Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-09-29
WANT HARVESTERS
North Dakota's Wheat Crop in
Serious Peril.
LOUD CALL FOR MEN AND MACHINES

\ a AdCk OF LaDOreTs threatens the FARM
ers with Heavy Loss-Eighty Per Cent.
of the Grain Still in the Field in
Shocks, the Easy Prey of a Season of
| Wet Weather-One Hundred Thresh-
| ing Machines Wanted Right Away to
Save the Crop.
ST. PAUL, Sept. 29.--If the immense
wheat crop of North Dakota is to be
. saved men and threshing machines must
be hustled in there within the next few
days. The st. Paul Jobbers' union has
aroused to the necessity of helping out
the farmers, and a special committee
which made a thorough tour of the state
has made public the following report:
! Interchange of information developed pc
culiar conditions in the section of coun-
try bounded by the Red river, the North
ern Pacific, the DEVILS lake region and
the northern limit of North Dakota.
Crops are equally large in Minnesota and
other parts OF the Dakotas. but the COM
munities are older, and consequently bet
| ter able to take care of them
Why Laborers Are Scarce.
Successive partial crop failures for the
! past two or three years, coupled with the
absolute immensely of their present crop,
find the farmers in that young and newly
settled district wholly .unprepared to per-
form the increased labor thrown on them.
Instead of the regular increase in popula-
ton by immigration.such as had occurred
for many previous years, there has no
doubt been a decrease, so that, although
harvest hands have been in active demand
at high wages, few could be secured, for
Il y
Both the Northern Pacific autthe Great
i Northern railways have been sending men
up there for two months past at nominrl
rates of fare, but the demand is far from
being satisfied.
The Crop still in the Fields.
| This scarcity of men has prevented the
stacking # gr in, as is done in all the
older sectiul- Of the north vest, and to-
! day at least 30 per cent. of tie wheat
stands in shocks in the fields where it
grew. In this condition it is IN
protected from damage by rain.
and should a long period of wet
weather set in-not unreasonable any
where during October-there Is no telling
what damage may be done or how much
of the magnificent crop may be intimate
ly lost. In order to keep all the threshing
machines in the section at work, the farm
tTS iplHS ALEC>u4IR
from the shock. 1t takes about twenty
five men to keep machine running in
this way, including the number hauling
, from the scattered shocks.
a Big Demand for Machines.
I'm many localities where crops have
been poor or have failed before there are
no threshing machines to be had, and
even this "help-your-neighbor' class of
work is not being done. Competent au-
thority says that 100 additional machines
can find three months steady work in
North Dakota at better prices than are
usually paid. 1t is certain that all who
can be induced to go there can do so.
About forty-five days more remain for
blowing before the ground will freeze,
+ when it cannot be done. 1t need hardly
be said that practically no blowing has
yet been done, for this work is never COM
menced anywhere until the grain his
been entirely secured, either by stacking
| or threshing from the shock.
Importance of Prompt Action.
@If the North Dakota farmers are left to
themselves the season will end with no
blowing done. Without fall blowing next
/ years crop u J? there, with a season shorter
at both ends than in this latitude, will
| be a great hazard, to say the least.
1t is of the utmost Importance, therefore.
/ that this present crop be got out of dan
, ger at once, Il order that the farmers can
| get to blowing, and this is one Of their
| greatest causes for present anxiety. The
Northern Pacific and Great Northern rail-
| ways are not relaxing their efforts to send
| men up there and will not, although the
Northern Pacific people are having a
! somewhat decreased demand, while it
shows no sign of abatement in portions Of
the Great Northern system.
Most Urgent Need at Present.
| AUST now, however, the most urgent
need seems to be threshing machines with
crews to operate them. There are no new
| machines in the hands of dealers anywhere
| in the northwest, but we believe there are
plenty of them in the hands of their own
| ers within a radius of 200 miles south and
southwest of St. Paul not in use We have
| concluded that no greater good to north
western interests in general could be done
| than to put these facts before the owners
| of any threshers that we could find within
reasonable distance of u.s."
AND NOW IT'S THE WOMEN