6 BULLETIN 1220, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
limited placement service for agricultural workers at its offices in the 
State House, Boston. The Massachusetts Department of Labor and 
Industries and the United States Employment Service cooperate in 
employment services with offices at Boston, Worcester and Spring- 
field, and handle mostly industrial help. The annual reports for 
1919 and 1920 state that at those offices only 3 per cent of the 
total number of calls for persons were for agricultural work. 
Fees charged vary with the class of office and its objects. The 
State public employment offices make no charge for services to em- 
ployer or employee. One agency furnishing the better class of 
agricultural labor carried on its work in connection with others of 
its firm's activities, making no charge for its services. In Boston, 
employment-agency fees are regulated by the licensing board of the 
city, and the agencies may charge both the employer and employee 
a fee equal to 25 per cent of the first week's wages. As a matter of 
practice, the employee alone is usually charged a fee, as the agencies 
are glad enough to get the patronage of employers to charge them 
no fee and those which do charge fees to any employers usually 
exempt the larger ones. 
Outside of Boston the agencies visited set their own rates, some- 
times apparently charging what they think the individuals con- 
cerned will stand for. Some charge employers nothing, others 
charge both parties fees based upon the wages paid, the total fees 
for a single transaction amounting to about the same, whether col- 
lected of one or both parties. Jumping of fees by laborers is very 
common. They often make only a deposit and fail to pay the prom- 
ised remainder when earned, if there has been no agreement that 
the employer shall deduct the balance due from his wages and make 
the payment for the man. 
Most employment agencies require no references of the person 
seeking f arm employment. Most of those which have such a require- 
ment do not themselves investigate the references, but place them 
at the disposal of the prospective employer to verify if he wishes. 
Some better-class agencies require and investigate references before 
taking further steps to place a worker in a position, and a worker 
whose references do not turn out reasonably well is not placed. 
This practice is exceptional, but seems to be followed by worthwhile 
results to employer and employee. 
Employment offices usually keep no record of a man's occupational 
history. The office people depend upon their ability to size a man 
up by his personal appearance and story the first time he applies for 
work; often he patronizes the office for successive jobs, and employ- 
ers are apt to come back for employees, and the agency gradually 
acquires from each class a working knowledge of the laborers' capa- 
bilities. The better-class offices ask a record of the man's occupa- 
tional history upon his first appearance, and try to keep up a record 
of his successive applications for work and his conduct on each job 
to which he is sent. 
Massachusetts farmers, like most others, reported difficulty in 
getting the help wanted during and for a time following the World 
War. The trouble seemed to lie largely in getting the usual class of 
experienced workers at wages the fanners were willing to pay; labor 
of some sort was apparently usually obtainable at increased wage 
