Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1906-09-18

With South and North Dakota smiling
under the greatest wheat crops in theiI
respective histories, a cry of lament has
emanated from each state because of the
great paucity of farm laborers to aid in
the gathering of the wheat. Early in
the summer a call was sent out to all
the big centres of the country warning
agents of labor bureaus that thousands
of men would be needed to assist IN
garnering the crops of these two states,
and the call was answered in way, but
the way was far too small. The few
men in these states cannot cope with the
great fields, and much grain may be
wasted before it is safely within the
giant elevators of the northwest.
At Scotland. S. D., the women and
girls went to the fields with will and
assisted their fathers and brothers in
reaping the years harvest. The popula-
ton there is largely Russian-American,
and all the farmers are prosperous. But
| the methods of the east are used in their
style of farming and the women are call
ed upon to help in the fields, and often
work as hard as the men. The women
II
| ing until nightfall, and though they do
| the lighter labor they often drop from
sheer exhaustion in their seats on the
reapers or in the headerbeds. The girls
as a general rule do all the driving, and
many are so expert that they can man.
age four and six horse or mule teams
with all the skill of western stage
coach driver. The older women and the
wives tamp the heads in the headerbeds
and set up shocks of wheat, though the
majority of the wheat fields are thrash
ed out as soon as cut.
In Brown County, S. D., the mer'
chants, following the lead OF a little
town in Kansas, closed their doors and
hied to the fields, where for three days
they labored side by side with the farm
ers and their wives and daughters and
sons, and from Thursday morning until
Saturday evening not pound of sugar
or drop of vinegar was sold in the
town of Moren, S. ID. Then, on Sunday,
hen the great fields of wheat had been
laid low or thrashed out and the grain
sacked the merchants, smilingly, though
sore in every muscle, opened their stores
and enjoyed the busiest day in the his
tory of the business in South Dakota.
All eyes are now turned toward the
south, where from Kansas and Nebraska,
the drift of the farm laborers is headed
northward. This is the case every year.
When the wheat fields of Kansas and
then Nebraska have been harvested the
men out of work hear the call to the
fields of the northern states and HE
away to that part of the country at once.
This is the wave of laborers expected to
aid in saving the wheat of North Dakota
and part of South Dakota. The men
travel BY train, rarely paying car fare,
but stealing rides in freight cars or on
the baggage coaches. The train men OF
the west live in mortal fear of these fel-
lows, who are on the way to the harvest
fields, and do not molest them lest they
should turn on them and endanger their
lives. But the records of the past show
very few cases where harvest hand,
however rough in appearance, has MAIN
ed train man, and not few instances
are recorded where the train men them,
selves forsake the long shambling
freight trains for summers work IN
harvest and thraShing operations of the
northern states.
So the farmers are at every station on
the various railroads waiting the coming
of each train. The fellows are i'm
mediately engaged, little being said as
| 10 the wages, for the laborer knows be
will be paid the highest there is in the
land, without the slightest trouble il
collecting the same.
| Every man is well fed and sent to the
fields every morning in the pink OF con
dition. Every comfort known amone
the farms of the northwest is given u
the harvesters, who work with will
When the grain of a certain section is II
the sack or stack they move on north
ward, where the crop is ripening little
later because of the climate. Thus, a.
soon as the harvest in South Dakota hal
been gathered the one in North Dakot;
is ready. The army of hardened mer
close in on it, and 10! in few days th'
fields lie bare.
Then the smiling farmers of Southern
Canada send forth call and the grea
horde of harvesters arrive in Manitoba
where until the snow flies the great har
vest of the Kings legion is gathered.
The harvest of the northwest this yea
will be immense The wealth that will
flow into the pockets of the farmers viii
be great. There will no doubt be
scarcity of elevator space to accommo
date all the wheat which cannot b'
shipped immediately to market or sea
board, and as is the custom in this re
gion, the great piles of sacks will b.
stacked on the bare ground and covered
with tarpaulins. The giant elevators o
the northwest will bulge out this fall a
never before.-Cor. in Tribune Farmer