Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1918-09-04
Delaware County Farm Bureau
County Agents Onice.)
County Agents Ofice.)

ed the convention last week as dele.
gate of the Farm Bureau. We were
fortunate in having such one to rep
resent the farmers viewpoint at the
convention. The following report was
submitted by Mr.. Banta:
Maintain production: First of all
there must be no disposition on the
part of our farmers to play the slack
ers because the labor problem is
acute. Our job is production-we must
produce food as bravely and as faith.
fully as if our very lives depended
upon it. We have ito go over the
top" in growing wheat, pork, beef and
all of the food products our soil will
raise. 1t was repeatedly stated that
in Iowa one man produces two and a
half to three times as much food as
one man can do In most of the other
states of the Union. Our responsible
ity is measured only by our possibili-
ties along this line.
Better organization: This past year
has taught us something of how to or
ganize to meet the labor situation.
The seeding time, the small grain har-
vest and corn harvest are three per-
iods of the year when the farmers need
extra help and need it badly. The
state labor bureau and federal labor
bureau located at Des Moines and con-
Quoted by Labor Commissioner A. L.
Urick, is doing great deal to supply
labor at such seasons. Mr. Urick
urges farmers to anticipate their labor
needs and communicate in advance
with their local labor committees and
county agents. He asks farmers to
endeayor to use married men more
than they do now. He says that often
married men are available and would
make first class help, but the farmers
do not want them Reference was
made to the good work which has
been done by business men in the
towns, going out to assist the farmers
during the recent harvest. It is sug-
gested that next year this will be done
much more The boys working re-
serve, made up of boys residing in
the towns who are old enough and
strong enough to do some farm work
has been a help this year and will be
extended next year under the direction
of the several county agents OF the
state Another source of help must
be, as has been true in other countries
engaged in this war, the utilization Of
women workers. One farmer attend
ing the meeting said: IF the women
do their duty there will be $4,000 of
them in this state doing field work
regularly another year"
Manning the farms: This year many
unmarried men of draft age, propri-
etors of farm establishments, were
given deferred classification. This
will probably not be true another year
and these men will have to take up
military service. To what extent this
phase affects the farming situation
may be illustrated by the case of
Cherokee county The county agent of
this county stated that there were L.
CTS farms in his county and more than
ITO Of them are conducted by unmar-
ried men in the draft. II these men
are taken out it means that over ten
per cent Of the farms must have new
proprietors. The farms must not be
left idle. They must not only not be
left idle, but they must be efficiently
manned and stocked Under the cir
cumstances, it was the expressed be-
lief that every retired farmer who is
not positively physically unfit should
seek place for himself, where his
experience and his accumulated wealth
may be turned into account as q pro-
ducing force. There are thousands of
such men in the state and 1t is to
them that the call comes with the
greatest force.
l might enumerate many other
points raised in the meeting bearing
upon our labor situation, but believe
have touched those Of the most
tangible and practical significance. l
would conclude with the simple sug-
gestion that the time is one calling
for our most lively and sympathetic
cooperation along all lines and that
as never before, the word Service"
spells our duty.
A delegation from Iowa is now at