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In the first American Census in 1890, 90% of all Americans lived on farms. Farm work was hard and physical and done for the most part with hand tools. Farm families had large families because children provided cheap labor.

The mechanical reaper could cut the crops in the field at a far faster rate than a human being. Suddenly farms no longer needed 10 people to harvest a particular crop. One could run the reaper. The reaper was only the first of many pieces of farm machinery which would send laborers from the farms.

"You gotta run down, jump round pick a bale of cotton...pick a bale a day."

People do not pick cotton any more. Machines pick it. They pick a bale in a few minutes.

Most of the people who lived on the farms moved to the cities. Small towns that served the farmers are closing up. Small farm houses are closing up and being moved, torn down, or burned down to save on taxes.

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13y ago

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