Second, there is the type of employer represented by the vegetable grower. In this case it is readily seen that crops are put into the ground as early as April, and seeding may continue until the fifteenth of August, and with weeding, thinning, and cultivating, the work may continue practically throughout the season. The harvesting of certain crops may start late in June and continue until the ground freezes. In this work the boys obtain the very best sort of farm experience outside of that obtained from general farm work. The work which they do is diversified, and they learn about many farm operations.
Third, another type of employer is the business organization made up of farmers; as, for example, the shippers' or growers' association, where a group of farmers unite under a more or less compact organization for the purpose of raising and moving crops. Another illustration—somewhat different for the reason that the organization is not made up of farmers, but rather is allied with farmers—is that of a canning company. In working for such a type of employer the boy may or may not gain considerable agricultural experience, depending entirely upon whether he is working on diversified crops for long periods of time or doing specialized harvesting. It is necessary to keep in mind these different types of work as represented by different types of employers.
It is clear that in some sections, under certain agricultural conditions already described, the job might be guaranteed a group of boys from the middle of April until the first of November, with almost steady work for six days in the week. The nature of crops and weather conditions determine continuity of work. A heavy rain means a good deal of cultivating and weeding immediately afterward in order to conserve the moisture. A light rain means that the boys can work for part of the day in the fields, while in the case of small-fruit farming even a slight rain prevents the picking of the fruit. Again, in vegetable farming a boy may work all day if the fields are not too hot, without any injury to his health or to the crops, because the vegetable plants cannot be injured by handling, no matter how hot it is.
In the case of the specialized farmer, there is little or no guarantee for work beyond a short and definite period; that is, the period is necessarily short, but whether or not it is definite depends a great deal upon the weather and prices of crops. It is obvious that an abundant crop might cause a low market price,—a price too low to pay for picking,—and employers who early in the season thought that they wanted a group of boys might decline to accept them at the last moment. They might even contract for the boy-labor camp and after the boys had picked for a few days desire to drop the whole enterprise because of a fall in the market price,—a fall which would not be evident until the crops commenced to come. Or, again, the employer might contract for a camp of boys to pick strawberries, for example, and complete arrangements might be made for bringing the boys to the locality, only to have the camp project abandoned because a week of rain had absolutely ruined the strawberry crops. Such an experience was met in New York State the past season. A hailstorm in Chautauqua County completely destroyed in a few minutes the prospects of a camp for the harvesting of tomatoes. Now, it is evident that it is a difficult matter always to guarantee a job.
The Bureau of Vocational Training of the Military Training Commission of New York State requested the zone representatives in the farm-placement bureaus to see to it that jobs were guaranteed to boys and that the time of service, place of service, and pay should be clearly stated. It furthermore recommended that the job should be guaranteed in writing by a single farmer, by a group of farmers, or by the corporation desiring these boys; that the employing party should state the kind of work, the pay, the number of boys needed, the duration of service, the living conditions, the provisions made for the food supply for the first week, and so on. It made it clear that there should be an assurance in writing of what the boys were to expect, and that someone should be delegated to see that the employer lived up to his agreement. Out of a theory not based upon any previous experience it was obviously easy to write up such a statement, but to expect it to be carried out without a hitch in all parts of the state and for all kinds of work and all types of employers, not taking into consideration climatic and market conditions, to say nothing about the prejudices and idiosyncrasies of employers and boys, was to count the chickens before they were hatched. About all that can be said at this stage of this movement is in illustration of the way the job guarantee was handled. In what follows it must be kept in mind that much of what has been said or what may be said about the proposition of guaranteeing the job is not at all difficult to carry out in the case of general farming and is only moderately difficult in the case of vegetable growing.
Every camp failure due to the lack of a workable contract justifies the original contention that guaranteeing the job is extremely important.
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING IN REFERENCE TO THE SOUTH LIMA (NEW YORK) CAMP
Between the New York State Military Training Commission Farm-Cadet Bureau, West Central Zone (Nathaniel G. West, Field Inspector, Rochester, New York) and the Growers' and Shippers' Association of South Lima, New York.
The Farm-Cadet Bureau, West Central Zone, agrees: