rd on my table
and said:--

"I would rather work for fifty cents a day on a farm than take my
chances for six times as much in the union."

This was the sort of man I wanted: one who had tried other things and
was glad of a chance to return to the land. Thompson said that after he
had spent one lonesome year in the city, he had married a sensible woman
of forty, who was now out at service on account of his hard luck. He
also told of a husky son of two-and-twenty who was at work on a farm
within fifty miles of the city. I liked the man from the first, for he
seemed direct and earnest. I told him to eat up the fifty cents he had
in his pocket and to see me at noon of the following day. Meantime I
looked up one of his references; and when he came, I engaged him, with
the understanding that his time should begin at once.

The wage agreed upon was $20 a month for the first half-year. If he
proved satisfactory, he was to receive $21 a month for the next six
months, and there was to be a raise of $1 a month for each half-year
that he remained with me until his monthly wage should amount to
$40,--each to give or take a month's notice to quit. This seemed fair to
both. I would not pay more than $20 a month to an untried man, but a
good man is worth more. As I wanted permanent, steady help, I proposed
to offer a fair bonus to secure it. Other things being equal, the man
who has "gotten the hang" of a farm can do better work and get better
results than a stranger.

The transient farm-hand is a delusion and a snare. He has no interest
except his wages, and he is a breeder of discontent. If the hundreds of
thousands of able-bodied men who are working for scant wages in cities,
or inanely tramping the country, could see the dignity of the labor
which is directly productive, what a change would come over the face of
the country! There are nearly six million farms in this nation, and four
millions of them would be greatly benefited by the addition of another
man to the working force. There is a comfortable living and a minimum of
$180 a year for each of four million men, if they will only seek it and
honestly earn it. Seven hundred millions in wages, and double or treble
that in product and added values, is a consideration not unworthy the
attention of social scientists. To favor an exodus to the land is, I
believe, the highest type of benevolence, and the surest and safest
solution of the labor problem.

Besides engaging Thompso