170 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



wages the deciding factor in determining whether he will take 

 a position and whether he will hold it when once on the job. If 

 it may be assumed that the board, the washing, and the living 

 conditions have continued to play the same role in holding 

 the farm hand in his position through the period for which wage 

 statistics are available, it will appear that farm wages have 

 greatly increased during the past half century. 



The statistics show a rise in the average monthly cash wage 

 rate of men hired by the year with board from $10.09 i n x 866 

 to $18.05 in 1909 and a range in wages in 1909 from $10.91 in 

 South Carolina to $37.50 in Nevada. When hiring by the 

 season the average monthly rate with board ranged from $12.69 

 in 1866 to $20.80 in 1909 ; without board the rate ranged from 

 $18.08 in 1866 to $28.22 in 1909. This rise in the average 

 wage implies changes from year to year and differences from 

 place to place in the supply, the demand, or the quality of the 

 wage workers on farms. 



The wage of a given man at a given time and place is the 

 result of a bargain made by the employer and the employee. 

 The amount the wage worker will take depends upon his desire 

 for employment and the pay offered in the various positions 

 open to him. The amount the employer is willing to pay de- 

 pends upon the use he has for the man and the number of men 

 offering their services. The maximum wage is determined 

 by the productivity of labor but the actual wage is the result- 

 ant of competition among workers for positions, and among 

 employers for men. Variations in the wages in different parts 

 of the United States and on the same job are due to differences 

 in the qualities of the men, in the degree of responsibility placed 

 upon the men, the character of the work, and the conditions of 

 life. Differences in different localities may be due to differences 

 in the relative abundance of men. It is probable also that dif- 

 ferences in the cost of living will have a considerable influence 

 upon the wage rate required to draw or hold laborers in a given 

 community. For example, wages are low in the South when 

 compared with the North. This may be attributed to several 

 things. The quality of the labor may be lower. The cost of 



