The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1867-02-28
Monthly Report Of the Agricultural
Department.

We are indebted to Commissioner New
ton of the Agricultural department for hi
Monthly Report for January. Valuable ant
interesting STATISTICS upon several suDJecu
are given. we quote the remarks upon th'
rate of wages of farm laborers in the UNI
ted States:
THE RATE OF WAGES OF FARM LABoRERs
IN THE UNITED STATES.
In a single hundred years change hat
been wrought i'll this country which may
we'll challenge the admiration of the civil
lied world, and all that has been accom-
plished has been the direct result of labor
and of that labor, the largest portion, i
not the most productive OF net profits, is the
labor of agriculture.
Only one branch of agricultural industry
is to be considered at this time. Farm
workers are here farm proprietors Scarce
ly more than one-fourth of those who OBJ
tain their living by agriculture in this coun-
try hire out to farmers for monthly d
other consideration. 1t is of this class
that systematic course OF inquiry In every
state and territory has been made, and 1T is,
as is believed, the first attempt ever
made here.
The result shows an increase Of wages in
five years amounting to about fifty per cent.
This is less than the increase in the cost OF
living; still the purchasing power of a
months wages is greater than that OF any
other country in the world. Farm labor
ers, especially of the west, can enjoy more
of the comforts of life, and attain higher
rank in the social scale, than those of any
other country. They do not obtain the wa
ges conceded to mechanics and other class
es, perhaps better entitled to be considered
skilled laborers, yet they enjoy an advan-
tage, which is partial compensation, III low
er rents and cheaper subsistence supplies,
and fewer temptations to extravaganza and
waste.
In view of the superior condition of this
class, in comparison with rural laborers 10
other countries, it is not strange that the
European peasant should covet such advan-
tages, and seek them at the expense of exile
from the fatherland
ImnsdgTation.-It is a suggestive fact
that the immigration of millions of foreign
ers has not, as native laborers once feared,
proved serious competition, reducing the
rate of wages. On the contrary it has ad-
vanced great public works which have O.
pened new and wider fields of industry, and
pushd the native laborer into the ranks OF
the artisan, and the sphere of the skilled la
borer, with higher wages, and more exer-
else of mind, and less muscle than before.
When it is remembered that in 1860 there
were 4,136, IT'S foreign residents, and at least
6,000,00 at the present time, or one-sev-
enth the population, and a still larger pro-
portion of the actual laborof the country, this
suit must be acknowledged to be convinc-
ing evidence of the great resources and vast
power of labor absorption possessed in the
United States.
Increase of rate Of Dages.-More than
thirty years ago Mr.. II. G. Carey made the
estimate OF the average of agri
cultural labor of the country: "Agricul-
tural labor has not varied materially in
these forty years in its money price but
the variation that has taken place has been
in its favor the wages of men having been
very steadily about nine dollars month and
board: but higher wages are now not very
unusual" The average for white labor at
the present time, as presented in the accom-
panying tables, is fairly stated at $28 per
month, or nearly $15, so and board. This
indicates an advance of seventy per cent
in the lapse of generation, mostly in the
last six years, Or fifty per cent. since 1861.