New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-05
home industry; although it has made nope
full beginning.
t(,v0USTRIdL REVOLUrTON.

of the country has not increased m nke pro-
portion. A large part of the increase IN num-
her of farms has been due to the division OF
great estates. Nor has this occurred, as some
NAV imagine. exclusively in the Southern
States and the States TO which immigration
and migration have recently been directed.
1t is an important fact that the multiplication
of farms has continued even In the oluer
Northern States, though the change mas no'
been as great in these as in States OF the Iar
West or the South. IN New York there mas
been an increase of $4,000, or Ito per cent,
in the number of farms since 1870; in New
Jersey the increase has been 12.2 per cent
and in PENNSYLVANIA 22.7 per cent, though the
increase in population, and doubtless III the
number of persons engaged in farming, mas oeen
much smaller Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, aiso'
have been considered fully settled States Tor
years, at least in an agricultural point OF view,
and vet the number of farms has Increased
26.1 per cent in ten years in Ohio, 2o.3 per
cent in Indiana, and 26.l per cent in Illinois.
The obvious explanation is that the
growth of many cities and towns
has created market for iar
greater supply of those products when
may be most advantageously grown upon lafuiS
of moderate size; but even If this fully ac-
counts for the phenomenon, the change must
be recognized as one of the highest lmpor-
lance industrially, socially and politically.
The man who owns or rents and cnltivates
farm stands on a very different footing from
the lab0rer who works for wages. 1t is not a
small matter that, in these six States alone,
there are 2O5, 900 more owners or managers
of farms than there were only decade ago.
As we go further toward the border, west OF
north, the influence of the settlement OF new
land is more distinctly felt. Even III Mlcn-
gan, where new railroads have opened new
regions to settlement, the increase IN number
of farms has been over 80 per cent In WIZ
cOnsin, though the increase in railroad nile
age has been about the same as in Michigan,
the reported increase in number of farms has
been only % per cent, but in Iowa it rises to
60 per cent, and in Minnesota to nearly 100
per cent. In Kansas the number of farms is
13s.5G1, against $4,000 in 1870; i'll Nc
braska IS, 1857, against 12,301; and III Da-
kota II, 435, against 1,72O. In these regions
the process is one of creation of new States
rather than "a change in the social and indus
trial condition of the population.
Some Southern States have gained largely,
but the increase in these, though very great,
is less surprising than in the new States OF
the Northwest. The prevailing tendency OF
Southern agriculture to large farms and the
employment of many hands is especially felt
in States where land is still abundant. The
greatest increase is in Texas where ia, lS4
farms are reported, against CLIPS in 1870;
in Florida, with 23, 43s farms, against 1924
in 1870 and in Arkansas, with "a, 433 farms,
against 40, 424 in 1870. In Missouri 215,oIo
farms are reported, against 14S,22S III 1870
In these States. though social changes have
been great the increase in number OF farms
has been largely due to new settlements, as III
the States of the far Northwest But the
change i'm the older Southern States Is Of a
different character.
Virginia, for example, has long been settled,
and had 1900 farms thirty years ago. But
the increase in number within the past ten
years has been 44.66S, OF 6O.5 per cent
Contrasting this with the increase III New
York, q remarkable difference appears. West
Virginia had few more farms ten years ago
than Newt ersey now it has nearly twice as
many, and has gained Ill number nearly 90
Der cent North Carolina, too, has increased
IS per cent in number OF farms since
1870 and South Carolina so per cent. In
Georgia the Increase has been still greater
from 1886 to 1873, G26, or nearly 100 per
cent. In Alabama there are 1875, 1854 farms,
against 67,3S2 in 1870. an increase of over
100 per cent These proportions, contrasted
with those for the older Northern States re-
veal n change that is nothing less than an in
dustrial revolution. But the force OF this ten
dency TO division of estates has been greatest
in the States named Whereas the ratio of in
crease in number of farms becomes greater in
Northern States as we go from the East toward
| the Mississippi River, at the South 1t is much
| smaller in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi
and Louisiana than in the older States on the
| Atlantic coast Thus in Louisiana the increase
| has been from 2S, 4S1 TO 1922 farms, or 20
per cent and in Mississippi from 6s,023
to 1Ol,772 farms, or less than 80 per
cent, against 100 in Alabama and Georgia.
| In Kentucky the increase has been from Is, 422
| TO 1876, 453 farms, or 10 per cent, and in Ten
nessee from us, 141 to 165,650 farms, or 40
per cent, against 60 in Virginia and West Yir-
| GINA, and rs in North Carolina. Thus, while
the tendency to division is far greater than in
| the Northern States of corresponding age, 1t is
| found in full force only in SIX of the older
Southern States Alabama, West Virginia and
four on the Atlantic coast. In these, the revo-
luton already effected foreshadows and will
almost certainly bring about important politi-
cal changes within few years. In these six
States there are 310,795 more farm owners OF
occupants than there were ten years ago.
|