330 
we ought to realize that enormous advance in the machinery 
used on the farm has reduced the necessity for a great number 
of farm hands on each farm. 
Mr. Hohiies, of the Department of AgricuUure, in the Year- 
book of that department for 1899, points out that between the 
years 1855 and 1894 the time of human labor required to produce 
1 bushel of corn on an average declined from 4 hours and 34 
minutes to 41 minutes, and the cost of the human labor required 
to produce this bushel declined from 35j4 cents to 10>4 cents. 
Between 1830 and 1896 the time of human labor required for the 
production of a bushel of wheat was reduced from 3 hours to 
10 minutes, while the price of the labor required for this pur- 
pose declined from 17^ cents to Sys cents. Between 1860 and 
1894 the time of human labor required for the production of a 
ton of hay was reduced from 35^ hours to 11 hours and 34 
minutes, and the cost of labor per ton was reduced from $3.06 to 
$1.29. 
In 1899 the calculation made with respect to the reduction in 
the cost of labor for the production of seven crops of that year 
over the old-time manner of production in the fifties and sixties 
shows it to have been $681,000,000 for one year. But while it 
is possible to say that there may be in the future improvements 
in machinery which will reduce the number of necessary hands 
on the farm, it is quite certain that in this regard the prospect 
of economy in labor for the future is not to be compared with 
that which has been effected in the last 30 years. Hence we 
must regard the question of available population and available 
labor in that population for the cultivation of the fields as an im- 
portant consideration. My impression from an examination 
of the figures is that the change in this last decade from farm 
to city has not been as great in its percentage as it was in previ- 
ous decades, and, if this be true, it indicates that there is in the 
present situation an element that will help to cure the difficulty. 
Farm prices are increasing rapidly, and the profits of farming 
are becoming apparently much more certain and substantial. 
While the acreage of the improved land only increased 65,000,- 
000, or 15 per cent., and the total acreage only 4 per cent., the 
value of the farms in money increased from $17,000,000,000 to 
$35,000,000,000 in 10 years, an enormous advance. This, of 
course, was due somewhat to the investment of additional money 
in the improvement of land and somewhat to the increase in 
the supply of gold, which had the eflfect of advancing all prices ; 
but the chief cause for the advance is in the increase in the price 
of farm products at the farm. So great is this increase that the 
value of the average farm has now gone from $2,895 to $5,470, 
while the average value per acre has increased from $19.81 to 
$39.69. In addition to this, comforts of farm life have been so 
greatly added to in the last 10 years by the rural free delivery, 
the suburban electric railway, the telephone, and the automo- 
