ORGANIZATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISE 313 



offered for solving these problems. But, even if we succeed in better- 

 ing our conditions in these particulars, it is evident that the farmer 

 will continue, as long as our world is one of human imperfections, to 

 face handicaps of this same general kind. Labor will never become 

 entirely mobile, and capitalists can never arrive at the point where 

 their judgment is infallible as to the size of loan which should be 

 granted particular security of each individual desiring to borrow. 

 Even the best of institutions cannot furnish us with all the labor and 

 capital that we want; agriculture must expect in the future as in the 

 past to find one of its serious problems in economizing its use of 

 factors of production which are scarce and therefore costly. 



Section E indicates a group of problems of this general sort, and 

 they are similar to those which producers in all other lines must like- 

 wise face. To meet them more intelligently, the manufacturer has 

 called in various experts, and together they have devised methods of 

 efficiency and economy which now pass under the general title 

 "scientific management." Suitable buildings and logical arrangement 

 of the plant, time studies, the scientific adjustment of machines and 

 choice of tools and materials, careful shop organization these, 

 together with special systems of payment designed to stimulate 

 effort, are its essential features. 



Obviously not all this system is adaptable to the farmer's use. 

 But, on the other hand, its most important elements are. Farming 

 is fast losing its slipshod and rule-of-thumb character, and is coming 

 to depend upon scientific scrutiny of cause and effect and careful 

 measurement of outlay and return. The methods of science enable 

 the farmer to compare the cost of fertilizer with the increase in yield 

 or improvement in quality of the product. His beets are tested for 

 sugar content, milk for butter-fat, and wheat subjected to both 

 chemical analysis and actual baking tests. The returns from a given 

 use of feed and labor by the hog-raiser are measured in terms of pigs 

 that mature early, give a high yield of bacon, hams, and lard, and 

 but modest contributions to the fertilizer tank. Modern farm man- 

 agement works out as carefully as does modern factory management 

 the most efficient construction and arrangement of buildings, use of 

 equipment, and schedule of work. Hired help is checked up by milk- 

 ing records or other means of gauging their productivity. Compara- 

 tive studies are made of the amount of labor done by horses on a 

 given outlay for feed and upkeep, with the cost and performance of 

 mules, steam tractors, and gas engines. The farmer of the future 



