The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1914-04-21
WAGES OF FARM LABOR
STATISTICS GATHERED BY DE-
paRTNfENT OF AGRICULTURE.
Navada Has the Highest Pay of Any
State III the Union and South
Carolina the Lowest.

mast year ana dpouC Il pei O0N'
ING the past four years. Since l9VZ
Tho increase has been about SO per
n+ These estimates are based up
~ renorts of correspondents of the
h,,roau of statistics agricultural
foracastsD of the department of ag-
riculture.
Wages of farm labor tended up
ward during the decade of the seven
tics. they were almost stationary
dnriug the eighties, and declined
from 1892 to 1894, since which time
+bev have steadily tended upward.
Farm? wages now, compared with
wages during the eighties, are about
"a per cent higher; compared with
the low year of 1894 wages are now
about 67 per cent higher.
The current average rate of farm
wages in the United States, when
hoard is included, is, by the month,
s21.38: by the day, other than at
harvest. $1.16; at harvest, $1.57.
When board is not included the rate
is. by the month, $30.31; by the day,
other than at harvest, $3.50; by the
day at harvest, 1874.
The premium of harvest wages
over ordinary day wages on the farm
is gradually lessening. Thirty years
ago wages at harvest averaged nearly
go per cent higher than wages at
other than harvest time; twenty
years ago the premium was about AZ
per cent; ten years ago about 35 per
cent, and last year about 80 per cent.
Perhaps this is due in part to i'm
proved labor saving harvest machin-
cry and in part to an improved sys-
TEN of farming by which the labor
demand is more evenly distributed
through the year.
The money wages when board is
furnished is about 80 per cent less
than when board is not included;
that is, nearly one-third Of what
man earns is charged to board. The
ratio has not changed materially in
the past thirty years.
Wages in different sections of the
United States vary widely, averaging
highest in the far Western states and
lowest in the South Atlantic states.
For instance, the monthly rate with
out board is $3.50 in Nevada, $54 in
Montana, and $51 in Utah; but only
$3.50 in South Carolina, $3.50 in
Mississippi, and 5000 in Georgia.
The highest state average. $3.50, is
thus seen to be 80 times higher than
the lowest rate, $3.50.
This wide difference in the wage
rates in different sections of the Unit
ed States is gradually 'essening. In
seven Investigations made between
1866 and 1881 the average of wages
of farm day labor without board)
in the far Western states (where
wages were highest) was about 100
per cent higher than in the South
Atlantic states (where wages were
lowest), whereas in seven investiga-
lions made since 1898 the Western
states average about 110 per cent
higher than the South Atlantic, and
in the past year they were only about
80 per cent higher.
The money wages of farm labor
have increased relatively more than
wages for labor in city manufactures
during the past twenty to thirty
years. A comparison of the average
Of wages per employee in manufact-
uring industries, as reported by the
censuses of 1910, 1900 and 1890, in
dicates that the wages Of such en-
plOyes increased % per cent in ten
years $500 to 1870 and increased
only % per cent in the 20 years;
the increases in farm labor wages
we're approximately 81 per cent in
The ten years and about 55 per cent
N the 20 years. This relative gain of
rural or urban wages tends to check
the movement from
the country to the city.
Wages of farm labor have been
rapidly, not only in the
United States, but in most, if not all,
other countries In the world, In the
central agricultural regions of Rus
STA the wage per day paid to male
labor for the years 19O1-1905 aver
aged "a kopecks (17.5 cents) at
sowing time, so kopecks COZ cents)
At hay harvest, and "a kopecks or
cents) at wheat harvest. By ls4V
these wages had Increased to s. ko-
pecks (27.s eebte), Is kopecks (37.6
cents) ana 81 kopecks GAS cents)
respectively. In Hungary the wages
of agricultural Iaborers increased
about so per cent in the ten years
from 1897 to 1907. In Sweden, from
1892 to 1905, wages of farm labor,
with board, increased about 30 per
cent, and without board 80 per cent.
In Sweden wages of agricultural Ia
borers increased SO per cent in the