LAND TENURE AND PLANTATION ORGANIZATION 
27 
supply, unless some means are afforded to induce the laborers to 
remain in the community. 
Wages on the plantation. —Estimates obtained by the United States 
Department of Agriculture show that in 1920 plantation wages were 
at least 100 per cent higher than in 1913 in all plantation areas of 
the South. In 1913, regular hands employed by the month received 
an average of from $18 to $25 per month without board; or $12 to 
$16 with board or rations. In 1920, the same class of laborers were 
receiving $35 to $65 per month, without board or rations, as shown 
by Table 9. Monthly rations usually consist of 16 pounds of salt 
pork, a bushel of meal, and 1 or 2 gallons of molasses. Other food 
supplies may be provided in small quantities free of charge. 
Wages of day hands, other than at harvest, in plantation districts 
in 1913 were reported as being about $1 to $1.35 per day, without 
board or rations. This had increased by 1920 to $2 to $3. 
Wages of day laborers at harvest time appear slightly higher in 
1913 and 1920 than at other seasons of the year. In 1913, the 
average for the plantation districts ranged from $1 to $1.60, and in 
1920 from about $2 to $3.50 per day, without board or rations (Table 
9). According to estimates reported by cotton planters, cotton- 
picking labor in 1913 was paid at the rate of 50 to 75 cents per 100 
pounds picked; whereas, in 1920, the rate was from $1 to $2. This, 
like other wages, was reported higher in the western sections. 
Wages of women and children as extra laborers in 1913 ranged 
from 50 to 75 cents per day, more commonly 60 cents. In 1920, such 
labor was paid from $1 to $2.25 per day, the standard wage being 
$1.25. Wages of children varied from 50 cents to that paid women, 
according to age and ability. These, as the wages paid men, were 
slightly higher in Texas and North Carolina. In the tobacco harvest, 
where work is paid for by the job or pound, women are known to 
have made as high as $3 to $5 a day. In 1920, the average for women 
in the " shade" tobacco area of Florida was uniformly $1.25 a day. 
Table 9. — Wages of farm labor, without board, in selected plantation counties 
[Compiled from original data of Division of Statistics, Bureau of Agricultural Economics] 
Plantation areas 
Per month 
Per day at harvest 
Per day other than 
at harvest 
1913 
1920 
1921 
1913 
1920 
1921 
1913 
1920 
1921 
Dollars 
25.62 
21.47 
21.25 
23.13 
18.30 
20.79 
18.33 
19.91 
21.96 
20.93 
27.84 
22.22 
Dollars 
54.93 
47.29 
43.33 
52.22 
36.53 
46.90 
37.61 
41.37 
53.58 
45.43 
65.53 
41.64 
Dollars 
31.50 
34.43 
25.86 
30.88 
24.29 
29.90 
21.54 
23.40 
32.88 
35.71 
36.67 
26.76 
Dollars 
1.54 
1.11 
1.01 
1.51 
1.30 
1.39 
1.10 
1.06 
1.36 
1.14 
1.62 
1. 20 
Dollars 
3.56 
2.61 
2.71 
2.50 
2.19 
2.67 
2.09 
2.58 
3.72 
2.51 
3.69 
2.34 
Dollars 
1.81 
1.60 
1.45 
1.84 
1.24 
1.78 
1.16 
1.21 
2.15 
1.58 
1. 74 
1.42 
Dollars 
1.26 
1.09 
1.00 
1.16 
1.01 
1.11 
.96 
1.06 
1.10 
1.08 
1.36 
1.34 
Dollars 
2.90 
2.57 
3.23 
2.72 
2.23 
2.29 
2.26 
2.45 
3.02 
2.43 
3.03 
2.40 
Dollars 
1 55 
1 57 
1 65 
1 42 
Alabama-Mississippi 
Northern Alabama 
1.24 
1 43 
Georgia .. 
1 08 
1 12 
1 62 
Sugar cane 
Rice. -_ . 
1.46 
1 49 
1 20 
Wages of farm laborers, like the price of farm products, declined 
greatly in the period 1920-21. But, after they were reduced, farm 
wages in plantation districts in 1921 ranged from 5 to 65 per cent 
