Washington, D. C. v May 23, 1924 
SOURCES OF SUPPLY AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT OF HARVEST 
LABOR IN THE WHEAT BELT. 
By Don D. Lescouter, Collaborator, Bureau of Agricultural Economics. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. Page 
Scope and method ofinvestigation ............. 1 | Methods of obtainingemployment............. 14 
SeuTCeS GlhAarvest HANGS: =: =... 25-5-.------+--- 1 | Difficulty in obtaining reemploy MENG nee ee 16 
Regular occupations of harvest hands.......... 3, Wwareratesin the harvest... ..7......3-.22-.--- 17 
Amount of unemployment .-.....-........-.... 9 | Net earnings of harvest hands.................. 17 
maxperiencein harvesting. .-..:)........--.---- 1¢ | Extent and direction of migration.............. 21 
Methods oftransportation to place of work...... HC ONCIUISIONS ers oon s ee a eis oe Lo ae ok so eee 22 
Objectionable aspects of travel on freight trains. 12 | 
SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION. 
The wheat harvest of the central wheat belt each year requires 
the services of more than 100,000 harvest hands from other States. 
Two other bulletins have described the conditions controlling the 
demand for harvest laborers and the methods of their mobilization 
and distribution, and furnished considerable information about the 
harvest hands themselves.' The present bulletin discusses the condi- 
tions of employment in the wheat harvest as described by the har- 
vesters themselves. 
The facts presented were obtained by personal interview with 1,174 
harvesters. The majority of these were interviewed when they applied 
for harvest work at Federal-State employment offices in the Wheat 
belt.2, Many were interviewed on the streets and around depots and 
railroad yards of wheat towns or while working on farms. 
SOURCES OF HARVEST HANDS. 
Of 1,105 giving information on the point, only 15 per cent were 
residents of the State in which they were interviewed, 70.1 per cent 
had permanent places of residence in other States, and 14.9 per cent 
1 Harvest labor problems in the Wheat Belt, by Don D. Lescohier, U.S. Dept. of Agr. Bul. 1020, 
1922. Conditions affecting the demand for harvest labor in the Wheat Belt, by Don D. Lescohier, U.S. 
Dept. of Agr. Bul. 1239. ‘1924. 
2 A field agent was stationed successively at the Federal-State employment offices at Fort Worth, Tex.; 
Enid, Okla.; Wichita, Hutchinson, Salina and Colby, Kans.; Sioux City, Ia.; Fargo and Grand Forks, N. 
Dak. Information was also obtained from harvest hands on the streets ofa number of other townsin Kan- 
sas: Lincoln and Aurora, Neb.: Aberdeen, S. Dak.: Oakes, Jamestown, Devils’ Lake, New Rockford, Grand 
Forks, and afew other towns in North Dakota. 
NoTE. Josiah C. Folsom, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, gave valuable assistance in the pee 
of this report for publication. 
64892°—24——1 
