Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 80, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1918 — Page 2

FARM LABOR SHORTAGE

By ROBERT G. SKERRETT,

New York Sun. allies are depending upon II the United States." In these words David Luhin, the American representative in the InU ternational Institute of Agriculture at Rome, recently summed up the burden of food production which stress of war has placed upon the shoulders of the farmers of the l nited States. Heavy as this obligation would be in normal times, the task has become much more difficult by reason of our entry into the conflict. It will not suffice that we merely restrain appetites that have developed during long periods of plenty and prosperity. Selfdenial will undoubtedly contribute to an exportable surplus, but notable hardships may be imposed upon us in order that we may contribute vital foodstuffs' to-our allies in the course of the current year. The crying need, If we are to have -sufficient food for ourselves and a liberal volume to send abroad. Is a proper, supply of capable farm labor. Many things have been promised by the constituted authorities, but relatively little has been achieved in meeting the situation squarely and furnishing a really practical solution of this! fundamental problem. The up to date tiller of the soil is no doubt patriotic, but he has suffered through the reaction of his prompt response to the appeal made to him early last year to increase his cultivated acres. He is a business man and his readiness to help has hurt him, as h|s annual balance shows. He has been crowded by many circumstances and his books bear indisputable evidence of losses where he counted upon reasonable gains. The prices for fertilizers, seeds, farm tools and feeds have

mounted to ‘more or less prohibitive heights and then, by way of climax, lie has suddenly realized that even higher wages could not recruit for him the necessary qualified labor. There is a widespread disposition to boast of American ingenuity in evolving labor saving farm machinery. It is true that from* 1855 to 1894 the human effort required to produce one bushel of corn declined on an average from four hours and a half to a span of but 41 minutes. And in the matter of producing wheat from 1830 to 1894 the manual labor needed diminished from three hours and three minutes to ten minutes a bushel of marketable grain. But while cleverly devised apparatus has made this time saving possible and has enabled one man to do in a day what formerly many men could not accomplish between sunrise and sunset, still these mechanical aids have emphasized the need of greater skill on the part of the smaller agricultural army. Untrained boys, women and childen unused to farm work and the unaccustomed city dwellers are not going to meet the difficulty. The trained farmhand is the man that is now needed more than ever. Opinions of Paul T. Brady upon agricultural topics have been printed. His position is uncommon and adds especial force to what he has to say. As a conspicuous figure In one of America’s largest electrical manufacturing companies, a captain of industry, he has gone in for farming as a side issue, bent upon showing that business methods applied to the land will yield compensating returns and make of agriculture a balanced, dependable industry. He has applied to his hundreds of acres in Dutchess county the same administrative acumen which has placed him where he is in commercial life. In answer to an inquiry as to his opinion regarding the prospects for an ample supply of labor on the farms and the probable production of foodstuffs during 1918 Mr. Brady said: “Whan President Wilson made his

BITS OF INFORMATION

C. ». Woodhead. ace seventy-two. of & n Fro nel seo, for forty-five years has iiiten only orifc meul dally. I»ayid It. Burke.v, a Civil war vet(*r n, ape eighty. of'Philadelphia, takes a :*» Malle hike for h's dally exercise. Mrs. Bnlph Krwiu of Bartlesville, OM«.. knit a man's sweater in eight ■hours and forty minutes. She has knitted t v sweaters in 12 days. The first one was completed in 18 hours and the next in 14. . ‘

appeal in the spring of 1917 for the planting of everything susceptible of producing foodstuffs for the United States and for the world at large if necessary none were more loyal, none made greater efforts than the owners of farms throughout the United States. Many men who had previously planted but a small acreage did their utmost to increase their fields, and as a result our potato crop for 1917 exceeded by more than 100,000,000 bushels that of any other year. “Then labor on the farms was substantially undisturbed, but later came the call for volunteers for the army and the navy and finally the military draft. Agricultural workers began to leave the farms by reason of the lure of the higher wages of the munition factories and the patriotic bids of the fighting services. “The consequence of this tide of trained men moving away from the farms told hurtfully before the close of agricultural activity. Many farmers who had planted crops with the expectation of thoroughly cultivating them, harvesting and storing what might be necessary and selling the surplus found themselves towards the latter part of the season without the needful help to finish the cultivation, or, if this were done, they were afterward without aid at the time of harvest. It was only logical that large quantities of foodstuffs were left ungathered and spoiled where they stood. “My own experience has been much like that of many others in trying to respond to the presidential appeal. Last spring I decided to use every resource to produce as large a crop as possible of foodstuffs, both to feed a big herd of milk producing cattle and to raise young stock to sell in the markets of the world.

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“I need from 30 to 40 men all the time, as I have nearly 400 head of milch cows, young stock, etc., and the •growing of feed for these cattle as well as the, care of them demands a good force of farm laborers. It was plain to me last spring that I was likely to run short of workers and accordingly I secured a number of Brown university students ahd some high school boys, in all about twelve. “Most of these young men were without any knowledge of farm operations. Borne of the high school hoys were worse than useless; they were a nuisance and had to be got rid of. The University men, being acquainted with one nnother worked together and did very well, but even* so they had to be under the care and direction of experienced men nearly all the time. “A short while ago I seriously considered selling every head of cattle that I owned and letting the land lie idle until more help could he secured. second thought I decided not to do this for economic reasons.

“In my establishment I expect to produce this year 2,000,000 pounds of milk from my dairy herd, a large number of young stock, approximately 200, and other products. It would be something of a public calamity to dissipate these resources. Let me make this plainer. “The '2,000,000 pounds of milk I count upon getting is the equivalent in food value of 1,000,000 pounds of beef. To obtain 1,000,000 pounds of beef would take 2,000 head of cattle dressing 500 pounds apiece after a considerable period of feeding and fattening. “But when 2,000 head of cattle have been killed and turned Into beef their vital course comes to an end. The dairy herd, on the Other hand, even while yielding 2,000.000 pounds of milk and giving birth to from 200 to 300 calves, still remains intact and capable of further production and reproduction. “Bearing these facts in mind, I am going to try to keep things running, but the outlook is not encouraging.

People of Denmark have extensive business enterprises in Russia, all the way from Reval in the west to \ ladostok In the east. It Is only since the fall of 1915 that the exports of butter have stopped. For shipping purposes a canvas hamper has been invented which has a steel frame so constructed that it can be folded flat when it is empty. Experimental drilling has disclosed oil of good quality in northern Sicily, where for years it has been believed that there were petroleum deposits.

TjfE FVKNTXii KRIM T RT.fr:AN. REKSSRLATO. INII.

“Many uninformed writers tell us to ‘utilize the boys; utilize the men from the offices and the cities; put the women to work in the fields.’ Let me say that few of these boys are fit to be on a farm and given their board. “An inexperienced man from office life can learn In the time set but little of the ways of working a farm; farmers are grown, not made in a few weeks. An untrained farmhand with a pair of horses and a riding cultivator going into a field of corn,,potatoes, etc., can do more damage in a day than his services are worth in an entire season. “As for women, the native born are not educated for farm work'. They might be forced to learn in the course of a number of years, but they are not as constitutionally rugged as their foreign sisters: they 7 were not brought up to labor in the fields. “If a supply of labor Is not furnished to the farms the world faces a serious condition for the year 1918-19, one more serious than my words convey. Where, then. Is this farm labor to come from ?

“Many people have advocated the introduction of Chinese. If the w T ar is to continue and a shortage of workers Is going to last, why wouldn’t it be a good plan to import 300,000 or 200,000 Chinese after the manner set by and let them stay in this country for three or five years? “The Chinaman, as Californians tell us, is a reliable, industrious and very capable farmhand, probably because his country has been pre-eminently an agricultural nation for centuries. If we do not want them any longeT than the time set, then they can be shipped back to China under terms that are attractive and generous, such as the French have promised. “This really seems at first blush to be the likeliest solution of our pressing need of tillers of the soil. We must not forget that ft will be a long, long time before we will again have laboring on our railroads, working in our construction gangs at various undertakings,. the thousands of Italians upon whom we relied down to 1914. “If the introduction of the Oriental, is objected to, then why not enlist our trained farm labor in the National Guard, retain them in this country for home defense and hold them where they can be drawn on promptly for agricultural puiposes, and yet be within easy reach if they are required for domestic military service? In this way the skilled farmhand is a finished workman, and if economic considerations are to be heeded he should be used where he can contribute most to .the national welfare.”

ENTERTAINING A GUEST

Shortly before the war a German naval squadron was visiting a Japanese port. The admiral and members of his staff were officially invited to go over the arsenal. Among other things they were allowed to see some of the famous shimose, the Japanese high explosive. The admiral, like a good German, made an opportunity to steal a handful of the powder. He put it in his trousers pocket and found on returning to his ship that his best gala trousers were ruined, as grains of the powder had stained the garments an ugly yellow. The precious pinch of powder was sent by special courier from the German embassy to Berlin, where It was analyzed and found to be a most innocent composition colored with ground mustard! The wily Japanese, know* ing their guests, had Judged it prudent to substitute this harmless compound for the real shimose.—From the Japan Times, Tokyo.

The army of the Netherlands has 'been provided with a portable motionpictures how that is transported from post to post ou a specially designed motortruck. Made of a single piece of wire, a book holder has been invented that stands upon a reader’s lap or chair and leans against a table, leaving its user’s hands free. For removing the soldered caps from tin cans so they may be used again a ring of metal that, when heated, melt* the solder has been invented.

LABOR FOR FARMS IS A BIG PROBLEM

Secretary of Agriculture Points Out City’s Part in Food Production. CITIZENS MOST HELP OUT » If BolcHers Are Willing to Risk Their Lives Civilians Can Well Afford to • Spare Time to Serve in Harvest Field. By DAVID F. HOUSTON, - Secretary of Agriculture. Washington.—Some time Ago I issued a statement concerning the farmlabor problem. It was pointed out that there will be farm labor difficulties to overcome this year as last and that in certain sections, especially in the neighborhood of large industrial centers, the difficulties will be acute. The lines of effort were indicated along which the departments of agriculture and labor, through representatives in various states co-operating with the agricultural colleges and other agencies, are working to furnish assistance. Briefly stated, these agencies are doing the following things: (a) making a survey of the farm-labor situation in each community with a view to discover possible surpluses of labor, in order to be ready to assist in furnishing labor where\ T er It Is needed; (b) assist-ing-again in shifting labor from community to community and from state to state, as in past years; (c) promoting fuller co-operation among farmers in the same community; (d) making available, so far as possible, highschool boys in rural districts who have had experience In farming and who are not normally regularly or fully employed In farming operations; (e) making every effort to see that there Is no obstacle in the way of the production of a larger supply of farm machinery and its fuller use as a supplement to hand labor. National Army May Help. Last year, In spite of all the difficulties, the farmers planted the largest acreages in the history of the nation, harvested record crops of most important things except wheat, and succeeded in greatly increasing the number of live stock. Since' last year skilled farm labor has been given deferred classification and the secretary of war has asked for power to furlough soldiers of the National army if their training permits, so that they may return to their farms and assist. It is believed that the farmers of the nation qan, by effective organization and co-operation, with such assistance as can be furnished, again overcome'labor difficulties and produce large quantities of foods, feedstuffs and live stock.

There is an opportunity now for urban people sympathetically and conconstructively to study the farm-labor situation and to render assistance. In many towns and cities there are men who have had farming experience, who are ablebodied, and who would doubtless be willing to serve the nation in the field of agriculture at this time. Especially for the seasonal strains of planting, cultivating and harvesting, it will not be too much to ask such men to aid the farmers in the necessary undertaking of maintaining and, if possible, supplementing, the food supply in order to feed the armies and to sustain the civilian population behind them. * Civilians Should Help. If soldiers are willing to serve in the trenches, to dig ditches, build railroads and risk their lives, many civilians can well afford to spare a part of their time to serve in the furrows and in the harvest fields. If it appears that the farmers of a community or region are not able to secure the necessary labor by the usual methods, then the leaders In the town or city immediately dependent upon that region should organize, establish touch with representative farm leaders, and see if they cannot assist In solving the problem. In so doing they will not only aid the farmers of the nation, but they will vitally contribute to their own well-being and to that of their community. The farmers are willing to do all that they humanly can, but where their labor supply cannot be furnished from

TRICKS HUN OFFICERS

British Courier Gets Help From the Enemy. Handle Confidential British Dispatches, but They Do Not Know It # London. —Two German officers recently handled more than a dozen cases of confidential British dispatches, but they did not know it. The story is one of the many adventurous incidents which befall that select body of British public servants who’wear a sliver greyhountf'ln their buttonhole and are known as king’s messengers. Many Imagine that anyone who carries dispatches for the British government is a king’s messenger. This Is not correct. There are only five men who hold commissions In that Service. The others are merely admiralty couriers or war office couriers and have no right to the higher title. 'The particular messenger who outwitted the two German officers was

the ordinary sources. It must be recruited from those whose very sustenance depends upon" the farmers. The soldier and the farmer are eager to do their,.full share; the soldier Is taking the chances of losing his life and the farmer is risking the labors of a year on the chance of the seasons; both Incur risks. Very many civilians are equally eager to do their share, but may not appreciate the opportunity to serve In the field of agriculture. The departments of agriculture and labor will render every possible aid. but each community knows its own problems, and urban people, especially business* men, could co-operate effectively with the farmers and also render much assistance.

BABE IS BORN IN A SKIFF

Stork Comes While Mother Is Being Removed From"Water-Bound .. Home. Cincinnati. —The baby of Mrs. J. W. Bogert, forty, of Newport, is doing fine despite the fact that it was ushered into this world during the overflow of the Ohio, under uqfavorable circumstances. While' her husband was removing her from her water-bound home in a skiff Mrs. Bogart gave birth to a girl. The icy waters from the Ohio swirled around the skiff. *

ANNAMESE TROOPS CRAWLING THROUGH WIRE

. iter coming all the way from Indo-China, at the southeastern tip of 1 Asia, these Annamese troops are learning how modern warfare Is conducted on the western front in France. They are natives of a French colony and they are in France to help the mother country repel the Germans.

LAD TAKES HIS LIFE

•Precocious Youth Kills Himself Over Alleged Theft. Boy Declared Chemistry to Be His Life’s Sole Desire and ■— Happiness. £ - i London.—Few cases of suicide in recent years have attracted as much attention as that of Master Arthur Easterbrook, precocious son of a- retired colonel in the British army. The youngster killed himself with cyanide of potassium. He had been experimenting In chemistry, to which he was devoted. He presumably was driven to his act by the discovery that he had taken some chemical apparatus from his school to his home. Although he had merely borrowed It, there was an insinuation that he was guilty of theft. A letter left by the boy is as follows: “To whomsoever shall find this: “Today will be my last day on this planet. I cannot stand the prospects of what is coming, so good-by, chemistry, my life’s sole desire and happiness. What will happen afterward-1 cannot tell, but I hope that my spirit will travel to another planet and a God will forgive and let me have another chance. “Since New Year I have not touched

burdened with 17 bags of dispatches for a British embassy, and he had to change trains at night at a station in a neutral country. His heap of baggage was near the sleeping compartment when his train drew near, but there was no porter available. He had only put five of the bags Into the compartment when the warning whistle was sounded that the train was starting. The messenger was In a dilemma. He could not let the five bags go without him, nor could he leave the other dozen on the platform. At that moment he caught sight of two German cavalry officers. It was a risk to speak to them, but in his best South German dialect ahd with his face in shadow he requested theii/help. They were less haughty than the average German officer and each one lent a hand. The last bag was bundled aboard with the, train already in motion, and the messenger waived his thanks, then locked the door and collapsed on the nearest seat

India leads all countries in the Importation of cotton goods.

IT’S OUR WAR NOW

• • * By Henry Russell Wray of the ! Vigilantes. ' Do the work that Is offered j you, even If you think you are , fixed for a bigger Job. WE ARE ; AT WAR. • Loyalty la these days should J consist of acts, not mere words. . IT’S WAR. I only place for a “croaker” * now or tomorrow, is his ground- j hog hole. Nobody wants to see i or hear him In the open, now or J after the war. J Show consideration for other , workers, so as to make it easier < for them to do their bit for OUR , war. ; We are fighting for the lives , of our own arid for those who j believe in justice and decency. It Is time the masked German j barbarians were thoroughly licked, and then branded for- | ever. IT’S WAR TO THE FINISH. Every courtesy should—4wshown to the woman conductor. j She is filling her position better probably than you could, and perhaps the one she has released, and the one you have sent over there are fighting side by. side. Soft words and soft gloves are not 'known by Germans. Damning truth and bare knuckles they may comprehend.

anything, and just as I thought that the whole unhappy business was over this happens and utterly ruins my life. And I hope the verdict will not be ‘temporarily insane,’ because I am not. .“A last word. I should like my stuff that does not belong to the school to be given to F. W. Teare, in my form, 4A, at school. It will help him on in the work that I intended to follow. “Good-by, mamma, the only friend I had, and I also hope that Leslie Wilson will remember me. So, good-by, chemistry, that I love and adore and die for. “P. S. —God save my soul." His father asked the authorities for permission to preserve the letter, but the coroner said: “I think it much better if you do not“ have such a tragic document.”

An Electric Cat

Cleveland, O.—A cat has been in the habit of sleeping on a rubber mat under a dynamo in Cleveland’s power house. ’ Somebody removed the mat the other day, and the cat slept on an Iron plate. It didn’t seem tp hurt the cut, but her fur- became so charged with electricity that ever since it has stood stiff on end like the bristles of a hairbrush.

Drinks the Evidence.

Kansas City, Mo.—‘Tm a government officer —show your booze if you've got any,” said H. O. Goodwin on a passenger train near Manhattan, Kan. A number of the passengers accommodated the supposed revenue officer. Later he was found on the rear platform drinking the "evidence.” , Goodwin vns taken nu the train at Manhattan and turned over to the federal officials for having booze and for impersonating an officer.

Hid Gold in Biscuits.

San Francisco. —A Chinese, who was leaving for the Orient, showed the customs inspector a tin box full of biscuits, which he said he was timing along to eat on the way across,. The inspector opened one of the bis* cults and found a S2O gold piece. Altogether nearly SSOO was found in the: biscuits.

Recovers Eyesight

Oakland, Cal.—Judge George' F. Cowan is able to sqe after five years of total blindness. Following a remarkable operation he has completely recovered the sight of his rlsrht eye.