The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-05-26
LABOR FOR FARMS
A BIC QUESTION
University Students Investigate
and Show Causes for Its
Scarcity
tBy - X. NINTEKS.s

chapel Hill. May e4--Nhar i the
labor problem in your home county
or town What suggestions has.
you 10 offer for the improvement OF
labor conditions in your particular
vicinity These topics were furnish
ed an economics class Of forty uni
yerslty students BY Or. L. /. Raper.
head Of the department or economics
and correspondent of the United
States Rural Organization Service. *
a basis upon which to gather some
frst-hand information relative to Ia
Dor conditions in North Ca,iina. Tn
investigator embraced some thirty rem
resentative North Carolina counties.
The findings unfolded by this inyesti-
| cation are of general interest for the
two fold reason Of the general con
illusions arrived at and the detailed
content of the papers presented.
Farm Labor Scarce.
That farm labor in North Carolina
is scarce was almost univerSalls
agreed upon. the facts gathered from
"back-home' in the some twenty
strictly agricultural counties subStan-
tiating this general statement.
reasons assigned, in the mann. for this
scarcity of farm labor were the ire
gularities of farm work and the high
er prices for labor obtained in other
pursuits. The factories of the towns.
railroad construction camps. lumber
ing camps, and manufacturing indus
tries, are constant bidders for the
scattering farm labor. The perma-
nency Of the city job over against the
irregular work furnished by the farm
was presented as the strongest in
ducement for the floating aborer 10
forsake agricultural pursuits.
County Employment Bureau.
Among the remedial suggestions Of
fered to check the constant shifting
Of farm labor to the mill and manu-
featuring districts were the establish
ment of a county employment bureau
;, aiming to provide work for farm labor
the year around rather than for four
months; raise the standard of work
in the agricultural districts through
p the Medium of agricultural training,
q and by liberal immigration laws. fur
. nishing unskilled labor at lower wa
= ges, thus compelling American city
;, laborerS OF return TO the farm.
Wages Are Contrastcd.
: The figures presented in these pa
pers contrasting the wages paid on
farms and those paid in gainful oc-
equations in North Carolina towns
ranger around an average of IS cents
to $3.50 for farm laborers as over
against S1.25 to SO by manufacturing
Industries in the towns of the State.
To cite a single concrete, Illustration
/. The average wage paid by the textile
industries in Charlotte was quoted "a
about s1.55 a day. while the figures
7 gathered from the farming section Of
Allegheny county showed the aver
age wage for farm laborers TO be So
a month and the loon meal. The
average wage for farm labor in Ala
y manc county ranges from 63 cents
to S1.10 a day for men aborers: from
40 cents &c IS cents for the womef
laborerS.
Mill Work in CASTOR.
First-hand investigation into tht
wage standards Of ten families en-,
gagged in mill work in Castor count
e made this exhibit: These ten fami
e lies had twenty-five person working
le in mills, the youngest thirteen, on
y eighteen, and the others over eiGh
n teen years of age, total age Of tn
ten families $40 per month; averag'
l wage for a family per month Wa,
S6402; lowest wage Of any persol
:" $1,000 per month; highest wage Of an,
ie person S35 per month The ayeTag-
wage lor all twenty-five persons wa
! $3.50 per person per month. :
u contrast of wage of the ma Lahore
* on the farm was $25 a month. Will
! he had averaged a wage of $50 sine
!. coming to the mill.
Another observation made by thes
- forty university students was that tn
= city employer was making the ques
ton of wage and employment Of lab
:. orers one Of grave concern-adept
=, ing a system of drawing on the coun
- try for laborers and at all times sup
plying his demand. The farming elias
too, was beginning to give concern I
the question az to how he could kee
s. the floating laborer on the farm tn
continued scarcity OF help in harvest
D. ing and laying by periods OF III
IN wears has made il necessary that h
in devise schemes TO meet the emerxen
cies.