CHAPTER XI.

THE WINE-MAKING INDUSTRY OF CALIFORNIA.

THE INDUSTRY IN GENERAL.

Grapes are grown and made into wine in the majority of the 58 counties of California. In most of them, however, the wineries are small concerns employing few laborers in grape picking and wine making. The total production of wine in California in 1907 was 37,250,000 gallons. More than one-half of this amount was made in Fresno and Sonoma counties, about one-third in Napa, San Joaquin, Kings, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles counties. Fresno County is the center of the "dry" wine industry, while Sonoma produces the greater part of the "sweet" wine.

The production of wine and the number of wineries in the seven counties mentioned above in 1908 was as follows:

TABLE 101.-Production of wine in seven counties of California in 1908.

The grapes are usually hauled by teams to the wineries from vineyards close by, but in some cases the wineries use grapes that are shipped by rail from a distance. The majority of the wineries own vineyards adjoining the plants, from which they secure their main supply of grapes, but in many cases they also buy from neighboring ranchers.

Wine making is seasonal in character, beginning in August and lasting from six weeks to four months. During September and October the greatest number of men are employed. From December to August very few men are needed in the wineries to attend to the shipping of the wine and the repair and upkeep of the plant. However, nearly one-half of the men engaged in winery work are retained

Report of California State Board of Trade, 1908.
Report of California State Agricultural Society, 1908.

throughout the year, many of them being employed during several months of the twelve in the vineyards, as pruners, teamsters, etc.

During the vintage of 1908 the agents of the Commission secured detailed information from 25 of the larger wineries located in the seven counties before mentioned. The work in connection with wine making will be considered under two heads: First, that in the winery itself, and second, that in the vineyards owned by the wineries.

THE WORK IN THE WINERIES.

RACES EMPLOYED AND THEIR OCCUPATIONS.

About 550 men were employed in these 25 wineries at the time they were visited. The following table gives the occupations of these men by races:

TABLE 102.-Number of male employees working in wineries in each specified occupation, by race.a

a Several superintendents have been omitted from this table.

Among these employees two groups of races, "miscellaneous white" persons and Italians, predominate. "Miscellaneous white" persons, which include natives, English, Scotch, Irish, French, German, and Scandinavians, form 43 per cent of the total number of winery employees, while the Italians constitute 40 per cent of the total number. These two groups predominate in all of the sections visited whether in the southern, central, or the northern part of the State, but there is considerable difference in the proportion of the two as between wineries in each of the sections. In seven wineries controlled by Italians, that race constitutes the vast majority of the employees. They are also employed in varying numbers in all of the other wineries except six. In one of these six the predominant race is Japanese. This winery is owned by Japanese who employ their countrymen in most positions, although three or four white persons are also employed. All except one of the Japanese shown in the table as working in the winery proper are in this Japanese plant. In other wineries Japanese who work in the vineyards are occasionally

transferred temporarily to the winery, but do not work there regularly. The Spanish, Portuguese, Dalmatians, Slavonians, and Mexicans are of little importance in this industry, and most of these were found in wineries controlled by Italians.

As shown in Table 102 the members of the "miscellaneous white" and Italian groups are found in all occupations connected with winery work, while the Japanese engage in more occupations than the other race groups because of the fact that the Japanese control one winery. The other races are employed primarily as "cellarmen" and "common laborers." Of the white employees a little more than one-half are "general laborers" and "cellarmen," while more than two-thirds of the Italians are engaged in these two occupations. Of those engaged in the more skilled and higher paid occupations the number of "white" persons exceeds the number of Italians.

HOURS AND EARNINGS OF LABOR.

The wineries are about equally divided between a ten-hour day with a sixty-hour week and an eleven-hour day with a sixty-six-hour week, which obtains in agricultural work. The rates of earnings per day of 475 employees from whom data were obtained are shown in the table following.

TABLE 103.--Number of male employees in wineries earning each specified amount per day, by race.

In this table more than one-half are reported as receiving board and lodging in addition to wages. As nearly all wineries board their employees, the majority of those reporting wages without board are boarded by the proprietor, but the cost of board is deducted from the wage given. No charge is made for lodging. The value of board ranges from 45 cents to 75 cents per day.

Of the employees receiving board and lodging, two-fifths were paid $1.25 and under $1.50 per day, while more than one-fourth were paid less than $1.25. Less than one-third received $1.50 or over, and about 6 per cent $3 or over per day. The latter, all "miscellaneous white" men, were skilled mechanics, distillers, and wine makers. Foremen and others occupying executive positions have been excluded from the tabulation. If they had been included, the percentage earning higher wages would have been larger.

Of the men reporting earnings with board and lodging included, the Japanese and Italians show the lowest rate, there being 4 out of 11 Japanese reporting less than $1 per day with board, while 18 of the 127 Italians are in the same group. The Japanese and the Italians are the poorest paid races. The Chinese, with one exception, were employed as domestics.

Of the employees reporting wages without board, more than twofifths are paid less than $1.75, and of these, two-thirds are Italians. All except one of the 43 "miscellaneous white" men received $2 or over per day without board, while less than one-third of the 82 Italians received $2 or over. Fifteen of the 21 Mexicans were paid $2 and 6 received $1.50 and less than $1.75 per day without board. The 14 Spaniards received $1.50 and less than $1.75 per day without board. The difference in the earnings of Italians and those of the "miscellaneous whites" is partly due to the differences in occupations already pointed out and partly to the fact that so many of the Italians work in wineries controlled by Italians, in the majority of which lower wages are paid than in other wineries. There is no discrimination against Italians as to wages, for both "miscellaneous whites" and Italians receive the same pay for the same work in any given winery.

RACE CHANGES.

"Miscellaneous white persons" and Italians have predominated in the wineries since the early days of the industry.. The numbers of these two groups are now about equal, but formerly the proportion of Italians was smaller. Much of the work connected with wine making is disagreeable and many of the "miscellaneous whites" have left this work to engage in more agreeable and better-paid occupations. Italians have become more numerous in the State and have engaged in this work in greater numbers.

Of the other races, the Chinese have been employed extensively and then displaced. About twenty years ago two or three of the wineries. investigated employed Chinese in practically all occupations, but Chinese have now disappeared from inside work partly because their numbers have decreased as a result of the exclusion law, and because of the growing tendency to employ "whites only," as white men have become available in larger numbers. The Japanese who are employed in many positions in the winery controlled by Japanese have displaced Italians and Chinese in that establishment largely, the Japanese proprietor says, by underbidding. In many other wineries Chinese and Japanese have occasionally been put at "inside work," but usually only temporarily when there was a shortage of other help. The general tendency has been to discriminate against Asiatics in winery work. The other races reported in the occupation table given above have been employed more recently. but their numbers

have never been large enough to have any important effect upon the industry.

EMPLOYERS' OPINIONS OF RACES EMPLOYED.

As a general rule, not much preference between races is shown by employers in this industry. For the more skilled occupations "miscellaneous whites," usually natives, Germans, or French, are employed, except in Italian wineries, where Italians generally fill such positions. In the more disagreeable work these same groups are the prevailing races and among employers there is no particular preference. In some wineries Italians are considered better as 66 common laborers" and "cellarmen" because they are satisfied with much of the work which is distasteful to natives and north Europeans. It is said by some employers that Italians are more temperate in the use of wine, whereas some of the "miscellaneous whites" drink to excess. On the other hand, other employers prefer the "miscellaneous whites" because they are considered the more temperate and are also more intelligent.

In the industry as a whole the white races are considered about equal in ability and are employed in preference to Asiatics. In the Japanese winery that race is employed largely because Japanese work for less than the other races, though the Japanese proprietor employs some white men in the more skilled positions.

VINEYARD WORK CONNECTED WITH THE WINERIES.

RACES EMPLOYED AND THEIR OCCUPATIONS.

As has been stated, the majority of the wineries own vineyards in connection with their plants. The agricultural work in these vineyards requires many laborers. The following table shows the occupations by races of men and women employed in vineyards owned by the wineries investigated.

TABLE 104.-Number of employees working in vineyards connected with wineries in each specified occupation, by sex and race.a