HARVEST LABOR PROBLEMS TX WHEAT BELT. 21 
TableS. — Regular occupation of transient harvest hands. 
Group H 
Group 2.» 
Group 3.* 
Occupation. 
Num- 
ber. 
Per 
cent. 
Num- 
ber. 
Per 
cent. 
Num- 
ber 
Per 
cent. 
Farmers and farm laborers 
S44 
785 
173 
432 
2-12 
63 
57 
14 
40 
37 
13 
24 
11 
8 
6 
3 
2 
30.6 
28. 5 
6.3 
15.7 
8.8 
2.3 
2.1 
(<) 
1.5 
1.3 
(') 
(<) 
( 4 ) 
( 4 ) 
( 4 ) 
(<) 
0) 
I-; 
51 
24 
71 
40 
46.5 
12.8 
6.0 
17.8 
10.0 
5,360 
4,409 
S 
2,192 
818 
36 7 
Laborers, cit v and floating 
30 2 
Factory operators 
15 
Students 
5.6 
Chauffeurs 
Office help 
11 
2-8 
435 
3 
Bookkeepers, etc 
Teamsters 
2 
W 
Miners 
379 
2.6 
Teachers and professional men 
4 . 
2 
3 . 
Railroad ment 
341 
2.3 
Government employees 
Sailors 
Business men 
190 
481 
1.3 
Others 
. 
1 2,754 harvesters interviewed in 1920, in Oklahoma, Kansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota. 
8 First 400 harvesters placed by Sioux City employment office, in 1920. 
• 14,613 men placed by Kansas City, Mo., "employment office, in 1919. 
4 Less than 1 per cent. 
Some of the 153 harvest hands interviewed had acquired property, 
but the majority had not. Nineteen had bought farms and 12 had 
homesteaded farms, while IT had rented farms. Four of those who 
had bought land never farmed it, and 13 were farming at the time. 
Most of the remaining 31 who had tried farming had made a failure 
of it. Although some admitted that they lacked ability, most of them 
attributed their failure to drought. Whatever the reason, the fact 
remains that 27 of the 13 men who attempted farming were unsuccess- 
ful and that 12 others came so close to failure that they were piecing 
out their farm incomes with harvesting. Of course, this situation is 
not always the fault of the farmer. Two Montana farmers inter- 
viewed had been " hailed out," one three years in succession, making 
it necessary for them to come to the harvest to support their families 
through the winter. 
Fifty-nine, including the 31 who owned farm land, stated that they 
owned real estate, Government bonds, or cash. The ages of 21 men 
whose entire savings were less than $500, ranged from 35 to 70 years. 
These 21 men had simply " a little nest egg against a rainy day." as 
one of them expressed it. Three others were worth more than ^v* 1 10 
but less than $1,000 ; seven had from $1,000 to $1,800 ; four from $2,000 
to $3,000; one had a house and lot and $2,000; one had $5,000: one. 
$7,100; one, a dairyman, $10,000: one. a section of land. $1,000 worth 
of farm equipment, and $1,000 in cash; one a flat building in Chicago 
worth $35,000; and another some Pennsylvania coal lands and urban 
property worth $13,000. The other 16 owned real estate of uncertain 
value. Eighteen of the men who claimed that they had saved some- 
