174 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



IV. LABOR AS A FACTOR IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 



That labor and land are the original or primary factors of 

 production, while capital is a secondary though important fac- 

 tor, is one of the commonplaces of political economy. Upon the 

 character of the labor even more than upon the character of 

 the land does the prosperity of agriculture depend. Again, upon 

 the economizing of labor and the conservation of our human 

 resources even more than upon the economizing of land and 

 the conservation of natural resources does the prosperity of the 

 nation depend. Communities and nations have remained poor 

 in the midst of rich surroundings, or fallen into decay and pov- 

 erty in spite of the fertility of their soil and the abundance of 

 their natural resources, merely because the human factor was of 

 poor quality or was allowed to deteriorate or run to waste. Other 

 communities have grown rich and prosperous in spite of their 

 sterile soils and poor surroundings by reason of the fact that 

 their people were painstaking and intelligent, and were all at 

 work at some useful occupation. The labor power of a com- 

 munity is the human factor in production and includes mental 

 as well as bodily strength and efficiency. The genius of the in- 

 ventor, the executive talent of the manager, and the learning 

 of the teacher are included, as well as the skill of the mechanic, 

 the resourcefulness and reliability of the good farm hand, or the 

 muscular strength of the day laborer. It is even more impor- 

 tant, therefore, that a community should economize and conserve 

 its labor power than that it should economize and conserve its 

 land. To waste any of this labor power is a greater crime than 

 to waste land or mineral or forest resources, and will bring 

 national calamity even more certainly and swiftly, though of 

 course it is highly desirable that both the labor and the phys- 

 ical resources of a nation be conserved and developed to the 

 highest degree. 



