Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-12
PROMISE TO
DEFER WORKERS
Special Care to Be Taken to
Defer Agricultural Workers
in the New Draft

WaShinetcn-Urder the rules of
| the War Department for executing
| the new draft law, special provision
/ is made for informing the district
! boards in regard to farm labor re-
quirements in order that necessary
, food production may be maintained
says statement issued by the De-
partment of Agriculture.
/ In the new draft, the district
! boards are charged with the duty of
! putting into deferred classes those
! persons who are more likely TO fur
ther the war by remaining in civ
! ilian occupations than by entering
| the Army. Accordingly, three ad-
visers are TO he selected for each
{ district board-one for agriculture,
/ one for labor. and one for. other oc-
Cupations. The agricultural adviser
| will be appointed by the board upon
/ the recommendation of the Secre-
| tary of Agriculture. The advisers
are not mem bers of the board but
may. when invited. attend its meet
ings.
/ The duties, of the agricultural ad-
wiser will be to furnish to the board
facts relative to farm labor require
ments, not only of his own district,
( but of the whole country. He should
he the repository of all facts having
I relation to the deferment of agricul-
tural workers. whether these be
necessary farm laborers. managers
! or operators. He will be expected
to advise the district boards as to n
/ shortage or surplus of necessary
farm workers for any given district,
as we'll as for the entire nation. Such
information will be supplied to the
advisers by the Department of Agrt-
culture. This will make ii possible
to have necessary workers trans
ferred from districts in which they
may not be necessary to other dis
tricts in which they are sorely
needed.
The adviser may also concern
himself with individual cases that
come before the district board He
/ will have the right. under certain
/ conditions. to examine the ques-
tionnaires and other records in the
files of the local board for the pur-
pose of ascertaining whether per-
sons entitled to deferred classitica-
ton have actually claimed it. .
! further duty with which the ad-
wiser is charged is to confer with
I employers of necessary farm work
ers. and 10 instruct them as to their
right under the regulations to file
respect of any recistrant who has
failed or refused to file a claim for
deferred classification in his own be-
half.
| The purpose in the appointing of
advisers is to place men where they
: can do most to helm win the war.
These advisers will be able to help
! greatly the district boards TO keep
/ in agriculture the necessary work
/ ers. This effort to keen men in IN
/ dustry. rather than to send them
to the camps and the trenches,
should not be abused as to permit
the Stacker to escape military duty.
{ The necessities for raising an army
( are paramount. Every man that can
/ be spared will he needed and need
ed badly 10 bring the enemy to his
senses. The adviser should be as
sisted in every possible way by every
legitimate agricultural interest to
find the men that can he spared for
military duty. but also TO keep those
that are essential to the mainte-
nance of a proper food supply.