Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 February 1920 — FARM WAGES HIGHEST IN HISTORY OF U. S. [ARTICLE]

FARM WAGES HIGHEST IN HISTORY OF U. S.

Farm wages were the highest in the history of the United States last year, the department of agriculture anounces. For labor hired by the month with board, the average for the country as a whole was $39.82, without board it was $56.29. Harvest wages a day with board reached the figure of $4.48 in the north central states west of the Mississippi river. The lowest farm wages are in the south Atlantic states, with the south central states next lowest. Monthly wages with? board were highest in the western states, including the mountain and Pacific states where the average was $62.96, while without -board it was $87.12. Farming operations of 1919 produced crops, that had a value at the farm was 11.8 per cent above 1918, and animal products 9.9 per cent avove, but the gain in wages of farm labor was relatively greater. Wages by the month with board increased 14 per cent, without board 15.3 per cent, and day wages in harvest, 18.9 per cent. These figures indicate, says the department of agriculture, “that the ground he lost, relatively, early in the rapid upward movement of prices of farm products after 1915. The wage recovery was evident in 1918 as well as in 1919, but full recovery has not yet been accomplished.”