Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 August 1917 — TOWN BOYS, FALL IN [ARTICLE]

TOWN BOYS, FALL IN

(By George Ade) Do you know of a boy, somewhere between sixteen and twenty-one, husky and of good mind, who understands about the war and wants 13 help his country win tbs war? If so, tell him to get ready to go to the recruiting station and enlist for service. He will not be sent to the trenches. He will not have to drive an ambulance over torn-up battlefields. He won't even hear the big guns. ; Just the same he will be serving his country, and for this service he will be awarded a badge of honor which will be worth several times its weight in gold, for it will be evidence that the boy came to the front with manly patriotism when he was needed. f President Wilson at his desk in Washington, the man hammering rivets in a ship yard, the expert mechanic adjusting the parts of an aeroplane, the farmer driving a selfbinder somewhere in Minnesota —-all these are helping to win the war, just the same as the American sol - diers who are learning to throw hand grenades. Gunpowder will never win a war unless the soldiers have something to eat. Any man or boy who helps to grow and harvest a crop while the war is op. is helping the United States in its big job of feeding the world. Town boys, everywhere, attention! Your country needs you. You are asked to join the Boys’ Working Reserve. You-are called upon for non-mili-tary service in the fields where crops Are being grown.

Watch your home paper and when the recruiting office opens, go _and enlist. Remember that you must be at least sixteen and under twenty-one, in good health and free from threatening diseases.” You must have the written consent, of your parent or guardian. You must take the oath of service and be Enrolled, but yon will not be a real member of the Reserve and have a right to wear the badge until you have “made good" in the work yon tackle. You will have to do about three weeks’ actual work ou the farm before .you are a “regular.” Then, if you have worked loyally and faithfully during 1917, the local officers will recommend you to the national organization and you will receive the “Honorable Service” decoration to be attached to the badge you are already wearing. All sorts of- plans are being discussed for •'physical training after the boys enlist and before they go to the farm, for putting the boys, into camps, for having special in : structors and so on. The message I am trying to deliver herewith, as messenger boy for the State Council of Defense, is that the Boys’ Working Reserve is to be organized in every part of Indiana and that boys who are just under the fighting age will have a chance to serve their country. Parents or guardians may revoke enrollment and withdraw the boys from the service any time they see fit. You have, in a very small nutshell. the plan for the Boys’. Working Reserve. No matter how long the war lasts, the farmers will be short of help during the rush seasons. When the drafted men go away, the call for “hands” will be louder than ever before., In the cities and towns are plenty of strong and capable fellows, practically full grown, but still under

fighting age' and not yet settled into permanent positions. They are the only reserve workers to be found in the state. Most of them are fairly intelligent. Only a small percentage are downright lazy. The question is, can they be utilized on the farms? The answer is’ “Yes,” because the Reserve Is being tried out in several states and the reports are encouraging. , There was a time when every country boy was supposed to be a rugged young giant and every town boy was a pale and sickly invalid. That was before th.e public schools went in strong for athletic sports. Now days the boy of high school age has learned to play basket-ball, football or baseball, or all three. He has tried for a track team. He knows the rules for training and. prides himself on his good physical condition. If he volunteers to go out on a farm and help get in a crop, -ho will be a greenhorn regarding some details of the work, but how long will it take him to learn under kindly and sensible direction?

The average town boy, if given a fair chance and not ridden or ridiculed by the young bucks who live in the country all the ' time, undoubtedly will learn to do his part. So get ready for the Boys’ Working Reserve. It comes with the official sanction" of President" Wilson. It is being organized and directed by the Department of Labor. Governor Goodrich is the official head of the Reserve here in Indiana. The State Council of Defense endorses it to the limit. Isaac D. Straus of Ligonier, a member of the State Council, is the live wire in charge of actual organization throughout the state. The government is frying to g'? a direct message to the boys..old enough to? worn, and not old enough to fight. It says to them, -“Help us to win the war and we will pin upon your coats ■>the badges of honorable service.”