837] Machinery and Labor 39 



It has been shown above that, relatively speaking, 

 nearly three and a half million people changed from agri- 

 culture to other industries during the thirty year period, 

 1870 to 1900. So great a displacement will, doubtless, at 

 first seem incredible. There is need to look at the prob- 

 lem from another point of view : The total number of 

 persons (i.e., farmers, planters, overseers, and agricultural 

 laborers) reported in 1870 as engaged in farming opera- 

 tions was 5,948,561. l They produced in that census 

 year 1,388,526,403 bushels of cereals. 2 Making allow- 

 ance for the short corn crop of 1869,* we mav sav tnat 

 they were able to have produced 1,519,704,342 bushels 

 of cereals an average of 255.4 bushels per worker. At 

 this same rate, the 10,381,765 persons (i. e., farmers, 

 planters, overseers and agricultural workers) engaged in 

 cereal production in the census year of 1900* could have 

 produced 2,651,502,781 bushels of cereals. The amount 

 would, however, have been less than the actual product 

 in i899 5 by i, 783, 195, 965 bushels. To have made good 

 this deficiency, on the basis of the efficiency of the aver- 

 age worker in 1869, would have required an additional 

 force of 6,981,973 workers. This is more than double 

 the number of those who went from agriculture into 

 other occupations. We must, therefore, in all fairness, 

 say, since the machine power introduced into the busi- 

 ness of farm work during the period from 1869 to 1899 

 has more than taken the place of those workers who, 

 during that period, removed from agriculture to other 

 occupations, it has been the cause of their removal. 

 That more have not so removed is, of course, due to the 



1 See p. 93. 



2 See p. 13. 

 8 See p. 15. 



4 See p. 93. 



5 See p. 13. 



