Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-13
BY MARK SULLIVAN.


Through which human thought runs
thoughtlessly on. Yet this present age
n which we live more than any other
In history denies that easygoing as
sumption. The average American adult
who has lived through the period since
900 has seen score of revolutions in
rs many fields of human activity-but
his habit of thought goes on, taking no
account of the possibility that still other
revolutions may be just beginning, as
Jet unreCognlzed.
What American adult in 1900 dreamed
ne would see the day when an airplane
would be common sight? When prac-
tically all women would have their
hair cut short and wear skirts whose
Tower hem would be measurably above
PIE knee? When the sight of a woman
smoking a cigarette would excite no
notice? When a new kind of music, to
be called jazz, would compose the bulk
pf the numbers on musical programs?
When a hundred thousand bright-col-
pred filling stations would dot the land?
When the word gasoline not then in
vented. would be familiar to everybody?
When interurban trolleys-then in their
prime as the --latest thing in trans
portation-would practically disappear?
What American adult in 1900 foresaw
the radio? Or the motion picture as
t has come to be?
To turn to one of the most far
Teaching and familiar of the innova-
lions, what average American in 1900.
pr even as late as 1915, believed the
pay would come when the horse would
practically disappear from public roads
hnd the automobile be universal? If
fhere is any person living who in 1900
oresaw that revolution, and If. by ac-
ctoent or confidence In his vision, he
made a record of tin that event he
axe his just place as brave and ac-
furate prophet.
The One-FamiIy Farm.
The lesson of which is that it is use
4ul occasionally to tear ones self away
from enthraldom to the familiar, to
look about and try to recognize future
revolutions in their opening stages.
is such revolution pending in farm
ing? The oldest and most taken-for-
Granted of American institutions-and
perhaps the most fundamentally the
pne- family farm. American civilization
pas been based on it.; the small, one
Family farm has been, so to speak, the
cell of American national life.
Excepting in the South. where big
abor incidentally that unit of social
organization proved a failure and dis
Appeared) -excepting in the South, all
pur early American life was based on
man and his family operating a farm
Pr from so to 200 acres. All the North
I'm colonies were built upon that foun-
Patton. When we began to parcel out
pur immense national domain $50 acres
was fixed as the universal type of land
grant. Practically every farm west of
fhe Alleghanies began with that size.
end nearly all remain so to this day.
is all that now to change? A consid-
swers Yves"
One of these affirmative answers. one
pI the assertions that American farm
ing IS going to be revolutionized into
farger units, comes from the quarter
wnere big business" is accepted as the
pest OF all possible economic institu-
elons. In q financial newspaper pub
elshed in and for the fraternity of
bankers and brokers, Barron's Weekly.
writer, Robert Stewart, directs toward
me farmer a treatise which seems to
pc combination of benevolent advice
fnd imperative mandate. The article is
Entltied "A New Agricultural Stage:
Ihe Passing OF the Old Type Farm: A
In part, the article says-this excernt
IS made up Of sentences detached from
Parlous parts of the article:
Inc farms Of this country are so
mail that success as a business propo-
fltlon under our present economic con-
|1ittons is virtually impossible, =
The small farm. carved out of the
wilderness by the pioneer. must be
Eeorganized on new business basis.
what really is sadly needed in this
country Is less 'blah blah' and a deeper
OF the real facts of the
Ease II we are ever to arrive at a sane
solution OF the farm problem. The
principles OF business administration so
successfully applied elsewhere must be
applied likewise to farming. It is a
principle of successful business admin
9stfatlon that there is a certain size of
business which is more favorable for
success than any other size.
Too Small for Financial Success.
THE American farm is too small for
the operator to hope to achieve financial
success. Sixty per cent of the farms in
ne united States are less than 100 acres
pa size, with capital investment in land
and buildings Of $4,16l in value. AS a.
business enterprise under existing mod
ern conditions financial success IN
these farms is utterly impossible, In
the financial and industrial world the
renoency toward mergers for large-scaJe
production and distribution Is very
marked. During this period of marked
|cnange In industry the small family
800 larm mas endeavored to hold its
own, with disastrous results in MANY
cases. The farm problem is the direct
result of this condition.
1here are virtually the same number
~ farms In this country today that there
were ~ years ago. There are still too
many, and 1t is inevitable that MANY
|oI them be consolidated into larger
UNITS Tor financial success. This is. of
course. a painful process, but unayoid-
Iaoie II financial success in farming is
70 De acnleVed. The American farm was
|oeslgned originally to be a small self
supporting unit. It was a new yav Of
living, or in reality a mode of life
But changing conditions have vitality
|lnterfered with this idealistic propra n,
|ano we must now face the real stub
porn facts. large percentage of the
FARMS IN America must inevitably he
consolidated into larger units"
After being so didactic, this writer a.
the close of his article seems to have
momentary doubt of. his infallibilitv
Inc wind-up of the article is a series
of questions: 'e'
Can the small family size farm sur
1--WE or must 1t give way in the relent.
IleSs process by mergers into larger pro-
ductive units? Who is to be the suc.
|cessfu farmer? Who is to be called
and who is to be eliminated? Can any
more equitable way be found than ia
let the economic forces have full sway
in the choice of those who are to be
the farmers of the future on the en-
larged farms?"
Notion Has Several Sources.
Not from this source alone does the
intimation come that the small farm
must be consolidated" that we are tc
have revolution in farming. The IDA
has emerged during the last few months
from many sources. The writer of the