28 ADDRESSES 



FINANCING THE FARM. 



BY HON. MYRON T. HERRICK, 

 Cleveland,, Ohio. 



The division of industry that occupies the most important position in rela- 

 tion to the welfare of all the people, is the cultivation of the soil. Agriculture 

 is the basic vocation. The stability of national life largely depends on the exist- 

 ence of a sound agricultural development. The history of the older countries 

 of the world shows that there have been recurring movements of the people to 

 and from the soil. History also teaches that the periods, of greatest prosperity 

 in those countries have been co-existent with the movements back to the soil, 

 away from the centers of population. The rise and fall of many nations and 

 civilizations can be traced in the growth and decline of agricultural interests. 

 As these nations grew rich and powerful, the pick of the people, lured by the 

 glamor of urban life, deserted the country, and the cultivation of the soil was 

 left to the incompetent and the slothful. Within the cities, luxury at one extreme 

 and want at the other, gradually undermined the moral, intellectual and physical 

 fibre of the people. The result was that these nations, 1-acking transforming 

 energy and the stamina for successful resistance, gave way before barbarians 

 or other nations with a civilization less advanced, but more virile. The pressure 

 of population in the cities of this country is making the struggle for existence, 

 by a large proportion of the people, severe and uncertain, and destructive of in- 

 dustrial efficiency and of a proper civic consciousness. Want and misery are 

 inimical to the success of a democracy. The overcrowding in our cities is pro-, 

 ducing a large class of people, whose low moral 'and intellectual standards make 

 them unfit for citizenship. It is the existence of this class in increasing numbers 

 that makes it more and more difficult for us to assimilate the foreigners -that 

 immigrate ,to this country. 



That our cities are devastating the farms is emphasized in the last census 

 reports. Unless the cities re-people and regenerate the farms, the cities will 

 suffer for the want of food and for the want of strong men. The brain of the 

 city, like its food, is produced in the country. There is a growing appreciation of 

 the fact that the future material and political progress of the United States largely 

 depends upon turning the trend of population from the cities to the country. It 

 also is realized that to be permanent and of the greatest utility, this movement 

 must be accompanied by a very great improvement in the methods of cultivating 

 the soil, and a very decided increase in the number of farms that are cultivated 

 by owners. 



Since the Civil War we have bent .our energies, with unparalleled success, 

 to the building up of our "infant industries." It is now time to turn some of the 

 milk that has stimulated the "infant industries" to the nourishment of senile agri- 

 culture. We have neglected the farm; we have emulated England in our race 

 for commercial supremacy. We have not taken heed of the example of France, 

 Germany and other European countries that 'have recognized the importance of 

 the equal development of manufacturing and agriculture. The contest with the 

 old world for the market for manufactured products, on account of the vast 

 prizes to be gained, has drawn away from the land a preponderance of the best 

 intellect of America, until we now find that the production of foodstuffs in the 

 United States 'is not increasing as rapidly as the population. From 1900 to 1910 

 the population of the United States increased 21% but the number of farms did 

 not grow as rapidly. In 1900, the number of farms was 5,737,372, and in 1910, 

 6,340,357, an increase of 10i%. For the whole United States this is the lowest 



