XV. AGRICULTURAL WAGES 



QUESTIONS 



i. Is it relatively easier or more difficult to isolate and identify 

 the share of the total returns of the industry which go to labor in the 

 case of agriculture than in the case of a railroad company ? a steel 

 mill ? a large mail-order house ? a corner grocery ? Why ? 



2. Is there a tendency to have more of the labor in agriculture 

 performed upon a wage basis today than it was a generation ago? 

 Why ? Does this have any bearing upon the problem ? 



3. Regarding wages as the price paid for labor, what differences 

 does it show as compared with commodity prices ? 



4. State the law of diminishing utility as applied to labor employed 

 in agriculture. What sets the margin at which price is determined ? 



5. Economists refer to demand which grows out of the demand 

 for another article as " derived demand." Is the demand for labor 

 a case of derived demand ? The primary demand is for what ? 



6. If labor demand is a derived demand, does its intensity depend 

 upon the value or price of the objects of primary demand ? Will the 

 farmer hire more three-dollar-a-day labor to raise two-dollar wheat 

 than to raise wheat which he expects will not bring more than one 

 dollar? 



7. Does the principle of substitution operate in determining the 

 demand for agricultural labor ? How ? 



8. Is the marginal worker one of minimum efficiency or unfavor- 

 able situation ? What is marginal labor ? Are they necessarily found 

 in the same person ? Are there any reasons why they are likely to 

 coincide ? 



9. Does the supply of labor depend upon the number of human 

 beings ? upon the number who are available ? upon the number who 

 are both available and competent to perform the particular task? 

 upon the number available multiplied by the degree of their com- 

 petency? Are there any other factors? 



10. Mention all the factors you can which influence the avail- 

 ability for agricultural work of residents of the United States. 



n. Mention all the factors which have influenced their efficiency 

 in that work. 



12. Is our agriculture undersupplied with labor at the present 

 time ? What does that mean ? How could it be remedied ? 



13. Certain persons in the Pacific states have urged the suspension 

 or repeal of Asiatic exclusion laws and agreements. Would this 

 remedy the situation ? Whv ? If so, would it be advisable ? Why ? 



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