The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-06-18
LABOR SITUATION
BECOMING ACUTE
DEMANDS FOR MEN IN EXCESS OF
SUPPLY.
Railroad and Other Contractors Exhaust
Available Supply and Farmers Will
Soon be In Market fcs: Harvest Hands
Crew Foremen Hire I.aborers In
dependently of Agencies.

With scarcity Of nearly all kinds Of
labor In the market today, employment
agencies are wondering what will hap,
pen at harvest time If all the grain
planted in North Dakota comes to har-
vest, 1t is said there will not be enough
men to take care Of it. Inasmuch as
the prosperity Of the railroads of the
northwest, and Of Minneapolis, depends
on the saving Of the grain at harvest
time, the future is already causing some
worry 'ssEyon ;. - ! =. 49,, 4,.+
we need men in this Market said an
employment agency man today. Men
are needed in railroad work and we
can It get them. The average wage for
company work is $1.75 day, while rail
,foad contractors are paying 81 a day:
II anything over that amount is offered
1t is. presumable that the work is un-
offered 1925 for work in Wisconsin,
but I found that it was place where
men had to to work up to their hips in
the mud. .;f.
+. Trick Of Contractors.
tit is reported that common labor
commands So to $3.50 at Duluth, and
that men are not easy to find there at
those figures. That may be true, but
.
to get out such newspaper articles to
head lot Of men in their direction and
then they will pay them only what they
lave to, because with q resulting con-
gested market wages necessarily DROP
This is the season between hay and
grass with labor. The spring lumber
work is over and the fall harvest has
not begun, Between June Is and July
Is it is pretty hard to get lot Of good
men to work. II they have q little
money to spend they will lay off for a
ing is the BUM class.
Several causes contribute to the pres
emit scarcity of labor, beside the i'm
mense amount Of work that is under
way. The street railway company is
hiring hundreds Of men for revision and
betterment work, the city has long
pay roll for summer work, and so has
the park board. Great crowds Of men
that would have been available this
summer have gone to the Pacific coast
and will not be back for several sea-
sons, and Canada has made heavy draft
on the northwest for labor. Thus, with
any number of men taking their vaca-
lions, the cause Of the shortage is easily
figured. - -" - 1ss
The pinch in the market is so notice
able that railways are sending their
crew foremen about the streets picking
up men, In utter disregard Of the labor
agencies. t.. . :..z'.
A gang Of Austrians, who are the
most independent among the laboring
people, was offered $3.50 in st. Paul
Yesterday, with transportation, cook
pay, free cars and COAL, but they de-
manded 90, which the agent refused to
agree to. It is probable that some CON
tractor will take them at their price,
however, 50 close Is, the competition.
A contingency now in sight to bother
the railroad contractor is the farmer,
%''G Is hss 9sT 4Sh BIT F9s or fam 5af
vest help that: he will drive to q rail
way camp and take 1Ien' from under the
nose Of the; boss, by the offer, Of, higher
The e. special demand for labor Just
making heavy improvements in the
northwest and building new lines. "1s