The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-04-11

tended to make homework more con-
genial. The following figures show
the percentage of homes (of a total of
1876 families canYassed) into which
certain conveniences have been intro
duced: oil stoves, 81; furnaces, Is;
hard coal stoves, "A: soft coal heaters,
81. washing machines, SO; washing
machines run by engine, 10; drinking
water In house, IL; soft water in the
house, So; soft water beside house, 10.
Food purchased: Canned vegetables.
16; fruit, "a; fresh meat, SO; prepared
breakfast food, 49,"
The township chosen for this survey
is said to be one of the more prosper
Gus rural townships in southern Min
nesota. The particular community re-
viewed was selected largely because of
Information already available from
| other forms of study in. the same re-
gion. A detailed soil survey of the
whole county had been made by the
United States department of agricul-
ture three years ago and a farm man
agement survey, to gather data re-
garding farm practice and returns on
all the farms in the same township,
was being planned at the ame time
last fall by the division of farm man
agement of. the university here.
To get the information desired in
the social survey, a field agent, G.. p,
Warbler, was assigned to visit the 1876
farms n the township. He spent June,
July and August of last year in this
work. The results as embodied in the
published report ar comprised in a
booklet of fifty pages covering many
features Of farm life, such as the re-
suit of the Introduction of labor saw
ing machinery, increased grain pro-
duction, growth of livestock industry.
labor situation, nationality distribu-
Il kt@y4 # 20 49, nNrrrnnr1hIn q MI ~ +nWn "a
population trend toward villages, de-
creasing birth rate, hours and kinds of
labor, business relations, relations of
farmers and. town merchants, the
vogue of the peddler, auction sales.
! business with mail order firms, farm
loans and interest rates, shopping by
the women, marketing ethics, organic
atoms, civic relations, re~creations and
entertainments, moving picture shows,
politics, etc.
Comments on Surveys.
Comments by the authors OF the re-
port, MIR. Warbler and G. w. Thomp-
| son, professor of agricultural econom-
les in the college Of agriculture, sum
marizing the whole, are as follows:
i. Machinery has decreased the
| amount of, labor required by farmers,
but a changed type of farming. has
made for additional work which can
l lOL De TGuuCSQ 10 IndCnllC pIOCSSS.
2. A painstaking dependable class
of labor Is required to carry on sue
oessful farming as advocated by agri-
cultural experts.
8. The right kind of farm labor is
getting scarce and increasingly diff
cult to get.
4. The cause Of this scarcity is that
foreign labor is no longer coming in to
replace the native sons who get some
1 GphO0lipr and then try their Illpk in the
city or go where land is cheaper.
8. The floating hobo labor will not
tie themselves up for steady farm
work the year around. Hence the
hired help problem is the big farm
problem.
6. Less than SO per cent of the
farmers read their farm papers; but
there is a growth of opinion that it is
we'll 10 keep up with the times. in
farming as well asy other things.
IN Many farmers regard it unfair
where they are charged prices high
enough to maintain a city delivery
service from which they derive no
benefit.
s. Some farmers would like to be
shown that the country merchants can
furnish an economic service equivalent
to what they get from catalogue hous-
es.
.. a large number of farmers say
they are especially interested in the
daily papers because OF what they
learn from the marketing page.
10. Many influential farmers feel
that they are helpless in matters OF
marketing unless the advantages OF
local units.
IL. Occasional failures or mistakes
| among farmers laye tended to create