The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1918-01-16

difficult and that a satisfactory solu-
ton will require the best thought of
the nation and the fullest and most
complete cooperation o. all agencies
To this end all plans which give any
promise of real results must be care
fully examined and put into effect so
far as they are feasible.
That the departmnt and other agen-
cles OF the government fully apprcci-
ate the seriousness of the situation is
indicated by the action taken to at
tempt to furnish relief. Even under
the pressure of the first draft, the
War Department held definitely in
mind the thought of tightening the
burden as far as possible by not call
ing to the colors those essential for
fuller time at its disposal, that de-
partmcnt, which has recognized from
the beginning the necessity of not un-
duly disturbing any essential indus
try, has worked out a system of class
ification of the men subject to the
draft which contcmplates the placing
of skilled farm labor engaged in nee
essary agricultural enterprises in
class d. The operation of this new ar
rangement should remove many Of
the difficulties previously encountered
and, In reasonable measure, meet the
demands of the situation.
Several months before we entered
the war, the government was giving
the farm-labor situation definite at
tentlon. In former years, the Depart
ment of Agriculture, in cooperation
with the Department of Labor, sought
to render. assistance to farmers in a
number of states in securing season.
al labor. In conjunction with state
agencies, these departments have eff
fectnd the transfer of considerable
numbers of laborers from communi-
ties where the load had passed to 9TH
ers where the need was urgent This
was done especially in the areas of
large production and, in some cases,
from 10000 to 10000 laborers were
transferred to particular states.
After the entry of the United States
into the war the thought of the De-
partment of Agriculture, in connec-
tion with the Department Of Labor,
was very definitely directed to the
problem of farm labor The matter
was thoroughly discussed at the con-
ference held in ST. Louis on April 8
and 10 with the agricultural represen-
tatlves OF the various states. 1t also
was referred to in my letter to the
Senate of April 18, 1917.
One of the first steps taken by the
Department of Agriculture was to Sc
lcct and station in each state, in touch
with the State agencies, the best
available man the department could
secure I) to make surveys Of farm
labor conditions; (2) to bring about
fuller cooperation in the utilization of
labor among the farmers in the same
community; (3) to assist in shifting.
labor from one community or one
State to another; and (4) to bring in
to service kinds of labor not hereto
fore fully or regularly employed in
farming operations, such as boys of
high school age who knew something
about farming, and to do many other
things. After the food-production bill
was passed on August 10, an allot-
ment of nearly 100000 was made to
extend and develop the work of the
department in this direction. Only re-
Gently the department held confer
ence in St. Louis of It's labor
representatives and Of State agencies
cooperating with them to consider
the work which had been done up to
that time and TO formulate more eff
cient plans for the future Some hint
of the activities Of the department
along this line is given in my annual
report for 1917.
Some persons seem to be promot-
ing the suggestion that farmers as a
class should be exempted from mill
tary service and that no person from
this class should be permitted to serve
in the Army, and criticism has result
ed because it has not beeen acted up
on. 1t would be unfair to the farmers
Of the nation even to entertain the
thought that they would be willing to
the fighting in this struggle in the de-
fense of our rights and for world
freedom. The farmers themselves as
a whole would resent the intimation.