The landowners are paying migrant workers to cause trouble at the dance. The want them to start fights so the law can come in and haul people to jail. The purpose for this is that the landowners do not want the migrants to organize. The migrants are a community at this point, and the landowners realize they will start to demand better pay and working conditions. The plan is foiled by Tom and some of the other men in an efficient and quiet manner. The deputies are unable to act on anything. It is ironic in that the landowners attempted to stop organization efforts of the migrants by sending men to the dance, yet the migrants saw how effective they were when they came together to handle adversity.