Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-05-25
APPEALS TO PEOPLE OF TOWNS
TO HELP IN HARVEST AND
FIELD WORK.
CONDITIONS As BAD
As IN TIME OF WAR
City Dweller as vitality Interested az
Farmer Because Of Threatened
Shortage Of His Food Supply
Spectators and Not Farmers Will
% Hit by Price Breaks.
[By E. q. Dougherty.1

Washington, May 25.--Urgently ap-
pealing to the people OF the various
cities of the country to aid the farm
ers in harvesting crops this summer.
Secretary Of Agriculture Edwin 7.
Meredith, in an exclusive interview
with your correspondent. declared
that without such aid there Is seri-
Gus danger Of a food scarcity next
| winter.
Handicapped by q combination OF
circumstances over which he has no
tary Meredith insists, Is doing his
utmost to meet the food needs OF tho
country. He absolvss him without
question Of any charge or suspicion
OF stacking on the JOB. But because
of the handicaps, chief among which
is the shortage Of labor. the secre-
tary declares the farmer is faced by
the necessity Of curtailing his pro-
duction unless aid 10 assured him.
For this reason MIR. Meredith ur-
gently appealsl TO city business or
ganizations and student bodies thru
out the country to pledge themselves
to send large numbers out TO the
farms this summer and help the
farmer garner his crops.
Problem 10 For City Men.
"rhe problem" Mr.. Meredith de-
clared, as as much the city mans as
it is the farmers. Their interests
are inextricably bound up and inter-
dependent. 4. often wonder II the
people Of the cities realize how close
ly the problem comes homo to them.
with the exception Of the packing
centers, the cities Of tho country
have on hand at any time only
enough meat to feed them for, per-
haps, four days. They have only
enough -four to last = few weeks.
Their vegetables and fruits come In
from day to day. Practically every
thing they eat 10 only few days. or,
at most, a few weeks removed from
the farm. Whenever there 10
shortage Of production it 10 almost
instantly reflected on the people OF
the cities. H.
Fright now We face the danger Of
such q. shortage for next year. Cur
tailed acreage necessarily means cur
tailed food production, and without
adequate labor farmers cannot main
tain adequate acreage. Not alone Is
there q shortage Of 80 per cent in the
supply Of hired farm labor the coun-
try over, but farm work II greatly
behind because of the backward
spring. Even with the best possible
season from now until harvest, those
two things--shortage of labor and
late spring reduced produce
ton. And food scarcity is a menace
to national prosperity everywhere.
High wages would mean little to the
city worker II he cannot buy food
except at famine prices.
1.-THE curtailment Of immigration
alone during the war has been SUI
fcient to make deep cut In the nor
mai supply of labor Of all kinds.
with what supply Of labor there is.
the farmer feels he is unable to COM
pete with the higher paying indus
tries Of tho cities. II he is to got the
| help he needs this summer he must
rely on a thorough awakening on the
part Of the city people to their re-
sponsibilties In tho situation. They
have to realize that 30 far as ag-
ricultural products are concerned, 1t
is an emergency that faces the
country. as grave in many respects
as that which faced US during the