UNITED STATES FARMERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 186, 8 August 1930, Page 4

UNITED STATES FARMERS.

THOUSANDS QUITTING

The serious position of agriculture in the United States is dealt with by the New York correspondent of a London journal. Writing ( under date June 13 he says:—The American farmer is the biggest customer of American industries. And the American farmer is in a terrible plight. Wheat, which two years ago was selling at 170 cents the bushel, is now 120. Maize, which was 120, is now 90. Cotton, which 'vas 20 cents a lb, is now 15. Think what that drop means in the purchasing power of the average farmer and you haven't far to seek for the cause of slumping industries and growing unemployment. Farms everywhere are mortgaged to the hilt. The American farmer, sturdy and independent, owner of the land he tills, is a legend of the past. Banks and re_al estate companies are lords of the impoverished acres. And they, anxious for their investments, are talking of rationalising farming by reducing the number of farmers. They are already doing it—forcing men and women off the land to the already stricken cities. "Gradually we are driving the farmers into the city," said a speaker at the conference of the Michigan Real Estate Association. "Their farms are being foreclosed and their numbers are decreasing annually. "But this," he added, "it not fast enough. . , , ~ "The only solution to the problem is to move one-third of the farmers into the cities. The remaining two-thirds will then till all the land, and each farmer will be able to make a living." There are 9,000,000 or so farmers. Three millions, according to this cheerful forecast, are to be driven into the cities. And in the cities there are already 3,000,000 unemployed.