Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-07-10
The WHEAT BELT.
The 7famps are Stunning
That Busy Section.
Another Big Crop ia Kansas and
Nebraska.
The Calamity Howl Gives Way to APP
peal for Farm Hands.

r-4
Lincoln. Neb., July 9.--Ncbraslsa ans
Kansas are remarkably free from tramps
just now and this condition PROMISES t.
continue for another month, .rhe tratmps
papers, or else word has been passet
around that the wheat belt of the West il
bid place for the hobo In the good ole
su'amer time.
the West in PAST years about desperate
farmers who have boarded freight, trains
and impressed. the wayfaring passengers
into service In the harvest fields to SAVE
theis npened grain from destruction but
fhesa tales have had only slight basis
of truth Nevertheless the tramps seen
to haven takef. the alarm.
Whatever may have been the cause tho
fact exists that the tYamps are very
scarce this year, and the State Labor I.n
renu ana employment agencies in tn.
various cities are being deluged with in.
Guiries for harvest hands. 1t is estimated
tnat&the shortage in this State alone viii
he several thousand
INC cool weather of May and June re
rs Wen as in all other. Western States
ana the pinch has not yet come. The
first grain will be cut next week and from
mat time on the demand for harvest
nanos VIII be great Ordinary unSkilled
labor IN the cities has been getting Il Il
and ~ q day, and there is practically no
surplus market to draw from this year.
public improvements and private enter
prfses absorbing about all CT the availa bic
me,i.
last year as much as So and 81 a day
was paid to experienced harvesters, and
with wheat mt it's present high price the
farmers Will not care much what the har-
vesteI-s demand. The wheat growers have
itiready run up against the fact that tho
OF the hired men. High wages arc de-
Inanded and secured by the hired, hands
IN many cases as much as $50 and So "A
month, with board and laundry added Is
al feJ;xr h.
work guaranteed. Eastern and central
Ncb'aska have been pretty well organize
and the minimum schedule Of Sc Is easily
Nebraska is going to have another big
bumper crop this year, both in wheat and
corn. The acreage of winter wheat IL
,sun ., by the crop experts at more
sares yield from G0.000,0o0 to 70 900 900
bushels. The acreage Is about 5Ooo0O
acres larger than last. year The corn
acreage will go about $500 900 acres and
that of oats to 1,150G00 acres which are
ABOUT the average for the past four years.
For the last two or three years the aero
agc of corn has decreased as that of
wheat has Increased, but the farmer has,
discovered that 1t pays to plant both One
crop is web enough In states where eli
mate conditions do not vary much from
year to year, but In Nebraska and Kansas
the uEriculturiSts have learned not to fig
uTc on one crop alone.
1t Is rarely the case that both corn and
wheat IaII III Inc sal me year. III the
is wet ana cold wheat nourshcs and
corn does not. II the contrary conditions,
obtain corn, being the later planted, has
an excellent chance of winning out
This year Hoods and rains caused the
postponement Of planting until nearly
June ]. This has necessitatcd the plant
ing of ninety day corn in order to escape
the frosts of the early autumn, but this
grades we'll
The crop sharps say that the era of
cheap corn Is past in the West. Foreign
demand has increased so greatly In recent
years that 1t Will always command "A good
price. the exports being many times as
lnrEe as formerly. There never will be
enough wheat raised materially to reduce
the price, experts say. the discovery OF
new fields failing to keep pace with the
expansion of the wheat consuming popu-
lation
The acreage of all crops Is larger than
ever before because the western and
northwestern parts of the State through
irrigation ana scientific farming. have
been redeemed from their old place az
grazing Glands and made into profitable
farms. Large fields of alfalfa are In
bloom and the returns are even richer
than these from wheat fields.
The calamity bowler has been efrcctual-
~ dispo ed of I'm the West. The Money
Power has no tcrrors any longer for tho
Western farmer. lie has become some
thinS "i money power himself.
lie horrows only to buy more land and
his only dealing with the Eastern capital
list IL when TIL" later comes along seeking
u good investment tor his money. The
money lender regards it as a favor now
Tor farmer to borrow money from him.
The large Farm is growing in favor and
In one county in southwestern Nebraska
this year four German farmers. men who
came here fifteen years ago with but 1T
IL" money. have n tract of $1,000 acres
sown In winter wheat Ten thousand dol
lars clear off an M0-aCrc farm max. Ne
hraska farm lands better than Govern
nent gonds.
This condition of aftaira has greatly
stimulated business In all the towns and
cities of the State. Farmers are buying
better goods and more of them, and the
country banks are full of money. Coun~
try banking in the West Is one OF the
host money making propositions of the
day.
While local loans are comparatively
small, tho plethora of money has brought
interest rates on deposits down low. The
surplus money is easily disposed of I'm the
city repositories. through which II Is lent
in the East, and ont little Of the capital
used In Wall street is really the property
of Western farmers. ~