Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-08-07
!. W. WI IN NORTH DAKOTA.


[Arthur NJ. Evans in ChicaEo Tri-
bune.1
Fargo, N. D.. Aug. Tits rather
strange, yet not so remarkable after
all. that North Dakota, which since
1916 has been experimenting with
state socialism, should furnish the
first tidings Of /. w. w.ism In the
harvest fields so far gathered by this
tour Of inquiry.
For mbre than 1000 miles the gas
chariot streaked thru Illinois. Mis-
souri,. Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South
Dakota, and at every stop the farm
ers and business men spoke OF the
obsence OF the reds this season.
But the moment the larger towns
OF North Dakota were reached up
bobbed the trail of the wobblies
They have been active in Fargo,
Grand Forks. hfinot
No sabotage, no toasfng OF monkey
wrenches and boltsNinto harvest mo.
chinery. no burnings OF wheat stacks
have been reported-tha Z w. WIS
have become bit morss1 1estrained
than in past seasons. but they hake
been kicking up trouble In spots be-
tween the farmer and the migratory
laborcr. Organizers ana walking dele
gates h;lve been meeting trains as the
floating labofer came In and by a
little suasion. strongarm or otherwise.
have been inducing them to sign up.
Considerable intimidation has been
reported.
A dollar an hour and seven hour
day waa the program. seeing that
North Dakota by virtue Of the Non
Partisan league at fat commission
|preachments ought to be strong for
all the one big union flummery, the
wobblies fancied 1t would be soft
pickings.
They were soon disillusioned. There
was plenty OF labor. and the farmers
In this section at = convention es-
tablished q wage Of Is cents an hour
for harvest and threshing. q ten
hour day or longer being taken for
granted. This Is the lowest harvest
wage &c far discovered on this tour
OF seven states. and it contrasts with
the 40 end 80 cents an hour paid IN
Kansas and Nebraska and in many
parts Of Illinois. Farmers who be-
long to the league and farmers who
are anti league alike fixed on the Al
cent scale.
Now ono nnds I. W. w. organizers
who two or three years ago were
skipping; about the state In fiivvers
helping enroll members for the nom
Partisan league.sas fat commission
per head are saying they are Off the
|leagusrs for life and that in practice
all IT. "new freedom" stuff is bunk.
Ono finds some leaders for the
anti-leatue movement, too, rather
critical 0f the farmers. both leasuers
and ants for fixing q 46-cent scale.
They say It 10 too low for seasonal
work OF such brief duration. They
tell + story Of an I. w. w. organizer
who asked farmer on the street
here last week for job. saying he
had worked for him fourteen or fif-
teen years, ago.
All right" said the farmer. ''how
much pay do~you want?"
'I,u work. for the same pay I did
fourteen years ago." said the man.
.sYou paid me three bushels OF
wheat for days work. I'm willing
to keep to the old rate"
The farmer refused. Sixteen years
ago three bushels Of wheat were
worth perhaps $2.16: today they are
worth perhaps $3.50.
Business men in Fargo tell this
story simply to indicate that mea-
sured In products the farmer after
all Ii not 80 hard hit by high priced
labor. which comes only for a few
days in tho emergency harvest sea-
son. anyhow.