474 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



Class lour comprises the part of the South most absorbed in the cot- 

 ton industry, least interested in various productions in agriculture, and 

 least advanced in manufactures or mechanical industries. 



These figures teach that mono industrialism is stagnation and pov- 

 erty, and variety in industry the life of business and assurance of 

 prosperity. 



THE FARMER'S INCOME. 



In this statement of u income," net income or profit is not meant, but 

 the reported value per head of farm production as given in the census. 

 The statement, by classes, is as follows: 



Classes. 



Farms. 



Workers 

 in agri- 

 culture. 



Acres. 



Value. 



Value 

 per acre. 





1.060, 681 

 1.566, 875 

 3, 017, 971 

 2, 024, 966 



$4?4, 770, 797 

 616, 850, D59 

 786, 681, 420 

 324, 237, 751 



$457 

 394 

 261 

 160 



Percent. 

 18 

 42 

 58 

 77 











For further details, by States, and explanation of causes of local 

 variation and modification, reference is made to Report No. 3, new 

 series, of the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Agriculture. 



THE FARM LABORER'S WAGES. 



The third figure in the diagram shows that the average wages of the 

 farm laborer are subject to similar influences, though to a less degree, as 

 labor is mobile and land stationary. The average wages per month, by 

 the year, were, in 1882, respectively, $24.14, $23.51, $19.51, and $13.G7. 



The diagram illustrates the operation of a law in industrial economy 

 by which the value of farm lands depeuds more upon the proper dis- 

 tribution of productive labor in industries than upon the fertility of 

 the soil, and that the "farmer's income is highest where farms are 

 fewest." 



AVERAGE WAGES PER MONTH. 



Diagram V shows the average rate of wages for farm labor by groups 

 of States, at four different periods, viz, in 1869, 1875, 1879, and 1882. 

 This exhibits remarkable fluctuations, from the highest rates after the 

 war to those of the era of industrial depression, and return to speeie 

 payments, followed by an upward swing of the pendulum. These aver- 

 ages were: 



Group. 



1869. 



1875. 



1879. 



1882. 





$46 38 



$44 50 

 28 96 

 26 02 

 23 60 

 16 22 



$41 00 

 20 21 



19 69 



20 38 

 13 31 



$38 25 

 26 61 



22 24 



23 63 

 . 15 30 







28 02 

 27 01 

 17 21 









