The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-09-14

concerned that it shall not suffer los!
or decreases"
| Mr.. Hill declared that never yet
has enhanced cost of living, wher
due to agricultural decline and in
ability to supply national needs, fail
ed to end in national disaster.
Mr.. Hill said the farm is our MAR
reliance and that every other activity
depends on that. He asserted, how
ever that the majority of people fai
to realize practically the declining
status of agriculture in the country
They are misled by the statistics OF
farm values and products, mounting
annually by great leaps, into think
ing that this absolute increase implies
a relative advance of this industry
as compared with Others" said he
Exactly the opposite Is the case.
refer not merely to the quality and
results Of our tillage, but to the set
ting OF the human tide away from
the cultivated field ana toward the
factory gate or the city slum. This
Is something whose consequences for
evil are as certain as If the aggre-
gate deposits in all the banks of this
country were decreasing by another
percentage just as stable. You would
know what catastrophe that assured
by and by.
ut means the same thing, in kind
and consequences, when the agricul-
tural population, the producers and
depositors 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 can not live year after
these cease to be honored, rises at
its expense. Yet not only Is such q
crisis approaching, but 1t Is being
fastened by legislative stimulation
in favor of other industries while
overlooking this.
I'm 1890 only about ga per cent Of
the American people lived in towns
At the time of the Civil war the per-
centage had risen to 16. In 1900
more than 81 per cent Of our popu-
lation was urban. The change is
portentous, and there is no doubt
that the coming census will show it
to have proceeded in the last ten
years with accelerated speed. In spite
of the warnings of economists, the
amelioration of farm life, the open
ing of new and attractive employ
ment on the land through the spread
of irrigation and the growth of the
fruit industry, the encouragement Of
public men and the wider dissemina-
ton Of agricultural education, the
percentage Of our population who
work on the farm constantly declines.
If that proceeds too far, 1t is as If
dry-rot had eaten through the tim
bers supporting some great structure.
We should consider now the change
accomplished and that impending.
with our annual increase of over
Is per cent in population from nat
ural causes, and immigration that
has not been less than three-quarters
of a million any year since 1902,
there will be from two to two and a
half million more mouths to feed
every year. Having in view this in
crease in population, 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 consumption with
higher cost of living and the move
ment of the working population away
from the land, the time Is now ap-
preaching when we shall not only
cease to be a wheat-selling nation,
but will find 1t necessary to import
portion of what we consume.
"Our foreign trade in the past has
rested mainly on our exports of pro-
ducts drawn from the earth direct
ly, or only once removed. Our man
ufactures for export are to a large
extent natural products subjected to-
few simple processes. How are we
to meet the immense trade balances
against US. how prevent financial
storms Of frequent occurrence and
destructive force; how feed the COM
Ing millions, If the farmer, who pays
mosto the bills, has retired to the
city or the country town In order
that his children may the better en-
Joy their automobiles and enter into
the delights of the social gamer"
"a stationary or declining product,
soil becoming annually less pro-
ductive, a revolt against the life Of