The Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 191?-19??, 1919-04-12
PASSING OF
'H|RED MAN.
Farm Labor In New England States
Is Now Strongly Uniopizsd.

4 1
has given way to our present com
pick civilization, the hired man has
been eliminated. Time was when
the bulk Of the farm work was done
by the hired man, says the Portland,
Me-, Press. Now it is done by hired
labor which demands a wage scale,
fixed hours Of labor and all the new
tangled notions which grew out of
the emergence Of toll from the de-
based and downtrodden condition in
which it found itself forty or fifty
years ago.
In the days Of which write the
average farmer would have thought
as much Of going without hired man
as he would his horse or COW. 1t
might be that during the rush sea-
son he took on boy or two to help
the man. and if he we're particularly
opulent he might have permitted his
wife hired girl, by there was always
or nearly always, the hired man.
He remained with him the year
around, except possibly in the win
ter, when he was permitted to go in
to the woods, or if work was particu-
larly slack to earn a few dollars on
the drive. But even at that it was
often the case that the hired man
stayed around during the winter to
do the chores while the farmer HIM
self worked In the woods or on the
drive.
The reason for this was that what
the farmer earned was his, while If
his man earned an extra dollar if
was his own and all the boss saw
ed was his servants wages. This was
not much, but as dollars were count
ed in those days it was worth consid-
ering. In fact, every dollar was
deemed worth considering at that pc
Rod of our civilization.
The wages paid the hired man va
ried considerably, depending in a
measure what he was worth and to
some degree on what the farmer
thought he could disburse.
Pay Sometimes $14 Month.
There were farmers who were
rather close-fisted with their help
and refused more than $14 month,
while some went as far as to open
their hearts to the extent of $28 OF
$40 a month. But $50 was about
the limit. / used to know a great
many hired men, and / cannot recall
farmer who paid more than $50,
and he was generally held guilty by
his associates of demoralizing the la
Dor market. Just within the last
year we have heard Of the ship yards
and munition factories doing the
same. Manners have changed, and
people have changed somewhat, but
not enough so but hired man who
was getting $14 a month was in
spired with Boleshevist sentiments
when he knew the chief Of staff of
the adjoining farm was getting twice
as much as he was and doing no more
work. &4
But to this SO cents or dollar
day which the hired man received in
cash was also to be added his board
and to some extent his clothes-that
is, he was frequently permitted to
wear some Of the boss old pants and
shirts when about his work.
But there was another considera-
ton which was really worth while
and would be esteemed as such by
some even in these days of Sc day
hod-carriers. He occupied a position
of what amounted to social equality
with his employer, He slept in the
same house with him, ate at the same
table with the rest of the family and
occupied the same pew in the church.
If there was daughter in the house
he was permitted to pay court to her
if she found it agreeable, as she often
did, and he went along with the rest
of the family to the donation parties
and the grange meetings.
AS would of necessity follow, he
often married the daughter and took
her to farm of his own or worked
the home place on shares, or Shears
as they used to say in those days.
All these privileges compensated
as may be seen readily in measure
for the so cents or 81 per day which
constituted his cash emolument.
Worked Long Hours.
But the hired man worked. In
those days the farmer got up at
three or four o'clock in the morning,
and, as Josh Billings used to say,
burned out five pounds of wood and
five cords Of candles waiting for day.
light. Josh was all right about the
wood and the candles, but there was
little waiting for daylight. The far
mer and the hired man went to work.
The stock had to be fed, the tie-up
cleaned up, the milking done and the
other farm labor done, commonly
called chores. +
After chores came breakfast came
thea work. At noontime came din
ler and then work until supper time.