The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-03-20
1t was necessary, therefore,


nrvasufe of direct supervision and as
far as possible to control purchases
of wheat and the processes of its ex-
portation. This supervision neces-
sarily amounted to price fixing, and
l, therefore. thought it fair and wise
that there should be a price stated
! that should be at once liberal and
equitable.
Those peculiar circumstances
governing the handling and con-
sumption of wheat put the farmer at
the very center of war service. Next
to the soldier himself, he is serving
the country and the world and serv-
ing it in a way which is absolutely
fundamental to his own future safe
ty and prosperity. He sees this and
can be relied upon as the soldier
can.
The farmer is also contributing
men to the Army, and | am keenly
alive to the sacrifices involved. Out
of Ii, 800, 900 men engaged in farm
| industries, 205,000 have been draf-
| ted, or about 14S per cent of the
| whole number. In addition to these
| there have been volunteers, and the
! farmers have lost considerable
number of laborers because the wa
| ges paid in industrial pursuits drew
| them away. In order to relieve the
! farming industry as far as possible
! from further drains of labor the new
| draft regulations have been drawn
| with view to taking from the farms
an even smaller proportion of men,
and it is my hope that the local ex-
emption boards will make the new
! claSSificationS with view of tighten
| ing the load upon the farmers to the
utmost extent The Secretary of
! War has asked for authority to fur
! Tough soldiers of the National Army
| if conditions permit it, so that they
may return to their farms when as
! sistance is necessary in the planting
and harvesting of the crops. Nation
| al and local agencies are actively at
work besides in organizing cOmmu-
nifty help for the more efficient dis
! tribution of available labor and in
| drawing upon new sources of labor.
While there will be difficulties, and
very serious ones, they will be diff
! culties which are among the stern
necessities of war.
The Federal Railway Administra-
| ton is cooperating in the most ac-
tive, intelligent, and efficient way
with the Food Administration to re-
move the difficulties of transporta-
| tion and of the active movements of
the crops Their marketing is to be
| facilitated and the farmers given the
opportunity to realize promptly up
on their stocks.
THE Department of Agriculture
and the Food Administration will
continue to cooperate as heretofore
| to assist the farmers in every way
possible. All questions of produc-
! ton, of the marketing of farm pro
ducts, of conservation in the course
of production, and of agricultural la
| Dor and farm problems generally will
be handled by the Department of
Agriculture. while all questions of
! distribution of food supplies to the
allies and of conservation in con-
sumption will be handled by the
! Food Administration; but the chief
reliance is upon the farmer himself,
and | am sure that that reliance will
/ be justified by the results. The chief
| thing to be kept clearly in mind is
that regulations of this sort are
only part of the great general plan
of mobilization into which every ele-
ment in the Nation enters in this
| war as in no other. The business
| of war touches everybody. 1t is a
stern business, cooperative Dusl-
ness, a business of energy and Sacrl-
fee, a business of service in the lar
gest and best and most stirring sense
of that great word.
'WOODROW WILSON"