Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-08-12
Putting Human Ab6ea1 Into
Rural Life and Labor
NEW and fertile idea on the rural
labor problem has appeared.

4
In the summer of 1918, when war
emergencies had sorely depleted the ranks
of plow boys and harvesters, experiments
in mastering city hands to the farmer S
help proved to be for the most part de-
cided failures In portions of the West, it
is true, substantial aid was given by town
folk but the majority of these probably
had done former service in the wheat fields,
IL indeed they were not to the manner
born. All too often the city volunteers who
were expected to save the crops and usher
in another Already turned out to be either
so short of breath and stamina or so alb
surdly inefficient that the farmer heaVed
signs of relief when they left-as ninety
per cent did, before their first fortnight
was out Why so great a failure? One stu
dent of the matter answers: 1.-THE spirit
of adventure was soon lost under the hot
sun, when the novelty wore off; the diff
ference between city and country life was
too sharp and sudden; the extra field help
crowded the house and made work harder
for the farmers wife"
1t is by averting these conditions as far
as possible that the new idea bids for
success. And highly successful it seems to
be in New York State, where it's origina-
tors have established twenty-five of their
so-called farm help camps" and have
saved one and half million dollars worth
of vegetables and fruits. Under this inter-
esting system those enlisted for the sum-
mer's emergency season are not quartered
on the farm but in village camps some
distance away, and are taken to and from
the fields in automobiles. Good food we'll
prepared, with standardized menus, good
sleeping accOmm OdatlOnS, social evenings.
Sunday gatherings and entertainments to
relieve monotony' are salient features of
the plan.
Among all the hundreds of workers thus
recruited in the summer of 1919 there was
not one gutter Moreover, ninety-seven per
cent Of them, notwithstanding lack of ex-
perience, proved satisfactory helpers; they
labOred in good earnest, and they were
teachable. Most remarkable was the fact
that at the close of the season, every work.
er expressed a wish to re-enlist for the
ensuing year, and about one-fifth of them
planned to take winter courses in agricul-
tural schools. Writing in the Nautilus mag
azine, Mr.. Brown Landone says of this
unique enterprises: Changing ninety per
cent failure to a ninety-seven per cent sue
cess was the result of idealizing a plan of
action" and as evidence of the profitable
ness of the procedure he points out that
"for every dollar spent in camp equip
ment, one hundred and thirty-seven dol
lars worth Of food was saved, and that
for every one thousand spent, one hundred
and thlrty-seven thousand was saved The
uls'lncIVe element OF the plan lies in MAX
ing farm work and farm life worthwhile.
not merely in monetary compensation but
also IN point OF human appeal. Good food
clean and comfortable housing, a dash of
recreation-these are the touches that tell
Is it not thus, moreover, that thousands
can be won back to the soil, not for
season only but as regular producers, help
ing to solve the grave problef of Inadequate
food supply? To the extent that rural
living is served by good roads, good
schools, circulating libraries, domestic con-
veniences and is made socially agreeable. it
will hold it's own ranks intact and draw
more largely upon urban populations. True
1t is that we can never make life better
merely by making it easier nor solve it's
acrid problems by coating them with sugar.
But we can work at least to relieve the
gray tedium that takes the heart out lof
youth and to widen the opportunities which
every growing spirit demands.