The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-04-16

mobilize for the production of food as
well as for fighting, declared Eugene
Davenport, dean OF the University of
Illinois College of Agriculture in a
statement which. he has issued defin-
ing a plan of the university to organ
lie civil-military service to be com
posed of men disqualified for military
service at the front and of boys, to
work on farms rented by the govern
ment.
To show the necessity for enlist
ment in this service, Dean Davenport
asserted that there is not now enough
labor left upon the land to produce
what America should consume and
that unless this farm labor is in
level that may easily prove oisas-
trous."
In his statement. Dean Davenport
said:
For generations food has been so
abundant that it has often been ac-
tually cheaper to waste than to save.
But conditions have suddenly changed
over night as 1t were-and we are
having food riots not only in hungry
Europe. not only in congested New
York, but in Chicago, the very heart
tof the great ood-producing region in
the world. These riots are attributed
to high prices, but high prices mean
something. They do not come of them
selves, nor when there is an album
dance OF food. Therefore, when the
police are called out to put down the
riots, 1t is well that statesmen and
those in authority inquire into the
causes, particularly now as we enter
the greatest struggle in all history.
People do not generally know that
a real shortage Of food exists. They do
not know that the last two years have
been lean years upon the land, and
that as matters stand today, unless
the coming season should be extreme
ly exceptional, a, serious situation
would confront us. When the food
supply Of Europe was cut down by
war, they-the allies at least-could
look to importation, but no such pros
pect is held out to America. We are
at the end of the line, and If we fail
that ends it. .q-- s.r
People generally do not realize
the extent to which labor has been de-
sorting the land for the last half. dozen
years and erecting conditions Of en-
ployment that tend strongly to cut off
the food supply, for the farmer can
not operate his farm on the eight-hour
plan nor according = to union rules.
By the use Of large and still largey
machinery, the farmer has done the
best he could to make good the loss.
He has worked his boys early and late
and still he cannot work his acres for
high yields. Some lands are being
abandoned and turned into cheap
pasturage. The writer has seen crops
plowed under, while he knows OF har-
vests ungathered because labor could
not be had for the gathering. No won
der the farmer works twelve to six
teen hours a day. and no wonder a
considerable number are forced back
into the self-sufficing system with no
hope Of working the land to the best
advantage.
"As we go into the greatest war of
all time, and as our mind Is on, en-
liStment for service at the front, let
every American citizen understand
and realize what 1t means il he can
that there is not now enough labor
left upon the land to produce what we
ourselves should consume. What then
of western Europe, whose fields are
devastated? Shall we then be driven
to importation? Very we'll. from whom
shall be import? and what? Argentina
has already placed an embargo upon
wheat. The Canadian yield must de-
cline. for many man that ran a trac-
tor on the plains of Alberta and Sas-
katchewan two years ago is now but
a bundle of bones on the battlefield
of France.
shall we then limit the food supply
OF the people? How then can we ex-
pect to win, for energy and power
come only from food. A hungry peo-
pie never has been and rever can be a
victorious people, besides it would res
quire more men to enforce restricted
diet than 1t would to produce enough
to turn a scarcity into an abundance. !
America has acres enough If rea-
sonably well worked to feed both her |
self and western Europe Here lies her.
strength in the present struggle, IL
only she is wise enough to know it be-
fore she throws away her one great |
and peculiar opportunity.
But 1T will not take care OF itself.
If enlistment for service at the front |
is tot be made Unfortunately and |
without plans to definitely increase i
labor on the land. then 1t is inevitable |
that food will drop to level that may
easily prove disastrous.
But will not this cut off the supply
of labor for general manufacture? As /
suredly it will. but now is time to {
cut out luxuries of dress and display
If necessary, and get down to the
serious business of meeting the ext /
gencies involved in war. In the times
just ahead, the man or the woman that
INDUCES in excessive luxury is helping 1
by just that much to defeat the coun-
try. That he has the money to pay for |
It. has nothing to do with the ques-
ton. Whan men are needed not only |
at the front but in the cornfield in or
der that those fighting for liberty and /
their little ones shall not starVe, no (
man or woman has a right to absorb /
the time and strength Of dozen able
bodied men in unnecessary service.
"This and all other service not need
ed in the serious business of war and
the necessary business of living is i
needed on the land. and the Univer-
sity Of Illinois proposes definite en-
in what may be called the
civil military SERVES. OF men who are
permanently or temporarily disouali-
fed for military service at the 'front.'
and Of boys fourteen to eighteen years
1f age, especially those looking to ac-
i've service later on
These men and boys should all re- /
seive the regular military pay. be
uniformed, organized, and in every
way recognized as in the public SER
n "a