Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1908-01-03
KEEPING HELP ON THE FARM.

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mere pittance, those times have gone VIII
the stage coach and the sickle, ana th'
progressive farmer. as well as the progress
sive man of other lines of business, vii
pray that they may never return. lht
changes that the Intervening time mas
brought, have been changes for the better
They have been beneficial to the laborer
as well as to the employer Of labor. They
have brought improved methods. and Inn
proved machinery, and broader markets
and greater profits in all lines of business,
in farming no less than in other business,
Other lines of business have recognized
this and AVE made the concessions 10
their laborers that the changed conditions
demand and justify.
1t Is up TO the farmer to face the logic
of events and make the concessions
necessary to secure the help, and the kino
of help that his business requires. IL
won't do to say tina the farmer can't dc
this. He must do IL, and then, 1t is not
true that he can't do ii. There Is no
legitimate business that IL more profitable
than farming-in proportion TO the capital
invested-when rightly conducted and in
diligently managed, and Ii won't do to
quarrel with existing facts and conditions.
II existing conditions are not satisfactory
to us, the only thing to do is to adjust our
selves and our business to these ond
tons, since we can not change the condi-
lions.
That we farmers, as a rule, are having
trouble to get the necessary help on our
farms Is certain. That the fault lies with
our business. or rather, with our manner
of conducting it with reference TO our help,
is evident from the fact that there is no
dearth of laborers in other lines of bust
ness, Railroads, factories, construction
work and the various trades seem 10 be all
supplied with plenty Of help to do their
work. The farmer only Is complaining.
Then, since the fault evidently lies with us,
1t Is to ourselves we must look for the
remedy. Any relief that we should receive
by securing the services of newly arrived
immigrants would be doubtful and at best
could be but temporary, as they would
leave us as soon as they became 'accli-
mated" The trou3le is not that work on
the farm Is harder or more arduous than
the work in other lines of manual labor.
This might rave been true in the good old
days that some Of us mourn but in this
day of improved machinery and up TO date
methods, the labor on the farm is light
and comparatively pleasant. 1t is not in
the social status. or the lack OF social
status, that the position of a farm laborer
entails, for Ii is a notorious fact that in no
other business does the master and the
man come so very near to occupying the
'SNN'S SSNtNA BSoANioii ia III community
other things being equal. In other words.
farmers are apt to hold that one man Is as
good as another, 80 long as he behaves
pretty well. We must look then In some
other direction for the cause of our trou-
bic, and, as this is the age of finance, and
the most of our troubles are financial trou-
bles, we come back to our original propo-
sition, that it will be found, in some way,
to be a question OF dollars and cents. 1
EhalI ynnln n fan. = r,na - go -
this line, and allow the reader to draw his
own remedies mostly, as no general rule
could be laid down that fits all cases.
All employers of labor, except farmers,
e their help at stated intervals, usually
once a month, in some cases as often as
one a week, which enables the laborer TO
know that upon a certain date he will re-
ceive his wages and to plan accordingly.
Nowhere, except upon a farm, is a laborer
expected TO give more than ten hours SER
vice for a days work, and in some cases
eight hours is the rule. My brother. what
would you say to the man who should ask
you to give five peckS OF wheat, or corn. or
potatoes for a bushel? Knowing you as
i do, l think you would decline without
thanks. Custom and practice nave made
ten hours of labor a days work. Just as
surely as custom and practice have made
four pecks of grain, or vegetables. a bush
- anu We SilUl4u DOt DE SURPRISED. or feel
agCrieved, when those OF whom we pur-
chase labor insist upon that rule, and, il
the exigencies of our business compel us,
at times, to ask those who work for us to
labor more than ten hours of the TWENTY
four, we should pay for the extra work. as
we would expect pay for the extra peck.
Most farmers do not manage their bust
ness so as TO furnish steady employment
10 their help, thus compelling their help to
look for other employment during four or
tive months of the year. This is a serious
drawback, and, in nearly every case, could
be provided for by judicious and intelli-
gent management.
The claim that farm help Is not as wei.
paid as the same class OF labor I'm other
lines of business As not generally true,
everything considered, while 1t NAV be
true in some cases, with those who board
and lodge with their employers, az un.
married help usually does. 1t Is seldom,
if ever, true Of the married man who
boards and lodges himself, as the farmer
usually furnishes a house, rent free. to his
hired man, fuel for the mere labor OF cut.
ting it, and sufficient ground to raise vege.
tables for his family, and sometimes ever
a COW, or rather, the milk of one. with
many other little perquisites that would
cost none anywhere else, that more thar
make up for the difference, IL any there be
IN the actuai money wage. In most cases
these things are properly appreciated
But IL the help should chance to be tn,
sort of man whose object is not to save
but to spend. and so DESTROYS TO work
where he will have the most actual none,
to spent on Saturday night, the remedy
is less ~perquisites and more money,
There Is a class of laborers who complain
that there IS too much sameness about life
on a farm: that they don't have the oppor-
tunisy to "see things" and have a good
time" that they do in the city or village.
This class are rather hard TO deal with. |
find hat seeing things" and having a
good time" generally means spending their
evenings and off days at some saloon,
playing cards or pool. and running I'D a
score that will make a big hole in the
weeks wages. instead OF staying quietly
at home or spending the evening attending
some orderly gathering at the school
house or the church. Perhaps il would not
be advisable to establish a saloon at the
cross roads and hire a circus or q minstrel
troupe TO exhibit in the n%eighhorhood
every week, In order TO relieve the same
ness and furnish the excitement that this
class OF labor demands. Come to think OF
1t, they are not the kind TO help q self.
respecting farmer would care to haye
around, any way.
Having mentioned some of the mos
probable causes that seem 20 be making
the life OF a farm laborcr SO unpopular.
will leave the matter to your intelligen
farmer readers. IL l AVE said anythin,
that will help any OF them to solve thi