Solving the Economic Problems
of American Farmers
Nicholas Murray Butler
[From a speech delivered at an agricultural
conference held at Columbia University. Reprinted from Land and
Freedom, April-May 1927]
The drift of population to city centers and the distaste of the
younger generation for rural life and the work of the farm, are
rapidly bringing about conditions which will gravely affect not only
the economic basis of modern life, but also social and educational
interests and ideals. Since men must live agriculture cannot be
displaced as the basic industry. Therefore the land, in the largest
sense of the word, challenges modern scholarship and modern human
interest in a score of ways.
A generation ago, Henry George saw this and pressed it upon public
attention with marked eloquence and vehemence. His proposed solution
for the problems growing out of the land is not one which either
economist or public opinion has been disposed to accept. The fact
remains, however, that some solution for the problems of the land and
its relationship to human life should and must be found.
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