The evening world., 1903-07-09
COLLEGE MEN OFF
TO REAP THE CORN
Several to Leave Here Next
Saturday and Others Will Fol-
low in Answer to Appeal by
Farmers of Kansas.

A crowd OF college boys, with mus
Giles hardened by work on the foot
ball field and in the gymnasiums. have
answered the piteous appeal Of the Kan
sas farmers for help in the great wheat
fields, and on Saturday will leav New
York, to be gone until the doors o. the
universities are thrown open again In
the fall.
Six OF the youths will start .h!s week
and many more expect to follow within
the next ten days. The fact that their
services are eagerly sought In a score
of places emphasizes the dire need OF
men tina is felt by the Kansas grain
growers. Thousands of men in the
crowded cities can find work in plenty
with good pay II they will only &c
West.
1t Is not a summer vacation upon
witch these college youths are starting.
and they know 1t. One of them grew
to young manhood in n Western State.
and he knows that 1t is no outing jaunt
to spend a harvest season under the
hroiling Kansas sun. This youth is w.
j. Simpson. a Princeton sophomore, who
now lives with his parents at No. l2a
Madison avenue.
II Is Not n Picnic.
"If you fellows think you are going
on a picnic you had best stay at home.''
he said to the other men when the
project was first discussed. you don't
know what 1t Is to be hot until you get
out on a Western prairie and WELD a
pitchfork for a few days.
But let me tell you the bumps on the
gridlron next fall won't hart half as
much after you've rome through a hun
dred days Of that grind. Well all have
muscles like iron and a tan that will
make these seaside fellows look foolish.
The work is hard and there Is lots
of 1t. Those farmers expect a man to
work long hours II work hard, but
they feed you on the fat of the land
and givs you a bed where the coil
Sreezes come in laden with clover per-
fun.e until you almost forget to wake
up
Not all of young Simpsons auditors
stuck His description of what was
10 be expected frightened out q number
but five said they were ready to go at
once. They are C. r. Prentiss and "Si'
Wade, both classmates OF Simpson; L. G.
MoAneny. a Columbia man. who lives
in Jersey City. and Albert Seaman and
Andrew Taft, Syracuse seniors. who live
al Cornwall-on-Hudson.
VIII Work North From Kansas.
The boys will go straight to one of
me points which have appealed for
helpers through John ]. Bealln, Super
intendent OF the New York State Free
Employment Bureau. They expect to
work IN Kansas until the grain Is har-
vested. n then work northward to the
pakotas and Minnesota.
Ihey expect to make their expenses,
and at 2,y0 a day save 500 or more TO
help toward their expenses al school next
year. But the principal things they
want is a chance to see the Western
country and harden their muscles for
athletic contests.
The need OF men during the harvest
pressed upon New Workers as this year.
Few IN the crowied East realize how
men to harvest the great fields Of grain
that stretch out across the. plains for
miles and miles with h%ardly,,a break.
Every year along the employment Of
asking for, men to, do this work. but
this year the need, is so great that the
appeal has come clear TO tho sea coast.
Kansas alone. while Nebraska. Iowa.
| Missouri, the Dakotss, Minnesota and
other states are daily sending out ap-
peals.
Laborers Auctioned on.
An extraordinary story from Topeka
Is that the service OF ten negroes for
thirty days mas been ~auctioned In Rus
sell County, 1t was tho mems idea
and one OF their number stood on the
block ami pointed 10 the row of black
faces as in the days OF slavery;
From a bid OF $3.50 a day the price
leaped to 81 81. at which figure two OF
the men were engaged. The bidding con-
tinued until Jasper Hoover, a gigantic
Kentucky negro, sold his services for
IS a day. All went TO work encrgoti-
cally and showed a disposition to earn
all that was paid them.
Along the Bowery and the river
front in New York are many men who
are willing TO work, but they have not
the means to leave the crowded city.
How IL get these men to the West is
the problems that confronts Mr.. Bealin.
| Doubtless there are hundreds who
would be glad OF the chance 10 earn
| s., so a day, with their board, hut Kan
is9s IL many hundred miles away and
Nthe men have no money.