The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-08-11
DEMAND FOR men
IN Twin CITIES
EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES DISCUSS
THE LABOR slTuATIoN--AMER-
IcANs WHO SHIP TAKE HOME.
sTEAos AND STAY THERE
MANY NOW OWN THEIR FARMS.

The pessimist need not expect to &c
in on the golden harvest this yea,
which certain employment agencies
say awaits the optimist, for the har.
vest Is on, says the Minneapolis Jour
| nal
ITS the man who puts out his vel.
| lowest sign chall1ed UP for 100 harvest
hands at SO day and board" said
! the proprietor of the STANDARD Employ
ment agency, who gets the business
this year. OF course, he has to know
where he can place those men, and we
happen to be in possession Of that In
formation.
we didn't put much stock in this
early talk about crop failures. What
we did was pick out the places we
thought crops would be pretty fair and
sent our men out to verify our hopes.
The men talked with the mayors, post
masters, village marshals and infiuen-
tial farmers and told them to let us
know when they needed men. Letters
and kilograms have been pouring in.
We know the crops are good and that
men will be treated right. We get
good men because they have to pay
their own fare and the buns are not
in the habit of doing anything like
that"
Doing Big Business.
This employment agency is doing
the bulk of the harvest shipments.
Only those who apply and express d
n iva 70
informed as to exact location of the
places TO which shipments are to be
made The proprietor said in general
way that he has selected places as
near Minneapolis as possible so the
railroad fare is not too great.
There are spots in western Mime
sofa, South Dakota and southern North
Dakota" said he, where the stand Of
grain is as good this year as it has
been On the average for ten years. We
know the places they have good crops
and are sending out the men. l sup
pose we have sent out 500 men since
Monday. The farmers write that the
men are good workers"
Other agencies that cater more to
the railroads express the opinion that
few men to meet that demand. The
territory they serve happens to be
where the drouth hit the hardest and
crops are being cared for in large part
by men who have quit the railroad
camps to take in the harvest.
Fair Demand for Hands.
H. B. Johnson, who has been in the
employment business since 1882, said
last night that there is fair demand
for harvest hands, but no great rush
of orders. The trouble he encounters
is TO find men who are able and will
ing to pay their fare to Dakota points.
1.-The employment business is not
what 1t used to be-" said he. ''The
labor field is overrun with foreigners.
Take it two or three years back and
we had no difficulty in filing an order
for a carload of Americans any day,
but now a man couldn't find that many
Americans in a week. We shipped, on
an average, a carload of Americans to
Arlington, Mont, daily in 1907, but
they have stayed out there. The man
who used to look to the employment
agent for a job is now his own boss.
'@They have taken up homesteads.
There was lots of new land being
opened in the Dakotas and Montana.
The men of Irish, German and English
descent who used to get work here
went west on shipments and stayed
to take up farms. Not 10 per cent
of the fellows we shipped three and
four years ago ever came back.
Many Foreigners Come In.
1.-THE American doesn't have to take
the rough work now, anyway. There
are so many foreigners coming in who
are glad to take up the heavy work
that the man who has gone through 1t
is not much good If he can't get a
place as foreman of a section crew or
something of that kind.
when / first started in this bust
enss I knew by name most of the men
who sought work. Then 1t got so /
had to depend on my memory of faces
and now things have changed so that
If I recognize an occasional man feel
that am doing well.
Thousands of men who used to ship
out of here are now owners of fertile
farms in the northern part of this state
or in the adjoining states. When a
person thinks how easy 1t Is to get
1t isn't strange that many
have given up the chase for wealth
by the old. route. But, then, business
is fair and there Is no complaint There
e. III ~