8 BULLETIN 1211, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
TABLE 5.—Age and marital condition of harvest hands by States where interviewed. 
| Marital condition. Age (years). 
Law Wes | ' Y ao 3 ee 
. ~ MY lo: 2 a ° 
State where interviewed.| % ey te i fas. 
S (Bie Sis lSlalexigi#z(Sslazaial[s#lale 1s 
a 1 = pO es ot N N N os oD |. = idm | af °o S 
Ss ] asiogziets ° S ° ° cS oO} °o © ° yi let 
° Ce OS ah Tit ye (ae, wie Fal ne Be ted eee Se - 
BH (alo |S |AlRIN | aA |S le/ Sl Riel ei sie 
| } | 
“| “wary IPOS Ak ae = aa eae aml Gone wees | -" <) a, on 
MORASS 6c 322. < the ake eee IF. Sin ASS oles TL =e eee Z| “Zhe l 2 
Oklahoma! : 2.25). te te. 2 46] 15; 28; 3)... Lah -Ope0)- OF 6 Ws 22Zhet oie ee 
ROS ASE oo Aone eee ee oe 437| 96] 301) 40 8| 23] 72) 75) 70 44) 42) 32 24) 7 8} 10) «22 
lowa, (Sioux City). .... 193, 28] 163 2 | ' 6} 23) 34) “33 14) 28) 16) 30) 15) 745 5 
INGDYASKM oc. 2 2 So eee Ske 3 7 | Panto 1 74 eae 3 1 i eee See eI Be ease e| Pos 
mouth Dakote< =. .2..<,2222- LOM ee Aes eee 1 Faas 1 “Sete 1 aes re Dis ees 
North. Dakota. .......2..~ 4 455) 62] 380) 13) 3) 25 “4 81) 86; 57] 45) 22 1 bf ME) es be 
tad 3225+" Ny ee 1, 161} 205] 894) 62) 11) 58] 178} 200 20%, 125] 125, 73) 53] 42} 22) 29) 37 
Per cent of total. ......... 100. 0\17. 7/77. 0) 5.3) 0.9) 5. 0/15. 3)17.2 17.9 10.8) 10.8) 6.3) 4.6} 3.6) 1.9} 2. 5) ous 
| | 
There was another group of farmers of a different type—56 of whom 
had formerly operated their own farms and 55 of whom had formerly 
operated rented farms. These 111 men, 9.5 per cent of all of the men 
interviewed, had in most cases failed as farmers. Forty-four of them 
stated that they had failed because of poor financial management, 
and 14 that their failure was due to poor crops and excessive rents. 
Six who said they became diseouraeed can probably be included with 
those unable to make a financial success as farmers. In short, 57.7 
per cent of the 111 former operators of farms had proven incompetent 
as farm operators: of the remainder, 10 had withdrawn from farming 
to invest in other lines of business, but had not succeeded in the new 
lines; 2 had left the farm because of iliness, and 17 because of the 
death of their wives or separation from them; 3 had wanted to move 
to town to educate children, 2 had sold out and entered the Army, 
and 5 had retired; 6 had been forced off rented farms by the sale of 
the farms. 
In short, all but 10 of the 111 men who had dropped from the 
status of operating farmers into that of day laborers seem to have 
become laborers because they lacked some quality essential to success 
in agriculture. 
It will be noted that only about half (53 per cent) of the men classed 
as migratory farm laborers do farm work exclusively. (See Table 6.) 
If the group classed as laborers working on farms intermittently be 
added, only 38.5 per cent of the migratory farm workers do farm 
work exclusively. The table again illustrates the fact that agricul- 
ture, in so far as it depends for hired labor upon others than “the 
neighbor’s boys,’ competes with industry for a part of the industrial 
labor supply. 
