ECONOMICS OF THE FISHERIES 309 



Each man-hour of farm labor meant 44 per cent more gross production in 

 1945 than it did in 191 7-21. Half of these savings in hours per unit of product 

 resulted from mechanization. Other technological developments, primarily 

 increases in yields of crops and livestock, were responsible for the other half. 



Change in pattern of mechanization has been outstanding. Farm horses and 

 mules have been rapidly replaced by tractors, trucks and automobiles during 

 the last third of a century. Combines, tractor-plows, tractor-cultivators, me- 

 chanical corn-pickers, milking machines and other modern farming equipment 

 are continuing to replace horse-drawn equipment and hand work. A modern 

 tractor and its associated equipment now saves 850 hours of man labor com- 

 pared with the time required with the animal power and equipment used a 

 generation ago. 



Thirty per cent of the increase in food supplies for feeding an increasing 

 population from 1920 to 1942 came from acreages released by the decline in 

 horses and mules ; 70 per cent came from increased crop and livestock yields 

 and from decreased exports. Crop production per acre has increased about 

 one-fourth, and livestock production per unit of breeding stock has increased 

 about one-third during the last quarter century. But crop averages in 1944 were 

 about the same as the 191 7-21 average. 



These improvements have been effected by a great variety of scientific 

 advances in addition to mechanization, such as those of soil conservation 

 and management, genetics, acclimatization of species, combating enemies 

 and pests, nutrition of livestock, incubation of eggs and battery production 

 of poultry, and preservation of produce. Agricultural colleges, government 

 agencies, and industry have all contributed to these advances through 

 scientific research and technical improvements, and have disseminated 

 widely a knowledge of agricultural science. 



While the fisheries have made progress, too, the improvement is not spec- 

 tacular. In terms of man-power, agriculture has in the past fifty years met 

 more abundantly the needs of a rapidly growing population with nearly 

 the same number (-7.8 per cent) of persons in the labor force. ^ In the 

 fisheries, the catch of all fishery products per fisherman for most of the 

 United States about tripled since 1890, but with a decrease of about 30 

 per cent in the number of fishermen supported by fishing. (See Table 39, 

 Appendix.) 



The larger part of the improvements in the fisheries industries has been 

 on land in processing, transporting, and marketing. In the production of 

 fish, while the over-all yield per unit of man power has increased, adequate 

 study would probably show (if the historical data were adequate) that the 

 improvement has not been general but to a large extent in the exploitation 



8. In 1890, agricultural labor force, 9,938,373, population 62,947,714; 1940, agricultural labor 

 force, 9,162,547, population, 131,669,275. Cooper, Barton, and Brodell, work cited, p. 4. 



