HUMAN EFFORT AS A FACTOR IN PRODUCTION 215 



If the number of agricultural laborers of foreign parentage were 

 taken for 1900 and this number includes many laborers who were 

 American born it appears that they are 17.4 per cent of all agricul- 

 tural laborers; but the percentages vary widely among the geographi- 

 cal divisions in the South Atlantic division, 0.8 per cent; South 

 Central, 3 . 6 per cent; North Atlantic, 30 . 4 per cent; North Central 

 40. 7 per cent; and Western, 48 per cent. 



Women, as contributing to agricultural labor, are taking a smaller 

 and smaller part, both relatively and absolutely. The census record 

 gives 534,900 women as performing agricultural labor for hire in 1880; 

 447,104 in 1890; and 663,209 in 1900. The apparent tendency 

 expressed by these numbers is unbelievable and is directly contrary 

 to a nation-wide acquaintance with the conditions of agricultural 

 labor in this country. The deficiencies of the earlier census cannot 

 be estimated, and it may be assumed that the number of female 

 laborers reported in 1900 is near the fact. 



The female element of agricultural laborers for hire in 1900 in the 

 total number engaged in agriculture was largest in the South Atlantic 

 States, for which the percentage is 79.9; for the South Central 

 States, 76.5 per cent; North Central, 13.5; Western, 12.8; North 

 Atlantic, u; the United States, 67.9. 



In 1900 women were 10 . 9 per cent of all persons gainfully engaged 

 in agriculture. As an element of negro agricultural laborers for hire, 

 the female laborers are represented by 37.9 per cent in the United 

 States for 1900; 40 . 6 per cent for the South Central States; 36 . 4 per 

 cent for the South Atlantic; 1.3 per cent for the North Central; 

 i . 2 per cent for the Western; and o . 6 per cent for the North Atlantic. 



Dependence must be placed upon the general knowledge of con- 

 ditions with regard to female labor on the farm. The outdoor work 

 of white women on farms of medium or better sorts has greatly declined 

 from' early days, and the decline has been rapid during the last genera- 

 tion. Of course negro women do much labor in the cotton field, but 

 this diminishes year by year. 



It is not advisable to base any fine distinctions upon the censuses 

 of 1890 and 1900 with regard to negroes employed in agriculture. 

 But the comparison may indicate numerically the drift of negroes in 

 their relation to agriculture. In 1900 the negroes who were gainfully 

 engaged in agriculture numbered 1,704,904, and in 1910 they num- 

 bered 2,108,980, an increase of one-half of i per cent in their ratio to 



