ECONOMIC PROPERTIES 



The above figures indicate also that while the 

 grain crops and the potato crop about kept pace 

 with the increase in the total population in spite 

 of the fact that the share of the population en- 

 gaged in agriculture decreased greatly, the pro- 

 duction of live stock did not increase so rapidly as 

 did the total population. And yet, in the case of 

 live stock there has been an important improve- 

 ment in the breeds which would, in part at least, 

 make up in increased size and value per head for 

 the decline in the number per capita. It is cer- 

 tain that in those lines of production in which 

 new forms of machinery have been introduced the 

 effectiveness of labor has been greatly increased 

 because of the higher degree of productivity of 

 these new forms of capital-goods. 



Section III. The economic properties of labor 

 as a factor in agricultural production. There is 

 no limit to the increase in the number of laborers 

 except that set by the limited character of the 

 other factors of production. The English econo- 

 mist, Malthus, called attention to the fact that 

 population tends to increase at a geometrical 

 ratio, that, as population increases, it becomes 

 necessary to resort to less and less productive 

 land, where, if improvements are not made in the 

 methods of cultivation, it becomes more and more 

 difficult to make a living. It is this strong tend- 

 ency on the part of mankind to increase in num- 

 bers, along with the desire of most individuals to 

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