The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1942-08-20

While Mr.. McNutt's man-power
commission is considering the draft
Of a new bill for mobilizing the
workers and the students and even
the employers of the nation, the
farmer is scratching his chin and
wondering just where he will fit into
the picture.
Farm laborers, of course, will
be registered along with the
rest, but will that cure the farm
er's headaches?
Today the farm labor problem is
full Of superlatives and paradoxes.
In the first place the unfulflled de-
mand for farm labor reported for
July was the largest in history, So
per cent Of the total demand. In
other words for every 100 hands
needed, there were only AZ avail
able.
That doesn't mean less people
rel working-as a matter Of fact
in spite Of the shortage the number
Of people working on the farms has
increased-there were IL, 009. 900 as
Of July l. This seeming paradox
merely means that more members
Of the farmers family are working,
more women. high school boys and
girls and many older men who had
retired. Older men who did a few
hours light work a day, mending
fences and odd jobs, are now work.
ing full time.
OF Jul the shortage of farm la
Dor is due to the fact that the war
and the war industries have abb
sorbed so many people. And this
competition has skyrocketed farm
wages. They are the highest in %
years. They are AZ per cent above
the wages of a year ago. The aver
age day wage rate is the highest
since 1920. It is $2.45 and ranges
all the way from $1.15 paid in South
Carolina to $4.85 paid in the state
Of Washington. You can get some
idea why the farmers are fighting
for parity prices when you learn
that the ratio Of prices received to
wage rates is rs (the figure 100
standing for the ratio in the parity
years. 1910 to 1910 that ratio stood
at SO last year since when it has
dropped 8 points.
I asked a member Of the depart
ment Of agriculture If that wasn't
an argument in favor of the farm
bloc fight in congress to keep prices
up. He replied that he thought it
was an argument against war and
high prices in general.
Well, there is the farmers
problem: although he pays al
most double what he paid in the
good old parity years %1910-1914,
he still can get only So per cent
Of the labor he needs.
Now comes the government ready
to mobilize 60 million labor units.
That includes men, women and
younger folks. with the purpose
eventually Of having the government
assign each available person to the
special job in the war effort for
which he is capable.
But the farmer has peculiar diff
culties. He may need a lot of help
for say two days putting up his hay.
and then things are pretty slack un-
til the wheat comes along. Either
he will have to provide for the sup
port Of the extra help between
times. or depend on the "Oakies,"
the migrant labor whose trials and
tribulations we've heard so much
about. An example of this came up
recently when it was suggested that
Mexican labor be brought into this
country. That is a problem in the
state departments bailiwick. 1t was
pointed out that it would not be pos
sible to pay the Mexicans for only
the work actually done because as
aliens they could not be permitted
to enter the country if they were al
lowed to become public charges.
Therefore they would probably have
to be guaranteed a weekly or even
a monthly wage rate.
Local Problem
One reason why a general mobili-
cation of labor is not of much help
to the farmer is because the farm
labor problem is largely a local
one. In normal times the farmer
usually knows the man he wants and
can call him up on the telephone
and be pretty sure he will come for
the few days he will be needed at
the peak season. Many of these
men now, Of course, are off working
in an armament factory, or have
been drafted.
In the totalitarian countries the
authorities just take anybody they
want by the scruff of the neck and
send him off anywhere they want
him to 60.