Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-06-07
WHY BOYS DRIFT FROM COUN
TRY TO TOWN.
BIG FARMS SUGGESTED AS ONE
CAUSE.
FowleS Should Be Permitted to Nest
Outside the Hen House Best
Method of Raising Onions-Feed
for Cows-Miscellane Notes Per
tanning to Field and Garden.

In an editorial under the caption,
Afraid of the Country, writes a CORE
| Spondent TO metropolitan paper,
| you call attention to "one OF the most
striking revelations of the last census, .
that is, the yielding Of country boys
TO the attractions of city life and the
increasing distaste of laborers for farm
work" You say: "A convention OF
southern planters recently met to de-
wise means to supply the labor so
Sorely needed
Now, sir, the facts shown by the
| census must be an effect, and 10 in
diligently apply a remedy the cause
Of that effect must be aScertained.
And any convention which fails to
recognize the logic of the Situa ton will
fail to secure more than a temporary
supply. Unfortunately temporary
supply seems to be about all the
planters want, and suggests itself as
one OF the prime causes of the scarcity
Of farm labor.
The growth of the agricultural i'm
plement industry has been immense,
and the American farmers and planters
have been quick to take advantage
OF the supposed possibilities opened
up to them; large FARMS larger farms,
immense plantations, cultivated with
a minimum of labor and maximum
of machinery, have been their ambi-
ton, which, in the course of time,
brings about its legitimate result in
the dispersion Of the rural population.
Instead of encouraging small farmers
to come or remain in their neighbOr-
hood, and bring up families educated
to farm labor, sure Of profitable EN-
ployment in the busy season, and suf-
ficiently numerous to combine, and Sc,
cure schooling for their children in
the less busy times, they have discour-
aged small holdings, and have de-
pended upon periodical importations
as they were needed.
Now, as the distaste of the laborers
of cities for farm work is indisputable,
the question arises, why is it? In my
opinion the answer is not far to seek;
laborers in cities have reasonable,
stated hours of work; their pay, much
or little, is in cash weekly; if married,
their time after work can be spent
with their families, and their children
have the best free schools; if single,
their evenings are their own, to spend
we'll or ill., as they choose; if they are
often out Of work, they at least have
the chance of some work at all sea
sons.
What inducements do farmers offer
laborerS or mechanics of work, as
they believe only temporarily? When
a farmer needs help ne wants it right
away and all at once, for the seasons
are arbitrary for his specialties or
take care of his other crops. He
doesn't want idle laborers in his neigh
bOrhood, but he expects them to come
at their OWL expense in the required
numbers for a few weeks work, and
then fit, he doesn't care how or where;
he expects them to work from sunrise
to sunset, and perhaps do chores after
that; as they have no evenings he gives
no thought to their comfort. He has
no interest in their future welfare,
they are a temporary eXpedient to be
borne with resignation, but they must
be we'll fed or they can not stand the
long hours. When done with them
they are grudgingly paid and thank
fully discharged. City laborers know
all this and will not work for farmers
if they can help it.
The farmers themselves are to blame
if their boys drift away from farm
life; the old men have the prevailing
itch for large farms, they will not
divide with the boys, and the boys
themselves, educated into a healthy
American contempt for small farms,
and too proud to hang around waiting
for the old men to die, drift off to bet
ter themselves, which many of them
do, and the old farms are kept intact
and not half cultivated.
Of course the above thoughts are
generalides, and can be negatived in
numerous instances, but in the main
are too true as regards our American
farmers. The successful small farmers
Of this country are mostly foreigners
who have been educated in that way,
and are content with such holdings as
can be thoroughly cultivated.