CHAPTER XI 

 THE HUMAN BASIS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 



While it is the purpose of agricultural production to satisfy 

 human wants, and man is rightly considered the end in view 

 in the production of all economic goods, it is also true that 

 human brawn and human brain are so important in giving direc- 

 tion to the other factors that man may easily be counted the 

 most important of the three factors of production. Whatever 

 affects man as an agent in agricultural production seriously 

 affects the results of this basic industry. 



There is essentially but one class of people engaged in agri- 

 culture in the northern part of the United States, but in the 

 South there are clearly defined lines of demarcation between 

 managers and workmen. In the North the same man is usually 

 a manager and a workman. Those who are workmen and not 

 managers are usually young men who expect to become farmers 

 on their own account in the course of time. The difference 

 in the South is due to the presence of the colored workmen who 

 labor under the direction of white managers. In many foreign 

 countries there is a classification of the agricultural popula- 

 tion into landlords, farmers or managers, and laborers. This 

 is notably true of England. While one man may represent all 

 of these classes in the United States, there are functions corre- 

 sponding to the three classes. Especial attention will here be 

 given to labor and management as functions of the human 

 factor in agricultural production. 



In 1910 there were about twelve and one-half million persons 

 engaged in agricultural pursuits in the United States. About 

 half of these were classed as farmers, and the other half were 

 classed as laborers. Five-sixths of the total were male and one- 

 sixth female, but of the laborers, three-fourths were male and 



102 



