Excerpts: It is not generally known that there are 325,000 agricultural workers in the sugar industry of the United States for whom the Federal Government establishes minimum wages. These wages are established under the provisions of the Sugar Act of 1937 which represents one of the most significant developments in the government's relations with agricultural labor ever to occur in this country. In fact, the condition and problems of agricultural laborers in the sugar industry cannot be described without referring to the labor provisions of this Act. This statute is one of only six laws ever enacted by the Congress providing for the establishment of wage rates in private industry. Four of these laws are still in effect, the Public Contracts Act of 1936, the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and the present Sugar Act. Of these, the Sugar Act is the only one which affects agricultural workers. The Sugar Act of 1937 represents a new approach in the treatment of agricultural workers and, what is possible more significant, in the treatment of labor in an industry with tariff protection. For many years protective systems have been defended on the ground that labor shared in the benefits derived by industry from such protection. Under present sugar legislation a portion of such benefits is for the first time specifically reserved for workers.
