Evening star., 1915-05-30

to Harvest Crops. estine pieces Of
| work ever undertaken by the general
| government is just being started in
| the west, where the attempt Is being
| made to solve the annual problem OF
| harvesting the nations mammoth grain
| crop without loss of grain-as Assist
| ant Secretary of Labor Post phrased it
| the other day, without human waste"
| Every year the farmers of the west
| need hNndreds of thousands of work.
| ers to harvest their grain, and every
| year hundreds of thousands of workers
| scattered over the country are in need
| of jobs. The men and the jobs have
| never been well matched, however. In
| some places there has been a surfeit
| of workers and suffering, and in
| others, a dearth of men and loss Of
| grain. Recognizing the need for re-
| lief, Uncle Sam, with his two-month-
| old employment bureau, is trying to
! bring order out of chaos by guiding the
| workers to the places where they are
| needed.
| Since last harvest season. when little
more could be done than to observe
| conditions in the west, the Department
| of Labor has been steadily feeling ltS
|
| ployment service, and just two months
ago actually organized such an agency.
| The country was then divided into elgh-
| teen districts, about fifty distrlct
| headquarters ana supheauiua af
| we're established, and the business OF
| nnttinp men and jobs into touch was
/ formally begun.
i During the two months of active oper-
| ations many of the actlvitles nas ~,
| heen turned toward preparation OF the
| new machinery for the great tes.
| which is lust now coming with the
| ripening of the grain IN the south" .s =. !.
| special field agent for the west mas
| opened offices in Kansas City, ana 1roni
| there will actively conduct the work
| of labor distribution. Through cooper.
alton of the Post Office Department
| every post office and rural carrier WIN
| help in the work by gathering ana us
| tributinp information, and through CO.
| operation of the Agricultural pePar.-
| ment hundreds of agricultural agents
will report to the employment bureau
| as to crop conditions
| One of the principal problems Is get
TING the great army of floating work
| ers out of the grain country aIter the
crops are gathered. for the farmers
| great need for assistance in given
locality is confined to rev weehs. zen, :
| They can take care of practically none
| Of the workers after October. F1elds
of grain are ripening steadily 1artner
| to the north, however, ana the govern.
ment labor bureau Will gulde some oi
| the workers to these. Most OF the red
| eral activities will be of an interstate te
| character, the work wholly inside state
lines being done largely through CO.
| operation with state labor of1cials.
| One of the most interesting phases OF
| the bureaus work will be its opera
| tion of personally conducted trains for
| vacation workers. The plan VIII pe
| tried only on an experimental scale
| this season but is looked upon by the
|
| ing At first the plan Will be tried only
| with workers accustomed TO hlgh oe-
| grees of heat-probab bly, steel and glass
| workers Plans will be made Tor
| trainload of such workers to take va
| cations at one time, and an agent OF
the government will take charge OF
| the party and conduct it to the harvest
| fields The radical change OF employ
ment. It is believed. will serve as an
| outing and recreation. and the workers
| will, at the same time. be reinforcing
| their pocketbooks. After several weeks
the members of the party VIII be taken
| back to their regular jobs without
| economic waste. This plan is In sat
| fsfactory use by agreement between
| agriculturists and operators OF indus
tries in some communities.
| 1t is the belief of Labor Department
officials that. with the experience
gained this season. the harvest en-
ployment service can be greatly
| strengthened. With the cooperation
|
ployment agencies, they believe it can
| be brought in few years to high
degree of efficiency.
| For the use of his forest rangers
those of his agents who are perhaps
| most effectually separated
A Forest from the civilization of
| ,r cities-Uncle Sam has
| 1AaAuoi' adopted one Of the most
modern devices of urban office practice.
He has Just issued to all the forest Of
ficers copies of a new edition Of the
National Forest Manual in 1oose-leaf
form
This book, containing regulations and
| instructions concerning the use, devel-
opment and protection of the national
forests. is the forest workers final au-
| thority and has come to be known In
| the forest service as "the rangers Bi-
BILE" The regulation and Instructions
must necessarily often be changed and
amended. Keeping the manual up to
date Is a matter of great Importance,
for Congress in authorizing the Secre-
tary of Agriculture to establish rules
and regulations provided that a VIOLA
tion of any of them should be punish
able as a criminal act. In the past In
| anu pdoIih6 Hovc pSSH ~
sorted to, but have been unsatisfactory,
so that the loose-leaf plan has been
adopted. Now when an amendment Is
issued a new page is printed at slight
| expense for insertion at the proper
place and Is distributed to the forest
| officers.
The regulations and instructions in
the manual are under the headings:
"Administration and Protection %
| .'Trespass," Grazing Lands" FOREST
Products" and "Silviculture." which lat
ter term includes timber sales, free
use, forest extensions, forest mvestt-
cations and working plans. The i'm
portance of these regulations, on many
based, can be estimated from the fact
that though the forests are not admin
istered primarily to secure revenue,
| and though national forest work in
America is in It's early stages, the an
| nual forest receipts are already ap-
proximately $2,500.o0o.
| Following the example of the best or
ganized and most efficient industrial
| concerns of the coun-
Agricultural try, the Department
House Organ. Just Jn AsassuDlna established mas a
''house organ,' a publication for cir
culation among workers of the depart
ment only. It's aim is to give each Of
fee and each individual a better per-
spective as to the relation of his spe-
| cialized task to the work of the whole
| department.