The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-20
MASONS TO GATHER QUESTION OF WATER
HAS TROUBLED RAILROADS BUT
 IS SETTLED.
Il .eu,.vfIIe and NashvfIIe VIII Bore an s Artisan well at Chapman ,y
 Scarcity of Labor Becomes
 x. geriOus.

The water situation along the line of inc Mobile and Ohio division of the louisville and Nashville has not only been a very vexed affair and one that has tried mems souls, but in the last few days has assumed phase at once startling and serious.
 The unprecedented drought for the past two months has literally clostS all channels of water communication on the line of the railroad and the problem of dampness Is so intricate that guessing at the number of balts in the present cotton crop Is a kim dergarten like stunt.
 Col. Newman. who has charge of the wells. tanks. etc.. on the M. and M has lived about ninety-eight years in the past two months--engines to pull heavy loads and get over the road on time consume a prodigious quantity os water, and all the wells, etc, operated between here and Flomaton have late- ly become afflicted with a peculiar aversion to the water cure.
 Yesterday morning. however, Col. Newman wore q smile that illumined the general waiting room of the union station and made the October sunshine look as if 1t were being seen through an eclipse. The water problem has been solved. Down at Chapman, a station on the N. and M. few miles south of Mont- gomery. the saw mill people have like wise been afflicted with a shyness on water, and arriving at the conclusion that all predictions as regards rain were delusions and snares flguratively took the bull by the horns and began boring a new we'll
 Early yesterday morning they struck water---a strata between two big rocks gushing out stream of ar- tesian water, as pure as the celebrated water of Montgomery, at the rate of 400 gallons minute.
 A man by the name of Canfield who bored a number of the big Beaumont oil gushers did the boring. and supt McKinnie. of the M. and M. will have him begin this morning boring well for the railroad. Col. Newman left last night for Chapman with all the neces- sary material and work on the new we'll will be rushed.
 A few more wells like this one and Supt. McKinnie says he will be inds- pendent of the 'illements."
 Scarcity of Labor. ,.a.
 There is one class of people in Mont gomery who will hail with delight the enforcement of the vagrancy laws by the council" said a railroad man yes- terday. "and that Is tthe railroad ele- ment." Continuing he said that the railroads are having great dificulty in securing labor. numbers of negro men and boys loafing around the dif- ferent dives in the city and refusing to work. The same trouble seems to apply to the country. districts, road master Shields of the M and NJ. stat ing yesterday that he was having trouble in getting labor His main trouble is in securing hands for the work going on at Bay Minette.
 Sunday he said that he drove six- teen miles out through the country and made almost a water haul as far as picking up any laborers. The fields, he said. are loaded down with unpicked cotton and the planters seem to be having difficulty in getting negroes to pick 1t. The trouble seems to be that the negroes are getting a good deal more this season for picking cotton than formerly, the planters in som cases having bid against each other for labor. The consequence is that a negro works day or so, gets several dollars in his pocket, and goes to some town where he stays until the money gives out This is working a great hardship on both planters and rail roads and the question of labor is get ting to be serious one.