82 



READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



The Influence of Machinery upon the, Life and General Welfare 

 of the Independent Farm Operators 



Statistical data showing the changed condition of the inde- 

 pendent farm operators, separate and apart from the dependent 

 operators, are not at hand. It will be worth while, however, 

 to note what showing can be deduced concerning the income 

 of the independent farm operators from the average income per 

 agricultural worker during the twenty-year period from 1880 

 to 1900, 



The value of agricultural products, per capita of persons ten 

 years of age and over engaged in agriculture, as reported by the 

 Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth censuses for the United States 

 and for the several geographical divisions, was as follows : ^ 



Considering only the data for the United States, as a whole, 

 we have found ^ that in 1879, 1890, and 1899, the average 

 monthly wage of dependent farm workers was, respectively, 

 ^10.43, $12.45, .^J^d $14.07, an increase of 34.9 per cent in 

 the twenty-year period. But the average value of agricultural 

 products per farm worker for - the years 1880, 1890, and 1900 



1 For data of value of products, see Twelfth Census, Agriculture, Vol. I, p. 703. 



2 The low valuation reported by the Eleventh Census was not the result of a 

 decreased production ; but rather, if it can be be proper to use the term at any 

 time, to an overproduction. Take, for illustration, the case of corn : The corn 

 crop produced in 1889 (the crop reported upon by the Eleventh Census) was so 

 greatly in excess of the production in previous years that not only the price per 

 bushel but the total value of the crop fell below that reported for any one of the 

 nine preceding years. The same statement applies, more or less, to most of the 

 staple farm crops for that year. (See U.S.DeptAgr., Year Book, i90i,pp.699^/j^^.) 



8 See p. 78. 



