LAND TENURE AND PLANTATION ORGANIZATION 29 
country. In Illinois, in 1920, farm wages without board were as 
follows: Per month $68.40, per day other than harvest $4, and per 
day at harvest $5.20. In 1921, the same class of wages, respectively, 
were $49.90, $2.60, and $3.44. These differences are doubtless due 
to the difference between the efficiency of plantation labor and similar 
classes of labor in other regions. 
These facts seem to indicate that wages are generally lower on 
plantations than elsewhere on farms. However, the evidence is by 
no means conclusive that plantation labor is the " cheapest." Labor 
is cheap or dear according to the quality, and its efficiency and effec- 
tiveness on the farm, as compared with the cost of wage and of admin- 
istration. The. selection of the unfit, the improvident, and those 
lacking managerial ability, along with high cost of administration 
and supervision on the plantation, raises the question, Are wages 
relatively high on the plantation? The planters generally think so. 
However, a more scientific analysis than has yet been made is neces- 
sary for an accurate answer to this question. 
Wages for the same class of labor, as a rule, correspond closely on 
all plantations when compared on the basis of crops produced. The 
difference of the higher rate for the rice belt (see rates for rice and 
sugar cane, Table 9) is thought to be the result of a higher class of 
laborers, such as tractor operators and other skilled workmen. 
Other factors, such as industrial competition in these sections (lum- 
bering, oil, etc.), doubtless account to a certain extent for higher 
wages in the rice belt. 
Time is the basis of plantation wages rather than the amount of 
work accomplished, except in the case of cotton picking and certain 
work in tobacco harvest. Cotton chopping in certain parts of the 
South is occasionally paid for by the acre, but this is rarely if ever 
done on closely supervised plantations. 
The workday on the plantation is from "sun to sun," except 
where the plantations are near a factory. Such plantations usually 
have a 10-hour workday with an allowance of one or two hours rest 
at noon. The ringing of a bell, one of the relics of the old regime, 
indicates the beginning and end of the working day. In the sugar- 
cane belt, during the summer, the laborers leave the fields from 11 
a. m. to 2 p. m. Women who have housework are allowed shorter 
hours. 
Plantation laborers ordinarily work 5 to 5 J days a week; in a 
few cases 6. This arrangement also applies to tenants under close 
supervision. 
Very few planters reported a change in length of workday during 
the late war; but many complained of the inefficiency of the labor. 
While wages were high some laborers found two or three workdays 
a week sufficient to obtain a livelihood, and " rested" the remainder 
of the time. This was said to have been especially true of the women 
workers. 
CROPPER LABOR 
The cropper is perhaps more nearly a direct product of the planta- 
tion system than either of the other classes. As the cropper is fre- 
quently classed as a tenant, and then again as a wage laborer, 13 and 
13 See reports of the Bureau of the Census, and cost-of-production studies by the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. 
