"S’pose you got a job a work, an’ there’s jus’ one fella wants the job. You got to pay ‘im what he asts. But s’pose they’s a hunderd men…S’pose they’s a hunderd men wants that job. S’pose them men got kids, an’ them kids is hungry. S’pose a lousy dime’ll buy a box a mush for them kids. S’pose a nickel’ll buy at – leas’ somepin for them kids. An’ you got a hunderd men. Jus’ offer ’em a nickel – why, they’ll kill each other fightin’ for that nickel."
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 20. Floyd Knowles explains the corrupt and inhuman system employed by exploitative California landowners to recruit workers and pay them low wages. He tells Tom why they print so many handbills advertising for labor. The promise of so many jobs is a deception to attract a surplus of laborers and pay them as little as possible. If a hundred turn up for a job, you can offer them a nickel and they’ll kill each other for the chance to earn it to feed hungry children.