| 
| 
EMPLOYMENT OF HARVEST LABOR IN THE WHEAT BELT. t 
TABLE 4.—Extent and character of education of 13016 harvest hands. 
Farmers and 
Skilled Miscellaneous i 
| farm hands. | Total. 
Laborers. eae sabe 
workmen. occupations. 
Amount of education. }—_——_—_——_ =e - 
| 
Num-| Per | Num-| Per |Num-| Per Num-| Per | Num-| Per 
| ber. | cent. | ber. | cent.| ber. | cent. | ber. | cent. | ber. | cent. 
Mess than fifth grade.......--. 38; 14.4 7 21. 4 JA ALY) 8 11.6 145} 14.3 
Fifth, sixth, seventh grades... 59 | 22.3 72} 20.3 42} 12.8 7} 10.2} 180 Yj 
Finished eighth grade..-...-.-.-- | 119 45.1 136 | 38.3 144 | 43.9 23 33.3 | 422 41.5 
One to three years of high 
Reems et 2 9. 2] 31 ig ¢/ 43 | 12.1 (2 — 21.9 15} 21.7} 161 15. 8 
Finished high school. ..-..--.---| 9 3.4 19 Ne 2/524. 12 3:7 6 8.7 | 46 4.5 
Agricultural or trade school | | 
(in addition to eighth grade). 5 1.9 1} oa: 12 3 ea | 1 1.4 | 19 1.9 
Business college (in addition | 
to eighth grade).........-.... 2 8 3 8 5 1.5 2 2.9 | 12 2 
Mere SCHBULIWOEK@c. 2.02 Sif 5-234] —5i-- <= 1 3 | 12 2 Al eal eee 13 1.3 
College (incompiete in most 
Is See 1 4 floit|) 6). 1.8 7| 10:2 | 18 | Mee 
| 
aii se Se 264 | 100. 0 | 395 ~=100.0 328 | 100.0 69 100.0 | 1,016 | 100.0 
Table 5 shows that only 17.7 per cent of the harvesters interviewed 
were married men, and some of these were not supporting their 
families. More than 56 per cent were less than 30 years of age. The 
harvest army is principally composed of single men and of young 
men. A study of the extent to which harvest hands were supporting 
dependents, whether wives, children, parents, or other relatives, 
showed that 77.8 per cent of them were supporting only themselves 
or living at home, but that 16.3 per cent were supporting wives and 
children, and 5.9 per cent were supporting other relatives, generally 
their mothers. 
Among the harvest hands interviewed there were 71 farmers who 
were operating farms which they owned in neighboring States and 
4 operating farms which they rented. These men left their farms 
and ‘“‘made” the harvest as a “‘cash crop.” These were 6.5 per cent 
of all the harvest hands interviewed. The investigators in, 1920 
showed an even larger proportion of farmers among the harvest hands 
interviewed, particularly m the winter-wheat area. <A considerable 
number of Minnesota and Montana farmers are found in the Dakota 
harvests each year. The writer believes that it is safe to say that 5 
per cent of the Kansas and North Dakota harvest laborers each year 
are operating farmers from neighboring areas who have left their 
farms temporarily to work in the harvest. It is probable that the 
total number of farmers who make the harvest ranges in different 
years from 5,000 to 15,000 men. Some of these are trying to supple- 
ment the income from a farm not able to support a family; some are 
earning funds to meet debts or to buy more land, a team, a piece of 
machinery, or other equipment. 
