The Topeka state journal., 1902-06-16
MUST HAVE men.
Sixty Men Leave for Wheat
Fields Tomorrow.
Demand for 100 Hands Comes
From Leroy.
FREE OFFICE is BUSY.
State Employment Agent Has
All He Can Do.
Washburn Students 10 to the
Harvest Fields.
FREE OFFICE is BUSY.

Sixty men will leave Topeka Tuesday
for the Kansas wheat fields. Some viii
go to Dickinson county, some to Great
Bend and others to Pratt. Tuesday is
the first day upon which the low rates
made by the railroads go into effect.
There was also an order received by
the Topeka free employment agency
this morning from the Missouri Pacific
railroad for 100 Iaborers to be sent to
Leroy, Coffey county. about rs miles
south of Topeka, where the railroad has
extensive improvements in progress. The
men win get S150 per day. Quite
number of men have decided to go into
the railroad work instead of pay
ing their way out to the harvest fields
The railroad gives. free transportation
to the men 1t employs to the scene OF
the work.
These two big demands for men, to-
gether with a call for 10 teams on the
farm hands in Shawnee county, made
the Office of the Topeka free employ
ment agency a busy place this morning.
Dozens of applications from laborers
were recorded by z. S. Williams and his
assistant. John Alexander.
L4oafing and smoking in the wide por-
ticO of the Auditorium were a crowd
by blue-overalled men, talking about
the chances for big wages in the wheat
harvest, the advantages and disad
vantages of railroad job" the kind of
grub they got when working for Farm
er Skinf1int, or the meannegs OF the
last section boss they were under. Some
of the men had good stories to tell
about their experiences in the wheat
harvest last year, and they all appeared
anxious for tomorrow TO come. when
they might start out for new field and
new adventures.
Among the gang of men who will
leave for the wheat fields tomorrow are
10 WashbuFn college students. In the
college crowd are several of Washburn's s
star football men, who consider that
while they are putting by some harvest
money for next falls tuition they are
also laying in a supply of hard muscles
and rugged health for use on the grid
iron. John Dadisman, center, and
Chuck" Cunningham, guard, are two
of the Washburn football men who are
going to the harvest fields. Quite a
number of Topeka high school students
also applied this morning for work in
the harvest.
we like to get these young fellows, .
said Mr.. Williams referring to the stu
dent delegation. They are nearly al
ways young fellows who are willing to
work and who the farmers like to have
| around. They are not buns like so
many Of the men who apply. who don
/ care whether they give value for their
wages. and who shirk as much as they
/ can. The farmers like the college boys,
| and I hope we can get a lot of them.
! We had several applications from farm
ers out in the wheat country who say,
| We had some college students last year.
| Can't you send US some more this year2'
I'VE are sending out quite a number
of colored men. too The farmers do
not object to colored laborers as a gen
/ eral thing. They are glad to get any
body that can work. I think that possi-
| bly, the colored men do not understand
| this, for if they did, it believe we would
have more applications from them for
| work"
Mr.. Williams sides in with Mr. T. B
Gerow in the controversy which is rag
ing between Gerow and Blaine regarding
| the number of men needed in the Kan
| sas harvest. Mr.. Williams says:
The greatest danger this year is. II
my opinion. that there will be a surplus
| Of laborers in some counties. The re.
ports which have been sent out by real
estate men eXaggerating the number OF
| 1ITM pIBd s9SBM 9q4 puB p9p79u s'2uBq
result in bringing hundreds and posi-
bly, thousands more men than are need
ed at those particular points The re
sut Of this congestion will be that wages
will drop down to dollar a day. and q
lot of men will come home busted in
stead of with money in their pockets
It looks to me as though it might be q
scheme deliberately planned for tht
purpose of forcing wages down to a very
PIoW point in the wheat belt''