The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1921-03-18
FARM WAGES REACHES
HIGHEST PEAK In 1926
Rise Of 267 Per Cent. in Last Thirty.
five Years.

Wage rates for farm labor reached
the highest point in the history Of this
country in 1920, as national averages.
AS ascertained by the Bureau of Crop
Estimates Of the Department Of Agri-
culture, the average wage rate. for
labor hired by the month was $46.89
with board and $64.95 without board;
for day labor other than at harvest,
$3.50 with board, and $4.36 without
board. 1
War conditions greatly accelerated
an upward movement Of farm wage
rates that began after 1895. The
rates of that year by the month with
out board was $17.69 as an average
for the United States, and no other
year in the record of the bureau, ex-
tending back to 1866 had a lower
rate, except 1879 with $16.62. NJ
BY 1902 thit2 rate had increased to
$22A4, by 1914 to $29.88, followed by
$30l5 for 1915, with no evidence Of
war effect This effect appeared, per-
haps, as small beginning in the next
year, 1916, when the rate was $S2.83.
Then followed rapid rise to $40.43 in
1917, to $47.07 in 1918, to $56.29 in
1919; and to $64.95 in 1920. .ag
The rate OF, gain over 1895 was 10
percent. In 1916 and 267 per cent. in
1920, SO that the gain Of 20 per cent in
tweny years., from 1895 to 1915, was
followed by d gain Of 1877 per cent in
five years, from 1915 to 1920, or near
" three times as much in quarter
as many years. Frim 1915 to 1920,
farm labor working by the month
without board received gain in wage
rate as high as 115 per cent. This
wae one of the causes of the greatly
increased cost Of producing things on
the farm, which has hit the farmer
SOL hard in the declining market for
his crops of 1920. So high had the
farm, wages become in the last two
or three years that they We're prohibi-
tive in considerable degree when la
bor could be found, and farmers more
generally depended exclusively on
themselves and members Of their fam
lilies, in addition to extending the use
Of labor-saving machinery. 4Dts
At what figure does the farmer esti-
mate the cost Of board as a part of
the compensation Of hired labor? Or,
does he have. any definite knowledge
with regard to this? Southern farmers
who supply "rations" to their laborers
know precisely what, the food costs,
: but the food is prepared for eating
and is eaten in the home Of the labor
er, Elsewhere there seems to be no
precision. I'M
Wage rates ascertained by the Bu-
rear Of Crop Estimates, with board
and without board, afford materials
for computing what the farmers must
by implication regard the board Of a
laborer as being worth, or as costing,
whichever the fact may be, as an ele-
meRt Of wages. By the months the diff
ference between the rates Of wages
with board and without board, in the
averages Of the various groups OF
states, is least in the South Atlantic
States, where difference Of $14.81 is
found for 1920, and nearly the same
is the difference Of SIS. AL in the South
Central States, or about so cents a
day.
Considerably above these allowances
are those Of the two groups Of the
North Central States, east and west
Of the Mississippi River, 1880 and
$20.16, respectively. The difference in
the North Atlantic States is yet high
er and reaches $23.62, while highest
Of all is the allowance in the Fan
Western States, $26.22, which is n
per cent. above the lowest allowance