44 



READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



of machinery is, in some degree, dependent upon them. But to 

 attempt the separation of these credits would be much like attempt- 

 ing to determine which blade of a pair of shears does the cutting. 

 >\er, these various other forces play, comparatively, a very 

 incidental and subsidiary part. I believe that the following pages 

 will justify this opinion, and venture, therefore, to disregard what- 

 ever inaccuracy there may be involved in the statement and to say 

 that the entire increased product is due to the use of machinery. 1 



It will be sufficient, for purposes of illustration, to consider only 

 a few of the principal crops in the production of which machinery 

 has become a recognized factor. The crops selected for this 

 purpose, together with the time of man-labor requisite for pro- 

 ducing stated quantities of each crop by hand and by machine 

 methods, as reported by the Department of Labor, are shown 

 in the following table : 



1 For the purpose of this discussion I shall use the term " machinery," generally, 

 to signify not only machines, but also tools or implements, and other man-labor- 

 saving forces when used as essential adjuncts or parts of machines. For example, 



