Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1904-01-28
THE WAGES OF
FARM LABOR

A most exhaustive study of the wages
paid to farm labor in the United States
has been prepared by the Agricultural
Department, and bears eloquent testi
mony TO the prosperous conditions that
have prevailed in the farming com
munities during recent years. 1t is
well known that during certain brief
harvest seasons it has been impossible
to secure sufficient labor, and occasion
ally newspaper dispatches have told
of fabulous prices paid to men in the
fields, while numerous devices are US
ed to divert men from other industries
or from the destinations originally
sought These exceptional instances
are not significant, howyer, and have
no economic value. The official re-
port deals with definite facts (and com
parisors are made of permanent en-
ployment in the agricultural sections.
As the returns embrace reports from
over %. 600 correspondents, the result
ing information is of service.
The total number of farm laborers is
placed at 4, ,410, 9l0,of whom more than
half are actual farmers and members
OF their families. The remaining ,, ,044, :
76l come properly under the head of
farm laborers, and the statistics of
wages deal with them alone OF this
number there are included 222. 900 fe-
males, and the bulk of these are en-
ployed on cotton plantations OF the
members of farmers families about
twice as many female Iaborers are re-
corded, but here also it is mainly in
the Southern States that the women
and girls work 10 the field. The lat
est average for the entire country of
farm wages, without board is S22 II
monthly against $50. % in 1859, and
still less in every earlier year since the
period of scarcity just after the Civil
War. The low point was Sl6.42 in
1879. Wages of farm labor, with board,
averaged $l6 40, against S1407 in 1899
and $l0.43 in 1879. These figures ap-
ply to cases of employment all the
year round, and the long period of
comparative inactivity in winter &C
counts in part for the apparent low
wages as compared with other pur-
suits. The hours of labor range from
about nine to thirteen, according to
the season. In harvest time, when ex
ira help is hired in great number, the
average help is hired in great number,
the average for the entire country is
81 per day, against 81. 81 in 1899 and
81. IA in 1895. Best figures of day wages
are reported for the spring wheat
States where the average rose to g. g..
Much that is of interest is brought
out in some of the tables incidental to
this subject. The percentage of farms
deriving their principal income from
hay and grain are shown in compari-
son with those depending on live
stock, cotton or dairy products. Thus
while North Dakota derives 8S.4 per
cent of its income from hay and grain
and only al from dairy products, Yer
mont claims 500 per cent. from its
dairies and only &c per cent. from
hay and grain. Mississippi is most
dependent upon cotton, with 1875 per
cent, and Wyoming shows the highest
percentage of live stock at 62.2 per
cent. Nationality of farm laborers is
also discussed in some detail, the
Germans and Scaudinavians showing
up strongly as foreign home makers on
the farms. while to some extent Italians
and French Canadians are farming ac-
cessions, the latter coming over the
border into New England. The ratio
of negro to white labor is shown in
detail for the Southern States, and the
high attitudes are not occupied by
negroes, even in that section. Thus,
in Texas as a whole, the proportion is
one negro to 80 white, but in Com
anche county there are %, 900 whites
and no negroes. In many Northern
States the ratio is / to 900