The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1901-07-25
Economists and students Of indus.
business.

alarm the con.
Stant Invention
and multiplication
of labor-saving machinery in this
country will find food for thought in
the present efforts that are being
made to coax the idlers and hoboes
from the cities to the western whea.
fields. 1t is the same old Macedonian
cry for help from the farmers of Kan.
sas and the Dakotas, says the Chicago
Record-Herald. The harvest is ripe
and the reapers are few. Vast fields
Of golden grain are already over.
ripened and the farmers are threat.
ened with heavy BOSSES through ina.
bility to secure the necessary het Il
harvest the crop. Employment
agencies AID railroad companies are
making the most tempting offers 10
the unemployed. In some instancesas
high a. Hhree dollars q dag and free
transportation are offered. But the
idiers prefer the overcrowded city
with meager and uncertain liveG.
hood to good wages and plenty to eat
on the harvest fields Of the Dakotas.
The various proposals to ship the ho.
boes by the car load 10 the whea.
fields Of the west may sound reason.
4ble and attractive to the economist,
but the man who is familiar with the
tastes and habits of the hobo knows
that he will not work after he has
been shippedto the wheat fields. Outin
Iowa farmers in desperation held up
q train recently to capture some la'
borers- 1t was not difficult job TO
capture them, but to compel them to
toll in the harvest field they found was
a different meter. Very few men are
needed on the farm to-day compared
to what were needed 20 q 25 years
ago. The self-binding reaper now
does the work of six to ten men in each
field. But men are still needed to
shock and load the wheat and haulit
to the barns or stacks. If men persist
in their unwillingness 10 work on the
farm and the scarcity Of farm labor
becomes more pronounced each year,
1t IL plain that mechanical genius will
b called upon to make the farmer
still more independent of human help.
He must have machinery that will not
only harvest the crops but will gather
them, store them and thresh them
without the aid Of human hands Ma
chimes Of this kind are already in use
on the thousand-acre farms of the
great west. 1t may be that the neces'
sity for farming almost entirely BY
machinery will bring about an era Of
great combinations among farmers BY
which all may have the use of the most
expensive labor-saving devices.
The post Office department is having
trouble over a little post Office in Bar
tholomew county, Ind, which was es'
tablished some years ago under the
name Of Springer. A month later 1t
was changed to Cushman, and three
months afterward back to Springer.
In 1893 it was called Grarhmer, but In
1897 the old name of Springer was
given 1t. 1t next appeared as Gram
mer, but Springer followed. a post
master was appointed who refused to
qualify as postmaster of Springer, but
insisted on being postmaster of Gram
mer. The department chose his sue
cessor, Miss Molhe Bergman, and
changed the name back to Springer
Miss Bergman has followed the tactics
of her predecessor and insists on
qualifying as the postmaster of Gram
mer or not at all. The difficulty may
be solved by closing the Office entirely