843] 



Machinery and Labor 



45 



until the fanning business of to-day appears as a 

 remnant of its former self. He is much mistaken, 

 however, who would, from this fact, conclude that the 

 farmer is sinking to the level of a wage-earner. One 

 ought rather to say that it is a sign of the farmer 

 rising to the position of a merchant or manufact- 

 urer. It is specializing his work ; it is taking away 

 only that which can be more advantageously done in 

 the towns, and leaving to him just that which he can do 

 most advantageously and, therefore, most profitably. 

 It is lifting him to that place in the industrial or- 

 ganism in which his share in the production of eco- 

 nomic goods counts most effectively. 1 The underlying 

 and controlling fact is this : that the more highly or- 

 ganized society becomes, the farther it advances' along 

 the way from barbarism to a perfect civilization, the 

 more does each individual member of society become 

 dependent upon the offices of every other member. 



The transfer of occupations from the country to the 

 town is still going on and will go on until division of 

 labor and labor saving devices shall have ceased to serve 

 their purpose. It is in the nature of things that this 

 should be so, since it can be done more economically ; 

 and it is equally in the nature of things that people 

 should compete for the better conditions thus offered. 

 It is in vain to try to keep the boy upon the farm 

 where the work is slipping from his grasp. He must 



1 "Better methods of husbandry, the use of superior implements, 

 specialization of agricultural production and vastly improved trans- 

 portation facilities, whereby large areas of new lands have been 

 brought under cultivation, have been indispensable to this increase in 

 productive efficiency, in consequence of which a relatively smaller 

 part of the world's population is required to produce the food sup- 

 ply." C. F. Emerick : Agricultural Discontent," in Pol. Sci. Quar., 

 Vol. XI, p. 436. 



