The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-01-17
BACK TO THE LAND

BACK TO HE LAND
The Charlotte Observer discusses Re
Vitalizing Rural Life" in North Carolina III
few paragraphs which follow:
Rural North Carolina is being repOpuated, not
in sensational or spectacular fashion, but there
is a very perceptible exodus of the people to the
farms again.
Land owners in Meckenburg inform US that they
are being sought out on all sides for quarters on
their farms by those who have been living IN the
city and villages and who, finding the opportunities
for constant employment limited in industrial areas,
are turning their minds to the productive possbll-
ties of the land.
The same lack of encouraging prospects hangs
over agriculture to be sure fingers about the
industries, but there is thing that any honest
Woodworking, thrifty man do if ne has few
acres of ground,-he can make living for himself
and his family and thus attend to his physical es-
sentials whether he can make much spending money
or not.
In all of this there is the possibility of genuine
overturning of the present inequalities In popula-
ton in the relief of industrial life from the COM
petition of excess labor and the return to the SIM
pier arts of agriculture on the part of greater
proportion Of the wage-earners.
Idle lands are plentiful in Mecklenburg county,
and through North Carolina they abound in such
abundance as to tell their story of the amazing
transition in population which has developed in
this state within the last two decades.
Going back to the farms upon which they can
earn their own living may involve rather shock
ing social shift with thousands of families so
ing but that does not mean that it represents a
backward economic gesture. As matter of fact,
L. l.
volved the economic swing upon which a fuller,
freer and finer new civilization will be hinged.
The Observer is correct in the statement
that the conditions through which the
State is passing are resulting in a back to
the land movement which is pronounced.
1t is. noticeable and important movement
in many sections of the State. The cause Is
well known and it is unemployment in bust
ness and industry. People who flocked to
the towns and cities in boom times are now
gradually returning to the country, having
made the discovery that those who live on
the land and are willing to work can have
food in period of distress when the I'M
employed population in business and in
dustry must be fed by charitable organiza-
tons or the government. These people
have also discovered that it is not possible
even when business is booming for every
worker in industry and business to make a
fortune in the towns and cities. A living
is about the best the average worker can
hope for under the most favorable condi-
tions.
And as a result of these developments
we have back to the land movement and
the people who are going back are doing
so with determination to make the land
produce living and with no thought of
making surplus money by farming.
This is the most encouraging fact in con-
nection with the movement to the land
Troublesome SURPRISES of the country
great cash crops have originated in the eff,
forts of the big one-crop farmers to place
agriculture on level with business and
industry as way for making money
Farming is way to make living-not a
way to make fortune
If all the people living on the land would
farm to make living, the SURPRISES would
utSSRHSeA ~ q tSW ySolS, INC PRICES o.
farm crops would recover, and large ma
jority of the country people would be pros
porous and happy.
This view is based on the fact that TIKI
correct system of agriculture is the inten
sive and not the extensive system. By tn,
extensive system big cash crop farmer
seek to produce big crops to be marketed
for big profits. By the intensive system tn