Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-02-22
"Back to the Farm"


ed by James ]. Hill, the railroad king,
and echoed by many Of our leading
statesmen, finds lots Of sympathy In
every quarter of the country; but we
fear that it will be long time before
preaching Of this kind begins to show
results in any appreciable movement
in the direction indicated.
Although we sincerely wish 1t were
otherwise, there Is no use trying to
deny or conceal the fact that the call
of the town to the farmer continues as
1t has always been, louder than the
call Of the country to the townsman,
and as to the why Of it, we frankly ad-
nit that it is beyond our ken to ex-
plain, unless we attribute it to the
natural unrest Of dissatisfied human
nature.
While it is fact that many Of the
brightest and ablest men of the coun-
try were raised on farms, and while
It is a fact that the average Of intel
ligence and ability on the farms is as
high as it is anywhere else, If not a
little higher, 1t should not be forgotten
that only small per cent Of the young
people who leave the farms in response
to the lure of the towns, ever better
their conditions. For one young far
mer who leaves the farm in pursuit Of
fame and fortune and wins out in that
pursuit, fifty or a hundred make mis-
erable failures, and would have done
better had they never attempted the
change.
However, it Is not to be argued that
these circumstances, provided their
correctness is admitted, are of especial
significance. 1t Is probably fact that
IL the attraction of the farm were
stronger for the people Of the towns
and cities than Is the attraction Of the
towns and cities for the people of the
farm, that the percentage Of successes
under the reversed order Of things
would be no greater than it is now.
T. may as we'll be admitted that ev-
cry boy or girl born and reared on a
farm is not fit for farmer, any more
than every boy or girl born and reared
in city Is fit for high distinction In
any line of endeavor. And this being
true, as we believe 1t Is, 1t Is hardly
reasonable to urge that even education
and training would be an infallible
means of preventing the movement
from the farms to the towns and cities.
Speaking generally, we think there
is no doubt Of the fact that the pc
cuniary rewards Of farming are
greater than they have ever been, and
that they are on the increase rather
than otherwise. The reasons for this
are probably manifold. For one thing,
it seems plausible that the increased
number of non-producing consumers
off the farm, is making heavier demands
upon the decreasing number of produ-
GERS on the farms. This would natur-
ally make better prices to the produ-
GERS; but this can hardly be taken as
full and satisfactory explanation, be-
cause it is undoubtedly fact that the
rural and urban populations have ex-
listed in the same proportion before,
that tine prices of agricultural products
were considerably lower in proportion
than they are now.
We have an idea that one of the
most potent causes Of the increased
prices of agricultural products, is the
application Of modern business meth
ods, and increasing intelligence. Take
for instance the items Of corn, wheat,
beef, pork, butter, eggs, etc. All OF
these things have advanced tremend-
ously in price, and while the people OF
this immediate section have probably
done nothing to bring about that ad-
vance, who can say that our own peo-
pie have not been benefited by the
operations of different manipulations
north and west? Take the item of
eggs, for instance. Our market is al
most exclusively local. The cost OF
producing eggs on the farm has not
materially increased. There is very
very little local reason why eggs
should be any higher now than they
were three years ago. The same con-
ditions probably exist elsewhere. The
price has been advanced in the central
markets principally by means Of man
ipulation, and the advance here Is
probably out of sympathy. We think
the same explanation will suffice for
the advance of other products. But we
are not inclined to think that the
prices of these things are too high
now. We are more inclined to think
that they have been too low.
There are among the farmers, those
who recognize that prices are now
somewhat more in keeping with a fair
profit than they have been; but who
fear that a general movement to reap
the harvest would kill the goose that
is laying the golden egg. We do not
believe that there is any danger OF
this.
For obvious reasons, some Of which
have been mentioned, there is no dan
ger of an extensive, back to the farm
movement-certainly not all of sud-
demand the people who are already
on the farm will do well, in our opin-
ion, to take a broad and intelligent
view of the present situation, and go
in for reaping as much Of the promised
harvest as they may, while the oppor-
tunity lasts.
Columbia State: The farm demon
stration agents of the central counties