MONTHLY EEPORT. 



Department of Agriculture, 

 Statistical Division, 

 Washington, D. C, July, 1875. 

 Sir : An investigation of the rate of wages of farm-laborers in the 

 United States, for the purpose of instituting a comparison between the 

 wages of the present time and the rates reported in the returns of 18GG 

 and 18G9, has been undertaken, and its results are herewith commu- 

 nicated. There is also presented a statement of the condition of the 

 principal crops on the 1st of July, with minor statistics of rural iudus 

 try, and results of the labors of other divisions of this Department. 



J. R. DODGE, 



Statistician. 

 JHon. Frederick Watts, 



Commissio7ier. 



THE RATE OF WAGES OF FARM-LABORERS IN THE 



UJSITED STATES. 



In December, 1866, and in the same month in 1869, an investigation 

 was undertaken to show the prevailing rates paid for agricultural labor 

 in the several States. It was known that rural Avages had felt the infla- 

 tory impulse which had aflected in different degrees all values, whether 

 of actual labor or the accumulation of past labor in a thousand tangible 

 forms. There had never been a systematic and general effort to obtain 

 these statistics previously, but Mr. H. C. Carey, some thirty years pre- 

 viously, had made a careful estimate, from the best information obtain- 

 able, and had placed the average wages of the country at $9 per month 

 with board. In the investigation of 1866, which included 1,510 state- 

 ments, most of them representing counties, the average rate was $15.50 

 with board, showing an increase in one generation, and mainly in the 

 last five years of the period, of 72 per cent. At the same time the 

 average rate without board was about $26, and the average for the States 

 employing white labor $28, or $336 per annum. At this date, accord- 

 ing to the best authorities, the English farm-laborer was earning, in- 

 cluding the value of all extras and allowances, $182. It was also noted, 

 as illustrating the extent of our demand for labor, that this increased 

 rate had been attained in the face of the immense immigration of the 

 l)revious years. 



The next three years witnessed a material decline in the value of farm- 

 products, but farm-labor held its position better, as in the second inves- 

 tigation the average rate had only .declined to $25.13 for farm-laborers 



