1 
Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co. 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York 
The Rural New Yorker 
The Business Farmer’s Paper 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
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VoL. LXXVI. NEW YOHK. NOVEMr.l'iU 17. 1017. Xo. 4-i.5(!. 
The Factory System in Farming 
What it Would Mean to America 
N the tissue of the “Outlook” for Oot. is an 
larticle by Tlieodoro it. Price eutitled “The 
Iiulu.strial Iteorcanization of Agriculture.” ilr. Price 
advocates tlie cxdtivatiou )>y tvealtliy lueii of large 
tracks of land by methods similiar to those prevail¬ 
ing in factoi'ies—i.o., ))y large numbers of laborers 
Avorking eight hours a d:ty. It seems to me that 
if Mr. Price Avere plotting the extinction of the 
farmers as an lnd(‘i>endent land-owning class he 
could not hit ui)on a ladter scheme. Any Avide- 
spread competition of this sort Avoidd soon driA'e the 
small farmer out of business, just as the trusts 
and corporations have very largely elinunated the 
small manufacturer. It at once recalled to iny 
mind the ]n-ediction in your book “The Child” that 
tlie da.v miglit come Avhen agrictdture Avould be con¬ 
ducted by large corporations and the small farmer 
bo di-iven out. 
It is diflicadt for me to imagine a worse catastro- 
]»hy for the Jiation. INIuch as I detest iTussianism 
ii: all its forms, yet 1 do not fear it as much as I 
should such a condition. The elimination of the 
and littlo shop.s at OA'cry Avator i>OAver. They hiive all 
l)een_ taken away, absorbed by the great manufacturers. 
In like manner Avill come the tende!icy for great cor¬ 
porations and for the great railroad companies to take 
np land and produce food, on a large alid cbld-hlooded 
jilan. Ily cold-blooded I mean that farming will be done 
by stu'h people Avith as little regard for sentiment and 
home feeling, as cloth is now i)ro<lneed in our great fac¬ 
tories. The only Avay that I .see for our fanners to 
stand up again.st this in the future i.s for them to form 
organizations in which they can Avork together and still 
preserve their manliood and individual character. I 
need not tell you Avhat it Avill mean for the children noAV 
growing up on tlie farms, should tlie time come Avlien by 
no-ans of tlie lower classes of foreign labor the rail- 
r.iiids and great cor])oratioiis are able to produce food 
Avhich our cities Avill call for.” 
'I’lie plan (»f producing food on tlie factor.v sy.stem 
Avould kill tlie l>ost iu American life—tlie lust resort 
of true seutimeiit and old-rime iiomel.v viitue. That 
is tiie farm h*>me. It is hard to make our younger 
generation believe or understand it. hut tlie develop¬ 
ment of manufacturing iu Xcav Kuglaud lia.s made 
that section faiuilously rich iu concentrated money, 
but As'eaker ami pooi'or iu moral iioAver and seuti- 
mont. Pefore the Civil "War, New Eiiglaml dominat¬ 
ed the nation iu thought and iu literature, and iu 
high example. It has lost tliat domination largely 
tiirn'igh a loss of respect for and ridiance upon tlie 
saries, sending their earnings “home” to Europe, and 
even going temporarily “home” tliemselve.s in time of 
shut-down. So they created no' doAA’n-town mercantile 
A iilne to tax. The center of the place looked like a back- 
Avard village, most of the outer circles like a slum. 
Compare this condition of things Avith tlie old 
day.s Aviien good.s A\-ere made by farm-raised boys 
and girls in factories or in farm homes by tlie farm 
families. You aaTII then be able to realize Aviiat 
AA'onld happen to agriculture throiigh the application 
of such a system. Tliere could be no surer or quicker 
AA'ay of drlA'ing out of existence the nm.s.t dcpondaiile 
and'.safest memiier of American societ.A-—tlie small 
freeholder or fanner. James W. Gei*ard, iu his 
remarkable liook. “My Eour Years in Corniany,” 
shoAvs very clearly Iioav the German systmu of farm¬ 
ing large tracts Avitli cheap labor has degraded farm 
labor and made it possible for a .small class to rule 
tlie nation. 
Measuring the Power of a Stream 
I luiA-e tiie Avater rights to a stream that i.>j oi feet 
acro.ss at the point AV'here I wish, to put a dam. an 
average depth of eight inches and running A’cry fast. I 
have the right to put in a (J-ft. dam, but there are banks 
iiigh eiunigh to raise it to nine feet or l>etter. I Avish to 
know how to get the speed of the Avater, and iiow to 
A Summer Day in the Woodland Pasture. Fig. 600 
laiid-OAvning agriciiliural class would pr.ictically 
mean (lie di.sajqiea ranee of tlie middle class, and 
virtuall.v divide our i>0])ulation into tAVO classe.s— 
cajiitalists and Avorkers. P.efoi’e some of our zealous 
reformer.s try to eradicate the small farmer they 
Avould better look to our present archaic scheme of 
ijistributiou of agricultural pnxluct.s, tind elimiuate 
some of tliose who take toll lietAveen the producer 
and consumer. It seems to me tliat tiiis i.s u matter 
of suflieieiit importance for discussion in The li. 
X.-Y. A. n. KOHEKTS. 
It. X.-Y.—It i.s —one of tlie most important quest- 
ioms now" presential to our farmers. In tlie liook 
referred to a cit.A" laAv.v':‘r Avrote a letter to a farmer 
aaTio Avas trying to organize a small co-operative 
company:— 
“Tlio farinors must have a fairer share of wliat they 
produce, and something more of the biisines.s of niami- 
facturing or preparing Avhat they grow, or the drift 
AA’ill be iiioro and more into the towu.s and cities. That 
means loAver values for farm lands and u loAver standard 
of living, or else going into debt for a better one, and 
in the end .serfs or .slaves, one or the other. In the end 
tiie individual farmer Avill find that he cannot compete 
Avith the big combinatioii.s of capit.al AA'heii they turn 
tlieir attention to producing food. Y’ou and I can re- 
menibor when the hills Avere full of little factories. 
sim’ple and strong life of tlio farm home. Most of 
our tliinker.s and reformers cannot .seem to grasp tlie 
real facts about farm life. It has been possible to 
concentrate the business of manufacturing goods 
into great estalilishments iu toAATi and city, and 
therefore the ocoiiumist thinks the same thing can 
he done W'ith farming. 
In a recent book entitled “Arc We Chipable of Goa*- 
orniiig fdirstdA'es,” the author, Frank W. Nixon, dis¬ 
cusses the clianges Avhicii have occurreil in Xew* 
England, lie tells this story of a cit.v in which the 
factory system has been fully developed: 
You A'isired a Xcw EuglaiuTtc.xtile city, Tlie grade of 
goods Avas not high; tlie skill demanded of the operatiA'e 
little: the percentage of foreigii-born, mostly Southern 
and Eastern Europeans. oA'crwlielming; the growth of 
pojuilation at a rate twice the average of other cities at 
recent censuses. Quantity, not quality. Tlie superin¬ 
tendent of schools was engaged uiiou a petition to the 
legislature for permission to exceed the debt limit in 
■order to build a higli sciiool. “Wliy not take it out of 
the tax levy?” you asked. “Xothiug to tax,” aa’Us his 
reply. “And AvhyV” you persisted. “You have the 
fa.stest-growing city in the Avorld." lie told you lA'hy. 
T’hese mill-liands Avere huddled together iu tiats. man.v 
to a room. Hence per capita they produced little resi¬ 
dential A'alue to be assessed. They “scAved tlie children 
up for the Winter,” and otherwise skimped on pur¬ 
chases, whether for clothing, food, or household necos- 
get tlie liorsppower that can l>c developed. Tlii.s i.s locat¬ 
ed ill Virginia, and I should like to know how I could 
get the right from the State to raise tlu' dam up a.s liigh 
as the banks Avill allow. c. l'. 
Hives, Mich. . 
When determining the horse-po-wor iliat a stnuim 
Avill develop, three things are necossar.v 1o h<‘ kiKwn : 
The head or total fall in feet, tlie velocity in feet 
per minute, and the area of a cross section of the 
stream. These are neces.sary to liiid the number of 
cubic feet of Avator floAving iiast a given point in a 
minute. This. Avheu multiplied by <12.5 (the approx¬ 
imate Aveight of a cubic foot of AA'arcn, Avill gmi 
the total Avciglit of Avater passing tiic given point 
per minute, and tliis prodm't, Avheii multiplied by 
the total fall in feet, Avill give the numlier of foot 
pounds that the stream is capalde of doing iK'r min¬ 
ute. A liorse-poAvcr is tlie rate of work ivqiiii-ed to 
raise 3.”..<X)0 iiounds one foot, high in one minute, or 
the aldlity to do work at the rate of r>3,0(j<) foot 
pounds per minute. Hence, it follows tliat the 
quotient obtained b.v divisiou of the above product 
by 33,00<) Avill equal tlie theoretical horse-poAver of 
the stream. 
The velocity can be determine'! closely enough for 
