HARVEST LABOR PROBLEMS LST WHEAT BELT. 5 



grain belt in June and July and into the northern area in August 

 and September. Thus an industry which needs only a comparatively 

 small amount of labor during most of the year suddenly requires an 

 army of men to handle its peak load (figs. 2 and 3). 



A surprising number of transient laborers secure work of less 

 than a week's duration (Table 4). It was found that on an average 

 men spent 26 days in the harvest area, working 15 days and losing 

 11 days (Table 4). 



Table 3. — Wheat acreage and production in the Wheat Belt, 1918-1920. 





Winter wheat (000 omitted). 



Spring wheat (000 omitted). 



Percentage pro- 

 duction, 1918- 



State. 



Acreage. 



Production. 



Acreage. 



Production. 



1920. 



1920 



1918- 

 1920 

 (aver- 

 age). 



1920 



1918-1920 

 (aver- 

 age). 



1920 



1918- 

 1920 

 (aver- 

 age). 



1920 



1918-1920 

 (aver- 

 age. 



Winter 

 1918- 

 1920. 



Spring 

 1918- 

 1920. 





Acres. 



1,225 



2,890 



8,886 



3,335 



2,600 



431 



60 



56 



Acres. 



1,390 



3,120 



9,034 



3,356 



3,361 



602 



65 



70 



Bushels. 



15, 925 



46, 240 



136, 844 



58, 029 



32, 500 



8,491 



1,176 



812 



Bushels. 



19, 555 



44, 393 



130, 135 



48,835 



48, 303 



11,244 



1,131 



1,049 



Acres. 



Acres. 



Bushels. 



Bushels. 



Per 



cent. 



100.0 



100.0 



99.8 



90.3 



99.5 



57.3 



2.4 



2.7 



Per 

 cent. 

















17 



258 



17 



400 



2,941 



2,830 



7,600 



26 



525 



23 



615 



3,430 



3,227 



7,790 



212 

 2,451 

 221 

 4,520 

 27, 940 

 25, 470 

 68, 400 



246 

 5,228 

 266 

 8,392 

 45, 943 

 38, 490 

 76,424 



0.2 





9.7 









42.7 





97.6 



South Dakota 



97.3 

 100.0 

















A few of the men had fairly steady employment. Three farm 

 boys from Ohio, who reached the Oklahoma fields on June 16, ob- 

 tained 12 days' work in Oklahoma, 35 in Kansas, 10 in Nebraska, 

 and 4 in South Dakota, between June 16 and August 26, when they 

 were looking for thrashing work at Minot, N. Dak. They worked 

 61 out of 71 days. Allowing for Sundays, in order to compare this 

 work with urban employment, it may be stated that these boys had 

 steady work. Each had sent home about $200, and they had a fair 

 chance for from two to six weeks more without going to Canada. 

 Other fortunate men worked 54 out of 65, 24 out of 27, 18 out of 21, 

 25 out of 30, 27 out of 36, and 33 out of 41 days. More frequently 

 men worked 12 out of 23 days, 15 out of 37, and 20 out of 36, while 

 those who were most unfortunate worked as little as 10 out of 33, 

 18 out of 46, 11 out of 37, and -J out of 11 days. These figures, how- 

 ever, probably are not typical of the average experience of all extra 

 help hired by farmers for the small-grain harvest. 



EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION OF ACREAGE. 



Ordinarily the harvest opens in Texas and southern Oklahoma be- 

 tween June 1 and June 10 and moves northwest at an irregular rate, 

 depending upon the weather, reaching the Canadian boundary about 



