16 COSTS OF PRODUCING SUGAR BEETS
the United States and in Germany indicates that the introduction
of sugar beets into the rotation results in considerably increased
yields of small grain and hay. In the commission’s investigation,
1,699 farmers in the United States replied to the question concerning
their experience as to the effect of preceding a small grain crop with
a crop of sugar beets. Of these, 1,482 replied that the yield of the
small grain crop was increased by this practice. Of the 745 farmers
reporting concerning hay, 541 replied that the yield of hay was thus
increased. (See Table 79, p. 99.)
SOCIOLOGICAL "ASPECTS OF THE SUGAR-BEET INDUSTRY
Studies by the United States Department of Agriculture in the
leading sugar-beet States have shown that more than two-thirds
of the work required in producing sugar beets is done by hand labor.?
The commission ’s study of the sugar-beet industry shows that about
72 per cent of the total hand labor on beets, including the harvesting,
is performed by contract labor. A contract, made between the beet
orower and contract laborer, specifies the terms of payment and the
time and manner of doing the hand work (blocking, thinning, weed-
ing, hoeing, pulling, and topping) on the beet crop. The remaining
28 per cent of the hand labor is done largely by the families of the
farmers, and, to only a small extent, by the farmers themselves or by
wage labor. The supply of contract labor is usually arranged for by
the sugar-beet companies, although the contracts are made between
beet growers and the laborers. The sugar companies usually have
no control over such contract laborers, but simply assist the growers
in finding and bringing them to the beet-growing districts and dis-
tributing them among the growers according to their needs. This
supply is derived either from families resident near the sugar-beet
farms or from families or men brought in from a distance. Formerly
it was possible for agents of the companies to obtain a sufficient
supply of contract labor from the cities and towns of the Middle
West for the beet fields in that area; and to obtain from the western
cities and mining districts sufficient for the western fields. This
labor was largely recruited from Russian-German families, among
whom it has long been customary for the women and children to
work in the fields with the men. More recently it has been neces-
sary to bring in considerable numbers of Mexicans.
According to estimates of the sugar-beet companies, approximately
100,000 adult laborers, or a working force of adults and children
equivalent to that number, were required for the 1926 crop. Of the
force of about 78,000 contract laborers employed about 30 per cent
were Mexicans, 19 per cent were foreign-born northern Europeans,
and about 1 per cent were Japanese. In 1922, when the commis-
sion’s cost study was made, about 22 per cent of the contract workers
were Mexicans.
7. 8. Department of Agriculture, Bulletins Nos. 735, 760, and 963.
