The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-05-02

those who are wont to deprecate, or to
view with alarm, the relative diminution
Of rural population in the United States,
and the tendency to congregate in cities
and at manufacturing or mining centers.
Such reflections will show that the condi-
tions drsprecated, or whose consequences
are dreaded, ere Of the very essence Of the
general progress and Of the improvement
in average prosperity which IL the chief
characteristic and the pride Of the age.
What with the steam pillow, and the pat
emit planters, reapers. mowers, headers and
the like, an equal or greater crop can be
produced with one-tenth Of the farm
hands that were required In 'sthe good old
times" Of sixty to one hundred years ago.
But - : result Of the thinning out process,
and Of defines In handling the improved
farm implements, the smaller number Of
employees ct present command much
higher wages than could be obtained by
the larger number Of former times. Down
to forty years ago eight dollars was con-
sidered good months wage for capable
farm hand in most Of the agricultural re-
gions; quite - good as three times that
sum would be considered now.
The time and labor consumed by the
wives and daughters Of the farmers Of the
olden days in spinning, knitting or
weaving homemade manufactures, will
now in modern mandatory produce on
. low estimate FIVE hundred times the
quantity Of handsomer and in every way
superior material With cheapened cost
has come vast increase in use and demand,
and the operative trained to experiences in
the improved processes commands COM
pcnsation that would have appeared
munifcent, if not fabulous, to the danes
and dsmsels of the knitting-needle, spin
ning-wheel and hand-loom era.
But the greatest revolution has been
effected In the matter Of transportation.
For less than it formerly cost to haul .
ton by wagon to market distance Of ten
or fifteen miles, from . farm requiring
heavy annual expenditure for fertilizers to
produce moderate crop, the same guam
tity can now be transported thousand
miles, grown upon virgin soil producing a
far heavier crop. And the wages Of those
who can handle the i'm proved vehicles are
proportionately, or nearly so, greater than
were earned by the drivers of the old-time
wagons carrying ton or less to the load
and requiring full day for single trip.
The area devoted to agricultural produc-
ton has increased in full proportion to
the total growth of the country; the av-
erage size Of farms has increased; the av-
erage product per acre has enormously in
creased, but the proportion Of men and
women required to do the work is less,
the cost Of production and transportation
to market 10 less, and as net result the
increased product at lessened cost must
place within the reach of the proportion
ally reduced number vast increase of the
comforts, conveniences and luxuries of
| life.
The men and women no longer required
for the cheap drudgery of former times on
| the farms, have branched out into the
multiplied new and more skilled employ
ments, whose creation has been largely
due to increase Of agricultural production
| at reduced cost, and in these more skilled
employments they earn wages far in excess
of those formerly paid on farms.
| And with their departure and i'm
proved condition has come the
necessity and the ability to pay higher
wages to those who remained, to prevent
them from also leaving; the departure of
the girls who have gone into the factories,
or into millinery, dressmaking or the
other empioyments that have been in
creased by the general prosperity, and the
departure Of the teamsters and ploughmen
| to take charge of railroad trains and the
like, has improved the wages of those who
| remained and increased the demand for
| the product Of their labor.
| It Is thus made clear that though there
| are propor;ionately fewer farmers than in
the old times, they produce more. pay
better wages, live better, and they and
their families get better goods at less price
than il formerly cost them to make them,
| and they with enhanced profit to them.
selves are aiding in building up CON-
| munities that in turn are creating q vast
increase In demand for agricultural prod.
ucts. II Is no detriment, but the reverse,
| 10 the farmers that the towns grow and
| manufactures increase and prosper.
/ Everybody Is most benefited by the widest
| possible diversifcation of industry.
!