The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-02-28
THE Man WHO WOULD # he COULD
~ ISAAC L. TOTEM.

~ ISAAC L. TOTEM.
A letter came to the writer the other
anxious to come back to the farm:
but
An extract from his letter follows:
II read your letters telling of the life
on the farm with considerable interest.
and l also read what the daily papers
and monthly magazines have to say
about the opportunities on the farm
| tuday for the man who is willing to
| work and willing to farm on a scien-
:ifc basis. ! would very much like to
get away from the monoonous daily
Grind here where I find it next to i'm
POSSIBLE to make ends meet; but what
am l to do? l have not been able to
rave any money here in the city; and
as you know, one must have money to
purchase a farm and equip it.
II am not the only one who is in
this same boat; there are others of
my acquaintances who would like TO
get back to the land il they only had
the money to do So Perhaps l could
save more than l do. but it seems to
LIE that my wife and l skimp about
all that We can now"
Before we received this letter, we
nad not thought Of this condition of
affairs in just the way it was present
ed to US in the letter
One of our thoughtful neighbors to
whom we mentioned the subject re-
garding the men in the cities who are
anxious to take up the farm life and
would do SO IL they only had the nee
essary finances, said:
at is true that a very perplexing
problem for the farmer today is to pro-
cure hired help, and he is often led
to express himself quite emphatically
regarding those in the cities who are
ont of work-in the bread line-as it
were. and will not come out to the
farm for employment
1T is fact that it is most difficult
70 obtain single hired help just for a
few days at time; but the married
help is far in excess of the demand;
that is, where living quarters are pro-
vided Very few married men care to
come out to the farm to work only dur
inc the summer season, and then go
back to the cities for the winter
months when work is slack And, in
most cases, the wages which they
would receive for the farm work would
not be sufficient to provide for a fam
ilv living in town.
Does it not seem advisable, and al
| So necessary. to cease our efforts along
IN nj ~ tn ird oil Ia
nler to come to the farmsa and put
forth greater efforts toward providing
tenant houses for the help that we
know that we can get?
when one class of men are in need
of hired help, and when there is an
other class that is willing to do that
work under favorable conditions. does
1t not seem more logical for the class
hat need the help to try to accommo-
Gate those who are willing to do the
work than to waste time and try ones
patience trying to get the men who do
not want the jobs?"
This neighbor of ours seems to hit
the nail sQuarely on the head. There
IS considerable food for thought in his
statement
a friend of the writer recently adj
vertised in one of our local dailies for
a married man to live in a tenant
house and help with the farm work In
IT," twenty-five replies he received,
there was tone of eagerness to get
the position. Practically all of those
who were interviewed were Ameri-
cans; and, because of their finer SEN
sibilities. they claimed that they found
it SO humiliating to reduce their stand
aid of living to that of the foreign ele-
r:ent, that they were not only willing,
but anxious to accept positions on
farms If they could only get them.
AS general rule. farmers want men
who have had farm experience; but,
because a man has had farm expert
enCe, it does not always mean that he
is more competent worker than the
man who has never done farm work
1t is quite often the case that the man
who has never done any farm work is
the best farm hand; because, when he
is told to do a thing, he does it as he
is told and not the way that he did it
| when working for some other farmer
lie is generally heater and takes great
er pride in what he does than most of
those who have always been on the
farm.
The married man is much more re-
liable circumstances make him sol
than the single hired help. and it is
much more pleasant all around when
the farmer and his family and the ten
ant and his family live under separate
roofs.
In the endeavor to reduce the high
cost of living, it was decided that a
back to the land movement must be
started. When a movement of any kind
is launched, it generally brings to light
many conditions that were not thought
of in the beginning. and this condition
Of which our friend writes is one of
them.
1t appears quite ridiculous to preach
back to the land" to those in the
financial straits Of cur friend. and not
try to help them solve the problem of
setting back.
There is something wrong in the
makeup Of the young man in the city
who cannot find employment that will
enable him to accumulate money; but