The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1906-06-28
CALL FOR HARvESTERS

Lack of Men Said to Imperil
Kansas Wheat.
COLLEGE STUDENTS DEPENDED ON
Appeals For Help In Garnering Grcnt
Crop Before 1t Spells Being Sent
Out-Competition For Labor stron-
ger Than Ever Before-Scheme to
Employ Small Offenders In Jails.
Kansas is sending out the strongest
appeal of her history for men to work
in the harvest fields, according to
special dispatch from Topeka, Kan.
to the New York Herald The difficult
ties OF the last few years to get enough
help to garner the wheat before it be.
comes dead ripe and skaters in the
gathering will be intensified this year
1T the advance signs are any token Of
what is to come. At least $4,000 more
men than are now in sight will be
needed, and if need be there will be
resort to desperate measures to draft
men into the service behind the self
binders. Already a move to empty
the jails of small offenders has been
made.
Competition this year for labor is
stronger than ever before. There seems
to be no surplus of idle men anywhere
Appeals have been addressed to the
employment agencies of Chicago, st.
Louis and other large western indus
trial centerS. The answer has come
back in almost every instance that it
is impossible to fill the ORDERS Fac
tories are running at full capacity all
over the country. Building operations
are going OH on a scale exceeding any
thing of the kind in past years. These
activities, in addition to the many pub
lie improvements that are going on,
have absorbed the bulk of the labor of
the country, skilled and unskilled.
One of the heaviest drafts for men
comes from the railroads in the north
west. In that region extensive road
building is going on, and With all the
efforts at colonization not enough men
have been obtained to make the prog
ress desired by the railroad manage
ment. 10 supply the deficiency for the
railroads alone effort is making to di-
vert the tide of immigration from New
York to the gulf ports. Several weeks
ago it was announced that 10000 more
men could be acceptably used in the
southwest. Every demand from that
source increases the anxiety and woes
OF the western wheat producers.
Farmers We're comforting themselves
prior to the settlement of the bitumi-
nous coal strike in western states with
the satisfying belief that they would
be able to draw on this line of industry
for men to help them temporarily in
the fields. The coal strike is now set
tied, the men have returned to work in
the mines and that hope has vanished.
Kansas is looking elsewhere for assist
ance
New York city and other far eastern
centers have been appealed to for aid
\ ~ HottAAAC oSol III VI luDOl CAlStS luCTc
as is experienced in the western cities.
Thousands Of men who might have
been counted on have gone to San
Francisco, attracted by the fancy
prices for common labor said to obtain
in the demolished city which is now so
energetically rebuilding.
AS in recent years, much store is set
by the sturdy college men who are
finishing their year of study. Hun
| dreds of these men who have worked
in the wheat fields are coming back
| this season. Those Of athletic training
are hardened for the most eXacting la
Dor in the fields, and they are much
sought after by the farmers. During
the cutting and thrashing season many
of them will make money enough to
sustain them during half the college
year.
The fiat had gone out unofficially that
there must be no idle able bodied men
in Kansas at harvest time The street
loafer who can work will be obliged to
work or leave the state. Local authori-
ties in cities and towns hitherto have
co-operated with the agriculturists in
enlisting the whole available force for
field work. They will do so again this
year
A movement of that kind is already
on. In several of the famous wheat
producing counties of the state, like Sa-
line, Benton Stafford and others, farm
ers have made arrangements by which
men confined in county jails and city
prisons for Unable offences may be re-
leased, provided they give their word
to accompany the farmers to their
homes and work in the harvest fields
/ mt remunerative wages. This system
will save both the state and the farmer
a vast deal of money, and it will give
the prisoner Il good chance to regain
his liberty.
Tiny White Mice New "Ornnments.''
Seeking to draw the last dollars from