Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1918-03-15

the owners could double up for great
many things, like planting corn, cutting
and hauling wheat, haying, seeding wheat
and many other operations. but most of
our farms have succeeded in getting more
than one man left on them, and it will not
profit much except for hayine, where two
farmers can join forces with n loader and
get both crops up in half the time we used
to use on one without it; threshing and
silo-filling, where certain number must
be employed to make an economical job.
and few others which will be found in
time. After a few more years like the
past, large amount of corn will be husked
with machinery and that will become
cooperative job. From experience lwould
say that machine husking is no less costly
than hand work, but it can be done in
weather which will not allow hand work
and it will be done rather than leave the
corn in the shock.
We are all doing quite lot of growing
about the shortage of labor and the bad
policy of the Government in drafting the
farm labor. pointing to the corn shocks
standing all over the country as an exam
pie of what will be the result OF the draft
AS matter of fact, in my neighborhood
the draft so far has taken only two or three
regular farm hands. For fifteen years the
State and county have been building roads
around me, and they have developed
class of hands that will not work on the
farm while there is stone to be moved.
Usually about harvest time or corn cut
ting an agent Of the commission arrives at
the village with the announcement that
he wants twenty men on the road on Mon
day morning to scrape grass off the shout
ders. and what are the farmers paying for
harvestH Yes, yes. Well you will get
twenty-five cents more only nine hours
and an automobile will meet you here at
$50 to take you to work and bring you
home. OF course they 60, and we get along
with what is left. A good many of these
are in Class of the draft, while boys who
worked on the farm are in II and iii.
II large number of farmers had not
been carried away by the plant more
corn" propaganda last spring, so that they
plowed up 25 per cent. more ground than
usual, they would not have had whole
lot of late corn to put in shock, they would
have sowed wheat in proper season to
make crop next June, and they would
have had more time to secure the normal
crop, even slightly larger crop, of corn
before the winter caught them. The snow
was month ahead of time, and since. in
the years since we have had good roads,
at least one-fourth of our corn has been
put away in December that much more
would have been in the house instead Of
being exposed to the weather.
1t looks to me like farmers are in the
position of small son of mine who had a
present Of pair Of gum boots when he was
about 8 years old. OF course he was very
proud Of them and splashed around in the
mud regardless. One day he headed through
a mud hole pulling his little wagon, and
about half way through he got slowed down
and commenced to yell Papa, don't you
see I'm stalling Why don't you pull me
out ?" was a little slow and he got through
himself.
We are in the mud hole, with the gum
bouts of Speed up production" on, and we
are yelling to the Government that we
are stalling. but we are going to get Out,
and we are going to get ourselves out, be-
cause the help will get here so slow it will,
like all other government aids. be useless
when it comes. Cooperation or none. we
will find the way.