THE PEOPLE OF THE FARM 



of Homespun," and the age of independence of rural 

 t';t in i lies. Trade was in its infancy. Each family supplied 

 most of its own needs. To-day (1915) Pennsylvania 

 manufactures about 2000 million yards of cloth, and all of 

 it is turned out from city factories that use costly and com- 

 plex machinery with little hand labor. 



In those early days when nearly all the cloth was woven 

 on the family loom, the sons and daughters of farmers could 



scarcely find work away 

 from home. And, on the 

 other hand, cities could 

 not grow, because, with 

 the simple farm tools of 

 that time, it took many 

 producers of food and 

 clothing to supply one 

 extra consumer. 



But machinery in- 

 creases production ; and 

 manufacturing machin- 

 ery is so costly that the 

 workers must come to- 

 gether to work in fac- 

 CYRUS H. MCCORMICK. . -p, ., oftn 



tones, trom 1820 to 



1850 (see table above) the cities of the United States 

 increased 83.1 per cent in population. This was the 

 period of their most rapid growth. This was also the 

 period when machinery first began to be extensively used. 

 Inventions applied to production and transportation were 

 multiplying rapidly. Woolen mills, cotton mills, and 

 furnaces sprang up. The invention of the steam loco- 

 motive made it possible to gather the raw materials 

 together and carry them to distant factories. The de- 

 mand for labor to operate the machinery grew apace. 



