The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-14

tary of labor, cooperating with the
council of national defense, and a
number of patriotic public spirited
citizens in civil life, established the
The object was to mobilize the boys OF
| America between the ages of 16 and
81 for productive work in war time.
There are between five and six mil
lion boys between the ages of 16 and
81 in the United States. Authorize
tive statistics show that at least two
million of these boys are either idle
or change their occupation during the
summer months. The boys working
reserve deals primarily with these
| lads. While the intention of the re-
serve is to enroll them for industry as
we'll as for agriculture, the most i'm
pOrtant problem pressing during the
early summer following the starting
of the movement was, of course, the
| supplying of boys to the farm. There
| is always a shortage of labor on the
American farm and, until this sys-
tematic mobilization of the boys of
the nation had been effected, the prob
| lem seemed practically insoluble.
The reserve has been working quiet
| ly thru the different state organiZa-
| lions and other organized bodies hand
| ling boys and young men, such as the
state councils of defense, the Y. NJ. c.
A, the Boy Scouts, the Boys Club
| federation, the department of agricul-
| ture and the department of labor Mr..
William E. Hall, a lawyer and business
man of New York City, who has been
| working for years in establishing and
maintaining boys clubs lin New York
City, and who was associated with
Herbert C. Hoover in the work of Bel
| gian relief is national director of the
| boys working reserve.
Food the Great Ammunition.
The great war, it is now universally
recognized, must be fought, and prob
| HI ,xxrf11 n In ha
the mighty conflict seems likely to be
decided, not by armies of men or piles
of munitions, but by the quantity of
| food which is on hand for the final
drive.
1t occurred to Mr.. Hall and others
identified with this movement that
| the thousands of older school and COL
| lege boys could be used on the farms
| to take the places of the thousands
| who, allured by the offers of higher
salaries and wages, had left the field
| for work in the factories. A great
| shortage of labor was threatened and
| the crops seemed certain to remain in
| large proportion ungarnered. 1t was
! decided to appeal to the boys # the
nation. And the appeal was answered
| royalty.
Reports from all over the country
| indicate that thousands of boys have
responded periodically to the call of
| their country, and they have been
| making good on the farms. The farm
ers who were at first prejudiced
against city boys are now singing their
| praises.
Eighty boys in Arizona spent five
weeks chopping and thinning cotton
! to the extent of a thousand acres.
They earned thirty-six hundred dol
| lars, out of which they paid sixteen
| hundred for board, leaving them a
net of two thousand, or about fifteen
| dollars apiece. They had their own
| camps and their own officers (teach-
ers in the Phoenix high school with
some agricultural experience) and the
| camp discipline, on a strictly military
| basis, is reported to have been excel
lent. But they went without any sor-
did motive and their profit has been
exceptional.
'In the Crib by Christmas
The state director of the reserve in
Nebraska, Mr.. Paul H. Mckee. reports
that his boys adopted the slogan, Ne
braska's Corn Crop in the Crib by
Christmas" In Maine the boys have
been digging potatoes in Aroostook
county and their work has been good
beyond our most Sanguine hopes. Not
one of them wanted to quit Another
comment from Maine is interesting. 1t
is from Portland and is to the effect
that, after a couple of weeks work,
the boys are able to do very nearly
as much and as good work as the
average hired man" A Long Island
There is only one suggestion 1 have
to make: Send as many more boys as
you can" A report from the reserve
leader in Connecticut says that time
and time again farmers who were slow
| in accepting members of the reserve
are now asking for more and more
help of that kind, and wondering why
the state enrolling officer doesn't find
it for them
One New York state boy refused a
o., 10
work on the farm for $50 a month
because he felt he could be of more
service to his country by so doing. An
other boy from western state wrote
home, THE work is hard, but 1 en-
) joy it more than school and am get
, ting used to it, Tell the other
fellows it is no cinch on the farm, but
if you are willing to work hard, the
farm is the place"
One boy in West Virginia with a
broken leg wrote: please advise me
!, if 1 can go in the reserve when 1 get
able. 1 have a leg broken and will
be able to work in about two months
/ 1 want to do my part in the war
One New Jersey boy, rejected by the
navy because of poor eyesight, wrote
IT wish to do something for my coun-
t try in the way of farm work" A Wis
consin boy, a high school graduate
declared that he is willing to do any
work. go anywhere, for any time and
at any price" and added that he
l wants to begin at the earliest posi-
. BILE moment"
The q. S. Boys Working Reserve.
President Wilson has called on the
Young men of the nation to serve theil
= country by joining the United states
boys working reserve He declares
? that it is the patriotic duty of every
/ young man between 16 and 81, no
= now employed, to devote his spare
q time to some productive work and helI
in ha
S crisis The letter containing the pres
ident's appeal was addressed to Score.
! tary of Labor Wilson, under whom
the reserve operates
The service of these young men tc
their country however, the president
1 saws should he without interruptins