The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-08-22
A HUMAN PUMP.
Walter B. Palmer Deserves This
Designation.
Here to Find Out About Harvest
Hand Situation.
HE SEES MIR. COBURN.
Hands Out Line Of Gilt Edged
Questions.
Some of the Things He Found
HE SEES MIR. COBURN.
Some of the Things He Found
Ont.

rnent statisticians in search of data for
Uncle Samuels reports. but the man
who comes nearest to being a human
pump of all those who have been here
is one Walter B. Palmer. representing
the United States department of com
merce and labor.
Mr.. Palmer is in Kansas to investi-
gate the harvest hand proposition. He
has been camping in the office of F. D
Coburn, secretary of the Kansas Society
of Agriculture, and has been as busy as
a humming bird in a honeysuckle vine
He has worked pretty steadily now for
4s hours, and has completed quite an
excavation in Mr.. Coburn's store OF
agricultural knowledge.
Mr.. Palmer takes his place beside Mr.
Coburn's desk, and with a note book in
his lap starts in something like this:
Now, Mr.. Coburn. where do the har-
vest hands for the wheat harvest come
from?"
you ought to see the state free en-
ployment bureau about that That is IN
their line replied Mr.. Coburn.
They come mainly from Missouri and
neighboring states. don't they?"
sThey come from everywhere-al
parts Of the country.
What class of people are they?"
They're mostly young men who think
1t is a chance to get a look at this KAN
sas wheat country. travel at very low
rates, have an outing. and at the same
time get pay for it. They're college
boys, to a great extent.
i've been told that only small por-
ton are college boys. Is that the fact?'
Strictly speaking perhaps they are
not But they are many who are wen
bred and are about college age
Are there any foreigners brought IN
here for the harvest?"
Not that I know of"
What portion of the foreign 1nni-
grants come to Kansas p
Il don't know. I guess we get our
share
"Oh. yes: the Swedes, Germans and
Russians make very good farmers
How about the corporations? DO
they bring in foreign labor2'
road rights Of way are lined with
Italians and Mex1cans
DO italians and Mexicans get into
No. They work on the section and
sella da banan."
How long do the harvest hands
work in the harvest %
Il suspect that a good many of
them work until their hands set good
and sore"
Nov long does the wheat cutting
''About two weeks
but the men can keep at work in
the thrashing longer than that?,
ooh yes, there's no trouble for a
good man to get all the work he
What becomes of the harvest
hands ?"
some of them follow the harvest
IN into Nebraska; some of them get
tired and go home; some of them
simply move on; some Of them stay
here and work. buy a farm, marry the
daughter of the man that hired them,
and become Kansas farmers
what is this Campbell system of
1T simply means good tillage."
did Campbell invent it p
ssCampbell didn't invent it any more
than you did Campbell invented a
machine to do the work. but he fast
It was a good scheme. Big corpora
lions hired him to go and introduce
the system to which he has attached
How does this so-called Campbell
system of preparing the ground difrer
from other systems ?"
1T consists in leaving the ground
with a two inch dust mulch on top,
and packed solid underneath. This
lets the rain in. and the dust mulch
keeps the sun from drawing it out so
quickly. The roots take hold of the
solid ground underneath. It is simply
good tillage of the soil"
Where is this system used?"
I'm the western portion Of the
state; the portion that certain govern
ment officials have called the semiarid
'where does this semiarid belt
begin %
river. but We have been constantly
pushing It west. until we have pushed
It off the Kansas map"
why do they use the socal1ed
Campbell system In the semiarid belt?"
Because they have found they can
raise crops out there with good tillage.
II Barton county and some other big
wheat counties. they raise wheat IN
spite of the tillage."
When Mr.. Palmer is questioning a
witness, there is not much show for
anybody else to get IN a word edge
ways, sideways. or slaunchways- He
ought to be able to prepare a report
of several thousand pages from the in
formation he has secured from Mr..
Coburn's department alone.