82 1 ] Machinery and Production 23 



Crop of Due to use of machinery. 



Barley . . . 1896 . . (bushels) .... 66,722,384 . am . 95.7 



Corn .... 1894 . . (bushels) . . . 739,242,030 . = . 60.9 



Cotton . . . 1895 . . ( bales) 4,642,122 . = . 64.8 



Hay .... 1895 . . (tons) 38,276,901 . = . 81.3 



Oats. . . . 1893 . . (bushels) .... 570,421.543 . = . 89 2 



Potatoes . . 1895 . . (bushels) .... 193,534,049 . = . 65.1 



Rice. . . . 1895 . . (pounds) .... 122,381,853 . = . 72.5 



Rye .... 1895 . . (bushels) .... 16,337,275 . = . 60.0 



Wheat . . . 1896 . . (bushels) .... 404,438,856 . = . 94.5 



The increased effectiveness of man labor power when 

 aided by the use of machinery, as indicated by these 

 figures, varies from 150 per cent in the case of rye to 

 2244 per cent in the case of barley. From this point 

 of view a machine is " not a labor-saving" but rather a 

 " product-making" device. 1 Taking the per cent of 

 labor saved (See page 29), as indicating the average 

 proportion of these crops due to the use of machinery, 

 it appears that the quantity of product is almost five 

 times as great, per unit of^labor, as it formerly was. 

 THE COST OF PRODUCTION 



Touching the difference in the cost of production per 

 unit of product the Thirteenth Annual Report of the 

 Department of Labor furnishes some data that will well 

 repay a somewhat extended consideration. It should 

 be observed, however, thatjthese data with reference to 

 the cost of production, although collected at the same 

 time and, doubtless, with the same care, as the data 

 already taken from that report, are, nevertheless, for the 

 purposes of generalization, far less reliable. The 

 average workman will perform the same quantity of 

 work in a day, whether he works in one locality or in 

 another ; but rates of wages vary with localities and 

 may vary both absolutely and relatively with differences 

 in time. With this qualification in mind, it will be 

 safe to take up the consideration of the data. 



1 Hadley ; Economics, page 338. 



