 Needless to say, Chesterton would have been horrified by the so-called economies of scale that have forced most American farmers to abandon the land through the forces of agribusiness. As early as 1921, during his first visit to the United States, Chesterton had been horrified by the rise of federal and corporate power and a consequent destruction of small government and small business. In an interview with a Boston newspaper, he alluded to the chasm between the ideals of the founding fathers and the reality of modern-day America. I quote, Work Patrick Henry to return to Earth and look around on the vast economic order of the day. He might revise his observation and merely say, give me death.