HARVEST LABOR PROBLEMS IN WHEAT BELT. 11 



Kansas come into the Nebraska harvest about the same time, that State 

 ordinarily has a large supply of men willing to accept wages lower 

 than those paid in Kansas. Another lot of laborers go directly from 

 Kansas to South Dakota, where they are at an advantage in the 

 scramble for harvest work. As a rule, a larger number than can 

 find employment go into South Dakota, soon to be reinforced by 

 thousands from Nebraska, Iowa, and various other States. Some 

 of the Kansas harvesters go into the cities to spend their earnings 

 and later reappear in the northern harvest; others go directly to 

 North Dakota to pick up the early work there. Many leave the har- 

 vest entirely. 



The total labor contribution of the southern area to the northern 

 harvest can not be computed, but it apparently constitutes a minor 

 fraction of the total harvest labor supply of North Dakota. 



CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 



Climatic conditions are the second main factor in the fluctuation 

 of the demand for harvest labor from week to week throughout the 

 season. For instance, in 1920 rain delayed the southern Oklahoma 

 harvest for almost a week. Laborers began to come into the State 

 in late May and early June, until by June 15 a large supply of 

 harvest labor was present. Many men waited so long that their 

 funds became exhausted, while others, growing discouraged, went 

 home before the harvest. On June 29 hot weather called the men to 

 the fields, where the heat soon forced the ripening of the grain as 

 effectively as the wet weather had retarded it. From stagnation 

 the harvest leaped suddenly into extreme activity, so^ that areas 

 which normally are harvested in succession were ready for cutting 

 at the same time. A dry, clear July enabled the farmers to push 

 the harvest steadily forward, with comparatively little hindrance 

 from the weather, until the middle of August. 



In the northern area especially the time of harvest is influenced 

 by the spring weather, which affects sowing and early growing 

 conditions. An early spring in the Dakotas tends to bring the North 

 Dakota and Kansas harvests closer together, a late spring to widen 

 the gap between them. 



Oklahoma owes a peculiar labor problem to the climate. The win- 

 ter-wheat harvest in western Oklahoma and southwestern Kansas 

 (fig. 1) is some two weeks later than that of central Oklahoma and 

 eastern Kansas because of the high altitude and aridity of the west- 

 ern section of these States. Consequently, when the wheat harvest of 

 central and north central Oklahoma is completed the harvesters move 

 north into Kansas, 2 making it necessary for the Woodward district 



2 Topographic maps illustrating this fact are included in U. S. Dept. Agr. Yearbook, 

 1918, Separate 771, " Arable Lands in the United States," by O. E. Baker and H. M. 

 Strong (Plates II and III). 



