Evening star., 1934-06-07
FARM WORKERS
TAKE TO FACTORY
$1,800,000 Paid Rural
Labor in 1881, Govern
ment Report Reveals.
By the Associated Press.

DJ tllc hocONIhtNu ANoos
Farmer John is becoming less ano
less an individual to be caricaturec
with a pitchfork, and more and more
a punCher of the time clock in the
Nations factories
A study Just completed by the De-
partment of Agriculture in Is Eastern
Southern and Central States diScloses
1913 factories in these States paid more
than S1,800,000 in wages to farm peo-
pie for part and full time employment
in 1881.
Pointing out that combining farm
ing with manufacturing, such as is tc
be demonstrated by subsistence home
steadS division, the report says such
a system prevailed during the hand
craft era that preceded the industrial
revolution and did not completely dis
appear even during the last century
In the last century, the report says
"the tendency was to locate most new
factories where power (water or coal)
and non-farm labor were plentiful, OF
raw materials we're to be found. Sew
eral new developments, however, have
made it economically possible to To-
cate in rural areas many types OF
manufacturing plants which formerly
were situated in or Immediately ad-
joining the larger cities.
Leading Developments.
Leading among these developments
are the use of electric-driven ma
chinery and the transmission of cleo
trio power over long distances at low
cost, the building of pipe lines for gas
and oil and the building of good rural
roads over which large-capacity mo-
tor trucks can be operated efficiently. u
Decentralization of industry is be-
ing aided, the report adds, by cleo
trio lights, sewage disposal, telephones
mail service, good roads and the au-
tomobile which make living more at
tractive for rural industrial workers
The survey does not include all
factories employing farm people in
these IS States, but only a few in
the open country and in small towns
up to 1000 population were chosen
for a sample study.
A truer indication of the number
of farm residents employed in fac
tories is found in the 1880 census,
when 447.000, or Al per cent Of the
1O,645 900 rural farm population of
10 years or more. were found to be
employed IN manufacturing or me-
chanical industries and 1913, 1000 in
transportation industries.
The same census reported l 1902 600,
or 80 per cent of the 6,288000 farm
operators, worked off their farms for
pay one or more days in year. or
an average of 100 days per farmer
reporting
ALA From Farms.
Of the 1906 employees in the 123
small factories surveyed, Alta were
farm residents, of whom 402 were
farm operators.
Most of the farm people working
for wages received from $500 to 81 900
a year per worker. Many part-time
workers received from $50 to $500 a
year, and some of them interviewed
said that without the wages from
outside industrial employment they
would have to quit farming.
The study was made in Georgia
Indiana. Iowa, Maryland, Massachu-
sets, Michigan, Minnesota, New YORK,
North Carolina, Ohio. Pennsylvania,
South Carolina. Virginia, West V1r-
ginia and Kentucky.
Industries included textile mills,
garment factories, plow factory, auto
mobile body plant, glass and clay fac
tories, furniture plants, tannerieS,
cTeameries and cheese factories, meat
packing plants and canneries, mop
factories and broom factories.
The 1913 factories paid approximate
" s1.100000 for raw farm materials
in 1881, many gave farm people such
home work as chair Gaming, and some
had established bus routes by which
workers we're transported to and from
work
A survey of Knott County, Ky,
showed farm people there engaged in
1913 industries, such as stone quarry
ing, coal mining. saw milling, grist
milling and small fireside or handi-
craft enterprises.