Chapter 25: Agricultural and Rural Population

REFERENCES.

_Carver, T. N._, Selected readings in rural economics. 1916.

_Carver, T. N._, The work of rural organization. J. P. E., 22:
821-844. 1914.

_Coulter, J. L._, Agricultural development in the United States,
1900-1910. Q. J. E., 27: 1-26. 1912-1913.

_Hibbard, B. H._, Tenancy in the north central states. Q. J. E., 25:
710-729. 1910-1911.

_Hibbard, B. H._, Tenancy in the north Atlantic states. Q. J. E.,
26: 105-117. 1911-1912.

_Hibbard, B. H._, Tenancy in the western states. Q. J. E., 26:
363-376. 1911-1912.

_Hibbard, B. H._, Tenancy in the southern states. Q. J. E., 27:
482-496. 1912-1913.

_Hoagland, H. E._, The movement of rural population in Illinois. J.
P. E., 20: 913-927. 1912.

_Nourse, E. G._, Agricultural economics. 1916. (A large volume of
readings, well selected and edited.)

_Round table discussion._ The decline of the rural population. A. E.
Rev., 2 (no. 1, supp): 51, 52. 1912.

_Round table discussion._ Rural conditions in the south. Ibid.,
48-50. 1912.

_Taylor, H. C._, Agricultural economics. 1905.

_Vogt, P. L._, The farmer's labor income. A. E. Rev., 6: 808-822.
1916.

QUESTIONS.

1. Cite any instances you have noted of local changes of population
distribution as between country and city. What are the chief facts of
interest in these cases? What forces can you assign as causes of the
changes? Has agricultural activity been accelerated or retarded? Has
it received a set-back?

2. A wealthy metropolitan banker purchases a large country estate in a
section in which farming is practically on a subsistence basis and in
which in recent years many farms have been abandoned. He applies labor
and materials lavishly to the soil, sparing no expenditures for
purposes which will assist in the production of crops of the best
quality. Under what conditions can this be profitably done? What will
be the probable effect on local agriculture, (a) if the entire product
of the estate is consumed upon it? (b) if a substantial part of the
product is marketed in competition with that of the local farmers?
What changes are likely to occur with reference to the occupation of
the local population? With reference to its migration?

3. Why is it that immigrants are now taking up the farms of New
England which have, in some cases for years, been abandoned by native
farmers? Is the fact that they are doing so an argument for or against
the restriction of immigration?

4. What is the general tendency of immigrants in the matter of
settlement in urban and rural communities?

5. If it is true that the relative decline of the agricultural
population of the United States can be explained by the operation of
purely economic forces, on what grounds is there justification for
complaint as to the evils of concentration of population in cities?