34 BULLETIN 1020, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



absence of the county agent, some Russian farmers came to the city 

 hall where most of the harvest hands were congregated, and said, 

 " Boys, we are paying 75 cents an hour. How much do you want?" 

 Seeing a chance to get more than 75 cents some of the laborers de- 

 manded 85 or 90 cents an hour, at which price the Russians hired 

 them. 8 When the county agent returned to his office he found that 

 the market had risen to 90 cents an hour, and that the men would 

 not go out for 70 cents. Most of the farmers would not pay more 

 than 70 cents, but there were enough of the Russians paying 90 cents 

 or more an hour to take some of the harvesters and to prevent many 

 of the others from accepting 70 or 80 cents. As a result there were 

 on the streets most of the time about a hundred men, some of whom 

 were honest, clean workers who really did not understand the situa- 

 tion. They listened to the more radical floaters who advised them 

 not to work for less than $1 an hour and made them believe that 

 they would receive that much if they " stuck." 



In North Dakota, where no standard rate had been fixed by a State 

 meeting, a group of farmers and a few townspeople at Casselton, 

 Cass County, decided that they would pay 45 cents an hour in the 

 harvest. As no effort was made to fix a standard by agreement in 

 the rest of the State, there was a decided range in the wages offered. 

 Different farmers and different localities were offering 50, 55, 60, 

 and 70 cents an hour at the same time. Under these circumstances, 

 what policy should the employment office at Fargo have followed 

 with respect to harvest wages? Should it have tried to fill orders 

 at all of these rates? At the lowest? At the highest? Could a 

 grocer or a farmer sell the same commodity over the same counter 

 at four different prices at the same time ? 



Practical experience in scores of cities in the United States, in 

 Canada, and in England has demonstrated that there is only one 

 policy which the employment office can follow in a situation of this 

 kind. It must decide which rate is the actual " going rate " of 

 wages and endeavor to fill as many of the orders as possible at that 

 rate. Ordinarily it can not fill those below the " going rate " ; and 

 it can not advertise those above the " going rate " without spoiling 

 the market. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



The continual fluctuation in harvest labor demand, caused by 

 climate, pests, etc., makes it imperative that, additional means be 

 found to facilitate the spread of reliable information concerning 

 harvest conditions among those who constitute the potential suppty 



8 The diet in the homes of these Russian farmers differs from that, in the homes of 

 most farmers in the Central West. Consequently they have become accustomed to pay- 

 ing higher wages than their American neighbors. 



