Dresden enterprise and Sharon tribune. (Dresden, Tenn.) 1907-1997, 1921-07-15

ders hitched to his tractor. Wit
his sons and couple of hired me
he cut lot of grain and shocked j
and it was still early in the after
noon.
The man from the city stoppe
his high-powered car by the fenc
and gazed with appreciative eyes a
the shocks of grain.
II call that economic operation,
said he. Not more than six or eigh
dollars paid out to those two hire
men, and hundreds of bushels o
wheat put up. Surely it doesn'
cost much to produce stuff witt
modern labor-saving mach merry.
don't see, Joe, that you have any
reason to complain at present prices.
'You haven't heard me complain
ing" said Brown, somewhat grimly
81 am not entirely satisfied, but il
strikes me you are doing most OF
the complaining about these dull
times"
"Well, why don't you loosen up
a little, and buy my stuff, so we can
get back to normal" said the man
from the city, laughing little un-
comfortably. you've got your
labor back to normal, and"
"Hold on minute" said Brown.
"You can look over the fence but
your eyes won't carry across the
field. You think my pay roll for
the day is only six dollars, but it is
probably nearer hundred dollars"
"How's that?" The man from
the city was incredulous.
"There's large number of men
working for me, and being paid by
me. In fact, pretty nearly every
body in the country works for the
farmers, and the fact that they are
overpaid is the principal thing that
destroys the business balance just
now"
The man who looked over the
fence was puzzled, of course, and
Brown began to explain.
"Let us take this tractor as an in
stance" said he. "Back in the iron
country there is man at the mine
getting out ore for the tractor, and
/ pay him.
"Down in West Virginia a miner
is digging coal to smelt the iron ore,
and l pay him.
Cup in Michigan a logger is get
ting out stuff for the tractor.
Somewhere man is making paint
for the tractor.
Somewhere else an advertising
nan with his staff of artists, writ
err, printers, englavers, is getting
up sales propaganda to show the
farmer why this tractor will be an
economy for him. An editor some
where, like our friend Daniels, here,
is sending out a paper carrying the
tractor advertisement.
"a railroad crew having hauled
all the material to the factory, is
now hauling the finished tractor to
the dealer.
"a travelling salesman is out on
the road, taking the order from the
dealer, who delivers the machine to
Brown.
"All these men and multitude
Of other men in widely separated
sections of the country, are engaged
directly in helping me operate this
farm on tractor basis.
"In a very real sense of the word
hey are farm hands-hired men,
for the farmers.
"Some of them work only a day
n two, some of them only an hour
,r two, some of them perhaps only
/ minute or two, on this particular
machine.
"And we pay them. You bet we
Jay them when we buy the tractor
when we buy barrel of kero-
;ene, or gas, or oil, or dollars
worth of repairs.
''In a more simple age they might
,e working on the farms. 1t would
AXE a small army Of them to cut the
wheat with cradle and to thresh
t with a frail.
snow they are helping me with
his harvest-a small army of them
but they work in the office or at
he forge, instead of working in the
'ield.
"These men are not merely sup
plying us with materials, while we
10 the work. They are literally in
he production end Of the game.
They are hired laborers, and the
Of wages we pay them de-
;ermines the cost of our wheat
and should in fairness determine the
selling price. In the end it will de-
,ermine the selling price for when