HARVEST LABOR PROBLEMS IN WHEAT BELT. 19 
Table 7. — Age of 919 harvest laborers? 
Group 1.- Group 2. 3 
Group 3. 4 
Total/ 
Age group. 
Num- 
ber. 
Per cent. 
Num- 
ber. 
Per cent. 
Num- 
ber. 
Per cent. 
Num- 
ber. 
Years. 
Under 20 
5 
25 
21 
17 
30 
15 
19 
18 
1 
1 
1 
3.3 
16.3 
13.7 
11.1 
19.6 
9.8 
12.4 
11.7 
22 
93 
43 
33 
11 
15 
9 
7 
4 
1 
9.2 
39.1 
18.1 
13.9 
4.6 
6.3 
3.8 
2.9 
1.7 
.4 
62 
169 
117 
60 
55 
17 
24 
20 
4 
11.8 
32.0 
22.2 
11.2 
10. 4 
3.3 
1.6 
3.8 
.7 
89 
287 
L81 
110 
96 
47 
52 
45 
9 
} 3 
9 7 
20-24 
25-29 
30-34 
35-39 
40-44 
45-49 
50-59 
60-69 
70-79 
31.2 
19.7 
12.0 
10.4 
5.1 
5.7 
4.9 
L.O 
83 
.3 
1 All of the 919 men whose ages are presented in this table were interviewed during the harvest of 1920. 
2 Consists of 153 men from whom life histories were obtained. 
3 Consists of migrator}' laborers. 
* Consists of 52S applicants for harvest work at various public employment offices, 
s Representative index of the ages of harvest laborers. 
Of these 153 men 13 were farmers, most of whom owned small 
farms or partially-developed homesteads, who were "making the 
harvest " to obtain cash to develop their farms or to eke out the 
meager incomes from their lands ; 20 were mechanics, factory hands, 
or members of some other mercantile occupation, for the most part 
temporarily unemployed; 11 were college or high-school students out 
to earn money to complete their education. A father and son, trav- 
eling by automobile in search of a permanent location, were working 
in the harvest to replenish their purses. A young man who owned 
part of a transfer business was after cash to put into the venture. 
The owner of a half interest in a thrashing outfit and sawmill in 
Saskatchewan makes the harvest each season as a regular part of 
his year's work. An ex-United States marine, 29 years old and with 
no civil occupation, was taking a final fling at civil employment be- 
fore reenlisting. 
To many men of this type the harvest offers an opportunity for 
self-advancement. Farmers with insufficient capital or those whose 
farms can not provide an adequate income are helped through the 
critical period in their farming operations by their harvest earnings. 
Some in time will become successful farmers: others always will 
need to eke out their regular incomes. Students receive assistance 
through college ; young men in business add to their working capital ; 
and mechanics and factory hands meet the emergency of temporary 
unemployment. 
Agricultural and employment officials in the southern wheat area 
frequently commented upon the increasing number of college men 
making the wheat harvest. The county agent at Enid stated that 
