Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-09-16
DECLINING STATUS
OF AGR|CUL TURE
j. J. HILL UTTERS WARNING OF
NATIONAL DISASTER
IMPENDING.
URBAN POPULATION RISEN FROM
"a PER CENT I'M 1890 TO
81 IN 1900.

Chicago, Sept. 15.-Speaking yester-
day before the convention of Ameri-
can bankers James ]. Hill discussed
National Wealth and the Farm and
uttered warning that unless this ma
ton increases its agricultural popu-
latiCn and its product disaster awaits.
Mr.. Hill said the farm is our main
reliance and that every o.her ac-
tiVity depends on that. He asserted,
however, that the majority of people
fail to realize practically the declin-
ing status Of agriculture in the coun-
try. They are misled by the Stats
tics Of farm values and products,
mounting annually by great leaps,
into thinking that this absolute in
crease implies a relative advance OF
this industry as compared with
others" said he. Exactly the oppo-
site is the case. l refer not merely to
the quality and results Of our tillage,
but to the setting Of the human tide
away from the cultivated field and to-
ward the factory gate or the city
slum. This is some hing whose conse-
Quences for evil are as certain as if
the aggregate deposits in all the
banks Of this country were decreas-
ing by a fixed percentage every ten
years, while their loans were increas-
ing by another percentage just as sta
Bile. You would know what catastro-
phe that assured by and by.
1T means the same thing, in kind
and conse4 uences, when the agricuItu-
raj population, the producers and de-
pOsitOrs in the great national treas
ury Of wealth, is declining year by
year. while the city population, which
thrives only by drawing drafts upon
the land and cannO- live a year after
these cease to be hOnOred, rises at its
expense. Yet not only is such a cri-
sis approaching, but it is being has
tened by legislative stimulation in IA
vor Of other industries while over
looking this.
In 1890" said Mr.. Hill, only
about "a per cent OF the American
people lived in towns At the time
Of the civil war the percentage had
risen to 16. In 1900 more than 81
per cent of our population was urban.
The change is pOrtentous; and there
is no doubt that the coming census
VIII show it to have proceeded in the
last ten years with accelerated speed.
In spite of the warnings Of ecOno-
mists, the ameIioration of farm life,
the opening Of new md attractive en-
plOyment on the land through the
spread of irrigation and the growth Of
the fruit industry, the encouragement
of public men and the wider dissent
nation Of agricultural education, the
percentage of our population who
work on the farm constantly declines.
If that proceeds too far, it is as ii
dry-rOt had eaten through the timbers
supporting some great structure. We
should consider now the change &C
cOmplished and that impending.
with our annual increase of over
is per cent in population from natu-
raj causes, and immigration that has
not been less than thTee-quarterS OF a
million any year since 1902, there will
be from two to two and half mil
lion more mouths to feed every year.
Having in view this increase in pOpu-
IatfOn. the declining average yield per
acre of cultivated land in the United
States after it has been farmed for
few years, the rise of per capita con-
sumption with higher cost of living
and the movement of the working
population away from the land, the
time is now approaching when we
shall not only cease to be a wheat
selling nation, but viii find it neces-
sary to import a portion Of what we
consume.
Our foreign trade in the past has
rested mainly on our exports OF
products drawn from the earth di-