THE FARMER'S COTEMPORARIES. 77 



The Hon. Geo. B. Loring gives some statistics recently 

 in tlie IVorth American Review ' to prove the prosperity 

 of agriculture. I propose analyzing those referring to this 

 question as it relates to Massachusetts, which he assures 

 his readers " is a good illustration of the type of Ameri- 

 can agriculture which increases year by year, and which 

 affords constant labor, and consequently good returns to 

 the farmer." Mr. Loring says that the aggregate value 

 of the agricultural products of the State is $47,756,033 ; 

 that the total agricultural property of the State is valued 

 at $215,230,550 ; that his estimate gives to each person 

 employed in farming about $620 annually, out of which 

 must come the expense oS producing and selling the 

 product — the total wages paid annually being $6,390,- 

 252. 



If we assume that the average farm proprietor of 

 Massachusetts is receiving $700 (an outside figure), and 

 out of which deduct $200 for insurance, taxes, repairs, 

 loss of stock, seeds, and fertilizers, we have $500 left. 

 Out of this $500 we have to take, at least, $150 for wages. 

 This would leave $350 for the farmer, the return of an 

 ordinary wage earner, with not a cent for interest on his 

 investment. If the farmer charge this interest, say $150, 

 he would have only $200 for his family to live upon. 



In the paragraph wherein Mr. Loring refers to the 

 above matter, he states that the income of the manufac- 

 turing operatives in Massachusetts averages $364. He 

 has this without a cent risked in the business which em- 

 ploys him. Surely if the laborers of America have cause 

 to make loud and bitter complaints of the inequality 

 under which they labor, the farm proprietors have much 

 more. 



' March, 1889. 



