The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1900-08-09
FARMERS NEED HELP.
As High as $3.50 Per Day IL BEING
offered.


offered.
The ears of the people OF South Da-
kota cities and towns are constantly
greeted these days with the Shrek OF
thresher engine whistles, as the pond
erous machines pass laboriously
through the streets on their way to the
rural regions to begin the work of
threshing out the grain which win.
during the next few months, bring
millions of dollars into the state.
In some few localities threshing has
already commenced, but in the greater
portion Of the state 1t will not begin
until the latter part Of the present, or
next week. Wheat harvesting is COM
pleted in the southern and central por-
tons of the state, and is nearing COM
pletion in the northern portion. Many
localities report shortage of harvest
hands.
Scores of South Dakota's fairest
damsels have come to the rescue by
volunteering for work in the harvest
fields, and are rendering valuable as
sistance by driving header boxes and
in other ways. During former years
thousands of men came to the state
each summer from the states to the
southwark for the purpose Of prOcur,
ing work, but this year the influx has
been comparatively small due, prob
ably TO the unusually good crops in
Kansas and Nebraska, and the vast
amount of work there for all who wish
1t. Many of those who have come to
South Dakota, as was the case during
former years, are genuine hoboes, who
are not seeking work, but who prefer
to lie around the smaller hotels in the
wheat-growing sections and prey upon
the men who work when they go to
the towns after receiving their pay, for
the purpose Of having a good time and
a brief respite from the labor of the
harvest field.
Owing to the shortage of help, the
farmers, in a number of localities, are
offering as high as $3.50 per day for
men to help them through the busy
season which now confronts them. In
an endeavor to relieve the stringency
in the labor market, H. NJ. Eddins of
Groton, telegraphed TO Minneapolis for
200 harvest hands, but was informed
that men were very scarce, although
every effort would be made TO supply
the number wanted. Thuss far, how
ever, they have been very slow in APP
pearing.
Mcpherson county, which is settled
largely by Russians, has a very poor
wheat crop this year, and many of the
farmers have gone to surrounding
counties which were more fortunate,
and have hired out as harvest hands
This has somewhat relieved the short
age in those particular localities. Some
amusing stories are told of the expert
ence of farmers with the hobo element,
which accompanied the influx of har-
vest hands.
One farmer, who observed a number
of the gentry lying in the shade in the
outskirts of a town, approached them
and stated that he wished to hire sew
eral men. He asked what wages they
would expect, when the spokesman OF
the party replied that they could not
think of working for less than SEQ per
day, and, in addition, their employer
would be required to furnish a guaran-
tee that they would have pie for din
ner every day.
Crops in a number Of counties are as
good as during any past year. while, in
some instances, they are record-break
ers. A Sioux Falls man named +. M.
Cakes, who has returned from trip
through Yankton. Clay and other coun-
ties in the extreme southeastern part
Of the state, says he saw number of
fields of wheat which will yield forty
bushels Of No. ! Northern to the acre,
while in the localities visited, fields
which will yield twenty-five bushels
per acre are numerous. The poorest
fields he saw are good for from twelve
to eighteen bushels per acre.