The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-02-11
BOYS TRAINING
FOR AGRICULTURE
There Is Great Demand to Make Up for
Shortage of Help--High School
Boys Are Taking Up
the Work

To-day, young men, who II year age
were balancing bank books or selling
life insurance or writing advertisements
or doing thousand and one otler things
are directing batteries of artillery OF
commanding companies of infantry. OF
tipping around through the air in fight
ing planes. Most of them were densely
ignorant year ago of the things they
are now doing with confidence assurance
skill. They acquired their new knowl-
edge and cunning by the hardest kind OF
work in training camps.
There are to-day many thousands of
husky high school boys, from 10 to q
years OF age, who know no more about
ploughing or hoeing or handling team
OF farm horses than their elder brothers
knew year ago about machine guns
and gas masks. But it has been shown
that training camps can teach the tech
nicalities of farming as well as the tech
nicaities of soldering. And if the first
transformation can be effected by mill
tary training camps, is there any reason
why another great army, of very diff
ferent type, cannot also be supplied--in
part at least-by the training camp
plan?
We must have farm labor in order TO
increase food production. and we must
increase food production in order to win
the war. And yet, war conditions have
caused a shortage of skilled farm labor.
one of the things to do is TO
train as much farm labor as possible.
As result of snch reasoning and conclu
sions, boys farm training camps came
into existence last spring, Just after we
entered the war. They sprang into be-
ing simultaneously in various parts of
the country, but were most numerous in
the eastern and New England states,
where the farm labor shortage was very
pronounced-m munitions plants and war;
Industries having attracted, by higher
wages, many workers who had formerly
been available for agricultural work
Not "Experts"-But Get Results
The question that at once suggests it
self Is whether these boys camps did or
IAN turn out expert farm belp-farm
labor that Is really and genuinely as
skilled as men whose lives have been /
'pent working on farms. of course not |
L. would be absurd to expect such a |
hing. Tho farm camp boys last year
we're not, and the ones this year will not |
'e, expert agriculturalsts any more than |
heir elder brothers left the military /
raining camps possessed Of all the skin /
ind soldierly wisdom Of seasoned, vet
ran oampaigners. But the camp bows
ast year filled the bill in the great ma.
ority Of cases. Men Of farm experience
would have been preferable, naturally.
Sut the boys saved crops that otherwise
ould not have been saved-and that i
be object in the present emergency. II
snt a time TO guibble over what is the
deal farm labor supply. u isn't a time
o delay because Of niceties Of preference
= to the kind Of labor We would ike to
ave. Il is Just a plain proposition Of
citing the sort OF labor we can. To
i'm the var We must make aud save the
roPs and vel have 10 DO that with THE
elp that Is available urder var condi- 1
ions.
The state uf Maine developed one Of I.
b. uIusf elaborate and effective plans -
oys training camps for farm labor that