Pueblo chieftain., 1921-11-13
By FREpER1c. J. HAsK1N

BY FREDERIC j. HASkIN
Washington, D. c.. Nov. 10.-Ameri-
can farmers are beginning to leave the
United States in considerable num-
bers for countries where good land Is
easier to get
Recently colony composed Of over
200 families left for Peru, where the
Peruvian government has granted the
| colcnists a tract of $4,000 acres OF ag-
| ricultural and forest land. More and
| Australia and the Australian govern
| ment is making every effort to have
them come and stay. In Mexico land
| OF the richest kind may be had for
very low price. and many enterpris-
| ing young American farmers are TAX
| ing advantage of the fact, as conf
dcnce in the present Mexican govern
| men. grows. American farmers have
been going to Canada for years, and
the number OF them who cross the
northern border Is always on the in
crease.
The reason for this emigration is
obvious. In this country there is no
longer any free government land which
is worth the taking, while private
holdings Of land are held at such high
for agricultural purposes will. not pay
a fair return. The young American.
farm-raised. who has from two to ten
thousand dollars to invest in a farm.
soon learns, IL he is alert, that he
cannot get profitable start, for that
money in the United States. and that
he can get one in another country.
Americans are poor colonizers,
loath to leave home, slow to learn new
languages and. customs. They lag be-
hind almost all of the European peo-
pies in colonizing the undeveloped
land Is the primary need of the human
race Men will go, in the long run.
where they can get the best land for
the least money.
EUROPEAN FARMERS GO ELSE
WHERE
At the same time that our farmers
are leaving. record-breaking numbers
Of Europeans are coming in. But they
are not, to any considerable extent,
taking the place of the departing farm
ers. 1t is perfectly well known in Eu-
rope that all of the free and cheap
land in the United States is gone. 1t
is known that South America and
Mexico and Australia are now the
havens Of the land-hungry and the
dispossessed. The Intelligent German
and other European farmers. of the
type that came to the United States
40 years ago, are now going to Brazil
and Mexico. In both Of those coun-
tries there are large German colonies.
Italian and Spanish farmers head for
the Argentine, which is now full of
them. Meantime we are getting, not
farmers who would feed us, but immi-
grants Of the type who hope to make
living In tho large cities. chiefly by
petty trade. While our farmers go out,
a host of peddlers. tailors. shopkeep-
ers. bootblacks. and walters Is pouring
In.
1t needs no special argument to
prove that this Is not a desirable con-
dition. The question Is to what extent
1t may be improved.
In part. no doubt 1t Is inevitable.
As the country fills up the amount Of
land available for settlement is bound
to decrease. Men seeking land are
sure to go elsewhere, both from this
country and from other countries. No
doubt the next two generations, with
population increasing at its present
rate, must see the United States be-
come more and more = land which
men leave.
The unhealthy and avoidable part of
the situation is that, although our
farmers are leaving us. our land is only
hnlf cultivated. II our agricultural
lands were all in the highest possible
state of productivity, II tho nation
were doing all in its power to feed
itself. like Belgium or the Nether-
lands. for example, then It would be
inevitable that young men seeking
farms should go elsewhere. But when
great areas of swamp in the south un-
reclaimed. and stump lands in the
Northwest rich In soil that are being