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 Xorth 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 supply 
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. 
