The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1918-07-17
PLANS TO RELIEVE
FARM LABOR SHORTAGE
The Extension Division Of the Col
lege Of Agriculture in Charge
Of the Work.

| ldTIl-ldDOT SHOTldBe III heHluChy HAS
been worked out by the Extension Di-
vision of the College of Agriculture.
The Central Agricultural Board of
each county will appoint a Farm La
Dor Committee. The duties of this
committee will be as follows:
To place boys of the Boys Working
Reserve on farms where they will be
useful in food production.
To secure the pledges or men of the
towns to help save the crops on farms
in the surrounding territory, If suf-
flcient help can not be obtained 9TH
erwise during the rush seasons of
planting, cultivating and harvesting,
and to see that such volunteer helpers
and farmers needing emergency help
are brought together
To see that loafers and idlers are
forced to engage in some productive
employment by urging upon city,
county and district attorneys, the en-
forcement of the state laws against
vagrancy and idleness.
A law passed by the recent legis-
lature makes it compulsory under
pain of heavy punishment for every
male person between 16 and so years
of age, except students, to engage in
some lawful occupation for at least
! &c hours week, whether he is pos
sessed of visible means of support or
not Sheriffs, Chiefs of Police and
other officers should be urged to en-
force the law and prosecute all per
sons who violate it.
The chairman of the County Labor
Committee should appoint local labor
committeeman whose duty it will be
to keep a general oversight of farm
labor conditions in their respective
localities. The chairman or secre-
tary of the County Labor Committee
should keep a list of men of the town
who volunteer for emergency farm
work. also a list of the boys of the
Boys Working Reserve, and a list of
the farmers who apply for help.
Some one having considerable
amount of leisure time should be
named to act as chairman or secre-
tary of the County Labor Committee
and also of the Local Labor Commit
tees, since it will be necessary for
these persons to be readily accessible
at all times in order to take care of
the calls from farmers for help An
eregetic minister could render most
valuable service in this capacity.
As an auxiliary of the County Labor
| Committee, number of influential
colored citizens should be appointed
to enlist the patriotic interest and
earnest work of colored farm-work-
ers.
The County Agricultural Agent will
see to the carrying out of the farm
labor program in his county, He will
give all possible help to the labor
committee in inducing townsmen to
sign pledges to go out and help farm
ers when the need arises. He will
encourage the enrolment of boys for
the Boys Working Reserve. He will
bring to the attention of his farmers
through club meetings and by other
means the fact that farm help is being
10 oornnint thn
farmer with the steps necessary to Sc
cure this help. He will keep an over
sight of the Labor Committees work
to see that it results in helping farm
ers save a maximum crop, and he will
encourage the saving of labor already
at hand by inducing farmers to form
themselves into cooperative groups
or rings" for filling silos, shreddnig
corn and other like operations. He
will encourage the more extensive use
of labor-savlng machinery and the CO.
operative purchase of machinery such
as corn harvesters, shredders, etc. He
will urge the saving of labor by hog
ging down corn and by various other
practical means.
Prof. w. d. Nichols of the Farm
Department of the Col
lege of Agriculture, has been desig- |
mated as State Farm-Labor Specialist |
He will cooperate with the county |
and district agents in organizing ev-
cry possible farm-labor source, in |
GLIDING town business men and the |
Boys Working Reserve; arrange for
the transfer of laborers from locall-
ties where there is a shortage; and
furnish farmers, through the county
agents, with the latest ideas and sug-
conditions.