Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1922-11-24
The Farmer in The
Commonwealth
BY RALPH H. GABRIEL
tPTof. of History, Yale University)

'ne seieCtlon OF the mt and the elimination
OF the unit. The process was quite ths
reverse. Democracy policy of LAVISH,
distribution Of the rich bounty OF nature
gave the inefficient an equal chance with
the sfhcient, the farmer with the man who
knew nothing Of agriculture. 1t is doubt
iul II the penalty for individual failure.
either on the fields or in the city, has ever
been 20 light as in America Of the nine
'eenth century when the down-and-out
could still 60 west. OF such materials
the american farmer group was originally
composed. Is it surprising that this
group, until recently practically isolated
from contemporaneous civilization, should,
at times, bring forth strange things? The
security enjoyed By the nineteenth CEN
tury is paid for, in part, BY the socialistic.
Non-Partisan League Of the twentieth.
But the picture is not all dark: the
very disadvantages of the farmer group
proved advantageous. The equality of
the frontier that enticed the derelict de-
eeioped a sturdy independence and an
outstanding indirdualism that has separ-
s'ed the farmer OF America from the
peasant OF Europe by an impossible
gull. The very isolation Of the primitive
frontier that brought intellectual stag
nation developed that aggressive resource
fuiness upon which success is built. Out
OF the composite Of peoples that crossed
the hppalachians came the American.
though many Of the ADLER men left the
| farm Tor the cities, in more cases than We
| know the love OF the soil remained with
them. From these, for the most part.
were recruited that army Of experiment.
ers who, in the last half of the nineteent.
century, brought into being the science
OF agriculture.
New Epoch.
| he last decade of the nineteenth
century saw the conclusion of the old
epoch IN American farming and the be-
ginning OF the new agrariansm The
frontier disappeared bringing to an end
the timeworn process Of increasing aRri-
cultural products by taking up new lands.
Escape from the rigors of competition
was cut off. Moreover, the rolling prairie
country had been covered with a network
OF railroads and the haunts Of the bison
shook under the wheels Of hurrying loco
motives. AS free land disappeared and
the country filed up with people, land
values rose and farms became costly.
Ex-Secretary Meredith rec emily
announced that, in the forty years from
1860 to 1900, during most of which time
the frontier was an active force, farm
values increased only twenty per cent.
In 1920, they were Eve times as great a.
IN 1900, and the end is not yet. Not only
have farms become costly but the tools
which have replaced the scythe and cradle
have greatly increased in expense. The
result Of these changes is that farming has
passed out of the simple, almost primitive
development OF the mid-nineteenth CEN
tury and become capitalistic enterprise
| Purged Of Rinran.
| The change is one Of the fundamental
factors in the new agrarianism. 1t is a
change which has brought inexorable
competition into the farmer group and a
wedding out OF the unht and the inemcient.
The purge Of the riffraff that flooded the
farming areas OF America during the
years in which they served as the safety
valve OF the nation has begun. The grow
ing keenness OF this competition has
played no inconsiderable part in breaking
down the lethargy of "old habits already
and insensibly acquired without any ex-
pense OF thought and in bringing open.
| mindedness to the new agricultural science
! FOR more than quarter of century
the land grant colleges and the State and
! National experiment stations developed
this science against the day when there
should be no more unoccupied land
They foresaw that, wien it came, food
production must be increased by the use
of better methods. To abolish the inertia
OF the traditional farmer and to put the
new science actually at work behind the
plough was the task which lay ahead.
The beginning OF the solution Of this
problem is at the very centre OF the
agrarian movement OF the first quarter
Of the twentieth century.
A Potent Factor.
almost overnight, the Farm Bureau
has become factor Of major national
Importance. 1t must not be believed
| that this is the only farmers organization.
| There arc active survivals of earlier Or
| CARNATIONS OF which the Grange is prob
ably the most powerful and most useful.
| Furthermore there are organizations OF
specialists within the agricultural field
such as the Dairymen's League and the
National Wool Growers Association
| Tie centre of this complex Of organza-
tions, howc> or, is to lie found in the Farm
] Bureau.
And What is the Farm Rureau? Its
| origin will explain its character. 1t is
| practically founded upon the Smith
Lever Law, signed by Mr.. Wilson on
May 8, 1914. This measure appro-
priated more than 100000 for the
carrying on Of agricultural extension work
among the farmers Of the various states
, with the proviso that the states benefit
ing should at least duplicate the sums
furnished by the National Government.
1t was an attempt on the part Of the
National Government to put the new