Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1907-04-04
THE PROBLEM FARM HELP
PRESENTS 70 OUR PEOPLE

How to solYe the help question is caus-
ing no little anxiety to farmers these days.
Help is not only scarce but it demands and
commands wages Of from $25 to $35 a
month with board and mending and wash
ing in addition.
A farmer in discussing this question said
recently that if the present situation con-
tinues to grow the number Of farmers who
conduct large farms will grow rapidly less
and before long Gloucester County at least,
will be subdivided into countless farms just
large enough for one or perhaps two men to
handle thoroughly.
sAs it is now,' he said, the farm hand
commands higher pay than the bookkeeper
in the large cities. We pay at least s25 a
month which is six dollars week, and often
we pay seven and eight dollars week.
The board that we have to give man is
worth easily five or six dollars week, for
his table food is the best in the land and he
always has good bed TO sleep in. The
clothes that farm hand needs cost moth
| ing to what clerk in a mercantile house
must spend to keep up to date Whatever
mending his clothes need the farmers wife
attends to, and If be becomes sick ne is
given the best attention, and usually the
family doctor is called in at the masters ex-
pense.
This added together would make the
average wages Of the farm hand twelve or
thirteen dollars week at least As things
are now you could advertise tomorrow for a
farm hand at $25 or $28 month and not
get a reply, but if you should advertise for
bookkeepers at $12 you would be beseiged
| for week.
To show you that the help problem is
indeed serious want TO tell you what my
colored man told me. haye fellow who
has worked for me for three seasons. He
comes from Delaware and goes back after
husking time. This spring before coming
I north he wrote and asked if I wanted
another man. He said that only few from.
his community were coming up and that if
I wanted more help I had better say SO
quick He always comes by boat, and he
said that there were only four men on the
boat when he made the trip, while in years
past there has been boat load. The three,
he said, who we're coming from his neigh
borhood decided to stay there all summer. =
"This report is coming from all my neigh
bors. They say that where formerly they
could get good help, now they haye to de-
pend upon anything that comes along. I
believe that the cause Of this scarcity Of
help is the industries in our country. The
factories are in need Of men all the time
and any body who wants TO work can find
job that pays wellin the city. AS it is TO-
day few men care to Hye in the country.
They would rather be in the mad swirl Of
the city life, where dollar earned is dol
lar spent. And why need they save? The
daily wages is a certainty and every pay
day brings enough TO furnish a living until
the next paw day. What kind Of living il
is does not matter, just so the worker is
haying good time and enjoying life. =
II know that the farmer who has several
sons is the one best able to meet present
conditions, for he and his boys can do the
farm work and keep all the profits Yet,
there must be many attractions ab home
else the boy will get restless and want to
get to town. And, can you blame him? He
knows that IL be stays at home he is miss
ing much of the fun he would haye if he
were in the city. The hours would not be
SO long and the pay would be equal. That
is, he would have the satisfaction Of letting
money go in and out Of his pocket,and after
all, this is what gives the pleasure of hay
ing money .
II can remember when was boy going
off to the school after doing my morning
chores, wearing pair Of leather boots with
copper toes that had to last me all winter.
On Sunday wore them to church after
scraping off the weeks coating Of mud and
blacking them up for best All the boys
went that way then but what boy, save the
one away off in the back woods is so astired
today. My clothes never fit then; they
were fathers made over. II the boys Of to-
day can't have clothes better than his dad
wears there IS a row in the household.
sThe problem now is to keep the boy on
the farm, il you have boy, and il you can
solve this the help question is also solved
Again, if you get a good man, hang onto
him, don't let him go. Il pays to bumorl
help just little. let mine eat at my
table. have the same things about the house
that have and drive my horse when they
want to take their honey to some fancy
ball or hop
From the section from Paulsboro TO Ped
lriektown comes reports confirming those Of