The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-07-15


They go through Topeka in scores
and hundreds; men from the little
known corners of the earth. and from
lands touching the seven seas. Men
without king or country, domineerlng'
bronzed and brutal, and cringing, TIM
i'd wrecks on the rocks of fate who
are simply following the line of least
resistance in answering the call OF the
wanderlust. Those men, molten to-
gether in the common melting pot OF
failure, walk side by side along dusty
roads or lie shoulder to shoulder on
the tops of freight trains.
Won't Modest Them.
Sometimes they cling to the rods
under the cars. But 1t is not often.
They are bold, some individually and
others in numbers. 1t is only the no.
vices riding the rods. For trainmen
long ago, learned it is wise not 70
modest them.
Alike, in one respect, the faces of
those men now are turned toward the
west Perhaps it would be better to
say toward the middle west, for they
come to that area from all ways
There are immigrants too, fresh from
Ellis Island, weak of initiative and
with minds easy to mould, or rather
say, easier to distort. They came TO
Kansas this year when the call was
clarioned for thousands of harvest
hands. The harvest hands came. TO
them the call was but matter of fact:
they were sincere in their desire for
the attractive wages of Kansas farm
ers. But not so did the others come.
They are the men of the WanderluSt,
wrecks of the slums; men at whom
life has sneered and who seek to re-
tal.ate by sneering at life. Among
10 fe no aOif1fOTS.
ready to make the minds of the weak
illiterates into warped moulds, ready
to fight, pillage, burn or murder
Menace to Wheat Industry.
They believe they are oppressed:
Surely fate has sneered on them and
they seek vengeance against those
uDon whom fortune has smiled. Out
Of the activities of these men has
grown a menace which threatens the
wheat industry of the west.
These men. especially the I. w. w.
members, take charge practically of
the freight trains upon which they
ride insofar as the privilege of others
to ride is concerned. They charge
S25O for an 1. w. w. card. If a man
is found who has not a c2~d he is
forced to purchase the bit of PASTE
board or is thrown from the train.
Officials of villages fear to make ar
rests When an 1. w. w. member, who
carries the card as a method of safety
and convenience, is arrested, couriers
carry the word to the camps. The
men mobilize. Several jails in Kan
sas have been stormed and several
trainmen and officers shot this sum-
mer. The men tramp into villages and
towns in scores and hundreds or even
thousands and demand work. There
is no work for harvest is nearly over.
Cry Is for Food.
Then their cry is for food and if
food is not forthcoming they take
their revenge in their own way. They
drive men ont of harvest fields who do
not carry their cards. Wheat stacks
are burned. Higher wages for the
wheat field toilers is their cry and
they refuse the highest wages ever
paid the American farm hand. Several
cities have been surrounded by them
this summer and only the points of
guns forced them to retreat and move
elsewhere.
At night the men camp in the open,
in strips of wood along railroad tracks
or on the open fields. Activities are
fascinating. A few miles west of this
city along the Rock Island tracks
there is such a camp. Men that don't
fit in mingle there in numbers any
where from a dozen to 200. They
alight from a box car in the evening
and take charge of the camp which
was prepared by others before them.
In the grove along the river there
are huts made of tree branches, the
leaves turned down to turn the rain.
The huts resemble a miniature village