WHEN IS FARM LABOUR TOO HIGH?

Otago Witness, Issue 3995, 7 October 1930, Page 13

WHEN IS FARM LABOUR TOO HIGH?

AN AMERICAN OPINION.

An article by W. H. L. in Farm News, which appeared under the above caption, will doubtless be read with interest by farmers in New Zealand:—

‘‘A farmer, recently said that farm labour is getting so high he can no longer afford to keep a hand. ‘ We’ll simply have to take to doing all the work ourselves,’ he complained. Getting up earlier and working later and working harder was the solution he had in view.

“ There are two things of interest about this gentleman’s complaint. In the first place, it shows the method certain farmers use in meeting financial shortcomings on the farm, and in the second place it shows the way those same persons have of meeting failures and disappointments in general. “ Here is a man who, though he needs help, has found that under his method of management, he cannot make farm labour pay. And the solution he has adopted is that of making a machine of himself, getting up early and working till late at night, trying to do two men’s work himself. Now, of course, that is one way. But the question that conies to the mind of many is, Why- does he choose that method ? Why does he not conclude that what his farm needs is better management and not harder work. Some farmers seem to think that makipg more of a machine and slave of one’s self is the way to increase the income of the farm. They seem never to realise the enormous possibilities of management. They seem not to realise that what they- need to do is to work their brains a little more instead of their muscles. They seem never to dream that management can have much to do with the productivity of the farm.

“ But take a man of the other type. When such a man sees he is falling behind he begins to study his farm and his possibilities. He never doubts but that there are farms no better or larger than his that are producing vastly more, and he knows that there are men who could make his farm produce much more. And so he puts on his thinking cap. He determines to do better. He studies the problem of soils and crop cultivation to see if he cannot make his land produce more; he looks over his animals to see how the grade of his stock can be improved; in fact, he looks into everything, with the result that he finds a dozen ways to increase his income.

“And as to discharging his help because he can’t make it pay —he never dreams of such a thing. If it does not pay, then he must make it pay—that is all he has to say- about that. And he must make his farm hands pay, not bymaking slaves of his hands and himself, but by the adoption of better methods. “ The disposition this farmer shows in discharging his help also reflects the

general attitude of many- persons towards failure or disappointment of any kind. Disappointment may be either a good thing or a bad thing, just according to the way in which you take it. To many persons a disappointment or failure is a serious setback (and a few real failures are a knockout) that drives the last ray of hope from them. If farm help is a failure this year they- are blue, and if it is a failure next year they throw up their hands and quit. They will have no more hired help. And if the farm fails completely- a time or two they are ready to quit farming altogether. . “ But to the other man disappointment is something far different. To him it is merely a stepping stone, a character builder, a spur to spur him on. When failure stares him in the face he opens his eyes and grits his teeth, and sets out to conquer in spite of everything. When farm help ceases to pay, he simply says, * It’s got to pay,’ and starts out to see how he can increase the income of his farm, with the result that he finds a way. And so it is with every disappointment: the effect is simply to make him a better farmer. He always looks at failure as something unnecessary, as something due to the man himself, and which can be conquered if one has the proper stuff in him.

So, if you find that farm labour doesn’t pay, ask yourself whose fault it is. And just remember this, that there are hundreds of farmers in no better circumstances than you who are making it pay, and that you, too, can make it pay if you will use your head as well as your muscles.”