UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 1020 { 



\fj^ m Contribution from 



the Office of Farm Management and Farm Economics 

 G. W. FORSTER, Acting Chief 





Washington, D. C. 



April 12, 1922 



HARVEST LABOR PROBLEMS IN THE 

 WHEAT BELT. 



By D. D. Lescohier, Collaborator. 



CONTENTS. 



Scope of the investigation 



Fluctuations, in harvest labor de- 

 mand 



Character of harvest labor 



e. 





Page. 



9 



Mobilization of harvest labor 



22 





Distribution of harvest labor 



26 



3 



Harvest wages 



30 



4 



Conclusions!- 



34 



SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION. 



The small-grain harvest of the area lying between the Mississippi 

 Eiver and the arid districts east of the Eocky Mountains, from Texas 

 to the Canadian border, is one of the most dramatic episodes in 

 the economic life of the United States. Each year it calls more than 

 100,000 men from various parts of the country to aid in harvesting, 

 thrashing, and storing or shipping nearly 450,000,000 bushels of 

 wheat and 600,000,000 bushels of other small grains (Tables 1 and 2). 

 It is more than a local venture ; it is a national enterprise. Not only 

 the people, resident or transient, who cut, shock, and thrash the 

 grain, but the entire country feels its effects. Because of this and 

 because farm-labor problems in general are becoming more urgent, 

 data on labor conditions throughout the wheat belt in the harvest 

 season of 1920 were collected by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture. 



Most of the information presented in this bulletin was obtained 

 by field agents of the office of Farm Management and Farm Eco- 

 nomics, who interviewed nearly 3,000 harvest hands, many farmers, 

 county agricultural agents, employment officials, chamber of com- 

 merce secretaries, bankers, merchants, and other citizens in the har- 

 vest area of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and the Dakotas. 1 



1 The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance given by A. L. Barkman, in charge 

 of the United States Employment Service at Kansas City, Mo. ; A. C. Albert, in charge of 

 the State free employment office at Sioux City, Iowa ; and E. L. Rhoades, farm manage- 

 ment demonstrator, at Manhattan,, Kans. The cooperation of county agents, bankers, 

 local employment offices, and many other persons and organizations has added greatly 

 to the value of this report. 



70061°— 22— Bull. 1020 1 



