The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-06-29
How High Farm Values AZ
feet Country Communities
in Social and Moral Life.
BY FRED EASTMAN.

MatineCOCk
Locust Valley, y. Y.
Exclusive Service The Survey Press Bureau)
The proposition is: II the price of land
in any rural community be raised with
out a corresponding rise in the income
derived from the land, the morals of the
community suffer.
Let the year be 1900 Let the land be
any typical agricultural township in the
United States. 1t is valued at an average
of $50 an acre. and the typical farm, in
Guiding, of course, improvements, is
worth about s., 900 and yields all told or
10 per cent interest. The population con-
sists of about 200 families of strictly
American stock, 90 per cent of whom
have resided in the community fifteen
years or more. There are five or six one
room schools in the township and six or
seven churches. The average enrolment
in the schools is thirty-fivc; the average
membership of the churches sixty.
The social life of the community. while
crude, is not sluggish. However con-
sentative in methods of farming and of
education. there is yet spirit of pride
and of friendly cooperation. Telephones
hav not yet been introduced, so there Is
still a good bit of visiting among fami-
lies. The roads are so poor that there is
little travel on them between town and
country, and the recreations of the young
people are confined TO the neighborhood.
These recreations consist of the games
at school, a little baseball, an occasional
spelling bee and singing school, and fire.
quent log rollingc, husking bees, and
square dances. The old folks share in
these sports and have a few of their
own besides. such as quilting bees and
barn raisings. 1t is worth noting that
nearly all these recreationS combine work
with pleasure and represent a form of
cooperation possible only in a stable
population among families that have
known each other for a considerable
length of time.
II is possible for a young man in this
community to save enough money to buy
d small farm by the time he is twenty
three or twenty-four, or if he has not
saved enough he can usually borrow
enough to make the purchase. On such
prospects a young man can afford to
marry The average age of marriage in
this township is nineteen for the woman
and twenty-three for the man.
Now, suppose the price of land be
doubled without the farmers income b."
ing doubled; that is. double mis- capital
without increasing his interest. Impor-
tant results follow.
The age of marriage is raised. A young
man who can afford to buy land at $50
an acre finds il more difficult to pur-
chase at $40. He will have to save longer. \
and his girl will have to wait for him. il
she nIarrieS him at all Whereas. when
land was $50 an acre they might have
set IN for themselves when he was
twenty-three and she was nineteen. now
they must wait until he is about twenty
i've and she twenty-five. In other |
words, the period between the arrival of
their social instincts and their marriage. |
the temptation period, is heightened. This |
condition results in a lowering of the |
moral standards along sexual lines. The |
percentage OF young people who can
keep themselves clean through a temp
tatioR period of nve yeare is naturally |
larger than the percentage who can keepl
themselves clean through a temptation
period of eight Yeas
Stagnation follows in the whole social |
life of the community, especially as ex-
pressed in its institutions. Raising the |
price of land without proportionately |
raising the income derived from il in |
Creases the farmers capital and his |
taxes, but decreases his interest. A S5,1vc |
farm that yields a $500 income is 10 |
Fer cent investment When this condi |
ton prevails the natural tendency of the |
farmer is to sell. to convert the capital |
into cash, and put it where il will bring |
larger interest When he sells he
moves. and when he moves he and his |
country church, and the community life |
altogether. 1t makes for a shifting and
decreasing rural population, which is
roOr soil for schools and churches and
community institutions of any sort.
Not only does the attendance and en-
rollment or membership of these institu-
tons drop, often to a fraction of their
former number, but there is less money
to support them. Schools and churches
are supported on profits When the farm