Middle Western Agricultural History as a Field of Research By Everett E. Edwards Reprinted from the Missiisippi Valley Historical Review Volume- XXIV. No <. l)r,rMi>'rr, 1937 :al survey MIDDLH WESTERN AGKICULTURAL IIISToRV AS A FIELD OF KESEARCH ' By EvERKTT E. Edwards If one is to eompreheiid tlu' living past, he must ^\\v infinitely more attention to tlie implications of the fact that this country was primarily rural for over two aiul one-half centuries. The vast maze of forces and conditions that have entered intt> the evolu- tion of rural life may well he taken as a central theme of Amer- ican history. Today economic and social problems press for solu- tion with perhaps more vehemence than ever before, and it be- hooves historians to su|)p]y the essential backgrounds of these current problems, many of which arise out of a rural past, if the people of this nation are to develop a sound national and inter- national economy. In turning more particularly to the Middle "West, one should also bear in mind that farming and the accompanying rurality has had greater dominance there than in any other region except the South. Furthermore, its agriculture has probably been of greater imjjortance to the nation than tliat of any other region. The sources of special interest to agricultural historians have already been considered in another connection,- and a fairly comprehensive, albeit somewhat out-of-date, bibliography of the hi.«tory of American agriculture which includes sections relating to the Middle West is also available." It has seemed best, there- fore, to devote this general discussion primarily to the phases > ThU paper was prewnt«d at the joint aeMion of the MiMiasippi Valley Hiitori- eal Asaociation with the Americao Historical Aaaociation at Providence, Rhode labnd, on December 29, 1936. » Everett E. Edwurda, "The Need of Iliitorical MateriaU for A^icultural B«- MArch," Agricultvral Untory ( Wualtin^on), IX (1935), 3 11. » Evereti E. Edwardi, "A Bibliugraphj of the Hiatorv of Agriculture in tl>e Unit- Ad State*," Vn%ted Statea Department of Agrievlture ilitcrHafirtnu Publicatutn 84 (Washington, 1930). The vast amount of bibliographical material which has aeeum- ulated in the eompiler '■ files aiuce tlie issuance of this bulletin is available for exaia- ination at the ofi«e of Uie writer in the United State* Department of Agriculture. 315 316 THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL REVIEW of Middle Western agriculture that are particularly deserving of the attention of the historians.* As yet there is no comprehensive volume or series of studies on the subject. For general treatments, one must depend on sum- maries in the better economic history texts, and whenever there is need of detailed information one is obliged to turn to widely scattered articles, chapters, and monographs which, at best, cover the subject only as a woefully incomplete and ill-fitted patchwork. Although many of these writings hold a high place in American historiography, their usefulness as a contribution to the historj" of the American basic industry is often vitiated by the fact that they have usually been written as political, social, or diplomatic history. In other words, agriculture and rurality have been reached from the outside rather than used as the starting point. Of the twelve states constituting the Middle West, only Wis- consin is provided with a modern history of its agriculture." In this respect, Joseph Schafer's excellent summary may well serve as a model.® The other volumes of the same author's Domesdaif Book series and Frederick Merk's Economic History of Wiscoti- sin during the Civil War Decade also deserve mention because of their contents and the significance of the methods used. E. V. •* For three earlier treatments, see William J. Trimble, ' ' The Agrarian History of the United States as a Subject for Research," Proceedings of the Mississippi Val- ley Historical Association, VIII (1914-15), 81-90, which also appeared in slightly revised fonn in the History Teacher's Magazine (Philadelphia), VI (1915), 135-137; Louis B. Schmidt, "An Unworked Field of Mississippi Valley History, " Iowa Joixrna? of History and Politics (Iowa City), XXI (1923), 94-111; and the "General In- troduction" by Harry J. Carman and Rexford G. Tugwell to their Columbia Uni- versity Studies in the History of American Agriculture series as given in Jarcd Eliot, Essays upon Field Husbandry in Nnv England and other Papers, 1748-176S (New York, 1934), p. v-xii. For other citations to pertinent articles of a similar nature, see Everett E. Ed- wards, "An Annotated Bibliography on the Materials, the Scope, and the Signifi- cance of American Agricultural History," Agricultural History, VI (1932), 38-43, which was later issued in revised form as a mimeographed publication of the United States Bureau of Agricultural Economics with the title. References on Agricultural History as a Field of Research and Study (Washington, November, 1934). 6 In this discussion, the Middle West is assumed to include the East North Cen- tral and West North Central divisions as used in the United States Census reports, i.e., Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. "Joseph Schafer, A History of Agriculture in Wisconsin (Madison, 1922). MIDDLE WESTERN AGRICULTURAL HISTORY 317 Robinson's volume on Minnesota is now over twenty years old, and that of C. W. Burkett on Oliiu appeared in VJOO: Some of the more recent state liistories inciiuie chapters on agriculture, and there are also a number of experiment station bulletins that supply general summaries for states.' Russell II. Anderson haa done a period of Illinois a.trri<'ultur»' and promises to oxpand his study into an as^ricultural liistory of the state.'' James ('. Malin is working on the agricultural history of his native Kansas, and Harold E. Briggs, Marc M. ClewortJi, and Herbert S. Schell have done similar research on tlie early years of the Dakota.'^.'" The agricultural history of Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska remain to be undertaken if the subject is to be devel- oped in terms of states. In studying the agricultural history- of any region, basic con- sideration must be given to two primal factors — the settlers and the geographic moulds into which they poured themselves. T Edward Van D. Robinson, Early Economic Conditions and th« Developmmt of Affriculture in Minnesota (Minneapolis, 1915) ; Charles W. Burkett, History of Ohio Apriculturt (Concord, N. H., 1900). • For example, Eugene U. Rosebooni and Francis P. Weisenburger, A liistory of Ohio (New York, 1934), 4 7, 179-181. 306-314. » For an abstract, see Russell H. Anderson, Aprictdture in Illinois during th« CivU War Period, 1S50-1S70 (Urbana, 1929). 10 James C. Malin, "The Kinsley Boom of the Late Eighties," Kansas Historical Quarterly (Topeka), IV (1935), 23-49, 164187; id., "The Turnover of Farm Popula tion in Kansas," ibid., IV (1935), 339-372; and id., "The Adaptation of the Agri- cultural System to Sub-Humid Environment," Agricultural History, X (1936), 118- 141; Harold E. Briggs, "Raiiching and Stock-Raising in the Territory of Dakota," South Dakota Historical Collections (Pierre), XIV (1928), 417 465; id., "The Great Dakota Boom, 1879 to 1886," North Dakota Historical Quarterly (Bismarck), IV (1930), 78109; id., "The Development of Agriculture in Territorial Dakota," Cul- ver-Stockton Quarterly (Canton, Mo.), VII (1931), 137; id., "Early Bonanxa Farming in the R*d River Valley of the North," Agricultural History, VI (1932), 26-37; id., "The Development and Decline of Open Range Ranching in the North- west," MisBiSKiPPi Valley Historical RE\^EW, XX (1934), 521-536;«J., "Grasshop- per Plagues and Early Dakota Agriculture, 1864-1876," Agricultural History, VIII (1934), 51-63, "The Settlement and Economic Development of the Territory of DakoU," South Dakota Historical Bcvicw (Pierre), I (1936), 151-166, and "The Early History of Clay County," South Dakota Historical Collections, XIII (1926), 69157; Marc M. Cleworth, "Twenty Yearn of Brown County Agricultural History, 1880-1899," ibid., XVII (1934), 17-176; Herbert S. Schell, "The Grange and the Credit Problem in Dakota Territory," Agricultural History, X (193C), 5l» 83 ; id., "Drought and Agriculture in Eastern South Dakota during the Eighteen Ninetlea," ibid., V (1931), 162 180. 318 THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL REVIEW The physiography, climate, and soils of a region provide the physical setting with certain limitations and advantages for those who undertake to farm there. An intelligent comprehen- sion of many phases of the subject, and especially the history of agricultural production, including its shifts and adjustments, is possible only if one considers the geographic factors. In this respect, the historian, is of course, largely dependent on the monographic literature of the geographers and the soil, climate, and type-of-farming bulletins of the federal Department of Agri- culture and the experiment stations. The history of the colonization and settlement of the Middle West has been told many times and in many ways, and it is hoped that further work on this phase of the subject will be concen- trated on realities. In other words, historians should continue to seek what Frederick Jackson Turner termed *'the vital forces" that called American institutions into life and shaped them to meet changing conditions. The social and economic status of the settlers and of the succeeding generations of newcomers was a factor in the development of their farmsteads and communities. So also were the settlers' preconceived ideas of farming. Al- though they may have attempted to follow the agricultural prac- tices familiar to them in the localities from which they came, they were compelled to respond to the actualities of their new environments. The hesitation of the pioneers on the edge of the prairies and their ultimate conquest of them is an interesting and significant example." The reasons why the different groups of settlers selected or perhaps simply found themselves on cer- tain types of land also deserve attention. Probably it is not with- out significance that New Englanders settled the oak openings of Wisconsin, leaving the forest-covered land for the Germans, and that the Finns seem to have selected a habitat as nearly sim- ilar to that of their native land as they could find." The relation of the various immigrant elements to American 11 William V. Pooley, Scttlcvient of Illinois, 18S0-1850 (Madison, 1908), chap. 14; Joseph Schafer, Fonr Wisconsin Counties; Prairie and Forest (Madison, 1927), chap. 6. 12 Joseph Schafer, "The Yankee and the Teuton in Wisconsin," Wisconsin Maga- zine of History (Madison), VI (1922-1923), 125-145, 261-279, 386-402, VII (1923), 3-19, 148171; Horace H. Russell, "Finnish Farmers in America," Agricultural His- tory, XI (1937), 65-79. MIDDLE WESTERN AGRICULTURAL, HISTORY 319 agriculture and rural life is also part ol' tiiis sul)jccl. Althuuf^^h tliere are many valuable studies on the eliief immigrant groups, one still lacks specific treatments of the actual adjustments by which they became Ameriaui farmers and of their ultimate and distinctive contributions.'* As examples of the latter, one may cite the nexus of the Swiss to the early history of the cheese in- dustry in Wisconsin, the Danes to cooperative creameries in Minnesota, and the Qerman-Kussians to hard winter wheat in Kansas.'* Although the general history of the policies by which the land constituting the Middle West passed from tlie federal govern- ment to individual owners is available in B. II. Ilibbard's volume and in the monographs by P. J. Treat, R. (}. Wellington, and G. M. Stephenson, there is still ample opportunity and need for clar- ification of the details.'" For several years Roy M. Robbins and Henry Tatter have been working in this direction.*" The policies pursued by the states in the dis])osition of the lands granted to them by the federal government are also important. However, the enacted policies are not the entire story, and the processes IS In some instances, a group niay have adopted American ways of making a living and economic organizsttion so quickly that there is little to say and nothing of significance concerning .idjustmentB. Tliis is true of tiie Swedes, for example. »« John Q. Emery, "The Swiss Cheese Industry in Wisconsin," Wisconsin Mag<^ tmt of Htrtory, X (1926), 42-52; Glenn T. Trewartlia, "The Green County, Wi» eonain, Foreign Clieese Industry," Economic Geography (Worcester), II (1926), 292- 308, e«p, 296 297; Thomas P. Cliristensen, "Danish Settlement in Minnesota," Min- nesota History (St. Paul), VIII (1927), 363 385, for scattered paragraphs on dairy- ing among Danish settlers in Minnesota. The present w^riter surmises a nexus between the early cooperative creameries in MinnesoUt and the quickening of national con- aciousneits in Denmark following tlie loss of Sdileswig-HoLstein in 1864. Hugh P. Coultis, "The Introduction and Development of Hard Red Winter Wheat in Kan- «u," Kanu« State Board of Agriculture, Bimnial Report, XV (1905-1906), 945-948. >• Benjamin H. Hibhard, A Uiatory of thr Public Land Polioiea (New York, 1924); Payson J. Treat. The Xational IxinA Sygtrm, 17S51SSO (New York, 1910); Bajnor (J. Wellington, The Political and Sectiinutl Infliunce of the Public I.an*ls, ISSS- 184S (Cambridge, iyi4) ; George M. Stephenson, Pulittcal Ilijstury of the Public Lands, 1840 to JSCi (Boston, 1917). Per additional references, see Edwards, "Bibliography of the History of Agri- culture in the United Stat«a," 50-59. An extensive unpublished bibliography on the land policies of the United States is aUo available for consultation in the writer'* ofBce in the United States Department of Agriculture. >• Roy M. Robbins, "Horace (irt^eley: LaJid lU-forin and Unemployment, 1837- 1862," Agricultural Ilistury, VII (ly3.1), 18 41, and id., " Pre«imption — A Fron- tier Triumph," MiKHiHMipn Valley HiKTOiurAL RsnEw, XVIII (1931), 331-349. 320 THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HI8T0KICAL REVIEW by which land ultimately came into the possession of farmers are probably more significant. In the study of actual disposition, Paul W. Gates has made notable contributions, beginning with his research on the colonization work of the Illinois Central Railroad, and likewise James B. Hedges on that of the Northern Pacific.^^ The activities of land companies and the extent and significance of land speculation as well as its connection with tenancy should also be considered. The public domain was dis- tributed to private individuals with no restrictions on mode of use and the result has been widespread human suffering and de- vastation by erosion of thousands of acres. How to reconcile private exploitation of land with protection of the public interest has become the crux of the problem of developing a realistic land policy for present and future needs, and it is patent that his- torical studies of the land policies of the past have a distinctly pragmatic value. At the present time one hears much discussion of farm ten- ancy, and when one recalls that 36.3 per cent of the farmers of the Middle West are tenants, one can appreciate the concern of those who are immediately confronted with the problem.^® For the United States as a whole the percentage is 42.1, and 40,000 farmers are passing from the owning to the tenancy class each year. Analyses by agricultural economists and rural sociologists 17 Paul W. Gates, The Illinais Central Railroad and Its Colonisation Work (Cam- bridge, 1934). This monograph embodies the contents of the following articles by the same author: "The Promotion of Agriculture by the Illinois Central Railroad, 1855-1870," Agricultural History, V (1931), 57-76; id., "Large-Scale Fanning in Illinois, 1850 to 1870," ibid., VI (1932), 14-25; id., "The Disposal of the Public Domain in Illinois, 1848-1856," Journal of Economic and Business History (Cam- bridge), III (1931), 216-240; id., "The Land Policy of the Illinois Central Railroad, 1851-1870," ibid., 554-573; id., "The Campaign of the Illinois Central Railroad for Norwegian and Swedish Immigrants," Studies and Records of the Norwegian-Amer- ican Historical Association (Northfield, Minn.), VI (1931), 66-88. See also Paul W. Gates, "The Homestead Law in an Incongruous Land System," American His- torical Review (New York), XLI (1936), 652-681. Cf. Fred A. Shannon, "The Home- stead Act and the Labor Surplus," ibid., 637-651; James B. Hedges, "The Coloni- zation Work of the Northern Pacific Railroad," Mississippi Valley Historical Re- view, XIII (1926), 311-342. 18 United States Special Committee on Farm Tenancy, Farm Tenancy; Report of the President's Committee (Washington, 1937), 89. For the specific middle western states, the percentages are: Illinois, 44.5; Indiana, 31.6; Iowa, 49.6; Kansas, 44.0; Michigan, 19.0; Minnesota, 33.7; Missouri, 38.8; Nebraska, 49.3; North Dakota, 39.1; Ohio, 28.9; South Dakota, 48.6; Wisconsin, 20.7. iCDDLE WESTERN AGBICULTURAL HISTORY 321 have appeared as articles and bulletins, but thus far, there are no adequate historical studies of this phase of the subject. The fact that farm families of half a century or more ago receive<:l virgin and productive land free from the government and yet were unable to hold it indicates that something more than the need of low-cost credit is involved. Although the recent polic> of stabilizing fann prices has probably helped, discerning studies of the beginnings of tenancy and the economic and human factors accentuating its increase may indicate that it is undesirable to attempt to resuscitate individualistic farming and may justify the current ex|K'riments in new methods of farm economy. Prob- ably the solutions of this problem will include limitations on the right to alienate holdings. In this connection one should also note the need of studies on the vast differences in Uie economic and social status of American farmers. The United States still proudly boasts that its tillers of the soil are farmers, not peas- ants, but accurate knowledge of the rural population in some areas would dispel any delusions that such is uniformly true. Some farmers are entirely capable of coping with changing con- ditions, while others need guidance and aid in varying degrees. The economic geographers delineate tlie United States into a number of agricultural regions and indicate that, generally speaking, the various crops and livestock now dominate in the geographic areas best suited to produce them.*' Today the Mid- dle West is represented on these maps by the American portion of the forest and hay region (the cut-over lands of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota), the western half of the hay and ^•OliTer E. Baker, in his articles on "Agricultural Regions of North America," Boonomie Geography, 11 (1926), 459-493, III (1927), 50 86, 309-339, 447-465, FV (1928), 44-73, 399 433, V (1929), 36 69, VI (1930), 166-190. 278-308. VII (1931), 109-153. 325 364, VIII (1932), 325-377, IX (1933), 167-197, and also in his other writings differentiates thirteen regions. In addition to those given in the text, the regions are: humid subtropical crops belt; cotton belt; Middle Atlantic trucking region; grazing and irrigated crops region; Columbia plateau wheat region; Pacific sabtropiral crops region; aud Nurth Pacific luiv, pasture, aiid forest region. The "R^'gionalized Ttjws of Farming in tlie United States" map, issued br the planning dirision ut the Agricultural .\djustmeut Administration, delineates thirteen main rett^ons and one hundred sub- regions. The "Tjpea-of- Panning Areas in the United States, 1980" map, prepared by the United States Bureau of Census in cooperation with the United States BurMUi of Agricultural EeoBomiea, delineatee 514 regions. 322 THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL REVIEW dairying region, the spring wheat region, the corn belt, the hard winter wheat region, and the northern portion of the mixed farming zone where northern and southern agriculture meet (the corn and winter wheat region). Historically the agricul- tural map has ultimately assumed its present form because of the operation of the many forces that made up what may be called the American agricultural revolution.*" The history of the various crops and livestocks, including their movement west- ward until they came to dominate in their present centers of sur- plus production, is a vital part of the subject. The changing ways of farm management and the introduction of new and improved varieties of crops and breeds of livestock and the efforts toward diversification also have a large place in the history of agricul- tural production. The series of articles on the historical back- ground of the economic phases of the production and marketing of the basic agricultural crops that appeared in the Yearbooks of the Federal Department of Agriculture for 1921 through 1925 afford useful summaries, and they might well be taken as the starting points of detailed studies.-^ L. B. Schmidt also outlined the westward movement of corn and wheat,-- and there are also a few valuable monographs like J, A. Hopkins' Economic His- tory of the Production of Beef Cattle in Iowa, and J. G. Thomp- son's Rise and Decline of the Wheat Growing Industry in Wis- consin that point the way. The other instrumentalities of agricultural production and rural life, other than land and management, namely, labor and equipment, need consideration. The ways in which the inade- quacies of the labor supply have been met, the hired man and his wages, transient labor, etc., have hardly been mentioned, much 20 Louis B. Schmidt, "The Agricultural Revolution in the Prairies and the Great Plains of the United States," Agricultural Ili.tiory, VIII (193-4), 169-195. For a more general statement, see the same author's " Tlic Agricultural Revolution in the United Slates— 1860-1930," ScUnce (New York), LXXII (1930), 585-594. 21 The articles appeared as follows: 1921 — wheat, com, beef, and cotton; 1922 — timber, hogs, dairy industry, tobacco, and small grains; 1923 — sugar, sheep, forage resources; 1924 — hay, poultry; 1925 — fruits ajid vegetables. 22 Louis B. Schmidt, "The Westward Movement of the Corn-Growing Industry in the United States," Iowa Journal of Ili-story and Politics (Iowa City), XXI (1923), 112-141, and id., "The Westward Movement of the Wheat Growing Industry in the United States," ibid., XVIIl (1920), 396-412. MIDDLE WESTERN AGRICULTURAL, HISTORY 323 less studied, by historians. The same thinp may be said of farm buildings, horse and other draft power, implements anmies (Berkeley, 1931), IX; Ruasell H. Anderson, "The Technical Ancestry of Grain-Milling Dericea," Mechan- ical Engineering (New York), L^^I (1935), 611-617, and id., "Grain Drills Through Thirty Nine Centuries," Aprieultural History, X (1936), 157-205; William T. HuUhinson, Cyrus Hall McCi>rmiel- (New York. 1930 35), 2 vols. '♦Lewis C. Gray, "Agricultural Machinery," Encyclopedia of the Soeiai Scienctt (New York, 1930), I, 551 553; Herbert A. Kellar, "The Reaper as a Factor in tli* Derelopment of tha Agriculture of Illinois, 1634-1 A65," Transactions of the Ulinoit State HiMtorieal Society (Springfield), No. 34 (1927), 105-114. "See his renew of A. Parmalee Prentice's Breeding Profitable Dairy Cattle, io the Saturday Reviev of Literature (New York), XI (March 23, 1935), 563. 324 THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL EEVIEW and sociologically, of attempting to preserve the traditional fam- ily-sized farm and the general lay-out of the rural community that is associated with it? The marketing of agricultural products — the steps by which they were moved from the farmyard to the consumer — has in- finite ramifications. Leading historians have asserted that the development of marketing is the central force in economic de- velopment, and L. B. Schmidt's survey of the grain trade of the Middle West, Henrietta M. Larson's monograph on the Wheat Market and the Farmer in Minnesota, and Guy Lee's research on the Chicago grain elevators, bear out this view.-® Problems inci- dent to marketing have usually been a factor in the so-called farmer-protest movements, and the economics incident to the spread between what the farmer receives and the consumer pays may well be the approximate but unrecognized common-denom- inator cause of these movements. The various ways by which the farmers have attempted to increase their share of the retail price and the multitudinous functions that the federal and state governments have been forced to assume as a means of aiding them in this respect are significant parts of this subject. Cooperative marketing alone is a large topic that is deserving of further treatment than it has yet received. The fact that cooperatives have tended to develop in terms of individual com- modities rather than all of the economic activities of a commun- ity as in Denmark and Ireland may be a significant trend, counter to the professed democratic objectives of America. The river, lake, canal, and rail traffic by which the products of the Middle "West reached the consumers has been the subject of many studies. Less is known of the development of roads and especially of the effects of the automobile and motor truck. While the latter is related primarily to marketing, the former also has a less tangible connection with the organization of rural life. At some time in their history most rural localities had suffi- 26 Louis B. Schmidt, "The Internal Grain Trade of the United States," Iowa Jour- nal of History and Pnliti<'s, XVIII (1920), 94-124, XIX (1921), 196-245, 414-455, XX (1922), 70-131; Henrietta M. Larson, "The Wheat Market and the Farmer in Minnesota, 1858-1900," Columbia University Studies in History, Economics an4 Pub- lic Law (New York), CXXII (1926), 203-475; Guy A. Lee, "The Historical Signi- ficance of the Chicago Grain Elevator System," Agricultural History, XI (1937), 16-32. MIDDLE WE8TEBN AGBIOULTURAL HISTORY 325 cient cohesiveness to justify their being referred to an communi- ties or neighborhoods. Sometimes the rural school was the focal point; sometimes it was tlie churcli; then again it may have been the local market. The advent of the automobile put the American people on fast and far-moving wheels and shattered that cohe- siveness, and here and there in the midst of the present social and economic cliaos one encounters leaders groping, consciously or unconsciously, for means of salvaging or redeveloping the social values incident to a modicum of stability. The same force has also outmoded the traditional forms of local government. The introduction of swift mobility and its efTects on rural life in all its phases challenges attention. Similar statements may be made with reference to the space-destroying elTects of the radio. The rural population as consumers must also be considered. That it is still important as such is indicated by the emphasis placed by the New Deal on the view that the purchasing power of the farmers must be restored and maintained if the nation as a whole is to enjoy economic stability. What food has been raised on the farm and how has it been prepared? What has been the liistoF)' of the migration of industries from the fann to the pro- cessing plant and factory? For this phase of the su])ject, there is need for more studies like R. A. Clemen's American Livestock and Meat Industry, C. B. Kuhlmann's Development of the Flour- Milling Industry, and H. J. Thornton's History of the Quaker Oats Company. There is also tlie role and evolution of the coun- try store and the rise of the mail-order house to be considered. Recently, a great deal has been heard about consumer coopera- tives. A comprehensive history of the experiments in this field, beginning, so far as the Middle West is concerned, with the (i ranger movement, would be of pragmatic interest and value. The matter of financing farming operations is likewise im- portant. Farm incomes and expenditures, banking methods, in- terest rates, mortgages and foreclosures, taxation, insurance in all its forms and monetary legislation are topics that have been left mainly to the economists. Possibly this phase of the subject will continue largely in their hands, but even so tlie historians must give cognizance to these financial factors in any agricul- tural historv research that thev mav undertake 326 THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL REVIEW The gradual application of science to the methods of agricul- ture has had an important, if not a dominant, part in the evolu- tion of agriculture from a self-suflficing economy to the commer- cial economy familiar today. The media by which scientific knowledge reached the farmers are many, and the history- of each is part of this subject. Local agricultural clubs of all kinds and descriptions, agricultural fairs, agricultural periodicals, the federal and state departments of agriculture, the agricultural schools, colleges, and experiment stations, farmers' institutes, extension work and demonstration farms, county agents, 4-H clubs, etc., have served educational as well as many other func- tions. Except for W. C. Neely's Agricultural Fair, E. D. Ross's work on the land-grant colleges, A. L. Demaree's investigation of agricultural periodicals, and a number of articles and books on particular organizations, this phase of the subject offers al- most unlimited opportunities for historians.*' The agricultural leaders of the region are another in- teresting and significant part of the subject. As editors, writers, inventors, scientists, and promoters of protest movements, they contributed to the improvement of farming, and their waitings are frequently important sources for agricultural history. That their contributions as leaders have frequently been national as well as regional is indicated by the fact that all of the secre- taries of agriculture, except one short fill-in appointment, have come from the Middle West. To Herbert A. Kellar, scholars are indebted for the inclusion of agricultural leaders in the Dic- tioyiary of American Biography, for he persuaded the late Allen Johnson to include them and also supplied a working list of names. The result is a group of useful sketches of such men as Jearum Atkins, John Deere, Henry L. Ellsworth, William D. Hoard, and many others. Kellar 's collection of Solon Robinson's writings also deserves special mention because it delineates the contributions of an important leader and supplies the student with a valuable deposit of information on Middle Western agri- 27 Wayne C. Ncoly, The Agricultural Fair (New York, 1935). Cf. Earle D. Ross, "The Evolution of the Agricultural Fair in the Northwest," Iowa Journal of His- tory and Politics, XXIV (1926), 445-480. There are also a number of books and articles on the variouH state fairs. Ross, "The Manual Labor Experiment in the Land-Orant College," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, XXI (1935), 513-528. MIDDLE WESTERN AGRICULTURAL HISTORY 327 cultiiro chirinj^ the years 1825-1851.*" Wendell 11. Stephensoirs edition of the papers of Thomas Aflleek will be similarly useful. It will also perhaps not be remiss to ejill attention to the sig- nificance of the training given by the rural grade and high schools. Oraiite*! that it is tlie function of education to develop the indiviihuU so that he may serve the eonunon good as a ra- tional and socialized being, it is pertinent to know the extent to which the rural schools have played their part. One hears much of the little red schoolhouse — usiuilly white in actuality — as the foundation of this country's democracy, but that democracy will be preserved and adapted to changing needs only in so far as the educational system fulfills its purpose. Hence, the import- ance of this topic. Except the general chapters on the Middle West in the per- tinent volumes of the History of American Life series there is little formal history of the rural home and community." The farm house with its furnishings, conveniences, and surround- ings; rural manners, customs, and morals; junusements and entertainments such as games and sports, sociables and sur- prise parties, and spelling, husking, and quilting bees; religious ideas and practices — these and many similar topics offer ample opportunity for those inclined towanl social history. The lack of historical studies of rural health, including sanitary condi- tions, home remedies, and the country doctor, may also be men- tioned in this connection. The relation of the farmers to the political history of the region and the nation is less obscure. The significance of their part in the political revolution of 1860 is well known, and S. J. Buck's Aprariati Crusade summarizes their relationship to the protest movement during the remainder of the nineteenth cen- tury. The same author's monograph on the Granger Movement and that by John D. Hicks on the Populist Revolt are adequate. Mention should also be made of the jiioneer work by F. E. Haynes '•Herbert A. KelUr, ed., Solon Bobinsun: Pxonerr and Agncvlturist ; Selrcted WrUimita, Indiana HUtorieal CoUrctions (IndiamipolU), XXIXXII (1936), 2 toU. '•For a noteworUij lericii of articles, at-o Evadeiio A. Burria, *'Ke«ping IIou«e on tho Miane«ota I-Vontier," Mtnnrgota Jlutlury, XIV (1933), 263 2H2 ; ui.. " t\on- tier Kood," tbid., 378 392; ut., "Building the Frontier Home." ibtd., XV (1934), 43^S; aiid id., " Furoialiing tl>« Fruutter Home," i^wi., iHl 103. 328 THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTOBICAL REVIEW on third-party movements. Although none of the present studies of the National Non-Partisan League are satisfactory, probably that by R. H. Bahmer now in preparation will meet one's needs. The main criticism of the valuable articles and monographs on special phases of the farmers' relation to politics is that most of them treat their particular subjects as if they reclined in a vacuum. Many less tangible rural contributions also deserve consider- ation. The drift of sons and daughters from the farms, together with its many ramifications, is economically as well as socially important. They contributed brains or brawn, and their rural mores may have tempered the ever-growing domination of ur- banism. The expenditures for their formal education was an economic drain on the rural communities from which they came. When the old folks passed away, their estates were probably divided more or less equally among the heirs. The urbanized members of the family, not wishing or fitted to return, made fi- nancial adjustments with those who had remained on the farm. The contribution of rural to urban income through inheritance has been rather significant. The retirement of farmers to nearby towns, leaving their holdings to be operated by tenants, is a similar process. There is hardly anything about these and similar drains that contribute to the unbalance of the rural and urban elements of America. Conversely, the back-to-the-land movements of the population, especially as depression manifes- tations, deserve consideration. Perhaps the prospectus of the history of Middle Western agriculture here outlined involves a broader interpretation than that usually associated with the term, agricultural history, and possibly the topics emphasized may seem mundane and drab when compared with what are ordinarily assumed to be the more colorful aspects of American history. Yet they are the vital forces of American development, and furthermore, on the basis of daily experience as historian of the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture, the author of this paper can assure his readers that there is a distinct pragmatic need for historical studies of these forces. UNIVERSITY OF ILLIN0I8-URBANA 3 0112 050752036 ciDAR hapio* IOWA