Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1906-08-19
OKLAHOMA NEEDS
MORE LABORERS
HAS INSUFFICIENT HELP TO
HARVEST COTTON.
HARVEST IN JEOPORDY
Always a Scarcity, the Situation has
Assumed an Aggravated PORN
The Indians Are Being Used

49, 1891 $500 49, ~ -
Oklahoma, the cry j. coming from all
localities for common labores-COt-
ton pickers, broom corn hands and
section men on the railroads. In the
southwestern part Of the territory,
where there has always existed an en-
nifty toward the negro, even as a la
borer, the cotton growers have ex-
%peneneed a scarcity Of labor at cot
ton picking time but never before has
this scarcity existed in other portions
OF the territory.
Everywhere is the cry that the
harvest Is large and the laborers are
few. At the presens time, the demand
Is for men to handle the broom-corn
crop and the cotton, a little later on.
Out 1 n Beaver county, where the
broom corn Is far greater than usual,
both as to acreage and to estimated
yield, hands are extremely scarce at
from sl.75 to $3.50 a day. The broom
corn harvest is now in progress and
With the rains that have been falling
so frequently Of late, and the scarcity
Of hands, it is proving a great prob
lem to a the crop.
Throughout central Oklahoma, where
there has ever been a plentiful num-
Der of farm hands and cotton pick
ers, the ginners and cotton buyers
are advertising for men, women, and
children to pick the crop which will
soon ripen. This problem must be
solved within the next forty or fifty
days. or many growers will lose their
crops. Different plans have been
suggested. Some farmers are in ia
vor of importing negroes from Texas,
letting them pick the cotton this fall,
giving them places TO live in, and af-
terward furnishing them with teams
to work as much land as possible,
year after year. giving them a share
Of all cotton raised.
On the other hand, there are many
growers who believe the same effects
put forth would secure a sufficient
amount of white iaborers from the
north. The incoming Of the negroes
means the establishment of separate
school system in every district where
a negro farmer locates, an additional
taxation and expense on the residents
of the district.
AT Guthrie, the Business Mems
club has been petitioned TO secure
cotton pickers in order to save the
largest crop of cotton ever grown in
Logan county. Similar methods are
being employed at other places, but
as yet the problem has not been
solved.
Mexican labor is being used in vari-
Gus parts of the territory. Early this
month, a ear load of Mexicans was
brought to Guthrie to chop the cotton
and in the southwestern part of the
territory this class of labor has been
used extensively for several years.
Recently too, the Orient railroad CON-
pany shipped in a lot of Mexicans to
work on the section. 1t was impossi-
bic to get enough laborers without
importing this class. Greeks, too,
are used extensively on the railroads
of both Oklahoma and the Indian Ter
ntory.
A number of times efforts have
been made to educate the Indian into
a first class workman. Only PARTLY
has this been successful, however. In
building the Ozark & Cherokee Cen
trail railroad through Indian Terri
tory, the Cherokee Indians we're en-
ployed in numbers, but railroad on
tractors state that the Cherokees are
the only Indians who have been m
ployed successfully in railroad work.
The Missouri, Kansas & Texas CON-
pany tried Indian labor in all parts
Of the territory, but the Cherokees
were the only ones who worked zeal
ously.
The Indian as a cotton picker, has
also been employed IN various parts
of the two territories for a number
of years. The Comanche Indians and
the Kiowas were used successfully
in this manner last season. and for
several seasons the Arapahoes and
Ch~eyennes made excellent piekers on
their own allotments. The red man
is employed in the cotton fields to a
greater extent in Oklahoma than in
the Indian Territory. AT Colony,
Okla, the Indians under the are Of
Captain John Seger, the Indian agent,
have been taught the art Of cotton
picking, wheat harvesting and corn
shocking until they are experts in
these lines.