Show SANBORN TO MADSEN in your issue ot or february appeared over my signature a letter originally written as a hurried private answer to an apparently private letter ironi from christian A madsen in a newer answer however to a courteous request that I 1 permit its publication leation in connection with his bia own letter to me in your issue of the alth of march la is an open letter from mr madsen couched so BO far as it relates to myself in the most courteous terms and I 1 is in discussion of a question of much mo ment to the public and properly demands em consideration my impression la Is that bishop madsen attaches more importance to my opinion than the public does and preferring to follow the tie elaboration of his philosophy of farming in its relation to social and civil life I 1 shall at laet at the present communicate little more mere than my thanks to bishop madsen for the consideration that be has giver given me frie in connection with the quenion quei que llou tion he be had raided As I 1 understand him three views iut u t prominently in the two letters thai ht be baa ba written first he expresses the belief that deplorable inequalities exist in society and that these int inequalities rest upon causes that deserve censure that he would antagonize the past results and present tendencies of economic conditions to minute subdivision divi of laud thereby securing that equality of condition which the eminent french economist Lavel teye leye deems so essential to the perpetuity of republics and the repose of man that this subdivision of land would result not only in greater conte ament in society and stability of governments but that it is conducive to the increase of wealth upon the pr proposition position that fundamental wrongs grow out of the he economic conditions it would be impossible to say little aud and not be misunderstood it raises broad questions if in political dolit cal economy and its alli allied A d sciences that land ownership by the masses in small holdings tenus tends to co stability of governments and a restful condition U of public mind to Is no longer r regarded a g a crded as mr madsen states arte as an aphorism by stat statesmen esme n alone but by most students or of sociology france acte j upon this view in subdividing after the revolution its lands among the millions until the great bulk of its landowners hold bold estates under tinder six IX acres the homestead act of our own congress is an all embodiment of the wisest statesmanship in our country upon the agrarian question there Ther earp are those who hold however that the of farms should be determined not by arbitrary aoto acts but by economic condl eions that under such conditions estates adjust themselves to such eon ditto digiov s to better advantage than paternal legislation can secure england with its immense estates estate grows growa about thirty bushels of wheat per acre while france averages but eighteen with its small farms the centralization of wealth machinery and the use of economic forces that large estates make available give greater product per mao man in england JB than in france with its semi spade husbandry whether society to is better ott off with greater increase ot of wealth under extensive farming rustle maue intensive than by Intend ve farming within narrow darrow bounds and equality and contentment that follows is one upon which political economists and sociologists differ and will continue to alfter if the increase or wealth that the genius of one commanding machinery and the many mady gives per capita of population is ie distributed with some degree of equity the majority of society on the whole is benefited by these so bo many believe the discussion of this question quee tion raises issues that differ so much from the purely economic problems that I 1 paw it by and trust that mr madsen will take opportunity to express quite definitely and fully his bis advice upon the matter on the third proposition which is to quote his own language the more productive an acre of land can be made in the same proportion the increase of population is made possible 1 os sible I 1 must beg to differ somewhat from the writer political economists are agreed upon one law jaw more ully fully than upon most prop sitione that bee bec me lue accept ea us as conclusive to wit the law of dimin returns re turne abis law justly holde I 1 believe that after having passed a certain yield which I 1 for convenience ven veni tence ence now term tena normal yield of the soil under average condition RD u increase la Is and must be at an increased ratio of expenditure of human force this I 1 jaw a w has been partly neutralized fly by the increased of machinery and the of science yet under normal conditions it is ie true even now that it 11 would take more of human labor after an acre of ground has haa produced thirty bushels of wheat to produce the second thirty than the first firc thirty to pass page from thirty y bushels under the present economic conditions there would be far greater expenditure of auriau I 1 bur bor per bushel than it would require to produce the first abia being true the highly intensive farming of which mr madsen madeen speaks would come at out by diminished mini shed use of machinery and au an increased unit of human labor per unit of crops kropa produced the world may arrive at the period when it is bat b at to enter upon this dextre ely intensive farming I 1 do not declaim against it I 1 do not deny its validity under conditions that may occur some time inthe in the future but I 1 point to this one fact and leave the conclusions with the reader the production per fier capita in the united states iri ID equivalent ol of gain la Is bushel bu shelp while in europe where much more jabr jaba r is used per acre than here it is but here machinery to is used in extensive farm ing that to la main handles other forces than human and uses the minimum of human labor per acre in europe less jess machinery is used and wn anile de not the maximum yet relative farm ing flag the maximum of human labor per acre is in used it is ie true that there here are modifying causes which partly account dorthis tor for this difference yet if critical en is made into the agriculture of this country it will he be found that in I 1 sections where the crops per acre are increasing aud great everything else being equal more labor per acre is being used now in answering answerl nc a letter like those written by bishop madsen if one assumes to criticism criticise critic ise iab he can at the best beat succeed in being in part misunderstood I 1 do not dot wish to be understood as a champion of baronial ways or the results or of baronial systems for such is not my aim on tho the pure economic side aide of the question quest iOD however I 1 very much doubt whether we have arr arrive iveLi ii at the time when exceedingly small holdings the holdings of the character of ahloo 1 in 30 france will be conducive to the highest development oi 01 social and civil life especially as long as the bodif modifying y ing influence of the public schools holds american peu pec pie to the conservative ways that aney have acquired I 1 cannot however shut sh u t my eyes to the fact that the lode inde pendent owner of the green award which the feet of his family bupt press and the hearthstone around which they gather does coee have an influence on the character and on the morals of the people to enter eater however upon a discussion of those these questions in detail would wc uld make tho the correspondence voluminous bey beg to repeat that it would give me greater felicity fel kity to read the views of 01 your thoughtful cot correspondent respondent than to write my own very respectfully J W SANBORN LOGAN april |