Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1897-09-16

1
~ was in the city yesterday. Colonel
Lee has been suffering some time from
stroke Of paralysis, but IL now recov.
ertng. Mr.. Lee, Jr., came TO the civ
yesterday to buy machinery TO save
what he can Of his fathers corn crop
and also to be In . position to prepare
the ground for wheat. Mr.. Lee reports
that the farmers In his vicinity have los,
thousands Of dollars on account of their
inability 70 secure labor enough to save
the corn and tobacco crops. Labor"
ne SAID, cannot be gotten down there
for love nor money. The cause OF n All
Is the change in the time for the begin.
ming OF the oyster season. Most of the
labor down there Is supplied by the col.
ored men, but they have been gobbied
up by the oystermen. The season be-
gins September 1, at the very time we
need plenty of labor to save our crops.
AT the opening Of the season there Is a
great rush to the water, because the la.
eorer can secure better pay from the
oystermen than they can from the far
mers. | do not blame the laborers, nor
the oystermen, but do think. and so do
all the farmers in my neighborhood, tina.
an injustice has been done to us by max
ing the oyster season begin fifteen DAYS
earlier than heretofore.
There ID no good reason why the oys-
ter season should open SO early. From
September I, the opening of the season,
until the 10Th there is practically no en-
forcemens of the oyster law, because the
oystermen are given fifteen days in
which to take out their licenses.
"Our farm Is on the Patuxent River.
about four miles from Drum Point. For
the past two weeks all the farmers in
that neighborhood have been securing
the country in q vain search for labor.
After working hard all day on the farm,
Mr.. Charles McGill, my neighbor, and
left home on Tuesday evening, at six
O'Clock, and went TO q Republican meet
ing, three miles below California, think
ing that we might possibly find some
men ut the meeting who would help us
to save our crops. When we arrived at
the place of meeting we found about
seventy five or one hundred men, and
we begged the laborers among them to
work for us. I succeeded in getting one
man. Mr.. McGill also got one man. We
wanted ten hands apiece. After our long
search all along the route, we returned
home, at 2:4O o'clock in the morning,
with one laborer each.
81 have thirty-five acres of land I'm fod-
der. Mr.. McGill has the same. Mr.. Geo.
t. Cusic, another farmer, whose place
adjoins ours, has sixty acres in corn, and
has but four hands. He needs twelve.
Capt. George Thomas, whose farm Is be-
low ours, wants twelve or thirteen men,
but he can't get any, except four who
are willing to pull his fodder on shares.
He has twenty-five or thirty acres In
corn. Farther down, Mr.. Wesley Free
man and Mr.. John Hilton, each Of whom
has thirty-ive or forty acres In corn, and
eight or tea acres in tobacco, have been
hunting for labor, and can't get It for
love nor money. John 8. Jones, of Ce-
dar Point, Republican candidate for the
legislature, wants six or eight hands to
save his fodder and tobacco, and can't
get but three. All the other farmers In
that section are in a similar plight Il
would have required but two weeks
work to save the crops. II we had Sc
cured labor last week, we would have
been safe.
"Mr. McGill, Mr.. Cusic and myself
have about $1,000 worth out. came to
the city today to buy a corn harvester,
because we must get the fodder and
weeds down in order to prepare the
ground for wheat. Mr.. McGill, with the
assistance of his family is doing the best
he can to save what il left of his crop.
Mr.. McGill. Mr.. Cusic and myself could
have given two weeks employment to
eighteen men, or one weeks work TO
thirty-six men. There are many smaller
farms where the work can be done by
the farmer and his family, with the as
sistance of an extra hand.
TIE early beginning of the oyster
season viii ruin the agriculturists down
there. Calvert county oystermen come
over into St. Mary's and take every avail.
able hand, giving $i2 q month to the
boys and $15 and $1S to the men. ]
know of five instances where these oys.
termen have gone into the field and taken
men from the farm. l was Just about
to put man to work one morning when
an oysterman came and offered him .,
n month more wages than had agreed
to give. He took the man away from
me.
sour crops today are not worth hal
what they were week ago; they are no
merchantable, being almost burned NJ
by the sun. William +. Z. Long, clerl
in State Tobacco Warehouse No 1, ha
been looking for labor to save his fod
der. but could not find one man. Mr.
McGill has $500 worth of tobacco, an,
has succeeded in housing but half Of il
"If the oystering season were post
poned until October or Is, the farmer
could harvest their crops of the curren
year, and get the wheat land prepared
IL not seeded, and the oystermen woul,
have that much money In hand, and ther
would not be the slightest loss in oyster