Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1870-07-29
Farmers and Chinese Labor.


1t is admitted by all that the grea
obstacle that stands i'm the way o
the development of the resources o
this country is the scarcity of labor
and, as a consequence, its high price
We have hundreds of mines of coal
gold and silver and other metals
vastly more valuable than those that
are worked with profit in Europe
that cannot be operated here because
labor is too high to employ. We
have millions of land better than that
cultivated in various parts Of Europe
which are unoccupied, for the simple
reason that it is unprofi table to till
them at the present price of labor.
Statisticians tell us that over a mil
Zion of dollars day goes from the
United STATES to purchase goods that
are manufactured by means of the
cheap labor of foreign countries.
No persons, as n class, are suffering
so much from scarcity and high
price of laror rs are the farmers of
The west and south. Everywhere
they are exclaiming 1.-The harvest is
truly plenteOus, but the laborers are
few" Cotton balls, that would have
filled thousand bales, were scattered
by the winds of last winter for the
want of faborers to gather them.
Many branches of agriculture, that
require a large amount of labor, are
ether entirely given up or are at n
stand still. Permanent farm i'm
prOvements, like ditching and un-
derdraining, seem out of the ques-
ton. But the most disCOuraging
view of the situation is this: Our
farm products come in competition
with those that are produced in coun.
tries where the wages of labOrers are
less than half what they are here.
Much of our wheat finds its way to
Liverpool, where it is put into the
market along with that produced in
Russia where harvesters can be EN-.
ployed for week for less money than
they can be hired here for single
day.
As a rule there are very few of our
native born citizens who wish for
employment as hired laborers on
farm. Ordinarily they can find oc
equations more remunerative and
better adapted to their tastes.
Where then are we TO look for
cheap and abundant labor, if not to
that ancient empire, the number and
industry Of whose population are the
wonder of the world? Here are
people ready and willing to become
"hcwers Of wood and drawers of
water" if thereby they can earn a
sum which would not tempt the
European, much less the American
laborer, to engage in the most desira-
bic business occupation. They have
been so long Injured to habits of in
dustry and frugality, that these hab.
its are thoroughly incorporated into
their natures. Their wants are few
because they have never been accus-
toned TO luxuries. They have deyel-
Oped resources i'm their native country
that would have been neglected in
any other portion of the earth.
The kind of laborers that the farm
ers of the west want, are those who
will work cheaply and for long peri
DDS of engagements, and at the same
time be reliable and skillful. They
would prefer those of their own
nationality and who speak their own
tongue but, as we have before said,
they are not to be procured. The
price of farm labor keeps up, though
the price of farm produce goes down.
The discrepancy between the price
the farmer pays for labor and the
price he receives for bis products is
greater than in almost any branch of
business. This state of affairs is
prejudicial against capital invested
in farming land and stock, and
serves to discourage many from en-
gagiBg in the pursuit of agriculture.
-frdiFie Farmer.