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Show HACK TO THE I A KM It is gratifying to learn from real estate men in different sections of tho country that there is at last a pronounced pro-nounced movement "back to the farm." They report large numbers of city men of moderate means purchasing pur-chasing farms and moving their families fam-ilies to them to escape the burdens of the present high cost of living. This is commendable and all right as far as it goes, but the movement is not general enough. And then it is not owners that are needed on the farms, but workers. For several decades past now there has been a rapid exodus from the fafm. 'Until in many; sections of the country it is almost impossible to ! lecure farm help at any price. This has had the inevitable result of curtailing cur-tailing the output of the farms, high prices naturally resulting. We have seen a table of statistics of tlie per cent of urban population as compared to rural, at the present time and fifty years ago. It showed startling growth of the cities and towns, with not nearly an equal growth of rural population. Hut, you say, those workers who have deserted the farms for the city are now engaged in manufactures. Why, then, are not manufactured articles ar-ticles cheaper in price instead of being be-ing right up along Bide of food stuffs? Tl.e answer is simple, and will have to be taken into consideration in any scheme to lessen the cost of living. The farm is the barometer of the national life. Touch the farm nnd you touch tho national pulsi. It matters very little the scarcity or plenty of manufactured product. If the farm is over productive the prices fall; If the farm fails, all the prices rise in sympathy. We know this is not at all ac-' eeptable to the politician, who would! have us believe that party policies are responsible all of which Is tho veriest rot, as the American people are fust finding out. When we as a people attack tho farm problem in a sensible way; when wo devise some plan to restore re-store to the farmB of this country tho J valuable human brawn that they have lost then and not till then will wo be in the way of reducing the cost of living again to the normal. Perhaps the movement reported Is the beginning, and indicates that tho 'pendulum Is at last started on its backward swing. Let , us devoutly hope, that such is the case. |