The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-05-13
Kansas Needs $4,000 Men to
Harvest Wheat Crop.
Official Call Is Issued by the
Labor Bureau.
NEED SMALLER THAN USUAL
The State Is Better Supplied
With Farm LabOrers.
The Present Prospects Indicate
Big Harvest.

| The official call of the state of Kan
sas for $4,000 hands for the wheat
harvest of 1915 has been sent out by
the state labor department. The num-
Der called for in the bulletin just pre-
pared by P. ]. Mcbride, state labor
commissioner, is several thousand
smaller than the usual estimate be-
cause the supply of labor within the
state at this time is more plentiful
| than usual.
The prospects are for a big har-
vest" sale Mr.. Mcbride, land we will
need as much labor as usual. But the
state IS unusually well supplied with
farm hands for this season. We gen
orally get more men than we call for
so we will be a little conservative this
year.
Wheat Looks Good.
| The official labor department call
which is now being put in the mail
will say:
Kansas will need at least $4,000
harvest hands this year, II the wheat
conditions. While the total acreage
is slightly less than in 1914, growing
conditions are generally as favorable
as they were at this time last year.
now and harvest, the estimate that
$4,000 men will be needed is conserva-
tive.
"The State Free EN- oloyment bu-
ports from it's correspondents in the
wheat belt, and with few exceptions,
conditions are reported to be as good
as in 1914. There is no lack of meis-
reports Of Hessian fly in a few locah-
ties, Kansas wheat generally is I'M
damaged by insect pests.
Conditions now indicate that har-
vest may be a few days later than last
year, but it is too early to accurately
state when wheat cutting will begin
in any given locality, beyond stating
that harvest will be general in the
state by June 20. Harvest wages will
range upwards from 50 a day and
board. The free employment bureau
will not be able to advance transpor-
tation to men coming to Kansas for
the harvest. Men will be required to
pay their own railroad fare.
Watch for Bulletins.
The bureau will issue a harvest
bulletin early in June. Men coming
west for the harvest should consult
this harvest bulletin for reliable in
formation as to the dates when har-
vest will begin in the different sec
tions, wages and names of parties to
whom they may go direct with prac-
teal assurance that they will be en-
ployed.
LAS usual, men will this year find
the longest season of employment by
starting in with the harvest in Okla
homa, southern Kansas and follow
ing it north as the season advances.
w. G. Ashton, commissioner of labor
of Oklahoma, estimates that Is, 600
men will be needed in that state. The
Oklahoma harvest season is from a
week to ten days earlier than the
Kansas season, and men may come
from that state into Kansas and Sc
cure work. $500
"The Kansas free employment bu-
reau will have representatives at
Wichita Hutchinson and Salina from
whom men may secure reliable infor-
nation as to the points where men
are needed. Similar information will
be obtainable through representatives
of the U. S. bureau of immigration,
at all the railway gateways to the
Kansas wheat belt. The Kansas bu-
reau is also in touch with representa-
tives of Nebraska, North and South
Dakota and will supply reliable infor-
nation as to the need for harvest help
in those states as the season ad-
vanceS.
IF present favorable conditions
continue, able-bodied men willing to
work will have no difficulty in finding
employment in Kansas after the mid
die of June. However, foreigners who
do not speak English should not come
into Kansas seeking work without first
communicating with the Kansas State
Free EN- plOyment Bureau