Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-07-16
KANSAS WHEAT HARVEST.
Some Interesting Features of the
Annual Labor Problem.

KANSAS WHEAT HAHtEST.
Some Interesting Features of the
Annual Labor Problem.
Kansas farmers have now fairly en-
tered on the task Of harvesting their
crops Of winter wheat, and go at the
work with far lighter hearts than any
one in the spring supposed they would:
for within the past few weeks the
wheat has come to the front" in
wonderfully fine shape, and the yield
will be millions Of bushels ahead Of
what it was expected few weeks ago
1t would be.
For a time it was thought that the
crop would be practically failure. So
positive were many farmers Of this
that they plowed up their fields for the
purpose Of putting the ground in corn.
Now that the time has come to run the
machines into the fields many Of them
are bitterly regretting their action, as it
is being daily demonstrated that fields
that were no worse than those that
were plowed up are going to yield a
good crop.
During wheat harvest Old Mrs. Kan
sas Is buster than a woman during her
spring housekeeping. When wheat Is
ripe it must be handled quickly and the
work Of putting the immense amount
of grain in the stack Is the work Of a
very few weeks. There isn't a month
in the winter, unless it be a particu-
larly severe one, when separators are
not at work on the grain that was cut
during the latter part of June and a
portion Of July.
It is this crying need for rush" work
which is responsible for the call for har-
vest hands that is heard from Kansas
almost every season. fhe most urgent
call was sent out last summer, when
the state produced its record-breaking
crop Of more than 90,000,000 bushels.
This year the cry was not heard with
it's usual vigor because Of the slump in
the yield, although there will be quite
a respectable number Of outside labor
ers in the harvest fields; just how many
thousand it is impossible to tell at pres
ent. Some who claim to know say the
state will employ between 10,0OU and
20, 1000 from the outside.
During the season Of the wheat har-
vest Kansas Is just about the poorest
place on earth for the man with con-
stitutional aversion to work. There is
work in the field always for all who
will apply, and the farmers have little
patience with those who show them
selves to be too indolent to go into the
field and make full hand.
But the man who will not work is not
the only trial of the Kansas farmer
at this stage Of the game. He is also
harassed by the man who Is willing to
work, but who does not know how to
perform the tasks assigned him, or is
not physically able to do so.
A lot Of farmers in Ellsworth county
had some unpleasant experience in this
line. It turned out that many Of those
who answered the call for harvest
hands were men who had never in their
lives worked in the field, nor even seen
wheat cut. They had heard Of the self
binder, the header and the header
barge, and their idea was that the ma
chimes did practically all the work, and
that 1t would be the greatest kind OF
picnic to follow harvest" at 81, $3.50 or
50 a day. The result was that at the
close Of the second or third day many
of the picnic hunters found themselves
completely tagged out, with neither the
ability nor the ambition to continue the
work. This brought trouble and disap-
pointmsnt to the farmers, as it placed
them under the necessity Of looking for
competent help right at the time when
they were in most urgent need Of 1t and
when 1t was the hardest to get. AS q
rule, though, most Of the men stand
up to the rack" as the farmers put 1t,
In good shape, and do their work in a
satisfactory manner.
And this Is not the only stumbling
block before the farmers either. A
number of cases have been reported, af-
ter promising to work, and living of
the farmer for short time, the "har-
vesters" pulled out just before actual
work commenced, leaving the man with
the wheat to hold the sack.
These men are called "before-har
vest" hands. A Rice county farmer
boarded a couple of before harvest
hands for four days, feeding them ON
the fat Of the land. He also gave them
money with which to buy tobacco. Two
days before the machines were to be
put in the fields they left, and the far
mer had to hustle other men in hurry
to take their places.
A Pratt county farmer was worked In
even worse shape. For over a week he
entertained six men. He furnished
them with smoking and chewing tobac-
co. The fellows rugged up hammock,
ate three square meals day, fished IN
the farmers pond, sold the fish in a
neighboring town, and had the most de-
lightful kind of summer picnic. Mon
day morning the machines were to
have been put in the fields. When
breakfast was called no hands appear
ed. On investigation, it was found that
every one had left the place during the
night.
One Sumner county farmer took a
drunken man home with him, sobered
him up, and put him to work In the
harvest field The farmer happened to
drop into police court in Wellington
when justice was being dispensed IN
the usual and ready manner peculiar
to courts of this class, and a plain