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subject, ''The Profits of Farming," with an essay which he en- 

 titled a "A Business View of Farming," which was an offset to 

 the present prevalent spirit of grumbling among farmers. He 

 aserted that similar amounts of skill and capital pay as well in 

 agriculture as in other kinds of busiuess. Allusion was then 

 made to the lack of precise debit and credit accounts among 

 farmers, and therefore lack of statistics in regard to the earnings 

 as a class. The only accurate information of the earnings of 

 capital come from the reports of Corporations. In 1885, the rail- 

 roads of the country earned 2.02 per ceut. ; purchasers of bonds 

 of conservative northern cities net from 2.75 to 3.50 per cent. ; 

 the premiums on the stock of the best manufacturing or bank- 

 ing stocks bring their net profit to 3.50 or 4 per cent. The cen- 

 sus reports the average farm investment to be $5000, on which, 

 assuming 4 per cent, as a fair rate of interest, $200 is first to 

 be charged to the farm ; second as to wages — taking into ac- 

 count the skill of the average farmer, a fair estimate would be 

 $800 per year, adding to that $200 for farm labor that wife and 

 children may do, aggregates $1200. In 24 industries in Massa- 

 chusetts, in 1885, public reports show average wages for a man 

 $11.85 per week, the highest $25. 



In estimating the matter of credits, the large proportion of 

 the farmer's living that comes from his farm is an element of 

 confusion to accuracy. A farmer supporting a family in good 

 circumstances, but not getting ahead, too often claims that his 

 farm is not paying at all. 



In estimating the credits, the speaker frequently referred to 

 reports of labor commissioners of Massachusetts and Connecti- 

 cut. In Connecticut, the labor commissioner found that families 

 of five persons of laboring men, with average income of $1.74 

 per day, paid for food $350 per year. In Massachusetts it was 

 placed at $370 per year, and this latter figure the speaker cred- 

 ited to the farm for the farmers food. In 1883, the Labor 

 Bureau statistics found the average Massachusetts workman 

 paid for rent $140, and the speaker placed $100 to the farms' 



