The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1918-07-18
BOYS CONVINCING
DOUBTFUL FARMERS

The following letter, received by
William E. Hall, National Director of
the Public Service Reserve and Boys
Working Reserve, is indicative of the
changing attitude of the American
farmer toward the use of boy power
as logical solution of the present
farm labor shortage. The writer is
John C. Frazee, State Director for
Pennsylvania of the Boys Working
Reserve:
l think you will be interested to
know that the Hon. Frank B. Nc
Claim, lieutenant governor of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and
state chairman of the committee on
agricultural labor service of the COM
mittee of public safety, under which
the Boys Working Reserve is oper-
ating, has just stated that the farm
ers of Lancaster county, his home
county, are astonishing at the service
rendered by city boys enrolled in the
United States Boys Working Re-
serve for farm work. The lieutenant
governor says that on the average
the work of the boys is far superior to
that rendered by the type of "hired
man" now available and that the
farmers of this district are being
rapidly. converted to the fact that
high school and college boys, imbued
with a patriotic spirit and the train
ing provided to them at the state COL
lege training camp, constitutes the
best form of emergency farm labor
yet developed in this state.
Boys Demonstrate Fitness
The last few weeks has demon
strated the feasibility Of using city
boys for farm work, of which there
are now on farms approximately g.
900 in Pennsylvania, who would not
be there if it were not for the efforts
Of the United States Boys Working
Reserve. The demonstration of eff
cheney they have given has already
caused the war board to appropriate
an additional $75>00 for the sup
port of this activity, which makes
total cash appropriation of $125,OOO
or one-sixteenth of the total allow
ance by the state legislature provided
for meeting emergencies arising be-
cause Of the war. The state, through
the adjutant generay, has also fur
nished the Boys Working Reserve of
Pennsylvania with 40 camp outfits
for "a each and with militia uni
forms for 5000 boys.
The farmers of Pennsylvania are
rapidly beginning to realize the bene-
fits they may obtain from employing
these services Of the United States
Boys Working Reserve, and l have
no doubt that it will be possible to
put on farms this year at least double
the number of boys new employed.
Make Good on Ranch
Another example of the way the
Boys Working Reserve is playing
up to it's share in the great national
duty comes from Arizona, where Dean
G. S. Knight, of the State Agricul-
tural College at Reno, is training a
corps of boys for work on the farms
and ranches of that State. Twenty
five of these boys were recently .plac-
ed on the Antelope Valley Ranch of
the Antelope Land & Cattle Co. The
foreman of this ranch reports that
"these boys have done more and better
work than any rs men on the ranch.
They thoroughly understand the use
of tractors and have done without
complaint work Of the most exacting
sort at which the regular ranchers
baked.
Convert "Floaters."
The camp in which these boys live
is supervised by Prof. Hill, of the
University of Nevada, and has been
instrumental in marketedly reducing
the labor turnover of the entire
ranch. The regular cowboys have
been admitted to a sort of honorary
membership in the boys camp. In
deed, the recreation programs and
entertainments arranged there offer
such an attractive way of spending
leisure time that many confirmed
"hoaters" have settled down in An
telope Valley for the first real work
they ever did in their lives.