The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1919-02-20
farm LABOR WILL
BE SCARCE in 1919
CONDITIONS NOT EXPECTED TO
REACH NORMAL BEFORE
NEXT YEAR.
GOVERNMENT WILL ASSIST
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR URGES
YEAR ROUND EMPLOYMENT
OF FARM HANDS.

Even if peace treaties should be
formally executed before the next
harvest season, farm labor conditions
in the United States will not auto
matically return in 1919 to prewar
conditions. Therefore the United
States Department of Agriculture is
planning farm labor activities for
1919.
Officials of the department suggest
chat the farm labor situation in 1919
may be quite as serious as that of
1913. A large part OF. our Army may
remain in Europe throughout the year.
What Wheat Acreage Means.
The area of winter wheat sown in
the fall of 1918 is estimated by the
Department of Agriculture at 49,O27,-
600 acres, which is 15.9 per cent more
than the revised estimated area sown
in the fall of 1917.
The winter wheat acreage speaks a
volume in regard to the need for
farm help. Three or four men will
be needed to harvest what one man
has planted-and there has been no
claim that there was a surplus of la
Dor for the planting operations.
The Department of Agriculture
plans to maintain its organization that
aided in supplying farm labor in
1918. 1t will aim to tap every
source Of emergency help-men,
women, and girls from the cities, the
Boys Working Reserve, and other
organizations of that sort.
Permanent Labor Advocated.
The main effort of the department,
however, is to be centersd on placing
men permanently as helpers on the
FARMS. Permanent labor, employed
the year around under good living
conditions and at fair wages, is he
lieved to be one of the prime needs
on literally millions of American
| farms. -, Pa.
Many soldiers and men who haye
left the farms for war INDUSTRIES
and figures show that war industries
took more men from the farms than
!; were given to the Army-are expectsd
to return to the farms if they are
offered permanent and profitable en-
ployment.
What is the farmers part in maxi
ing farm labor permanent? In the
first place department officials believe,
every farm that has an idle period
during a part of the year should SO
plan it's operations that there will be
work through every season. Crops
can be rotated, live stock fed, dairy
ing pursued, and poultry produced.
These activities, added to grain pro-
duction, will solve the problem in
many sections, it is believed.
Large numbers Of married men
should be working on the farms, tits
stated. To get them, better tenant
houses are needed in many cases and
permanent employment is a prime
necessity. To help meet the need for
good tenant HOUSES the department.
has developed plans for model struc-
| lures. $3.50
Cooperation Helps Farmers.
/ One feature of the departments
work deals with stimulating eo-opera-
ton and exchange of labor among
farmers. For example, it recently has
listed the heads of more than LOGO
threshing rigs in Ohio, Indiana, Illi-
nois and Michigan. These rings include
i from 3 to 20 farms AMI involve not
i only the cooperative purchase of a
threshing machine, but also the CO.
operative arrangement of crews for
harvesting and threshing.
/ The plan has proved so successful
that the same idea is spreading to
other kinds of farm work which can
best be handled by crews or teams OF
men.
4 Miss Marie Lyman spent Friday at
Il 0coLic xicitiuor friends