The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-11-25
RELATION OF x
COUNTRY TO CITY

Some OF the statistics collected under
the census OF 1900 have been analysed
by Walter Wellman and embodied In
a recent article in McClure's Magazine
IN an article entitled '-The Rise Of the
American City" At the close Of the
article he considers the relationship
OF city and country and their depend
ence upon each other. He says:
There is in some quarters an i'm
preston that the cities Of the United
States are swallowing up the country;
that the farming population has ceased
to multiply. that all the farmers sons
and daughters are running away 70
town to work in factories and 60 10
picnics on trolley cars. Il Is not 80.
Every census shows a steady growth
Of the rural population and a pretty
steady. wholesome growth It Is. At the
end Of the century there are nearly ten
times as many people in the rural dis
tricts as at its beginning, and more
than three times as many as at the
mid-century enumeration Of 1850 IL
Is indeed a country Of phenomenal
growth that can show such high
rate OF gain in both urban centers and
the rural field. Labor saving ma
chinery and improved processes have
been working their magic in country
as well as in city. Forty years ago the
time Of human labor required on an
average TO produce one bushel Of corn
was four hours and thirty-four min
utes; now It IS forty-one minutes. The
cost Of the human labor TO produce
this bushe has declined from thirty
five aud three-quarter cents 70 ten and
one-haif cents It IS one Of the mar
vels Of the age that today the amount
Of human labor required to produce a
bushel Of wheat, from beginning 20
end Is. on an average, only ten min
utes. whereas Ia 1850 the time was
three hours. The cost Of the human
labor required to produce this bushel
Of wheat has declined from seventeen
and three-quarter cents to three and
one-third cents. Forty years ago when
men moved the grass with scythes,
spread It and turned Il over for dry
ing with pitchforks, raked It into
windrows with a hand rake, cooked II
with a pitchfork, and baled It with a
hand press the time Of human labor
required per ton of hay was thirty
five and one-half hours: now with
horse mowers, horse-rakes, and horse
presses, tho human labor required per
ton IS eleven hours and thirty-four
minutes; the labor cost has fallen from
$500 to sl29 per ton. The economic
results Of the use OF improved ma
chinery upon the farm might be Illus
trated by similar citations as to all
the crops which the country produces.
In 1850 the rural population
Of the United States was TO-
600 600 In 1900, according 20 the face
Of the returns, it is $4,000 900. II We
eliminate the 100000 Of people who
live in towns and villages Of between
1000 and 1000 population, very lew Of
whom are engaged in agriculture, only
a., 900 900 will be left-a truer meas
ure. In other words the rural popula-
ton has a little more than doubled in
the half century. Yet note the vastly
greater output OF the farms Of 1900
compared with those OF 1850; Corn
four times as much; wheat, six times
to eight times as much; cotton eight
times as much; wool, six times as
much; hay. pork, beef, mutton. chick
ems, eggs, butter, twenty to one hun
dred times as much The number Of
farm workers ha' only doubled; the
quantity and value OF farm produce
have been multiplied by twenty. Now
we know why so many men can be
spared from the farm to 60 from the
farm to the factory without interfer-
ing with national prosperity: here We
discover how 1t is that the cities Of
America can multiply by ten IN the
same half century chat the farming
community is multiplying by two and
that without any false proportions or
insecure foundations for the great In
dustrinl structures TO stand upon"