18 
BULLETIX 1020, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ture's products, and the gathering together of groups of workers 
to care for the harvest has always been one of the joyful experiences 
of the race. The mere pleasure of participation with hundreds of 
thousands of others in harvesting millions of bushels of grain is a 
strong incentive. 
Asked why he has come to the harvest, the seasoned " floater " 
probably will answer that "the harvest is a habit," that he swears 
each year he will never come again, but can not seem to resist when 
the time comes. It fascinates him with its multitudes, its unknown 
possibilities, its chance that " something may turn up." 
The hope of large earnings and the lure of adventure attract men 
to the harvest: unemployment drives them. A large number of fac- 
tory hands, particularly from automobile and tire factories, came to 
the harvest of 1920 because they were out of work. The chance to 
make money in the harvest came just when they lost their employ- 
ment. This, of course, is true of many harvesters every year, and 
it was because other industries were busy that a serious shortage of 
harvest labor was feared in 1918 and 1919. 
Of the thousand and one incentives which lead tens of thousands 
of men to take part each year in the small-grain harvest, these three 
stand out most prominently: (1) Lack of other employment, either 
permanent or temporary: (2) the hope of making "big money": 
and (3) the desire for adventure and experience. In addition, many 
thousands of seasonal workers flock to the wheat fields as part of the 
year's cycle of employment. 
CHARACTERISTICS . 
Fairly complete autobiographies were obtained from 153 harvest 
hands who came to the public employment offices in Kansas City, 
Sioux City. Aberdeen, and Fargo (Tables 6 and 7). 
Table 6. — Age of becoming wage earners, education, and occupational training 
of 153 transient liar rest hands. 
Age of becoming Number 
wage earners. of cases. 
Education. 
Number 
of cases. 
Occupational training. Jj^ase? 
' Years. 
Under 14 26 
None .-:. 
Less than fifth grade 
Fifth to eighth grade 
Ninth or tenth grade 
Finished high school 
Commercial college 
2 
11 
103 
13 
5 
2 
11 
6 
Raised on farm 
Trade apprenticeship 
None 
94 
14 29 
15 30 
16 24 
Over 16 years 33 
In school 11 
1 
52 
, 
