Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1918 — THE SCARCITY OF LABOR [ARTICLE]

THE SCARCITY OF LABOR

It will be hhrder, perhaps, for the farmer than for any other class of people to adapt himself to the labor shortage, because his most important work is seasonable. Business houses have already beea seriously crippled by so many of their men being called into service, hut they are bravely adjusting their plants to conditions, by employing older men, or training women for these positions. This shortage will, of course, be felt on the farms this year, for aside from the draft, war industries are hiring all men available.

Wherever it is possible to use machinery on tbe farms in place of Land labor, this should be done. If one man i-e unable to meet this expense, for machinery is usually expensive, then by combining, farmers can effect the same result. It will mean co-operation all along the line this year—it will mean helping each other in various ways —but all this is a part of the debt we must cheerfully pay in a world war of the magnitude we are now waging. *