a Sate eer ere ie me RM er te aM oes 
THE HIRED MAN 29 
Seven hundred millions in wages, and double or 
treble that in product and added values, is a 
consideration not unworthy the attention of 
social scientists. To favor an exodus to the land 
is, I believe, the highest type of benevolence, 
and the surest and safest solution of the labor 
problem. 
Besides engaging Thompson, | tentatively be- 
spoke the services of his wife and son. Mrs. 
Thompson was to come for $15 a month and a 
half-dollar raise for each six months, the son on 
the same terms as the father. 
The other man whom I engaged that day was 
William Johnson, a tall, blond Swede about 
twenty-six years old. Johnson had learned 
gardening in the old country, and had followed 
it two years in the new. He was then employed 
in a market gardener’s greenhouse; but he 
wanted to change from under glass to out of 
doors, and to have charge of a lawn, shrubs, 
flowers, and a kitchen garden. He spoke bro- 
kenly, but intelligently, had an honest eye, and 
looked to me like a real “find.” Polly, who 
was to be his immediate boss, was pleased with 
him, and we took him with the understanding 
that he was to make himself generally useful 
until the time came for his special line of work. 
I now had two men engaged (with a possible 
third) and one woman, and my venire was 
exhausted. 
Two days later I again advertised, and out of 
