The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1918-05-03
PERMANENT FARM
LABOR PROBLEM
Question Which Should Be Given
Serious Consideration by
Farmer.
ONE SOLUTION IS OFFERED
Coed Hornee, Fair Wages and Some
Privileges Will Attract Desirable
Hen Who Understand Farm
Work.
prepared by the United States Depart
ment OF Agriculture.)

prepared by the United States Depart
ment OF Agriculture.)
Washlngton.-The supply Of pcrman-
ent farm labOr-nOte the word perman-
ent-will not be assured in many Sec
lions OF the country, and on some
country, unless more attractive living
conditions are offered the families of
hired hands on farms.
War conditions cause a farm labor
problem that can be solved only by
emergency methods. Throughout the
nation communities will solve their
war problems Of farm labor shortage
BY utilizing as temporary farm help
town volunteers and high school boys
by diverting to agricultural activity
man power that would not and could
not be so used except In a real emer-
gency. But the town men Of farm ex-
perience who go to the fields this spring
and summer and fall will be actuated
solely by patriotism rather than the
financial return Of the undertaking.
They are going back to town as o O
as their war work on farms Is finished.
And. while their services are vastly
valuab from q war standpoint. they
are not helping ut all to solve the prob
! lem OF permanent farm help. But the
man who expects to work on a farm
steadily, year in and year out, Is pro-
foundly interested In the question Of
housing. living conditions and net re-
Enumeration for farm work as compared
with town work.
Provide Good Homes.
The attitude of thousands Of married
men who are skilled farm workers.
who have left the country to find town
employment. but who will return to
farm work permanently provided farm
living conditions are comparable In or
binary comforts to those In town. is
expressed In this letter recently pub
lished in a Texas paper:
II am sending in my view OF the
farm labor problem. I have been try
ing to get a job on the farm the last
month still trying to do so. l can find
plenty Of jobs for a single mar /.
but the farmers SO far as / have found
have no tenant houses, or II they have
one 1t would not make a good stable.
Most of the farmers that l have found
will moi. permit a farm hand to raise a
garden Or chickens or hogs or own a
COW or horse. and the prevalent pay
IS insufficient to support n family un-
der such conditions. I believe IL the
farmers would build comfortable
houses and either pay better wage or
give more privileges. 1t would be the
city maj calling for help instead Of the
farmers"
There are many evidences of an In
creasing desire on the part of men with
families. now living in towns and cit
les but with experience as skilled farm
workers, to 60 back to the country.
They left the farm because they be-
lieved they could make more money, get
more satisfaction out of life, give more
pleasures and opportunities to their,
families in town. Many have been dis
appointed. They are willing to return
to the farm at a smaller cash wage
fhan they receive in town. II they have
a fairly good house and are allowed to
have a garden and raise a few pigs
and perhaps have the use of a COW.
Labor Problem Remalns.
What about 1t? You are a farmer,
and you are looking for permanent
farm help; not only emergency help
to produce and harvest war crops, but
a man or men to live on your farm and
work the year round. Are your tenant
houses the kind Of places q man would
like for his family to cali homer Are
they the kind you would like to live
ln7
"Ohw you say. THE other nan il
looking for a job and l am not. I own
the farm: he wants to work on the
farm. Do you expect the hired hand
to have as good a house as the ownerfi
II he doesn't like this house he can
leave I'll"
Well, the trouble Is that Is Just what
he will dO-and you will continue to
have a farm labor problem on your
hands. OF course NJ one expects the
ulICu uuuU ~ nave ~ SVOO y uOUSC IL
the farmer: But he does want q COM
Portable place for his family to i've In.
and failure to flnd that on the farms 10
one Of the reasons for the steadily de-
creaslng supply Of permanent farm
help In recent years.
It may not please the farmer 70 face
the fact : nevertheless the truth 10 that
the skilled farm hand II IN q position
to be- quite a. independent about the
proposition ID the farmer himself.
When the farmer says Take this house,
or leave It" the really d~rst-class man
knows he u Get . good Job else-l
where-and he leavesi
60 It may be profitable for some,
farmers--not al, Of course-to think,
that over. bearing In mind that lett
ter of the Texas vi TO the effect that
Il the farmers will o6Gr their perman-
- 49, AnrA E.n~~~na AAa1 ~n~~~~ N>-Al