1086 
Iht  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
August  25,  1923 
Two  NewViews  of  the  Hired  Man  Question 
[The  greatest  industrial  question  confronting  farm¬ 
ers  today  is  the  matter  of  hired  help.  Wherever  we 
go  we  find  farmers  struggling  single-handed  to  master 
the  labor  problem.  Yet  at  the  same  time  we  find  men 
who  profess  to  a  great  desire  to  work  on  a  farm.  There 
are  some  sides  to  this  big  question  which  are  hard  to 
understand.  These  are  two  sides  not  usually  discussed.] 
ISAPPOINTING  RESULTS.— A  little  more 
than  a  year  ago  I  lived  in  a ‘large  city, 
and  wanted  to  get  a  job  on  a  farm.  I 
tried  for  a  couple  of  months  and  finally 
got  one.  My  father  had  a  farm  before  the 
war,  and  on  account  of  labor  conditions 
exchanged  it  for  city  property  at  that  time.  I  wrote 
to  people  who  wanted  farm  help  advertising  in  The 
R.  N.-Y.,  and  told  them  why  I  was  in  the  city,  but 
not  one  answered.  Whether  it  was  because  I  was 
in  service  or  in  the  city,  nobody  would  answer  my 
letters.  When  I  did  not  tell  them  the  reason  why 
I  came  to  be  in  the  city  I  received  a  reply  within 
a  week.  I  think  it  was  because  I  was  in  service. 
my  mind  and  my  ideas.  I  generally  compare  the 
boss’s  methods  and  my  ideas  to  see  if  his  are  better 
than  mine,  but  just  because  I  do  not  run  all  over 
the  country  there  is  something  wrong  with  me,  or  if 
I  do  not  read  the  books  that  older  persons  with  dif¬ 
ferent  ideas  read  there  is  something  surely  wrong. 
I  do  not  think  that  farmers  need  more  help,  but 
more  co-operation  among  themselves  and  neighbors, 
and  not  so  much  mistrust.  You  will  find  mistrust 
wherever  you  go  among  farmers.  What  the  farmer 
needs  most  is  faith  in  himself,  his  family  and  all 
wohm  he  comes  in  contact  with. 
RECREATION  NEEDED— I  have  met  a  great 
many  mighty  fine  men  while  I  was  in  service,  and 
some  that  are  not  worth  the  room  they  take  up.  We 
have  to  take  them  because  they  are  always  present 
with  us  in  all  walks  of  life,  and  with  the  farm  live 
stock  and  the  grain  that  the  farmer  grows.  For¬ 
merly  there  were  husking  bees,  picnics,  and  holidays 
stay  there  on  account  of  health?  Most  good  help 
should  be  paid  a  little  above  the  average,  and  a 
good  man  is  worth  more. 
EX-SERVICE  MEN. — A  word  or  two  about  ex- 
service  men.  Did  you  ever  think  what  a  large  per 
cent  had  good  jobs  before  entering  service?  Just 
because  they  are  ex-service  men  now,  why  are  they 
not  considered  good  men?  Ask  any  man  who  has 
seen  service  and  he  will  tell  you  that  the  people 
judge  us  by  a  few  who  never  amounted  to  much  and 
never  will.  Why  not  say  that  a  good  man  was  an 
ex-service  man  when  you  find  him?  But  no,  every¬ 
body  runs  us  down.  You  will  find  that  phrase  every¬ 
where.  It  is  doing  harm,  because  we  are  not  all 
bad.  c.  h.  j. 
New  Jersey. 
REPLY. — I  have  no  doubt  these  views  and  ideas 
represent  the  experience  of  a  good  many  men  who 
live  in  somewhat  remote  farming  districts,  where 
Putting  a  Hill  Country  Farm  Scene  on  Canvas.  Fig.  459 
— Courtesy  National  News  Reel,  N.  Y. 
If  people  would  not  judge  farm  help  as  they  do  ex- 
service  men  there  would  be  more  and  better  help. 
A  DARK  OUTLOOK. — My  experience  is  that  all 
you  need  is  a  weak  mind  and  an  exceptionally  strong 
back,  and  work  from  four  or  five  in  the  morning 
until  seven  or  nine  at  night.  I  have  had  some  ex- 
perience  in  most  all  lines  of  farm  work,  and  a  Win¬ 
ter  course  in  poultry,  in  which  I  am  most  interested. 
I  do  not  say  that  I  know  it  all,  or  more  than  the 
boss,  but  more  than  the  average  farm  help.  Again, 
I  do  not  say  that  I  can  do  better  and  quicker  work 
than  an  expert  who  has  done  one  thing  and  nothing 
else.  There  is  not  a  piece  of  farm  machinery  on 
the  average  farm  which  I  cannot  repair  with  the 
tools  on  the  average  farm,  unless  it  is  so  broken 
and  twisted  that  it  has  to  go  to  a  machine  shop.  In 
one  of  the  places  that  I  have  worked  an  idea  from 
the  hired  man  was  looked  upon  as  if  it  was  worth¬ 
less  whether  it  could  be  used  or  not.  Why  should 
a  hired  man  be  looked  on  as  a  know-nothing,  or  a 
thing  that  has  a  weak  mind  and  a  strong  back?  I 
do  not  care  to  run  all  over  the  country  after  work¬ 
ing  hours  but  like  to  read  a  book  that  will  improve 
that  the  whole  community  joined  and  everybody 
would  have  a  good  time,  including  the  hired  man. 
Today  there  are  a  very  few  holidays  that  are  kept 
at  all.  In  the  Spring,  we  have  to  get  the  grain  in,  so 
have  no  time  for  them.  In  the  Summer  we  have  hay 
and  grain  to  harvest,  in  the  Fall  we  have  corn  to 
cut,  silos  to  fill,  and  apples  to  pick,  and  in  the  Win¬ 
ter  we  have  to  cut  wood  and  ice.  Have  we,  the 
farmers,  no  time  for  a  day  about  once  or  twice  a 
month  for  recreation?  I  think  that  if  holidays  were 
taken  when  they  came,  farm  life  would  be  much 
more  pleasant  and  help  would  not  leave  the  farm 
so  readily.  I  am  a  hired  man  at  present,  and  know 
my  place.  I  do  not  expect  to  go  wherever  the  boss 
and  his  family  go,  .or  be  treated  as  one  of  the  fam¬ 
ily.  I  expect  to  get  up  in  the  night  and  help  take 
care  of  sick  animals,  and  do  not  expect  to  do  it  all, 
all  the  time.  I  think  that  if  the  farmers  would  con¬ 
sider  the  hired  help  a  little  there  would  be  a  great 
difference  in  work  done  by  them.  Did  you  ever  stop 
to  think  good  farm  help  can  make  good  money  in 
the  shops?  But  what  are  you  going  to  do  with  the 
good  farm  men  who  love  the  country  or  have  to 
it  is  practically  impossible  to  make  money  enough 
to  pay  the  usual  high  wages  asked  by  farm  help 
of  all  classes  and  descriptions  at  the  present  time. 
While  these  men  can  get  such  wages  and  still  have 
fairly  good  working  conditions,  we  cannot  blame 
them,  but  something  is  going  to  happen  in  the  not 
far  distant  future,  and  I  am  unable  to  fathom  the 
mystery  as  to  what  it  will  be.  but  it  looks  to  me  as 
though  the  farmer  had  been  deflated  first  and  that 
everyone  else  must  take  their  turn  at  it  sooner  or 
later  until  business  gets  back  pretty  nearly  to  a  pre¬ 
war  basis.  In  the  meantime  farmers  who  depend 
upon  hired  help  are  simply  up  against  it. 
I  am  sorry  that  C.  J.  H.  thinks  people  discrim¬ 
inate  against  him  simply  because  he  is  an  ex-service 
man.  If  he  did  not  tell  anyone,  and  is  able  to  make 
good  when  he  gets  a  job,  people  would  soon  forget 
that  he  was  ever  subjected  to  the  evil  influences  of 
army  life.  From  my  experience  and  observation  I 
cannot  say  that  people  discriminate  against  ex- 
service  men  simply  because  they  are  ex-service  men, 
but  because  they  have  contracted  idle  habits,  among 
which  may  be  mentioned  cigarette  smoking,  running 
