The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1903-10-10
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE LABOR PROBLEM.
Complaint of the Scarcity of Labor
ON the Farms of the south
is Quite General.

The complaint of scarcity Of labor
is heard on all sides. The farmers of
the south are feeling this scarcity
more keenly than any other class. The
reviews, magazines and the daily news
papers are all giving. us learned es-
says on this subject They assign
many and varied causes and suggest a
very great variety of remedies. There
is mere or less truth in each and all
of these; but we have as yet seen no
discussion of the case with which we
fully agreed. The scarcity of labor
which is so keenly felt by the south
ern farmer has come from several
causes. = or a long time there has
been steady flow of white labor
from the farms to the cities and towns.
Recently there has been such strong
demand for colored labor to build rail-
roads, street railway lines, to run saw
mills and turpentine factories; work
upon the streets and other public works
of cities and towns, that a steady
stream has set in from the farms. While
many have gone directly to take jobs,
very, very many have gone just to-fol-
low the crowd This latter class has
filled all of the cities and towns to
OVERLOOKING with idlers and Migrants.
Higher wages and city attractions have
drawn thousands away from farm life.
The result will necessitate higher wag-
es on the part of the farmer And
when he pays higher wages, he will
have the right to demand better serv-
ice.
So we see that this may not prove
to be altogether injurious. If it should
result, as it ought to do, in inaugural
ing a better class of labor. it will in
the end prove great blessing. If it
should open our eyes to the fact that
absentee ownership is one of the great
est evils now existing in farm life. Too
much farming is done at long taw. In
dividual men own too much land. If
these large farms were broken up and
sold in small parcels, the country
would be greatly blessed. Every land
owner is a better citizen because he
owns land. Hence the more land own
ers we have the better citizenship we
will have
Then let these land owners use the
best farming implements. Let them
learn to do more and better work by
the use of more brains and better ma
chinery. Let them sow down a large
part of the country to grass, get live
stock to eat this grass. With better
implements cultivate the remainder in
better style, and make larger yield per
acre. In this way larger crops can be
made at much less cost, and with
many fewer hands. These land owners
can do great deal of this work them
selves, and become largely Independent
of the moving tide of shiftless labor.
But we can not discuss fully this
question in this article. We desire to
say, however, that the above all goes
to show the necessity for better edu-
cation on the part OF the farmers. We
do not need to bring in the coolie labor
as suggested by Georgia farmer. Such
labor might make cotton, but it would
not build up the social ,mentalno moral
nature of the country. They would
bring with them worse race problem
than the so-called negro problem. Far
better educate the southern white boy
to higher and better farming, tnan in
troduce any such low element among
us.-Southern Cultivator