Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-10-19

] lulllEo ultIll 70 praise dEElGulLuEet llOl
to fiatter those engaged in IL. / have
not sinned against the rule which Mr.
I Greeley lately laid down for occasions
like this. have only been trying tC
measure the interest which you rep
resent. It's magnitude is stupendOus
and the results you have hitherto
/ achieved are wonderful. Will they
continue and increase2 This is the
| greatest question that can be asked Ol
answered in regard to your work. In
/ its discussion, / may not give you
much aid. 1 have not sufficient
knowledge for that; but l promise
will at least give you trouble, and such
trouble as may lead you to seek and
nnd way out Of it.
do not fear being called an alar'
mist when say that a most seriou;
/ crisis Is close at hand in the agricul'
| tural life ana prosperity of the cOun-
Z Try Some elements which have
Z greatly aided it in the past are now
about to disappear.
/. The vegetable mould. the rich
/ gift Of unnumbered centuries, is near.
I ly exhausted. You have drawn on
that bank till your credit is gone
The earth will no longer honor your
drafts till you increase your deposits.
/ The wheat center, for example, is rap
IDLY travelling westward. In 1850 the
six New England states produced but
eleven quarts per head-enOugh 10
feed their people three weeks, New
York enough to feed her people six
months, Pennsylvania no surplus
From 1880 to 1850, in the five middle
states, the average product per acre
mad decreased more than thirty per
cent. Ohio now produces less than
eleven and half bushels per acre.
>. Cheap, fertile lands have become
very expensive, and twenty times
more capital is needed now than was
needed fifty years ago.
3. There is a wide spread spirit OF
speculation engendered by the war
and its financial effects.
As a result of these and other in
fiuences, the agricultural population
of the country is being divided into
two distinct classes-capitalists and
labOrers; owners of land and workers
ofland. The character of the pursuit
is so changed that the brightest and
most ambitious young men are rapid
ly leaving il for other more attractive
pursuits For many years the ten
dency of population has been from
the country to the city; but recently
this tendency has rapidly increased
1t began sooner in the old world than
here, aud has been the theme of much
discussion. 1t is said that three
tifths of the population Of London
over twenty years of age were born in
HHau~ A
says that cities are the graves Of the
human race-the country the cradle.
He shows that in the-agricultural dis
tricts of England the rate of annual
mortality is eighteen to each one
thousand Of the population, while in
the cities it is fOrty-twO to one thOus-
and.
As the census returns come in we
see how greatly the growth Of our
cities is overshadowing that of the
country. There is an actual falling
OF of population in most Of the pure
ly agricultural districts. In the twen-
ty-three cities of Massachusetts that
have more than ten thousand pOpula-
ton, the increase has been over forty
per cent. during the last decade, while
in the rest of the states there has been
a heavy decrease. This means that
small farms are being swallowed up
into larger ones, and humble homes
of late land owners have now become
the abodes of tenants, or the stables of
the more fortunate farmer. This pro-
cess has gone on in England until one
hundred and fifty men own half the
soil How far will it go on here
But I have not stated the most seri-
Gus matter yet. 1t has been stated
broadly and strongly in one of the
journals of this country, and though
do not endorse the article in all re-
spects, I will read a statement of the
case published more than a year ago.
I read from the New York Nation of
July 10Th, 1869:
Probably the most puzzling phe-
nomenOn of the day to the sociologist
is the growing tendency Of the pres
ent generation of native Americans
to abandon the country and crowd
into the towns, to engage in trade and
manufactures. The newspapers and
poets are all busy painting the de-
lights of the agricultural life; but the
farmer, though he reads these articles
and poems, quits the farm as soon as
he can find any other way Of making
a livelihood /; and if he does not his
son does.
1.-The European farmer and his
wife who do their own work are peas
ants that is, persons without knOwl-
edge, or ambition, or tastes, with few
desires above those of the OK in their
plow. The European farmers wife |
has no social aspirations, no silk dress, /
no piano, no monthly magazine, and |
no dreams or hopes Of genteel exist !
snce. She is a robust animal, who /
handles her pots and pans, and bends
over her Wash-tub, with thorough l
enjoyment of her work, and without /
q suspicion that she is capable Of any |
thing higher or better.
1.-THE problem which the native |
American farmer is trying to solve, |
is one which has never be- |
fore been attempted, namely, the in
fusing into the agricultural calling of
4 degree of culture and refinement /
only witnessed in towns
and class and never wit
messed among our farming population
1t all. In fact, he is trying to live,
while labOring with his hands, as
)nly superintendents of labor live in
lther countries. To say that the at
.empt was succeeding, or seems likely
% succeed, would be to fly in the face
If all the facts. There rises from
eveTy farm house, or at least from the
women of it, a vail Of discOntent-a
tory of shattered nerves, worn out
lonely, jOyless lives, which
ire made only the more unbearable
~ the glimpses which the literature
If the day gives of the ease, polish
md excitement Of city life, and he
5 a lucky farmer who gets his chill
iren to follow his calling one minute
onger than they can help it."
This grave allegation or announce
nent has been before the reading pub
ic more than year. I have waited
n vain for some answer to show that
he case is wholly misrepresented, or
It least greatly Overstated. But I
lave met no denial or explanation.
,Ir. Greeley is the devoted friend and
champion of agriculture, yet his re-
,ent chapters in farming are pastO-
al lamentations rather than TejOic-
ng Georges. The substance of this
rave declaration is that thoughtful
men begin to fear that the Ameri-
an experiment of making the farm
RS home the abode Of industrious,
refined, successful and
lappy citizens, is likely to prove a
allure; thst to make the experiment ,
uecessful there must be a class of
mere farm laborers, who are to have =
10 aspirations, 10 ambition, no edu-