The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-10-20
THE CRISIS IN RURAL LIFE.

THE CRISIS IN RURAL LIFE.
One hundred and twenty-four years
ago Thomas Jefferson, writing to John
Jay from Paris, said: "Cultivators Of
the earth are the most valuable citi-
zens. They are the most vigorous,
the most independent, the most vir-
tuous, and they are tied to their coun-
try and welded to it's liberty and in
terests by the most lasting bonds
And thirty-one years later, in letter
to Crawford, he declared that "the
agricultural capacities of our country
constitute its distinguishing feature
This view was generally held through
out the Atlantic coast; and even the
merchants who had their country
homes and spent their leisure on their
well-kept estates" were agreed upon
the agricultural basis of the economic
state The above extracts from JEFF
ferson's letters are quoted by Mr..
Joseph B. Ross in a thoughtful paper
In the North American Review on
what he terms the "agrarian revolu-
ton in the middle west. All the ex-
pectations of the early settlers of the
Mississippi were, he says, bound UP
with agricultural life:"
The productiveness of the soil and
the anticipation that the squatter
claims would increase in value were
the foundations of the financial visions
OF every one. There was, indeed,
some interchange of denizens of town
and country even at this time The
learned professions were recruited for
the most part from the farms. The
brightest of the boys became attor-
neys and physicians. the more serious
ly disposed became ministers, and the
daughters of the farm oftimes married
the successful professional men and
merchants of the country towns. But
in this movement from the country
to the town there was no depletion of
the former
The present day, however, is wit
Messing a movement of personalities
in our rural districts which is "as-
Stunning the proportions of an agra
rian revolution. In place of the shift
ing of an occasional child to the city
from the country home there is now a
wholesale removal of the farming
classes to the cities. 1t is no longer
a case of the movement of a surplus
of individuals to an adjacent town;
it is now the removal of the staid
families which have given value to q
neighborhood. 1t will be remembered
that the Atlantic states witnessed an
agrarian revolution during the nine
teenth century; but that was due to
the exhaustion of the soil Mr.. Ross
observes:
Farms were abandoned because
they had ceased to be productive.
Families which had once been opulent
were reduced to poverty because their
landed estates refused to yield further
produce. The present revolu-
tion in agrarian affairs is due not to
soil exhaustion but to marvelously en-
HANGED productivity of the soil.'
To estimate rightly the significance
of present conditions in the middle
west one must take into consideration
the agricultural history of the Missis-
sippi basin generally. This is divided
by Mr.. Ross into three periods:
I'm the northern states east of the
Mississippi the first period extended
from about the beginning of the nine
teenth century to the year 1885 Land
was abundant and cheap. 1t could be
obtained from the government by orig
inal entry for from one dollar to FIVE
dollars. an acre II was a
period of landlord cultivation. A
small percentage, not to exceed one
tenth of the occupied land, was owned
by nonresident spectators In this
period there was much wild land.
roads consisted of cow-paths and
blazed trails, houses were of logs, and
all buildings were small and meager.
"The second period extended approx
imately from 1885 to 1890. Land adj
vanced to about seventy-fye dollars
an acre for the choicest tracts. Farms
tended TO become smaller. Cultiva.
ton was pursued by the owners per.
sonally or they directed tenants in
the cultivation of the lands and re-
ceived share of the produce as rent.
Roads were much improved and rail-
roads were established from time to
time which afforded convenient mar
kets within a few miles from every
farmhouse. The farms were improv-
ed intensively; and some attention
was paid to drainage. But the prin-
cipal consideration was given to the
erection of commodious homes and
ample barns. The chief pride of the
landowners was in the broad acres
They believed that of all men they
were the most blessed, nor would
they have exchanged their lot for any
other upon earth.
about the year 1890 the second
period drew to a close. It had been
an evolution from the period Of settle
ment. which was natural and expect
ed. The third period, in so far as II