1 6 American Economic Association [814 



Items. igoo. 1890. 1880. 



Number of males in agriculture . 8,771,181 7,787,539 7,075,983^ 

 Number of horses, mules and 



asses 20,099,826 17,264,999 12,170,296 



Acres of land in specified crops . 272,304,111 214,523,412 164,830,442 

 Average number of acres to one 



male worker 31.0 27.5 23.3 



Average number of acres to one 



horse 13.5 12.4 13.5 



Average number of horses to one 



male worker 2.3 2.2 1.7 



Farther on, speaking with reference to this table, he 

 says : " The number of acres of leading crops per male 

 worker steadily increased, while the number per work- 

 ing animal was substantially the same in 1900 as in 

 1880. The increase in the productiveness of man's 

 labor, therefore, is secured by the increased utilization 

 of the power of the horse and mule in driving farm 

 machinery. The figures of the table indicate two im- 

 portant changes in the twenty years. One of these 

 appears in the increase in the number of horses to each 

 male worker from 1.7 to 2.3, a gain of about 35 per 

 cent ; the other is the increase in the number of acres 

 cultivated to each male worker from 23.3 to 31.0, or 

 about 34 per cent. From these figures it appears that 

 in the last twenty years, by the aid of machinery, and 

 the substitution of horse power for hand labor, the 

 effectiveness of human labor on farms has been in- 

 creased to the extent of about 33 per cent." 



The statement that there has been an ' increase in the 

 number of horses and of acres cultivated, to each male 

 worker ' is mathematically correct enough but it gives 

 the impression that the farmers have both increased in 

 numbers at the same rate as people engaged in other 

 occupations and have expanded their holdings, which 

 is not at all true. It will be noted that the num- 



