.'68 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



June, 1921. 



lie knoAOi, as tlie Great War intervened, and by stretch- 

 ing the systi'ni of paper eredit to the breaking point, 

 put a stop to any further building of railways and fac- 

 tories, financed by drafts on potential future profits, 

 if, indeed, it did not render tlie present railways and 

 factories incapable of continuance on the existinu- 

 scale. 



So far in retrospect. For the present, we have, the 

 world over, a condition of surplus latxa-, due, in Canada 

 at any rate, to the sudden cessation of employment of 

 tihe large portion of our population that has for a gen- 

 eration, directly or indirectly, been engaged in the 

 building of railways and the like, with paper capital, 

 plus those of the Western wheat miners whose market 

 has vanished owing to the impoverishment of Europe. 



We may, in the future, resume the march, and see 

 M'heatfields stretching to the Arctic Circle. For the 

 present, if tliis country is to continue as an organized 

 community, immediate steps must be taken to absorb 

 into the genuine industry of mixed farming the uneni- 

 ploj-ed of the city, as soon as these men realize their 

 acute need of employment, and have exhausted poli- 

 tical and other channels of effort in the direction of 

 avoiding the necessity of seeking it from the present 

 owners of land. 



Two great objections present themselves. The ques- 

 tion as to tvhe ability of owners of land to obtain a jji-of it 

 from the labor of these generally inexperienced work- 

 ers, especially in a time when the markets for com- 

 modities ai'c already shrinking, is one. This subject 

 needs a moi'C extended treatment than can be given at 

 tliis moment, Init it maj' be pointed out that the law 

 that labor applied to the land will suffice to do more 

 than suppoi't the existence of the laborer, reduces this 

 problem to the much simpler one of finding a means 

 whereby the farmer, in his absence of an urban market, 

 may avail himself of the surplus labor of his employee, 

 and tliat this problem has lieen solved successfully 

 throughout the history of the world. The further ques- 

 tion of how will tlie owner of land obtain tlie capital 

 necessary to enable him to finance the additional labor, 

 and their equipment until such time as the first re- 

 turns of their labor become available, is the sid)ject of 

 this article. 



This, especially in the present condition of Canadian 

 agriculture, is indeed a problem. It cannot very w-ell be 

 done by the same means that provides the capital for 

 our commercial operations, firstly, because, as has 

 already been stated, the system of credit that provides 

 that capital is greatly strained already, and secondly, 

 because that system requires much quicker returns 

 than can be offered by the farmer who wi.shes to obtain 

 money to build a cottage for a laborer, whose labor will 

 not return any tangible profit for some years, or who 

 desires to spread phosphates for a result two years 

 away. It cannot be accomplished by governmental 

 action, a.s we have already plenty of experience in this 

 country as to the impossil)ility of a government under- 

 taking to successfully substitute public for private 

 enterprise. 



The present credit system would i)rovide enough long 

 term capital to accomi)lisii a small jioition of the task, 

 were it not for the fact tliat the tradition of Canadian 

 agriculture, owing to high labor values, and low, or 

 non-existent returns from investment in land, is to 

 regard farming as an occupation for individual oper- 

 ators on their own land, and for them only. This fea- 

 ture, largelv fostered by the earnest attpm])t of every 



government to educate every farmer into a successful 

 wage-earner will also operate very severely to prevent 

 the present owners of land from realizing their oppor- 

 tunity and their duty in the nuitter of l)econiing em- 

 ployers of labor on a scale sufficiently large to absorb 

 the iiresent surplus, and should be corabatted in every 

 way by those who wcjuld solve the problem. 



Capital for such long term ojierations can oidy be 

 provided by the landowners tliemselves, and it is pre- 

 cisely here that we can find the only surplus source 

 of credit for the creation of nionej' that can be tapped 

 to-day — the value of the land. 



After deducting the mortgages against the lauds of 

 Eastern Canada, there remains a great value, the pro- 

 perty of the land ownei-s, enough to finance the transfer 

 of our total surplus city population to the land, and of 

 a practically unlimited number of desirable immigrants 

 as well. The problem of organizing this value into a 

 form ready for employment, in the form of money, is 

 not one to be solved by any general method of land 

 banks or farm credits. It will automatically solve it- 

 self, as soon as the owners of land realize the possibility 

 of using their land, and the labor that is fast becoming 

 available, to their own profit, regardless of the course 

 of citv demand for farm commodities. 



The activities of our governments in tlie direction of 

 improving agriculture have given rise to many very 

 fallacious ideas, and to some actual abuses. One un- 

 adulterated good has resulted — the creation of a body 

 of trained technical students of agriculture, who would 

 otherwise, doulitlcss, have drifted into other branches 

 of applied science. Is it too much to hope that these 

 men will devote their energies to the great and immin- 

 ent question of solving the difficulties that seem to 

 prevent the farmer from seizing his opportunity, and 

 facing his duty, of absorbing the fast increasing sur- 

 ])his of labor in the country? 



The landowner will soon find a means of creating 

 the money with which to finance the movement. What 

 he needs to-day is a little less advice as to the kind of 

 livestock and crops to use, and a little more instruc- 

 tion as to the possibility of successfully using his laud 

 to support directly the men who have, for some time 

 past, been supported indirectly by it. in the cities of the 

 country. 



Political history teaches us that that country is ever 

 happiest in which the greatest jiroiiortion of the people 

 draw their life most directly from the soil. This Dom- 

 inion is wealthy enough in natural resources to supjiort 

 many times its present population, yet riotous mobs 

 recently invaded eating houses in our greatest city, 

 pleading starvation for lack of work. 



The problem of the return to the land has been vainl.v 

 approached by many states, ever since Rome fell, be- 

 cause her agriculture had declined; it cannot, because 

 of the impossibility of realizing the vision of the 

 social dreamers, be solved by governmental action. The 

 only man who can attract labor to the land is the land- 

 owner, and by the offer of a better living than can be 

 obtained elsewhere for the same effort. This has not 

 been possible in Canada for a generation. It appears 

 to be almost jiossible to-day. It will be a national 

 tragedy if the landowner cannot cease for a while to 

 think of the details of agriculture, and devote himself 

 to the solution of its main i)rol)lem — the maintenance 

 ijf human life on the earth. 



P. C. ARMSTRONG, Sweet.sburg, P. Q. 



