THE YOUNG FARMER 



changing conditions will give rise to new 

 questions or new phases of the old problem. 

 Moreover, the problem of labor on the farm 

 will grow more difficult as farming becomes 

 more specialized and as the methods of pro- 

 duction become more complex. 



However, the labor problem on the farm 

 is different from that in the manufacturing 

 industries or in trade and transportation. 

 This chapter will not concern itself with 

 an attempt to settle the farm labor problem, 

 but will undertake to state the character of 

 some of the differences between it and other 

 forms of labor and to discuss some of the 

 changes in recent years. 



A large proportion of farm work is done 

 by the farm owner, or renter, and his family. 

 There is not much opportunity to profit by 

 the labor of other persons. In 1900 there 

 were in the United States 1,812 industrial 

 establishments each of which employed 

 between 500 and 1,000 persons, while there 

 were 675 establishments each of which had 

 more than one thousand employees. In the 

 same year there were 5,739,657 farms, which 

 196 



