14 



earn in addition to his wages that sum which you will pay 

 him out of the profits. He won't be so particular about stop- 

 ping at 5 o'clock. He will want to see the work go on. You 

 know Mr. Hoover said, in an article in the "Saturday Evening 

 Post," that the farmer was the only one who had maintained 

 his production because he was interested in his own production. 

 Now, a farmer has so much work ahead of him to do he isn't 

 thinking about hours. He is thinking about doing that work 

 and raising that crop. Now, he gets his wages out of the crop, 

 but the wages are quite remote, so he isn't thinking about an 

 eight-hour day, and for that reason the farmers of the country 

 have maintained their production in the face of a falling off 

 of a large per cent in the production of all other classes of 

 industry. Now, if you can get a man interested with you to 

 take that same view with reference to your farm business, you 

 are going to get enough more service out of him to pay that 

 extra cost. 



A Member. Supposing the farmers should adopt the eight- 

 hour principle, and work only eight hours, they would produce 

 less. Consequently, their crops would bring more money, 

 because they would be more and more scarce. How would 

 that theory work? 



Mr. Brigham. I think your theory is correct. If the farmer 

 adopted the eight-hour day, — and I don't see any reason, if 

 the rest of the world is going to have an eight-hour day, why 

 the farmer isn't entitled to it, — if he does adopt an eight-hour 

 day, I should predict that our consuming population would 

 pay double, nearly, what it does now for its food products. 



A Member. Why not? 



Mr. Brigham. What do you say, Mr. Harwood? 



Mr, Harwood. I think so. 



Mr. Brigham. I think some would go hungry, too. 



Mr. Harwood. I can't give you any reason why he should. 

 I am with you on that. 



Mr. Brigham. But the fact he does, as Mr. Hoover explains, 

 is because he is interested in his business. 



A Member. I have been working that way for seventy- 

 five years, and I am paying more for my help one year than I 

 ever earned and laid by in ten years. He isn't worth as much 

 as I was at that age. 



