Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-06-03


for a product only about what I. costs
to make. Now negro farm labor is NJ
honger abundant or cheap. Negroes
are going into town industries. The!
know what wages they can get in Wes
Virginia and Pennsylvania coal mines
in street work in northern cities. Of
/ in railroad or factory work nearer
home. Consequently the negro 1.
coming to demand practically the
same wages for farm work as ht
lcould get for town work, and will mo-
make cotton unless he can get sucf
wages. This means that in order tt
get enough cotton, cotton prices must
J go high enough to meet this increase
4. Higher wages for town labor
means better markets for farm pro-
|iducts. All over the world town labor
is better organized and better paid
than ever before. Labor is getting 9
large share of the profits that once
went to capital This fact helps the
farmer in two ways. In the first place
1t means a better market for farm pro-
ducts. Millions of town lsforers In the
past have better under-n punishment
They haven't had food enough to keep
physically 'fit." The first thing the
town laborer wants when he gets bet
ter wages is better food. Better wages
! for town labor therefore means keener
|competition for the farmers foodstuffs
and therefore better prices for the
farmer. In the second place. the high
wages which the town labor now de-
fmands-and gets-from his employer
makes the farmer more Independent.
"If you don't give me fair prices for
my products, I know what I can do"
isays Mr.. Farmer. II can go to town
and become a town laborer."
S. Good schools and the rule Of the
people will help farm conditions. All
over Europe and Asia where the peas
ant farmers have heretofore been kept
in ignorance and held down by czars
and emperors, the people are getting on
tops They are getting an education
which enables them to know their
rights. and are also getting popular
rule which enables them to obtain
those rights. These peasant farmers
are going to demand more and get
more for labor and for their products
than ever before. This will help raise
prices for farmers in all other lands.
n
These are some Of my reasons for
believing that the prices Of farm pro-
ducts will be higher in future than In
the past. In other words, / believe
that the man who uses mere muscular
labor will get better pay than here
ltofore. Nevertheless, the big fact you
need to- remember is that such labor
will never give man real profit. A
bare living is all it will provide. AS 1
have said on a previous occasion:
Where skill and intelligence begin,
there profit begins. In that part of
farming where competition with the
most ignorant-that is to say, with
mere muscular labor-must be faced
there is no profit. It is only as we
advance into the branches where skill
and trained intelligence are required
that profit begins"
So it is that while the farmer who
uses muscle only may hope for a
somewhat better living than hereto
fore, it will still be only a living. And
If you put yourself on a working level
with the mere muscle-farmer any
where-the ignorant Chinese or Hindu
farmer, or the ignorant farmer at your
own door-you must also accept his
pay-level. If you farm as he does,
you must live as he does.
The way out is plain. These ignor-
ant farmers in other lands are only
S3 1-3 per cent farmers. The way to
get out of competition with them is
to be 66 2-3 per cent OF 100 per cent
farmer. These ignorant farmers here
and elsewhere make only one profit
a profit from farming as an industry.
Your way out is by making three pro-
fits-one profit from farming as an in
dustry, one from 1t as 6. profession,
and one from it as a business.
AS a matter of fact these ignorant
farmers get only half the profits out
of farming even. as an industry. That
Is to say, they work very hard them
selves but they do not multiply their
power by the use of improved imple-
physical man-labor aided only by the
crudest tools.
Let us see IL we can make the idea
little clearer. Let us say that the
Iopean peasant farmer get only one
profit from their work-a profit from
mere muscular man labor-whereas
the up-to-date American farmer boy
can make five profits as follows:
1. One profit from his own muscle.
2. One profit by use OF more horse
power and machinery.
:. One profit by utilizing agricul-
tural science and knowledge.
4. One profit by converting raw
form products into more finished
forms-agricultural manufacturing.
5. One profit lby wise buying and
selling.
Let me say in conclusion therefore
that if you have an ambition to make
the most out of farming, it seems to
me to offer as good a prospect as any
other average line of work opening
up before you. But if you are to sue
coed you must be not 33 1-3 per cent
farmer, but a sc 2-S or 100 per cent
farmer. If you are to succeed, you
muSt he NOT n one DrOfit farmer or