The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-03-27
CORRESPONDENCE.


March 23d / observe that 1 have an
assailant in your correspondent ~.
A. c." who seems to think my sched-
ule of wages, published in the ADvER-
TIsER of March 9lst, too low for ap-
plication to certain farming districts
in Kansas, Minnesota and Washing
ton. / fail TO recognize my facile
handed respondent beneath his lettered
guise, and am wholly ignorant of his
knowledge of the questions upon
which he seeks issue; but according
him full benefit of the doubt, l am
constrained to say that il he intends
his figures shall! represent the general
schedules of wages paid to plantation
laborers in the communities men,
toned, at the present time, his repre-
sensations are preposterous, his argu-
ments absurd, ana he, himself, has
surely been a victim to a premium on
labor which the condition of his own
guarantee. He says, 1.-The usual aver
age wages, by the year, has been S45
per month and board, in Kansas and
Minnesota" That is a startling pro-
position. / should finch from the
task of substantiating it. Indeed, l
should repeat the assertion, giving
my informant full credit for it. Kan
sas, airy, rolling, blooming Kansas,
/ oNn h. -.
cages and profitless farming industry,
paying each OF her plowmen forty-five
hard silver dollars and board for a
months labor!
Five hundred and forty dollars per
year, with "city" board; think of it!
For the matter of fact, hundreds and |
thousands of farmers in Kansas and |
Minnesota, employing one to several |
laborers, seldom derive more than |
this as their years gross earnings; and |
such absurd expenditures for labor |
would drive the largest sra lchmenr |
from the business Immediately, in so |
much as even present conditions, with |
labor at a mean of about Sl3, fails to |
place the farming industry in Kansas
and Minnesota upon n profitable basis. |
In the free atmosphere of the United |
States, in the absence of recognized
labor systems, a man Is at liberty to |
pay his laborers so much as his purse
and own sweet will may direct. ~.
A. c." may have rewarded his hire
lings to the extent of $45 per month.
For this nobility of mind and liberal
ity of heart | have no words of re-
proach. No doubt his servile band
knew how to use their hard earned
perquisites to the best advantage.
But few men are SO generous, in either
Kansas or Minnesota. The wages
mentioned by my respondent as being
general in those States is not, and
never has been, reached by the plant
ers thereof. In the first place (taking
up his assertion AGAIN., few or no
farm laborers are ever employed in
those sections for more than seven
months at time. The very few
held for the year receive no wages
for the idle or winter months. Sec
ond, Reuer, under any circumstances
Of necessity, and rarely through gen.
erosity (as | must understand that
that virtue is now an active agency
does the regular farm laborer in Kan
sas or Minnesota receive more than
S25 per month Cor 81 per day, when
reckoned by the day. for his work,
and this during the farming or work
ing season only. l further maintain
that S25 per month is seldom reached
in Kansas. Only under the stress of
belated seasons, or scanty supply of
labOrers, and for momentary use, are
such figures offered. 1t may interest
-. a. Gu to know that two strong
young Californians, of broken for
tunes, with intimate friends in this I
city, are now working on plantations {
in Southern Kansas at 50 and $12 per
month respectively. L have no
earthly reason to doubt this state {
ment as it came to me, for my own I
observation in Kansas,
while carefully studying this ques-
ton, induces me to accept it as true.
Full well | know that this is an ex-
ceptional case; bat, while it may be J
the minimum, | have stood over
many a weary toiler whose gross
income was but few dollars more.
OF course, in these remarks / do not I
refer TO the concourse of "harvestersp q
or "eXtras" who swarm into Kansas, v
and Washington in late [
summer. These "eXtras," enlisted at :.
the critical moment to gather the
grain, are frequently paid S15O, 81,
and even IS per day, as was the ne
cessity in Southern Kansas in July 6
and August, 1892. But they are only &
needed for week, fifteen days, or a f
month at most. These ''extras" enter 5
at harvest, where they 3
receive about the same in daily wages ;,
as is paid in Kansas. Continuing, J.
A. G. says, "WhIle in the State of
l am now paying farm =
aborers SAT 30 and board" So does u
Emile lola pay the hawker twice value u
or his pot herbs. The section known fl
rs the Palouse country, lying between D
Spokane county and Walla Walla is Y
undoubtedly the best wheat region in a
he immediate Northwest. This is, .
AIKEN as the highest standard for cul-
ovation, whether in productiveness of
oil, quality of grain or matters of
In this, Colfax, Palouse
Jity, Pullman and Moscow Ida), with
heir neighborhoods, form the natural II
center. Here S25 per month and "
BOARD is the universal standard. o
Iessrs. Staley aud Hill, operating the