The Penn's Grove record., 1922-02-17
Moving Back To The Farm

The industrial worker, driven out OF
the cities by unemployment, losing pat
ties with rent prOfiteers and failure
of his declining wage to meet the cost
of living. is moving back to the farm,
where he is sure of having a roof
over his head, plenty to eat and indie
pendence.
This is indicated by a report just
issued by the E. A. Strout Farm
Agency, Inc, whose 700 agents thru
out the country sold last year, more
than $1,000 farms, the total valuation
of which touched the S2O,00O,OOO
mark, the largest years sales ever re-
ported by that agency.
Nearly a thousand, 938 to be exact,
New York families were among the
number who found new homes in the
country during the year, as indicated
by the report. There were 365 from
New Jersey and 116 from Connecticut;
a total of 1419.
And this is, despite the cry so loudly
voiced in Washington recently, that
the farmer no longer can afford to
keep an automobile and buy his wife
and daughter sealskin coats.
This big agency sold last year 1885
farms in the three States named-1071
in New York, 462 in New Jersey and
102 in Connecticut. 1t represents a
transfer of more than 81, 100000 worth
of property in three States. This is
enough to make even the calamity
bowler pause to think.
1t is accounted for by E. A. Strout,
president of the agency, by the asser-
] 49,, {I,% IL g. tn,,n ~. l. rot eo ha1sI nm
as he would have the rest of the
people believe. While it is true that
a certain class of farmers has suffered
by the defation process, the average
tiller of the soil in New York and
nearby States has "got it all over" his
city cousin. Mr.. Strout attributes the
comfortable situation of the average
farmer in this section to the fact that
he does not tie himself to one crop
as they do in the West and South.
Instead of putting all their money
in a crop of cotton, tobacco or grain
or live stock, the Eastern farmer pro-
duces diversified crops for which he
has a reasonably sure market at
fairly steady prices.
Generally speaking, the Eastern
farmer is sticking to the East, as
shown by the report . His "going
West" days are over. Of the 1886
farms sold in the three States last
year, 1114 were bought by residents
of those States.
An active demand throughout the
central States for Eastern farms is
shown by the fact that ITS farmers
from ~ States in that section moved
into New York, New Jersey and Con-
necticut during the year. These mid
die Western farmers consider prices
of Eastern farms as very low com
pared to the higher prices of Ohio
and some other central and Western
States. They are able to buy an
Eastern farm for about half what
they realize from their own Western
farms.
The New York market, the best
in the country, probably attracted the
81 farmers from the far Western
States who moved into this section
during the year, as well as the 80 who
came up from the South and the 43
from New England.
But the buyers came from all over
from thirty States. Pennsylvania
sent 161, Ohio 40, Michigan 81, Mary
land 10, Illinois 80, Indiana 6, Mime
sofa IL, Wisconsin IS, West Virginia
9, Colorado 8 and California 8.
Where does a resident of New York,
New Jersey or Connecticut go when
he seeks a farm outside his owl
State? The figures showed that Yer,
mont called the most, so; Pennsylva-
mia next, 48; Florida, 80; Mississippi
36; Maine, 35, and Maryland and New
Hampshire breaking even with 81
each. The rest scattered. Almost
nobody went West.