Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1899-08-10
The HARVEST Is RIPE
And the Laborers Are Few In the
Big Wheat Fields of the
Northwest.
Big Wages offered All Applicants
Railroad Fare Paid From
the Cities.
Employment Agencies Engaged to
Find Help..-s2 SO to So Per
Day Being Paid.


Chicago, Aug. 10.-"Just think of it,!
exclaimed Canal street employment
agent yesterday. "s6 day for engineers
to run thrashing machines, $4 day for
feeders, 81 for good sack men and 1925
and $3.50 for common harvest hands.
including board. This is the word from
Minnesota and the Dakotas. There is
no hot air about these figures. They are
offered by good people with cash pay.
And yet the big farmers in the north
west complain that they can't get
enough hands TO harvest their wheat. =
| Asked as to what he and other Chi
cage agents We're doing toward supply
ing the demands OF the northwestern
farmers. the Canal street man said:
we asre ending hundreds Of unem-
ployed men from Chicago t. the harvest
fields in North Dakota, South Dakota
and Minnesota. And they are good men,
experienced and able for the work,
many of whom haze been there before
and know what they are about Almost
every evening we are shipping harvest
hands in parties of ten, twenty or more
TO Minneapolis. The Chicago st. Paui
lines have pooled the harvest hand
business and made an open rate of 81
for these men. The commission Of the
! employment agents is 81, making the
total cost of transportation to Minne-
apolts IS. AT Minneapolis the harvest
hand parties are met by the agents of
the big farmers of the Dakotas and
northern Minnesota. The men as a rule
are employed on the spot and given free
fare to the fields. In case transporta-
ton Is not provided, the men are given
half-fare rate to any point they may
wish to reach
| According to representations made to
men seeking harvest work. they may
contract for employment by the month
ana receive assurance of steady Jobs
lasting ten to twelve weeks or three
months The actual harvesting of the
gram begins about Aug. and lasts I'M
til the latter part of September. After
this comes the thrashing and storing of
the wheat. The thrashing is not an
done until Jan. / and sometimes later.
SO the promise is held out to men able
10 DO honest work of employment for
sixty or ninety days. There are no
temptations for spending money. Thus
at 500 q day a man would be abl;. 10
save $3.50 to s195. less what he would Law
out Tor tobacco and a few small Incl
dentals. laboring man must be re-
garded as very fortunate who can save
over 500 in so short a time. While 81. %
TO 500 is the rate in the midst of har-
vest when to save the crop from rot
ting the grain must speedily be cut and
stacked. wages subsequently fan TO 81. n
and 81 for the thrashing, etc.
The board which goes with the wages
is of the best. 1t is to the interest OF
the farmers to feed their men well. the
! outdoor work being OF character that
requires the best of nourishment. Camp
cooks are in demand at So a day. All
the big farms of 5000 acres or more
nave thier camping outfits, so that the
help may be fed and lodged In the fields.
! these camps are moved from point Ia
point in the vast wheat fields for the
/, convenience of the workers, and they
are often several miles distant from the
farm houses. too far for the men 10
travel back and forth mornings and
Evenings and at noon hours.
Ho, for the Dakotas and the harvae,
teidsi' is the slogan on the sidewalk
along the west side of Canal street.
south of Madison, these days. AN th.
kagencies are busy registering applicants
and getting UP parties for daily shin.
ment.
Hundreds of laborers are scattered
ABOUT reading big red piacards and dis
icussins probabilities. That is. some are
ianorers, some have once been lahorers
ana some are going to be laborers when
they get work-praying meanwhile that
they may not find it, The harvest i,h
/ is the star attraction. 1t offers fine
maximum of wages, including an assur-
i ance Of the best farmhouse grub ana
4 plenty of II. and last, but not least. A
/ good chance to save up money against
the coming winter Many of the hes,
hands are men who have been out there
i In former seasons. They know the Law
of the land and go back year after YEAR
to make enough money in the fall to
Keep them in comfort during the zero
weather. Farmers value these able
bodied and experienced hands most
highly, and they have the first call.
They are more reliable than the migra-
tory chaps who squander their earnings
in riotous living. working a little while
! in the north during the summer and
fall, and drifting south to the levees and
other public works during the winter.
| Word came from the Nebraska and
western Iowa harvest fields the other
| day that farmers could not get help
ienough to harvest thoir crops Now the
same reports come from the wheat
fields of the Dakotas. This shortage Of
laborers has in many localities made it
necessary for the farmers to press
women and boys into service cutting,
hauling and stacking grain.
This business of hiring harvest hands
In Chicago during July and August and
shipping them out to the northwest has
grown TO be enormous. The railroads
have found it important enough to
make il q pooling issue. In one agency
ii was learned that last season between
5000 and 1000 hands were shipped by IL
alone The business will be equally
large this year. Most of the men who
seek this work are mechanics tempo-
rariiy out of employment in the city,
or strong young farmers from outlying
towns in Indiana and Illinois who have
left their work at home in such order
that they can go out and profit by the
big wages offered in the northwest
1t is an optimistic situation. THE
railroads" says an eastern authority,
''can not get cars enough to carry the
freight that is crowding upon them.
The farmers can not hire men enough
\ tn harvest tho crono Tho ot,,r