Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-04-15
men OF RICHMOND MUST
GET DOWN TO BRASS TACKs
A Call to City Folks Who, for Any
Reason, Are Not Now Ac-
lively Employed.
VOICE FROM FARMS OF VIRGINIA
While England Calls Men Of Fifty to
Front, City Idle Men OF That Age
Should Go to Farmers lIclp-No
Time Now for MASTERS.

7 Lloyd George says EnEiishmen Of the
4 age OF fifty years are not too old to
:, flght. friend has written The Times
I Dispatch he thinks Virginia city men
!. OF the age OF fifty or moro are not too
old 20 answer the call to the farm.
He has made rough estimate and fig
ured out that there are something over
=. 1000 able bodied men in Richmond
considerably beyond the fighting age
who could. IL they would. do excellent
work on the farms of Virginia this
summer and be all the better physical
~ and otherwise for II. lie refers to
!, men who are now practically doing
:. nothing. who will be making no sacri-
fee to leave town for the summer and
:, spend the time helping farmers save
( big crops and thus responding 10 tho
appeals OF government to make several
bushels OF corn grow this year where
only one grew last year. Every town
IN Virginia has its quota OF such men.
His letter. in part. is as follows:
Before 1t Is too late, let us get
down 10 brass tacks. to the practical,
the sensible. and stop all this tommy
rot about our women doing the farm
ing. Where can you find a woman
s hoe. and SOW and reap? In the name
: or Heaven. where? Besides. there are
TOO many other necessary things TAX
Ing up every atom Of her time. Her
. children. the upkecp Of her home. her
!, chickens; her fowls. her milk and but
ter. her cooking and oftcntimcs her
washing. Where is the time. let alone
any physical ability. for anything
more? ImpossibleI
And equally out OF the question Is
the taking out OF the training camps
our soldiers. class I. for this purpose.
In justice to them fighting men. we
should at least throw around them the
: protection OF all the training we can
: give them before sending them into ac-
/. tive service. This is scientific war
= and there is much to be learned. never
: known OF before, and our boys must he
: built up besides TO the strongest phys
ical perfection. Is it not settled then
that they cannot spare the time for
anything else?
And apart from that. where is the
Justice OFF expecting class TO do II
all-fiehting and farming, too? Where
:, do classes 2. and 4 come in? What Is
:, expected and required OF them? Arc
: our men in class l to sacrifice every
thing in this holy war Of right
against might. and nothing be re-
du'rcd by the nation of these other
mon, who. II not fighting at the front.
should be lighting here at home for
the good OF the nation. anywhere and
anyway they arc needed. And il should
not be left TO them when or where
or how. but they should be made to
understand that they belong to the ma
ton and It's service in me capacity
or another. as much as the men at tho
front, and not alone the young men
within the age limit. but every able
bodied man OF any age. England has
called them Into active service up TO
nifty. Let our men face the situation.
There arc thousands doing nothing.
or X anything at all some insignificant
JOB that might easily. for the dura-
ton OF the war. anyhow, he filed by
woman, much better fitted for i;
than for the heavy farm work. And
the man would be much better off
physically for the outdoor air and ex
erciSe OF his muscles. thus developing
him Into the rea! man-instead OF mo
physical weaklings we now have and
call men. 0
The outcome OF this war cannot he
what we Intend II to be without tho
united who!e-souled service or every
to!e-ood!ed man here at home as much
az al the front. and We must under
stand It, and without any further de-
lay. The farm work Is waiting. and !,
is so late now it cannot afford IN
wait longer. Let us get down to brass
'hcks We need food as much as we
need need fighting m?sn-and j, must be