribution to the wealth of the 

 nation this year is nearly ten billions of dollars. The trouble is not with the 

 totals of production, but with the conditions and costs of production in relation 

 to prices. 



What, then, is the matter with agricultural production and why are farm 

 prices not satis factor}-? All prices are relative, and if the agricultural industry 

 drags in a given community, it is evident that there is something wrong either 

 with the conditions surrounding the farmer and his family, or with the costs 

 of what he sells, as compared with the prices of what he has to buy. What is 

 wrong? 



In the opinion of the best authorities, like the Country Life Commission-, 

 things are wrong, both with the conditions of rural life and with the farmer's 

 methods, his costs, and the rewards of his labors. Let us begin our study with 

 a consideration of the last of these,, the farmer's rewards, as compared with his 

 costs ; then take up his methods, and, finally, the surroundings of his life. 



In our opinion, one cause of country depopulation is the meager share the 

 farmer actually receives, or is allowed to keep, of the tremendous wealth he 

 produces. The cotton planter receives, we are told, a larger share of what the 

 consumer pays for his product than any other farmer he gets nearly 70 per 

 cent of the consumer's money. This is because cotton is handled in the farmer's 

 original package and passes directly through the hands of the fewest number 

 of middlemen to the manufacturers. The vegetable and fruit grower gets the 

 smallest part of the consumer's money only 20 per cent. The patient calcula- 

 tions of the agricultural expert? show that, upon an average-, the farmer gets 



