RURAL MIGRATION 



23 



largely the result of the railroad, the reaper, the traction 

 engine, electricity, scientific agriculture, and factory 

 machinery. 



There is little in the present trend of rural population 

 to occasion alarm. The cry "Back to the farm," or even 

 " Stay on the farm," indicates an uneasiness for which 

 there is little warrant. Young farmers who show pecul- 

 iar aptitudes for other occupations can serve their day 

 better by leaving the farm for the city than by staying 

 at home. Thousands of acres of poor farm land can best 



A MODERN HOMESTEAD. 



be " abandoned." The railroads have made the New York 

 City market more accessible to the Kansas farmer than 

 it was to the Massachusetts farmer a century ago. The 

 difference in freight rates from those two widely separated 

 states to New York City is less than the difference in the 

 cost of producing some farm crops on the hill slopes of 

 Massachusetts and on the Kansas prairies. Farming is a 

 business, and cannot long be run at a loss due to compe- 

 tition with better land, with better machinery, or with 

 better market facilities. 



Most farmers are beginning to understand the adapta- 



