The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1903-02-27
FARM LABOR.

Mr.. Jacob G. Schonfarber, assistant TO
the Chief Of the State Bureau of Statistic {,
at the annual convention of Farmers at
Sandy Spring, Montgomery county, on
Tuesday, spoke as follows:
when we come to consider the ques-
ton of farm labor: and why it has becon e
so Indifferent, particularly in Maryland,
we must first consider the changed condi-
tons brought about by the revolution in
methods and machinery on the arm, as
in every other industry. Fifty years ago,
nine-tenths of the farm work was done
by hand and constant hard labor. Today,
any and every we'll regulated farm con-
tains such an amount of machinery and
facilities for rapidly doing the work that
even the most poorly equipped farm is
better off in this respect than the best
equipped of the past period. Seeding
narrowing, threshing, blowing and near
land is now facilitated by steam or steel.
The value of farm implements in the Sta e
of Maryland is placed at upward Of S.
0OO,O0 by the census, an increase in two
decades of nearly so per cent.
To-day there are 10000 farms in the
State of Marylend: 4O,169 of which are
owned or operated, or managed by white
farmers, and 5,S42 are owned or operated
by colnred farmers On these farms are
employed 93,O14 males aud 3,'+o f, Inales
in various capacities. OF this number So,
900 are agricultural laborers, represent
ing II, 5S9 families. These figures are ex
on the farms Of the 234210 negroes in
this State, 5,.i14 are illiterate, an can
neither read nor write. When it is re
membered that IA large proportion of this
negro 'pulat on live in the counties and
are emp . Ell on the farms, it will be seen
at glance one of the reasons why your
farm labor is Indifferent.
There was time when almost any un-
she farm: to day, however, to be of any
help to the re ii farmer he must be almost as
highly skilled as the ordinary mechanic.
To get results from labor applied to mother
earth, scientific theory must be practical
ly applied, and study and developed in.
telligence is most highly necessary. Show
me the successful farmer, and will show
you an intelligent man. A successful
farm hand should know something about
soil, its chemical qualities, drainag', farm
buildings and adaptability of the soil.
"Now, then, We come to the indiffer-
ence of your labor. Why is it Indifferent?
First, because it is unintelligent.
Second, because you cannot get intelli-
gent labor for the money offered by Mary
land farmers to their farm help.
Third, because Maryland farmers have
so completely depended in the past upon
the unintelligent negro, because he was
c zap, that they are now at loss what to
do when this cheap negro labor is grad
ually being drawn from him by the better
paid low grade occupations offered in the
cities.
"According to the census returns, the
tendency of the drift of population is to
the larger cities. This applies more par
ticularly to the negro population than to
the white. The changed economic condi-
tons. the blare and glare of the cities, the
crowded and cheap tenement houses, the
81 to ST. day offered by the ordinary
laboring occupations, and the political
utilization Of the negro voter, with oppor
tunities for smaller political preferment,
have been temptations too strong for them
to resist.
"These, in my judgment, are the main
causes of the Indifference of the negro
farm labor in the State of Maryland. Some
of these same reasons apply to the white
labor"