The Weekly Tallahasseean. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 18??-1905, 1901-07-11
FARM LABOR

ounCS IN a recent issue an appaIIinq
SUdCe OF affairs regarding farm labor
appalling not because that condition
VI anairs exists only in the places men
'loned by the News, but because if is
d general complaint throughout the
country. 1t is hardly possible to pick
up a rural paper without reading the
same complaint, and it is becoming
alarming right here in Florida The
News says:
. IN the West as in the South there is
great scarcity of farm labor. In Kan
Sas, for instance, there is an immense
wheat crop, and the farmers are afraid
that tie will not be able to gather all
of it. A few days ago a number of
them went to Kansas City, and through
labor agency undertook to get labor
ers for the harvest season, Offering very
attractive wages. They could not, how
ever, get man to accompany them to
lneir farms, though there were known
The same condition Of affairs exists in
other states of the West Much wheat,
it is believed, will be lost on account of
the inability of farmers to get help to
harvest it.
Here in Georgia the country papers
are full of complaints of the lack OF
AbOr. Farmers cannot get sufficient
help to cultivate their cotton fields. Ii
has not been SO many years since
farmers were able to get all the help
they needed. Why is it that there is
such a scarcity now? Is it not because
there is a steady increase, in the move
ment to the cities? 1t certainly looks
so.
Pretty nearly All of the towns in
the South have many more negroes III
Them than can find employment. That
is the case in this city. And set it
would be difficult, if not impossible, 20
get negroes to go from Savannah to
the country TO work IN the cotton
neldS In the West the farmers boys
go away from the farm as soon as they
see a chance to make living in the
cities and it often happens that they
do not wait for a chance.
why is it that there is such eager
ness to get away from the farms?
There is no more independent life than
that of a farmer, and in no other Oc-
cupation and in no business or pro-
fession is there less care or worry. 1t
is true that the farm does not offer
great opportunities for getting ahead
in the world, but farmers who are at
tentive to their farms and are thrifty
do about as we'll as those who seek
their fortunes in the cities. No large
fortunes are made on the farms, but
the percentage of those who make a
good living and save something for old
age is greater perhaps than of those
who live in cities.
''The attractions of the city are
greater than those of the country.
People want to get where there are
crowds and amusement. Farmers
sons having received little education,
think they can make fortunes if they
get a foothold in the cities, and it is
certain that the little education the ne
groes get makes them dissatisfied with
life on the farms and plantations.
"But that most of the farmers sons
and pretty nearly all of the negroes
would be far better off in the country
there can be no doubt. But they can
not be made to think so. If it were
not for the immigration which comes
in such abundance from Europe, a very
considerable part of the farm lands in
the West would have 70 be abandoned
for want of labor to cultivate them. y