Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1919-12-19

PppOAllOn OIL the
'o"ie Aneh OIL the farm, the balance
Vi production and consnmntior
would have been entirely unset had
II not been that the farmer and his
ialhily increased their efforts
worked harder and longer hours IN
order that there might be sufficient
loou 10 win. In this the farm fam
ny was abundantly successful and
the agricultural production was i'm
creased far beyond what it had been
previous to the war Aged men
women and children, who do NOT
usually work in the fields, worked
then aud gave no attention 70 tho
hours but to the quantity of work
accomplished.
with the close of the war. AL
though the need for abundant agri-
cultural production was recognized
much OF the labor formerly on farms
returned to towns and cities rather
than to the country, and agriculture
llnds itself short of labor at ii time
When labor is most needed. More
over, that which is obtainable seems
10 nave lost either the knack of
work or the desire for ACCOMPLISH
ment or both, and the available labor
IN large part is extremely inefficient.
The farmer does not estimate la
Dor by the hour. To him the num-
Der of hours a man has hold of the
FORK handle does not measure the
work. The number of loads of hav
PIT up is what counts. The num-
her of acres plowed is measure Of
the work done and not the number
! o. hours that the man and teams
are in the field, In other words,
the measure of work on the farm IS
a unit of work accomplished and not
a unit of time. The farmer, there
lore. can have no sympathy with
those who idle away the hours in
order that there may be many we'll
paid hours for inefficient labor.
More and more the load falls upon
the farmer himself and his family
They do not strike-in fact the
thought of a strike is never enter
tanned, but out of necessity the farm
work is arranged so that it will take
less man labor than heretofore. In
a region where grass is grown, more
OF the land goes into grass. Less
daiTying is done on a large scale be-
cause this consumes much man labor.
More broad acre farming is done
, rather than intensive farming Even
with the farmer and his family
working overtime, the total agricul-
tural output in the long run must
decrease because of the less intens-
i've handling of the land, if agricul-
tural labor continues to decrease in
quantity and effectiveness. The re-
suit, if this condition continues, will
be scarcity of food, higher prices
to the consumer and though labor
through organization may have
shortened its hours and increased its
pay as expressed in dollars and
cents, it will be worse off than it
was before.
| have no panacea for correcting
the labor conditions on the farm.
However, the labor not engaged in
agricultural production, the people
of towns, and cities who have not
had experience on the farm, should
have a fuller understanding of Just
what labor is required to produce
food. They should be brought to
recognize that a certain quantity OF
labor is absolutely essential to pro-
duce hundred pounds Of potatoes,
bushel of wheat, hundred pounds
of wool or a gallon of milk, and
that there is no way to decrease the
amount of labor necessary except by
increasing the efficiency OF that Ia
Dor. They should be told in plain
terms what it costs to produce ana
that if labor in the cities is to De
paid more for shorter hours, the
price of farm products necessarily
will increase because the labor on
the farm, whether that be the farm
er and his family or the hired man.
ia going to demand wages closely APP
nroximating what labor receives IN
the cities. They should be told ana
should understand that, if the price
for a bushel of wheat, sack OF po-
tatoes or a gallon of milk is less than
what if costs to produce these ar
ticles. production will decrease I'M
iii the demand will be far greater
than the supply and prices VIII IN
crease to heights heretofore I'M
known.
In order that this condition may
NOT no reached there should be such
. eov form nroducts that labor