Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1919-01-03
jest SUPPOSIN'"
WHAT Would HAPPEN If The FARMER PAID
CRY WAGEs-BY EUGENE DAVENPORT
From The Country Gentleman.

W P'Stty SOhOidhy doSuillCu tHdt INC idihi
er is too tight-fsted to pay what labor i:
worth, for again and again we hear it said
IF the farmer would pay decent wages he
would have plenty of help, but so long as
he refuses to pay what other employers
pay, why of course the self-respectine
laborer will leave the country and 90 to
the city where he can earn a living wage.
There is no doubt of the fact that there
has long been decided drift of labor from
the country to the city for what were be-
lieved to be higher wages. With the I'M
precedented development of the automo-
bile industry, this drift became an exodus
and with the opening of the war and the
consequent demand for ammunition, ma
chinery and ships this exodus became a
stampede.
Nevertheless. the author is not inclined
to admit that the farmer as an employer
is particularly different from other people.
Everybody conducts his business with as
little outlay as possible, and nobody paid
high wages until compelled to do so, first
by labor unions and later by competition
for greatly reduced supply. Undoubtedly
the conditions have stripped the farm Of
its labor, but what is the farmer to doY
When Uncle Ephraim was about to enter
into an argument concerning things not
likely to come to pass, he had the habit
of introducing his remarks by the phrase
Jest supposn' q" then by just supposine
what might happen "if'' and ''if," he would
lay down his several propositions, one on
top of another, like children's building
blocks, using illustration always in place Of
argument. The author is inclined to fol-
low his example in discussing a trouble
some topic that keeps constantly coming
up and is as constantly being referred to
the inherent perversity Of the farmer.
Would INCREASE FooD CosT.
Jest supposin'." therefore. that farmers
in general should, in a sudden burst Of
generosity or through other sufficient in
centive, pay as literally as other people" :;
what would happenY
Well. nothing much would happen to the
farmer if he could, like other producers
add the increased outlay to the selling price
and at the same time work in his own
managerial services as an overhead charge :;
but if he could not in some way recover
the extra outlay he would ultimately lose
his farm and 90 to work for wages.
Whatever might happen to the individ
ual farmer, as general proposition, farm
ing, like other kinds of business, must pay
out or there will ultimately be no one left
to operate the farms. In other words, there
seems to be no way to prevent what In
the long run will amount to this That any
increase in farm wages or reduction In
hours Of work will ultimately appear as an
increase in the cost of food, not so much
to the farmer as to the city man, and par
ticularly to the laborer and his family.
AS long as we are lest supposin' we
do not need to argue the case, but only to
consider what would happen to the cost
of food If the farmers in general should
adopt the union plan with a reasonable
minimum wage, the eght-hour day, and
time and half for overtime Nor is this
so far afield as might be imagined, for we
must remember that labor leaders have
farm labor As that organization Is evil
IDENTIFY on the way headed In our direction.
we may as well stop here to consider its
probable consequences.
Instead of dealing with extreme cases
under abnormal conditions, such as can be
found among men Of exceedingly modest
skill in the munitiOn factories, steel mills
and shipyards instead of talking about
the twelve, twenty and fifty dollars day
reported in our press. let us be moderate
in our "supposin'," confine ourselves to
prevailing conditions and draw our illustra-
tions from such well-known and authentic
sources as have been accorded undisputed
publicity, or that for some other reason
represent a well-recognized rate of COM
pensation.
1t so happens that Mr.. Ford's five dol
lars a day for unskilled labor is very close
to the minimum union wage for soft-coal
miners. 1t is very modest compensation.
too. considering what men by the thou
sands are actually earning-at least get
| ting-in the industries. 1t is therefore
eminently fair to use such figure in our
"supposin" particularly as both Mr.. Ford
and the soft-coal operator come into direct
competition with the farmer as an EN-
ployer and with food production as an
industry Instead of dealing wholly with
general statements let US make the appli-
cation direct to certain specific instances
in the production of standard foods.
To produce milk for the city trade re-
quires not only cows, but feed fields, farms.
machinery, veterinary service, insurance.
taxes and labor. Now the amount Of man
labor aside from horse labor required to
produce one hundred pounds Of milk and
haul it to the bottling plant is as definitely
known as is the amount Of labor required
in almost any other branch of the manu-
featuring industry.
Roughly speaking, and upon the aver
age. ii may be written down as the results
Of cost-accounting investigations upon
dairy farms that somebody must perform
four hours Of work for every hundred
pounds of milk delivered to the dealer
nor does this include either bottling or
delivery to the customer simply the labor
expended in production.
In the cost and price discussions last
winter concerning milk. the farmers Of the
Middle West quite generally insisted upon
reckoning their labor at thirty cents an
hour, which seemed quite moderate con-
sidering the fact that the labor which de-
livered the same milk to the customers
being protected by union. received in
general approximately a hundred dollars