Date: June 22, 1931
Location: Northampton, MA
Summary: Agriculture is a Satisfactory Form of Existence
(Original document available here)
It is long since we have heard much agitation for a movement back to the land. But now when there is distress in industrial centers a home on a farm begins to look attractive.
One reason the appeal subsided was because recently the wage earner was supposed to be better off than the farmer. This conclusion resulted from the constant demand for farm relief. Some have thought our experience would parallel the English where agriculture greatly declined and the people gathering around the factories imported food. The late James J. Hill thought we would become a food importing nation.
It is likely to grow more and more apparent that there is no safer place of existence than the moderate sized farm home. It may turn out that it is not often practical to employ a large amount of machinery and a large area of land in attempting to turn agriculture into the manufacture of some single great staple. But the family that makes the farm an old fashioned home with diversified crops, fruits and domestic animals sufficient to meet the household needs will still find agriculture one of the most satisfactory forms of existence.
Citation: Calvin Coolidge Says: Dispatches Written by Former-President Coolidge and Syndicated to Newspapers in 1930-1931 (Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation)
The Coolidge Foundation gratefully acknowledges the volunteer efforts of Frank Harder who prepared this document for digital publication.