PART I-IMMIGRANT LABOR IN AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES OF THE WESTERN STATES.

CHAPTER I.

IMMIGRANT LABOR IN CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES.

INTRODUCTION.

Many recent immigrants and a large percentage of the Asiatics are employed as agricultural laborers in certain sections of the West. They do the larger part of the hand work involved in the production of sugar beets which gives employment during the season to more than 25,000 men in the fields. They also do most of the work in the truck gardens and berry fields near most of the larger cities. Of still greater importance is the very general employment of immigrants as hand laborers in the orchards, vineyards, hopyards, berry fields, and large vegetable gardens of California. The intensive agricultural industries of this State and the production of sugar beets in fact offer the best opportunity presented in the West for the study of immigrant labor. A special investigation was made of the beet-sugar industry in all of the Western States in which it finds a place, and the results are set forth in a special report. A similar investigation was made of other agricultural and allied industries in California and of the hop industry in Oregon, and the results are set forth in a series of 12 reports. This report is intended to serve as a general statement of the agricultural labor problem in California and of the general results of the investigation. Because of the variations in the conditions which obtain in different localities, however, it must be regarded as an introduction to rather than a summary of the special reports to which reference is made.

In making the investigation of agricultural labor in California, the industries which gave employment to the largest number of immigrants were selected and each was studied in the more important localities in which it is conducted. No effort was made to investigate the situation in every community; an effort was made to ascertain as fully as possible the significant facts in the localities selected for

"Immigrant Labor in the Beet-Sugar Industry in the Western States.

These reports are as follows: Immigrant Labor in the Hop Industry of California and Oregon; Immigrant Labor in the Deciduous Fruit Industry of the Vaca Valley; Immigrants in the Fruit Industries of the Newcastle District; Immigrant Labor in the Garden Seed and Deciduous Fruit Industries of Santa Clara County; Immigrant Labor in the Orchards about Suisun; Immigrant Farming of the Reclaimed Lands of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers; Immigrants in Fresno County; Immigrant Labor in the Wineries; Immigrant Labor in California Fruit and Vegetable Canneries; Immigrant Labor in the Citrus Fruit Industry of California; The Celery Industry of Orange County; and Immigrants in the Imperial Valley. In addition to these reports, studies were made of immigrant farmers in 19 localities in Colorado, Utah, Washington, Oregon, and California. These studies contain much supplementary material.

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investigation. The investigation covered the more important centers devoted to the production of citrus and deciduous fruit, grapes, vegetables, berries, hops, and sugar beets which are the intensive crops in the production of which different localities of the State specialize.

Special agents of the Commission visited a sufficient number of ranches in each locality to secure representative data. The evidence of the landowners and others was taken, the conditions of employment, including the wages, hours, and the race of each employee, noted, and, in so far as it was not too inconvenient to do so, personal schedules or "individual slips" were obtained from each laborer. The personal data obtained from 11,329 laborers engaged in ranch work have been combined and are presented in the final section of this report. The special reports, except those on the canning, hop, and beet-sugar industries, are limited to a discussion of the economic phases of the situation in the different industries and localities to which they relate

CHARACTER OF CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE.

The need of California farmers for an abundant supply of unskilled, cheap laborers results from the intensive character of the agricultural crops grown, the large scale on which these intensive crops are produced, and the conditions under which they are marketed. The production of hay and cereals for the home market was begun soon after the discovery of gold in 1849 brought thousands of people to the State. The varieties of products increased rapidly, and with the availability of eastern markets during the seventies following the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad, the quantity of high-priced intensive crops for shipment out of the State advanced very rapidly. This development of agriculture created a demand. for laborers which has become greater each year.

The acreage and value of the various crops of California are reported as follows in the census of 1900:

TABLE 1.-Acreage and value of various crops of California.a

The intensive crops in Group II, valued at $41,930,014, constituted 44.1 per cent of the total value of all of the agricultural products of the State, although these crops occupied only about one-tenth of the acreage of improved farm lands. The extent of most of these special branches of agriculture, as given in more detail for the year 1908 in the Biennial Report of the State Board of Equalization (1907-8), was as follows:

TABLE 2.-Data for special branches of agriculture in California in 1908.

• Compiled from the Biennial Report of the State Board of Equalization (1907-8).

In some cases these figures are clearly underestimated, as is often the case in reports to the assessors and state board of equalization.

Of these intensive crops, some are grown primarily for local consumption, but the greater part of them are shipped to distant markets. The vegetables grown on truck farms near cities are usually sold in the local market, while the greater part of the potatoes, celery, asparagus, beans, tomatoes, and other vegetables grown elsewhere, and small fruits grown in districts specializing in these crops, are shipped out of the State. Nearly all of the citrus fruit and a large part of the deciduous fruit are shipped "green" to eastern markets. More of the deciduous fruit, however, is dried and sold in that form, while the canneries conserve many varieties of fruit and vegetables which are shipped to all parts of the world. The shipments out of the State in 1908 were reported as follows: "

In that year the output of the canneries was 4,734,663 cases of canned fruit and 1,501,885 cases of canned vegetables. The wineries handled the local crops of wine grapes and in 1908 their output was 37,250,000 gallons of wine and 1,750,000 gallons of brandy. The beets are manufactured into sugar within the State. The varieties

"Annual Report State Board of Trade, 1908.

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and amount of fresh deciduous fruit shipped from northern and central California were as follows:

These figures show the importance of these crops among the State's industries.

INTENSIVE CHARACTER OF DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF AGRICULTURE AND THE PROBLEM OF HAND LABOR.

The great variety of soils, of elevation, and of climate in California make possible the widest range of agricultural products. The vast grain fields which were developed soon after the "gold rush " sixty years ago have gradually been divided into smaller holdings devoted to products requiring more intensive cultivation and bringing more remunerative prices. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and similar crops have become the most important products of California farms. The growing of cereals and hay which is still extensively carried on, involves no serious labor problem, for practically all of the work is performed with teams and machinery, so that comparatively few men are required. Moreover, the work on hay and grain ranches is not objectionable to white men and a sufficient number of natives and other white persons can be secured for such labor.

Since the matter of securing workers in dairying, stock raising, and general farming is comparatively easy and is of slight importance from the point of view of immigration, the remainder of this chapter will deal exclusively with the labor problem as presented in localities in which the land is devoted largely or entirely to intensive farming. The agricultural products of the State included in Group II of the table on page 4, in the growing of which there is much specialization, are practically all of them crops which at some stage in their production require a great deal of hand labor. They require either intensive cultivation and much care while growing or involve a great deal of hand labor in the harvest.

This intensive agriculture is well illustrated in the cultivation of sugar beets. Beets are planted by seed drills and require the usual cultivating by team cultivators, but that alone is not sufficient. As soon as the beets develop two leaves they must be thinned by workers who cut out the surplus plants with a short-handled hoe and loosen the earth around each remaining beet. This work requires constant stooping or squatting on the ground. Later in the summer laborers are employed on two separate occasions to hoe the weeds from the growing beets. Finally, in the harvest, many hand workers are required for topping, which involves pulling the beets from the ground, cutting off the leafy top with a knife, and throwing the beets in a

In the beet districts of

pile convenient for loading upon wagons. California, as a whole, between 6,000 and 7,000 men are required for the thinning in the spring, while at other seasons the number is less. The thinning in a single district may spread over a period of a month or two; the first hoeing requires fewer men and may last two or three weeks and the second hoeing follows after an interval of several weeks. The topping covers a variable period of two or three months during the harvest when the factories are running. The time consumed in these different processes in any district depends upon the period over which the seeding has been extended in order not to have the beets mature all at one time and so exceed the amount the factory is capable of handling. In spite of this effort to keep the work of all the ranches from coming at the same time, there is an urgent demand for laborers for short periods only. Between the harvest, which ends in October, and the beginning of the thinning in April, no hand workers are needed in the beet fields.

The gathering of the grapes of the vineyards involves much labor, and after the harvest the pruning of the vines requires hand workers. The citrous-fruit orchards demand more than the ordinary amount of cultivating, and in gathering the oranges and lemons a great many men are needed, for the picking must be performed with care. Much labor is necessary for the picking and packing of deciduous fruit and for pruning the trees. În preparing such fruit for drying the cutting and sulphuring gives employment to many more persons, especially women and girls employed in cutting. Beans must be hand-hoed once or twice during the summer, and later, in the threshing, many men are required. The growing of hops involves much hand labor in the pruning, stringing, and training of the vines, and later, a very much larger force is necessary for the picking. It is generally stated that where two men can do the plowing and cultivating 50 men are required for the hand work of pruning, stringing, and training vines in the hopyards. A still larger number are needed during the short harvest season. In asparagus growing there is some hand cultivating, and during the harvest season of three or four months the fields must be cut over once each day. Celery and other varieties of vegetables also require intensive cultivation. More than the usual amount of team work is required in celery fields to do the plowing, cultivating, "disking," making ditches for irrigation, "crowding," and "banking" the celery, and hauling the crated crop to the shipping points. The handwork in raising celery consists of the seeding and care of the seed beds, transplanting from seed beds to the fields, weeding, hand cultivating, and gathering the crop.

One of the most intensive crops grown is strawberries. They have been planted in large tracts in recent years and demand a large supply of laborers. Figs and nuts also require extra hands for the harvest.

In addition to the other hand work, the irrigating of fields and orchards in most of the districts devoted to intensive farming requires considerable care and many men are employed for that work alone.