The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1921-02-17
nation IN DANCER
Farm Abandonment Has Created
Most Serious Situation.
Food Supply Threatened Through the
Drift of the Population to the
Cities-NoVV Is Great Opportu-
nifty TO Take Up Land.

The question, How Is the country
to be fed if the population continues
to drift to the cities?" is one that
should create an agitation that viii
bring about a reply that will mean a
solution. The census, recently COM
pIeted, reveals a situation truly alarm
ing. one that has never been known
in the United States before The ur-
ban population is now greater than
that of the rural districts by about
100000. Cities and towns, each with
more than $500 inhabitants, contain
54.318,032 persons, or 51.4 per cent of
the total population, while the farms
and smaller towns together claim only
1899, 739 persons, or 1876 per cent Of
the total.
AS is pointed out by an influential
Chicago daily, 'the drift to the cities
is thus proved and, reduced to figures,
showing a top-heavy condition of the
Industrial life"
Farming is and must remain the
basic industry of the world, and GER
tainly should remain the basic indus
try of q nation with q continental
area like ours. It is small profit to
gain the markets of the world with
manufa ctured goods if agriculture has
decayed so badly as to furnish an I'M
certain subsistence for our people, and
fuctuatfng crops are reflected in price
changes that upset the economic life
of the country. Yet we are within
measurable distance of that condition,
if the present or recent drift toward
the cities continues.
Most writer's on this, topic take 1t
for granted that young folks go from
farms to cities merely to make more
money Doubtless that is something
of motive at all times and was a
very strong one in the period imme-
diately after the war, when city indus
tries paid wages totally impossible for
farmers to rival.
It is hoped that this drifting has
reached its apex. Unless it has. and
there still remains a possibility of its
continuance. the effect cannot be fore
told. The great wave of manufactures
for war purposes has ceased, and with
it the number of those employed in
factories is diminishing by thousands
daily. It is therefore hoped that there
will again be heard the slogan, ''For-
ward to the Land" If prices to which
farm land has reached are prices pro-
hibitive to many, the opportunity is
still open elsewhere. There are states
possessing large areas of good land
that may still be had at prices within
the reach of many, and it is doubtless
true that in seIf-preservatiOn it will
he necessary to bring these cands IN
der cultivation. The prices are not
high, considering their value. Then,
too, there are the lands of Western
Canada. that hold out an inviting pros
pect. Reports from there show that
the prosperity of the farmers there is
not mythical Farming there is con-
Quoted on scientific principles, and
the climate is such as appeals The
production amply repays all the ex-
penditure that may be made. The
social conditions are of a character
that make farm life a pleasure, and
tends to keep the young man and
young woman from pining for urban
life with so many drawbacks. If con-
ditiOns as above mentioned, showing
such a large percentage of population
in the cities and towns, continues they
will require food The opportunity to
supply it is by the means suggested.
Go forward to the farm. become in
dependent. and become a factor in
supplying the worlds needs in cattle,
sheep, grain and such other commo-
dities as the farm will produce and
the resident OF the city requires
Advertisement.
In a novel it is generally the incl
dent taken from real life that seems