CHAPTER H 

 ECONOMIC MOTIVES AND IDEALS IN AGRICULTURE 



THE primary motive which impels most men who engage in 

 farming is the desire for food, clothing, shelter, and the many 

 forms of recreation. The primary ideal, then, is to secure the 

 maximum results in money or products for direct use per unit 

 of effort put forth. 



When one studies man's motives and ideals, one finds a very 

 complex mixture of motives and a great variety of ideals. 

 Some of these motives are economic, some are social, some are 

 rational, some are irrational, some are emotional, some are 

 religious, and others are legal in character. In some instances 

 one class of motives dominates; in other instances an almost 

 entirely different set of motives will be found to impel the 

 farmer to action. 



i. The desire for the means with which to satisfy one's wants. 

 In the minds of many farmers the desire for money stands out 

 as the dominant reason for working. In some instances the 

 use to which the money is to be put is more or less secondary 

 in the mind of the worker. The extreme case is the miser 

 who wants money primarily to hoard, or with which to buy 

 land for the pleasure of its possession. But the more normal 

 form of this economic motive is the desire for money with which 

 to buy food, clothing, shelter, and various forms of entertain- 

 ment. But even in the single man working for wages, this is 

 not the sole factor in determining where he will work or how 

 well he will work. There are many direct satisfactions which 

 often seem equally important. The way in which the employer 

 or his wife speaks to the hired man may seem at times more 

 important to him than the money which he receives. Personal 

 likes and dislikes, therefore, become very important secondary 



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