The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1918-10-19
How Farm
Workers VIII Be
Classified In Draft

A plan has been agreed upon by
the War Labor Policies Board, Pro-
vost Marshal General, Secretary Of
War, Secretary Of Agriculture and
Secretary of Labor to put into de-
ferred classification such persons in
the new draft as are necessary in
agriculture, industry and other occu-
pations. Three advisers are to be
associated with each district draft
board for the purpose Of presenting
facts relative to the supply Of nee
essary workers within these three oc
Icupational groups. The agricultural
advisers have been nominated by the
secretary Of agriculture. They should
be in possession Of accurate facts
regarding the requirements of agri-
culture for the various classes Of
workers in their own districts. They
should have facts also as to the re-
quirements for such classes in other
districts in order that workers not
sufficiently necessary m one district
to entitle them to deferred CLASH
fieation may be transferred to other
districts in which they are needed.
The purpose Of the information
called for is to assist the district
boards in keeping in agriculture the
(a) necessary skilled farm laborer
in necessary agricultural enterprise"
deferred class ~; (b) necessary
assistant, associate or hired manager
of necessary agricultural enterprise"
deferred class 81; (c) necessary
sole managing, controlling or direct
ing head Of necessary agricultural
enterprise" deferred class Al. Be-
cause the language characterizing
these three groups especially group
Al has not uniform Interpretation,
it viii be difficult to give the infor-
nation desired. And yet this Ian
guage is the draft boards standard
or criterion determining whether tens
Of thousands of farm workers are
to be in Class / or in deferred classes.
What the draft boards want are
the facts as to necessary skilled work.
ers. The unskilled workers are APP
parently not to be considered for de-
ferred classification; they are re-
garded as more important for the
army than for agriculture and in
dustry.
"A skilled farm laborer" has been
defined by one authority as zone who
has the strength, intelligence and ex-
perience to perform acceptably the
ordinary farm operations of the dis
trict, community or farm concerned,
whether in fields, ranches, orchards
or barns"
Presumably the amount of skilled
labor that may be regarded as "nec-
essary" is to be determined by the
requirements of the present agricul-
tural war program-something more
than a normal production of most
farm products. Pertinent questions
in this connection therefore are such
as: Are there sufficient skilled
workers to produce the livestock,
cereals, fruits, ETC., required by this
program? Do these workers toll
harder and longer hours? Do some
children, especially under IA years
of age, work regularly eight hours
or more? Are the burdens of farm
women increased? In other words,
do the farm people, responding to
many patriotic appeals, make, as
compared to other oceupational
groups, very heavy draft upon their
reserve strength and upon their chill
dren?
Once a skilled farm worker who
might probably be more useful in
agriculture than in the army is placed
in Class /, either because ne is at
the time of registration in some 9TH
er occupation or because he is not
regarded as necessary to agriculture
in his own district, he will probably
find it very difficult to have his clas-
sifcation changed.