PAPERS ON AGRICULTURE 103 



productive as other farm families. If these families, or some 

 members of these families, can get better positions elsewhere 

 it might be better for them to accept them.' 



Some men who are making good incomes exploit family 

 labor to acquire more wealth. Exploitation of labor from 

 greediness and laziness must be condemned, but in other cases 

 the defect is not so much a moral one as a lack of ability to 

 make the most out of labor and capital. 



In the struggle for existence many farmers who lack capi- 

 tal or business ability, or both, would be forced to the wall 

 were it not for the labor of the various members of the family. 

 For a family in this state of economic life it is expedient that 

 the other members work with the operator. If all the mem- 

 bers of the family must work, and can do no better elsewhere, 

 it is perhaps better that they should work as a unit on their 

 farm, rather than be scattered in the shops and factories of 

 our large cities. 



Table I. — Per cent of the total farmers living out of their 

 capital, interest, or unpaid labor. 8 Owners, part owners, cash 

 rent and share rent. 765 farms. 



Groups Percentage of the Total number of 



Total Owners Part Cash Share 

 Owners Renters Renters 



Percent of farmers living on interest 



capital and unpaid labor 



Percent of farmers living on interest 

 Percent of farmers living out of capital 

 Percent of farmers living on unpaid 



labor _ - 2.5 0.6 2.2 6.2 8.7 



It will be noted from Table I that one share tenant in eleven 

 (8.7 per cent) lives on the product of the family labor. In 

 contrast to this only 0.6 per cent of the owners live on unpaid 

 labor. Necessity forces the share renter to utilize not only his 

 own labor but often the labor of his family as far as possible. 

 This causes renters more than owners to rely on unpaid labor. 

 The owners also have a larger income of interest, which pre- 

 vents most of them from falling into this class. Another rea- 



•This discussion do«s not include any incomes secured by members of a family 

 hired out to neighbors. It includes only those who work on the farm without any 

 specific remuneration. 



•Under unpaid labor is included all family or other labor for which no definite 

 remuneration has been made. The term "unpaid labor" must not be construed to 

 mean that this labor costs the farmer nothing. It merely means that no specific 

 remuneration has been made for it. If the cost of producing and maintaining the 

 kind of labor were considered, it is doubtful if labor secured from the boy between 

 10 years and 21 years, would justify the expenditure. 



