EMPLOYMENT OF HARVEST LABOR IN THE WHEAT BELT. 5 
in number—less than one-fourth of the men classified as of agricul- 
tural occupations. One-third of the entire number were ‘“laborers”’ 
_ who worked at various kinds of seasonal work requiring a minimum 
of skill, such as railroad “extra gang’’ work, road construction, 
swamping in the woods, dish washing in restaurants, trucking, and 
— other common labor in factories. They were men of no particular 
- occupation, as shown by many of them naming from 3 to 8 or 10 
— particular kinds of work in which they ordinarily sought employment. 
E For most of the laborers interviewed harvesting was one of the 
_ occupations which they included in their annual cycle regularly or 
intermittently. 
_ Tasie 3.—Customary occupations of 14,133 harvest hands interviewed in wheat belt in 
UO Is 
Applicants tor hsrvest work— 
| . Be ic ; . : | ; 
| Interviewed |At Sioux ty At other 
. ee by | employment | employment Total. 
Customary occupations. | field group. office. | offices. 
Num-| Per | Num-| Per | Num-| Per | Num-| Per 
ber. | cent. | ber | cent. | ber. | cent. | ber. | cent. 
Parmers ang farm iaborers . -.-=...--..----2-- | 296] 27.0 840 | 36.0 | 2,994] 28.0] 4,130/ 29.2 
Laborers, city and floating................... | 226] 20.6] 339] 14.6 | 4,089 | 38.2] 4,654] 32.9 
Mechanicaland skilled trades, building trades, | 
manufactures, miscellaneous ......-..------ 7A id el pb a 530 | 22.7 | 1,921 | 18.0 | 2,662 18.8 
Ns Se eta oe ee eee 46 4.2 26 lat 179 7 251 a 
Railroad employees, except laborers.......... 47 4.3 81 a0 432 4.0 560 4.0 
Semiskilled occupations, except factory .-..-... 126' |) 41-5 240 | 10.3 271 ydees 637 4.5 
Factory operatives,except men with trades. -- 7 fee 131 5.6 193 1.8 403 2.9 
Office help, stenographers, bookkeepers, clerks. 13 1.2 35 £35 161 is 209 £5 
Professional men and Government employees.| 6 6 12 zm 13 a as | e- 
SESS (coe — Sa 13 iy 30 ie 131 fe 2u-~ Li4 12 
A 1 Sl eens fee 32) 2.9 6841 .29.), 322). 3.0), 492 3.0 
OS, 2258. tr pe | 1.095 | 100.0 | 2,332 | 100.0 ho, 706 | 100.0 |14,133 | 100.0 
Norte.—In order to compare this table with Table 8 on page 21 of Department Bulletin 1020, Harvest 
labor problems in the Wheat Belt, it will be necessary to make the following rearrangement of Table &. In 
Table 3, ‘‘chauffeurs,” ‘‘teamsters,’ and “others” are classified as ‘‘semiskilled occupations;’’ ‘‘office 
help” and “bookkeepers”’ are combined: ‘‘sailors’’ are grouped with ‘‘mechanical and skilled trades”’ 
and “‘contractors”’ with “‘business men.” 
It was possible to obtain definite information concerning the pres- 
ent occupations of 623 harvesters born on farms. Sixty-three of 
these were operating farms and 199 were farm laborers. Ninety of 
the latter group were farmers’ sons still living at home and 109 were 
migratory farm hands; 42 per cent, therefore, were regularly engaged 
in agricutural pursuits. Twelve (2 per cent) were students. The 
other 56 per cent were distributed among 52 industrial occupations. 
Thirty had become skilled craftsmen in 7 of the building trades. 
Sixty had become factory craftsmen, such as machinists, boiler 
makers, printers, molders, acetylene welders and jewelry makers. 
Seventeen were miners, 12 skilled oil-field workers, and 7 had learned 
other trades. Thirty had entered semiskilled occupations. One had 
become a teacher, and 2 were salesmen. Twelve were college 
students. In all, 433, or 69.5 per cent, of these laborers born on 
farms had either remained in agriculture or learned occupations 
requiring skill. The other 30.5 per cent were common laborers. 
——— 
EO OO 
nn oo ee 
