Evening star., 1918-10-06
FARM WORK IN TUNE
WITH FREEDOMS G0NS

THIS is the story Of how one farm
= err, hampered by poor help and
difficult labor situation. tied his busi-
ness in with war needs and won out.
Milking cows and pitching hay for so
many dollars a month are dull jobs,
but milking cows and pitching hay to
win the war are altogether different
propositions.
This farmer lives not many miles. :.
from large city and from several
Army cantonments. His dairy sup
plies milk for the Army. He has found
his output continually hampered by
the turnover" of his labor.
Many agricultural laborers are in
the habit of shifting their Jobs. Some
do not like to stay long in one place.
Others may work a few months and
then go to the city. spend what they
earned and look for work somewhere
else. All these considerations make
for waste of time at critical hours.
waste in breaking in new men and
a big waste in lack of interest in the .
work.
1t struck this young farmer that 1t
would be good business for himself
and the country If he could minimize
this loss.
One hot evening not many months
ago, while the men were lounging un-
der the trees, the owner of the farm
got his talking machine out on the
porch and fed it "Over There" and
"Good-bye, Broadway. Hello France"
Questions followed and presently the
farmer found himself talking to his
men about the war He began to tell
them OF the western front and the
difference between the Hindenburg
and the Foch method of attack. The
men seldom read newspapers, so he
conceived the idea of bulletin board
news poster. Upon it he pasted type
written abstracts of the days war and
sporting news, the happenings OF the
farm and short editorials having to
do with both local and patriotic Sub
jects.
once a week now he holds his open
air forum. Sometimes he talks to the
men himself The milk from the farm
goes to engineers and to marines at
their respective camps. 1t is vital
food, especially in the hospital. He
drills into his force this fact-that il
man cannot get into uniform him.
self, he can fight the Hun by feeding
the men who can.
One of the farm workers had been
an aviator who was injured in serv-
ice. He told the farm family at week.
ly meetings about hedge hops" and
spiral dips" A Canadian from one
of the camps came down and related
his experiences at the front. Men from
other war work tell the story of what
they are trying to do.
Then the farm owner began to ex--
pertinent still further. At the end Of
the month he turned over to each man
war savings stamp as his part of the
farm profits. He explained that only
by close cooperation could the ven-
ture be made a success. He got the
dairy inspector to pick the best kept
sections of the barn and gave addi-I
tional prizes to the men in charge of
them. He offered premiums for ideas
showing how the work COULD be done
better or in less time
The men woke up to an interest in
the farm. Most of them had lived from
hand to mouth all their lives They
began to invest in war savings stamps
Some of them started savings ac-
counts. They crowded around each
rev bulletin to see what the allies
were doing in the big battle Of north
ern France.
The result is amazing. The farm
activities have speeded up to wartime
efficiency. Instead of "chucking"
their jobs at the end of ii month or
two the men feel that they are n part
of the farm family. They sea that no
part of the farm work can be neg
lected without dragging on the whole
Whether man raises feed or mlks
cows or gets the milk to market, he
cannot get lazy without handirappinE
the whole outfit.