New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-02
Women Farmers of
State Able to Help
Returned Soldiers
Land Army Director Points
Out Farmerette Solves
Seasonal Labor Problem:
Does Not Undercut War
Veterans


just issued by the New York State
Woman's Land Army. The great back
to the land" movement which She
land army inaugurated during the
war is cooperating with the soldier
instead of competing with him.
Mrs. Otto r. Eichel, executive di-
rector of the New York State Wom-
ans Land Army, said yesterday that
the situation this summer showed
how much the returned soldier who
starts farming will need just the sort
of assistance which the women farm
ers of the state are able to offer him
at this time
"On the basis Of working by the
day." Mrs. Eichel said, at is quite
clear that the farmerette Is in no
sense competing with the soldier. The
soldier is not short time labor, nor
does he search for short time Job.
Up to the present time the farmerette
has considered her work on the farm
as a purely short time or seasonal
occupation.
Seasonal Work
"Women on farms last year and
those who are signing up for work
this year are women who generally
spend from three to four idle months
In the year because of seasonal work
These women come from various
trades. They are school teachers,
mllllners, garment workers, or in
some way connected with work which
keeps them occupied for eight or nine
months in the year, For them the
land army solves a difficult problem
seasonal labor. The soldier wants
job from January to January of each
year.
''In every instance in the state of
returned soldiers who have written to
our state headquarters for information
concerning land which they want to
take up we have answered their com
munlcations by giving them all the as
slstance IN our power and by Offering
to place near their farms Land Army
unit to assist in the cultivation Of
their land. Soldiers are writing back
to us that this sort of cooperation is
of great value to them There still
exists in New York State a serious
shortage of labor on the farm If a
soldier is convinced that he can nave
farm and be sure of enough labor to
work that farm during the first season
he is more liable to look upon the
venture as a good business asset at the
start. In every instance we have found
that the soldier has wanted and asked
for just the sort of help which the
Woman's Land Army is Offering him at
this time
Even Larger Scale
Mrs. Eichel predicts that, while the
New York State Woman's Land Army
worked last year solely as a war emer-
gency organization, it's work this year
will be carried on an even larger scale,
as it has been demonstrated that there
is a greater need now for the services
the women are offering. Last year
forty-hvc camps were placed in this
state. More are under consideration
for the coming season Units are be-
ing named this month for early plant
ing. The farmers who sent in early
requests are planning for the work Of
the girls to start not later than the
last Of March or the first Of April. The
unit plan" of placing women on the
land, which the Woman's Land Army
developed during the war, has rapidly
changed into a national "back- to-the-
land" movement which the women hope
will grow in the future to be q funda-
mental aid to the rural life of the
country
Community Centres
"ln many of the camps" said Mrs.
Eichel there will be developed this
year scheme for Saturday evening
recreation and amusemcnts for the
girls, for the farmers and for their
families in the ncighborhood. Gradu-
ally the Land Army camps are bccom-
ing rural community centres. They
offer legitimate amusement to the COM
munity, and by so doing they are
bringing the city and the country in
to closer touch with each other. These
Land Army camps last year started a
now social order on the farm They
ovcrcame the one problem which every
young person faces the isolation of
farm life.
cone Of the first policies Of the Land
Army Is the insistence on a living
wage for women. The work and pay Of
the farmcrettes have been so adjusted
that women will not undercut the men.
Equal pay for equal work and for
equal working hours in day will be
rigidly adhered to in the work planned
for this year, which will start with
the planting season this month"
No labor is placed by the New York
State Woman's Land Army without
the approval and investigation of Fed
eral authorities.