The Connecticut labor news., 1921-02-18
NATION IN DANGER
Farm Abandonment Has Created
 Most Serious Situation.
Food Supply Threatened Through the Drift of the Population to the Cities-Now 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 will
 bring about a reply that will mean a
 solution. The census, recently com
 pleted, 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 2,5OO inhabitants. contain 54,318, ,O32 persons, or 51.4 per cent of the total population, while the farms and smaller towns together claim only 51 .399, 739 persons, or 48.6 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 cer- tafnly should remain the basic indus
 try of a nation with a continental area like ours. It is small profit to gain the markets of the world with manufactured goods if agriculture has decayed so badly as to furnish an un- certain subsistence for our people, and f1uctuating 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 writers on this topic take it 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 very strong one fin 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 1t has, and there still remains a possibility of it's continuance, the effect cannot be fore told. The great wave of manufa cures for var purposes has ceased, and with it the number of those employed f7i 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 self-preservation it will he necessary to bring these lands un- 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 l the prosperity of the farmers there is not mythical. Farming there is con- ducted on scientific principles, and | the climate is such as appeals. The production amply repays all the ex- penditure that may be made. The l social conditions are of a character | that make farm life 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 l such 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.-