New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-09-09

except during the World War-and ex
ports of manufactured products have
| increased until again we are rapid,
reaching the zero mark from the stand
point of agricultural supplies to thu
world.
Each year our imports show large,
and larger quantities of farm-growr
products, and the time is almost with
US when the imports of farm grown
short. when our farm population will
not be supplying the products neces.
sary for our own people.
The farmer suffered during this
changing period. Overproduction means
low prices, and he overproduced with
a vengeance, though it was an in
evitable part Of the scheme of Ameri-
can development. He was obliged to
practice grinding economy, and to live
as far as possible from his own acres
He did live essentially within his own
productivity, and the farm was the
factory for the agricultural home.
"'Land poor was a common express
sion in the farming country.
Boys Attracted to Cities
MANY, and especially the ambitious
boys, abandoned the farms and added
themselves to. the growing population
of the cities, driven by the hardships
of the farm and attracted by the
greater rewards offered by the cities.
by, 1905 it was becoming apparent
that the consuming power Of the cities
and industrial centers would soon be
large enough to equalize the producing
power of the farms. Prices of farm
products began to advance, and with
this advance came an increase in the
price of farm land. Improved ma
chinery increased the number Of acres
one man could farm, thereby decreas-
ing his cost of production. The ex-
preston farm poor was no longer
heard Men who had not secured farms
of their own began to seek them, and
the march to the West and Northwest
was resumed. Irrigation projects were
started and the homestead law made
more liberal in order to make the
settlement of9the semi-arid country
more attractive. New areas of govern
ment land were opened for entry,
Cities Built Up on Cheap Food
"1n the mean time the consuming
public had become concerned over the
prospect Of paying higher prices for
foodstuffs. Cities and industrial GEN.
ters had been built up on ridiculously
cheap food. Indeed, their building was
the first essential in developing farm
values. Then the increase in price called
for REIMBURSEMENT. and required wage
advances. Organizations of city bust
ness men began to take an interest
in farm affairs and preach the duty of
increased production.
"The back o-the-land' cry began
to be heard. Increased appropriations
by Congress and by state legislatures
were made to stimulate better methods
IF farming and thus increase produc-
ton in the hope of keeping down food
prices. The rural uplift movement was
started with the thought that by
making conditions on the farm more
attractive the drift from the farm to
the city might be checked.
"The work of agricultural colleges
was strengthened by the addition Of
extension departments, the function
of which is to take the teaching of
better methods Of farming and stock
growing into the counties and small
er communities, and especially 20
stimulate an interest in farming among
the boys and girls. All sorts of efforts
were made to check the drift from the
farm to the city and to maintain farm
production.
Farming Became a Science
"In truth, here in America farm
ing came to that stage where 1t ceased
to be mere struggle for sustenance,
and it found its place amid the COM
petition for achievement. 1t was no
longer the inherently directed opera
ton with the soil for restricted living,
but became a commercial, scientific
operation with Mother Nature TO share
life and know a participation in mod
ern rewards
Then came the World War, which
accelerated greatly the movement which
was already under full Roadway. The
cry for food which came from the ma
tlons across the sea caused further adj
vances in prices of farm products, as
we'll as in prices of farm land, and both
profits and patriotism stimulated pro-
duction.
"But with this increased demand for
the products of the farm came also
an increased demand for the products
enterprises, resulting in higher wages,
and the city continued to pull from the
farm large numbers of young mon who
did not have farms of their own and
could see no prospect Of getting them,
and who thought they could see in the
city better wages and greater oppor-
tunlties for advancement, as we'll as
more attractive living conditions.
IL the facts were available it would
be found probably that during the
period from 1905 to 1917, the time Of
our entrance into the war, the drift
from the farm to the city continued
with little abatement, notwithstanding
the more hopeful conditions on the
farm.
Farmer 100 Per Cent American"
THE splendid part played BY the
farmers Of the nation during the war
probably never will be understood or
fully appreciated by our people. More
than 20 per cent of all our fighting
men came from the farms, and after
sending their sons to the camps the
fathers and mothers, with the help of
the younger children, turned to and
produced more food than was ever be-
fore produced in the history OF the
world in the same time and from tho
same area of land. Their working
days were measured not by the clock,
but by the number Of daylight hours.
They took to themselves the re-
sppnsibility Of feeding not only our
own people. but also our allies across
the sea. In more ways than one our
farmers made the war their war. and
counted no sacrifice too great to help
night IL through TO a successful finish.
The stery Of what they did, written by
some one who understands it, will
furnish one Of tho most glorious chap.
sers in American history One thing
] may say--in every American con-
aict, from the revolution for indie