Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-06-29
HARVESTING IN KANSAS
Procuring Help the Wheat
 Growers Big Problem.
COMEDIES IN THE GRAIN COUNTRY

"One of My Men Has Skipped Out
 Head Him On:" the Farmers Tele- phone to the Neighbors In Their
 Anxiety to Hold Their Men-The
 Fine Art of shovelins Grain Shown
 by . Kinsman County Farmer.
 Just at the moment the Kansas har-
 vest hand is undoubtedly the most in-
 teresting figure on the industrial hori- zon, says Kansas City Star reporter,
 writing from the Kansas wheat belt.
 He is like an eclipse of the moon-he must be observed quickly, for his ca
 reer Is brief But in the situation there is food for thought, for romance and farce, but also for reflection. Here is wherein the case is humorous Farm CT Graingrower hired a man in the dull season a month before the harvest opened, with the stipulation that in re turn for being given employment when there was little work the man would remain through the rush season of the harvest. As a further precaution he sent word to the free employment of fee in Kansas City telling them he needed five men, Further. he asked his father-in-law who lived in town, to hire the first four men he could at har- vest time and bring them out. Then he %o <o <rot nj men himself. This anxiety about se curing men for the harvest Is phase that indicates that the day of the float ing harvester is not to be alway.
 The force of Farmer Graingrower's precautions is seen in the results. He met the Santa Fe trains to find the five men asked for from Kansas City. But they came in on the Missouri Pacific and found no employing farmers, so they continued on their journey. Mir. Graingrower induced one man passing on the other railroad to enter his em- ploy, and he sent him to his farm. The father-in-law hired two men for him and kept them at his own home over night and during the next day, as 1t was rainy. The harvest day came, and Farmer Graingrower drove to town to bring out the harvesters. A few mo- ments later Mrs. Graingrower goes to the telephone and calls Farmer Wheat land. mile south.
 Hello, hello! Is that you, Mrs. Wheatland? This is Mrs. Graingrow- CT. Why, John has started to town to get two men that pa has hired there, and now our regular hired man has skipped out, as feared he would. and is sneaking down the road in your di- rection. Can't Mir Wheatland or the boys go out and head him of? I wish they'd thrash him if they have to-"
 Well, Mrs. Graingrower, our Jake skipped this morning, and the boys are out looking for him. Pa has been pay ing him 30 cents a day above regular wages on his promise that he would keep blowing the corn through harvest. The corn needs tending, and help can't be got. I wish you'd call up your fa- ther's place in town and tell them and your husband to catch Jake if they see him. He'll try to hire out for the higher wages of harvest hand"
 Mrs. Graingrower through two coun- try centrals called her father in town. He said:
 Those two men I hired yesterday were tramps who wanted free board and lodging. They pulled their freight this morning when they found that harvest would begin"
 Isn't that nicer" said Mrs. Grain grower. We're in a fine fix. Our regular hired man lit out this morn ing. and that only leaves us the one hand George brought out yesterday" She turns from the telephone as her son enters the room.
 Mamma. that man said he was not a real harvest hand, but was just around studying and investigating in- dustrial and social conditions. He is hiking across the pasture now toward the next town"
 Such comedies as this are frequent in the wheat country. The unreliabil- ity of the floating labor is such that the present methods Of wheat produc- ton will be short lived. As a rule. the harvest hand is incompetent. Men who carry about in a grip under their arms all their worldly possessions are i not the kind whose touch turns things 10 gold. Those who are competent stay where they first stop. accumulate unto themselves and leave the float