The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-03-26
yFHAr THEY PAY ON rHE FARM
New England Wages Are Compare
 lively HighFarm Day. 3 Hrs 41 Min.

 With the question of the unen- p1oyed entering so extensively into current discussion figures compiled by the government showing what Is paid for labor on the farms should have great interest for many
 One of the great problems in many rural communities is how to get la bor. The cities seem almost irresisti- b1e in their attraction for 1t. The reason for this. however. may be less an economic than social one, 1t would appear from the figures.
 Farm wages are higher now than ever before having increased about z.5 per cent last year In the coun- try as whole they are about pee cent. higher than they were during the eighties Farm wages in New England in the last twenty years have increased about 86 per cent. In the manufacturing industries the in crease in wages in the twenty years from 1890 to 1910 was z3 per cent People inclined to view with alarm so pronounced in recent decades, are likely to forget that there is an eco- homie law at work all the time, re- nect1ng in this relative gain of rural upon urban wages, which in the end tends to check automatically the movement from the country to the city.
 Most people who live in cities haven't the least idea what they pay on the farms According to these government figures covering wages by the month, the average rate of pay for farm labor. board included, in Maine is s25.50, in. New Hampshire $24-70s in Vermont $26. 30, in Massa.- chusetts $25.5o, in Rhode Island S25 and in Connecticut $2Ss0O. Without board it runs from SAP in Massachu- Setts to $36 paid in Maine
 M board included, in New England as whole Is $25.15. The rate for the country as whole is $21.3S This New England average wage exceeds the average in the North and South Atlantic and South Central states In only eighteen states outside of New England is it exceeded.
 Without board the average month ly wage of the farm Iaborer in New England, according to these figures, is $38.71 as compared with an aver age wage for the farms of the coun- England farm wage without board exceeds that of every geographical division of the country with the single exception of the Western and is exceeded by that of only fifteen in diyidua1 states.
 Wages by the day in farming vary according to whether it is harvest time or not, though the difference has been steadily dirninishing. Once harvest time pay was 60 per cent higher than that at other seasons of the year; now it is only a little over 30 per cent. During harvest time in New England 8 man. it appears, can get his board and earn s1.71 a day in Maine and Vermont, $1.70 in New Hampshire, $I61 in Massachusetts, $155 in Connecticut, and $1.53 in Rhode Island. This would give an average for New England of $1.65 which exceeds that of many states Exclusive of board, the pay in har- vest time runs from $2.15 per day in New, Hampshire to $1.95 in Con necticut. In the United States as a whole the average is SEA-
 At other seasons of the year the man who goes to work on farm can earn, board included, $1.39 in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, $1.35 in Maine, $13I in Vermont and $125 in Rhode Island and Connecticut; and without board. S1.87 in Massa- chusetts, $1.79 in New Hampshire, s1.75 in Connecticut. $1.74 in Maine, $1.7z in Rhode Island and $1.65 in in Vermont
 It is commonly supposed that work on a farm is never done. at least for the hired man, and that a v orIking day lasts from su1I to sun, if not longer. Naturally work on a.