The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1918-07-27
men OVER DRAFT
APPEALED TO
FARM SITUATION MORE SERIOUS
THAN FIRST BELIEVED
MICHIGAN FACES CALAMITY
So Says Governor Sleeper Unless
Help Is Secured To Harvest
The Big Crops

Michigan faces a temporary calami
ty on the harvesting Of crops. The
calls for the selective army for July
25 and for August will take in the
neighborhood Of 1000 men direct from
the farms
All hope of having such men held
back has failed and Governor Sleeper
in statement issued from his Office
appealed to the boys and men over the
draft age TO come forward and save
the crops.
THE demands of the selective army
will take nearly all OF the Class men
who have been kept on the farm" the
governor stated, "and we must have
help 10 harvest the crops which will
soon be matured. The boys working
reserve army has many boys out on
the farms now, but many more are
needed.
Governor Sends Out Appeal.
Il appeal to every boy from l6 to 2l
and to every man who is over the draft
age, to come to the front If 1t is hu-
manly possible for him to go to the
farms, thus taking the place of the
men, or some of them at least, who
have been taken into the army.
"The matter is imperative. Judging
from the protests from the various
county agents and others interested in
agriculture the call OF July and
the one coming in August will
practically denude the farms Of help.
We must not let the crops spoil ant
we must have help to harvest the
crops. l sincerely hope that my ap
peal will be needed as the situation is
really more serious than some or us
believe. The trouble is only temper
airy, but comes at the time when the
crops must be harvested or all our ef
forts for big crops will go for naught
Ever since IL became generally
known that the act of congress on the
class OF the 1913 law had practically
compelled the bringing into the ser
vice OF those Class l men OF 1917 who
had been deferred on agricultural
grounds, protests from the county To-
cal boards, from county agents and
from prominent officials poured into
the office OF the selective draft official &.
Deferment Impossible.
Colonel Bersey wired General Crow
der asking II something could not be
done 10 leave the actual farmers on
the farms until after the crops were
harvested, but he received a reply in
which il was practically stated that
any deferment was impossible Gen
eral Crowder did let the bars down a
little by announcing that men from the
1918 class could volunteer TO 90 in the
coming calls. and that in this way
some OF the farmers might. be left un-
III later. But this plan. II is expect
ed. will not be productive OF much re
suit
Major Peterman put the problem
up to Governor Sleeper and the ap.
peal TO the youths and the men over
draft age is the result of the confer
ence. Help must be had and II the
boys under 21 and the men over 81
will only come to the rescue for the
next 30 days, the crops can be saved.
II is thoroughly understood here,
too. that some OF the largest employ
ers in the industrial sections have men
out soliciting farmers sons TO work
in the factories. but this will be RED
duced TO a minimum. and practically
eliminated on August /, when the rul-
ing OF all United States employment
agencies becomes effective.