The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-04-16
Many FIoaters to Pass Thru
Kansas This Summer.
Railroad Special Agent Expects
Very Busy Season.
UNEMPL DYED men NUMEROUS
Real Rush for Jobs Not Yet
Started, Says Report.
"Farm Hands" Sometimes Are
Not Farmers, Says Bureau.

1.-The hobo situation is going to be
bad this year. The boes have already
started to move, and there is a bad
class of them collecting and organizing
in the west part of the state right
now" a special agent for the Union
Pacific said in discussing the prospects
in his line for busy summer
There are men in the west part of
the state right now who We know
have been with the I. W. w. They
can't claim membership in the I. w
w. now of course. but they are carry
ing on their work just the same" he
said.
Due To Unemployment.
1.-THE lack of employment in the east
has started the floaters on their wa
already, and there are going 10 pc
many Of them this summer, in Kan
sas."
followed the fact that the Farmland
Ier'' has again appeared on the streets
of Topeka. 1t has been very uncom-
mon for the past few years to be ap-
preached on the street and asked Tor
the price of a meal. 1t is getting less
unusual now, and as the floaters from
the haIf-time Industrial centers of the
east begin to work westward, there
will be more and more calls for aid.
The applications for employment at
the government employment office in
increase in demand for jobs, as yet.
but the number of transients-men
who simply drop in and ask for jobs.
having no residence or telephone num-
her in Topeka, has been steadily on
the increase for the past month
More Men Than Jobs.
al present, we estimate that there
are about fifteen To twenty-five men
looking for work, to every job open.'
in nf l.
reau. says.
But Festus Foster, of the bureau be-
Heves that many of the men who ap-
DIv for work at the bureau, and then
refuse jobs at low pay. are not nearly
broke.
Last summer was a very profitable
one for the Iaboring man, and most of
them still have a slight margin to go
on" he said. And then. Of course,
there is occasionally a man who really
is broke. and who won't work for the
wages if he can get some one else to
feed him.
Suffering and hunger among the un-
employed is still a possibility, unless
they receive aid. the officials of the
bureau believe. OF course, there are
agencies which will look after the
temporary and emergency needs of the
men who are hungry, but that cannot
go on Indefinitely.
Many Are Skilled Workers.
The greatest difficulty has been
found in placing the skilled laborers.
carpenters, machinists and others who
have been thrown out Of work by the
closing down Of the industries in
which they have been employed. I'm
skilled laborers can still be placed, and
a good farm hand. tho he may
have to wait couple of days, is pretty
sure to land a job.
On farm hands and domestic serv
ants the demand and supply are about
equal at the present time Wages for
farm hands. either married or single,
are about $40 month less than they
were last year, ranging from $25 to
! $50 a month, with board and room for
the single hands, and from $40 to $50
a month for the married men, who
| board themselves, and who have a
I house. a garden and possibly a COW
/ furnished for their use.
One difficulty which the bureau is
encountering is with the common
/ laborers who represent themselves to
be experienced farm hands, and Who
are unable to qualify when they are
( put on the job.
| No Long Lines of Men.
! There are no long lines of men
waiting outside the door of the bureau
for anything which promises work
and little money.
Thus far it is the transients who are
/ complicating the labor situation in
! Kansas. If it were not for the men
from outside the state, Kansas could
find work for all her own men this
summer
But when the hoboes and the riff
/ raft and down-and cutters of the east
/ commence to overflow into the state.
as the railroad special agent says they
are beginning to do work is going to
be more and more difficult to get.
/ Some unique instances are dealt
with at the employment bureau.
/ There is listed with the bureau now
the application for work of man who
last year made nearly $4,000 in the
business of buying and selling hides
When the bottom dropped out of the
hide business. his affairs went very
much on the rocks. Less than two
weeks ago he sold the automobile