d
most of the farm work, now many of them at the same age are attending
schools and colleges. The sons of a man, who a generation ago found no
opportunity to get beyond the district school, graduate from high
school and college, and thus spend most of their time in study until
they are past twenty-one years of age.

Labor unions have doubtless caused a scarcity of farm labor by
increasing the proportion of the created wealth which goes to the man
who labors without capital. When a man can obtain fifty cents an hour
for laying brick, he does not wish to work in the hay field at twenty
cents an hour, even though the difference in the cost of living may in
great measure offset the difference in wages.

There is a growing tendency to perform work by what is called contract
labor. Thus a person may agree to weed and hoe sugar beets at a
certain rate per acre. He, in turn, employs a force of cheap laborers
which he sends from farm to farm to do this work. The harvesting of
fruits and garden crops is not infrequently done in some such manner.
In one instance a contractor of laborers of foreign birth has been
furnishing them for all kinds of farm work. He keeps 20 to 40 of these
laborers on a small farm, furnishing them a dwelling and selling them
food supplies. Farmers telephone for help when in need. The contractor
receives $1.65 for a day's work and pays the laborer $1.50.

It appears from the preceding considerations that there are open to
every farmer at least three methods of increasing the efficiency of
farm labor. He may make every day's labor more efficient by use of
labor-saving machinery and the employment of it in the most efficient
manner; as, for example, using three 1,500-pound horses to his farm
machinery instead of a pair of 1,200-pound horses. He may modify the
character of his farming in order that profitable labor will be more
continuous. He may modify the method of employing labor; as, for
example, by introducing the system of contracting labor for specific
purposes where feasible.

Increase in the price of farm labor is not an evil. It is an
indication that labor applied to agriculture is becoming more
productive and hence more profitable. Since more than one-half the
labor of the farm is done by the owner and his family, the farmer is
benefited through the rise in price of farm wages. The more that labor
can be made to earn upon the farm, the better it will be not only for
the farm owner but for soci