Agricultural economics

Front matter

Class Book.

CopyrigMi^

1JO

Preface

This volume represents an effort to carry over into agricultural economics some results of recent experience in the use of the discussion method of teaching elementary and intermediate courses in economics. The book aims to bring together in an orderly arrangement, (i) a store of information which may profitably come within the view of the student who desires to understand the economic phenomena of agriculture, and (2) a considerable number of opinions which have already been expressed as to the meaning of these facts. The introductory discussions contributed by the editor are not designed to reconcile the theories propounded by the many authors quoted, nor to give an authoritative "interpretation" of the whole. In some of them are suggested the reasons which led to the inclusion of particular selections, some of them point out salient aspects of the problem dealt with in the chapter, some suggest the need of more careful scrutiny than seems as yet to have been given to one or another phase of our subject. Very evidently, then, the book is offered as food for thought and a stimulant to the thought-process, not as a scripture to be learned by rote.

While, on the one hand, it does not aspire to give a final answer to all the economic problems of agriculture nor to teach a hard-andfast system of rural economy, neither does it, on the other hand, content itself with merely presenting a certain number of concrete "cases," putting upon the student the necessity of distilling the principles from the facts. For, even granting the possibility that he might achieve some measure of success in such an effort, it would be poor economy of labor. We should be accounted improvident if, in building our agricultural economics, we should fail to utilize, as fully as possible, the foundations laid in the past. The beginner will do well to avail himself of such principles as have already been formulated, making experimental applications of them to the actual conditions which he observes about him. Ultimately he may perceive deficiencies in these statements of economic law, but for a longer or shorter time they will furnish him a much-needed guide to critical and constructive thinking. The plan of this book, therefore, is to have each chapter (except a few which are frankly descriptive in vin PREFACE

character) begin with a section devoted to the points of theory involved in that division of the subject. These readings are followed by others which present data for verification, illustration, or disproof. The principles quoted are not in all cases such as meet with the compiler's full assent, but careful effort has been made to include only such statements as are worthy of serious consideration and are likely to be of service in arriving at an understanding of the various problems.

Clearly, the use of more and shorter readings, the greater stress upon organization of this selected material, and the chapter introductions cause a book of this sort to be less a source book in the older and stricter sense, and to combine many of the desirable features of a text, while escaping its most serious drawbacks. For myself, I should call this a " composite textbook," and add that the material is presented in this form, not because native laziness has made the editor shirk the task of literary composition, but because of a belief that in this form it has the greatest teaching value. The author of a text aims to reduce to a single compact line of statement all the mass of fact and interpretation that he has marshaled together, and to give to his work a finished form — in short, to make a compelling statement of the one true gospel. But the first task for any competent instructor, using that textbook so carefully organized for "clearness, force, and elegance," is to expand and supplement and alter according to his needs the material there presented. The textwriter constructs, as it were, a smooth, straight highway of thought, down which the student whizzes to his appointed destination without getting much benefit from the journey. He needs to tarry and visit, to wander back and forth, to explore the country and learn the whole region, if he is to be a well-informed traveler when he dismounts at his journey's end.

The readings here presented have been taken from many settings and retain evidences of their points of contact, thus showing the relations of the different portions of our subject to other phases of the life of which it is a part. Many spots of the ground are covered more than once in different connections and from different avenues of approach. This is not mere needless reiteration. Every experienced teacher knows that teaching consists largely in such repetitions, by which the student is led all around a subject in order to learn its different aspects and its many bearings. This is the purpose for which the teacher commonly uses "assigned readings." But the

PREFACE IX

assigned reading often contains, along with the matter wanted, an equal or greater store of things which the instructor does not care to have brought into the student's view at the moment. How often we find the student coming back with his mind full of just the wrong part of the discussion read ! For that reason no long readings are presented here: all have been "adapted" to exclude extraneous material and focus attention upon the point at issue.

As for the general plan upon which the organization of the material has been made, it goes without saying that it follows the older rather than the newer type of economic thought. The decision to use the fourfold division into consumption, production, exchange, and distribution grew out of a desire to make the book most serviceable to present users, rather than out of any personal devotion to conservative ideals in the matter of economic exposition. Such teachers of agricultural economics as have broken with the orthodox traditions will readily reorganize these materials to suit their own purposes; others, I judge, will find the present arrangement convenient.

This volume is intended primarily as the basis for a general course in agricultural economics covering three one-hour periods throughout a college year. Personally, I expect to use it in lieu of a textbook (as I have already used much of the material), though other instructors may prefer to use it in connection with a regular text. Much would depend upon local circumstances. If a course in elementary economics is a prerequisite for students in agricultural economics, it would seem that further use of a text could readily be dispensed with. In the case of a class possessed of no previous training in economics, assigned readings may be added either from one of the few treatises on agricultural economics or from the many on general economics. However, it has been the intention to include readings covering enough of the fundamentals of economic theory so that a supplementary text might not be called for. A classbook of questions and exercises, now in course of preparation to accompany this volume, will, it is hoped, further develop and organize the materials for classroom use, and facilitate searching and profitable discussion of the economic problems treated in this volume.

As for other uses, it is hoped that the book may be found a useful supplement to the text or other materials in courses in market ing, rural credits, or the like. Likewise, the interests of the many high schools which are today devoting a large measure of attention to agricultural affairs have been borne in mind. For the giving of added

X PREFACE

information about the farmer's economic life, even where no comprehensive grasp of principles is attempted, many of these selections should prove helpful.

The purpose of the book will be achieved if it be found to be a reservoir whose contents have been kept in a sufficiently fluid state so that many may come and draw to fill their different measures for their diverse needs — and if the average quality of the contents be found good.

It is apparent that I am under heavy obligations to the many writers and publishers whose generous contributions have gone so far toward the making of this book. Their names appear from page to page. To others I am indebted for many helpful suggestions concerning the selection or organization of the material: to Associate Professor James A. Field and Assistant Professor Harold G. Moulton, of the University of Chicago, Dr. Charles L. Stewart, of the University of Illinois, and to my colleague, Mr. J. S. Waterman.

E. G. N.

University of Arkansas September 10, 191 6