The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-06-27
WHAT KANSAS DID
soft Town Men Made Good by Har-
vestinz Wheat

vestinz Wheat
Men from towns and cities-''soft
town men" if you please har-
vesting the great wheat crop Of the
Middle West and the West.
Of course, it couldn't be doneH
The professional pessimists persis-
tently proved very conclusively that
it was utterly impossible and alto
gether ridiculous even to attempt 1t.
s'Town riff-raff and soft, Office pen
ypushers for the farms" they sneered.
EWhy the farmers won't stand it. And
the town people can't stand it. Dear
Deari What an inefficient Govern
menti Why doesn't Washington press
q button, or something, and send
plenty of permanent, experienced
farm labor to the farmers?"
But, strangely enough, the farm
ers did stand for It, and strangely
enough the worn weaklings did stand
the hard work. Perhaps they hadn't
gead the lamentations of the Can't-Do
| It-Crowd and didn't know they were
foredoomed to failure. Perhaps 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 absurd as to
! -
! they Just went ahead with confident
calm1' ess and-did it Really, it is too
! bad (for he Huns) that these Kansans
wouldn't listen to the righteousness
of the Impossible Squad-so willing
to show that it just couldn't be done
What a pity to hurt Hindenbefg' s
feelings by doing it, even if it was i'm
possible.
The latter part of May Kansas be-
gan to put into effect on a wholesale
basis the program which for many
months the United States Department
of Agriculture had been urging in
every commuEity-thatt town men go
10 work in agricultural territory ad-
jacent to them during emergency
farm labor needs of cultivation or
! harvest. Kansas started an intensive
campaign for the enrolment of town
nd city volunteers for harvest labor.
Kansas made ready to shut up shop
during the harvest period. Kansas
prepared to subordinate every activ-
ity, for a few weeks, to the one SUI
preme job of saving the big wheat
crop From every town and city IN
| the State men, women and boys IN
such numbers as were necessary,
went to the fields; the men to work
as harvest hands, the women to cook
for the volunteer army of harvesters,
the boys to fit in wherever they could
best serve. This Kansas harves army
of nearly 100000 men did the job
All the outside help that could be Sc
cured was used, of course, but by fan
the largest part of the help came from
right at home-the "soft town men
who just simply couldn't do it, and
who wouldn't be tolerated by the
farmers.
And in just the same way, the
war winning wheat crops will be har-
vested in Nebraska and Minnesota
and North Dakota and South Dakota
In just the same way when necessary
and where necessary, crops Will be
saved in every state. Of course, i
can't be done! For that we have the
word of many eminent critics of tbs
United States Department of Agricul
ture and the Government IN general
No doubt the Kaiser himself has saiC
so and surely the Crown Prince vii
sustain the statement If further au
thority be necessary. 1t just can't b
doneI But the simple weaklings o.
Kansas seem to pay more attention
to straight-from-the-sh get her
or-bust American common sense thai
they do to Prussianish "can't do it
cIap-trap and to skyscraper editors o.
literary journals de luxe who writ'
, prettily phrased editorials giving pie
thoras of peevsh reasons why fallur'
is certain. Kansas seems to Ike to d.
better than to lisen why it is i'm
possible to do. Kansas just gOe
ahead and harvests the wheat anyhow
Your state will do likewise! True
! it can't be done! The faint-hearte'
/. and the Hun-hearted will tell you s.
on every hand-so, do it,