The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-31
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM A TION
Blu RE AU
FIR EDERIC J. HASKIN. Director.
Washington. D. C.
HOW THE CROP WAS GATHERED.
Washington. D. C.

Washington, D. c.. Oct 28.-ihe
man who lives in town must aomlt
that If it had not been Tor the reaiiy
heroic efforts of the farmers to in
crease production. there wouldn't nave
been enough food to go round inns
Lwinter. And the farmer must admit
I that, if the city Teller hadn't turned
out and helped him get the crops IN
the result would have been the same.
Fer it is a fact that hundreds OF thou
sands of professional men, society Wo-
men. school boys, mechanics and oth-
era of the city ilk toiled in the fields
this summer and fall, and but for
them the farmers would have lost
millions of. dollars and the nations mil
lions of pounds of food.
Dr. E. " Wilcox. who managed this
nobilizat ton of volunteer farm labor
for the department of agriculture, tens
some interesting stories OF how the
1913 crop was gathered. According
to him, many of those who worked
in the fields did so at a heavy sacri-
flee of convenience and comfort.
Some men and some women went
! thru the setting up exercises every
day for a month in an effort to, harden
their muscles so they could stand the
strain of labor in the hay field. And
many men and women, soft from
years of sedentary living. stuck to the
job doggedly, while the sun burned
the skin off their faces and the hard
blisters on their palms.
An important phase of the matter
is that this demonstrated to the farm
er that the city chap, and even the
city woman, could do a days work in
a pinch. Down in Kentucky all of the
professors of the State Agricultural
college turned out and worked in the
harvest fields, and the president re-
ports that one thing they certainly
harvested was the confidence of the
farmers. The labor shortage in Ken
lucky gave a big boost to cooperation
between the scientist and the man on
the farm.
In some sections city folk saved
crops that would otherwise have been
a total loss. Out at Mountain Park,
New Mexico, for example. they are
just now. picking the last of a very
fine apple crop. And the pickers are
one hundred women, nearly all or
them well off, many belonging to that
vague class known as society wom-
en- They are picking the apples be-
cause there was absolutely no one else
to do it. People are scarce in New
Mexico, anyhow. and the men of that
section have gone to war in great
numbers. The apples would have rot
ted il public spirited woman had
not organized a local chapter of the
Women's Land army, set up camp in
ganization to work. Many OF the
women came from the town of Las
Cruces. which is the metropolis of
southern New Mexico. and some came
from as far away as Ell Paso. Texas.
The farmers in a certain section OF
Missouri took the attitude which is
bromidicalE associated with that state.
They didn't believe the city folk would
be worth having as substitute hired
men. They needed to be shown.
These farmers cut their wheat crops
and made no arrangements for having
many hands. They thought the usual
influx of floating labor would happen.
But it didn't. The wheat was cut and
in a fair way to rot, but the farmers
refused to appeal to the town people.
Accordingly local chamber of COM
mercc organized a shock troop" of
city men and women. These went to
the farms and shocked the wheat,
without so much as asking the farm
ers' permission. The farmers went out
and inspected the job and found it
good. Then they called up their bene-
factors and offered thanks and re-
Enumeration. The remuneration was
accepted for the Red Cross, but the
farmers were told that thanks were
not in order. The crops had not been
harvested for the benefit of the farm
ers, but because the nation needed the
wheat.
This was not the usual attitude of
the farmers. tho: In general they re-
ceived the city man as a friend and
were glad of his help. And the farmer
hasn't as much to be glad about as is
generally supposed. He is getting big
prices for his stuff, but he is also pay
ing big prices for his tools seed, fer
tilizer and everything else he buys.
large part of the profit which occurs
between the farm and the table still
= Il
farmer was as dull and provincial as
some people seem to think, he might
we'll believe that towns are inhabited
largely by greedy middlemen and
long-winded reformers. who want to
tell him how to run his business and
how to amuse himself. These are the
two types that he most often encoun-
tiers and hears from. Meantime. Ia
works hard for small money. He is
advised to get and cultivate more land,
and land is held SO high that IL he
buys it and cultivates it. he cannot
make much interest on the invest
ment as he could by putting the mon
ey into a first mortgage. And all the
time he is aware that if it were not for
him. the country would starve. The
war and the scarcity of food have
brought this fact home to him with
renewed force. He reflects that if he
wanted to, he might raise just enough
to feed himself; then maybe the coun-
try would wake up to his importance
and see his viewpoint.
Kansas outdid all of the other states
in helping out it's farmers There
were eight million acres of wheat in
Kansas to be harvested. The move
ment for recruiting labor to harvest
this crop was started at Kansas City,
Mo-, but was essentially a Kansas
project none the less. The Kansas
City Chamber of Commerce got up
state organization, and assigned to
each town quota of men which it
must raise for the purpose OF har-
vesting the wheat crop. People were
told that the wheat crop was more
important than anything else in Kan
sas and therefore any man was justi-
fled in leaving his business for a few