Full text of Children in Agriculture, Bureau Publication No. 187

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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
JAMES J. D AVIS, Secretary

CHILDREN’S BUREAU
GRACE ABBOTT. Chief

CHILDREN IN AGRICULTURE
By
NETTIE P. McGill

BUREAU PUBLICATION No. 187

UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON
1929

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\\
SINGLE COPIES OF THIS PUBLICATION H A Y BE
OBTAINED UPON APPLICATION TO THE CHILDREN’ S
BUREAU.
CURED

ADDITIONAL COPIES M A Y 1, BE PRO
FROM

DOCUMENTS,

THE
S.

SUPERINTENDENT
GOVERNMENT

OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D . C. /
AT

25 C E N T S P E R C O P Y

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¿RINTING

CONTENTS

Letter of transmittal.___________________ _______ ________
The census count________________________
Investigations of children working on farms__________________________
Children’s work in agriculture. _______________________
On cotton plantations_______________________________ ~______
“ Making” the tobacco crop_________________
Work on sugar beets____________ ______ _____ _______ ~_
On western grain farms_________________________________
Work on truck crops________________________________
Picking fruit and hops on the Pacific Coast__________________ _]_I
Onion workers. _____________________________ ________
Cranberry pickers_____________________________ _____
Child workers on home farms____________________ ____________
Who the children are________________________________
Young boys and girls do farm work___________ . . . I I ___ I _ . I I
Work is seasonal________________________________________
Farm hours are long_____________________ ____________ I . I I I _____
Work causes absence from school__ _ _______________
The rural school term_____ ; ____________________________
Farm workers are retarded in school____________________ ____
Hired children in agriculture_____________________________
Classes of workers______________ t________________ ____
Recruiting farm labor in cities_________________________________
Housing of migratory workers_________________________________ ~_
Conditions of work______________________________________
The schooling of hired laborers________________________ I
Is farm work good for children?____________________________
The outlook for children in agriculture_______.________ ______
Legal regulation of the employment of children in agricultural pursuits..
Compulsory school attendance laws_______________________________
Child-labor laws of general application____________________________
Laws applying specifically to farm work__
State regulation of labor camps___________________________
List of reports on children in agriculture___________
Tables____________

Page

ILLUSTRATIONS

A 7-year-old cotton picker. Frontispiece.
Location of districts surveyed____________
Facing ;

I Operations on the tobacco crop______________________________________
j Picking shade-grown tobacco in the Connecticut Valley_______________ I .
I Thinning beets (Colorado). . . _______________________________________
Hoeing beets (Colorado)__________________________ ;_______________
Topping beets (Colorado)_____:_____________________________________
Mothers and children work side by side (Colorado)______________________
Illinois general farming______________________________________
Norfolk, Va., truck farming_________________________ _______________
Picking prunes, raspberries, and hops (Washington and Oregon)_________
Operations in truck farming (Maryland and Illinois)____________________
Uinois truck farming_____________________________________________
la ck s occupied by beet-field laborers in Colorado and in Michigan_____

hanty in seasonal workers’ camp, housing 95 persons, Maryland truck
farms___________________________________________
Interiors of shanties in seasonal workers’ camps (Maryland)_____________
Housing and cooking arrangements for farm laborers (New Jersev and
Or ogon)..............................................................................
J

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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

U n it e d S t a t e s D

epartm ent

L abor,

C h il d r e n ’s B u r e a u ,

Washington, June 19, 1928.

There is transmitted herewith a bulletin entitled “ Children
in Agriculture,” by Nettie P. McGill, which summarizes the principal
findings of the published reports of investigations of the work of
children in agriculture made by the Children’s Bureau and by other
agencies. It is the first of a series of bulletins being prepared under
the direction of Ellen Nathalie Matthews, director of the industrial
division of the bureau, in response to many requests for a brief
analysis of available information on the various aspects of child labor.
Respectfully submitted.
G r a c e A b b o t t , Chief.
Hon. J a m e s J. D a v i s ,
Si r :

Secretary of Labor.

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CHILDREN IN AGRICULTURE
THE CENSUS COUNT

On the six and a half million farms of the United States hundreds of
thousands of children are at work. Even in midwinter, when almost
no farm work is done, the census of 1920 found more than half a millmn boys and girls from 10 to 15 years old working in agriculture.
How many there may be when farm operations are at their height no
one knows.
The average American farmer depends in part for his labor supply
upon his family, and the majority of the boys and girls reported in
1920 as engaged in agriculture (569,824 of the 647,309) were working
on home farms. Still, many thousands were reported as hired labor
ers, and if the census count had been made at a rush season— for
example, during the harvest months— the number would have been
augmented by thousands of others. In California an authoritative
estimate in 1924 placed the number of children working on the land
at the height of the season at 5,000 compared with 1,832 reported by
the census m January, 1920, and in Colorado the number of children
working in the sugar-beet fields in 1919-20 was estimated by a repre
sentative of one of the sugar companies as 6,800, whereas in the winter
of 1920 the census found only 1,955 child agricultural workers in the
State.
Children work on farms wherever crops are raised, but 12 States—
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missis
sippi, North Carolma, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and
lexas— have more than the average quota of child agricultural
workers. The children at work on farms in these 12 States are 84
per cent of the total number of all children reported by the United
States Census as employed in agriculture. These are among the
States that lead in the production of cotton and tobacco; they have
74 per cent of the tobacco acreage and 99 per cent of the cotton
acreage of the country. Both these crops require much hand labor,
and children are useful as “ hands” from an early age. In some
localities compulsory-education laws do not prevent them from stay
ing out of school to pick cotton, help with the tobacco crop, or do
other farm work. The greater number of children working on farms
m the sections of the country embraced in these States is accounted

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CHILDREN

AGRICULTURE

for in part also by economic conditions and the type of farming.
Although the 12 States listed as having the greatest number of child
agricultural workersjhave only 45 per cent of the farms in the United
States they have 62 per cent of the tenant farmers. Tenancy in
these one-crop sections is largely on a share basis; the tenant s prin
cipal, and in many cases only, contribution is the labor supply, and
the number of acres of cotton or tobacco he can cultivate is determined
by the number of children he can put to work in the fields.
These facts the census reveals. But the census, being only a count,
gives no information in regard to the amount and kinds of work the
children do, beyond what may be inferred from the brief direction to
its enumerators, to count as children engaged in agricultural pursuits
those who work away from home as farm laborers or “ somewhat
regularly assist their parents in the performance of work other than
household work or chores.” Nor does the census, of course, describe
the conditions under which the work is done nor indicate how it may
affect the welfare of the children who do it.

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INVESTIGATIONS OF CHILDREN WORKING ON FARMS

Within the last 10 or 12 years attempts have been made to learn
what sort of farm work children do, when and how long they do it,
and other facts about their work on farms. Several private organiza
tions, chief among which is the National Child Labor Committee,
have made detailed investigations of various aspects of rural child
labor in many different parts of the country, and a few of the State
departments of labor have made more or less extensive inquiries
into the work of children on farms in their own States and have set
forth the facts in their official reports*. A list of reports of such
investigations is given on page 56.
In 1920 the Children’s Bureau began a series of surveys of children
in agriculture, the last of which was made in 1924. (See p. 56.)
It was not practicable to study the conditions under which all the
young agricultural laborers in the United States worked. The
surveys hold a microscope, as it were, over typical farming areas in
different sections, with the idea of obtaining a representative picture
of the work of children on farms throughout the country. The map
on page 4 shows where the surveys were made. They covered
approximately 13,500 children doing farm work in 14 States, and in
cluded sugar-beet growing sections in Michigan and Colorado;
cotton-growing counties in Texas; truck and small-fruit areas in
southern New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, Washington,
and Oregon; wheat, potato-raising, and grazing sections in North
Dakota; a section in the Illinois corn belt; and tobacco-growing dis
tricts in Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts, and
Connecticut.
The kinds of child labor employed on farms differ greatly in the
different States and even in different sections of the same State.
Child workers on the truck farms of southern New Jersey, for example
include both the children of farmers, chiefly immigrants who have
taken up small holdings in the farming districts and become per
manent residents, and children who come from the cities as seasonal
workers. In the Eastern Shore section of Maryland most of the
children working on the truck farms live on the farms the year
round, whereas in Anne Arundel County, around Baltimore, though
jjpT many of the child workers live on the farms or in small neighboring
settlements, many also are migratory workers from Baltimore. In
the Norfolk area of Virginia farm laborers come out to the farms from
near-by villages or from the city of Norfolk to work by the day.
3

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CHILDREN IN
AGRICULTURE

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INVESTIGATIONS OF CHILDREN WORKING ON FARMS

In the tobacco-growing districts of the South, as in the Cotton Belt,
most of the children who work on tte farms are farmers’ children,
whereas in the Connecticut Valley many of the children working
on the tobacco plantations are day workers from Hartford and
Springfield. On the truck farms around Chicago, also, most of the
hired workers come out from the city by the day, whereas on the
grain farms of the Middle West and Northwest the child workers
are farmers’ children.
What the Children’s Bureau found in its surveys, first, in regard to
children working on home farms, and second, in regard to children
working out as hired farm laborers, including migratory child work
ers in industrialized agriculture, is told briefly in the following pages.
Tables at the back of the pamphlet show detailed figures for each of
the sections surveyed. Farm children whose only work was chores 1
or whose field work had lasted less than 12 days were not included
in the surveys, but migratory child workers wère included if they
had worked as many as 6 days. The earliest of the Children’s
Bureau studies were made in 1920, but studies as late as 1925 by
the National Child Labor Committee in these same sections revealed
practically the same conditions.
1 In N orth Dakota children who customarily spent 3 hours a day at chores or at farm work other than
field work were included in the Children’s Bureau survey.

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CHILDREN’S WORK IN AGRICULTURE

Children working on their parents’ land generally do a variety of
field work in the course of the season— plow and plant, transplant,
cultivate, weed and hoe, and finally gather in the crops, besides doing
the thousand and one odd jobs which may differ with the crops raised,
the type of farm, and the system of farming but which are to be found
in some form on every farm. Hired children, if they live near the
farms, often transplant, weed, or hoe, and occasionally do some other
kind of work, but generally they, like city children, are employed
only for harvesting. A notable exception is sugar-beet cultivation,
in which large numbers of children are hired for thinning out the
young plants and hoeing as well as at harvest time.
The following paragraphs describe the work done by children on
the principal crops produced in sections included in the Children’s
Bureau surveys. Most of these crops are characterized by a large
amount of handwork which young children are capable of doing.
Tables 31 to 45 (see pp. 75-81) show for children working on home
farms and for hired workers of different kinds the numbers engaged
in various farming operations and their ages in the different sections.
ON COTTON PLANTATIONS

Almost all the children who do field work in the Cotton Belt help
with cotton picking, and almost as many hoe or chop either cotton
or com. Cotton picking lasts from late August or early September
into November or December. Some of the cotton plants grow
shoulder high, with cotton bolls nearly all the way to the ground.
Little children can pick with less stooping, but older children and
adults have to stoop more or move along on their knees. The worker
picks rapidly with both hands and puts the cotton into a big sack,
which he drags along after him by a shoulder strap. “ Chopping the
cotton to a stand” is cutting out with a hoe superfluous plants after
they are well started, usually about the 1st of May. The crop
usually requires at least one hand hoeing during the season, work
which is done at intervals during the early summer. It is heavier
work than cotton picking and requires a stooping position.
Although picking cotton and chopping and hoeing cotton and com.
are the most common kinds of field work that children do in the Cotton
Belt, they are by,no means all their work. Children of 8 or less are
often experienced cotton pickers, but boys of 11 or 12 are almost as
6

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O P E R A T IO N S O N T H E T O B A C C O C R O P : 1. D R A W IN G P L A N T S F R O M T H E
BED
(F L O R E N C E
COUNTY,
S.
C.). 2. S E T T IN G
PLANTS
(F L O R E N C E
C O U N T Y ).
3. S E T T IN G P L A N T S BY M A C H IN E (M A S S A C H U S E T T S ).
4. S E T
T IN G
PLANTS
(F L O R E N C E
C O U N T Y ).
5. H A N D IN G
PLANTS
TO
THE
S P E A R E R (C O N N E C T IC U T V A L L E Y ).
6. C A R R Y IN G L E A V E S T IE D IN B U N
D LES T O T H E P A C K E R (C O N N E C T IC U T V A L L E Y )

6—1

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S H A D E -G R O W N T O B A C C O IN T H E
C O N N E C T IC U T
F IR S T P IC K IN ’! .
2 . S E C O N D P IC K IN G .
3. T H IR D P IC K IN G .
P IC K IN G

p i p k in g

6—2

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V A L L E Y : 1.
4. F O U R T H

CHILDREN’S WORK IN AGRICULTURE

often all-around farm hands, able to do their share of the plowing,
harrowing, and planting.
The following accounts of work done by individual children included
in the Children’s Bureau survey in Texas illustrate the extent and
kinds of work done by children on cotton plantations:
An 11-year-old boy who had begun to do field work at the age of 4 years lived
on a rented farm of 65 acres. He had worked in the fields whenever there was
work to do for
months. Beginning in February he had plowed and cut
sprouts the equivalent of half a month; in March he had harrowed and planted.
In April he began cultivating, which lasted into July; in May he began planting
and spent two weeks at it; about May 25 he began to chop cotton, work which
occupied him 15 days. In June his principal work was hoeing. During part of
August he cut wood. Cotton picking began August 24, and he picked cotton
for more than 3 months. His brother, aged 10, had had precisely the same
program, but his 9-year-old brother had only hoed, chopped, and picked cotton.
A 13-year-old boy had done plowing, harrowing, planting, and cultivating on
Saturdays and after school during January, February, March, and April. He
worked 2 hours after school and 10 hours on Saturdays. In May, June, and
July he had hoed, chopped, and cultivated. In July he had cut, raked, shocked,
pitched, loaded, and hauled sorghum for five days. Beginning August 15 he had
picked cotton or gathered corn until December. His 12-year-old brother had
done practically the same work with the exception of the plowing, harrowing,
planting, and cultivating. The father, a native white Texan, owned a 78-acre
farm.
Three negro boys, aged 10, 12, and 14, had done a variety of work. All had
hauled wood for five days in January and had plowed for nine days in February,
and all except the youngest had harrowed one Saturday in February. They had
planted and cultivated field crops during part of March, April, and May and had
spent four Saturdays of'these months on the garden. In May and June they
had hoed and chopped cotton. In September they had picked cotton, corn, and
peas, the cotton picking extending into November. The father cultivated 80
acres on shares.
The 12-year-old son of a native white farm owner had plowed, harrowed,
planted, cut sprouts, and cultivated during March, April, May, and June,
withdrawing from school on March 12, 20 days before school closed. In May
also he had hoed or chopped cotton most of the month. Beginning in July he
spent 10 days cutting wood, 7 cutting and baling hay or cane, and 21 raking,
loading, and hauling. He picked corn for more than three weeks in September;
beginning September 24 he picked cotton until December 28. He entered
school on December 29, 50 days after school opened.
An 11-year-old boy, son of a prosperous farmer owning 150 acres, had entered
school .15 days late the preceding school year and had withdrawn 18 days early.
In all, he had missed 46 school days for farm work. He had completed only the
second grade. His work had extended over a period of more than six months.
He had plowed, harrowed^ planted, and cut sprouts in March, April, and May,
and had cultivated from April to July. In June he had cut oats and raked,
loaded, and hauled. He had spent half of September and October picking
cotton. During half of September he had also cut wood.
The 12-year-old son of a white tenant cultivating 50 acres on shares worked
during a period of eight months. He worked at plowing, harrowing, planting,
and hoeing in February, March, April, May, and June; he cultivated and chopped

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CHILDREN

AGRICULTURE

cotton in April and May. He spent a few days during the summer cutting
wood, raking, loading, and hauling. Beginning September 1 he picked cotton
for about six weeks. He had been out of school 45 days on account of farm
work, having withdrawn in February, 40 days before the end of the school term.
He had completed only the first grade.
Two brothers, aged 11 and 12, sons of a white half-share tenant, had each
been absent from school 45 days on account of farm work. They had chopped
cotton during June and July, and during the latter month and part of August
had hoed; they had picked corn also for two weeks in August. For three weeks
in September and throughout October, November, December, and part of
January they had picked cotton. They had not entered school until January 13.
School had begun November 10.
The 14-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son of a Bohemian tenant cultivating
more than 200 acres of land, worked during a period of about 6 months, the
former missing 16 days of school for farm work. They had both harrowed for
two days in May, and the boy had also spent a few days planting. The girl
had hoed and chopped during May and June, and the boy had hoed through
June and cultivated one week in July. They had both picked cotton, the girl
about 2]/2 months, the boy about 1 month.

Large numbers of children work in the cotton fields of California
as well as in the. South Atlantic and Gulf States.
“ M A K IN G ” THE TOBACCO CROP

Tobacco is planted, hoed, weeded, suckered, wormed, topped,
gathered, and prepared for curing and market, all by hand. Much
of the work requires merely watchfulness and care rather than
physical strength, so that children may be valuable tobacco hands.
In the late winter or early spring in the South children help prepare
the plant beds for the tobacco seed, cutting, carrying, and piling
on the plot selected for the beds the brush and poles that are burned
to sterilize the soil; or, if sterilization is by steam, the children help
to carry water. They also work the soil with hoe, spade, or plow,
and some plant the seed and cover the beds with* cheesecloth to
protect the seeds and later the plants from cold. At the same time
that the seed beds are being prepared and sowed the fields are put
in shape by plowing, harrowing, and fertilizing. Then come the
final harrowing and marking off of rows for transplanting. Many
boys plow and harrow.
Most of the children take some share in transplanting, which is
often done by hand in some districts, drawing the plants from the
seed bed, dropping them at the marked intervals in the rows, and
setting them in their places. Almost as many children help in cul
tivating, which begins soon after the field has been set and continues
throughout the season. Much of the work is done by machine,
but some hand hoeing is necessary, and this the children often do.
The next process is topping, which is done, when about half the
plants have developed seed heads, by breaking off the top of the plant
so as to force all the growth into the leaves left on the plant. Topping

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is followed immediately by suckering, *wni8h eon?tik#eif
time, and consists of breaking off the lateral branches or suckers which''
develop in the axils of the upper leaves after the top of the plant has
been removed. As suckers continue to come out during the growing
season the workers must go over the field two or three and sometimes
four times. This is a tedious task, the more so as the worker must
bend lower and lower over the plant as he removes first the topmost
suckers and then the next ones. Suckering is done during the hottest
months of the year, and almost all children working on tobacco farms
do it. Nearly as many children examine the tobacco leaves for worms.
Where tobacco is harvested by cutting, as in Kentucky and Vir
ginia, usually only the older children help cut, but others carry and
drop the empty sticks on which the stalks are hung after being cut,
fill and carry the filled sticks to wagon or bam, or load them upon
the wagon. A single stick filled with tobacco stalks may weigh 25
pounds or more. Children also help in housing tobacco, handing the
sticks filled with the green tobacco to men who hang them up in tiers
in the bam, or, more rarely, themselves hang the sticks. Some of the
children help “ bulk” or put in piles the sticks of tobacco after it is
dried, and many do “ stripping,” which consists of removing the dried
leaves from the stalks, sorting and grading them according to size,
and tying them into bunches. Where harvesting is by picking, as in
South Carolina, many children pick.
Weeding, hand transplanting, hoeing, topping, suckering, worming,
and picking compel the worker to bend or stoop steadily, while his
hands are busy; and small children must at times kneel or sit and
hitch themselves along, or near the end of the season must reach
higher than is easy, or must hold their arms horizontally with the
heavy stalks which they hand to the spearers. Machine work
involves continuous walking, managing of horses or mules, and regu
lation of the machine, whether it be comparatively simple like a plow
or more complicated like a cultivator. Much work on the tobacco
crop is done when the summer heat is at its worst.
In the Connecticut Valley few of the city children brought out to
the farms do any work on the tobacco crop except harvesting, but
rural children, as in the South, help in nearly all the different opera
tions— transplanting, usually by machine, hoeing, topping, and suck
ering, as well as harvesting. No worming is done. Almost all the
city girls are employed in the tobacco sheds, and most of the city
boys are employed in the fields.
The harvesting of sun-grown tobacco in the Connecticut Valley is
done by cutting, which few children do. But many hand the cut
tobacco to the workers who spear it upon the laths, two boys to each
spearer. Since the tobacco stalks must be kept up from the ground
so that the leaves will not be injured, the smaller children must hold

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CHILDREN

AGRICULTURE

their arms out horizontally, and this is very tiring for them. More
than half the children who did this work in the Connecticut Valley
were under 12 years of age.
Shade-grown tobacco is so named because a covering of cloth is
placed over it which is not removed until after the harvest. Some
of the plants attain a height of 8 feet, and the leaves of adjoining
rows of plants extend well past each other. The atmosphere under
the cloth is close and hot. Turning from side to side to pick from
two rows at once, the pickers break off the lowest leaves and put
them in neat piles under the plants, to be collected by other workers.
To work in this manner and in such postures all day long strains
the muscles of child workers. For the next picking some children
stand, but many kneel, preferring this to the constant stooping.
During the last two or three pickings they always stand, and young
children have to reach higher than is easy for them in order to pick
the upper leaves. Care must be exercised, for shade-grown tobacco
is used for the most part in cigars, and if the leaves are Woken they
are valueless. The tobacco pickers are constantly under supervision.
In the tobacco sheds the girls string the leaves on laths, standing
all day at-the work.
W ORK ON SUGAR BEETS

When the beet seedlings show a few inches above the ground, about
the 1st of June or a little earlier, the work of blocking and thinning
begins. The blocker, usually an adiilt, walks down the rows of beets,
chopping out superfluous plants with his hoe. Close at his heels
come the children. Straddling the beet row, they kneel- and, bending
over, crawl from plant to plant on hands and knees. They usually
work at high speed, for thinning must be completed before the plants
grow too large. The youngest working children can thin; and be
cause they are active and their fingers are nimble, they are believed
by some to be the most effective workers.
Somewhat fewer children work at hoeing beets, which begins soon
after thinning is completed and may extend into August. It requires
more physical strength than thinning, and the time over which the
work can be extended is longer, also, than that for any other opera
tion in sugar-beet culture, so that there is not the same need for
utilizing every worker as there is in thinning and in the harvest.
In harvesting the worker pulls up the beets from the loose soil
(prior to this a horse-drawn machine has loosened the beets and
lifted them to the surface), knocks off the dirt caked upon them,
cuts off their tops, and throws them into piles. Almost all child
workers in the beet fields work at pulling and topping. The smaller
children usually pull up the beets and throw them into piles for
adults or larger children to top, but this division of the work depends
on the working force, and occupations are shifted as the occasion

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T H IN N IN G

B EETS (C O L O R A D O )

A w o rk in g day o f 11 o r 12 hours was not uncom m on

H O E IN G B E E T S (C O L O R A D O )
F o u r-fifth s of th e w o rk in g child re n hoed— th e m a jo rity 9 hours o r m ore a day

10—1

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T O P P IN G B E E TS (C O L O R A D O )
A sharp heavy kn ife w ith a hook a t th e end is used in th is operation

M O T H E R S A N D C H IL D R E N W O R K S ID E BY S ID E (C O L O R A D O )
T he 9-yea r-o ld boy (le ft) had w orked 11 hours a day fo r over th re e w eeks a t p u llin g and topping

10—2

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CHILDREN’S WORK IN AGRICULTURE

demands. Cuts on the legs or the knees from the topping knives
are common, and occasionally a worker sustains a serious injury,
such as the loss of a finger.
Steady stooping and lifting along the beet rows day in and day out
for several weeks is heavy work. Although the average beet with
its top on weighs only a little more than two pounds, a child lifts a
considerable load in the course of his long day’s work. In Colorado
a child who pulls or tops one-fourth of an acre a day (the average
reported for one child) handles daily about 2 % tons, or allowing
one-third extra weight for tops and dirt, almost 4 tons of beets.
“ We all get backaches,” is a common complaint. “ Hardest work
there is,” say many workers. “ Couldn’t sleep nights, hands and
arms hurt so,” “ Children all get tired because the work is always
in a hurry,” “ Children scream and cry because they are all tired out,”
“ Children get so tired that they don’t want to eat, and go right to
bed,” “ Beets are harder work than working in a coal mine” — these
are some of the comments of beet-field workers.
Often the thick beet tops heavy with frost, which comes early in
the mountain regions, soak the workers from the knees down, unless,
as is rarely the case, they wear high rubber boots. “ Fall is the
meanest time,” declared a Colorado contract laborer. “ Women are
wet up to their waists and have ice in their laps and on their under
wear. Women and children have rheumatism.” Often the clothing
freezes stiff in the frosty air, and only by midday does the warm sun
dry off the cotton skirts or overalls. In wet years the workers say
they “ get muddy to the skin.” During the last week of the harvest
light falls of snow frequently add to the discomfort. The children’s
hands are chapped and cracked from the cold, and their fingers are
often sore and bleeding.
The following are accounts of the work in the beet fields of some of
the Colorado workers included in the Children’s Bureau study:
Four Russian-German children, ranging in age from 9 to 13 years, came to
the beet fields with their parents on June 1. They worked at thinning and
blocking for more than three weeks, 1 4 ^ hours a day, beginning at 4.30 a. m.
They took 5 minutes in the morning and again in the afternoon for a lunch
when, as they said, they “ just got chunks in.” They took 20 minutes for dinner.
About July 1 they went home, remaining until the middle of the month, when the
hoeing began. They spent 5 weeks, 14J^ hours a day, hoeing, and again went
home, returning September 21 for the harvest, which lasted 4 weeks. During
the harvest their working day lasted 10 hours only. On October 25 they returned
to town for the winter, having spent a total of 12 % weeks at work. These four
children and their father and mother cared for 51 acres. Ten acres was the
generally accepted average for an adult, according to statements made to the
Children s Bureau by the sugar companies. The family owned a car and their
town house was being repapered and repaired; two men were w o r k i n g on it
at the time of the agent’s visit.
112218°— 29------2

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H ow hard two other boys, 10 and 12 years of age, worked is indicated by the
fact that they, with their parents and one other adult, worked 65 acres of beets.
If each adult cared for 15 acres, which is half as much again as the average, each
child would have had to care for 10 acres, the average amount supposed to be
cared for by a full-grown worker. These boys worked
hours a day during
the hoeing season and 10 hours daily during the fall and spring processes, covering
about 11 weeks. The 12-year-old boy also worked between the beet processes
at cultivating and planting other crops.
A Mexican family that came to Colorado from Texas about the middle of
May had only one child at work, a girl of 12 years. She had spent more than
14 weeks working in the beet fields— almost 9 weeks thinning,
weeks hoeing,
and more than 2 weeks pulling and topping. The family remained in the country
throughout the season, and the girl had picked beans and gathered potatoes
during the interval between the completion of hoeing and the beginning of the
beet harvest. She had completed only the first grade, in spite of the fact that
the family had moved much less frequently than was customary among Mexican
beet-field laborers. This family, consisting of father, mother, and 12-year-old
girl, had cared for 27 acres, a fact which indicated that their work must have
been fairly steady.
Three boys of 8, 10, and 12 years, with their 15-year-old sister and their mother
and father, worked on contract for more than 14 weeks 11 and 12 hours daily}
caring for 53 acres of beets. This family owned a car and a new house.
Fourteen-year-old Lizzie, the daughter of a contract laborer, worked 103^
weeks “ in beets” — a little more than 4 weeks in June, a little more than 4 weeks
in October, and 2 weeks in the summer. Her working day in hoeing and in
the fall work was about 12 hours, but during the thinning and blocking process
she worked between 14 and 15 hours a day. During the summer she had also
gathered potatoes. This was her seventh year in the beet fields. She had
completed only the fourth grade in school. Lizzie had lost a good deal of school
each year, her father said, because of the beet-field work. School, he explained,
had been compulsory for only a few years.
An 8-year-old Mexican girl worked at thinning beets 10 hours a day for 4
weeks in June. She did no hoeing. Up to the time of the agent’s visit she had
spent 3J^ weeks on the beet harvest, working, as in the spring, 10 hours a day.
Altogether she had worked 9 ^ weeks in the beet fields in addition to working
3 weeks gathering potatoes before the pulling and topping began.
A Russian-German family came out from town on March 22. In this family
were 3 children working— 12-year-old Frieda, 9-year-old Willie, and Jim, aged 7,
who worked irregularly. They spent 3 weeks at the spring work, putting in a
12 3 ^-hour day, 2 weeks at hoeing for 11 hours a day, and up to the time of the
agent’s visit had spent about 3 weeks at the harvest, which was not yet finished.
Altogether they had worked about 9 weeks, probably very hard, since the 3
children, 1 working irregularly, and 3 adults had cared for 50 acres.
Somewhat similar working conditions were found in a family in which 2 little
girls, aged 12 and 13 years, with 3 adults, took care of 50 acres of beets. The
children had worked altogether more than 11 weeks, 10 and 1 2 3 ^ hours a day.
A Russian-German family, with 4 working children ranging in age from 8
to 15, arrived at the beet field on May 25 and remained throughout the season.
All the children worked almost 12 hours a day for 4 weeks at thinning. All
except the youngest worked 2 weeks, almost 12 hours daily, at hoeing. All of
them had been working 3 weeks at pulling and topping at the time of the agent’s
visit and expected to spend another 2 weeks at it. The 8-year-old boy worked

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CHILDREN’S WORK IN AGRICULTURE

irregularly at this process, but the 12 and 15 year old boys and the 13-year-old
girl spent 11 hours a day at the work. Altogether, the children had worked
more than 9 weeks, and with the 2 adults had cared for 43 acres. This family
said that the work was profitable because the children could help. The family
owned a car.

In addition to their work on the beet crop, many children in sugar
beet growing districts do a variety of other farm work. For example,
both boys and girls take part in threshing and haying, help cultivate
various crops, tend stock, and, more rarely, load beet wagons. Some
of the boys 12 years of age and older do heavier work, such as plow
ing. Many of the farmers’ children who do such work as this, work
only a few weeks on the beet crop. Others, however, spend as much
time in the hand work that the cultivation of sugar beets requires
as the laborers’ children. Although it is usually the farmers’ chil
dren who do the miscellaneous farm work, it is not uncommon for
the contract laborers’ children to do other jobs in the intervals
between the work on the beet crop. Many weed onions, gather
potatoes, and hoe beans.
ON WESTERN GRAIN FARMS

In general farming in the Corn and Wheat Belts children do a good
deal of plowing, harrowing, disking, cultivating, and other work
requiring the management of machinery and horses, such as planting
corn, driving corn and grain binders, and mowing.
Although the younger children as a rule do not use the heavier
farm implements, in the course of investigations made by the Chil
dren’s Bureau boys as young as 6 and girls as young as 10 were re
ported to drive hay forks, and to rake hay and harrow, and children
under 10, or even under 8, as well as older girls and boys, hoe, pick
up potatoes, pick and husk corn, shock grain, and do hauling of all
kinds. At harvest time they help by hauling water or straw for
engines, hauling bundles to machines, pitching to the threshing
machine, loading or leveling with a shovel the threshed grain, hauling
grain to* granaries or elevators, and unloading grain at elevators or
freight trains. In many cases they help with loading or unloading
the wagons, pitching, leveling, or shoveling as need arises.
Besides their work in the fields many children herd cattle, some *
build and mend fences, help butcher, clean seeds, clear fields of
stones and thistles, prepare manure for fuel, help with the sheep
shearing, and otherwise make themselves generally useful.
Most of the children in these sections working on farms away from
home work at threshing time or help harvest potatoes, though some
are hired by the month as general farm hands.
Much of the work that children do on these grain farms is heavy.
Plowing in some sections is commonly done with a horse-drawn,
double gang plow, and the child must use both foot and hand levers

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AGRICULTURE

and manage four or more horses. Children are sometimes thrown
from plows with more or less serious results. Short of stature and
light in weighty sitting with feet dangling from the saddle of the
plow, they have little chance of escaping a fall if the plow jolts over
a stone or comes to a sudden stop. Disking is more hazardous than
plowing, for the ground to be disked is almost always rough, and the
child may be thrown under the disks. Although the machines vary
in size they are of one type; the driver regulates the depth of the
disks by hand levers operated from his seat. Often the disks are
weighted and used to roll down freshly broken sod by driving over
the field crosswise, work that is dangerous even for an adult.
Harrowing causes great discomfort; the worker is surrounded by
a cloud of dust, and if he is walking the continued tramping over
soft ground is exhausting. Cultivating also is hard work, as the
worker’s seat is above the row to be cultivated and the child must
so guide the two sets of shovels on the cultivator by swaying his
body and pushing with his feet that they will pass near the hills
or rows without injury to them. Pitching bundles of grain into the
threshing machine, which is fairly commonly done by children on
some of the great grain farms of the Northwest, is a heavy job,
requiring strength and skill. The child pitches the bundles to a
moving belt that carries them under a set of moving knives that
in turn cut the binding twine and spread out the bundles. This
work is usually continued for long hours over many days. The
worker comes in close proximity to the knives, belts, and other parts
of the threshing machine.
A job that is generally considered not particularly dangerous but
one in which children often meet with accidents is raking. Rakes
are light and tip easily if they encounter any obstruction. Some
times complicated raking machines drawn by several horses are
used, such as the sweep rake, on the back of which the child sits,
throwing his body backward from the waist when the rake is full to
lift the teeth of the rake from the ground.
Herding cattle, a task often given to children under 10 years of
age as well as to older ones, means that the child is alone on the
prairies on foot or on horseback for long hours in the heat of summer,
with the possibility of being thrown from horseback or attacked or
trampled on by cattle.
W O R K ON TRUCK CROPS

Truck crops, or small fruits and vegetables for long-distance ship
ment, are very extensively grchvn in the Atlantic Coast States, from
southern New Jersey to Florida; in the Gulf States from Alabama
to Texas; in the Pacific Coast States; in the northern belt of States
east of the Rocky Mountains; and in the interior Southern States,

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CHILDREN’S WORK IN AGRICULTURE

Kentucky grows onions, early potatoes, and strawberries in large
quantities; Tennessee, strawberries; Arkansas, strawberries and
cantaloupes; Oklahoma, early potatoes and watermelons; and New
Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada, cantaloupes. Wherever truck crops
are raised child labor can be used.
Children living on truck farms often do a variety of field work,
the different crops grown in some trucking localities running into
scores. Besides general farm work, such as plowing and harrow
ing, the children help with planting and transplanting, and they
thin, weed, hoe, and spray— or as the negro children in the Norfolk
trucking section of Virginia call these familiar operations, “ grass,”
“ chop,” “ scrape,” “ shave,” “ spoon,” and “ bug.” They help to
gather all kinds of small fruits and vegetables— cucumbers, peppers,
radishes, eggplants, cantaloupes, watermelons, kale, spinach, cab
bage, lettuce, and many others. When rush seasons come they, as
well as thousands of hired child workers, are turned into the fields
to pick strawberries, peas, beans, and tomatoes, gather potatoes,
and cut asparagus.
The following accounts of the season’s work of some Maryland
children illustrate children’s work on truck farms in many localities:
Three girls aged 15, 12, and 10, and one boy aged 13, living on a farm, did a
great deal of farm work. The oldest girl and her 13-year-old brother during the
months of April and May plowed and harrowed, and planted corn, beans, and
potatoes; during May they transplanted tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and cabbage,
and during the summer months cultivated, hoed, and weeded all crops and
picked four kinds of vegetables; in September they gathered potatoes. Except
for plowing, the two younger girls did the same kinds of work. In the months
of April, May, September, and October the children’s work was irregular; in
the summer months they worked regularly every day except when it rained.
A 14-year-old boy had worked 7 days in April hoeing strawberries, 21 days
in May planting corn and picking strawberries, and 7 more days in May hoeing
strawberries and sweet potatoes. In June he had spent 14 days picking straw
berries and peas and in hoeing strawberries and an equal amount of time
hoeing tomatoes and picking raspberries. Almost every day in July he had
worked picking either beans or raspberries and 27 days in August he had worked
picking blackberries.
Two boys, 13 and 15 years of age, sons of a large truck farmer, did the same
work— plowed and harrowed; planted peas, beans, white potatoes, sweet corn,
and peppers; transplanted cantaloupes and eggplants, and “ dropped” sweet
potatoes; thinned corn and eggplants; hoed or weeded all crops; sprayed potatoes
and tomatoes; “ bugged” potatoes; cut corn; picked strawberries, peas, beans,
cantaloupes, eggplant, apples, and peaches; loaded wagons with vegetables,
and sorted cantaloupes, sweet potatoes, eggplant, and peppers.
A negro girl of 12 in April and May “ drew” strawberry plants from the old
beds, transplanted sweet potatoes, weeded Irish potatoes, hoed and picked
strawberries, and replanted corn. In June and July she picked beans, hoed and
gathered Irish potatoes; in August she picked tomatoes; and in September and
October picked up potatoes and “ saved” corn fodder.

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CHILDREN

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Boys of 12 or older working on home farms generally do plowing,
harrowing, and cultivating, but girls and younger boys seldom do,
even on their parents’ farms. A child plowing on truck farms does
not have to handle large numbers of work animals; one-share plows
with one or two horses are in common use. But he must exert a
good deal of strength, if walking to hold the plow in line or if riding
to manipulate its levers, straining to reach them unless he is unusually
well grown. Spike harrows are in general use in some truck areas;
they have no seat, and hours of walking in the loosened soil make
feet and ankles ache. Disk harrows provide a seat for the driver,
but light-weight children run the risk of being thrown from the
harrow under the disks.
When planting is done by hand even very young children help—
dropping pieces of potato into a plowed furrow or corn seeds into a
drill— and somewhat older children do machine planting. Trans
planting is one of the commonest kinds of work for children of all
ages; the youngest children walk along the plowed fields, dropping
the seedling plants, followed by somewhat older workers, who dig
the holes and set the plants. When transplanting machines are used
children who are put to work on them generally “ feed” ; they sit
two to a machine on a small seat only slightly raised from the ground,with their legs stretched out in front of them, and as the machine
moves along they alternate in dropping plants into a furrow at inter
vals indicated by a spacer. “ Feeders” get tired and cramped, as
there is no way for them to change their position; they sit so close
to the ground that on diy days they work in a cloud of dust stirred
up by the machine.
Hired workers as well as those on home farms do a good deal of
hoeing and weeding, tiresome and monotonous tasks under a hot sun,
for the work has to be done during the hottest months, and many
truck crops must be weeded three or four times a season.
Even in localities where comparatively few children help with
planting or with the lighter work of weeding and hoeing almost every
child who works in the fields “ picks.”
Picking most small fruits and vegetables requires little skill and
can be done by the youngest workers. Whether or not picking is
hard depends on how many hours the child must work, his back
bent and knees cramped. If berries are plentiful, for example, the
child can sit or kneel on the ground and pick for a long time without
changing his position, but if they are scarce he must walk down the
rows, continually bending over low-growing plants. In picking some
fruits and vegetables the hardest part of the work is carrying thehampers. A five-eighths bushel basket of tomatoes, for example,
commonly weighs, when full, about 40 pounds. Potatoes, cucumbers,
melons, and many other truck crops are also heavy.

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CHILDREN’S WORK IN AGRICULTURE

In potato harvesting the children crawl along the rows on hands
and knees, pick up the potatoes, which have been loosened by a plow
or a potato digger, knock or rub off the dirt with their fingers, and
throw the potatoes in piles or into baskets. Sweet potatoes must
be broken from the vines by the children as they crawl along.
Many children work on crops that are harvested by cutting, such
as asparagus, rhubarb, lettuce, spinach, and parsley, or that are pulled,
such as radishes, beets, and carrots. The worker crawls along the
ground, sharp knife in hand, or walks and stoops to cut or pull the
stalk or root. Often the children bunch these vegetables and help
wash, box, pack, sack, crate, and load them.
Although most of the work that children do on truck farms does
not require much physical strength, it requires endurance. Much of
it is done in the summer months, the children—many with no shoes
and stockings, some with no hats— walking back and forth over the
soft earth, stooping and bending all day long, while the hot sun beats
down unmercifully on the stretches of open fields.
PICKING FRUIT AND HOPS ON THE PACIFIC COAST

In the fruit orchards and hop yards of the Pacific Coast States
the work of children is generally confined to harvesting, picking
cherries, prunes, raspberries, and many other kinds of berries, and
less often apples, peaches, and pears, as well as picking hops. How
ever, a number of children hoe and weed, and older boys living on
farms do harrowing and cultivating. Some farm children, as in
other sections, have a variety of farm tasks, such as planting and
transplanting, thinning fruit, cleaning out irrigation ditches, loading
and driving teams, training and pruning berry bushes, training hop
vines, or doing such orchard work as pruning, spraying, whitewashing
trunks, propping up limbs, and cutting sprouts. Sometimes children
are found doing work that subjects them to considerable physical
strain. Such work is standing on top of platforms on sledges driven
through the hop yards while the children work on the overhead
wire trellises, or “ bucking sacks/’ that is, hoisting onto their backs
sacks of fruit sometimes weighing as much as 50 pounds and carrying
them to the end of the rows on which they are working. In general,
however, the work that children do on the fruit ranches and in the
hop yards is not hard.
Picking up prunes is their simplest orchard work. Older boys
sometimes go through the orchards and shake the trees in order to
loosen the fruit, but generally children merely pick up the prunes
from the ground, crawling or squatting as they work, and put them
into pails. Picking prunes from the trees while the fruit is still
green, as is done in some sections, is much harder work.

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Picking berries for shipment requires care, but even the youngest
children are permitted to pick berries for canneries. In some
localities growers advertising for thousands of pickers call attention
to the fact that “ boys and girls over 7 years old can do as well picking
berries as men and women.”
Picking hops is simple work, as “ yard men” are employed to do
the heavy work of lifting and loading hop sacks and to lower the
wire trellises so that the vines are within reach of all except the smaller
children. The pickers grasp several clusters of the hops at a time
and, stripping them from vines, drop them into a basket that stands
on the ground. Hop pickers must stand for long hours under the
hot sun. Some of them are sickened by the acrid odor of the hops,
and sometimes they get a rash which they call hop poisoning.
Fewer children pick orchard fruit. Picking apples, pears, and
peaches, particularly in orchards where fruit is carefully graded for
shipping, is usually regarded as too hard for them, at least for the
younger ones. They are not strong enough to manage the ladders
and are not sufficiently careful in handling the fruit. Apple picking
is particularly hard for children because apple pickers in these
localities carry the burlap sacks in which they put the fruit; these
sacks are attached by straps passing over the back of the neck and
around the waist* of the worker, and the pressure of the strap is said
to result in pains in the back of the neck. In picking pears or peaches
the worker is usually not hampered by a sack; but if the trees are
not to be stripped at one picking, he must use judgment in selecting
the fruit to be picked. On account of the fuzz from the peaches,
which irritates the hands and arms of the workers, and the excessive
heat at the time of the harvest, in August, the work is disagreeable
as well as difficult. Cherries are easier than other orchard fruits
for children to pick because the fruit is not heavy and because no
judgment is necessary in selecting it, as the trees are stripped at one
picking.
The Children’s Bureau has made no study of children in agricul
ture in California, but it is well known that California has many
children working on the land. A report of the California Bureau of
Labor Statistics, after describing the employment of children in cut
ting asparagus, picking cotton, and picking walnuts during the time
schools are in session, says:
Large numbers of children are working in other fruit crops during the regular
vacation periods of the public schools. Children of school age, as well as chil
dren under school age, are used in the harvesting of prunes, grapes, apricots,
peaches, and tomatoes. They are employed in the hoeing of beets and melons,
they work in the sugar beets, and they harvest the onions. * * * They are
employed in the dry yards, cutting apricots and peaches and spreading them
upon the drying trays.

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CHILDREN’S WORK IN AGRICULTURE

In a report of the National Child Labor Committee, “ California
the Golden” and in several magazine articles (see “ Little Gypsies of
the Fruit,” and “ Raising Children to M ove Crops,” by Arthur
Gleason, in Hearst’s International Magazine for February, 1924,
and March, 1924, respectively) conditions among the child agricul
tural workers of California have been described by eye witnesses.
ONION WORKERS

Onions, one of the most important of the truck crops, are often
grown not only on a large commercial scale, but also, unlike most
other truck produce, on farms specializing in the one crop. The
combination of a great deal of hand work and large-scale production
invites child labor, and workers on the onion crop were among the
first groups of children in industrialized agriculture to attract the
attention of those interested in child welfare.
Children are generally hired for weeding, onions sometimes requir
ing as many as four or five weedings a season. On the large onion
farms they work in gangs of 10 to 20 with an overseer behind them
to see that the work is properly done. In the first weeding they kneel
down astride the rows and use both hands, or sometimes a sm a.11
-hook or weeder; but for later weedings they must stand and stoop
over. It takes about an hour and a half to do a row. A considerate
overseer sometimes gives the children a few minutes’ rest at the end
of a row, and older children sometimes turn back to help those who
have not been able to keep up. Children also harvest onions, pulling
them up and twisting or cutting off the tops, or if the tops have
become dry and shriveled merely picking them up from the ground.
Weeding and much of the harvesting are done in the hottest weather.
Next to the heat the children complain most of breathing in the dust
and getting dust into their eyes. After stooping for 10 hours, the
customary working day in the onion fields, even the older boys say
they are “ awful tired.”
Onions are grown extensively and on a large scale throughout the
Great Lakes region— New York, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Illinois. Some of the largest onion farms are on the peat or muck
lands of Ohio and Indiana, vast tracts of which have been reclaimed
for onion growing. It is impossible to estimate to what extent children
are employed in the different onion-growing districts.
The Children’s Bureau has never made a special study of children
working in onion fields, but among the tobacco workers in the Con
necticut Valley district of Massachusetts it found 115 boys and girls
who had also worked on the onion crop, generally weeding, and of
501 child workers on the truck farms in the vicinity of Chicago all
except 58 had worked on the onion farms.

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CRANBERRY PICKERS

The production of cranberries, like onions, is on a large commercial
scale, though it is limited chiefly to two States, New Jersey and Massa
chusetts. In both States crews of seasonal workers from neighboring
cities are hired for the picking, and children form a considerable part
of the labor supply. Cranberry pickers work in groups of about six
or seven under a “ row boss” or overseer, and strict discipline is
enforced on the bogs, for cranberries are so small and so concealed
by the branches of the plants that it is easy to lose a good deal of
the crop through carelessness.
Hours for picking are long, as there is always danger of a frost
before the harvest is completed. At the end of the day the pickers
are tired and stiff and their fingers are sore. As the season advances
they complain of the cold. When frost threatens the bogs are flooded
every night to protect the berries and are still damp when the pickers
begin work the next morning; at such times they sometimes come off
the bog with their clothes wet to the knees.

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I L L I N O I S G E N E R A L F A R M I N G : 1. H A R R O W I N G . 2. C U L T I V A T I N G .
A N D B I N D I N G . 4. S H O C K I N G G R A I N

20—1

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3. R E A P I N G

N O R F O L K T R U C K F A R M I N G : 1. P I C K I N G PEAS. 2. P I C K I N G C U C U M B E R S .
3. “ S P O O N I N G " S P I N A C H . 4. C A R R Y I N G H A M P E R S O F P O T A T O E S . 5.
"S C R A T C H IN G " OR “ G R A B B L IN G ” POTATOES JUST AFTER T H E Y ARE
PLOWED
20— 2

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CHILD WORKERS ON HOME FARMS
W H O THE CHILDREN ARE

How generally the farmers employ their children for work other
than chores depends on a variety of conditions, such as whether or
not they can hire help, whether the work is of a kind that children
can do, and whether it is customary in the locality for girls and
younger children to do field work. The Children’s Bureau surveys
showed that in some sections— as, for example, in the Texas cotton
growing counties, and on the Eastern Shore of Maryland with its
thousands of acres of strawberries and vegetables to be picked by
hand— nearly all the children enrolled in school who had reached the
age of 10, and many even younger, girls and boys, black and white,
had worked in the fields. In the southern tobacco districts from a
third to almost half the rural school children, and in the Connecticut
Valley from two to three fifths had worked on the tobacco crop.
N^/Only about one-third of the children enrolled in certain county
schools in Washington had worked on the fruit ranches of the vicinity,
but in the districts studied in the State of Oregon two-thirds of the
children enrolled in school had done field work, generally picking
hops, a job that even young children can do. In the North Dakota
and Illinois grain-growing areas about two-fifths of the school children
were farm workers, but the proportion of workers was much larger—
more than two-thirds— for boys and girls who were 12 years of age
or older, and even larger for boys of 14 and 15.
Farmers’ children working on their parents’ cotton and tobacco
plantations, as would be expected, are of native parentage. This is
the case also in the Com Belt, where the farming population is pre
dominantly native, and to a slightly less degree it is true of the
farmers’ children on the Pacific Coast, though a fairly large propor
tion of the latter are of Japanese parentage.
But in some parts of the country farm work even on the home farm
is confined to the children of the foreign bom. Rarely do sugar-beet
growers, imless they have the traditions of the “ old country” behind
them, permit their children to work in the beet fields. Native-born
operators of the great grain farms of the Northwest comparatively
^ rarely put their boys and girls to work. The great majority of the
yfarmers in the Connecticut Valley whose sons and daughters work
on their own tobacco crops (usually a very few acres) are of Polish,
’
Italian, or other foreign nationalities, though only about a third of
21

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the farms in the area have passed into the hands of the foreign bom.
In southern New Jersey the child agricultural workers on home
farms are generally of Italian stock; many of the small farms in this
section are owned by Italians, and the operators of the larger farms,
whether natives or of foreign birth, as a rule do not use their own
children for work in the fields. On the truck farms around Balti
more, too, fully half the children working on their parents’ farms are
in immigrant families— Polish or German— though only 11 per cent
of the farms in the county are operated by the foreign bom.
Although children who work on farms are in many cases children
of tenants (many of whom in the South are “ croppers” or other kinds
of share tenants whose struggle for existence is often severe), many
farm owners even in the South depend upon their children for help.
In the New Jersey counties included in the Children’s Bureau surveys,
where many of the farmers are Italians owning only a few acres,
almost all the children working on home farms were owners’ children,
and in the Illinois and North Dakota districts the majority were.
Table 2 (p. 58) shows the proportion of farm owners’ children and
of tenants’ children in the group who did farm work.
YOUNG BOYS AND GIRLS DO FARM W ORK

Table 3 (p. 58) shows the age distribution of the children who
worked on home farms in the different localities surveyed by the Chil
dren ’s Bureau. The majority were under 12 years old and a very large
proportion under 10. The ages of the workers were about the same
for most of the different localities. Little fingers can pick strawberries
as well as cotton, can worm tobacco as well as thin beets. Farms in the
Com and Wheat Belts are exceptions. Much of the work on these
farms involves the use of heavy machinery that young children can
not handle. Hence in those sections the child workers are older,
and fewer girls are at work. More boys than girls work on farms
everywhere, and on general or grain farms such as those in North
Dakota and Illinois boys outnumber girls, three or more to one.
W ORK IS SEASONAL

Many farmers’ children have field work to do for a few days or a
few weeks at a time from the breaking of ground in March or April
until the last crops are harvested just before frost sets in. They
probably average, in all, from about a month to four months of work
during the season, according to the crops grown and the length of the
growing season. Children 12 years of age or older, however, work
longer than younger ones, and it is not uncommon in some localities
for the older boys to total five or six months of work during the year.
Cotton picking alone is likely to keep a child busy for two or three
months. The Children’s Bureau found that the average duration of

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CHILD WORKERS ON HOME FARMS

cotton picking was about two and a half months for white children
and about four months for negro children in one of the Texas counties
surveyed and about one and a half months for both white and negro
children in the other county.
It is often said that it takes 13 months to make a tobacco crop;
before one year's crop is gathered preparation of the plant beds for
the next year’s crop must be started. The majority of the children
do not take part in all the operations in tobacco culture, but about
one-third of the child workers on southern tobacco plantations
included in the Children’s Bureau survey had worked at least three
months, and boys of 12 or older in these families had averaged five
months of work. Farm children working on their parents’ tobacco
crop in the North work about as long as children in the South, though
the working season for hired children is shorter.
Five or six months of work a year is common for children on farms
in some trucking localities, as for example in southern New Jersey,
where aside from general work, the harvesting of one crop or another
provides fairly continuous work from strawberry picking in M ay to
cranberry picking just before the November frosts. In the New
Jersey districts included in the Children’s Bureau survey of truck-farm
workers, the children on the farms were found to spend on an average
between two and three months in field work a year. Those 14 or 15
years of age averaged between three and four months and the boys
even longer.
On many farms farmers ’ children work only a few weeks during the
year. This is true on general farms in the Wheat and Corn Belts,
where there is comparatively little work that younger children can
do, on some truck and fruit farms where the children’s work in
general is confined to gathering a few crops, and on sugar-beet farms,
where only the growers with a small acreage in beets, as a rule, permit
their children to work. In all sections studied, however, boys of 12
and older living on farms probably average several months of
farm work a season.
The accounts on pp. 7,11 and 15 of the work done by individual
children working on sugar beets, truck crops, and cotton, give an
idea of the amount of time that farm children spend in field work and
the way the time is distributed as well as of the kinds of work that
they do. The following examples will serve to do the same for
children on southern tobacco plantations:
A 10-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl in a tenant family in Virginia which,
worked 10 acres of tobacco in Halifax County had worked on the corn crop,
planting, thinning, cultivating, and harvesting for more than one month, on
tobacco transplanting one week, on cultivating about as long, and on suckering
and worming two months. The younger girl had held sticks during harvest
time for two weeks while the older one cut tobacco. Both had housed tobacco
and taken it down from the barn during part of this time. After the field work

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CHILDREN

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was done they had stripped tobacco for three months, working after school and
often in the evening by lantern light. A 12-year-old boy in this family had done
as much work on corn and tobacco as his sisters, and in addition had plowed for
seven weeks.
Four sisters aged 9, 11, 12, and 15, whose father owned his farm, had worked
on tobacco in the field and at the barn. The three older ones had worked on corn,
peas, and sugar cane when they were not busy on the tobacco. For a few days
they had helped make plant beds and weed them. They had transplanted for
two weeks, the three older girls drawing and setting the plants, while the youngest
one worked only at dropping them. All four girls hoed for four weeks, and all
wormed and suckered for one month. Only the two older sisters had topped.
They also had cut tobacco for two weeks during the harvest time, while the two
younger girls carried sticks and held them. All four girls helped for two weeks
in putting tobacco in the barn and had helped take it down when the curing was
completed. The oldest girl had stripped while the other three tied for two
months, much of this being done after school and on Saturdays.
An 11-year-old Kentucky boy had plowed one month, disked one week, and
harrowed one week. He had transplanted tobacco one week, cultivated with hoe
and machine two months, wormed six weeks, and suckered three weeks. At
harvest time he had housed tobacco one week and later had stripped it one month.
When not busy on tobacco he had planted, cultivated, and harvested corn for a
total of more than two months and had helped make hay three days.
Another Kentucky boy 12 years of age had worked only on tobacco. He had
transplanted one month, hoed six weeks, topped one week, suckered six weeks,
and wormed (probably while suckering) one week. During the harvest he loaded
and hauled five weeks.
FARM HOURS ARE LONG

The working day on the farm is long, and it is when there is necessity
for haste, in order to take advantage of good weather or to get in a
crop before it spoils, that children are most likely to be employed.
A 9 or 10 hour day in the fields is common for children who live on
farms, and the day’s work often stretches out to 11 or 12 hours or more.
During the thinning process in beet cultivation, which must be
completed before the plants grow too large, 85 per cent of the Colorado
farmers’ children included in the Children’s Bureau survey and 67 per
cent of those in Michigan worked from 9 to 14 or more hours a day.
At harvest time, in order to get in the crop before it was caught by
a heavy frost or otherwise spoiled, three-fourths of the Colorado
children worked from 9 to 13 hours a day on their fathers’ beet acre
age, sometimes pulling and topping by lantern light or by the light of
the moon.
Southern children working on cotton and tobacco crops often toil
from sunrise to sundown, averaging between 10 and 11 hours a day.
Oh the general farms of the Middle West, also, an 11-hour workingday is not infrequent and 9 or 10 hours is customary, and in the hop
yards and fruit orchards of the Pacific coast 10 hours is the usual
working-day.
Hours on truck farms are more variable. Many farm children in
trucking sections work 10 or 12 hours or even longer some days;

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CHILD WORKERS ON HOME FARMS

three boys 13 to 15 years old, sons of a Hungarian farmer near Balti
more, had picked cucumbers from 5.30 a. m. to noon and from 1 to
8 p. m. the day before they were seen in the course of the Children’s
Bureau survey. But they sometimes work only 6 to 7 hours or
even a shorter day owing to the fact that fruits and vegetables must
often be sent off for shipment the day they are harvested and the
workers stop as soon as it is too late to catch that day’s shipment.
Tables 4 to 14 (pp. 59-64) show how many hours-a day farmers’ child
ren of different age groups in the Children’s Bureau surveys were accus
tomed to work on the various crops in different parts of the country.
W ORK CAUSES ABSENCE FROM SCHOOL

Many country schools are almost emptied of their pupils during
busy seasons on the surrounding farms. Cotton picking beginning
in the late summer is often not completed until after Christmas, so
that many cotton pickers do not enter school until “ along in January.”
Many farmers’ children in sugar-beet growing districts do not even
enroll in school until after the middle of November, when the beet
harvest is over.
Truck farming has much the same effect on children’s schooling.
In a study of rural school attendance, “ Farm Labor versus School
Attendance,” made by the National Child Labor Committee, it was
found that only slightly more than half the 585 children studied in
15 schools in Maryland had entered school the first week.
A school with a normal enrollment of 33 opened in the fall with 9 pupils,
another with 52 normally enrolled, had 18 the first week; another had 17 of its
usual enrollment of 40. In the spring when the strawberry season comes the
situation is even worse. One county superintendent received a complaint from
a rural teacher that most of her pupils would not take their final examinations
because they were out picking strawberries. In another county eight schools
had closed two or three weeks ahead of time because most of the children had
dropped out to pick berries. Fifty per cent of the children in one. school dropped
out in March and April; in another (out of a total enrollment of 30) 1 girl was
left at the time of the investigation; the rest were all picking berries. In still
another school, with an enrollment of 38, 16 had withdrawn between February 17
and April 16. * * * Nearly 70 per cent [of the absentees] gave farm work as
the only cause [of absence].

Although the annual reports of the Maryland State Board of
Education show that progress has been made in improving rural
school attendance, the report for 1924 gave figures showing that more
than 1,000 boys and girls in the one-teacher schools of the State had
been absent illegally 40 days or more for work during the year. In
some counties, 8 or 9 per cent of the enrollment in the one-teacher
schools had had these long absences for work.
In Delaware, another truck-farming State, according to figures
obtained during a study of attendance in one-teacher schools (The
One-Teacher Schools in Delaware; a study in attendance, by Richard

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CHILDREN IN

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Watson Cooper and Hermann Cooper), 807 boys enrolled in Sussex
County, or nearly three-fifths of the total number enrolled in oneteacher schools, lost by late entrance or early withdrawals an average
of 38 days, mainly for agricultural work.
A school in the rich trucking area of southern New Jersey surveyed
by the Children’s Bureau had only 1 of its 25 pupils in attendance
throughout the last three weeks of the term.
Child agricultural workers in almost every locality in the Chil
dren’s Bureau surveys had been absent from school during the year
of the survey for farm work, and farm work was almost invariably
the chief cause of absence. Where it was found to make no very
serious inroads on school attendance it was because the children’s
principal field work came during the summer vacation, as on the
truck farms around Chicago and the berry ranches of the Northern
Pacific coast. Tables 15 to 29 (pp. 64-73) show how much time was
lost from school for work by farmers’ children in the different localities.
In the tobacco-growing districts of Kentucky almost half the farm
ers’ children working on farms had missed from 1 to 60 days or more
for work, the average absence being approximately 3 school weeks
of the 7 months comprising the school term; in the South Carolina
districts more than two-fifths and in Virginia half had stayed out of
-Y
school to help with the tobacco crop, the average absence for the
purpose being 16 days in each locality.
Notwithstanding the short terms and late openings more than half
the children 12 years of age or older living on the Texas cotton
plantations, in the Children’s Bureau survey, and more than twofifths of all these children attending school had missed part of the
school term on account of farm work. The average absence for farm
work was approximately one school month, and very prolonged ab
sences were not uncommon. Thirty-three boys and 14 girls had lost
at least 60 days on account of work. A 12-year-old white girl in
the third grade stayed out 85 days for field work; school had opened
September 18 and although it was November when the child’s family
was interviewed none of the children in the family had entered
school. In another white family the children had not entered school
until January, though it had opened in November. The girl, aged
13 years, had missed 40 days, and the 11-year-old boy 20 days for
farm work. These children were handicapped also by the fact that
they lived 3 miles from school, and during bad weather in January,
February, and March they had been absent a day or two every week.
A white girl aged 10 years stayed away from school 70 days to work
>
on the farm which her father rented; she had completed only the
first grade, having been handicapped by illness as well as farm work.
A 12-year-old girl who had completed only the third grade had lost
64 days because of her work on the farm.

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P I C K I N G PR UN ES , Y A K I M A
VALLEY, WASH.

R A S P B E R R Y P IC K E R , P U Y A L L U P
VALLEY, WASH.
26— 1

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P I C K I N G H OP S, W I L L A M E T T E V A L L E Y ,
OREG.

OPER ATION S
IN T R U C K
F A R M IN G :
P IC K IN G
EGGPLANT
(M AR YLAN D ).
P L A C I N G H A L F - B U S H E L B A S K E T F U L L O F O N I O N SE TS O N H E A D O F G I R L
ABOUT TO
CARRY
IT T O
S IF TER
(IL L IN O IS ). C U T T IN G
ASPARAGUS
(ILLIN O IS )

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CHILD WORKERS ON HOME FARMS

More than two-thirds of the North Dakota farmers’ children in
the Children’s Bureau survey had been absent from school for field
work, the proportion rising to four-fifths for boys 12 years of age or
older; 13 per cent of the girls and 35 per cent of the boys were out
of school at least a month for work. In the general-farming districts
of central Illinois the children were not kept out of school for farm
work to the same extent as in North Dakota, but the school attend
ance of a small group of Illinois children was seriously affected by
their work on the farms. Half the boys had been absent from school
for farm work, and 15 per cent had stayed out of school at least
one school month for it. Although very long absences for work
among children under 14 were rare, they did sometimes occur in the
Illinois districts studied. For example, a 13-year-old boy whose
father was a member of the local school board had lost 75 days for
farm work during the school year preceding the inquiry, and his
11-year-old brother had lost 3 7 ^ days.
In the Colorado beet-growing districts almost half the boy workers
whose fathers owned or rented farms and more than one-third of
the girls had stayed out of school to work in the beet fields, their
absences for the purpose averaging between three and four school
weeks. Some schools in the districts where the survey was conducted
closed during the height of the harvest so that children could work,
and others excused from attendance during the harvest season chil
dren who had attended summer sessions arranged especially for beetfield workers. In Michigan about two-thirds of the beet-field workers
whose fathers raised beets had been absent from school for field work.
More than half the farm children in the Maryland trucking dis
tricts stayed out of school to work on the crops, the average absence
being a little more than one school month. The older boys, as a rule,
had the longest absences. A 13-year-old boy who had completed only
the third grade was 51 days late in entering school and reported an
additional 31 days’ absence for farm work. His two brothers, 14 and
15 years of age, had each completed only the fourth grade but were
no longer attending school. In a Polish family were two boys of 12
and 14 who had completed the first and second grades, respectively.
They had attended school not more than 30 days during the school
year preceding the study; they had entered after Christmas and had
withdrawn early in March, having stayed out in January and Febru
ary to get wood and do other household chores. One of 22 children
in the Eastern Shore district who had had 60 or more days’ absence
'for farm work was an 11-year-old girl; the others, who were boys, were
with three exceptions 12 years of age or older, able to use the plow,
harrow, and cultivator.
112218°— 29------3

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A considerable part of the children's work on truck farms in south
ern New Jersey, also, is done in the spring and fall, when the schools
are in session. Three-fifths of the farm children included in the sur
vey in this section had been absent because of work in the fields;
these absences were from several days to four months, the average
being 20 days, or 4 school weeks. Among the 19 who had been absent
from school for work 60 days or more were three farmers’ children.
Although their school opened September 30, two did not enter until
October 25 and the third not until October 28, 16 and 18 days late;
early in the spring they dropped out again, the oldest child 75 and the
other two 72 days before the close of the term.
Additional evidence of the way in which farm work may interfere
with schooling is furnished by the National Child Labor Committee’s
investigations of causes of absence from rural schools: In 174 white
rural schools in Oklahoma half the boys and one-fourth of the girls
had had absences for farm work— planting wheat, baling hay, pick
ing cotton, herding cattle, cultivating potatoes, com, sorghum, and
other crops, dairying, and taking care of farm work. The absences
averaged 33 days for tenants’ boys, 26 for farm owners’ boys and al
most as many for girls. In 151 rural schools in Alabama half the boys
and one-fifth of the girls had lost part of their schooling because of
farm work— tenants’ sons averaging 34 and tenants’ daughters 27
days, and farm owners’ sons 27 and farm owners’ daughters 21 days.
In 144 schools in North Carolina also half the boys and one-fifth of
the girls had stayed away from school for farm work, boys averaging
from 18 to 23 days, and girls from 13 to 18 days. Improvements in the
school-attendance laws since the investigations were made in 1917 and
1918 may be expected to have improved conditions in these particular
States.
Some State laws permit school officials to excuse children for farm
work or give them authority to excuse children from school in such
general terms, as “ in cases of emergency” or “ for other sufficient
reason,” that they may easily be construed to apply to agricultural
work. (See p. 47.) A Maryland farmer told the Children’s Bureau
investigator that the “ law only compels the children to make 100
days a year. * * * After that I keep them out to work all I
need them.” The 100-day provision in effect at that time applied
only to children of 13 and 14 years of age, but on the strength of it
this farmer’s 10-year-old daughter had lost 71 days from school during
the preceding school term. But although some of the children’s^
absence for farm work has the excuse of being legal, most of it is just
as illegal as the absence of the factory-working mother’s little girl
who stays home to mind the baby or of the city boy who is kept out of
school to rim errands for his father’s tailor shop or grocery store.

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CHILD WORKERS ON HOME FARMS

In many a country district enforcement of the school attendance
law is never even attempted. Many counties have no attendance
officers and others so few that prompt action is impossible, and by the
time parents are warned the children have lost weeks of schooling.
“ What can one truant officer do,” asked a Michigan county commis
sioner of schools, “ with 162 school boards, 200 teachers, and over
7,000 children scattered over 900 square miles of territory?” Attend
ance officers are usually appointed by the local school districts, and,
unwilling to disoblige their neighbors and sympathizing with the
farmers’ often pressing need for help, many wink at disregard of the
law. One pocketed the notices to be served on parents and kept
them until harvest was over and the children’s help was no longer
needed on the farms.
Many country children are lucky if they are able to go to school at
all. The 1920 census tells us that 1,058,666 country children of
school age, that is, from 7 to 13 years of age, including children living
in communities with a population up to 2,500, were not in school.
These children represented 12 per cent of the children of these ages
in their communities and relatively more than twice as many as the
number of city children of the same ages not attending school that

X^year.
THE RURAL SCHOOL TERM

Farm work is largely to blame for the country child’s inequality of
opportunity as compared with that of the child who lives in a town
or city, not only because it interferes with his school attendance but
because it is also a reason for the shorter school term maintained in
rural districts. The average rural school term in the United States as
a whole in 1924 was 34 days, or nearly 7 school weeks,’shorter than the
average city school term. In South Carolina the State supervisor of
elementary education, although he believed that a better compulsory
education law was needed, said in 1926 “ it is absolutely necessary for
some of our farmers to have the help of their children at times.” 1 In
many cotton-growing counties the opening of school is regularly post
poned to November or December to allow the children to get in the
cotton crop. “ The schools have to close before strawberry season”
is a characteristic remark in certain trucking localities.
Children wha must sacrifice a certain amount of time to such emer
gencies as bad roads and bad weather, as country children always do,
run on a very narrow margin when the term is only six or seven
-months and they stay out of school a month or so to help on the farm.
The case of a 10-year-old white boy in one of the Children’s Bureau
surveys, though a somewhat extreme example, is illustrative of what
may befall a worker on the home farm. This child had been absent

i Fifty-eighth Annual Report of the State Superintendent of Education of the State of South Carolina,
1926, pp. 22, 23.

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•CHILDREN IN

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from school 76 days, or 60 per cent of the term. In the fall he had
stayed out to pick cotton, not finishing this work until January.
Then roads and weather were so bad that his parents “ just kept him
home till it was so he could go.” In February he missed seven days
because “ the creek was u p ” , and in the spring he had been ill. It is
not surprising that he had not completed even the first grade.
FARM WORKERS ARE RETARDED IN SCHOOL

Normal progress in school is dependent on regular attendance so
that children who habitually stay out of school for farm work fall
behind in their classes. Besides the actual loss of tune some farm
working children are too tired and listless, according to their teachers,
to do the required work when they return to school, and their scholar
ship suffers.
Table 30 (p. 74) gives the percentage of white and negro farmers’
children in each of the groups surveyed by the Children’s Bureau
who were behind the standard grades for their ages. Where com
parative figures could be obtained the percentage of retardation was
much higher among children working on farms than among those in
the same schools who did little or no farm work.

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HIRED CHILDREN IN AGRICULTURE
CLASSES OF WORKERS

Children hiring out as farm laborers may be day laborers, or they
may be hired by the week or month as regular farm hands. These
may be farmers’ children helping their neighbors, or farm laborers’
children working for their parents’ employers, or children of nonagricultural workers in small communities in the vicinity of the farms;
or where some crop is grown extensively on a commercial scale near
a city, as truck crops are grown by the absentee landlords in the
Norfolk area, tobacco in the Connecticut Valley, and onions and
asparagus in the Chicago trucking districts, they may be city chil
dren— negroes, or Poles, Italians, or children from other immigrant
groups— brought out to the farms by the truckload for a day’s work
and returning home each evening.
But besides these classes of hired laborers, there are the so-called
migratory workers, who leave theit homes, usually in the city, for
seasonal work on the farms— to work in sugar-beet or onion fields,
to pick strawberries, cherries, cranberries, and tomatoes, to harvest
beans and peas and other truck crops, to pick hops, raspberries, and
other fruit in Washington and Oregon and grapes, prunes, apricots,
walnuts, cotton, and many other crops in California.
Table 3 (p. 58) shows the distribution by ages of the different
types of hired child workers in the districts in which the Children’s
Bureau made surveys. Although hired workers, these children were
no older on the whole than children working on home farms.
Migratory child workers go to the farms with their families, which
in some cases include the father but often only the mother with the
children of both sexes and all ages.
Many of the families in the Colorado sugar-beet fields come from
small towns near by, though others are recruited from Denver,
Pueblo, Trinidad, and Kansas and Nebraska cities, and even from Texas
and New Mexico. In Michigan also they are brought into the beet
fields from the Mexican border and from cities as far away as Cleve
land and Pittsburgh. In Nebraska they come from Omaha, Lin
coln, and the larger towns of the State. Baltimore supplies the
Maryland truck farms, and Philadelphia and less commonly Trenton
or other New Jersey cities the New Jersey truck farms, with seasonal
labor. In Washington and Oregon the migratory workers come into
the hop and fruit districts from small towns or rural sections in the
State, though some are from Portland or Salem and others come from
31

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Idaho, Montana, or more distant States, or from Canada. Labor
pours into the Imperial Valley of California continuously, by auto
mobiles laden with tents and families, by wagons, by train, and on
foot from other parts of California, from Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona,
and New Mexico.
On the Pacific coast many of the migratory laborers are auto
mobile tourists “ following the fruit” year in and year out, and
creating new and special problems for the States whose crops attract
them.
.
In most of the farming districts migratory laborers are of foreign
stock. Beet-field workers in Colorado and Nebraska are chiefly
Russian-Germans and Mexicans; in Michigan, Bohemians and Poles
as well as Mexicans. In Maryland the migratory farm laborers are
for the most part Poles, and in New Jersey Italians. The Texas
cotton-growing districts have some Negro and Mexican migratory
workers, though many are native whites. California migratory
workers are largely Mexicans. In Washington and Oregon migratory
workers are chiefly native whites, but they also include children of
many foreign nationalities.
RECRUITING FARM LABOR IN CITIES

Farm laborers living in the open country or in little settlements
near the farms on which they work usually get their jobs directly
from their employers; they apply in person or the farmer sends for
them. “ The farmer came to our street,” and “ the farmer sends one
or two wagons to the village and those who want work simply go
and climb in,” are typical accounts of how day laborers for the farms
are recruited in the Norfolk trucking section. Laborers from the city
are sometimes engaged through a row boss or an agent. “ The row
boss stands on the comer,” said a Norfolk farm laborer, “ and shouts
‘ Strawberry hands! Strawberry hands!’ and everybody goes that
wants t o ” — sometimes only the children, sometimes the whole
family, including the father, but usually the children with their
mothers. Chicago children, who form a large proportion of those
working on farms in the Chicago trucking area, often travel long
distances by street car to outlying points in or near the city where
the farmers congregate sometimes as early as 3 or 4 o ’clock in the
morning to bargain for the day’s labor supply, and there sell their
services to the highest bidder. Mothers sometimes accompany
their children to work on the farms in this district, but more often
the children go alone, selecting their own employers and making their
own wage agreements.
Agents of the beet-sugar companies generally recruit the migratory
labor for the beet fields. In the Atlantic coast trucking section the
“ row boss” or the “ padrone,” frequently a man of the same nationality

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as the workers, visits the cities and engages the families, often his
relatives and friends, at so much a head.
On the Pacific coast
growers advertise extensively and sometimes send trucks to the
docks and railroad stations of the cities to pick up any laborers they
can find. Some of the large hop companies have offices in Portland
or Salem, others employ agents, and others put up signs to attract
tourists or canvass the tourist camps for workers, though many
complain of the instability of the tourist workers or “ gasoline gyp
sies, declaring that it is necessary to have three crews of pickers,
“ one coming, .one going, and one working.”
In order to hold the workers it is customary in some of the districts
for farmers to hold back part of the pay until the end of the season,
or, as in some of the sugar-beet sections, to give a bonus, payable
only at the end of the season. Under these circumstances if working
and living conditions are unsatisfactory the migratory workers
coming from a distance are at a disadvantage, as they have to wait
weeks or months until they are paid before they can leave.
HOUSING OF MIGRATORY WORKERS

Farmers are beginning to realize that they can not attract and hold
the better class of laborers unless they provide comfortable quarters;
still only too often the living arrangements for migratory workers are
the veriest makeshift, violating every standard of decency as well as
comfort.
Laborers’ families in sugar-beet sections often occupy any kind
of shelter that is available for temporary use— abandoned farm
houses, rude frame or tarpaper shacks, and even tents and caravan
wagons— though some sugar companies provide one or two room
portable cottages for their laborers. The dwellings are in many
cases in bad repair, dark, ill ventilated, and far from weatherproof.
Beet-field laborers sometimes describe their quarters as “ not fit for
chickens to five in ” or “ nothing but a dog house.” Overcrowding
is extreme. A Michigan migratory laborer tells of having been
forced to live for two weeks, while waiting for quarters for his family
of five, in two rooms containing 19 other people; during this time
his baby caught cold and died. Sanitation is poor and the water
supply, especially in the irrigated districts, is often neither plentiful
nor protected against contamination. Many of the beet-field
laborers occupy their “ beet shacks” for five or six months a year.
The migratory laborers in the hop yards and orchards of the
Pacific coast live in camps on the grower’s premises, some of them
villages in themselves, housing several hundred persons. Nearly
three-fifths of the families in the Willamette Valley district in Oregon
included in the Children’s Bureau study and nearly all in the Yakima
Valley district in Washington lived in tents. The others occupied

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CHILDREN

AGRICULTURE

one-room frame houses built in rows, each with one window. In both
tents and “ bunk houses” extreme overcrowding was found; twothirds of the families in one district and almost all in the other had
three or more persons a room and in the latter the majority had five
or more. A regulation of the Washington Board of Health called
for a specified amount of air space for each person in frame houses in
laborers’ camps, but the regulation did not extend to tents, as a similar
one in California does, and Oregon had no such regulation for either
houses or tents. The Washington regulation was not enforced in
the camps visited. Sanitation of labor camps in Washington and
Oregon is regulated, and sanitary conditions were better than in
farm-labor camps visited by the Children’s Bureau in some other
sections.
In Maryland, in the country around Baltimore, individual farmers
maintain camps for the migratory workers. M ost of them contain
but one building known as a “ shanty,” which serves as sleeping
quarters for all the workers, a weather-beaten or unpainted structure
the windows of which usually lack either glass or shutters, or both.
As a rule there is but one room on each floor, with stairs on the outside
leading into the upper room. On each side of a narrow aisle down
the center the floor is divided into sections or pens by boards 10 or
12 inches in height, each section being about six feet long and from
four to six feet wide and covered with straw for a mattress. Each
family is allotted one of these pens. At night men, women, and
children, partly clad, one family separated from the next by the
plank, lie side by side. More than half the families in the district
surveyed by the Children’s Bureau had no toilet facilities. Twelve
of the 25 camps had no privy, and only 1 had adequate toilet
arrangements. Some of the privies were located dangerously near the
water supply. “ Here we are like fish in a barrel,” many families
declare, describing the way in which they live as “ like hogs,” “ like
sheep,” and “ like cattle beasts.” Some of the negro migratory
workers in the Norfolk trucking section live in the most primitive
way, several families often occupying a one-room shack, sleeping on
hay or wooden crates, cooking over camp fires, and having no toilet
accommodations.
In southern New Jersey the truck-farm laborers are generally
housed in labor camps on the growers’ premises, the camps varying
in size from a rude building or two, housing half a dozen families, to
large well-organized settlements, villages in themselves housing 300
to 400 pickers. The camp buildings are either one or two room rows
or large two-story barnlike structures divided into small rooms
upstairs and down and housing many families, or in some cases, as
in Maryland, not divided into rooms but having the family spaces
with their straw and rough bedding, merely marked off by a board

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I L L I N O I S T R U C K F A R M I N G : 1. W E E D I N G O N I O N S . 2. T W I S T I N G D R Y O N I O N S .
3. P U L L I N G A N D H A U L I N G C A R R O T S
34— 1

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S H A C K S O C C U P I E D BY B E E T - F I E L D L A B O R E R S IN C O L O R A D O A N D IN
M IC H IG A N

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HIRED CHILDREN IN AGRICULTURE

set on edge. Some camp buildings are in good repair, but even in
the best camps congestion is very great and the amount of cubic air
space inadequate. No provision is usually made for disposal of
garbage or of waste water and -the privies are often insanitary or
entirely lacking.
In California the State immigration and housing commission,
which enforces the State law regulating labor camps passed about
15 years ago (see p. 54), is said to have revolutionized living con
ditions for migratory farm laborers in-the State since the days when
ranchers used to bring in hordes of workers, many without assuming
any responsibility for their housing, merely permitting them to sleep
on the ranches.
CONDITIONS OF WORK

Children working as hired laborers do not have the variety of work
that farm children have, unless they are regular laborers living on
or near the farms. In such cases their work is like that of the farm
er’s son, except that there may be more of it. For example, a
13-year-old boy in one of the Children’s Bureau surveys was em
ployed as a laborer in a trucking district at $1.50 for a 10-hour day;
on the day before he was seen he had been loading cabbages into
a cart, hauling them away from the field, packing them in crates,
and taking the packed crates to a boat landing at the edge of the
field. Another regular farm hand, 12 years of age, on his last day
of work had been in a strawberry field for six hours— from 8 a. m.
till 2 p. m.— picking and capping berries. This boy had plowed,
harrowed, and cared for every crop raised on his employer’s farm,
including kale, spinach, strawberries, beans, cucumbers, potatoes,
and watermelons.
In some sections where there is a succession of crops throughout
the year, as in the Norfolk trucking district where the mild climate
permits the production of hardier vegetables such as kale and spinach
throughout the winter, country children living near the farms work
on a variety of crops. But as a rule the child who is hired for farm
work, even if he is a country child, is wanted only for hoeing or
weeding or gathering the crops, and the city child is brought out to
the farms only for harvesting.
Child workers in industrialized agriculture, day laDorers from the
cities and children in migratory families, are employed only when
speed is essential. They work at piece rates, at monotonous and
repetitive operations, under the eye of the row boss. The conditions
of their work are not very different from those of factory hands,
except that they work out of dotars; but their hours are much longer
than factory hours.

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CHILDREN IN

AGRICULTURE

Tables 4 to 14 (pp. 59-64) show the length of the working day for
hired child workers on farms in the localities where the Children’s
Bureau made surveys.
In most places children who are hired for farm work have a longer
working-day than farmers’ children in the neighborhood. Thus,
in the southern New Jersey trucking districts one-fourth of the
children living in the locality and hiring out as farm laborers worked
10 hours or more a day whereas only one-eighth of the farmers’
children had as long a working day. In the selected hop and fruit
growing sections of Washington almost all the hired children living
near the farms compared with about one-third of the ranchmen’s
children had a working day of 10 hours or longer. In some places,
however, day laborers hiring out for work on neighboring farms had
a somewhat shorter day on the whole than children working on
their parents’ land.
On New Jersey truck farms 41 per cent of the migratory child
workers of all ages worked at least 9 hours a day, and 12 per cent
worked 10 hours or more. The 9 or 10 hour day for children was even
more common in the hop yards and fruit orchards of Oregon, where in
the districts surveyed 33 per cent of the migratory child workers
worked at least 10 hours a day; and in Washington, where the children
were employed chiefly in picking hops, 87 per cent worked 10 hours
or more a day. The migratory children who picked cotton in Texas
worked at least 8 hours a day, and 68 per cent had a working day of
at least 10 hours. Perhaps the longest hours of all were those re
ported by beet-field workers; from 50 to 75 per cent of the contract
laborers’ children in the Colorado and Michigan districts (the pro
portion varying with the different operations) worked 10 hours or
more a day, the working day in some cases running to 13 or 14 hours.
Little attempt has been made to restrict the hours of agricultural
work for children (see pp. 50-52), even when they are hired by others
than their parents, nor to fix a minimum age for farm work, and
children under 10 years of age and even under 8 sometimes work these
excessive hours in many parts of the country.
Most hired farm hands work fewer days in the year than farmers’
children in the same localities who do any appreciable amount of
work on their parents’ farms. Migratory workers are usually hired
for a few weeks at the height of the harvest, and it is only when their
families go from crop to crop that their year’s work totals several
months. Beet-field workers are an exception. The beet farmer
with only a small acreage (as a rule it is only the small grower who
lets his children work “ in the beeti” ) needs his children’s help for
only a few weeks, whereas the contract laborer contracts for as many
acres as he thinks his family can possibly take care of.

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HIRED CHILDREN IN AGRICULTURE

THE SCHOOLING OF HIRED LABORERS

Children are often hired to do farm work when school is in session,
particularly in trucking sections. In places where farmers’ children
do much work in the fields hired children hying in the neighborhood
of the farms are not kept out of school for work quite as much as
farmers’ children are. However, they often have long absences.
In the Maryland and also in the New Jersey truck-farming districts
studied by the Children’s Bureau half the local children hired for
farm work had been absent in order to work, and their absences had
averaged about one school month whereas in each place more than
half (in New Jersey two-thirds) of the farmers’ children had had
absences for work, the average absence being longer than one month.
Negro children in the Norfolk district are often regular farm hands
who do not attend school, and of those who are enrolled in school a
large proportion are absent many days in order to work. Those who
had been absent for work on the crops had an average absence for
work of about five school weeks. City children hired as day laborers
to work on truck farms near Chicago and on the tobacco crops in the
Connecticut Valley miss very little time from school on account of
their work, as most of the work comes during school vacation.
In almost every locality local children working as hired hands on
the farms are seriously retarded in school, as Table 30 (p. 74) shows.
On the tobacco and cotton plantations of the South, as on the grain
farms of the West, comparatively few children are hired for farm
work, and in the sugar-beet districts of Colorado and Michigan, as
on the fruit ranches of the Pacific Coast States, the larger number of
hired child workers are migratory children.
One of the most serious effects of migratory farm work on children
is its interference with their schooling and with normal home and
community life. The children leave school in the spring to go to the
farms, and it is often November or later before they return; where
the families have no settled home even in the winter but follow the
crops the year around, the children are never long enough in one
place to enter school or else they are enrolled in so many different
schools during the year that they are unable to make any progress.
The beet-field workers are likely to be withdrawn from school for
the exodus to the beet fields in March, April, or May, not to return
until November or December, and sometimes even January. A
Children’s Bureau study of the school attendance of Colorado beetfield workers attending school in Denver, Colo., and Lincoln, Nebr.,
showed that these migratory children had attended school only from
42 to 68 per cent of the term. In a study of farm-labor families in
Denver made by the National Child Labor Committee it was found
that 597 children of compulsory school age in families leaving Denver
for farm work in the spring of 1925 or returning from farm work in

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CHILDREN IN

AGRICULTURE

the fall of 1924 had attended school an average of only 43 per cent
of the term. More than two-fifths of the migratory beet-field|workers
included in the Children’s Bureau study in Michigan and Colorado
were retarded in school. Comparison of the children working in the
beet fields with nonworking children based upon the school records of
several thousand children showed that the percentage of retarded
children was 20 to 30 per cent higher among the employed than among
the nonemployed children.
The bean pickers and other migratory child workers on the truck
farms of Anne Arundel County, Md., had lost from four to six weeks
of the school term in Baltimore because they had withdrawn from
school to go to the country, and 70 per cent of these workers were
below the grades in which they should have been.
In Washington and Oregon the beginning of the hop harvest in
September coincides with the opening of the schools in many places
from which the migratory workers come, and the strawberry season
in June in some sections of Washington and Oregon begins before all
the schools are closed. Children in families which follow the crops
suffer most from irregular attendance, as they either do not go to
school at all in the districts where their parents find work or else
go irregularly to several schools in one year. Although county attend
ance officers and local school boards in some districts make unusual
efforts to get the migratory children to go to school, in families which
move from county to county and from State to State the children’s
schooling is at the mercy of the parents’ standard of what schooling
is necessary. Fifty-three per cent of the migratory workers in dis
tricts in Washington and Oregon included in the Children’s Bureau
survey had missed at least one school month, twice as many in pro
portion as local workers who had lost as much tune as that from
school, and from 26 to 60 per cent of the migratory workers were
retarded in school.
Although the actual time worked by the migratory children in
southern New Jersey is seldom more than three months, the work
extends over a period beginning sometimes as early as March and
lasting until after the cranberry harvest in October or November.
The Children’ s Bureau survey showed that as a rule no effort was
made to send the children imported for farm work to school during
their residence in New Jersey. The local school authorities assumed
no responsibility, on the ground that the children were not residents
of the State. The farmers were not usually interested in getting the
children in school, as they felt that they needed the children’ s work
in order to get their crops to market. Parents were for the most part
intent primarily upon the money that the children’s labor added to
the family income, which would have been diminished if the children
of the family had been compelled to spend part of the day in school.

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HIRED CHILDREN IN AGRICULTURE

Half the migratory children included in the Children’s Bureau study
in New Jersey had lost 8 weeks or more from school,.and about 29
per cent had lost at least 12 weeks. The average absence for farm
work was 43 days. Three-fourths of the children were retarded in
school.
A supplementary study of 869 Philadelphia school children leaving
school to work on farms, principally in New Jersey, showed that the
average school attendance of these children was only between 70 and
75 per cent of the term, and 18 per cent of them had attended school
less than 60 per cent of the term. The average absence for farm
work was between 15 per cent and 20 per cent of the school year.
Almost three-fourths of these children were below the standard grades
for their ages.

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IS FARM WORK GOOD FOR CHILDREN?

Whether or not the work that children do on farms is physically
harmful depends on many things— whether, for instance, the work is
too heavy for their years and physical development or too long con
tinued, whether it is hurried and therefore conducive to overstrain
and excessive fatigue, whether it is of a kind that requires unnatural
postures for long periods or causes overdevelopment of one set of
muscles at the expense of others. Whether it is otherwise harmful
depends on the time and energy it may take that should be devoted
to education and training and to free, spontaneous play, which to the
developing child is not merely recreation but life and growth itself.
For city children migrating for farm work the exposure while in the
country to promiscuous and insanitary living conditions, even though
temporary, and the recurrent interruption of their home and com
munity life are serious disadvantages in the work.
Little is known concerning the effects of excessive farm work on the
health and physical development of children. Comparatively few
probably suffer injuries that appear to be connected with the work
they do— like the little girl who complained that her “ back was
getting crooked from working in the beets” or the boy whose father
said, “ He got a rupture; we put him too young at the plow.”
One of the few studies of the physical condition of boys and girls
working on farms, a study of children working in the beet fields of
Colorado, made by the Children’s Bureau, showed that two in every
three had winged scapulae or protruding shoulder blades. This
percentage is as high as was found among children applying for clinical
care in a large hospital and much higher than that among groups of
healthy children studied in children’s institutions. Flat foot was
two or three times as prevalent among the beet-field workers as among
other children. Both of these conditions may be brought about
by undue strain on immature muscles. The children examined were
largely farmers’ children whose working conditions were in general
better than those of contract laborers.
A report of the committee on rural recreation of the National
Country Life Association concludes that although farm work provides
for an abundance of physical exercise in the open air, farm boys and
girls do not develop symmetrically. Farm work seems to over
develop the major or fundamental muscles, while the finer or acces
sory muscles are neglected and young men reared on farms tire more
easily than young men reared in cities. These conclusions were based
40

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IS FARM WORK GOOD FOR CHILDREN?

in part on the fact that farm boys in the Army camps were slower to
respond to play stimuli and reached the point of fatigue more quickly
than city boys in activities that required the use of the whole body.
J. Mace Andress, in Health Education in Rural Schools, says:
The work that the [farm] boy does with his hands is frequently pulling weeds,
hoeing, or the like. Such work tends to cramp the chest and bring the shoulders
forward. If he drives a team he sits on a seat that has no back and assumes a
cramped position. Children on the farm may develop considerable muscular
strength, but this is becoming less important each year. There is little exercise
which develops vital strength, vigor of heart, lungs, and digestion.

How seriously farm work interferes with schooling has been shown
again and again, especially in the case of boys of 12 or over. Boys
whose farm work cuts short their school days are not being given a
fair chance in life, for in farming,, as in every other industry and
business, education pays. The successful farmer of to-day needs at
least a high-school education; he must be prepared to understand
and adopt improved business marketing methods, and have an
understanding of the economic and social questions involved in
agriculture.
His ranks must furnish the leaders to further his
interests. Agriculture offers large opportunities for leadership to
those with the proper qualifications and training.
Staying away from school to work on the farm is sometimes de
fended on the ground that farm work provides valuable training. The
social and moral value for growing boys and girls of almost any work,
providing it is not too hard or otherwise injurious, especially work
that is done to assist parents, can not be gainsaid. Much of the farm
work that children do is not educative in any other sense. The
work that thousands do, especially in the one-crop sections, is not of a
kind to train them to be better farmers than their parents.
So much for the farm boy or girl. As for the city child whose school
ing is interrupted in order that he may thin or pull beets, weed onions,
or pick berries, tomatoes, cotton, hops, or tobacco, his work is mere
drudgery, wholly lacking in any element of training for his future in
the ranks of urban workers.

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THE OUTLOOK FOR CHILDREN IN AGRICULTURE

Children who do a reasonable amount of farm work, suited to their
years and under the supervision of their parents, are fortunate.
Such work inculcates habits of industry and develops family soli
darity, both desirable objectives in any system of child training.
But what of the overworked child on the home farm? His disap
pearance is not to be expected as a result of prohibitive legislation.
Apart from the fact that the majority of the children' are working
for their parents and public sentiment is opposed to interference in
such circumstances, the administration of child-labor laws regulating
the employment of children in agriculture presents serious difficulties.
Agricultural employment of necessity is spread over considerable
areas, and laborers even on one farm are often working in widely
separated fields, so that efficient inspection is difficult and costly if
not impossible.
Other means must be depended upon to protect child workers on
farms. Among these is the strict enforcement of adequate compul
sory school attendance laws. For the effective enforcement of schoolattendance laws in rural districts a larger unit of school administration
is advocated in which the personal element is less influential than
under the district system. Ten States now have a county-unit
form of administration in which the county rather than the district
school authorities are responsible for enforcing compulsory school
attendance. But the greatest effectiveness demands that the county
unit be reinforced by State authority. In some States, among which
is Connecticut where the law provides for State agents to assist in
and supervise the local enforcement of the law, help is now given by
the State.
Until the individual farmer is converted to the importance of
education he should be compelled by law to send his child to' school,
but improvement in rural schools would be a great help. The school
must take an important place in the life of the rural community, and
this can be looked for only when its work is conducted and supervised
by specially trained men and women acquainted with rural condi
tions and able to awaken the interest of parents as well as children.
Too often rural teachers neither understand nor are interested in
rural life, and are not prepared to assume educational leadership in
a rural district.
One of the most obvious and at the same time most important ways
of reducing excessive child labor on farms is to lengthen the school

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S H A N T Y IN S E A S O N A L W O R K E R S ’ C A M P , H O U S I N G 95 P ER SO N S, M A R Y L A N D T R U C K F A R M
[Dimensions, approximately 60 b y 20 b y 16 feet]

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FA M ILY

S E C T I O N S IN S E A S O N A L W O R K E R S ’ S H A C K S E P A R A T E D
B O A R D S 10 I N C H E S H I G H ( M A R Y L A N D )

ONLY

I N T E R I O R O F S H A N T Y C U R T A I N E D FOR P R IV A C Y BY T H E W O R K E R S
(M A R Y LA N D )
42— 2

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THE OUTLOOK FOR CHILDREN ÏN AGRICULTURE

term. Possibly some adaptation of the school term to the needs
of farm labor in the community may be found necessary. Such
adjustments may result in many rural children receiving eight or
nine months’ schooling a year where they now receive but half
that amount. But before taking this step school authorities should
be certain that, as one county farm bureau phrases it, the demand
for child labor is not more a habit than a need, for the broken school
year has its drawbacks.
Improvements in rural schools and extension of school terms of
course demand more adequate financial support than is now given.
The United States Bureau of Education in a recent biennial survey
says:
Two important factors are more clearly and widely recognized than ever:
Local support as the sole dependence for rural schools is inconstant, inadequate,
and inequitable; and rural schools frequently, from causes inherent in rural
conditions, cost more rather than less than urban schools, if equally efficient.
* * * The unusual interest in questions of the adequacy and method of
support of schools in rural communities, growing during the decade, culminated
in unwonted activity during the biennium [1925-1926] in all matters concerned
with State school funds and their distribution.

Farm parents must be educated in regard to the importance of
training and of recreation, if the country child is to be given a
'Tr' fair chance. The boys’ and girls’ clubs conducted by the cooperative
extension service of the United States Department of Agriculture
and the State agricultural colleges, in which 600,000 farm boys and
girls are now enrolled, are valuable potential agencies, provided
leaders do not lose sight of educational objectives, in bringing about
the enlightenment of farm parents and in training farm children.
Somewhat similar results may be expected from the home-project
movement for giving credit in schools for work done at home, in
which the father instructs the boy how the work should be done and
the school finds ways of making the performance of the work a part
of the boy’s education. In these ways parents come to realize that
some kinds of farm work and ways of doing it are educative and
other kinds are not, with the result that the children may be
assigned to work of the more educative sort.
Farm organizations, too, may do their part in raising the standards
of education and training that the individual farmer will seek for
his children.
Finally, the welfare of children on farms, including the amount
and kinds of work they do and the opportunities for schooling that
they get, is bound up with the economic welfare of the farmer and a
satisfactory solution of his problems. If he is trying to make a
living on a farm that can not be expected to yield adequate returns,
if he has no skill in farm management and can work profitably only
when directed and supervised, the sooner he abandons farming the
112218°— 29------4

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CHILDREN IN AGRICULTURE

better. The standard of living for the farmer will be raised, and the
opportunities enjoyed by his family will be increased, by anything
that tends to restrict the number of low-grade farm operators.
As for the employment of children in gangs in industrialized types
of agriculture, the possibility of restricting the age at which they
may work and their daily hours of work claims serious consideration,
in spite of the difficulties presented by any regulation (see pp. 50-52).
An indirect approach to the regulation of children’s work in this
type of agriculture, as in work on home farms, may be made through
compulsory school attendance laws. But this, also, has its diffi
culties. The school authorities in the cities from which migratory
workers go out to work on the farms usually do not attempt to follow
up children leaving the city, and the local schools in the farming
communities to which they go are apt from financial and other
reasons to ignore the presence of children who come in for farm work,
though their residence in some instances covers a considerable part
of the school year.
An effort to provide schooling for migratory child workers by
legislative methods was made in 1927 by the introduction in the
New Jersey and Pennsylvania Legislatures of bills making it unlawful
for nonresident children to be employed during the time when the
laws of the State of the child’s residence require his attendance in
school. These bills were proposed as a result of several conferences
between school and labor authorities of Pennsylvania and New Jersey
and certain welfare interests of the two States; and it was hoped that
after these States had taken the lead, similar legislation would be
passed in the neighboring States of Maryland and Delaware. Neither
bill became law, however.
In Nebraska the department of public welfare found that the
beet-sugar companies, not being able to depend on advance contracts,
were taking the families to the fields in the spring from two weeks
to a month before their services were needed, in order to be certain
of securing the labor before some other company had a chance to
do so. The children thus lost considerable time from school at the
end of the school year. In an attempt to check the spring migration
the department adopted the following method: B y cooperation with
the school authorities and with the beet companies, a date was
fixed which was to be the earliest that the children should be taken
out of school. In this way the beet companies were assured that they
would have a fair chance to get the labor when the time for shipment
arrived. The date agreed upon was only four or five days ahead of
the time when the schools regularly closed, but early enough to get
the help to the field by the time it was really needed. In 1925
resident parents of Lincoln and several other cities who attempted
to leave with their children before this date were prosecuted, the

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THE OUTLOOK FOR CHILDREN IN AGRICULTURE

sentences being suspended provided they did not leave until after
the date fixed. This action of the court stopped the exodus. In the
spring of 1926 four fathers left Lincoln with their children in advance
of the date agreed upon. Complaints were filed against them, and
in the autumn on their return three of them (intention to return was
not established in the case of the fourth) were each fined $5 and costs.
The costs included the expenses of an officer sent by the court from
Lincoln to the beet fields in western Nebraska so that each man paid
a fine of approximately $53. In the plan which the department of
public welfare has recommended to local school officials removal of
children before the close of school is not sanctioned, but the policy
of prosecuting all parents leaving before the chosen date and of not
initiating prosecutions after that date is recommended as the best
method of insuring maximum attendance of the children.
In California, in accordance with an act of the legislature of 1921,
special schools were established and maintained from September,
1921, to January, 1923, for migratory children in the various harvest
centers of the State, particularly in areas where walnuts, cotton, and
asparagus were extensively grown. As a result of this experiment
the State board of education arrived at the following conclusions in
regard to the schooling of migratory children:
The conclusion of first importance * * * is that for the school attendance
of the children of migratory laborers a separate system of State schools is neither
necessary nor desirable.
It has been found that under certain conditions of preparation and cooperation
the existing public-school system can be stretched to make room for the migra
tory children during their successive periods of stay in different districts, and that
this can be done without undue financial burden upon any one district and
without school confusion for the resident children.
The conditions are:
(1) Each county subject to seasonal influx of family labor must have the
services of a competent full-time supervisor of attendance who, through cooper
ation with growers ’ associations, farm advisers, and labor agencies, can anticipate
the approximate number of children needing additional school facilities and can
assist the trustees in providing them; who can make the compulsory education
law known to parents and employers and who can interpret the emergency
needs of a district to the county superintendent of schools.
(2) The financial burden should be shared by district and county— the district
providing building, equipment, and supplies, and the county (from the super
vision and emergency fund) paying the salaries of additional teachers at least
for the first year. In the initial year, when there has been no preceding increased
attendance to furnish additional school funds, the school building has sometimes
proved a financial difficulty and has led to the use of tents, partitioned-off ends
of warehouses, empty houses, and the like. At times the growers have come
to the rescue and provided housing. In fact, the most successful schools have
had this assistance. Such aid is entirely optional with the growers, but when it
has been given, school attendance has been increased by their interest and a
better school has attracted and held better labor.

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AGRICULTURE

After the first year or two the individual districts profiting by the returns on
increased average daily attendance are able to carry on the work as part of the
regular school business of the district and to make budgetary provision therefor.
(3) There should be separate ungraded classes for all children who can not
slip easily into the regular scSool because of language handicap or retarda
tion. * * *
(4) When the agricultural work is very light and without hazards, there
should be an adjusted school day beginning not later than the field work. This
provides for the whole family leaving the camp at the same time, the adults
going to the field and the children to school. It safeguards the children against
working before school and from being left alone at the camp. It also means
that the school day is over, when the midday meal is ready. It provides also
that the children may work in the afternoons. The last is not a concession to
child labor; it is a concession to labor-camp life. The whole adjustment is made
in view of what seems best for the child in relation to his camp life and arranges
that when he is not in school he is with his family. The school session comes
first and is a full session meeting regular requirements of time for study and
recreation. The hours remaining for work can not then exceed five.
(5) There should be a State representative who cooperates with county super
intendents. of schools, county supervisors of attendance, growers’ associations,
and labor-supply agencies in making the enforcement of school attendance law
uniform, and in demonstrating to the heads of families that this law is operative
in every district in the State and can not be evaded by changing camp.
The second conclusion reached was that, while the school attendance of migra
tory children could be secured while in each harvest, their education by such
start-and-stop method was a doubtful accomplishment. Even with the hundred
per cent efficiency that would enroll the child upon arrival and keep him in
attendance until departure, the time lost in transit between camps and the con
fusion incident to changes in teachers, school building, playgrounds, and the like
would allow for little school progress.
It would appear that the problem of the education of migratory children must
be approached not only with the mechanics of their school attendance in mind
but with the whole question of their migration as well. To this end it is recom
mended that the State department of education cooperate to the fullest degree
possible with any effort to lessen the areas of migration of the followers of the
fruit.

The provision o f suitable living quarters for migratory workers
may be expected through State regulation of labor camps, judging
from the success of some of the States in improving the housing of
seasonal laborers. These attempts to cope with the problem of the
schooling and housing of migratory child workers, though not fur
nishing a solution, indicate a growing appreciation of the importance
of the situation. It is hoped that the present problems are tempo
rary, that through the development, in towns in the vicinity of
farming areas, of supplementary industries that require large num
bers of seasonal workers, a local adult labor supply may become
available. B y cooperative arrangement for the daily transportation
of laborers from the towns to the farms when needed this labor supply
could servé a largé farming area, and children of such farm laborers
would grow up not as nomads but as residents of the towns that
serve these agricultural districts.

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H O U S E S FOR W O R K E R S O N L A R G E T R U C K F A R M , S O U T H E R N N E W J E R S E Y
S H A N T Y H O U S I N G 47 PER SON S, S O U T H E R N N E W J E R S E Y

C O O K IN G A R R A N G E M E N T S , H O P P IC K E R S ’ C AM P, W l LLA M ETT E VALLEY, OREG.

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LEGAL REGULATION 1 OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN
IN AGRICULTURAL PURSUITS 2
Few State laws apply specifically to the work ofj children in agricultural pur
suits. Although in a number of States general child-labor laws, particularly
those affecting the work of children during school hburs, apply to “ any gainful
occupation” or “ any occupation” and so would nominally cover the employment
of children in farm work, the only regulation of this type of child labor in most
States is that which results indirectly from the operation of the general require
ments of compulsory school attendance laws. In six States, however— Massa
chusetts, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin— specific
regulatory provisions of one kind or another affecting the employment of children
in agricultural work are found in the child-labor or the compulsory school attend
ance laws. (See pp. 50-52.)
COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE LAWS

Compulsory day-school attendance laws,3 applicable in most States to children
up to 16 years of age 4 indirectly affect the work of children on farms. This is
true, of course, only to the extent that their provisions are strictly enforced, and
special difficulties of enforcement often exist in rural districts. Many schoolattendance laws, also, contain general exemptions. permitting children to be
excused for “ sufficient reasons,” “ satisfactory reasons,” or “ necessary absence,”
which might be used to cover absence for farm work.
The following compulsory school-attendance laws have provisions specifically
permitting the exemption of children for farm work without regard to age:
Georgia: Child may be excused temporarily for “ good reasons,” the suffi
ciency of which shall be determined by the county or city board of educa
tion of the county or city in which the child resides. These boards are
authorized to take into consideration the season for agricultural labor and
the need for such labor in excusing children in farming districts.
North Carolina: The State board of education shall prescribe under what
circumstances teachers, principals, or superintendents may excuse pupils
for nonattendance due to “ immediate demands of the farm and the home
in certain seasons.”
The following exemption affecting children working at home might be used to
permit children to engage in agricultural work during school hours on the farm
where his parents reside without regard'to age:
South Dakota: Child who has completed the sixth grade may be excused
from attendance at school for not to exceed 40 school days between April 1
and November 1, if there exists an extreme need for his assistance at home.
1 State laws as of M a y 1, 1928, so far as available on that date.
1 This section was prepared b y Ella Arvilla Merritt, specialist in legal research, industrial division,
Children's Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor.
8 M any of the compulsory continuation-school attendance laws also would nominally cover children
employed in farm work, but continuation schools are not likely to be established in rural districts,.
* In Arkansas the school-attendance requirements extend only to 15 years of age, and in Georgia, N orth
Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia they extend only to 14 years of age.

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The following similar exemptions are applicable only to children 14 years of
age or over:
Minnesota: Except in cities of the first or second class, child 14 years of age
or over whose help is required in permitted occupations in or about the
home of his parent or guardian may be excused from attendance at school
between April 1 and November 1.
Ohio: Child 14 or over may be excused from school attendance for a limited
period to perform necessary work directly and exclusively for parent or
legal guardian, such excuse to be granted under regulations formulated
by State department of education.
West Virginia: Child 14 or over may be excused from school attendance on
written permission fi;om city or county superintendent of schools to engage
in profitable employment at home.
CHILD-LABOR LAWS OF GENERAL APPLICATION

Many State child-labor laws either specifically exempt agricultural pursuits or
regulate only certain specified establishments and occupations, among which
agricultural work is not included. Certain States, however, have general childlabor provisions applying to “ any occupation” or “ any gainful occupation,”
or any “ place of labor,” from which agricultural work is not specifically exempted.
But the administrative difficulties of applying to farm work a system of regulatoin adapted primarily to the control of child labor in industrial and commercial
establishments are so great that these provisions, particularly as related to work
outside school hours and to hours of labor, are not usually enforced against
children engaged in agricultural pursuits.
These general child-labor provisions relate to minimum age, to employment
certificates, to hours of labor, and to night work. They may be classified as follows:
1. Minimum age during school hours: 5
14 Indiana 8 - Alabama _ _ _ _ __
14
14 Kansas 8_ _
Arizona. _ _
14
14 K en tu ck y ___
Arkansas 6_
__
14
15 Maine.
California78- _
15
(Child 14 may leave
Massachusetts (see also
school for work on
p. 50)______
14
special permit if he
Minnesota 8__
14
Montana.
14
has completed the
Nebraska (see also p. 50) _ 14
eighth grade and his
Nevada___
14
earnings are needed
for support of family,)
New M exico. _
14
C onnecticut8 _
_____ 14 New York (see also p. 50)
Idaho- __ __ __ ____
14 North Dakota
14
Oregon
14
(Compulsory school attendance law apparPennsylvania (see also 14
14
ently raises this age
p. 51)--------Tennessee
14
to 15.)
14
Illinois 9_ __________ __ 14 West Virginia
8 In some of these States this provision m ay be interpreted to apply to all work during the school term.
6 Law applies not only to work during school hours hut also to work at any time in any remunerative
occupation, except that during school vacation child under 14 m ay be em ployed b y his parent or guardian
in “ occupations owned or controlled” b y him.
7 A ct applies to specified establishments and to “ any other place of labor.”
8 The minimum age is 16 unless child has completed a specified grade: California, seventh grade; Con
necticut, sixth grade (local school board m ay raise grade requirements for children leaving school for work);
Indiana, Kansas, and Minnesota, eighth grade.
9 This provision in the Illinois law is that no minor under 14 years of age shall be em ployed at any work
performed for wages or other compensation “ during any portion of any m onth when the public schools
* * * are jn session.” According to information received from the bureau of labor statistics of the
Illinois Department of Labor, this provision is not interpreted b y the department to apply to farm work.

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LEGAL REGULATION OF CHILDREN IN AGRICULTURE

For provisions in New Jersey, Ohio, and Wisconsin affecting the minimum age
for employment during school hours see page 48. In Rhode Island the compulsory
school attendance law requires attendance at school of all children not physically
or mentally disqualified up to 15 years of a g e10 and up to 16 years of age unless
they are employed.
2. Employment-certificate provisions.
As in case of the minimum-age laws the requirement of an employment
certificate under some State laws is apparently broad enough in its applica
tion to cover the employment of children in any occupation or any place
of labor or in any gainful or remunerative occupation, at least during
school hours. This is the case in eight States.11 In four other States
(Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania) special certificate
provisions apply to children going to work in agriculture (see pp. 50-52).
In New Jersey the compulsory school attendance law, by requiring all
•children not physically or mentally incapacitated to attend full-time
school up to the age of 16 unless they are 14 and have been granted age
and schooling certificates for regular employment, would require such a
certificate for employment in any occupation during school hours. In
six States (California, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington)
the work-permit requirement under the continuation school law applying
to employed children up to 18 years of age (in California, 'Montana, and
Washington, effective only where continuation schools are established)
might be construed to cover employment in all types of occupations.
3. Maximum hours of labor and prohibitions of night work.
Arkansas, California, Colorado,12 Illinois,18 Minnesota, New Mexico,14
and Oregon have provisions fixing a maximum 8-hour day and 48-hour
week 15 and prohibiting night work (that is, work between specified hours),
applying to employment of children under 16 in any occupation, or any
gainful occupation, which do not specifically exempt agricultural pursuits.
In Idaho the provisions for a maximum 9-hour day and 54-hour week and
the night-work prohibition applying to employment of children under 16
in any gainful occupation do not exempt agricultural pursuits. Addi
tional restrictions are: California, total hours of schooling and labor of
children under 16 working outside school hours shall not exceed 8; Massa
chusetts, employment of child under 14 at any work 16 between 6 p. m.
and 6.30 a. m. is prohibited; Ohio, not more than 9 hours per day is per
mitted for both school and employment for child under 16, when child is
i# Exempting only those excluded “ b y virtue of some general law or regulation.”
11 Arkansas; California (act applies to specified establishments and to “ any other place of labor” );
Indiana (child can not remain at home to assist his parents, but must be actually em ployed); Kansas;
Minnesota; Montana; N ew Mexico; West Virginia. The employment-certificate provision applies to
children between 14 and 16 years of age in all the foregoing States except California and Maine, where it
applies to children between 15 and 16 years of age, and Indiana, where it applies to children between 14 and
18. In N ew Mexico, however, children under 16 working for their own parents or guardians on premises
or land owned or occupied b y them are exempted from the provision requiring employm ent certificates.
In West Virginia written permission m ay also be granted b y the superintendent of schools under the
school attendance law to child 14 or over to engage in gainful employment at home.
u Child between 14 and 16 (between 12 and 16 during summer vacation) m ay apparently be exempted
on special permit.
u This provision in the Illinois law is that no person under the age of 16 years shall be em ployed “ at any
gainful occupation” for more than 6 days a week or 8 hours a day, or between 7 p. m . and 7 a. m. Accord
ing to information received from the bureau of labor statistics of the Illinois Department of Labor this
provision is not interpreted b y the department to apply to farm work.
m Child working for parent or guardian on premises or land owned or occupied b y him is exempted.
1®In N ew M exico a 44-hour week, except under special circumstances, in no instance to exceed 48 hours
a week.
1« In Commonwealth v . Griffith, 90 N . E . 394, the word “ w ork ” was given a broad signification.

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attending school and working outside school hours, and not more than 4
hours per day for child under 14.
For provisions in Nebraska and Wisconsin limiting hours of labor in
specific agricultural occupations, see below.
LAW S APPLYING SPECIFICALLY TO FARM W ORK

Varying types of child-labor laws with definite application to agricultural work
are found in six States— Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsyl
vania, and Wisconsin.
Massachusetts: No child under 14 shall be employed at work performed for
wage or other compensation during the hours when the public schools are
in session.
A child between 14 and 16 who wishes to leave school for farm work is
required to obtain a special certificate issued by the superintendent of
schools. To secure this certificate he must present the same evidence of
age as is required for a regular employment certificate, must have a physi
cian’s certificate of physical fitness, and must be able to meet the require
ments for completion of the sixth grade of the public schools. A child 14
years of age or over who possesses the same educational qualifications may
be excused from school attendance by the superintendent of schools to
engage in “ profitable employment at home,” after investigation of the
nature and necessity of the work in which the child is to engage.
The employment of a child under 14 at any work 17 between 6 p. m.
and 6.30 a. m. is prohibited.
Nebraska: Work in beet fields is included among the occupations for which
a maximum 8-hour day and 48-hour week is fixed and in which night work
between 8 p. m. and 6 a. m. is prohibited.
The child labor law also prohibits the employment of children under 14
in any gainful occupation during school hours (thus covering farm work
during the hours when schools are in session).
New York: A minimum age of 14 is fixed for any employment in or in con
nection with or for factories, canneries, or other specified establishments
and occupations, and for any employment in or in connection with or for
any other trade, business, or occupation carried on for pecuniary gain,
except that a child 12 years of age or over may be employed in farm work
for his parent, guardian, or custodian 18 at such times as he is not required
by law to attend school.
A child between 14 and 16 years of age employed in agricultural pursuits
by any person other than his parent, guardian, or custodian must obtain
the same type of employment certificate as is required for employment in
other occupations. The requirements for this certificate are: (1) Promise
of employment; (2) documentary evidence of age; (3) completion of
eighth grade for child 14 and completion of sixth grade for child 15 if work
is to be performed during school hours; (4) literacy test;19 and (5) certificate
of physical fitness. A new employment certificate is required for each
new employer.
17 Idem.
18 Further exemptions are specified, applicable to children 12 years of age or over engaged in other outdoor^
work than farm work for their parents or guardians, provided such outdoor work is not connected withthe establishments or occupations in which employment of children under 14 is prohibited and is carried
on at such times as child is not required-by law to attend school. B oys m ay engage in street trades at 12
years of age, outside school hours, under specified restrictions.
« Required only for minors under 16 w ho have not com pleted the work of the first seven years of the
public-school course of study.
.

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LEGAL REGULATION OF CHILDREN IN AGRICULTURE

Ohio: Employment certificates.— No child of compulsory school age (between
6 and 18 years of age) shall be employed in any occupation during school
hours, including agriculturalwork, without presenting an age and schooling
certificate as a condition of employment. Such a certificate may be
issued to (1) child 16 years of age or over who has completed seventh grade
and has met certain other requirements (under certain conditions such
child may obtain a “ nonstandard” certificate without completion of
seventh grade); (2) child 14 years of age or over who has been determined
in the manner provided by law to be incapable of profiting substantially
by further school instruction; (3) child under 16 who is high-school gradu
ate (under same conditions as child 16 or over).
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, a child may be employed in
“ irregular service” without holding an age and schooling certificate.
“ Irregular service” is defined as follows:
* * * Service not forbidden by Federal child-labor laws
which (a) does not involve confinement, (b) does not require con
tinuous physical strain, (c) is interrupted with rest or recreation
periods, and (d) does not require more than 4 hours of work in any
day or 24 in any week. The health commissioner of the district
in which employment is afforded to any child shall determine
whether the employment involves confinement or requires con
tinuous physical strain so that it can not be deemed irregular
service within the meaning of this section.
For employment in agricultural pursuits at other times than during
school hours no employment certificate is required.
Cofnpulsory school attendance.— The compulsory school attendance law
affects employment in agricultural pursuits by requiring children to attend
school or receive equivalent instruction elsewhere during the entire
session between the ages of 6 and 18 years with certain exemptions, and
prohibiting the employment in any occupation during school hours of
any child required by law to attend school. The exemptions permitted
are:
(1) Child has graduated from a high school of the first grade;
(2) child is employed on age and schooling certificate (which can
not be obtained for work during school hours until child is 16,
except in case o f high-school graduate or child determined incapa
ble of profiting substantially by further instruction); (3) child
has been determined incapable of profiting substantially by fur
ther instruction (such a child, if under 14, may not be employed
more than 4 hours a day); (4) child 14 or over may be excused for
limited future period to perform necessary work directly and
exclusively for parent or legal guardian under regulations of State
department of education; and (5) child’s bodily or mental condi
tion does not permit his attendance at school.
Hours of labor.— No child under 14 shall be employed more than four
hours in any one day, and no child under 16 shall be engaged in school
and employed more than nine hours in any one day.
Pennsylvania: The compulsory school attendance law requires a child
between 14 and 16 who wishes to leave school for farm work to obtain a
special type of employment certificate, issued in accordance with regu
lations prescribed by the State superintendent of public instruction. To
secure this certificate he must have completed the sixth grade and must
present the same evidence of age as is required for an employment certifi-

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cate, and it must be shown that his services are demanded by the urgent
need of his family.
The employment of any child under 14 in any gainful occupation during
school hours is prohibited.
Wisconsin: A law passed in 1925 gives the State industrial commission,
which enforces the child labor law as well as other labor laws, power to
fix reasonable regulations relative to the employment of children under
16 years of age “ in cherry orchards, market gardening, gardening con
ducted or controlled by canning companies, and the culture of sugar
beets and cranberries, for the purpose of protecting the life, health, safety,
and welfare of such children.” Under this law the following regula
tions relating to the work of children in the culture of sugar beets have
been made, effective April 9, 1926:
Order No. 1.— No minor under the age of 14 years shall be
employed or be permitted to work in the culture or harvesting of
sugar beets more than 8 hours in any one day, nor more than 48
hours in any one week, nor before the hour of 7 o ’clock in the
morning, nor after the hour of 7 o’clock in the evening.
Order No. 2.— No minor under the age of 14 years who has
not completed the eighth grade in school shall be employed or be
permitted to work in the culture and harvesting of sugar beets
during the hours when the public schools are in session in the
school district in which such minor is actually living during the
beet culture and harvesting season.
Order No. 3.— Companies engaged in the manufacture of
beet sugar and who arrange contracts between the growers and
the families who are to perform the work shall send to the Indus
trial Commission the following information when the family is
finally placed with the grower:
(a) Name and address of the field agent; (b) name, loca
tion, and address of each family under his supervision;
(c) last residential address of each migratory family; (d)
name and age of each child under 16 years of age in the
family; (e) name and address of grower with whom contract
is made; (f) name or number of the school in the district.
Order No. 4-— Companies engaged in the manufacture of beet
sugar who arrange contracts between the growers and the
families who are to perform the work, shall advise parents and
growers of the provisions of these orders.
The compulsory school attendance law requires children not physically
disqualified to attend full-time day school (or receive equivalent instruc
tion) up to 16 years of age, with these exemptions: Children who have
completed the eighth grade; children living at a specified distance from any
school, no transportation being provided; children having a legal excuse;
children who have reached the age of 14 and are regularly, lawfully, and
usefully employed.

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LEGAL REGULATION OE CHILDREN IN AGRICULTURE

STATE REGULATION OF LABOR CAMPS 20

State laws specifically regulating camps for housing industrial workers 21 or
giving some State board specific power to make such regulations, are found in
the following States:
California (all labor camps).
Delaware (cannery camps only).
Idaho (camps connected with canneries or food-manufacturing plants).
Kentucky (all labor camps).
Maryland (cannery camps only).
Michigan (not clear whether all labor camps or only factory— including
cannery camps).
Minnesota (all labor camps).
New Mexico (all labor camps).
New York (department of labor regulations cover camps for factory (includ
ing cannery) workers; board of health regulations cover all labor camps).
Pennsylvania (all labor camps).
Utah (all labor camps).
In addition, it is known that in the following States regulations have been
made by State boards under general powers:
Oregon (hop yards, berry fields, orchards, and packing houses, where women
or minors are employed).
Washington (all labor camps).
The Minnesota, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania laws consist of general grants
power to regulate the sanitary conditions of all types of industrial or labor
* camps, this power being given to the State board of health in Minnesota, to
the State department of public welfare in New Mexico, and to the commis
sioner of labor and industry in Pennsylvania. The rules prescribed in Pennsyl
vania apply to all types of labor camps and cover sanitary conditions in all
living quarters, including shacks and tent bunk houses. A license must be ob
tained from the department of labor and industry for the operation of such a
camp, the license to be renewed each year. The rules cover the material and
the construction of the buildings, window space, ventilation of sleeping rooms,
doors, screens, space requirements, sleeping accomodations, beds, air space of
sleeping rooms, garbage disposal, water supply, washing, bathing and laundry
facilities, toilets, and drainage.
The Delaware and Maryland laws relate only to camps for cannery workers,
being in each case a part of a general law relating to the sanitation of canneries 22
under the jurisdiction of the cannery inspector in Delaware and of the State
board of health in Maryland. In both States the legal provisions are general,
specifying that living quarters shall have waterproof roofs and tight board
floors and shall be provided with ample light and ventilation, that provisions
shall be made for proper separation and privacy of the sexes, that there shall
be adequate drainage, and that the surroundings must be kept in a clean and
sanitary condition. The Maryland law contains the additional requirement
of an ample supply of pure drinking water.
20 Information as to laws and regulations as of Jan. 1,1927.
21 Omitting laws relating only to camps for workers on highways and public improvements and those
elating only to boarding houses for laborers.
' 22 In Maryland the law also covers factories, bakeries, etc., but the provisions as to camps apply only to
canneries.

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The Idaho law applies to establishments where foods and food products are
manufactured, preserved, or handled, and requires that where living quarters
are provided for employees by the manufacturer, these quarters shall be screened
and supplied with ample ventilation, clean water, and sanitary sewage disposal.
The Michigan law, which is part of the general factory law, is administered
by the department of labor and industry. It applies to “ any employer engaged
in construction of railroad or other work” and relates to premises for sleeping
or living accommodations furnished by the employer for his employees, re
quiring that they “ shall be maintained in a cleanly and sanitary condition and
kept sufficiently heated and well lighted and ventilated.” The application of
the provision is somewhat doubtful, as the powers of inspection given in the
act are limited to factories (including canneries), stores, and hotels. The law
creating the department of labor, however, gives the commissioner and his
appointees under his direction power to inspect “ all manufacturing establish
ments, workshops, hotels, stores, and all places where labor is employed.”
The New York law empowers the industrial commissioner to enter and inspect
all labor camps but gives the department of labor power to regulate sanitary
conditions of such camps only in case of an employer conducting a factory 23
and furnishing to his employees living quarters at a place outside the factory.
The employer is required to maintain such living quarters in a sanitary condition
and in accordance with rules adopted by the State industrial board (a division
of the department of labor). The rules promulgated by the board cover con
struction of living quarters, air space and windows, beds, bathing facilities,
toilets, water supply, drainage, number of rooms per family, sleeping accommoda
tions, garbage and sewage disposal, cleanliness, and other sanitary conditions.
In addition to these regulations, there should be considered also the regulations
established by the State public-health council for labor camps in general
(Chapter V of the Sanitary Code). These require that notice of any labor camp
occupied by five or more persons shall be given to the local health officer, and
a permit must be obtained if the camp is to be occupied by more than 10 persons
for a period of more than six days. The provisions apply chiefly to drainage,
water supply, pollution of waters, sewage, waste and garbage disposal, and
communicable diseases.
The California law applies to all camps where more than five persons are
employed and covers sanitary conditions in bunk houses, tents, and all other
sleeping and living quarters. The provisions relate to structural conditions,
cleanliness, sufficient air space, beds, bathing and toilet facilities, disposal of
garbage, and general sanitary conditions. The State commission of immigration
and housing has charge of enforcement and has issued a pamphlet 2i setting out
supplementary and explanatory rules, and giving detailed directions, with
illustrations, as to location and layout of camps, water supply, sleeping quarters,
disposal of garbage and sewage, toilets, baths, and other sanitary aspects.
The Utah law requires persons establishing temporary or permanent industrial
camps of any kind to report their location to the State board of health and to
comply with the regulations of that board regarding their maintenance. These
regulations require a permit to be obtained if the camp is to be occupied by more
than 10 persons for more than 6 days, and cover construction, water supply,
23 “ F actory” includes a mill, workshop, or other manufacturing establishment and all buildings, sheds,structures, or other places used for or in connection therewith, where one or more persons are em ployed
at manufacturing, including making, altering, repairing, finishing, bottling, canning, cleaning, or laundering
any article or thing, in whole or in part, except certain establishments not pertinent to the present dis
cussion.
24 A dvisory Pamphlet on Cam p Sanitation and Housing (Revised, 1921). Commission of Immigration
and Housing of California.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

LEGAL REGULATION OF CHILDREN IN AGRICULTURE

ventilation, bathing facilities, screening, toilet facilities, drainage and sewage
disposal, and other sanitary conditions.
The Kentucky law creates a bureau of housing under the State board of health,
to promote better conditions affecting sanitary housing, including specifically
“ any houses provided as part compensation for labor.” Under this power the
State board of health has made a ruling requiring employers of labor providing
housing for their workers to furnish pure and abundant drinking water, to
prevent soil pollution, and to provide adequate housing room.
In Washington the State board of health under its general powers of “ super
vision of all matters relating to the preservation of the life and health of the
people of the State” has made detailed regulations concerning the establishment
of labor camps covering location, drainage, toilets, waste and garbage disposal,
water supply, construction and ventilation of bunk houses and amount of air
space, and isolation of diseased persons. The site and water supply of all labor
camps housing five or more persons must be approved by State and local board
of health officials.
The Oregon regulations are among the rulings made by the State industrial
welfare commission, under its power to establish minimum wages and standard
hours and conditions of labor for women and minors. They cover hop yards,
berry fields, orchards, or packing houses in which fruits, vegetables, or fish are
packed, dried, or cured, and prohibit the employment of minors under 18 and
women unless the specified conditions are met. These cover water supply,
toilets, and garbage disposal.
It would seem that in most States the State board of health might make
, regulations under its general powers, as has been done in New York and Washing
ton, and that in States where industrial commissions are given general powers
to establish standard conditions of labor for women and minors, regulations
such as those of Oregon might be made.

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LIST OF REPORTS ON CHILDREN IN AGRICULTURE
Children’s Bureau:
Child Labor and the Work of Mothers in the Beet Fields of Colorado and
Michigan. No. 115. 1923.
Child Labor on Maryland Truck Farms. No. 123. 1923.
Child Labor in North Dakota. No. 129. 1923.
Child Labor and the Work of Mothers on Norfolk Truck Farms. No. 130.
1924.
Work of Children on Truck and Small-Fruit Farms in Southern New Jersey.
No. 132. 1924.
The Welfare of Children in Cotton-Growing Areas of Texas. No. 134.
1924.
Child Labor in Fruit and Hop Growing Districts of the Northern Pacific
Coast. No. 151. 1926.
Child Labor in Representative Tobacco-Growing Areas. No. 155. 1926.
Work of Children on Illinois Farms. No. 168. 1926.
National Child Labor Committee:
People Who Go to Tomatoes; a study of four hundred families. Pamphlet
215. 1914.
Child Labor in the Sugar Beet Fields of Colorado. Pamphlet 259. 1916.
Causes of Absence from Rural Schools in Oklahoma. Pamphlet 281. 1917.
Farm Work and Schools in Kentucky. Pamphlet 274. 1917.
“ Farm children in Oklahoma.” Child Labor Bulletin, May, 1918.
“ Rural school attendance in Alabama.” Child Labor Bulletin,August,1918.
“ The onion workers.” American Child, February, 1920.
“ California the golden.” American Child, November, 1920.
Child Labor in the Sugar Beet Fields of Michigan. Publication No. 310.
1923.
Children Working in the Sugar Beet Fields of Certain Districts of the South
Platte Valley, Colorado. Publication No. 333. 1925.
Child Labor among Cotton Growers of Texas; a study of children living in
rural communities in six counties in Texas. 1925.
Children Working on Farms in Certain Sections of .the Western Slope of
Colorado. 1925.
Denver and Farm Labor Families. Publication No. 328. 1925.
Public Education and Child Labor Association of Pennsylvania:
Pennsylvania Children on New Jersey Cranberry Farms. Publication
No. 102. 1923.
State departments:
“ Child labor in California.” Twenty-first Biennial Report of the Bureau
of Labor Statistics of the State of California, 1923-1924, pp. 89-120.
“ Children in beet fields.” Seventeenth Biennial Report, Colorado Bureau
of Labor Statistics, 1919-1920, p. 20.
“ Child labor in the beet fields of Kansas.” Third Annual Report of the
Court of Industrial Relations of the State of Kansas, 1922, pp. 123-124.
“ Child labor in beet fields.” Biennial Report of the Department of Public
Welfare, Nebraska, 1918-1920, p. 7.
“ Investigation of the employment of minors upon truck farms, particularly
onion and celery farms in some localities in Ohio.” Ohio Public Health
Journal, September, 1915, pp. 316-325.
“ Employment of children in beet fields and cranberry marshes of Wisconsin.”
Women’s Department of the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, 19201922, p. 30.
“ Children in sugar beet fields in Wisconsin.” Industrial Commission of
Wisconsin. Supplement to Wisconsin Labor Statistics, October, 1923.
56

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

TABLES
T able

1.— Children 10 to 15 years of age engaged in agricultural pursuits, by sex

and State
[Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, vol. 4, Population, pp. 482-595.]

Tc tal
State
N um ber

United S t a t e s .______ _________ ________

...

Alabama.........................................
A rizo n a .._________________________________
Arkansas_____ ________________ .
California___________________________
Colorado_____ _____________ .
Connecticut______________________
Delaware_____________________________
District of Columbia_______________________ ..
Florida____ _______ _____________________
Georgia__________________ ______
Idaho_______ _________________________
Illinois_____________ _____________
Indiana. _________________________
I o w a ...____ _______________
Kansas____ ____ ______________ . . .
K entucky________ _____________ ___________ .
Louisiana______________ . . . ____
M a in e .._________ ________________________ .
M aryland______________________________________ ..
Massachusetts________________________________________
M ichigan___ _____ ______________________________
M innesota__________________________________________
Mississippi____________________________________________
M issouri_________ _________________________________
M ontana____ _________________________________________
Nebraska______________________________________
N evada______________________________________________
N ew Hampshire_______________________________
N ew Jersey__________________________________________
N ew M exico__ ______________________________ .
N ew Y o r k ______________________ ___________________
N orth Carolina_______________________________________
North Dakota_______________________________ ________
Ohio__________________________________________________
Oklahoma__________________________________________
O regon ...____ ________________________________________
Pennsylvania____ __________________________________ .
Rhode Island___________________________________ ______
South Carolina________________________________________
South Dakota_________________________________________
Tennessee_____________________________________________
T e x a s ..______ _____________________________________ _.
U t a h ...._______ ______________________________________
V e rm o n t.._______ _______________________________ _____
Virginia____ _______________________ _______ _________
Washington___ ____ ___________ ______________________
West Virginia__________ ________________ . . . . ________
Wisconsin_______________________________________ ______
W yom ing................................................. .............................. .

Per cent of
population
of same ages

B oys

Girls

647,309

5.2

459,238

188,071

77,395
1,981
45,686
1,832
1,955
555
393
5
7,120
77,105
1,092
5,801
4,844
4,184
3,755
21,036
23,718
823
3,168
831
3,588
4,698
65,863
9,622
678
3,171
42
215
998
1,418
2,401
50,582
2,364
3,721
19, 752
668
5,523
119
56,920
1,928
32,326
69,031
1,477
510
15,501
1,024
4,112
5,471
307

22.1
5.2
17.6
.6
1.9
.4
1.7

49,021
1,283
30,294
1,614
1,749
528
368
5
5,271
51,038
1,057
5, 5fi9
4, 702
3,970
3,613
18,836
16,369
805
3,002
793
3,324
4,290
41,660
8,892
643
2,959
40
210
890
1,315
2,297
34,252
1,974
3,559
14,584
640
5,137
119
33,506
1,748
25, 747
45,862
1,444
486
13,630
947
3,724
5,187
285

28,374
698
15,392
218
206
27
25

5.7
18.0
2.0
.8
1.5
1.5
1.8
6.6
9.2
1.0
1.9
.2
.9
1.7
23.9
2.4
1.1
2.0
.6
.5
.3
3.0
.2
13.5
2.7
.6
6.8
.8
.6
.2
21.9
2.5
10.0
10.7
2.4
1.3
5.0
.7
2.1
1.8
1.5

1,849
26,067
35
232
142
214
142
2,200
7,349
18
166
38
264
408
24,203
730
35
212
2
5
108
103
104
16,330
390
162
5,168
28
386
23,414
180
6,579
23,169
33
24
1,871
77
388
284
22

* Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

CHILDREN

AGRICULTURE

T a b l e 2.— Farm

tenure of chief breadwinner of children doing farm work, whose
chief breadwinners were farm owners or tenants, by crop and locality repre
sented
Children under 16 doing farm work

Total

Farm owner
Total

Cotton: T e x a s ...... . . .
Grain:
Illinois.......................
N orth Dakota______ _
Hops and fruits:
Oregon_________ ____
W ashington_________
Fruits: Washington_____
Sugar beets:
Colorado______
M ichigan.................. ..........
Tobacco:
Connecticut Valley____
K en tu cky__________
South Carolina..
Virginia____ ____________
Truck:
Illinois_____
M aryland___________
New Jersey______ _________
Virginia........ .........

T a b l e 3. — Age

N ot re
porting
farm ten
ure of
Farm tenant
chief
bread
Number Per cent winner

Repor ting farm tenure of c lief breadwinner

Crop and locality

N um ber

Per cent

1,778

910

51.2

868

48.8

708
750

390
561

55.1
74.8

318
189

44.9
25.2

184
167
199

164
147
147

89.1
88.0
73.9

20
20
52

IO 9
12 0
26.1

299
402

135
297

45. 2
73.9

164
105

54 8
26.1

288
515
279
313

288
512
278
313

260
242
149
140

90.3
47.3
53.6
44.7

28
270
129
173

9.7
52.7
46.4
55.3

83
887
278
51

41
663
254
13

49.4
74.7
91.4
25. 5

42
224
24
38

50 6
25 3
8.6
74.5

1,778
711
760

3
10

3
1

distribution of children doing farm work, by crop, locality, and
economic group of chief breadwinner
Children under 16 doing farm work

Crop and locality
Total
Children of farm owners and tenants:
Cotton— Texas___________
Grain—
I llin o is ___________ ______
N orth Dakota_________________
Hops and fruits—Washington and O regon...
Sugar beets—
Colorado.____ _______ __ .
M ichigan_____________________
Tobacco—
Connecticut V alley___ ____
K entucky ______ _____________
South Carolina________________ _______
Virginia ______ ________________
Truck—
Illinois______________
M a ry la n d .._____ ________________ ...
N ew Jersey___ ____ _______ ___________
Virginia................ ............. ...................
Children whose parents were not farm owners or
tenants:
Cotton—rTexas________ ___________
Grain—
I llin o is ...................................
N orth Dakota_______________________
Hops and fruits— Washington and O rgeon...
Sugar beets—
C o lo r a d o ..___ ____ ___________________
M ichigan.......................................................
Tobacco—
Connecticut V alley____________________
Kentucky______________________________
South Carolina_____________________ . . .
Virginia.__________ ____________________
Truck—
M aryland______________________________
N ew Jersey______________ ____ _________
Virginia________________________________

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

years, 12 years, 14 years,
Age
Under 10
under
under
under
not re
10 years
12
14
16
ported

1,778

660

374

389

344

711
760
550

96
114
64

175
203
130

230
251
168

205
192
186

299
402

66
98

86
98

87
116

60
90

288
515
279
313

62
108
46
79

73
130
66
75

93
150
80
86

56
107
53
65

4
20
34
8

83
887
278
51

10
292
57
12

18
190
68
13

31
207
85
15

24
195
68
9

210

26
46
1,253

3
10
• 154

4
10
279

13
14
401

6
12
411

774
361

223
99

201
100

219
99

131
63

821
48
12
2

77
11
1
1

168
14
1
1

369
12
6

201
8
1

6
3
3

418
761
716
844

19
174
149
223

77
175
173
206

183
217
241
235

139
192
149
174

3
4
6

TABLES
T a b l e 4.— Number

of hours of field work of children on a typical day, by economic
group; Texas
Children under 16 doing farm work

Number of hours of field work, and economic group
Total

T otal...............................................................................
Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and tenants........ ...................
Under 8 h o u rs-.-...........................................................
8 hours, under 10............ ..............................................
Hours not reported.......................................................

Nonresident workers: M ig ra to ry .........................................

10 hours and over........... ....................................................

Under 12 12 years, 14 years, Age not
years
under 14 under 16 reported

1,988

1,151

434

390

1,778

1,034

389

344

250
328
1,079
121

205
202
541
86

26
67
278
18

18
58
260
8

1
1

9
16
46
7

6
8
22
6

2
7
10

1
1
14
1

132

12
25
77
18

11
13
38
13

4
18
4

1
8
19
1

T a b l e 5. — Number

of hours of field work of children on a typical day, by economic
group and age period; Illinois grain-growing section
Children under 16 doing farm work

N um ber of hours of field work, and economic group
Total

Under 12 12 years, 14 years, Age not
years
under 14 under 16 reported

T otal____________ ____________ ____________________

737

278

243

211

Children of farm owners and tenants............ ........... ...........

711

271

230

205

Under 8 hours.................... ..................................................
8 hours, under 10.................................. ............................
10 hours and ov er._______ ___________ _____ _________
Hours not reported..............................................................

63
248
270
130

33
90
76
72

17
83
90
40

12
73
103
17

1
2
1
1

i N um ber of hours not shown for groups of less than 50.

112218°— 29-

-5

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

CHILDREN

T a b l e 6.

AGRICULTURE

Number of hours of field work of children on a typical day, by economic
group and age period; Washington and Oregon
Children under 16 doing farm work

Number of hours of field work, and economic group
Under 12 12 years, 14 years, Age not
years
under 14 under 16 reported

Total
T otal—________ ______.. .._________

1,803

627

569

597

Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and tenants.

550

194

168

186

Under 8 h o u rs............... .............. .
8 hours, under 10........ ............. ___
10 hours and over______ _________
Hours not reported— . ______ C.

172
132
97
149

66
36
24
68

55
43
30
40

49
53
43
41

Other local..........................................

208

Under 8 h ou rs...............................
8 hours, under 1 0 . . . .......................
10 hours and over____ _________
Hours not rep orted ...._____ ____

57
55
44
52

27
15
3
17

17
19
17
19

13
19
24
15

Nonresident workers:
M igratory........................... ...................

1,006

358

314

330

Under 8 hours...... .......... ................
8 hours, under 10____ ___________
10 hours and over.................
Hours not re p o rte d ...________

311
286
316
93

103
84
100
71

102
93
105
14

105
106
111
8

1
3

C ity day laborers 1.................................

1 N um ber of hours not shown for groups of less than 50.

T a b l e 7.

Number of hours of field work (thinning and blocking beets) of children
on a typical day, by economic group and age period; Colorado
Children under 16 doing farm work

N um ber of hours of field work, and economic group
Total

Under
12 years

Total................
Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and tenants

306
299

Under 8 hours.'..........
8 hours, under 10_______
10 hours and o v e r ..
Hours not reported______

Other local . .

Under 8 hours
8 hours, under 10 . .
10 hours and over___
Hours not reported.. .
Nonresident workers: Migratory
Under 8 hours___
10 hours and over.
Hours not reported
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _ J

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

12 years, 14 years,
under 14 under 16

687
19
155
54

16
82

191

5
45
6

2
21
35
2

9
15

2
1
7
1

195

120

3
43
145

30
85
5

TABLES

" T a b l e 8. — Number

of hours of field work (thinning and blocking beets) of children
on a typical day, by economic group and age period; Michigan
Children under 16 doing farm work

Num ber of hours of field work, and economic group
Total

Under
12 years

12 years, 14 years,
under 14 under 16

763

395

215

153

Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and tenants.

402

196

né

Under 8 h ou rs.________________
8 hours, under 10............................
10 hours and over______________
Hours not rep orted ......................

103
132
124
43

52
60
54
30

31
38
39
8

20
34
31
5

Other local......................

137

Under 8 hours.........
8 hours, under 10. . .
10 hours and o v e r ..
Hours not reported

' 9
20
105
3

5
11
56
3

2
5
26

2
4
23

224

124

11
36
167
10

8
21
87
8

2
11
51
2

1
4
29

Total.

Nonresident workers: Migratory.
Under 8 hours.........
8 hours, under 1 0...
10 hours and o v e r ..
Hours not reported.

T a b l e 9. — Number

of hours of field work of children on a typical day, by economic
group and age period; Connecticut Valley
Children under 16 doing farm work

N um ber of hours of field w ork, and economic group
Total

Under 12 12 years, 14 years, Age net
under 14 under lé reported
years

T otal_____________ ________________

1,109

380

462

257

Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and tenants.

288

135

Under 8 hours..................................
8 hours, under 10.---------------------10 hours and over_____________ _
Hours not reported........................

69
134
28
57

43
62
15
15

11
44
13
25

13
26

2
2

Other l o c a l . . . . . . ________________ —-

159

Under 8 hours.................................
8 hours, under 10----------------------10 hours and over_______________
Hours not reported........................

14
77
35
33

12
34
20
15

2
34
10
10

9
5
6

Nonresident workers: C ity day laborers.

662

164

313

181

234
76
341

4
60
18
82

5
95
39
174

2
77
18
84

2
1
1

Under 8 h ou rs......................................
8 hours, under 10.................................
10 hours and over.................... - ..........
Hours not reported...... .......................

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

17
2

CHILDREN

AGRICULTURE

T a b l e 10.— Number

of hours of field work of children on a typical day, by economic
group and age period; Kentucky, Virginia, and South Carolina
Children under 16 doing farm work

Number of hours of field work, and economic group
Under 12 12 years, 14 years, Age not
years
under 14 under 16 reported

Total

1,169

533

334

234

1,107

504

316

225

203
345
432
127

117
140
163
84

53
108
131
24

28
73
111
13

5
24
27
6

11
22
26
3

5
13
10
1

5
3
9
1

1
3
5

Hours not reported.....................- ....................................

3
2
1

T a b l e 11.—Number

of hours of field work of children on a typical day, by economic
group and age period; Illinois truck-farming section
Children under 16 doing farm work

N um ber of hours of field work, and economic group
Total

Under
12 years

12 years, 14 years,
under 14 under 16

T otal---------- ---------- ------- -------------------------------------------------

501

124

214

163

Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and tenants______________________

41
21
13
8

14.
8
3
3

16
7
5
3

11
6
5
2

Other local.......................................................................................

Under 8 hours....................... ............................ .......... ...........
8 hours, under 1 0 .............................................. ...................
10 hours and o v e r . . . ...............................................................
Hours not reported___________________ ________________

52
20
16
6

12
4
4
3

23
8
6
1

17
8
6
2

Nonresident workers:
M igratory U ...................... ...................................................... .......
C ity day laborers............................................................................

12
312

4
69

4
141

4
102

Under 8 hours________________ ________________________
8 hours, under 10_...............................................................
10 hours and over........ ............................................. ..............
Hours not reported................................................................

149
65
72
26

35
13
14
7

63
34
32
12

51
18
. 26
7

Under 8 hours......... ...................................................- ............
8 hours, under 10 ............................- .............................. .......
10 hours and over_____________ _____________- ...............
Hours not reported________________________ ____________

1 Hours not shown for .groups of less than 60,

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

TABLES
T

able

12.— Number

of hours of field work of children on a typical day, by economic
group and age period; Maryland
Children under 16 doing farm work

Number of hours of field work, and economic group

Total ------------------------------------------Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and tenants.
Under 8 hours_____
8 hours, under 1 0...
10 hours and over .
Hours not reported.

Under 12 12 years, 14 years, Age not
under 14 under 16 reported
years
1,648

831

424

387

887

482

207

195

471
182
144
90

284
81
48
69

105
50
42
10

80
51
53
11

2
1

443

229

104

108

Under 8 hours____ _____8 "hours, under 10-----------10 hours and over -------Hours not reported.........

190
104
116
33

113
65
39
22

37
25
36
6

39
23
41
5

1
1

Nonresident workers: Migratory.

318

120

113

Under 8 hours________ ______
8 hours, under 10-----------------10 hours and o v e r __________
Hours not reported-........ .......

232
62
26
8

82
21
11
6

85
16
10
2

64
15
5

Other local.....................

T a b l e 13.— Number

of hours of field work of children on a typical day, by economic
group and age period; New Jersey
Children under 16 doing farm work

N um ber of hours of field work, and economic group

Under 12 12 years, Ì4 years, Age not
under 14 under 16 reported
years
326

217

125

75
19
7
24

42
24
10
9

37
16
11
4

T otal_____________________________

994

447

Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and tenants

278

Under 8 hours______ ____ ______
8 hours, under 10-----------------------10 hours and over_______ —
----------Hours not reported.........1-----------

154
59
28
37

Other l o c a l ..------------------------------------

167

Under 8 h o u r s ................
8 horns, under 10-----------10 hours and over_______
Hours not rep orted ..------

56
45
36
30

23
16
12
- 15

19
17
16
10

14
11
8
5

Nonresident workers: Migratory.

549

256

179

111

Under 8 hours______________
8 horns, under 10-----------------10 hours and over___________
Hours not reported_________

149
227
51
122

54
87
20
95

61
79
20
19

34
60
11
6

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

CHILDREN

AGRICULTURE

T a b l e 14.— Number

of hours of field work of children on a typical day, by economic
group and age period; Virginia truck-farming section
Children under 16 doing farm work

Num ber of hours of field work, and economic group
Total

Under 12 12 years, 14 years, Age not
years
under 14 under 16 reported

T o t a l..____ _________________________ ____________ _

895

454

Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and tenants___ _____________

51
37
7
5
2
666

357

170

135

476
104
64
22

280
51
16
10

120
25
21
4

75
25
27
8

1
3

Under 8 hours________ ______ ___________________
10 hours and over________________________ _______
Hours not reported.......................................................
Other local______ _ ______________ _________ ________
Under 8 hours_______________ _____________ _____
8 hours, under 10________________________________
10 hours and over_____________ ____ _ _________
Hours not reported........ .......... ..................... ..............

250

. 183

19
5

11
1
3

7
1
2

Nonresident workers:
64

Under 8 h o u rs..______ ________ _________________
8 hours, under 10. ____________ _________________
10 hours and over______________ ____ _____________
Hours not reported__________ _________________

37
18
4
5

16
8
1
4

13
6
2
i

8
4
1

C ity day laborers.................................................................

114

Under 8 hours____________ ______________________
8 hours, under 10...... ....................... ..................... .......

63
33
3
15

24
13
2
4

23
13

15
6
1
4

1
1

Hours not reported._______ ____________________ _

T a b l e 15.—

Absence of children from school on account of farm work, by economic
group, sex, and age period; Texas
Boys under 16 doing farm work

Absence from school for farm work,
and economic group
Total

T ota l____ ____ _______________ 1,067

Girls under 16 doing farm work

14
12
14
Under 12
Agé
Under
years, years, Age
12 years, years, not re Total
12
not re
under under
under
under
years
ported
years
ported
14
16
14
16
618

238

203

921

533

196

187

945

551

213 . 174

833

483

176

170

708

378

179

147

660

356

157

145

258
350

240
138

71
108

43
104

422
238

254
102

85
72

81
64

Under 10 days______
10 days, under 20___
20 days, under 40___
40 days, under 60___
60 days and o v e r ... .

68
89
113
47
33

30
46
41
15
6

22
25
37
17
7

16
18
35
15
20

56
84
66
18
14

25
41
23
8
5

21
24
18
3
6

10
19
25
7
3

N ot reporting______________
N ot attending school.............

78'
159

30
143

26
8

19
8

43
130

20
107

12
7

9
16

Other lo c a l1.............. ...................
Nonresident workers: M ig ra tory2. . .

41
81

22
45

8
17

11
18

37
51

20
30

U
9

Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and
tenants.___________________. . .
Attending school and reporting— ............... .............
N o absence for farm
w ork_________________
Absence for farm w o rk ..

1 Absence for farm work not shown for groups of less than 60.

2School records for migratory children not available.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

6
1

TABLES
T

16.— Absence of children from school on account of farm work, by economic

able

group, sex, and age period; Illinois grain-growing sections
Girls under 16 doing farm work

Boys under 16 doing farm work
Absence from school for farm work,
and economic group

Total

14
12
14
12
Under years, years, Age
Under years, years, Age
12 under under not re
12 under under not re Total
ported
years
ported
years
14
16
14
16
1

162

140

188

156

136

160

110

119
60

73
87

31
79

2
1

85
14

34
2

27
6

23
6

115
44
30
24
14

40
15
3
2

48
18
11
9
1

26
11
16
13
13

12
1

5
1

N ot reporting........ .........................

117
6

40
6

Other local children 1_______________

T o t a l . ..------------- -------------------

597

232

199

Children of farm owners and ten
ants--------------------------------- ------------

575

227

Attending school and reporting..

452

179

N o absence for farm w o r k ...
Absence for farm w ork--------

225
227

Under 10 d a y s .............
10 days, under 2 0 ............
40 days, under 60-----------

1
35
2

18
2

i Absence for farm work not shown for groups of less than 50.
T

able

17.— Absence of children 1from school on account of farm work, by economic

group, sex, and age period; North Dakota
Girls 1 under 16 doing
farm work

B oys 1 under 16 doing
farm work
Absence from school for farm work, and
economic group
Total

14
12
14
12
Under years,
Under years, years,
years,
12
12 under under Total
under under
years
years
14
16
14
16

T otal________________________________________

553

248

172

133

253

520

235

161

124

240

Attending school and reporting----------------------- -

518

234

161

123

240

N o absence for farm w ork. -----------------------Absence for farm work------------------------- ------

155
363

100
134

39
122

16
107

139
101

54
28

51
39

34
34

Under 10 days_________________________
10 days, under 2 0 . ----------------- ---------- 20 days, under 40----------------------------------

103
77
95
37
51

60
35
30

34
24
38,
9
17

9
18
27
23
30

42
27
'2 3
6
3

13
6
9

21
8
7
2
1

Children of farm owners and tenants----------------

Other local ch ildren2----------------------------- '* ----- -

1 Only children attending school Were included in the study.
2 Absence for farm work not shown for groups of less than 50.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

8
13
7
4
2

1
3

CHILDREN

AGRICULTURE

Absence of children from school on account of field work, by economic.
group, sex, and age period; Oregon fruit and hop growing section

T a b l e 18.

Boys under 16 doing farm work
Absence from school for field work,
and economic group
Total

T otal______________________
Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and
tenants......................................
Attending school and reporting______ ___________

396

Girls under 16 doing farm work,

14
14
Under 12
Under 12
years, years, Age
years, years, Age
12
not re Total
12
not re
under
under
years
years under under ported
14
16 ported
14
16
184

107

104

344

100

115

—

125

4
---S-------

N o absence for field w ork.
Absence for field w o r k ..

50
9

22
1

14
4

52
3

19
1

13
1

Under 10 days...........
20 days and over___

6
3

2
2

3
1

N ot reporting..........................
N ot attending school

36
3

16
2

10
1

Other lo c a l1__________________
Nonresident workers:
M igra tory2..............................
T ow n day laborers l

245

121
3

70
1

54
2

227
8

1 Absence from school for field work not shown for groups of less than 50.
1 Report of school attendance not available.

T a b l e 19.— Absence

of children, from school on account of field work, by economic
group, sex, and age period; Washington fruit and hop growing section
Boys 1 under 16 doing
farm work

Absence from school for field work, and economic
group
Total

T o t a l . .....................................................................
Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and tenants...... ..........

Girls 1 under 16 doing
farm work

14
12
14
Under 12
years, years, Total Under years, years,
12
12
under under
under under
years
years
14
16
14
16

230

194

Attending school and reporting.. ...............

N o absence for field w ork__________
Absence for field w ork _________________

37
14

16
2

8
6

13
6

34
4

6
1

15
1

13
2

Under 10 days..... ................................
10 days, under 20.................................
20 days, under 40.................................

7
6
1

1
1

2
4

4
1
1

N ot reporting.....................................................
N ot attending s c h o o l............... ....................

31
2

Other lo c a l1................................................................
Nonresident workers:
M ig ra tory2_____ ______________________________
T ow n day laborers
........ .............. ...................

13
2

94
10

34
5

34
4

26
1

81
11

28
3

27
4

26
4

1 Absence for field work not shown for groups of less than 50.
2 Report of school attendance not available.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

TABLES
T

able

20.

Absence of children from school on account of field work, by economic
group, sex, and age period; Washington fruit-growing section
Boys under 16 doing farm work

Absence from school for field work,
and economic group

Girls under 16 doing farm work

12
Under years, 14
Under 12 1 14
years, Age
years, years, Age
Total
12
12
not re
under
under not re Total
years
ported
years under under ported
14
16
14
16

T otal_____________________. . . .

308

121

100

331

104

Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and
tenants............ ............................
Attending school and re
porting............................... .

104

44
43
1
1

1
1

83
81
2
2

26
26

90
4

22
21
1
1

N o absence for field w ork.
Absence for field w o r k ..
Under 10 days...........
10 days, under 20___

27
25
2
1
1

N ot reporting____ ____ ____
N ot attending s c h o o l............

8
2

1
2

7
5

3
4

Other local children J....... ............
Nonresident workers:
M i g r a t o r y ....................................
T ow n day laborers 1. . . ...............

162
1

48
1

197
3

51
1

60
2

3
1

135

26
2
2

1 Absence for field work not shown for groups of less than 50.
2 Report of school attendance not available.
T

able

2 1 . — Absence

of children from school on account of work in the beet fields, by
economic group, sex, and age period; Colorado
B oys under 16 doing
farm work

Absence from school for work in beet fields,
and economic group
T o
tal

T o t a l........................... .
Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and tenants...............

Girls under 16 doing
farm work

14
Under 12
years, years, T o
12
under
under
tal
years
14
16

589

335

14
Under 12
years, years,
12
under
years under
14
16

161

484

241

145

163

136

Attending school and reporting____________

119

101

. N o absence for work in beet fields........ .
Absence for work in beet fields______

63
56

38
29

15
16

10
11

64
37

32
18

21
12

20
19
13
4

7
10
9
3

9
6
1

4
3
3
1

11
10
13

7
3
7

3
4
4

1
3
2

41
3

15
3

31
4

45
381

29
221

11
102

5
58

42
306

23
151

13
93

255

149

213

108

76
179

50
99

14
52

12
28

58
155

35
73

17
51

6
31

28
39
80
24
8

13
29
39
14
4

7
8
28
2

8
2
13
3
2

25
32
73
18
7

9
17
39
4
4

8
8
25
8
2

8
7
9
6
i

107
19

57
15

34
2

16
2

81
12

38
5

24
1

19
6

Under 11 days________ _______
11 days, under 21_______ _________
21 days, under 41___________ ____
41 days, under 51.................. ..........
N ot reporting...................................
N ot attending school________________
Other loca l1............. ...........
Nonresident workers: M ig ra tory2
Attending school and reporting______ ____
N o absence for work in beet fields___
Absence for work in beet field s ...
Under 11 d a y s .....................
11 days, under 21......................................
21 days, under 41_____ __________
41 days, under 51 _______________
51 days and over___________
N ot reporting.....................
N ot attending school________

1 Absence for farm work not shown for groups of less than 50.
Migratory workers include all those who left their homes and lived temporarily at the beet fields.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

CHILDREN

AGRICULTURE

T a b l e 22. — Absence

of children from school on account of work in the beet fields, by
economic group, sex, and age period; Michigan
Girls under 16 doing
farm work

Boys under 16 doing
farm work
Absence from school for work in beet fields, and
economic group
T o
tal

14
12
Under
years, years,
12
under under
years
14
16

14
12
Under
years, years, T o
12
under under tal
years
14
16

Total___________ - ....................... - .......................

438

227

122

325

168

Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and tenants...................

233

114

169

Attending school and reporting........... ..........

149

101

N o absence for work in beet fields_____
Absence for work in beet fields........ .......

50
99

30
48

9
34

11
17

37
64

18
30

13
20

6
14

Under 11 days..... ......................... .......
11 days, under 21__________________
21 days, under 41______ ____________

49
23
18
6
4

28
8
9
2
1

16
10
5
1
2

5
5
4
2
1

39
12
11
1
1

16
8
5

13
2
4
1

10
2
2

N ot reporting....................................................

76
8

22
1

18
7

65
3

32
2

16
1

Other lo ca l................. .......... .........- .........................

Attending school and reporting1---------------N ot reporting-------------- ---------- ----------------- -

39
40
2

20
22
2

9
10

10
8

26
26
4

15
16

8
4
2

3
6
2

Nonresident workers: M igratory ?,............................-

124

100

N ot rep ortin g .......................................................—
N ot attending school...............................................

14
95
15

5
54
10

7
28
2

2
13
3

13
80
7

11
42
2

2
26
1

12
4

1 Absence for farm work not
2 Migratory workers include

shown for groups of less than 50.
all those w ho left their homes and lived temporarily at the_beet_fields.

T a b l e 23. — Absence

of children from school on account of farm work, by economic
group, sex, and age period; Connecticut River Valley
Boys under 16 doing farm work

Absence from school for farm work,
and economic group

Total

Girls under 16 doing farm work

14
12
14
12
Under years, years, Age
Under years, years, Age
12 under under not re
12 under under not re Total
ported
years
ported
years
16
14
16
14

Total....................................... ........

731

267

296

163

378

113

166

Resident workers:
Children of farm owners and
tenants...-------------------------------

178

110

150

62
88

42
37

15
31

5
20

67
29

34
9

22
15

9
5

70
12
6

32
5

23
3
5

15
4

28
1

8
1

9
5

3
4

Attending school and reportNo

absence for farm

Absence for farm w o r k ..
10 days, under 20—

N ot attending sch ool1---------

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

26
2

1
9

TABLES
T a b l e 2 3 . —Absence

of children from school on account of farm work, by economic
group, sex, and age period; Connecticut River Valley— Continued
Boys under 16 doing farm work

Absence from school for farm work,
and economic group
Total

Girls under 16 doing farm work

14
14
12
Under 12
Age
Under years, years, Age
years, not re
12 years,
12 under under not re Total
under under
ported
years
ported
years
16
14
14
16

Resident workers— Continued.
Other local______ _______________

Attending school and reporting............. ..................... .......

N o absence for farm
work________________
Absence for farm w o r k ..

60
19

34
7

20
7

6
5

52
5

26
3

20
1

5
1

Under 10 days______
10 days, under 20___

17
2

6
1

N ot reporting..........................

459

129

212

115

203

101

Nonresident workers: C ity day
laborers....................... .................
Attending school and reporting..

242

115

N o absence for farm w o r k ...
Absence for farm work:
Under 10 days..................

229

111

N ot reporting________ _________
N ot attending school *...'.............

180
37

57
1

89
8

33
27

1
1

79
28

40
10

22
18

1 Includes children attending continuation school part or all of year covered b y study.

T a b l e 24. — Absence

of children from school on account of farm work, by economic
group, sex, and age period; Kentucky
Boys under 16 doing farm work

Absence from school for farm work,
and economic group
Total

Girls under 16 doing farm work

12
14
12
14
Under years, years, Age
Under
Age
years, years,
not re
12
12
re Total
under under
under under not
ported
ported
years
years
14
16
14
16

T otal_________________________

414

190

115

149

Children of farm owners and tenants.

384

174

108

131

Attending school and reporting..

271

123

N o absence for farm w o r k ...
Absence for farm w ork _____

126
145

79
44

30
48

12
49

5
4

74
24

38
12

22
7

13
5

57
36
33
12
7

21
14
7
2

22
11
9
4
2

13
11
16
4
5

10
9
5

6
4
2

2
3
2

2
2
1

112
1

21
1

Other local children l . ............... ...........

i Absence for farm work not shown for groups of less than 50.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

1
2

CHILDREN

AGRICULTURE

T a b l e 25. — Absence

of children from school on account of farm work, by economic
group, sex, and age period; South Carolina
Girls under 16 doing farm work

Boys under 16 doing farm work
Absence from school for farm work,
and economic group

Total

____________ _____

Children of farm owners and tenants.

158
152

14
12
14
12
Under years, years, Age
Under years, years, Age
12 under under not re
12 under under not re Total
ported
years
ported
years
14
16
14
16
68
67

133

127

57
27

21
7

16
13

11
5

9
2

9
3
1

3
1

Attending school and reporting..

N o absence for farm w o r k ...
Absence for farm w ork ..........

40
45

18
12

12
12

10
11

Under 10 days__________

17
12
g
3
4

5
6
1

6
3
3

2
2
2
3
2

4
2
3

N ot reporting.................................

41
2

Other local ch ildren1........... ...............

1
1

1
8

6
1

i Absence for farm work not shown for groups of less than 50.

T a b l e 26. — Absence

of children from school on account of farm work, by economic
group, sex, and age period; Virginia tobacco-growing section
Boys under 16 doing farm work

Absence from school for farm work,
and economic group

Total

14
12
14
12
Under years, years, Age
Age
Under
years, years,
not re
12
12 under under not re Total
under under ported
years
ported
years
14
16
14 . 16

29
11

10
10

13
4

17
7
1

7
3
1

7
3

3
1

27
8

13
2

8
2

114

9
24

3
15

54
25

18
8

12
s
2
5

6
2
3
3
1

26
5

16
7

13
8

Children of farm owners and tenants.

199

Attending school and reporting.

123

N o absence for farm w o r k ...
Absence for farm w o r k .........

47
76

35
33

37
16

2
1 Absence for farm work not shown for groups of less than 50.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

55
40

101

56
20

114

201

1
1

T otal_________________________

N ot reporting-------------- ----------- N ot attending school___________

Girls under 16 doing farm work

2
1

TABLES

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

72
T

CHILDREN

able

AGRICULTURE

28 .— Absence of children from school on account of field work, by economic

group, sex, and age period; New Jersey
B oys under 16 doing farm work

Absence from school for field work,
and economic group

Total- ________ _____ ________

Girls under 16 doing farm work

12
14
14
Age
U n d er 12
years, years, Age
T o ta l U n d er years, years, not re T o ta l
12
12 under under
under under not re
years
years
14
16 p orted
14
16 p orted
536

252

163

118

Resident workers
Children of farm owners and
tenants__________ _____ ______

158

Attending school and reporting________ __________

116

N o absence for field
w o r k ________ i ______
Absence for field w ork__

21
95

Under 10 days______
10 days, under 20___
20 days, under 40___
40 days, under 60___
60 days and over------

458

195

163

120

13
42

5
28

3
25

35
50

13
14

13
22

9
14

17
24
30
10
14

6
15
13
6
2

5
7
8
2
6

6
2
9
2
6

19
9
12
5
5

6
3
3
1
1

7
6
6
1
2

N ot reporting.........................
N ot attending school_______

37
5

18
2

12
1

7
2

28
7

20
3

4
4

Other local-.................. ................-

Attending school and reporting.................... ..............

N o absence for field
work___________ ____ _
Absence for field w ork. . .

28
27

15
9

9
11

3
7

38
28

15
8

14
14

9
6

Under 10 days______
10 days, under 20___
20 days, under 40___
40 days, under 60___
60 days and over____

11
7
5
2
2

8
1

2
5
4

1
1
1
2
2

. 11
6
8
2
1

4
1
2
1

7
3
3
1

2
3

N ot reporting............... .........
N ot attending school_______

23
4

8
4

14
5

5
2

4
1

Nonresident workers: Migratory____

296

141

253

115

Attending school and reporting..

132

129

N o absence for field w ork___
Absence for field work______

16
116

7
50

4
.38

5
28

17
112

6
47

7
48

4
17

Under 10 days__________
10 days, under 20________
20 days, under 40_______
40 days, under 60_______
60 days and over...............

10
41
29
36

2
19
12
17

5
15
8
10

3
7
9
9

1
5
43
24
39

1
2
17
12
15

2
17
10
19

1
9'
2
5

N ot reporting_______ _______
N ot attending school_______

155
9

77
7

28
2

112
12

57
5

20
7

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

3
3
2

1 Absence for field work not shown for groups of less than 50.
2 Report of school attendance not secured.
T

able

30 .— Progress in school of children doing farm, work, by crop, locality,

economic group, race, and age period
Children 8 to 15 doing farm work *
Total
Crop, locality, economic group,
and ra ce3

Cotton: Texas—
Children of farm owners
and tenants—
W hite____________ ____
C olored,........................ .
Other local children—
W hite........... ...................
Colored............................
Grain: N orth Dakota—
Children of farm owners
and tenants................ .......
Other local children...........
Hops and fruits:
Oregon—
Children of farm owners and tenants...........
Other local children___
M igratory workers____
T ow n day laborers........
Washington—
Children of farm owners and tenants...........
Other local children___
M igratory workers____
T ow n day laborers........
Small fruits: Washington—
Children of farm owners
and tenants_____________
Other local children.............

8 years, under 12 12 years, under 14 14 years, under 16

Retarded
Retarded
Retarded
Retarded
T o
T o
T o
T o
tal N um Per tal N um Per tal N um Per
tal N um Per
ber ce n t3
ber ce n t3
ber ce n t3
ber ce n t3

977
359

633
306

46
8

25
7

733
44

311
15

171
64
449
13

64.8
85.2

478
180

241
136

24
3

10
2

42.4

290
18

81
5

29
22
142
4

17.0
34.4
31.6

59
22
169
4

2
1
41

157
57
160
21

36
27
96
9

22.9
47.4
60.0

43
13
54
8

2
2
23
1

186
74

38
17

20.4
23.0

75
20

18
5

50.4
75.6

268
96

203
89

12
2

251
14

3.4

59
16
140
5

9
6
44
1

46
24
58
8

10
11
37
5

57
31

8
7

42.6

24.0

81.8
97.6

231
83

189
81

ID
2

10
3

44.2

192
12

119
7

62.0

15.3

53
26
140
4

18
15
57
3

34.0

68
20
48
5

24
14
36
3

35.3

54
23

12
5

22.2

27.9

24.3

75.7
92.7

31.4

63.8

14.0

40.7

i Children under 8 years are excluded from the table, as those under that age are considered normal if
theyare in the first grade. Children for whom age or grade is not reported are excluded also.
* Figures for colored children are shown only for localities having a considerable number.
8 N ot shown where base is less than 50.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

CHILD EEN

74
T

able

AGRICULTURE

30 .— Progress in school of children doing farm work, by crop, locality,
economic group, race, and age period— Continued
Children 8 to 15 doing farm work 2

Crop, locality, economic group,
and race 2

8 years, under 12 12 years, under 14 14 years, under 16

Total

Retarded
Retarded
Retarded
Retarded
T o
T o
T o
T o
Num
Per
tal
tal dum Per tal Num Per tal Num Per
ber sent 3
ber sent 3
ber sent8
ber sent3

Small fruits: Washington— Con.
Migratory workers........ ....... 337
4
Sugar beets:
Colorado—
Children of farm owners and tenants______ 277

86
1

25.5

102
1

13.7

108
2

26.9

127
1

43
1

33.9

32.1

131

15.3
20.0

42^1

304

2 0 .1

33
g
108

60
11
118

36
9
89

60.0

258

86
24
191

38.4

M igratory workers........ 613
Michigan—
Children of farm owners and tenants______ 376

20
10
61

108

19.8
26 1
28.4

115
32
61

34
16
38

62.3

89
28
31

40
21
19

44.9

102

34
22
29

29.6

28.7
4R 8
44.3

172

194

38
253

25! 3
45.5

75
151

g
8
30.

Other local children----- 150
C ity day laborers-------- 556
Kentucky—
Children of farm owners and tenants—
W h ite................... — 328
137
Other local children—
.................
W hite
10
34
South Carolina—
Children of farm owners and tenants—
lQfi
W hite
40
Other local children—
4
W hite ..................

19.9

279

25
15
130

27.5
27.3
46.6

49
20
126

16
15
93

111
106

33.8
77.4

152
59

22
35

14.5
59.3

104
43

45
37

43.3

72
35

44
34

6
18

1
12

2
10

2
6

1
6

89
14

29
10

65
15

41
14

42
11

31
11

1
1

2
4

1
4

88
29

41
15

60
17

27
17

1
1

7
14
3
33

Tobacco:
Connecticut Valley—
Children of farm own-

Virginia—
Children of farm owners and tenants—
White
Other local children—

1 R S

2
25

im 51.5
35.
1
5

96
45

76.3

1
1

6.8
1 0 .7

32.6

46.6

56.5

63.1

61.1^

40
13

28
13

23.6

24
33
3
101

7
13
2
46

45.5

4.05

6
1
8

11.6

31
38
3
140

40.8
67.6

212
156

54
88

25.5
56.4

126
75

62
53

49.2
70.7

84
78

56
68

66.7
87.2

45
208

54.9
7 7 .6

33
135

10
82

60.7

29
72

18
68

94.4

20
61

17
58

95.1

163

69.7

39.0

77.3

94.2

137
90
372

56.1
fifi.7

101
47
206

43
24
129

42.6

82
56
170

52
40
154

63.4
71.4
90.6

61
32
91

42
26
89

68.9

16
215
21
37

10
103
18
37

92.8

88.0

14
161
18
28

1 ?r

83.4

4
72
9
17

4
68
9
16

10
C ity day laborers____ _ 310
M aryland—
Children of farm owners and tenants—
W hite ................... 422
C olored ................... 309
Other local children:
.82
C olored.---------------- 268
Migratory w o r k e r s
(white on ly )................ 234
N ew Jersey—
Children of farm owners and tenants ----- 244
125
M igratory workers........ 4Ò7
Virginia *—
Children of farm own32
Other local children___ 398
49
C ity day laborers-------92

6
87

28.1

172
209

28
332
45
81

35 .9
4

7 9 .7

62.6

74.9

111
19
38

1........

4All the children included in the truck-farming study in Virginia were colored.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

73.8

Truck:
Illinois—
Children of farm own17.3

75.4

97.8

94.4

TABLES
T

able

31. — Farm

operations performed by children, by race; Hill and Rusk
Counties, Tex.
Resident children under 16 doing farm y o r k

Farm operations

Hill County
T o t a l1 W hite

T otal___ ______
Plowing________
Harrowing_____
Planting___ __
Cultivating_________
Hoeing and chopping_________
Picking cotton__________
Picking corn__
Picking peanuts_ _............
Picking peas____
Pulling fodder_______
Shocking oats_____
Cutting sprouts___ ________
Cutting w ood ______________

Rusk County

Negro

Total

W hite

Négro

883

770

113

973

531

442

79
93
124
134
622
855
67

69
83
107
122
547
747
61

10
10
17
12
75
108
6

183
90
253
142
778
953
128
46

99
55
125
64
406
514
54

84
35
128
78
372
439
74

q
1

1 Some children performed more than one operation.

T a b l e 32

— Farm operations performed by children, by crop and age period;
Illinois grain-growing sections
Children under 16 doing farm work

Farm operation and crop
T o t a l1

Total General:
P low ing__________________
H arrowing_______________
D isking__________________
H oeing___________________
Corn crop:
Planting_________________
R olling___________________
C ultivating______________
Hoeing___________________
H usking_________________
C utting__________________
Shocking_________________
Grain crop :
D riving binder___________
Shocking__________________
T h resh in g Hauling______________
Loading______________
P itching______________
Stacking__________________
Carrying or hauling water.
H a y crop:
M ow in g__ _____ __________
R aking___________________
Driving fork or stacker___
P itching___ ______________

737

179

243

211

350
493
338
197

14
43
19
21

71
115
66
54

126
173
122
61

137
159
130
58

2
3
1
3

176
161
492
122
486
145
105

22
14
39
27
57
10
4

40
42
109
29
115
32
20

51
52
170
49
163
53
37

62
52
171
17,
149
50
44

1
1
3

53
321

1
25

4
72

16
110

32
113

91
27
22
12
312

4
1
3
46

11
2
3
2
94

26
9
3
4
124

50
15
13
6
47

162
320
184
90

4
14
15
3

18
57
44
15

61
115
75
18

78
132
49
54

Some children performed more than one operation.

112218°— 29-------6

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Under 10 10 years, 12 years, 14 years, Age not
years
under 12 under 14 under 16 reported

i
i
2
1

CHILDREN IN

T a b l e 33.— Farm

AGRICULTURE

operations performed by children, by crop and age period;
North Dakota
Children under 16 doing farm work

Farm operation and crop
Total 1
Total_______________________________ ______General:
Plowing________________________________
Disking___________________________ _
Harrowing (spike)_____ _____________
________
Cultivating (any ty p e )_________________________
H oein g .. _ - ______ _____ __________________
Hauling_________________ ________ ____________
Corn crop:
Planting________________ _____ _______ _____
Cutting b y hand_______________________________
Picking__________________________ ________ _____
Husking____________ _____ ____________________
Grain crop:
Drilling__ ________ - ____ ______________________
Driving binder_________________________________
Shocking_____ __________________________________
Driving header box____________________________
Loading header b ox_________ _______________
Hauling bundles to threshing machine__________
Pitching bundles to threshing m achine_______ _
Loading threshed grain________________ .
H ay or forage crop:
M ow ing____ ___ ___________________ ______ - .Raking______ _____________________________ - __
Driving stacker or hay fork___ __________________
Stacking______________ _ ------------------------------Pitching__________________ . -------------- -----------Picking up potatoes. -------- -------------—_ ----------------

Under 10 10 years, 12 years, 14 years,
years
under 12 under 14 under 16

806

124

213

265

204

386
201
325
241
430
460

16
7
20
5
42
31

92
38
75
41
123
113

138
70
121
94
167
180

140
86
109
101
98
136

2
8
6
43
37

8
4
g
68
47

12
8
15
47
42

50
37
129
8
. 69
26
22
19
23
21

70
59
116
11
37
21
18
36
54
12

121
154
39
43
30
106

124
108
18

22
22
29
188
138

2
30
12

135
105
397
20
201
61
46
67
92
66

1
2
46

5
3
10

14
7
106
1
58
11
6
7
12
23

333
393
105
121
98
360

13
25
14
5
6
66

75
106
34
19
20
102

37
3

42
86

i Some children performed more than one operation.

T a b l e 34. — Farm

operations performed by children, by crop and age period;
Washington and Oregon hop and fruit growing sections
Children under 16 doing farm work

Farm operation and crop
T o t a l1

T otal__________________
General:
Preparing ground 2----------Hoeing____________ - - - - - Weeding and thinning----Harvesting hops or fruits:
P ic k in g H ops_________________
Small fru its3—
Strawberries--------Loganberries-------Orchard fruits 4—
Cherries__________
Apples___________
Pears and peaches.
Prunes___________
Picking up prunes-----------Harvesting vegetables........... -Harvesting general farm crops.
Other kinds of work:
Thinning orchard fruit___
Packing, loading, driving .
Training hops____________

Under 10 10 years, 12 years, 14 years, Age not
years
under 12 under 14 under 16 reported

1,164

160

255

365

379

79
184
115

1
4
4

9
37
24

20
69
44

49
74
43

791

109

187

252

239

347
333

43
34

95
93

109
103

99
101

1
2

110
122
148
72
311
122
110

11
2
7
3
47
8
3

25
14
12
10
77
33
18

38
43
50
30
91
42
36

36
63
79
29
95
39
53

135
65
52

1
2
1

10
10
7

41
17
15

83
36
29

.7"

1 Some children performed more than one operation.
2 Includes plowing, harrowing, disking, dragging, and cultivating.
3 Small fruits include strawberries, raspberries, loganberries, blackberries, and currants. Children m
this group m ay have picked one or more varieties.
4 Orchard fruits include apples, pears, prunes, peaches, and cherries. Children m this group m ay have
picked one or more varieties.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

TABLES
T a b l e 35. — Farm

operations performed by children, by crop and age period;
Washington small-fruit farms
Children under 16 doing farm work

Farm operation and crop
Total 1

Total __________ _______________
General farm work:
Preparing ground 2____ _______
Planting and transplanting_________
Hoeing____ ____________ ______
Weeding and thinning______
Harvesting small fru its:2
Raspberries___________
Strawberries__________
Other small fruits______ . . .
Harvesting vegetables........................
Pruning and training berry bushes___

Under 10 10 years, 12 years, 14 years, Age not
years
under 12 under 14 under 16 reported

639

154

33
32
76
73

1
4

616
191
104
45
25

58
18
10

■

204

218

3
g
14
17

12
10
28
29

18
14
32
22

1
1

146
47
24
15
1

199
63
32
15
n

208
63
38
15
13

T a b l e 36. — Operations

Children in

in sugar-beet culture performed by children, by age period;
Colorado
Children under 16 doing farm work

Operations in beet culture
T o t a l1

T otal______________ . .
Thinning and blocking_____
H o e in g ..._____ _________
Pulling and topping_________ .

Under 10 10 years, 12 years, 14 years,
years
under 12 under 14 under 16

1,073

289

287

306

191

1,037
860
959

273
197
241

281
231
255

297
261
287

186
171
176

1 Some children performed more than one operation.
T

able

37. —

Operations in sugar-beet culture performed by children, by age period;
Michigan
Children under 16 doing farm work

Operations in beet culture 1
T o t a l2

T otal_____________________
Thinning and b lo ck in g ..____ _______
Hoeing_____________________
1 Information was secured for only part of the season.
2 Some children performed more than one operation.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Under 10 10 years, 12 years, 14 years,
years
under 12 under 14 under 16

763

197

198

215

153

759
623

196
148

196
152

214
189

153
134

CHILDREN

78
T a b l e 38. — Operations

AGRICULTURE

in tobacco culture performed by children, by age period;
Connecticut River Valley
Children under 16 doing farm work

Operations in tobacco cu ltu re1

Total________________- _____________
Field:
Preparing beds_______________________
Transplanting________________________
Suckering____ _____________ ________
Hoeing— ______________________ ______
P ic k in g ______ __ ___________________
Handing_____ ________
-------- ~
Topping__________
____ ____
___
Dragging baskets__________________
Cutting______________________________
Shed:
Stripping_______________________ - —
Stringing________ - ----- '------------------Handing------------- --------------------------- .
Housing---------- -----------------------------------

10 years, 12 years, 14 years, Age not
under 12 under 14 under 16 reported

T o t a l2

Under
10 years

1,109

139

241

462

257

10.

134
186
334
229
482
286
206
141
155

29
37
63
30
34
72
34
9
18

39
46
72
47
101
77
49
19
26

40
57
129
79
229
94
76
56
59

25
44
67
69
114
40
46
56
50

3
4
4
3
1
1

234
261
197
174

46
13
19
15

58
37
55
41

79
129
94
66

48
80
26
50

3
2
3
2

1 M any children performed other farming operations.
Some children performed more than one operation.

T a b l e 39. — Operations

in tobacco culture performed by children, by age period;
Kentucky
Children under 16 doing farm work

Operations in tobacco cu ltu re1

Total_______________________________
Field:
Preparing beds-------------------- — ----Transplanting__________ _______ . . .
Suckering------- ----- ---------- ---------------W orm ing______________ ____________
Cultivating----------------------------------------Hanging - . -• -------------------------------T o p p in g ... ___________ _________
Picking up leaves______________
___
C u t t i n g ..----- --- ---------- -- ----------Carrying filled sticks,. . ________ . . .
Carrjdng em pty sticks___ __ — ------Loading______________ ____ _______ - —
Hauling_____________________ - -Nonfield:
Stripping-------------------------------------------Bulking________ _________ _ ------Housing---------------------------- --------------

Under
10 years

563

119

144

162

115

194
556
526
487
484
276
340
227
182
182
88
99
115

29
117
111
108
88
34
50
61
12
30
24
16
9

53
143
134
121
123
66
84
73
28
50
25
21
14

67
161
151
135
151
88
104
53
63
55
21
32
42

37
112
107
101
103
75
88
32
71
41
14
28
48

8
23
23
22
19
13
14
8
8
6
4
2

385
114
137

71
15
13

91
32
31

116
38
46

91
26
41

16
3
6

1 M any children performed other farming operations.
2 Some children performed more than one operation.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

10 years, 12 years, 14 years, Age not
under 12 under 14 under 16 reported

T o t a l2

TABLES
T a b l e 40. —Operations

in tobacco culture performed by children, by age period;
South Carolina
Children under 16 doing farm work

Operations in tobacco cu lture1

T otal______________ ________ _______
Field:
Preparing b ed s...._____ _____________
Transplanting_________________ ______
Suckering_______ __________________ __
W orm ing_____ _______ ______________
Cultivating. . . . _____________ . . . .
Topping---------------------------------------------W eeding__________________ ____ ______
P ick in g ... __________________________
Loading______________ _ . . . ________
Hauling_____________________________
Nonfield:
Bulking______________________________
Housing__________ ________________

T o t a l2

Under
10 years

291

82
281
279
259
223
171
139
108
7
110

7
42
44
43
27
23
21
11

13
63
67
59
50
40
29
23
34

17
54
49
47
47
31
27
31
3
16

17
37
34
33
28
25
20
17

28
85
85
77
71
52
42
26
3
29

66
75

6
11

14
21

21
18

15
13

10
12

10 years, 12 years, 14 years, Age not
under 12 under 14 under 16 reported

^ '

1 M any children performed other farming operations.
2 Some children performed more than one operation.

T a b l e 41. —Operations

in tobacco culture performed by children, by age period;
Virginia
Children under 16 doing farm work

Operations in tobacco cu ltu re1

T otal................................................ .
Field:
Preparing beds______ _________________
Transplanting________________________
Suckering___________ _______________
W orm ing_____________________________
Cultivating____ _______________
Topping_____ . . .
________________
W eeding___ _____________ ___________
C u ttin g ... __ _______________________
L o a d in g __________ >_________________
Hauling______________________________
Nonfield:
Stripping___ _____________ . . . ____
Bulking_____ _______________________
Housing______________________________

T o t a l2

Under
10 years

315

83
311
312
305
232
75
134
66
71
36

4
80
80
80
39
9
25
2
15
4

13
75
75
73
55
15
29
10
13
2

35
85
85
83
73
28
43
21
26
15

30
64
64
61
59
21
34
32
15
13

1
7
8
8
6
2
3
1
2
2

55
63
250

4
10
51

10
11
61

16
19
75

24
23
57

1 M any children performed other farming operations.
2 Some children performed more than one operation.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

10 years, 12 years, 14 years, Age not
under 12 under 14 under 16 reported

CHILDREN

T a b l e 42. — Farm

AGRICULTURE

operations on truck crops performed by children, by age period;
Illinois
Children under 16 doing farm work

Farm operations
Total i

Under
10 years

Total.................... .............. ..................................

10 years, 12 years, 14 years,
under 12 under 14 under 16

501

214

163

Preparing soil___■______________________ ____________
Planting_______________________________________ .
Transplanting________________________________ ______
Weeding__________________________________________
H oeing________ ____ __________________________
Thinning___________________ _ ____________
Machine cultivating______________________________
Operating wheeled hoe_______________ ____ ____
Harvesting_____ ______ _________ ____ ___________

15
71
74
412
160
76
50
28
490

1
2
5
22
6
1

4
15
10
79
19
9
1
91

6
26
26
. 134
70
27
23

4
28
33
177
65
39
22
12
210

Picking_________________________________________
C u t tin g ..____ _________________ ______________
Pulling_____________________________________
Bunching. . ............. ............ .................
T w is tin g _____________________ _______
Picking u p ................................... ................ ..........
Boxing, sacking, and packing_________ ______ _
Carrying or loading_____________________________
Trim ming or cleaning. ________________________
Peeling_____________ ____________________

169
170
159
230
248
66
54
59
42
34

27
22
28
31
53
11
7
7
4
4

75
73
66
108
107
27
23
23
20
17

57
67
57
82
75
26
19
27
17
13

10
8
8
9
13
2
5
2
1

162

1 Some children performed more than one operation.

T a b l e 43. — Farm

operations on truck crops performed by children, by age period;
Maryland
Resident children under 16 doing farm work

Farm operations

T o t a l ______________________

Plowing____________________________
Harrowing_______________________________
Planting_________________________________
Transplanting. ___________________________
Cultivating________________ . _________
Hoeing___________________________________
W eeding________________ ._ . . .
Spraying_______ __________________________
Thinning. ______ _________ _________
Picking____________________________
Gathering potatoes____ ___________________
Shucking or husking corn________________
Saving fod d er2_____ ______________________

T o t a l1

Under
10 years

1,330

415

296

311

303

234
207
459
671
242
608
357
66
286
1,207
618
84
317

5
4
74
140
6
80
59
6
44
372
116
9

38
32
100
150
40
131
87
8
68
272
137
15
71

74
71
127
189
83
182
111
17
81
284
175
30
96

116
99
157
188
112
212
98
35
92
274
189
30
93

1
1
1
4
1
3
2

1 Some children performed more than one operation.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

10 years, 12 years, 14 years, Age not
under 12 under 14 under 16 reported

2 Includes stacking and pitching.

1
5
1

TABLES
T

able

44.-—Farm

operations on truck crops performed by children, by age period;
New Jersey
Resident children under 16 doing farm work

Farm operations
T o t a l1

T otal____ ________________ ______________|____
General:
Plowing.......................... ............ _____________._ ___
Harrowing_____________________ . . . ______f _____
Cultivating_____________________________________
W eeding____________________________ ___________
H oeing___________ _____________________________
Thinning_________________________ ____ ________
Planting_____ . ____ . . . _____________________ _____. . .
Transplanting3_________________________ ___________
D roppin g4_________________________________________
Harvesting:
Gathering potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, tur
nips, onions__________________________________
Cutting asparagus, lettuce, rhubarb, spinach,
kale, cabbages, watermelons, canteloupes,
pumpkins, or other crops_____________________
Pulling beets, carrots, onions, radishes, turnips,
or other crops.._______________________________
Husking________________________________________
Sorting or bunching____________________________
Shocking___________ ___________________________
Carrying baskets, hampers, etc___ _____________
Other:
Driving or hauling_____________________________
L o a d in g ....__________ ____ ____________________
Other truck work________________________ '___ . . .
Other field work______ ______ __________________

Under 10 10 years, 12 years, 14 years,
years
under 12 under 14 under 16

2 445

102

147

106

48
35
74
167
177
39
146
139
2181

1
1
5
24
17
3
19
15
38

5
3
9
35
38
9
28
21
48

16
13
29
55
67
14
50
47
59

26
18
31
53
55
13
49
56
35

212

. 35

105

54
61
46
41
34

6
6
6
2

11
8
9
5
5

21
25
16
21
15

16
22
15
15
12

22
- 7
146
44

2
23
2

27
5

12
2
44
22

8
5
52
15

1 Some children performed more than one operation.
2 Includes 1 child for whom age was not reported.
3 Includes “ setting out.”
4 Includes children who, in connection with the planting or transplanting of any crop, did dropping only,
though the same children m ay have both dropped and set out in transplanting some other crop.

T a b l e 45. — Farm

operations on truck crops performed by children, by age period;
Virginia
Ctnldren under 16 doing farm work

Farm operations
T o t a l1

T otal__________ _______

____ _ . .

General:
Plowing__________________ . . . ----H a rrow in g______________ . . . . ----Cultivating__________________________
W eeding_________________ . . . -------Hoeing____ ____ ______________ ____
Spooning kale or spinach______

. ...

T ra n sp la n tin g .....-------- ------- ----------------Harvesting:.
Strawberries_____________ ________. . .
Beans______ . -------- -------------------------Cucumbers__________________________
Kale or spinach-------- ------- ---------------- Radishes_____________________________
P otatoes2___________________ _________
Sweet potatoes2_____________ ______
. '

Under 10 10 years, 12 years, 14 years, Age not
years
under 12 under 14 under 16 reported

895

235

219

250

183

75
55
39
46
105
42
133
65
89

1
1
2
7
7
6
16
5
5

13
10
8
12
19
8
34
10
17

32
25
13
16
32
16
47
22
24

27
17
14
9
45
12
34
28
41

2
2
2
2
2

761
565
236
56
30
10
184
217
91
407
33

190
134
61
9
1

191
138
63
10
10
1
38
61
26
104
11

222
167
67
17
7
6
65
70
28
132
8

155
119
45
18
12
3
48
49
23
77
8

3
7

31
35
14
91
‘ 4

J Some children performed more than one operation.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

2 Gathering oniy.

2
2

2
2
2
3
2

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Full text of Children in Agriculture, Bureau Publication No. 187

FRASER