The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-11
HARVESTERS IN DEMAND.
MEN SENT by THE THoUsAND TO THE
BIG WHEAT RIKLD6.

-h1Kn "hKsbt UOOu DOhFu AFRO hbbuTeu
CHICAGO. Aug 1O-A local employment agent
is responsible for the statemen that 10 almost
impossible to supply enough harvest hands for
the Northwest. although remarkably high
wages are offered and willingly paid by the
farmers. The rates offered by tho Chicago
agencies are as follows Six dollars day for
engineers to run threshinR machines 81 day
for feeders; 81 a day for good sack men. and
1925 to 81. 30 for common harvest hands. In
GLIDING board. This Is the word from Minne-
sofa and the Dakotas. These figures are offered
by good men able to pay cash. and yet the big
farmers In the Northwest complain that they
cannot get enough hands to harvest their wheat.
Asked about the work OF employing and
shipping harvesters to supply the demands Of
Northwestern farmers. an agent said to-day:
"We are sending hundreds OF unemployed
men from Chicago to the harvest fields In North
Dakota. South Dakota and Minnesota. And
they are good men. many OF whom have
been there before and know what they are
about. Almost every evening we are ship
ping harvest hands in parties OF ten.
twenty or more to Minneapolis. The
ChicaRo-st. Paul 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 Min
neapolis SS. At Minneapolis the parties
met by the agents OF the big farmers. The
men. as a rule. are employed on the spot. and
get free fare to the fields. In case Transports
tion 10 not provided. they get half rate to any
place they wish to reach.
Men seeking harvest work may contract for
employment by the month and receive assur-
anoe OF steady jobs lasting ten to twelve weeks
The actual harvesting OF the grain begins
about August and lasts until the latter part OF
september. After this comes the threshing
and storing OF the wheat. The thresh-
ing ia not all done until January l. and some
times later. The promise is held out to men
OF employment for sixty or ninety days There
are no emptatlons for responding money. Thus
at $3.50 day a man would be able to save
$3.50 TO S195. less what he would lay out for
tobacco and few small incdentals. While
s. rs to 81. so is the rate in the midst OF har-
vest when to save the crop from rotting the
grain must be cut and stacked. wages subse-
Quently fall to 81. rs and So for the threshing.
10.
The board which goes with the wages is Of
the best 1t Is to the interest OF the farmers
TO feed their men well. outdoor work being Of
q character that requires the best of noursh
unent Camp cooks are in demand at SO a day.
All the big farms Of 5000 acres or more have
their camping outfits. SO that the help may he
fed and lodged in the fields. These camps are
moved from place to place in tho vast wheat
fields for the convenience OF the workers. and
they are often several miles distant from the
farmhouses. too far for the men to travel back
and forth mornings and evenings and n noon.
Ho for the Dakotas and the harvest fields"
is the slogan on the sidewalk along the west
side OF Canal street. south II Madison. these
days All the agencies are busy registering
applicants and getting up parties for daily
shipment Hundreds of lahorcrs are scattered
about reading big red pIacards and discussing
probabilities. That is, some are ahorers, some
have been labOrers. and some arc going to be |
laborers when they get work praying mean
while that they may not find il
The harvest Job is the star attraction. II Of |
fers the ma Nimum of wages, including an as
surance OF the best grub and plenty OF it. and. !
last but not least. "A chance to save up money
against the winter. Many Of the best hands go
back year after year to make enough money
in the fall to keen them in comfort during the
weather. Farmers value these able
bodied and experienced hands most highly
and they have first call They are more trust
worthy than the migratory chaps who suuan-
der their earnings in rotous living. working a |
little while III the North during The summer |
and fall and drifting South to the evees 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 enough to harvest their !
crops. Now the same reports come from the
Dakotas This shortage OF laborcrs has in !
many places made it necessary for tho 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 bee !
enormous. The railroads have found it i'm
portant enough to make it a pooling issue
From one agency last season between 5000
and 1000 hands were shippnd. The business
will be equally large this year Many Of the
men who go are young farmers from Indiana
and Illinois. who have left their work at home
In such order that they may profit by the big
wages offered in the Northwest
Sioux FALL. =. d.. Aug. lO.--In spite OF the
fact that every train entering South Dakota
from the South brings from twenty five to one
hundred or moro men who declare their object
is to get work in the harvest fields of North and
South Dakota. the farmers OF this state are vet
short Of harvest hands. From 81 so to 81 and
even - day and board is offered by farmers
throughout eastern South Dakota and yet a !
scarcity Of help exists. Every all there is an
influx OF thousands from the States to the
southwark. but many OF the incomers ara
tramps. pure and simple. and do no. want work
at any price. The crop is one of the largest |
ever raised in South Dakota.
OMAHA. Aug. lO.-This section Of the West
has never before witnessed such a harvest "A |
this season is bringing. 1t is record breaker. |
both In volume OF crous harvested and wages !
paid for the work. The small grain is all har-
vested In Nebraska. The wheat field is about !
bOOOo.OOO bushels and the oats and rye and
barley will foot-up another fifty millions The
corn crop yield will run 3OO,O 1000 bushels IL
the present prospects are realized. So great has
been the demand for harvest hands and so
scarce has been unskil!ed labor in the West.
that many women and children have been
used, the women earning 50 day Men have
earned 81 and SO a day. In past years labor in
the fields has never exceeded 81 80 day. The
scarcity Of labor is said to be due to the extern
sivo railroad building in this and adjacent
states.
bFsMoINEs, IA, Aug. 10 There is great de-
mand for harvest lahorcrs IL Iowa. and the
farmers are now offering So. 90 to 81 90 a day |
ana cannot secure men at that price. The !
raiIroads ar" complaining that the farmers |
ihHH'"d their section men to leave by Offering
HlShrT wages, and that the work in extending /,
IhrN ~ railway has lccn seriously crippled :
during the past two weeks,
diHGE AEUHURGEr iSTONISHIn