The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1918-07-05
WHAT KANSAS DID SOUTH DA.
KOTA CAN DO
..soft" Town Men Made Good BY
Harvesting Wheat

SOU Town men IL yOu pACoSC"
are harvesting the great wheat crop
of the Middle West and the West.
OF course it Couldn't be done!"
The professional pessimists persistent
ly proved very conclusively that 1T
was utterly impossible and altogeth-
er ridiculous even to attempt it. Town
rita raft and soft, Office pushers for
the farms, they sneered. "Why the
farmers won't stand it. And the
town people can't stand it! Dear!
Dear! What an inefficient govern
ment! Why doesn't Washington
press a button, or something, and
send plenty of permanent, experience
ed farm labor to the farmers?"
But, strangely enough, the farmers
did stand for it, and strangely enough
the worn weaklings did stand the
hard work. Perhaps they hadn't
read the lamentations of the Can't
Do 1t Crowd and didn't know they
were foredoomed to failure. Per-
haps they were more interested in
whipping the Kaiser than in hearing
reasons why they were sure to fall
down on the job. Perhaps, being
plain, every day Americans who are
so absured as to have assurance
they can do anything they just went
ahead with confident calmness and
did it! Really, it is to bad (for the
huns) that these kansans wouldn't
listen to the righteousness of the
Impossible Squad-so willing to
show that it couldn't be done! What
a pity to hurt Hindenberg's feelings
by doing it, even if it was impossible!
The latter part of May Kansas be-
gan to put into effect on wholesale
basis the program which for many
months the United States Department
of Agriculture has been urging in
every communicated town men go
to work in agricultural territory adj
jacent to them during emergency
farm labor needs of cultivation or
harvest. Kansas started an intensive
campaign for the enrolment OF town
and city volunteers for harvest labor.
Kansas made ready to shut up shop
during the harvest period. Kansas
prepared to subordinate every activ-
ity, for few weeks, to the one SUI
preme job of saving the big wheat
crop. For every town and city in the
state, men, women and bos, in such
numbers as were necessary, went to
the fields; the men to work as har-
vest hands, the women to cook for
the volunteer army of harvesters, the
boys to fit in wherever they could best
serve. This Kansas harvest army of
nearly 100000 men did the job. All
the outside help that could be Sc
cured was used. OF course by far the
largest help came from right at home
-th e"soft town men" who just sim
ply couldn't do it, and who would not
be tolerated by the farmer!
And, in just the same way, the war;
winning wheat crops will be harvested
in Nebraska, and Minnesota and
North and South Dakota! In just the
same way, when necessary and where
necessary, crops will be saved in
every state. Of course, it can't be
done! For that we have the word of
many eminent critics of the United
States Department of Agriculture and
the Government in general. No doubt
the Kaiser himself has said so, and
surely the Crown Prince will sustain
the statement if further authority be
necessary. 1t can't be done! But the
simple weaklings of Kansas seem to
pay more attention to straight from
the shoulder, get there or bust Ameri-
can common sense than they do to
Prussianism "can't do it" clad-trap
and to skyscraper editors of literary
journals de luxe who write prettily
phased editorials giving plethoras of
peevish reasons why failure is certain
Kansas seems to like to do better than
to listen to why it is impossible to do.
Kansas just goes ahead and harvests
the wheat anyhow!
Your state will do likewise! True.
1t can't be done! The faint-hearted
and the Hun-hearted will tell you so
on every hand-so do it!
Our Splendid New "Grand
Army of the Republic"
(From Statistics Published by F. P.
Stockbridge, in New York Times
One year ago we had total mill
tary force of 1924 officers and 202,-
$40 enlisted men.
Today we have 123,SO1 officers and
1,52S,924 enlisted men with at least
three months training.
We have upward of eight million
registered young men in reserve and