Hoiv the Eastern Farmer Has Fared. 127 



Has the home market theory in its application to agri- 

 culture been vindicated in Massachusetts? It has 

 already been demonstrated beyond dispute that, taking 

 the North Atlantic Division as a whole, the theory has 

 completely failed to work. The golden age for the farmer 

 was before the protective system was initiated. How has 

 it succeeded in the State of the division, Massachusetts, 

 where the home market theory has had the best oppor- 

 tunity of enriching the farmer? After forty years of 

 the highest protection it is time to inquire. The state 

 ranked fourth in 1900 as regards the value of manufac- 

 tured products, and from the density of its population 

 gathered into numerous large centres might well be 

 called the State of cities. 



The above calculation indicated that the total valua- 

 tion of agricultural products in 1895 was about $34,000,- 

 000. The State report of that year failed to give the num- 

 ber of farmers whose production this represented. But 

 the national census of 1900 states the number of farmers ' 

 families who owned or hired farms to be 36,510. Wages 

 were paid and fertilizers were bought to the amount of 

 about $9,000,000. The interest on the property involved 

 at 4% (savings bank rates) was about $8,800,000. The 

 value of western hay and grain bought above the amount 

 of the same sold of Massachusetts growth, we call $1,000,- 

 000, though doubtless twice as much. Deducting these 

 amounts from the total real income and $15,200,000 is the 

 sum earned by the labor of the farmers' families, an 

 average of $416 to each family. But for the farmer's 

 capital this sum would be all he had to pay personal and 

 family expenses, keep buildings and all farm implements 

 in repair, maintain the value of all live stock, board a 

 hired man a portion of the year, keep buildings insured, 

 and shoe the horses. 



