PROGRAM OF RECONSTRUCTION 237 



convenience. Collective methods of handling this 

 question by farming communities will prove economical 

 but must have legislative encouragement. 



FARM LABOR 



The use of machinery decreases the need for farm 

 labor but does not eliminate it; and it increases the de- 

 mand for skilled labor. The call for labor in other 

 industries, with apparently higher wages, shorter hours 

 and more sociable conditions of life, competes most 

 seriously with the farm. Farm boys are longer in 

 school than formerly and we would not have it other- 

 wise. Neither are we prepared to urge a large use of 

 woman's labor on the land as a permanent feature. 

 The seasonal need for labor on all but stock farms is 

 another difficulty. Altogether, the farm labor prob- 

 lem is perhaps the most serious which the farmer must 

 face. 



Some remedies seem clear enough, but how to secure 

 actual relief is another matter. Evidently, as a prin- 

 ciple, the farmer must gain access to the world's labor 

 and procure his share of it. To do this, ho must pay 

 such wages and grant such terms as will make him a 

 competitor with other industries. The housing and 

 other living conditions of the laborer must be in keeping 

 with modern requirements for comfort, convenience 

 and health. More machinery must be used for more 

 purposes. Skilled and even trained farm labor must 

 prevail. All this requires such prices for his products 

 that the farmer can afford the necessary labor cost. 

 Ideally it implies also a transient farm labor group, 

 whose members, skilled, intelligent and ambitious, will 

 rapidly pass up to tenantry and ownership of land. 

 This problem can be met only as the government, 



