St. Tammany farmer., 1922-06-10
The Farmer II, The
Commonwealth
By RALPH H: GABRIEL
(Prof. of History, Yale University

"The farmer group Of America was not
built up by the evolutionary method OF
the selection Of the fit and the elimination
of the unfit The process was quite the
reverse Democracy's policy Of lavish
distribution Of the rich bounty OF nature
gave the inefficient an equal chance with
the efficient, the farmer with the man who
knew nothing Of agriculture. 1t is doubt
full If the penalty for individual failure,
either on the fields or in the city, has ever
been so light as in America of the nine
teenth century when the doWn-and-out
could still go 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-P 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-
veloped a sturdy independence and an
outstanding individualism that has separ-
ated the farmer of America from the
peasant of Europe, by an impossible
gulf The very isolation of the primitive
frontier that brought intellectual stag
nation developed that aggressive resource
fulness upon which success is built. Out
Of the composite Of peoples that crossed
the Appalachians came the American.
Though many Of the ADLER men left the
farm for 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 nineteentI
century, brought into being the science
of agriculture.
A New Epoch.
'"The last decade of the nineteenth
century saw the conclusion of the old
epoch in American farming and the be-
ginning Of the new agrarianismG The
frontier disappeared. bringing to an end
the tinleworn process of increasing agri-
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 network
of railroads and the haunts of the bison
shook under the wheels of hurrying loco
motives. As free land disappeared and
the country filled up with people. land
values rose and farms became costly. !
Ex-Secretary Meredith rec centl VI
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 we're five times as great as
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.
Pu1ged Of Riffraff.
The change is one of the fundamental
factors in the new agrarianisn1.z 1t is a
change which has brought inexorable
competition into the farmer group and
wedding out Of the unfit and the inefficient
The purge of the riffraf 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 y and in bringing open.
mindedness to the new agricultural science.
For more than quarter Of a 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. |
Fhey foresaW that, when it came, food
production must Le increased by the use
Of better methods To abolish tie 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 a factor of major national
It must not be believed
that this is the only farmers organization.
There are 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.
The centre of this complex Of organiza-
tions, however, is to be found in the Farm
Bureau.
And what is the Farm Rureanl Its
origin will explain its character. It is
founded upon the Smith.
Lever Law, signed by Mr.. Wilson on
May 8, 1914. This measure appro-
priated more than $5,0OO,0O0 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.
It was an attempt on the part Of the
National Government to put the new
science of agriculture actually at work
On the nations farms. The land grant
colleges were to supervise the task in the
states. The solution took two forms, the
building up Of extension departments in
the colleges themselves and the develop
ment of the county agent. The latter
q l.