Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1917-05-18
FARM BOYS AND THE ARMY

about being drafted for army sery-
ice. and therefore they would like to
volunteer before draft is made
At the same time. farm work is
pressing, and they are very much
needed on the farm Hence they
are in doubt as to what is the best
thing for them to do.
The draft bill has not yet (May p
| become a law. 1t has passed both
| houses, but in the senate the age linn
it's are fixed at ~ to % and in the
house it is carried to 40. Commit
| tees from the two branches of con.
grescs must get together and agree
on a compromise on this and other
| points of difference. Then the com
mittee report will be submitted to
both houses, and when passed and
signed by the President, it will be-
come a law.
The bill provides for a selective
draft system. and the President is
given discretion to exempt from draft
| classes of men who in his iudg-
ment can be more useful outside of
the army than in it. The purpose OF
the law is to distribute the burden
OF war in such a way that every man
will be doing the sort of work for
| his country that he is best fitted to
do. That is why it is called a Sc
lectiye draft.
A war is carried on not alone by
the men in the fighting lines. For
every man at the front, there must
be four or five men working at diff
ferent things at home and back of
the lines. Some must grow food.
| Some must make ammunition Some
must make clothing. Some must
make machinery and other war sup.
plies. The good citizen will serve
where he can serve to the best ad-
vantage.
OF course the boys ali want to go
|
we'll for their spirit, but not always
so we'll for their judgment. Each
man should curb his enthusiasm and
hold himself ready to serve where he
can serve best. The weakness of a
democracy is that when crisis
comes, everybody wants to talk at
once, and everybody want to rush in
and do something before things are
organized.
We suggest to the boys on the
farm that they just wait bit There
is no more important job now in the
whole country than growing food fol
our allies and for ourselves. The
world is short of food. The result
of the war will most certainly de-
pend upon the crops grown in the
United States this year. The GOV
eminent is having great trouble te
clothe and outfit the men who have
and the national guard. 1t is moi
able to furnish uniforms for all the
men who will go into the officers
training camps May l 4 We will be
short of guns and other things need
ed. This is an added reason why the
boys on the farm can serve theft
country far better by putting in theil
best ticks in the fields than they car
anywhere else just now.
After the draft bill becomes a law
the men subject to service will be
listed. Then the required number o
names will be drawn, and these mer
must report for service. Some O
them will be rejected because o
physical disability Some will be re
iected because they are doing more
important work already. We sus
pect that in the first draft. most O
the farm boys will be told to go bach
home and work on the farm unit
they get further orders.
1t will be no disgrace to be draft
ed That is the sensible way to pre-
pare for war. This draft is not like
the old-time draft, where men haC
to be compelled to come and fight
This draft is simply the sensible way
of sorting out the men of all classes
and putting them to work where
they can work best.
So we urge the farm boys to keel
cool, work hard and wait till they
are called, simply because their work
on the farm now is more importan
than anything else they can possibly
do.-Wallaces' Farmer.
As the buzzards haunt the battle