The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-10
SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF UNITED STATES Drift from Farm 10 City Is One
 of the Fig Questions FARMS ARE NEEDING HELP Although There is Tendency to Go Back to the Farm It is Only the Unemployed Who Are Seeking
 to Get Work.
E FARMS ARE NEEDING HELP
BY CHARLES sTELzLE.

PAOyeu On lADOr farms ana Snul up liio cheap lodging houses and the Mills hotels, they would be doing both the loaf CTS and their municipalities a good turn" So said a semi-society journal published in New York, recently, in discussing the unwillness of the unemployed to go to the country
 The editor of this paper probably knows something about fashions ill pink teas, but the problem of the unemployed is quite another proposition. He maryels because the out-of-works on the east side of New York and the downtown districts of other cities cannot be induced to go to the Hawaiian islands, the home of songs and siestas, forgetting that the laborer on the plantation doesn't stand a ghost of chance of getting anywhere near his shaded hammock and cherried lemonade.
 There are several important considera- tions which are usually overlooked in the average discussion of this question There are factors both economic and social which persist in asserting themselves in spite of the dilettante effort to send the immigrant and the city laborer back to the soil" unmindful of the fact that very few of them came from the soil.
 Let's take 1t for granted that there Is a movement from the city to the country, although it would not be very safe to say very much about the extent of that movement, either as to the area invaded by city folk, the distance of the removal from the city, or the number who are actually transferring their allegiance from
 
 true that increasingly large numbers are making their homes in the country, but most of these fortunate ones still make their living In the city. And it's the ques- i ton of making a living that concerns us just now. It's a big inducement to move out of the city and live in the sub urb when one can be whirled from New Jersey into the heart of New York in three minutes, for instance. but the great mass of the people are compelled to make their homes in the city and make their living there, too.
 If the present tendencies continue, and there is little doubt that they will, we may as well make up our minds that the city will be compelled to solve the prob- lem of the unemployed, without any thought as to receiving aid from the country, excepting. perhaps, in extraordi- nary circumstances and for g. limited period.
 1 Drawn to the City.
 Statistics indicate very clearly that the tendency of population Is toward the city. In 1900 there were only six cities in the United States with a population of 5000 and over. Today there are over 600 such cities. One hundred years ago only 3 per cent of the population lived in the ] city. Today 33 per cent are city sheltered. During ten years the total increase of the population in the United States was 20 per ] cent, but the population in the city dur ing tho same period increased q per cent. l In some of the older states important towns and counties was seriously de- | pleted on account of the rush from coun- try to city
 | Most of us imagine that this move ment Is limited to our own country, but it is a world phenomenon. Berlin, Paris, St. Petersburg, London and even such cities as Calcutta are growing about as fast as New York or Chicago. | Malthus. the great economist of former ! days, used to say that the time would 1 come when we could not supply the peo- pie with necessary food because. he as- serted, while the population was growing in geometrcal proportions. food supply could be produced only in arithmetical ratios. That is, while the population in- 1 creased in ratios of l. 2, 4, 8, 16, etc., food could be produced only in ratios of l. 3, | g. 4, 5, and so forth. Therefore, he proph- esied starvation for most of the human race, and he welcomed wars and pest Hence as visitations of Divine Providence 1 But his theory hasn't worked out. Where as, in former days, 1t required two-thirds | of the population to raise the farm prod ucts necessary to supply the country with food, today, on account of the use of agricultural machinery, It requires only | one-third But, while the introduction of labor-saving machinery multiplies the ef- 1 ficiency of those who remain on the farm, | there has been as yet no machine in- vented which will increase the eating 1 capacity of the rest of the world. 1t Is quite evident that with the decreased de- mand for manual labor on account of the use of machinery. the farm hand Is driven to the city, where he can find steadier employment than that which is offered on the farm which requires his services simply during the very brief har- 1 vest season, when extra hands are need ed. But the farm hand, like the rest
 
 1 At any rate he must live fairly normal | life. He cannot hibernate during the win ter when work on the farm is slack. Just ! now on account of his unusually robust heath he can secure employment more i readily than his neighbor in the city. whose body has become emaciated on ac- count of the lack of proper nourishment.
 Attractions of the City.
 Whatever may be the condition in some {, parts of the country and whatever the | temporary demand for men on the farm | during certain seasons. the fact remains that economic laws have decreed that eventually most men must live in the city and there work out their salvation Even before economic necessity compelled men to go to the city, the glamor and the | life of the town lured the children or the farmer away from the homes of their childhood The call of the city could not be hushed High hope conquered hard ship and suffering The country offers no such alluremsnt for the city-bred workingman To him the farm holds nothing of the inspiration which comes to him through contact with real peo- pie. Stumps and stones may inspire poets, but they are poor companions for the man who must live with them always How can it be expected that those who have tasted the life of the city t, which the countryman longs for could be 1 induced to forsake 1t for the loneliness l of the field from which the farmer is | fleeing
 To attempt to force the city working | man to 70 to the country would be con- l trary to tho laws of natural selection.