AGRICULTURAL WAGES 823 



of team, and 28.4 per cent had a garden plot. The Michigan bureau 

 determined that the average monthly value of such allowances was 

 $6.22 per laborer. 



From investigations made by this bureau it appears that the 

 average monthly value of the dwelling, garden, and other appurte- 

 nances, the use of which was a part of the real wages paid without 

 board, ranged from $1.75 to $5 in the United States, and the amount 

 when wages were paid with board ranged from $i to $4.50. The 

 average value of feed for animals kept ranged from $1.11 to $3.11 

 per month; pasturage from 65 cents to $1.61; fire wood from $1.06 

 to $2.39; the occasional use of team for hauling was valued at 48 cents 

 to $1.70, and the occasional use of horse and buggy, probably reaching 

 as high a frequency as weekly use, ranged from 87 cents to $2.37. 



The estimated value of the fruit given to the family of the laborer 

 was reported to.be worth from 80 cents to $1.64 per month; the 

 value of the stabling for the laborer's horse, if he had one, was esti- 

 mated to be 45 cents to $2 per month; and the laundry service for 

 the laborer was reported by correspondents to range from 75 cents 

 to $2 a month. 



What all of the extras or allowances given to each laborer on the 

 average were worth it was impossible to ascertain. The reports 

 secured, however, are sufficient to indicate a considerable addition 

 on this account to the money rate of wages. 



Another element of real wages remaining to be considered is their 

 purchasing power, and for this purpose Table 27 has been constructed 

 to compare workingmen with farm laborers. It is entirely a table 

 of index numbers. The purchasing power of the wages of working- 

 men is measured by the retail prices of food. The mean for the years 

 1890-1898 is represented by 100. For concise comparisons, the entire 

 period of years has been divided into two periods and a mean for 

 each of the two periods has been computed; the mean for the former 

 one, 1890-1898, being, as stated, 100. The second period includes 

 the years 1899-1907. 



The index number for 1890-189$ being 100, the number repre- 

 senting the full-time weekly earnings for workingmen in the period 

 1899-1907 is 1 1 1. 2. The index number for the latter period for the 

 wage rate of the outdoor labor of men on farms per month in hiring 

 by the year and season is 121; the rate per day for day labor on the 

 farm in harvest work has the index number of 122.5; and the rate 

 for day labor other than harvest work has the index number of 126.6. 



