Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1918-09-11
THELANDA
OF AMERICA
(Womsn - Farm Hands)
By JESSE LYNCH WILLIAMS
OF The Yi0N0nteS

II had to hire them for my farm be-
cause couldn't get men. Neigh
boring farmers who borrowed some OF
them later hated to admit that they
we're more efficient than man workers.
but had to!"
The farmer who wrote those words
employed Is girls last summer to get
In his crops, some of them girls from
the seasonal trades out Of Job,
others students or college graduates
out for q vacation, but few, If any. OF
them experienced farm hands. He
made two important discoveries. First,
that they were good workers. Second.
that this kind of work was good for
women, and as this farmer is none |
other than Doctor Sargent, the direc-
tor of physical training, he ought to
know.
He adds that he did not have a
chance to try them at blowing or heavy
work, though they can do that too, but
at other kinds of farm work he found
them in all ways the equal and In some
ways the superior of men. They do
not average as strong as men, though
In proportion to their weight they are,
but they made up in care and thorough
ness what they lacked in theft" and
they did not loaf on the job when the
boss was not looking. Women are
nearly always more conscientious than
the superior sex"
/ Has Come to Stay.
| The Woman's Land Army Of Amer
lea is still a new thing in most parts
Of the country, but it has come to stay
and the sooner the farmers of America
get that idea through their heads and
live down their old-fashioned preju-
dice against this "neW-fangled notion"
the better for them and for the coun-
try. Every man released from the farm
means one more man for the army
or for other war work not done by
women.
A year ago almost every farmer In
the country shared this impractical
and unpatriotic prejudice. Such preju
dices die hard. All our prejudices
about women die hard. will give an
amusing illustration. Last summer q
number of units were employed in
various parts of Westchester county,
New York. A unit" means a squad of
woman workers "a gang" we might
call it, if they were men) who live and
work together under the charge of q
competent older woman experienced In
agriculture, a sort of forewoman who
manages the whole outfit, which In
cludes their own cook and food and
bedding. The farmer does not supply
anything except the wages and pos
, sibly a place to put up few tents
The farmers wife has no bother OF
extra work in the matter at oil. Well
every one of these units in Westches'
. ter county made good, and there were
exactly as many surprised farmers in
Westchester county as there were
, units. At the end of the season each
, employer was asked, Twill yod EN-
, ploy woman farm hands again next
year?" Each farmer made exactly the
same reply, Eyes, if I can get the same
women"
Each thought that he had happened
to have the luck to get the only gooC
bunch Of girls! Sly, shrewd fellows
, those farmers! Fer it seemed to then
quite obvious that women as class
could not be good farm laborers. A
perfectly natural prejudice. Men as 6
!, class have always had the same Ger
tainty that women could never be gOo(
at anything "outside Of the home" I'm
til they went out and made good al
r everything from voting and doctorinl
: to driving ambulances, and even al
fighting in the trenches when the ne
cessity arose over in poor betrayed
Russia.
Kept Island From Starving.
= American farmers, however, are thu
, most enlightened in the world. Per
: haps it will not take them so long to
get the idea into their heads as it re
quired to beat it into the British brain
In England, even after the scarcity OF
farm labor had become more acute
than it is here now, the "woman's land
, army movement was almost blighted
by masculine prejudice until the gov.
l eminent became alarmed and turned 8
clever trick. Prizes were offered at the
, county fairs for public competitions
for woman workers in various depart
ments of farm work. This aroused
considerable curiosity and created q
great deal of discussion. The question,
however, was not whether girls could
do farm work, but which girl could do
it bestl Big crowds gathered. Bets
were made Rivalry ran high And
when it was demonstrated before the
2 astonished eyes Of the British farmers
that these "farm lassies," as they now
affectionately term their "farmerettes'
> over there, not only knew their job
= but were experts at it, the prejudice
broke down and the country was saved.
The woman's land army of England.
: now 100000 strong, has kept the island
t from starving. This patriotic fact has
been publicly Acknowledged in parlia-
i, ment.
; There are already II states Of the
Union organized under the Woman's
Land Army Of America, and in New
!, York alone 5000 farmerettes are regis
, tered for this season. It is q fine pa.
trotic service, a good thing for the
farmer who can thus get good sober,