The Greeley tribune., 1912-08-15
Can | Get the Help?

/ We will take up this q"eslo"
under these heads
Pr,sent conditions. What caused
them. What will change them Tor
the better:
You may meet any farmer from
Chics-p TO the Pacific coast anu ne
n,a.iily admits that the question o.!
our farm labor is in pretty MaN
shs,se and something is decidedly
wrong. 4 Large part are incomI'et-
ent and have no interest in the work
or in YOU. 4 good man rarely stays
more than n few months ana Is
gone, One Of our hest farmers said
last fall that he changed his entire
| force three times last year. II you
have a good man 25 years old or
over, nine chances tn ten you Will
| find he has been all over every state
/ west Of the Missouri river, and Tor
several years has never stayed over
three or four months on any one
Job. Thirty years ago 1t was not
often . man quit without cause un'
| til the crop was made. This condi-
tiOn is not here alone, but is gem
eral complaint west Of the Missouri
river to my personal knowledge.
There II a reason, and it Is not
far away; because We give men only
eight months work. and they go all
around hunting work the remainder
OF the year, acquiring q rowing dis
position, and are settled nowhere.
Everyone knows how reliable the
men are that come from Germany.
Sweden and those countries, and
also how soon many Of them drift
to some town job or become rOvers.
same as our American help. SO we
are responsible ourselves for our
present conditions. In England and
other countries they hire mostly by
the year.
know a number Of boys here
tl,at were exceptionally good men at
IL who are now rOvers and never
work more than two or three
months in u place. i met one a few
days ago. I said: where is John
now" "Denver." 'Wllere Is
SAM" California" ''Where Is
Joe?' Last heard from in WASH
ingtOn." They get around here once
in three or four years, work month
or two and are gone. The above
all worked for me at one time or
another. The last boy worked two
years steady until l quit farming
and feeding.
When i said to a dairyman in the
car at Elgin, Can you get help to
milk cOws?" he said: I'VE have less
trouble than the grain farmers west
of us, for we hire by the year, and
men coming in here looking for
work expect to milk
The whole trouble Of help is
caused by our present method Of
farming. Our best young men soon
gravitate to the towns and cities
where they get steady work all the |
year.
Then our present system holds no |
for young men to
marry. have talked with these
men and they always say: "How
can marry and settle down? There
Is no place ON . farm for . married |
man, with few exceptions, and this |
eight months work barely keeps
me-" Here and thero are men who |
get with = stock feeder and grow up
into q permanent farmer or renter, |
but to the majority Of yoan9 men
this road seems too long, and they |
did not happen to get = job with .
feeder. So we are responsible for
present conditions.
Take the general manufacturing
interests all over the country out
side Of the big cities. They never
lack men, and always have applica-
tions ahead. Why? Because Of
steady work all the year, and most
manufacturers give preference to
married men. Why? Because they
stick.
The writer's first job was with q
manufacturing concern for four
years and seven months. Their rules
were that so per cent must he mar
rieti men. Never less than three
nAtiOnalities to avoid total strikes,
IL the Irish struck. the Germans
stayed, and so on. The first thing a
new plant wants Is % acres and a
row OF tenement houses to secure q
certain proportion Of married men.
The labor question is getting to
he very serious one to the farmer
OF the west, and We have got to take
up this question and settle II before
we can properly develop this country
and we will continue the subject in
our next article.
WELD co. COMMERCIAL CIJ,R