The Irish standard., 1915-01-16

Inc expectation tQaC men Will not
be available for the planting or har-
vesting of crops will come true only
In the most extreme cases where a
country is making its last stand in de-
tense of its national existence. If
each country puts her entire available
fighting force in the field, she will still
, have left her women and her old men
and boys. AS matter Of fact, all re-
ports indicate that there is surplus
rather than dearth of labor. That
Is, men are out Of employment. This
would naturally follow from the clos
ing of factories which are not produc-
ing basic necessaries. The fact that
the peasant women in all Continental
countries are skilled and accustomed
to working in the fields is of genuine
importance here. It will involve no
change of custom and no shock to their
sense of propriety if increasing num-
bers Of women should help with farm
work. Mr.. N. G. Murray of the United
States Department of Agriculture is
authority for the statement that agri-
cultural production in the Balkan
States was not much affected during
their war.
Gas to the old men and boys, we
may be very sure that if they have to
be withdrawn from any industries it
will be from those which are not
necessary to national existence. That
is, they will be withdrawn from those
which produce luxuries rather than
necessaries. In other words, the con-
sumers will give up Injuries. The
people who are unwilling to do this
will probably be the first to sue for
peace. That this abandonment of lux
uries is already taking place is evil
denced by the fact that many indoor
: industries are shut down, creating a
surplus of laborers available for the
outdoor industries.
"Another factor to be considered is
that Germany, Austria, and Russia
produce more than two-thirds of the
beet sugar, and almost one-third of all
the sugar, both cane and beet, of the
world. Both Germany and Austria are
heavy exporters of sugar. In case
their exports are cut of, and their i'm
ports of other foodstuffs as well, they
will undoubtedly devote a part of this
land, and it is the most fertile land in
each empire, to grow crops for
home consumption"
Farm machinery, Professor Carver
goes on to note, is a means of saving
labor. No European country has ever
lacked ingenuity in designing or max
ing machinery, and yet they do not
use much of it on the farm, because
labor is abundant and cheap. If the
war makes farm labor scarce, the in
ventors could find ways of economic
: ing it through superior tools and ma
chinery. And yet If the army absorbs
q large share of the horses, the scare
tty Of power will prevent the wide use
Of machines. The writer pursues the
subject thus:
'How many Of US realize how rapid
ly farm machinery spread throughout
the North during our Civil War? The
reaper, mower, thresher, corn planter,
and cultivator were all in use before
1860, but they multiplied more during
the next five years than during the
whole preceding period. One result
was that agricultural production in the
North increased every year of that
war. In the State of Indiana, to take
a single example, the wheat crop in.
creased from fifteen million bushels in
1859 to twenty millions in 1863, in
spite of the fact that, during the lat
ter year, one in every ten of her male
population was in the army. But the
North had an abundant supply of
horses and they we're relatively cheap.
/ Itwas merely matter of finding ways
Of substituting horse power, which was
abundant, for man power. which was
scarce. If horse power becomes as
scarce in Europe as man POWER, it 10
difficult to see what else can be sub
stituted.