Imperial Valley press., 1943-04-09
SHOULD LABOR INCOME
BALANCE FARMER PROFIT?


gress the administration and the beauro-
Gratis have wrestled with the problem
of balancing increased wages for the la
borer with increased income for farm
ers.
It is highly essential that the objective
of nipping initiation at current levels, be
accomplished. 1t is very desirable that
worker wages be kept in balance with
living costs and standards of living, with
out injury to the work-incentive. 1t Is
equally desirable that farmer income be
kept in reasonable balance to the values
of the times without injury TO the farm
er's work incentive.
In its effort to achieve this end, con-
gress and the administration encounter
the same pitfall-that of trying to COM
pare the worker and the farmer on the
assumption that they come on the same
economic plane. Actually, they can't
be compared or forced into any similar
mould.
The reason is that laborers are work
ers, whereas farmers are combination
of worker, investor, administrator and
financier, (capitalist). 1t is one thing
to have a job in store or factory. 1t is
something else to own or lease a farm
and operate it. In the one case no in
vestment is involved. In the other, III
vestment is a serious part of the enter
prise.
The worker labors by the hourly,
weekly or monthly pay schedule. The
farmer has no hourly pay His return
must come as profit. The worker has
no money invested in the mechanical
equipment Of his job; the farmer has big
investment The worker has no problem
of payroll overhead; the farmer is
businessman who hires, subcontracts and
I. 4l,a hs1 af n IL
ness. The worker may labor 40 or As
hours a week the farmer may labor 60 or
20 hours a week. The worker is through
when he punches the clock; the farmer
takes his risks and worries to bed with
him.
The worker can change jobs pretty
much as he personally sees fit. The farm
er is tied to his bank-loans, his taxes, his
ranch, his risked investments
Rain, storm or drouth does not lnJure
the workers paycheck. But if they come
TO the farmer, the results of his labors
for an entire year may be wiped out.
Lastly, the average worker is only
capable Of SO much work per day or
week But farmer, properly stimulat-
ed with worthy incentive, can double or
even treble his output if given the where
withall, the credit, the land, the imple-
ments so to do.
Only one ground is common between
the two; that is incentive Incentive in
the form of high pay has been offered
wage workers in the essential industries
with lavish hand. In return, the worker
can't particularly produce a whole lot
more, but he can and does migrate to
the most desirable job and hang onto it
for the profit therein.
Unlike the worker, however, if the
farmer is given necessary incentive he
can produce greatly in excess of past
production. But the incentive must be
sufficient to warrant increased invest
ment, increased effort, increased risks,
worry and responsibility and
worry and responsibility are mighty big
burdens in this day of questionable labor
supply, prices and business factors.
Aside from the need of different de-
grees and types Of incentive for each,
there is nothing in common between farm
sr and the realm of labor, and any effort
70 balance these groups of our society IS
off on the wrong foot.
The basis of decisions, whether in the
form of Bankhead bills or anything else,
IS whether there is ample, just and suffi-
cient incentive created to accomplish the
desired war end in each case.
Let's forget class jealousies and get