The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
647 
A Primer of Economics 
By John J. Dillon 
Part XXII 
THE INDIVIDUAL WAGE SHARE 
Given an annual national wage bill of 
$25,000,000,000, the probable wage-fund 
of last year, how are we to divide it 
among the different classes of employ¬ 
ment, and then in a manner to do equal 
justice to all among the individuals of 
each class? 
The Socialists, who would abandon per¬ 
sonal rent, interest and profits, and reward 
labor with the total fruits of production, 
have failed to enlighten us on the details 
of their plan to make equitdble division 
of the proceeds to classes and individuals. 
Assuming, for the sake of argument, that 
Socialism is desirable and to be adopted, 
this task alone would present no insig¬ 
nificant amount of difficulties. The indi¬ 
vidual family share is more important 
than the total bulk in mass. If we are 
by arbitrary enactment to overthrow the 
system that we have, we ought to have 
some clear conception of the plan that is 
to .take its place. This must not be taken 
as a protest against change. Our pres¬ 
ent system is not so perfect by any means 
that we should discourage those who pro¬ 
pose to better it, but it would be worse 
than useless to fly from the faults wc 
have to others until we at least under¬ 
stand fully what the others are, and have 
some conception of how they are to work 
out. Who is going to find the relative 
ratio of utility added daily by the man 
who makes brick and the man who puts 
it in place in the corner of a house, and 
proportion the wage according to the 
merit of the service? Will a stock brok¬ 
er’s clerk yet draw more than a college 
professor? Who will attempt to adjust 
the difference between the farm hand who 
runs productive machinery at $12 a week 
and the mechanic who operates an unpro¬ 
ductive pleasure automobile in the city at 
$40 a week? Under our present system 
the proportions are far from satisfactory 
or just. A more equitable division of the 
common fund is desirable and imperative, 
but the present system has been in force 
long enough to enable us to trace results 
back to definite causes, and since distri¬ 
bution Is conducted by social and political 
influences, it would seem the part of wis¬ 
dom to remove the abuses we know, and 
improve the system we have, at least until 
those who would have us replace it by 
another, show us justification for the 
confusion and sacrifice that the change 
would seem surely to impose upon us. 
THE JOR AND THE MAN 
Economics have attempted to formulate 
reasons for the different wages paid labor 
in different employments. Adam Smith’s 
classification has been generally accepted 
and approved. He gives these five rea¬ 
sons for the variations in wages: 
First: The agreeableness or disagiee- 
ableness of the employments themselves. 
Second: The easiness and cheapness 
or the difficulty and expense of learning 
them. 
Third : The constancy or inconstancy 
of employment in them. 
Fourth: The small or great trust 
which must be reposed in those who ex¬ 
cise them. 
Fifth : The probability or improbabil¬ 
ity of success in them. 
Both Adam Smith and John Stuart 
Mill discuss these points in considerable 
detail, but they drew their illustrations 
largely, if not entirely, from conditions 
prevailing in England at the time they 
wrote, and the same conditions do not 
now exist in the United States. 
People seeking employment are influ¬ 
enced by individual temperaments of body 
and mind, by opportunity, and often by 
necessity. Environment, social prejudice 
and opportunity for free education and 
training have their influence in directing 
employees to one industry or another. 
Given a definite number of applicants 
the weekly wage in a given industry will 
rise or fall in a free market for labor in 
that industry in proportion to the de¬ 
mand. just as the average national wages 
rise and fall under competition. In ordi¬ 
nary circumstances, however, the prevail¬ 
ing wage will be stabilized by attracting 
employees from other industries, except 
in employments requiring special skill 
and in industries where recruits or jour¬ 
neymen are restricted by arbitrary regula¬ 
tions. When restrictive regulations are 
absent, however, the movement is checkec 
and the wage minimized by the barter 
between employer and employee. In that 
case, the debatable ground is between the 
maximum the employer can afford to pay 
and the minimum that will serve to sup¬ 
port the employee, and the tendency is to 
approach the minimum rather than the 
maximum. 
It is a matter of observation that the 
most disagreeable and uncertain employ¬ 
ments pay the poorest wages, because of 
the large number of unskilled and in¬ 
efficient laborers seeking employment in 
them. These _ conditions, however, are 
never stable in any industry or in any 
country, and at the present time changes 
?re being made with more lightning rapid¬ 
ity than ever before. Our system of free 
public education in the industrial arts, as 
well as in cultural training, and endowed 
institutions of higher training, seems to 
be having their effect in the relation of 
manual labor to clerical and professional 
employments. When we make prepara¬ 
tion for agreeable positions easv and 
cheap, the number of applicants for them 
is sure to increase and the extra supply 
is sure to affect the wage in them. If 
these are drawn from the sources of man¬ 
ual labor, the reduced supply is just as 
sure to increase the wages of those who 
remain to work with their hands. 
During and since the late war it has 
been hard to attract labor of men or 
women to the farm, and difficult to retain 
the labor on the farm. This is partly due 
to the high wages paid by other indus¬ 
tries, but to a considerable degree due to 
the short hours, agreeable work and at¬ 
tractions of the city for entertainments 
and companionship. For the last 60 
years, since our Civil War, our national 
policy has been to develop manufacture 
and trade, and to build up the city popu¬ 
lation and wealth. City labor is being 
paid better than farm labor, and 65 per 
cent of the wealth of the farms remains 
in the city as a distribution cost. This 
drain of the wealth of the farmer to the 
city has made it impossible to shelter the 
farm family in a home equipped with all 
the comforts and conveniences and refine¬ 
ments that the cti.v family enjoys. Wkmen 
and children especially suffer for the 
want of these home conveniences in the 
country. Resides, they are called upon 
to assist in farm production either di¬ 
rectly or indirectly, and their labor is 
seldom considered in the cost of produc¬ 
tion. These conditions naturally influ¬ 
ence the drift of labor and population, 
and in a large measure account for the 
difficulty to keep labor on the farm even 
at comparatively good wages. 
Potatoes in Pits 
I have always kept my potatoes in pits, 
and have never lost any, to amount to 
anything, except when stored in too large 
quantities. My rule has been never to 
store more than 30 bushels in one pile, 
or if more to place them in a long rick 
not over four feet across at bottom, and 
piled as high as they will lie. Do not use 
too much straw ; cover lightly with little 
or no dirt on the very top. After two 
weeks you can cover as deep as you want 
to. Here I like to cover with boards to 
keep out rain, as they handle so much 
nicer when dry. Was it not A. I. Root 
who asked his men about potatoes sweat¬ 
ing? Their reply was: “They will sweat 
every time they are handled over.” Is 
not this true of almost all vegetables, 
grains and grasses? s. T. w. 
Convenient Grafting Wax 
I feel like helping W. S. C.. on page 
463, as well as others who read The It. 
N.-Y. with grafting wax that will work 
in cold weather, or in any temperature 
that is likely to be encountered. 
I keep my grafting wax in a cast-iron 
“doughnut kettle.” It is the common 
mixture, I suppose, of beeswax, rosin and 
linseed oil. When I want to put in some 
scions I melt the wax on the kitchen 
stove. Then I take an old sheet and tear 
it up into strips about four inches wide 
and anywhere from two to four feet long, 
as comes convenient. Then I take an 
odd piece of board and put one end on 
the stove and the other end on a chair, 
painting the wax on this cloth with a 
brush on both sides, and roll the strips 
around a small block of wood. And 
here’s the point—-if it is a very cool day 
I put in more oil; if it is a rather warm 
day more rosin. One soon learns how 
to graduate the mixture, and if there is 
any doubt, a sample can be taken out of 
doors and tested in a moment. When 
you come to apply these strips tear the 
cloth up as wide as is needed at the mo¬ 
ment. Grease the fingers, of course. By 
this method you can prepare enough 
waxed cloth in five minutes for a half¬ 
day’s work. This method was taught to 
me by the late John E. Bennoch. of 
Orono. Me., and he was a wizard at mak¬ 
ing scions grow. p. h. g. 
FERTILIZER 
MATERIALS 
FOR HOME MIXING 
BARIUM-PHOSPHATE 
Containing 
28% Phosphoric Acid 7% Barium Sulphide 
NITRATE OF POTASH 
Analyzing 
42% Actual Potash 12% Nitrogen 
NITRATE OF SODA 
MURIATE OF POTASH 
SULPHATE OF POTASH 
SOFT TENNESSEE PHOSPHATE 
32% Phosphoric Acid 
Write for our prices on these and other 
Agricultural Chemicals before buying. 
WITHERBEE, SHERMAN & CO. 
2 Rector Street, New York 
Send no money j 
send your name, ; 
dress and size. Your shi 
T> _ will be sent by return m; 
I ay postman $4.45 and postage on arrival. 
CIVILIAN ARMY & NAVY SHOE CO. 
I>ePt- 49 45 W. 34th St.. New Yc 
Guaranteed 6 months. 
M a d e of pliable 
Chrome Leather. 
Itroad Solid Oak 
Leather Heels. 
Double Thick Soles. 
Dirt and Water 
f i It Proof. Bel 
j)/| .4J lows Tongue. 
“ Sizes 5 % 
to 12. 
Guarantee 
You must be 
entirely sat¬ 
isfied or wt 
will refund 
your money. 
U.S^Officers Silk Poplin 
Olive Drab Shirts 
for 
Only two to a customer. This can¬ 
not be duplicated at $3.00 apiece 
and are warranted to be fast color, 
two large pockets with buttons 
and flap. 
PAY THE POSTMAN 
Send no money. Just send your 
name, address and size. Your shirts 
will bo sent by return mail. Pay 
postman $3.70 and postage on 
arrival. SIZES : 14 to 18. 
U. S. BLANKET CO., Dept. 53, 45 W. 34th St., New York 
Cost 
Terrace 
roads, build dykes, levees wiftj 
Works in any soil. Makes V-shaped 
ditch or cleans ditches up to four feet 
deep. Horses or tractor. Get my 
great labor and cost saving story. 
Owensboro Ditcher & Grader Co., Inc. 
Box 334 Owonsboro. Ky. 
PEACH TREE BORERS 
Kill them with 
KRYSTAL GAS 
This method of destroying PEACH TREE BORERS 
—is highly recommended by the U. 8. Department 
of Agriculture. For circular write 
HOME PRODUCTS INC. Rahway. N. J. 
New York State FARMS 
making farms for sale. We have a size, location and 
price to please you. Stock and tools included on many of 
them. MANDEVILLE REAL ESTATE AGENCY, Inc., Dept. I, Oleen. N. ». 
S i°"? r °P° sltion - NAPPANE 
& manufacturing CO., 
NAPPANEE LUMBER UIUU 
NAPPANEE, lb 
Agents H patent patch for instantly mending leaks 
° in all u t e n si 1 s. Sample p a c k a or e free 
COLLETTE MFC. CO., Iiept. 108, Amsterdam, N.Y. 
THE HOPE FARM BOOK 
This attractive 234-page book has 
some of the best of the Hope Farm 
Man’s popular sketches—philos- 
ophy, humor, and sympathetic 
human touch. Price $1.50. 
For Sale by RURAL NEW-YORKER 
335 West 30tlt Street, New York 
