AGRICULTURAL WAGES g I9 



United States comes from the large cities and mining and manu- 

 facturing centers of the Union. The popular impression among the 

 workmen of Europe is that the United States is one of four things a 

 city street, the bed of a railroad, a factory, or a coal mine. That 

 there are fertile acres in the United States on which men may settle 

 and thrive is not generally known among the workmen of Europe, 

 and as those previously admitted have contented themselves with 

 working upon the streets, along railroads, in factories, or in mines, 

 their correspondence with friends at home in the old country naturally 

 induces others to come to these places. Under the direction and work 

 of the Division of Information and Distribution of the Bureau of 

 Immigration this condition of affairs must ultimately change, for 

 every man directed to a congenial place on a farm, every man who 

 becomes the possessor of a farm, every tenant, and everyone who 

 shares the profits of a farm will become a missionary and in corre- 

 spondence with friends in Europe will inform them that our resources 

 do not consist solely of opportunities heretofore named, and in tune 

 the tide of immigration must turn away from the congested centers 

 to the land. 



This effort to divert the tide of immigration to agricultural sections 

 of the country is of doubtful value unless conditions are favorable. 

 Soil and climate should be suitable, the latter approximating to that 

 of the home of the immigrant, the former not only fertile but adapted 

 to crops like those the immigrant, if a farmer, was accustomed to 

 raising at home. Likewise, so far as possible, those who do not speak 

 English should be directed to localities where others of their race 

 have settled. Intensive farming is better understood by alien land 

 workers than any other, and for that reason many small farms with 

 good transportation facilities and near-by markets are more attractive 

 than large holdings. Among aliens, those coming from Northern 

 Europe are preferred by perhaps a majority of applicants for farm 

 labor. As the value of the Southern European as a fruit grower 

 becomes known, the demand grows in volume. 



The difficulty in securing labor at harvest tune to gather in the 

 crops on large farms, which has embarrassed the owners, or managers, 

 and which was seriously acute the last two seasons, has given rise 

 to a movement in favor of cutting up large farms into smaller holdings, 

 each one capable of supporting a family in comfort and more likely 

 to find a man desirous of owning and operating it himself than one 

 who would prefer working on a large farm for another, or on .shares. 



