Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-04-24
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she throws away her one great and Pc
culiar opportunity.
But 1t will not take care Of itself. II
enlistment for service at the front Is to
be made indiscriminately and without
plans to Indefinitely increase labor on
the land, then it is inevitable that food
will drop to a level that may easily
prove disastrous.
But will not this cut off the supply
Of labor for general manufacture? AS
suredly it will, hut now is time to cut
out luxuries of dress and display, II
necessary, and get down to the serious
business of meeting the exigencies in
volved in war. In the time just anead,
the man or the woman that INDUCES in
excessive luxury is helping by just that
much to defeat the country. That he
has the money to pay for it has moth
ing TO do with the question. When men
are needed not only at the front but in
the cornfields in order that those fight
ing for liberty and their little ones shall
rot starve, no man or woman has a
right to absorb the time and strength
of a dozen able bodied men in unnec
essary service.
This and all other service not need
the necessary business Of living is need
ed on the land, and the University of
Illinois proposes definite enlistment. in
what may be called the Civil Military
Service, of men who are permanently
or temporarily disqualified for military
service at the front, and of boys four
teen to eighteen years of age. especi-
ally those looking to active service later
on.
These men and boys should all re-
ceive the regular military pay, be
uniformed, organized, and in every way
recognized as in the public service.
They should be quartered at agricultur-
al camps located at convenient points
upon the land rented by the govern
ment and suitable for the growth OF
small fruits, vegetables. cotton and to-
bacco-crops that require much hand
labor under conditions that make
supervision feasible.
Every attempt should be made to
place as many of them as possible upon
actual farms, under furlough and off
government pay, the workman-soldier
10 be paid by the farmer the going
wage of the locality, it being under
stood that If dissatisfaction arises, the
man shall return to camp and the lower
wage.
THE camp should be under military
discipline and frequent but not exceed
ing drill for the first business is food
production, and for this purpose the
little army should be under agricultur-
al leaders skilled in the production of
the special crops to be grown at the
particular camp. There should also be
located in connection with these camps
facilities for drying and otherwise pre-
pairing food for preservation and trans
portation.
"In this way shortage Of food may be
avoided. Not only that, the machinery
is at hand for pushing the supply to
any desired level, end that too while
men and boys are getting a degree of
military training, which will be Of
value to those who later may enter the
regular service. The only real question
is: Will the United States mobilize as
definitely for food as 1t will for fight
ing? In considering this question. It is
hardly necessary to point out the i'm
portance of having no more food riots
in this country while the war lasts.
"a prominent Enalishman was right
when he said that food is Americas
greatest possible contribution to the
war"