Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1907-12-28
HANDLING HIRED LABOR.
"Farmer" Advocates Paying the Hired
Hand $3.50 and Charging for Extras.

Along with all other sections OF the
country the south is suffering from
the scarcity of farm labor, and more
than any other section because such
a large percentage of her white rural
population, male and female, is unac.
customed to helping themselves in
the kitchen or on the farm. Conse-
quently we suffer more from the loss
of labor than those parts of the coun
try where the people know how to
do their own work
One of the many problems which
confronts us is how to make the farm
| more attractive to the laborer, even
though he be negro, and show him
that his interests and comfort both
lay more on the plantation than on
the public works.
We think farm wages are, say
! third higher than they were a few
years ago, because we pay, possibly,
one-third more in cash, and, like the
laborer himself, fail to take his per.
quistes into the account and then be-
lieve, as he does, that because the
railroads, mines and public works gen
orally pay $1.50 per day that they
pay twice as much as we farmers pay.
We forget that while he receives these
wages he boards and lodges himself
and pays for everything he gets, and
that as matter of fact the farmer
when the perquisites trent, fuel, gar
den, etc., are considered and est-
mated at fair prices, pays as much
as the public works.
Nor do we stop to consider that ev-
cry man, white or black likes to han
die money, hear it jingle in his own
pocket and realize that it is his, il
even for little while. Few men at
tach value to the perquisites of their
business, trade or labor. They count
the cash as all they get, and this is
most true of people in the humble
walks of life.
On railroad work a man receives,
say $3.50 per day, which (for 26 days.
is $39 per month, but experience
shows that he loses at least four days
per month from bad weather and 9th
er causes, which will reduce his tmie
to 20 days and his pay to $33. Now,
on the farm, we pay this man $12,
where we formerly paid him S., and
furnish him with rations, a house,
fuel garden, pasturage for his COW
and allow him to keep chickens and
pig. Now, suppose we pay this man
the same he gets on the railroad,
viz. $3.50 per day, and that he makes
20 days per mouth, or $33, and him
the money in cash and charge him
for what he gets, say, per month:
House rent and garden ........$ 600
Fuel, two cords of wood at 81. 400
Rations, 20 cents per day. 600
Pasturage for COw............ 100
Privilege of keeping chicekns.. 100
Privilege of keeping pig.....,. so
IOtal ...,.............' .Slo'ou
and in that way We get back $3.50
of the $33, leaving balance of S155O
Then do as they do in the north and
west, charge him hire for your horse
and carry-all or buggy when he uses
them, instead of lending them as you
do now. When he is sick or out of
place pay to the farmer, for what are
now perQuisites will go on. Pay the
man the money and let him feel that
it is his. Then collect for what he
owes and do not butt accounts in
the monthly settlement.
A man receiving 500 per month is
entitled to 500 or $50 credit, and cir
cumstances will arise when he will
be obliged to avail himself of his
credit But if this necessity should
arise, the landlord, if he deems 1t
advisable can always secure himself
by bill of sale on the COW, the pig
and the chickens, and need not run
more than the ordinary business risk
in the transaction.
Another matter worthy of consider
alton is that this plan of employing la
Dor will do a great deal towards the
education of the negro and will bring
him to a realization of the fact that
it costs something to live and that 1t
rests with him and not his employer
to support his family
Many successful farmers in the
north and west follow the above plan
and like it-Farmer, In Progressive
Farmer.