114 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



Mr. West. Is it not an exception to the rule that hired 

 men are made drudges ? 



Mr. Chamberlain. I think perhaps my description of the 

 treatment which hired men receive is a little strong for the 

 average farmer, and yet 1 think it is true, in the majority of 

 cases, that there is not that effort to identify the farm laborer 

 and hired man with the interests of his employer that there 

 ought to be, and which might profitably be made. I think 

 there is more or less of the feeling that they are not members 

 of the family, and that they are not to be treated as such. If 

 they are absent from the farm a day, or even an hour (in 

 some instances), it is taken out of their wages. Now, I think 

 that is very poor polic I think there should be everything 

 done to bring about an identity of interest between the farmer 

 and the men whom he employs. 1 think it will be responded 

 to, in a great majority of cases. Of course, there are excep- 

 tions ; but I think that simply as a matter, not of humanity, 

 but of profit, this should be done in all cases. I have felt the 

 force of the other course in my own experience, and very 

 keenly too. I could not feel that interest in my employer's 

 work that I could in the case which I have instanced, because 

 it was not possible for me to do so. 



Mr. West. I have had a great deal of experience with 

 hired help ; I have had good help and poor help. I make my 

 help a part of my family, but I have had men who took no 

 interest whatever in my work. I think the gentlemen will agree 

 with me that they have to work harder than any help that 

 they hire, and, when the day is done, the hired man feels that, 

 his time is his own. In my experience, I have had but very 

 few conscientious hired men. Good hired help in the section 

 where I am, is an exception. 



Mr. Wetherell. With regard to labor on the farm, I 

 think one of the difficulties, and one of the most serious, is 

 the nmnber of hours that men hired on a farm have to labor 

 as compared with the hours which mechanics work. I have 

 heard a good many young men say that they would not 

 engage to work on a farm, where they would be obliged to 



