INTRODUCTION 9 



form of machinery equipment has been still more gradual, 1 

 the modern farm is approaching always more nearly, in its 

 organization, to the urban industrial concern. Under the 

 Corn Production Act a Wages Board has been set up for the 

 agricultural industry, by which minimum time and over- 

 time rates of pay for all classes of farm workers are fixed, 

 leading many men, for the first time in their lives as managers 

 of labour, to keep accurate time-sheets ; the control of food 

 prices necessitated by shortage of supplies during and since 

 the war has led to the investigation of costs of production 

 on a large scale by individual producers, by associations 

 of farmers and of consumers, and by Government Depart- 

 ments ; only a short time ago a Royal Commission was 

 sitting to inquire into the economic future of the agricultural 

 industry, and in every direction the need is indicated for the 

 application of the economic test to farm management at 

 every stage. Under the factory system it has long been 

 recognized that technical skill must be controlled by those 

 who study organization, finance, and economic forces if 

 the highest results are to be secured. The directors of the 

 Great Western Railway are not necessarily capable plate- 

 layers, nor is the chairman of the Aerated Bread Company 

 selected on account of a light hand at pastry, but these 

 gentlemen are able to control their technical staffs and to 

 judge of their capacity and skill by the results of their 

 operations as revealed in their accounts. There is little 

 indication, at present, that farming will develop along 

 factory lines very rapidly, but it is all the more necessary 

 for farmers to cultivate their managerial capacity and to 

 combine with their technical training and knowledge the 

 study of business control and general economics. The 

 importance of the subject has only slowly been realized 

 by those responsible for the education of the farmer. During 

 the past five and twenty years educational and research 

 work in agriculture has made much progress in certain 



1 The efficiency of labour employed in agriculture is higher, probably, in the 

 United Kingdom than in any European country. See reference to German 

 agriculture on p. 70. 



