Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1918-01-31
FARM LABOR PROBLEM.

from the editorial columns of the Alb
erdeen News. which has persistently
advocated u policy of conservation
with reference to farm labor as well
as with regard to other matters:
The proposal of Lieutenant Will
liam Ansheim, head Of the recruiting
station for the Dakotas, situated In
Aberdeen, hat men from the army be
detailed to work on the farms as a
military order, in battalions, should
appeal to most Americans as asvGry
good n indeed.
Lieutenant Ansheim takes the 20.
sltlon that a young soldier who is
sent back from his military station to
his own home to work on the farm is
very apt to have his time taken up
by admiring relatives and by boyhood
friends, to such an extent that be
would have little time for farm work,
however eager he might be to. help
his country in that way.
oos W SCldiiiS HiSll 10 the farms
under a battalion commander. sub.
Ject to military orders and discipline.
but to receive pay for their work on
the farms in addition to their pay as
soldiers. the farm labor problem
would be solved to a great extent.
Everybody is devoting some
thought to different phases of the farm
labor question. With so much thought
on the subject, it is not conceivable
that the problem will not eventually
be solved. And Of the various solu-
tons proposed, that of Lieutenant
Ansheln appears to be especially fea-
sible.'
We might. perhaps, be justified in
remarking that great minds run in
the same channel, or words to this
eject, since Lieutenant Ansilelm's
suggestion is in line with one which
The Saturday News offered some time
6 and which Colonel Slower and
Thornton N. Babcock and many other
farmers warmly commended.
We may console ourselves. if we
choose. with the thought that there
is no shortage Of farm labor, but the
fact remains that farmers are expe-
rlencing greater difficulty as the years
advance in securing competent help.
Thers Is no perceptible shortage Of
labor in the broad sense, but there is
\ shortage of farm labor. 1t was be-
ginning to be felt before America be-
came directly involved in this war.
M And yet there are a thousand idle
men walking the streets of Mime
4polis. seeking work and finding none.
who refuse to go out upon the farms
where they are offered thirty to forty
dollars a month and board. They
prefer to exc out some sort Of exist
ence in center OF population.
Tbs other day a little want ADJ
appeared in the Minneapolis papers
! q janitor. The following morn.
sng q man whom We know something
about reported at the designated place
4 O'clock. only 10 find two hundred
applicants ahead DC him. This man
hsaa turned \ deaf ear to the farmers
appeal far help.
We may say that the farm isust
suaaeiertly attractive 10 entiao labaf
Away from tile cities. Tle rurai
silllnililitg doesn't have i cock fight
morning and prize fight ey-
eTs night, II II arue, with intervening
yaideyilie appropriately spaced for
wetting ones wilistle With d drink
from which the kick has not been ex-
tracted. It may be that the farmer
should provide these specialties If he
woua solve the farm labor problem.
We confess that We don't know:
But that. il proportion to our popu-
lation. farm production has been de.
oTeasing for the past twenty years
Mpa 81 he admitted, Statistics prove
whsther n admit Il 81 whether
w DOM.
And production wili ~ stiil far'
ssthgsr decreased u 1eI0 III the farner
is not ale % saye all ~ his crops
q tthsssprssents ysssr sor rant II iabor,
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