THE HIRED MAN 29 



Seven hundred millions in wages, and double or 

 treble that in product and added values, is a 

 consideration not unworthy the attention of 

 social scientists. To favor an exodus to the land 

 is, I believe, the highest type of benevolence, 

 and the surest and safest solution of the labor 

 problem. 



Besides engaging Thompson, I tentatively be- 

 spoke the services of his wife and son. Mrs. 

 Thompson was to come for $15 a month and a 

 half-dollar raise for each six months, the son on 

 the same terms as the father. 



The other man whom I engaged that day was 

 William Johnson, a tall, blond Swede about 

 twenty-six years old. Johnson had learned 

 gardening in the old country, and had followed 

 it two years in the new u He was then employed 

 in a market gardener's greenhouse ; but he 

 wanted to change from under glass to out of 

 doors, and to have charge of a lawn, shrubs, 

 flowers, and a kitchen garden. He spoke bro- 

 kenly, but intelligently, had an honest eye, and 

 looked to me like a real "find." Polly, who 

 was to be his immediate boss, was pleased with 

 him, and we took him with the understanding 

 that he was to make himself generally useful 

 until the time came for his special line of work. 

 I now had two men engaged (with a possible 

 third) and one woman, and my venire was 

 exhausted. 



Two days later I again advertised, and out of 



