The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-05-11

been established at Kansas City,
another at Topeka, and still another
at Wichita in the very center of the
wheat belt, where the farmers can
meet and employ their help. Wages
ranging from $1.J0 to $3.50 per day are
paid, for eight hours work, double pay
for extra time ON moonlight nights.
should there be any prospect of rainy
weather in the near future, the whole
force of harvest hands may be found
toiling away until nearly midnight.
Sunday is no exec otion to the rule
The immediate cutting of a wheat
field after it once begins to ripen is
necessary if it is 30 be saved. This
is why so many thousand extra men
are needed. A farner with four good
horses, his gang Tough and a drill
will plant from two hundred to thre"
rundred acres of grain in the fall, but
to handle this grain when ripened re-
quires ten horses and seven men, or
six more men than are usually found
with the average farmer. Naturally
these men and teams have to be i'm
ported as well as women to prepare
the food for the workers.
Last year over half a million dollars
was paid out to these extra helpers,
but Kansas reaped a crop of ninety
million bushels from which was de-
rived a handsome profit
The work to be done in a harvest
field is extremely tiresome and soon
tells upon the tenderfoot There is 10
protection from the suns rays which
often reach the lis mark, moving
! down the harvesters as their machines
cut the yellow grain. The men who
come to the wheat belt directly from
the cities and who have been used to
inside work are first set to driving
binders. This pays $3.50 per day and as
they become more hardened to the
rays of the sun, they are promoted to
the carrying of bundles and shocking
wheat or oats and later. given the job
of hauling, feeding a thresher and such.
Those who are unused to the harvest
field generally break down the second
or third day. Even If not sunstruck
running about through the rough
stubble carrying heavy bundles tells on
| them seriously. The work of the har
vest hands is well worth the price paid.
! 1t all depends, however, upon previous
field experience, and this is why so
many Kansas farm girls can do more
work with a binder than a strong
healthy man fIcm the city.
Every class of men imaginable goes
to Kansas during the harvesting sea-
! son to work in the wheat fields. Col
lege men anxious to earn a little extra
money in vacation time; men from big
| city offices, who wish to improve upon
J their financial condition and at the
! same time take on tan; tramps, day
! laborers and others, mix in the motley
gang that crowd the passenger and
freight trains running into the wheat
belt the first few weeks of June. The
| harvest hand can save from S75 to $125
during the harvesting season.
! Before Mr.. Blaine improved upon the
labor system in the wheat belt of Kan
sas ana the southwest, there was much
| trouble every harvest from strikes and
! inability to secure a sufficient number
/ of Workmen. Even last year an at
tempt was made to form union of
| harvest men, but Mr.. Blaine headed it
! off by his Importation of five thousand
laborers from Eastern cities. He has
+ an unremuneratiVe task. except that it
! is gaining him desired political pres
! tige. He has saved thousands of dol
! lars annually to the wheat growers in
supplying plenty of labor.