The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1909-08-05
RURAL LABOR CONDITIONS.

The recent call from the West for
$4,000 harvest hands calls attention
anew to the difficulty in many in
stances of bringing together the
man and the job. Probably there are
fewer unemployed men now than
there were year ago, but there
are always men in the unskilled
ranks of labor looking for work. Not
only in the West, but throughout
the country generally there is a call
for more agricultural laborers. 1t is
true right here in Vermont. Many
farmers find it exceedingly difficult
to obtain laborers. Various eXpe-
dents have been tried. 1t has been
suggested that agents be employed
to persuade immigrants to hire out
as farm hands. The difficulty with
this plan is, of course, that most
immigrants speak a foreign lam
guage and it is difficult to give them
instructions which they can under
stand.
There ought to be some way,
however, of bringing into touch the
man out of work and the man out Of
workers.
In discussing the subject the In
dianapolis News says;
There is little question that for
the ordinary family city-born man
out of work there is better chance
of a precarious living in the centers
of population than in the country,
for besides the odd jobs that he can
pick up which may yield him enough
return to hold off starvation, there
is the charitably- work which
he may turn to in an emergency for
a nights lodging or a meal; while
in the country neither of these pos
sibilities is often present. The adj
vantages of the country or the small
Ter centers are many, and there is
no doubt that the man who can sue
coed in establishing himself there
is better off in the long run than
his fellow who holds to the city and
its precarious possibilities. But it is
the immediate need that such man
has to consider, and from this point
of view the city generally looks
safest to him.
at is the old problem that has
probably existed since the begin
ming of civilization, and promises
to continue to exist for good many
years yet at least-the uncontrol-
able conditions that separate the
man from the job. In a country with
resources such as this one has there
is undoubtedly work for every man
and with such men as this country
produces there are, just as I'M
doubtedly, men who can do that
work as it should be done. Under
little different circumstances there
would hardly be such a thing as
enforced idleness. But these cir.
cumstances cannot be readily chang.
ed, however willing we may be a;
a people, or however wise oul
statesmen may be as lawmakers
They exist and will continue to ex-
list, and about the only thing we car
do is to mitigate them as much as
possible by the encouragement of q
gradual movement away from urbar
congestion, and the dispersal of Ia
Dor over a greater area so that il
will be more readily available foI
the necessary work of the time and
less subject to the necessity oil
working at tasks which are otter
unnecessary sometimes harmful
and all too often lacking in the
quality that adds to a mans self
respect"
One of the chief difficulties is tC
persuade men in the cities to &C
into the country. If men are willing
to work and out of job, it would
seem reasonable to suppose thai
they would be glad of employment
at fair wages on a farm. The worl
is no harder than much unskillet
labor in cities and the hours ar,
as long as they were twenty-five
years ago. The farm laborer is SUR
of fair living and usually he has
the opportunity to raise much tina
he needs for his sustenance. \
farm home is a far better place TO
children than the streets of thu
great cities. Both the cities and thu
country would be benefited If tn
exchange could be made.
The country is no longer the iso
lated place that it was a few year
ago. With the increase of electri'
railways, telephone, and rural mai
delivery there has been a remark
able Improvement in conditions II
the past decade. That comfort il