Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1917-12-13
E D @ r I A L
CONTINUED from page y

In the interests of increased production, why not 50 amend the
selective draft law, if amendment be necessary for the purpose,
as to assure a supply of farm labor throughout the country
We have the right-the moral right as well as the legal right
TO provide for the doing of all those things which will afford us the
greatest measure of assurance of victory in this crisis.
We have the right, in selecting men for military purposes, to
designate their respective duties We send some of them forth to
pairing the meals; still others are required to construct bridges.
build roadways, and lay railroad tracks, Each man is assigned to
those duties which his superiors think he can best perform, or is
best fitted for.
1t is our duty to see that the men whom we put into the trenches
are properly fed and provided with equipment for fighting. If nee
essary, in the furtherance of the general scheme for winning the
war, We have the right to assign men to the field or grain production.
They may be soldiers, nevertheless, Notwithstanding they are pro-
dueing foodstnfs instead of carrying forward bread and meat to
We have a right to 90 still further: the right to demand that
every available acre shall be titled, and with this right goes the addi-
tional right to enforce this demand, ever against the wishes of the
owner.
that time may be NOW, when even a great and free democracy must
exercise extreme autocratic power to protect itself from the evils
of impending autocracy.
Members of the cabinet are appealing through the press for
1t is held to be vital to the successful prosecution of the war. See
rotary Houston, in a statement issued last Friday, declares that
there must be no break down OF the farms, n failure OF foods,
g cannot emphasize too strongly, " he AYERS the urgent nee
crease in the production of all essential commodities, particularly of
the stable crops and live stock
before them a condensed life history Of every man about to be
called under the selective draft, His vocation will be disclosed, to-
gether with the experience he has had therein.
Without interfering with their military training, pending the
understand farm work be reserved for special duty in the harvest
fields in 1918. One hundred Of them are equal in output of labor
10 two hundred inexperienced hands, or even FIVE hundred young
men who have never performed manual toll. We know because we
have employed both types on the farm.
Certain units, for instance, composed Of companies or battaions,
harvest begins about May, 1913, in the southern regions. Other
units would report elsewhere, all proceeding ~northward as the har-
vest advances, finishing along the Canadian border, or even within.
Canada If our northern ally is in dire need of farm help, returning
to the military camps when the crops shall have been garnered for
such further duty as may be required, perhaps joining the other
american forces in Europe.
among those selected under the draft in the fall of 1913 or the
early winter of 1919 other fresh contingents may be reserved for
labor on the farm, the chief point being to assure the farmer that
adequate and experienced help will be ready for him when needed
thus enabling him to till the maximum acreage and thus adding to
the nations resources in foodstufs and stable crops.
Of course, the farmers would pay these soldiers the going
wages the earnings to be retained by the soldier-farmers or OIL 4.
wise disposed of under a plan mutually satisfactory to the mon
performing the work and the government.
We care not how it is done, Or who does it, so long as the work
g done, Tor At IS obvious that we cannot afford to permit our pro-
ductlon to decrease in the face of such overwhelming need.
Possibly we may manifest undue anxiety with reference to the
question: but when we perceive crops on the border of waste, as we
saw them during the late harvest. and when we learn Of lei plan
ming to reduce their acreage in the event Of further restrictions
regarding farm labor, we feel justified in sounding d note Of warn
ING.
The time to- organize for relief is NOW. tt viii be loo late
when the next harvest Is upon ua. It may be calamitons if We Wait
until the harvest Of 1919.