Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1869-07-02
farm, Garden 4 s9pnsehold.
rARnERs AND THEIR HIRED MEN

Probably the difference between farming
and almost all other kinds Of business is more /
distinctly marked ia the relation existing be-
tween the employer and his laborers than in
any other way and while we fully appreciate
the kindly relations which grow out Of the
friendly companionship Of isolated residence
in the country, aud Of employment atthe same
work, we have been sometimes inclined TO
thluk that if shade more, not Of superiority,
but-of authority, we're made to mark the dit;
ference between the master aud the man,
farming might become more systematic and
more satisfactory business, IE saying this,
we would by no means imply an improyal of
superciliousness of demeanor, Of unkindtreat-
ment or manner, or Of any lessening Of the
most friendly relations between two elasses-of
people, who generally, except for the simple
fact that one Is the employer and the other
the employed, stand on the same level Of edu-
cation and intelligence We only mean that
nowork can be successful that is not system
attic. No system can be carried out in which
there is not one head responsible for the
working of all subordinates, and for the con
forming of all parts TO the requirement Of the
whole.
There is a great deal Of humbug in the mat
ter of tie giving Of orders to farm laborers.
The fact exists thai the farmer is an employ
er and the Iaborer an employe He is EN-
ployed to do certain things, and to do them
when and as he is told to. If he fails in this
respect, he is, or deserves to be, dismissed
from the service He understands this per
fectly well. and so does the farmer, and il is
simple nonsense 20 convey orders in the
honied phrases, 'Suppose yoa feed the
oxen, or, '.Yoa may hoe corn awhile TO day
If YOU have a mind TO- II ii Is the MAJ s
business to feed the oxen, it is The master s
business to tell him to do so and, it being
perfectly well understood that the corn is to
be hoed, and hoed according to orders, there
is no sense in seeming 10 leave it to the dis
erection Of the workman An order to do a
given piece Of work is JUS; as much an order
when put in one form of words as when put in
any other; and in our view. it implies lack
Of good sense or the part Of the laborer to
suppose thot he is not willing to be told in
plain terms, To-day you will hoe the corr, F"
or, st is time to feed the oxen" If Gener-
al Grant had replied to SheFidan's famous
communication by saying, "You may push
things, you have mind toi much Of the
force aud formal authority Of his simple "Push
things - would have been lost.
Most Of our American farm hands have
been American soldiers, and they have be
come thoroughly used to being told what they
are to Go in plain English and we know from
our own experience that they would still pre-
fer, in their more peaceful occupation, to have
all Of their directions couehed in unmistaka-
bic, though by no means discourIeous, Ian
guage It may be thought that this is small
matter to write an article about, but it is not.
The manner in which authority is exercised
over subordinates is an infallble indication
Of It's value and effect and the quiet deter
mination which induces farmer to tell his
men in a manly and straight forward way
what they are 10 Go, indicates by no means
that he considers himself better than they are,
but that his work IS being carried on accord
ing to an established plan, and that his plan
will be executed with that promptness and
dispatch which are indispensable TO success
in any walk OF life, whether in the army, in
the workshop, or on the farm Men who
are worth having will prefer to have their in
structious given to them in a definite form,
as Instructions and not as hints; and The
most successful farmer, other things being
equal, viii be the one who, IA this respect
adopts the course that ve have indicated. -
ImericaR 4griculttgja.