topsoil out into the Atlantic.nAnother result of increased use of machinery was greaternproductivity per farmer — which, in turn, caused prices tonfall and yet more bankruptcies. Machinery began to increasenthe average size of the farm from the 160 acres of thenHomestead Act to 200 and then 300 acres and then more.nBy the 1950’s the average size of a farm necessary fornmaximum efficiency had grown to some 600 acres, and thennumber of farmers working the land had dropped to 10npercent of the total population and then to 5 percent — andnnow is less than 3 percent. And the sale of farm machineryngoes forward, always more expensive, always allowing greaternproductivity.nToday the size of a farm needed for maximum efficiencynis approaching 1,500 acres — and there are cries thatngreater government help is needed. In 1988 the government’sntotal appropriation for agriculture, if divided equallynamong all farmers, would be $19,000 each. Greater governmentnaid might keep more farmers on the land, but the sizenof the farm necessary for maximum efficiency in ten years,nby some estimates, will grow to 3,000 acres — which willndrive yet more farmers into bankruptcy and bring thennumber living on the land down toward 2 percent andnperhaps even less. Every day in every county it seemsnanother aging farm couple sells out and heads for Florida ornSouth Texas, leaving the farm to a corporation. And asnfarmers have left the land during the past 50 years, smallntowns likewise have withered.nHard-surfaced farm-to-market roads and automobilesnhave enabled those still on the land to drive to bigger citiesnwhere they can make their purchases in larger stores,ncausing local merchants to close. In addition, educators havensuccessfully argued that rural schools cannot provide thensame quality schooling as larger ones in bigger cities. Whennthe small-town school consolidates and the post office closes,nthe small town is terminally ill. Today there are many smallntowns that are only a shadow of their former selves, withnabandoned buildings that match the farmsteads rotting andnfalling in across the countryside. To an increasing degree thenWest is getting empty again.nAll these changes pose grave problems for America as wenapproach the 21st century. In 1893 Frederick JacksonnTurner, a brash young historian, said the frontier was thenbirthplace of democracy in America. He argued that it wasnon the frontier that most truly American traits were born:nindividualism, freedom, inquisitiveness, ingeniousness, andnmaterialism — people impatient of restraint yet willing tonfollow strong leadership. On the frontier most individualsnwere on the same economic level — poor—leading to anbelief in programs of social amelioration as well as governmentnprograms encouraging individualism, freedom ofnopportunity, and the acquisition of wealth. Thus mostnfrontiersmen wanted lenient land legislation, internal improvementsnat government expense (dams, removal ofnIndians, etc.), a protective tariff on agricultural products,nand a central government strong enough to do these things.nSimultaneously, however, these were people who had anstrong distaste for authority, a belief in individual initiative,nand a commitment to free enterprise.nBy the 1930’s, as more and yet more people moved offn18/CHRONICLESnnnthe land and into town, there was a great longing for “thengood old days.” Almost all of these people rememberedntheir belief in the nobility of rural4ife, which, according tonthe growing myth, brought peace, security, kindness, honesty,nand goodness. William Allen White, the famousnKansas newspaper editor, argued that “only those living innsmall towns have the true American ideals.” Governor JohnnHammill of Iowa, speaking in 1929, asserted, “Rural life isna . . . beacon of virtues that cuts through the darkness of anworld gone wrong.”nMuch of this is romantic nonsense, but there is truth thatnin the small towns of the Plains country we can seenreflections of what our President calls “a kinder, gentlernAmerica,” and rightfully we might ask, “Must the land benleft to a few giant corporations to be farmed by companynemployees who commute to work each day from somencity?” Must Americans approaching the 21st centurynchoose between security and slums, honesty and crime,nhumanity and congestion? If the small town dies, isndemocracy in trouble?nWe doubtless are never going back to the days ofnpeople living on small farms, the yeoman whomnJefferson hoped would be the backbone of the America henenvisioned. There will be no great return to the land despitenthe fact that rural Americans now have a way of lifeninfinitely better than that of their ancestors. The samentechnology that has given us giant tractors and combinesnand seed drills also has brought us television programsnavailable by satellite dish. A farmer on the Plains on anyngiven evening can choose baseball or ballet, football ornShakespeare, high drama or low comedy. In his living roomnhe can watch the launch of Discovery, the proceedings ofnCongress, the grilling of a politician, or the violence ofnterrorists. Modern roads and cars enable us to get where wencan use our plastic to buy all the goods our society makesnavailable.nIs it the fate of people in small towns “not to succeed, butnto continue to fail in good spirits,” as Robert LouisnStevenson put it? Should they smile as small towns withernaway?nPerhaps the best way to answer these questions is with anquestion: are the Plains states going to remain in economicnthraldom to their industrialized neighbors to the East,nanalagous to Third World dependencies that export rawnproducts and agricultural commodities in return for thengoods and services they need?nThe answer provided by almost everyone who studies thenquestion is for small towns to attract industry — smallnbusinesses that provide jobs and payrolls to keep people innthe area to enjoy the security, honesty, independence,nintegrity, and humanity reportedly found in these places.nNot all residents need go out each morning from town tonwork a farm to retain those farmers’ virtues. For most of usnthere will be no 160 acres and a mule nor a section of landnand a giant tractor; rather it will be $14 an hour at the plant,na small plot of land for a garden, a pickup with a rifle in thenback window, and a nearby lake for fishing. If jobs can benattracted to villages in Iowa, then the shining city on the hill,nso often spoken of by our leaders, will once again bensmall-town America. n