68 UNITED STATES - AGRICUI.TURAL ECONOMY IN GENERAL 



free report to any immigrant concerning any particular tract of land, which 

 he may have visited and the purchase of which he is contemplating. This 

 report wiU include a careful study of the land involved, both from the point 

 of view of its agricultural possibilities and from the point of view of its 

 location as regards marketing possibihties. If an immigrant also states 

 his previous experience, his financial condition, and answers freel}'' other 

 questions put to him, this report wiU also give specific advice as to the 

 wisdom of taking up the proposed land. Before any immigrant buys or 

 makes any payment on a piece of land he should have a free report on it 

 from the State Commission of Immigration and Housing, 525 Market 

 Street, San Francisco. The Commission's interpreters speak and write aU 

 languages ". 



It is hoped in this way to reach the majority of prospective immigrant 

 purchasers and thus prevent frauds in the sale of lands rather than prose- 

 cute for frauds which have already been perpetrated. Hundreds of com- 

 plaints which reach the Complaint Bureau show that most purchasers of 

 land are sadly in need of expert advice. Even many trained farmers seem 

 unable to judge of soil and of the general agricultural value of land except 

 by actual experience, and certainly immigrants unfamiliar with Californian 

 conditions need advice and assistance. It is felt therefore that this scheme 

 has great possibihties, and the commission hopes next year to report consi- 

 derable progress in connection with it. 



§ 2. Labour and unemployment. 



Section 5 of the Act creating the Commission empowered it "to devise 

 and carry out such suitable methods as wiU tend to prevent or relieve con- 

 gestion and obviate unemploj'ment ". 



The task implied is considerable. The distribution of labour and its 

 utrhzation in accordance with the workmen's aptitudes and individual 

 qualities is one of the problems most difficult to solve. 



The Commission has studied it in relation to the special conditions 

 which prevail in California. In co-operation with the United States Com- 

 mission on Industrial Relations it has conducted an enquiry within this 

 State under the following headings : 



" a) Study of special localities to show methods of obtaining labour ; 



" b) Study of several hundred life histories of migratory and casual 

 workers [to learn causes of unemployment and methods of obtaining 

 jobs; 



" c) Study of available material in United States census, report of 

 United States Immigration Commission, report of State Commissioner of 

 Labour Statistics, reports of labour unions in Cahfornia ; 



" d) Investigation of eighty-one private employ ement agencies within 

 the State to determine their real status and value ". 



In December 1914 the Commission presented to the government a re- 



