Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-08-14
FOLLOWERS OF
CROPS ARE To
Be Modified
Farm Management Bureau Study
ing Various Phases of Season
al Agricultural Work.


From May until September belt
Of ripening grain, fruit and vCge-
tables creeps slowly up the back
bone of North America
For example, right now they are
harvesting wheat in the Dakotas,
Minnesota, Montana and Washing
ton. A. month ago they were har-
Vesting wheat in Kansas, and
month from now they will be cut
ting it in Canada. If it were pos
sible to take a bird's-eye view of
the whole United States, this hGr-
vest belt would show as a broad
golden streak across the central
states, and this streak would be
seen to move like a glacier. To be
exact, it would move at the rate of
about one degree of latitude. or
400 feet Of altitude, every four
days. Mountains. therefore. would
hold it back in spots. and so would
great bodies of cold water, like
the Atlantic ocean and the great
lakes. But it's movement, none the
less, Is thing which can be
mapped and calculated to a nicely.
Army of Labor.
The bureau of farm management
Of the department of agriculture
Is just now engaged in a most in
teresting study of this moving
crop belt. For behind the belt,
and with it, travels an army that
numbers hundreds of thousands
the army OF floating and seasonal
labor that gathers the crops-and
unless this army is right at the
front every minute, fully recruited
and equipped, and ably led, there
Is disaster for all of use. The
bread and butter of everyone in
America, and of millions in Europe
depends upon this army. If the
wheat is not cut when It is ripe.
~ skaters and goes to waste. II
tRe%, potatoes are not dug on the
right day, they rot in the ground
IF there is any delay in the apple
picking, the apples are lost. So
that, in this day when every ounce
Of food is literally precious, the
army of crop followers is one of
tn most important bodies of men
IN the world
Was Disregarded.
Even 30, until about two years
ago, little attention was paid tc
The army of floating harvest hands.
In those days there were always
lots of people out of work. The
crop army always modified wher-
ever it was needed without call or
direction, drawn by ready work
and good pay, coming mysteriously
from all quarters, as insects gath
Pr about spilled honey.
Not only did war change this,
but apparently it effected a perma-
crop army was lacking in many
places and crops rotted. In other
places lawless elements came in, |
and there were fights and fires and !
general disorder This year the !,
army was recruited again to its
normal proportions, but not with !
but a great deal of hustling on the I
part of the department of agricul |
lure, the department of labor. and |
numerous state and local agencies. |
That is why the bureau of farm |
management is now making such |
/ careful study of that creeping |
crop belt. The recruiting and |
movement Of the crop army cannot |
Sc left any longer to chance. From |
now on its operations will be di /
tected by map, just as carefully as /
The operations of any other army |
n the field The present fnvesti- !
cation is designed to show exactly |
how many acres there are in each /
IF the principal crops in the United /
States, on what date each crop
Fipens in each vicinity, and exact
y how many men are needed at
nat place at that time to harvest
he crop. Then every available
Igency can be put to work long III
ldvance to find the men.
Recognized as Essential.
OF course, it is undesirable for
my industry to have to depend
Upon floating labor. This is unde-
Hrable. not only for the industry,
sut for the floating labor. The
ioating laborer usually has neither
lone, wife, property, nor any of
he other things which make the
between a malcontent
md a good citizen. But in farm
ng. a floating labor supply is es-
Iential. What one man can plant
1 takes 10 to harvest. That is a
stubborn and unacceptable fact No
armer can afford to carry 10 men
he year around because he needs
hem in the harvest field for few
weeks in the summer or fall.
Floating labor, therefore, we
must have. And the way to rem
sdy the social ills that afflict the
ioating labor is to make it float in
: regular aud carefully calculated
way. The farm management ex-
,erts say that there are a great
many men in cities whose work is
and whereas winter is
he dull time in the country, sum
ner is usually the off-season in the
ity. For example. people who
AVE had to do with the heating of
louses in the city are generally
tut of work in the summer. FuI-
ace tenders and repairers. drivers
f coal wagons. men who cut and
Lau' wood, are q few of the types
hat come readily to mind. These
men are city workers and seldom
hink of going to the country for
york in the summer. The oppor-
unity must be advertised 10 them.
Some Work on Schedule.
It is possible for many workers
o establish a regular routine,
pending the winters in the city
nd the summers in the harvest
eld. They will make more mon
Y and enjoy better health than
hey could by sticking to one job
IL the year around. For, while
he regular hired man on a farm !