Evening star., 1924-05-31
DROP IN MIDDLE WEST
INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY
Slaekening of Manufactures in
Some Lines Brings Increase
in Surplus Labor.
employees IN OTHER FIELDS
Railway and Highway Construc-
ton Attracts Scores.
EMPLOYEES IN OTHER FIELDS
BY J. c. ROYI.E.


Special Dispatch TO The star.
NEW YORK, May 31.-Slack ening
OF manufacturing activity in some
lines undoubtedly has made holes in
the employment fabric of the coun-
try. but the surplus labor released
from the mills and factories is now
being fully and readily absorbed in
most sections by railroad construc-
ton, highway building and farm
work
Activity in the middle western
states in industrial plants has un-
doubtedly fallen off, especially in IL
Iinois and Wisconsin. yet outdoor
seasonable occupations have almost
done away with unemployment. Most
of the men made idle have gone to
the farms or. road gangs. In Ohio
the changing of some of the steel
mills to an eight hour day, which oc-
CURED later than in other steel COM
munitieS has helped TO reduce idle
ness.
Farm Labor Pay Holds Firm.
Pay for farm labor is holding firm
throughout the eastern and middle
western states and is seemingly on
west. The suu-heast still is short of
workers for the cotton fields in spite
Of the relatively high wages offered
and this has already started move
ment for the abandonment of acre
age in Georgia. Labor in the cotton
fields of other sections OF the south
seemingly has been adequate so far.
The farm labor bureau at Fort
Worth, Tex, expects to be called
upon TO supply 100000 cotton pick
ers to gather the 1924 crop in that
section. Picking will start in the
southern counties late in July. The
general average farm wage in the
southwest at present runs from $50 to
S35 month and board. with cotton
choppers paid more. Picking is paid
for at the rate of about S1.25 a hun
dred pounds. In the berry fields of
the southwest the usual pay is about
50 cents crate of twenty-four boxes.
Requires Army of Laborers.
The so-called big wheat belt"
from Texas to the Canadian line,
which grows rs per cent of the wheat
crop, Will require a vast army of la
borers. The work of recruiting and
transporting these men has already
been started. Harvest will start in
Texas within the next few weeks, be-
Ing late this year BY the time the
cutting is nearing completion the
work Will start in Oklahoma and
after about three weeks in that
state the harvest army can move on
10 Kansas, where thirty thousand to
thirty-fve thousand men will be
needed this year for wheat alone. The
northern wheat states are then Wis
tied
Pay for harvest hand work is
higher than that given the regular
farm hand. ranging as high as S. and
s6 and board in certain localities un-
der stress of immediate demand. La
borerS must pay their transportation
to and from the harvest fields, and
this year no special rates have as yet
been announced by the railroads tor
farm workers Few colored men are
employed in the wheat fields, and gov
ernment labor authorities warn ne
groes against seeking the wheat dis
trictS unless they have definite as
surance of employment.
In the northwest the rate of pay
for farm workers has risen to from
S45 to $50 month, and demand for
teamsters and common labor is in
creasing in parts of Montana. The
road and farm work of the Pacific.
northwest is absorbing the men re-
leased from the sawmills and lumber
camps. Farther south in Nevada,
California. Oregon and Arizona rail-
read construction is active.
Building Six Tunnels.
The Southern Pacific has started six
tunnels to facilitate freight move
ments to Pacific coast terminals, and
the Western Pacific is double track
ing 1873 miles between Winnemucca
and Wells. New. The Atchison. To-
Ieka and Santa Fe is also following
extensive construction programs in
California and Arizona. Railroad
construction work west of the Rock
les will require at least 25,00O la
borers this summer.
New England is not SO fortunately
placed with regard to unemployment
as other sections. Not all the textile
and shoe workers now off their reg
uiar pay rolls have been provided
with work. The Ipswich Manufac-
turing Company has cut wages 221a
per cent in its plant at Lowell. The
Niddleboro Boot and Shoe Workers
Union has accepted a 20 per cent re-
duction at Leonard & Barrows fac
tory. Work is scarce and jobs few,
with larger numbers after each