FARM MACHINERY 



73 



3. The average value, per farm, of implements and machinery 

 on farms was, in 1880, $136; in 1890, $151 ; in 1900, $208. l 



The rate at which these several factors have increased will 

 appear in the following : 



Base 



Average value of all farm property 



Average value of farms (land and improvements) 

 Average value of implements and machines 



Farmers, planters, and overseers 



Agricultural laborers 



2,835 

 136 



828,800 



35 2 ,565 



100 

 100 

 100 

 100 

 100 



138.2 

 138.6 



185.8 

 189.0 

 152.9 

 127.4 

 i73- 6 



Wages under Hand and under Machine Methods 

 Daily Wages Wages of Skilled and Unskilled Workmen 



Touching the matter of daily wages for the same work under 

 hand and under machine methods of production, the Thirteenth 

 Annual Report of the Department of Labor is, probably, the best 

 source of information. That report shows, in typical cases, the 

 rates of wages paid for the different kinds of work required in 

 the production of twenty-seven different farm crops by hand and 

 by machine methods. The data in twenty-six cases are available 

 for our present purpose. 



It appears by that report that the lowest wage customarily paid, 

 in the season of 1 829-1 830, to any workman engaged in the 

 production of wheat, by hand method, was 50 cents ; the highest, 

 75 cents. In 1 895-1 896, the lowest daily wage reported for 

 workmen engaged in the production of wheat, by machine method, 

 was $1.50; the highest, $4.50. The average rate of wages for 

 this work, in 1829-1830, was 57 cents; in 1895-1896, it was 

 $2.47. 2 Collecting similar data from each of the twenty-six sets 

 of usable returns, we have the following : 



1 Twelfth Census, Agriculture, Vol. I, pp. 688, 698. 



2 The average here used is a weighted average, secured by dividing the total 

 amount of wages paid by the total number of days' work performed at the different 

 rates of wages. 



