Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-08
AVIATION NOW EQUALING
MARK OF AUTO In 1900
Association Figures Show 1904 Planes
Now in observation-disclosures of 25,OOO,-
600 Aircraft in 1853 Is Vital Question.

What will be the status of farming
as an occupation. relative to other oc-
cupations? Will farming grow in i'm
portance or decrease?
To put the last question in con-
crete form, will the present strong drift
of young people from the farm to the
city continue or be arrested?
Theodore Roosevelt 20 years ago said
that mo growth of wealth can make
up for any loss in either the number
or the character of the farming popu-
lation"
Practically all of us agree to that
II we mean 1t, why have we not ar
rested the causes Of the loss of farm
population?
Roosevelt had unlimited courage. He
believed what he said about keeping
farmers on the farm. If some one had
told him how to achieve that result he
would have fought to bring 1t about.
Plainly. Roosevelt did not know and
apparently no one told him. The flow
of farmers away from the soil was just
getting under way when Roosevelt, then
President, uttered the words quoted
above. Since then the drift has gone
on steadily and in increasing numbers.
Search for Cure.
If Roosevelt could not know the cure,
possibly somebody now, with 20 years
of experience to look back upon, can
know. Who can undertake to say what
is the thing which, II done in 1907,
would have. kept on the farm several
million people who have since left 1t?
The momentum Is still under way.
The subject was dealt with last week
by the venerable secretary of the Ma
tional Education Association. j. w.
Crabtree, in a speech he made at a
country school near Elmwood, Nebr.,
where Mr.. Crabtree had been teacher
46 years ago. The address was one OF
the most appealing treatments OF the
farm problem that have recently come
before the present writer.
Mr.. Crabtree, citing the Federal de-
partment as his authority, said that in
Iowa right now an average OF 200 boys
country for the city every year.
He made further the point that be-
tween the presidency of Theodore Roose-
welt and that of Herbert Hoover the
total national income increased from
about $50 200, 000, 900 annually to about
$50 600 600. 900. Then Mr.. Crabtree
asked pertinently, who receives this
200 per cent increase in income? His
well justified implication was that agri-
culture gets very NCIle OF H.
There Is a counter movement Just
this moment getting under way. 1t Is
not necessarily a movement from city
to farm-it is, however, movement
from big cities to smaller ones. The
country will be hearing a good deal
about it shortly.
Certain large electric companies have
concluded that they have about reached
the limit of large and profitable ex-
pansion in big cities. They think their
more advantageous opportunity for ex-
pansion in the future is in the smaller
cities and villages. They are about to
stimulate a movement of factories and
other users of electricity away from the
big cities to the smaller ones.
That may help the farmer by bring
ing q market for his products closer to
his door. It may help him also by pro-
viding a market for his labor during
such time as he is not busy on the
farm.