Two points are at once suggested by these figures-the higher cost of board in the earlier period, and the differences in cost then and now, in the several sections. Then wages were high, products correspondingly dear, and necessarily the cost of board was greater. Then the board allowance was greatest on the Pacific coast, as it is now. East of the mountains it is greatest in the New England States, which bring from the West a considerable proportion of the substantials of their dietary. The Middle States, with more home production and less dependence on the prairies, afford farm board at a somewhat cheaper rate. The West, with cheap food, makes a lower charge for board, but not quite in proportion to cheapness of products, the cost and inconvenience of domestic service being an important factor in the charge. The lower cost in the South is partially due to a practical elimination of domestic service, the laborer usually taking the materials and otherwise furnishing board and bed.

A glance at the above table of differences, showing reduction in boardcost, reveals one exception, an increase in the Rocky Mountain region. The cause is evident. This period of twenty-six years almost covers the sum total of mining development of that region, creating demand for labor, increasing the rate of wages, as well as the value of products. It is the sole exception, as it is the only region that has been settled and exploited within that time, except some of the areas of the lower plains, as in Kansas and Nebraska, which are almost exclusively agricultural, and therefore suffering competition of other grain-growing regions. The statement as to the Mountain States is as follows:

This region stands next to the Pacific coast, above all sections eastward, in rank of wages rates, while in 1886 it stood slightly lower than the agricultural States of the West, and next to the rate for mixed labor of the South.

WAGES IN THE CENTRAL BELT.

Average conditions of agriculture and wages of farm labor are well illustrated in the record of the central belt of States on the parallel of 40 degrees. The statement of wages without board for nine investigations, covering the changes of a period of a quarter of a century, is as follows:

In 1866, at the close of the war, agricultural effort was general and urgent, and labor comparatively scarce, and therefore dear. From Pennsylvania to Iowa the extreme range of difference was only $2.20, from $27.71 in Indiana to $29.91 in Pennsylvania. Nebraska was exceptional, immigrants coming in so rapidly as to raise the price of products and labor, so much of both was required for the initial work of land-breaking and home-making. All sought to be farm proprietors, and few were willing to work for wages. As settlement progressed, and conditions became more uniform with other States, prices of labor declined, but not in proportion to reduction in value of products, as the hired labor of this State is still small in proportion to that of farm owners. Wages fell from $38.37 in 1866, to $33.25 in 1869, and to $24 in 1875, when the average was less than any of the States named, which then presented figures more uniform than at any other date of the series. It will be seen that the decline in rate of wages was general, from the period following the war to the monentary panic occurring in 1873, and that it continued in slight further reduction to 1879. A sharp reaction soon followed, the next investigation showing an average advance of 15 per cent. Five investigations have followed since, revealing a remarkably steady rate of wages through this central belt. Even the decline in prices of product did not reduce it, simply because of the preference of the laborer for cultivating his own acres, and the inducements which lumbering, general manufacturing, or mining presented for profitable occupation.

LOCAL VARIATION IN WAGES.

Not only are striking differences shown to exist in groups of States, and greater still in individual State averages, but in every State there is variation in its county rates, due to the same causes which operate to differentiate the wages of geographical sections. One of these causes is density of population, as in the neighborhood of cities, which results in high rents and dear food, and wages corresponding. In such vicinage, demand for skilled labor in gardening and fruit-growing, as well as in general farming, is stimulated by the necessity for large supplies and the relatively high range of prices which they command, producing a competition which raises wages. In a county or a portion of a State marked by high intelligence and general education of its people, farm wages are high, because more in demand for a greater variety of production, and the service is more effective and more valuable. In other counties, distant from market, with scant railway facilities, and especially with poor roads to railway stations, demand for labor is less, and the products of labor are less valuable. As a natural result, in such locality, there is less skill and ambition among workers, the more progressive will seek better conditions, and wages are consequently low because of less intrinsic value, of depreciation in quality.

In mining districts, any development which gives employment to

large numbers, as indicated in the local data of these investigations, causes labor competition and increased demand and price of products, raising the wages of farm labor. The establishment of any productive industry is followed by this economic result, as shown in these returns.

WHITE AND COLORED LABOR.

The relative wages of labor of the white and colored race, respectively, can not be precisely given, as no separate returns were made. Only an average of all wages, by the month and by the day, was sought. A very large proportion of those working for wages in agricultural operations in the Southern States may be assumed to be of the colored race, so that the wages of that section may, in a modified sense, stand for the rate for colored labor. The reader will hold this fact in view in the comparison presented.

Since the period of high wages in all sections the rate has been comparatively uniform, with somewhat less fluctuation in the Southern States. For ten years, at least, the average of these States for labor, without board, has kept very close to 60 per cent of the rate prevailing in the other sections, with a slight tendency to increase of the percentage. In 1879, the year of lowest rate, it was still 60 per cent of the average which practically represents exclusively white labor. Prior to that date, when wages were higher, there was less difference in the rates representing virtually white and colored labor. While the reduction was from $16.63 in 1866 to $12.65 in 1879, or 24 per cent in the one, it was from $29.41 in 1866 to $21.10 in 1879, or 28 per cent in the other. Comparing the rates of wages at the beginning and end, respectively, of this period of twenty-six years, the decline is 11 per cent for Southern wages and 20 per cent for the average of other sections. The difference is mainly made by the excessively high wages of the early period in the Northern States. The following statement presents these averages:

In this table are presented rates of wages per month both without and with board. While wages "without board" represent the entire cost of labor, wages "with board" only give the cost of service exclusive of the food and lodging of the laborer. As the "living" of the white laborer costs more than that of the colored, the difference is greater in the States representing almost exclusively white labor,

between wages with board and exclusive money rates. The average differences, for the past ten years, are $7.75 and $4.65, representing the cost of boarding or feeding the laborer. The lower cost in the latter average is not entirely in the simpler and less varied ration, but doubtless partially in the fact that the colored laborer usually cooks his own food, the material being furnished in bulk. So far as white labor is included in these returns from Southern States, it tends to diminish the difference given above, which would be greater still if the returns were exclusively of wages of colored labor. As it is, wages with board in the Southern States, as returned, are almost exactly twothirds as much as the average of the other States, while wages "without board" are only four-tenths as much as for exclusively white labor. It is a noteworthy fact that while the value of cotton has declined nearly 80 per cent in twenty-six years, the wages of labor in the cotton region has declined only 11 per cent, showing that cotton is no longer a dominating influence in the labor of the South, and suggesting the activities in agricultural and manufacturing lines which are destined to fructify and enrich that interesting portion of the country.

An objection may be made to these rates of wages, for the South, that contracts for service are generally on the share system, and not payable in money. This is true of a large proportion of the labor employed, yet these rates are current everywhere and paid to a certain proportion of the laborers, and they vary locally with the pressure of demand; while reasonably steady, the tendency is to advance, being slightly higher at the beginning of the present year than in 1890, notwithstanding the low price of cotton. Yet, in cotton-picking, the transient harvest service of that region, there has been a reduction. Our Arkansas State agent reports that in his State the prevailing rates of 65 to 80 cents per 100 pounds of seed cotton were reduced last autumn to from 50 to 60 cents.

A separation of the labor of white and colored can not be made with close precision from these returns, yet it will be nearly approximate to say that the average wages of whites are now about $23.75 per month, or $16 with board; and that the wages of colored laborers average $14.25, or $9.75 with board.

FARMERS AND FARM WAGES.

While farmers have suffered from low prices of certain products, they have been unable to reduce the rates of wages. It might be supposed that the depression in agriculture, of which so much has been said and written, would be attended with a decline in the rate of compensation paid for labor. This has not taken place. The demand is well sustained. Wages have not declined. Many a farmer complains that labor costs too much, that values of products do not warrant the rates demanded, and yet he must have it and promptly makes the engagement. It is the compulsion of competition, an indication of general employment and a fair degree of prosperity.

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