The sun., 1919-04-27
BY ROBERT C. SKERRETT


through the agencies of engi-
neering. And from now on
during the critical period Of our re-
adjustment, machinery again will play
conspicuously helpful part.
A year ago we shipped abroad for
the battling armies something like H.
000, 900 tons of food, and we thought we
were taxing our soil to the utmost.
Even so, our task to-day is to send
overseas in 1919 a total Of substan-
TALLY 100000 tons of comestibles.
That means we have got to produce
enough to feed ourselves and to have
100000 tons more Of foodstuffs to
send to Europe than we shipped across
the Atlantic in 1918. How are we going
to do this without pinching ourselves
more than We did during the past
months of maximum stress? The an
swer is a heartening one because it
promises both a plenty for ourselves,
very material aid for the sufferers
.broad, and a great deal OF work for
the men that have come back to IL
anxious for worth while Jobs.
The Farm Mechanic.
A new craftsman has come into
being. the farm mechaSic." This
newly created specialist Is going to be
drawn very largely from among our
gallant fellows who battled lover
there" and who made more or less OF a
physical sacrifice in smashing through
the foes supposedly impregnable lines.
Within the past few weeks 1t has been
announced that the Federal Board for
Vocational Education is preparing to
train disabled soldiers. former farm
boys, for this latest calling.
This governmental body believes
that with the present scarcity OF labor
on the farms there will be henceforth
q greatly increased use OF machinery
in all departments Of agriculture.
Therefore 1t is particularly desira BILE
that such of our returning soldiers
who may desire out OF door employ
ment be trained to handle and to re-
pair tractors and all other up to date
farm machinery. According to the
Federal Board for Vocational Educa-
ton every farm Of a hundred acres
and upward will need a farm mechanic.
and from the indications of official
inquiry there are the best Of reasons
for believing that the demand for such
skilled workers will far exceed the
supply.
This conclusion is not based upon
guesswork or differences drawn from
incomplete returns-it is the logical
probability of the conditions confront
ing us here as well as abroad In
short 1t is history repeating itself.
The civil war drained our rural dis
tricts both to recruit our armies and
to concentrate the nations man power
at points where munitions were manu-
featured or other activities essential
to carrying on that conflict had to be
kept going. AS a consequence farm
labor was wotully insufficient when
the country faced the advent of re-
construction. Then 1t was that native
ingenuity came to the fore. With the
urge Of the need of more foodstuffs
the necessity for cultivating a greater
acreage. and this with diminished
labor, efforts were directed TO develop
ing farm machinery. 1t was by means
OF these instrumentalities that we met
a crisis and grew crops OF extraordi-
nary fulness.
To-day the situation does not differ
materially in kind-with one eyr-p-
ton. and that OF primo importance
the change is principally one OF de-
gree. We have greatly decreased
movement toward the land, diminu-
ton of farm labor such as prevailed
at the close OF the civil war: we have
to feed and to readjust not only our
selves but We must provide in large
measure bread and meat for millions
OF people across the water and to hell
them the while to effect their recon
struction; and finally 1t is for us tc
so arrange our vocational efforts gen.
orally that the recruited women may
find satisfying channels OF activity
and the returned soldiers. inspired by
broader view of their places in tn
body polite. may have a chance Il
labor in fields that will harmonic witt
their altered mental aspects. Thi.
applies both tn the cX-fighter who has
suffered physically as well as to hi
fellow who is bodily unimpaired.
Combat service has familiariZe'
hundreds of thousands Of our youths
with things mechanical 10 which the.
we're previously utter strangers. Th'
rugged Aife Of the camp and the thea