128 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



as not to trespass upon the rights or opportunities of our neigh- 

 bors. 



But does it effectively do this? Are the scales of justice 

 always kept at an even balance? Are those men, and women we 

 designate farmers sharing in proper proportion in the world's pros- 

 perity? I do not mean in the accumulation of riches as such, but 

 rather in things that are essential to the happiness and develop- 

 ment of men — things that contribute to a full life. The soil sup- 

 ports us. It provides all the necessities, the comforts and luxuries 

 we have. It pays for every good thing and every bad thing the 

 world enjoys and endures. It is the source from which the world 

 draws for distribution among the people. All men are hired hands 

 of the soil. Whether we plow, plant or harvest, run the great 

 railroad trains over the country, mine, mold or cast, sell or buy, 

 invent or make the machines of the farm, the mine, the shops or 

 foundries, teach or preach, practice the law, print the newspapers, 

 or heal the sick — do what we may, we are but hired men of the 

 soil. Our compensation is provided out of that which the soil 

 yields. Out of growing it, handling it, transporting it, or in pro- 

 viding the machines that increase the results of the efforts of men 

 who directly till the soil, and that ought to be calculated to add to 

 the opportunities for comfort and happiness by giving to the toilers 

 of the soil more time and opportunity to seek culture, refinement 

 and that ease of confidence that their natural faculties entitle 

 them to, we make our living. And the Creator was not remiss 

 when He planned and made the world. He stored the earth and 

 the air, the very waters, indeed, with the things that men need. 

 And they are abundant. So far as our necessities go, there is 

 always a surplus, and always will be, unless the wanton destruc- 

 tion of men who are blind to the obligations they owe their fellows 

 and posterity, shall go on unchecked. 



But the point I wish to make is that all men being hired 

 hands of the soil, they are entitled to fair wages — to a fair dis- 

 tribution of the products of the soil. We hear much these days 

 about the profit-sharing plans of some great business concerns. 

 Profit sharing in theory (in fact there is little of it) is based upon 

 the ground that those who create wealth are entitled to share in 

 its division. If this is true, and it is, then the men who directly 

 till the soil should share equally with the man who is a hired man 

 in some other capacity, proportioned, of course, to the degree of 

 skill and ability he contributes to the work he performs. Neither 



