72 American Economic Association [870 



It is rare indeed that the farmer of the present day 

 cannot afford to send his children to school for at least 

 six months of each school year during the greater por- 

 tion of their school age. Our High Schools and Uni- 

 versities and especially our Agricultural Colleges which, 

 twenty years ago, were hardly known, except on paper, 1 

 furnish ample evidence both of the greater interest of 

 the fanning classes in higher education and of their fit- 

 ness for the higher lines of work. 



Whether we look to the external signs of comfort and 

 general welfare or to the character of the farm houses, 

 there appears overwhelming evidence of a great change 

 for the better with respect both to the dependent and 

 independent classes, 2 the greater advantage appearing, 

 however, to be in favor of the independent class. 



To ascribe these improved conditions to the introduc- 



of the day are not uncommon. . . . The attractiveness of our 

 rural communities is growing. The movement of the population 

 which has been so strongly toward the cities is now turning toward 

 the country. Improved highways and the extension of trolley lines 

 are bound to encourage this tendency. If formerly country people 

 have sought homes in the cities, it is evident that the people of to- 

 day are appreciating, as never before, that the country offers the 

 strongest inducements for the building up of homes where health and 

 the comforts of life can be enjoyed." Chas. S. Phelps : "Is there a 

 Decadence of New England Agriculture," in New Bug. Mag., Vol. 

 25, p. 382-3. 



1 Department of Agriculture, Year Book (1899), p. 173 



2 " But most have a false idea of farm life as it is to-day. The wife 

 need not be the drudge she was once. Bearings have shifted, things 

 are done differently, life runs smoother and better. More is accom- 

 plished with less wear of muscle and nerve. People work easier and 

 do more, have greater leisure for recreation and self-culture. Much 

 that the wife did formerly is provided for in other ways. . . . Ad- 

 vanced methods have made farming more profitable, easier indoors 

 and out, have carried to the thinly settled country most of the refin- 

 ing influences and many of the a Wantages of city life." Clarence E. 

 Blake : " Abandoned Farms as Homes for the Unemployed and City's 

 Poor," in New Eng. Mag. (N. S.), Vol. 24, p. 582. 



