Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1920-03-12
DISABLED Ex.yANkS
TO DRIVE TRACTORS
SHORTAGE OF MEN QUALIFIED
TO OPERATE POWER MA
CHINERY.

new and important addition to
the labor supply in the field of tractor
operations is ION the way" A sig
nificant means OF relief for the serv-
ice responsibilities of the tractor deal
er is likewise in immediate prospect.
Oncfe Sam is recruiting and tram
ing disabled soldiers as farm mechan-
les. And farm mechanics" for all
its breadth of application, means, as
the federal officials sense it, pre-
eminently tractor operators and
tractor repairmen. Uncle Sam has
demonstrated to. his own satisfaction
that man. even though lacking the
use of one hand or one leg, may, with
proper training, qualify as an ideal
farm mechanic and hence plans are
pushing ahead to mobilize q force OF
specialists who will be the best paid
men on the farms because they will
be the most valuable men In the farm
crews.
The interest and activity OF the ma
tional government in this construct
i've undertaking is expressed throueh
the federal board OF vocational ediE-
cation. the primary respbnsihility of
which, Just now, is to at to earn
livelihood the returned soldiers anA
sailors who, as result OF the toll 6k
war, are disqualified for the occupn-
tions that they formerly followed.
Uncle Sam Supervising II.
The federal board Is not to con-
duct the educational institutions that
will train the "reconstructed' scl-
.diera - experts In power farmiuS
That will be left to state agricultural
colleges and established tractor
schools. But the federal board viii
recruit the farm mechanics pros
poets. will formulate to some extent
the standard sources of instructions
to be followed and will, in q sense.
supervise the education of the man.
From the standpoint of the we'll
being of the tractor industry one Of
the most gratifying and encouraging
features of this project for building
up an organization of skilled mechan-
les on the farms is the manner In
which Uncle Sam has been literally
pushed into It,
With view to affording every OPP
portunity to disabled soldiers, sail
ors and marines to find themselves,
this federal board for vocational ed
ucation is working in close co-opera-
tion with the Office of the surgeon
general of the war department and
the bureau of medicine and surgery
of the navy department. The policy
is to allow no disabled man to leave
the hospital until everything possible
has been done to restore him to phys
ical health and strength. but it Is
sought to utilize the period of conva-
lescence to familiarize the patient
with all the avenues of profitable and
congenial employment that will be
open to him when he again strikes
out for himself
And They're Crazy to Learn.
In the canvass of the men in the
hospitals and rest camps it has been
no surprise that boys reared on the
farms or whose war experience was
lin an automotive sphere have dis
played keen interest in the farm me-
|chanics program. What has proved
impressive is the proportion Of sol
diers and sailors without special quail
Iifications whose itnerest has been
focused in this quarter.
One explanation vouchsafed by the
officials is that there were in the
|army many men of mechanical bent
who did not have an opportunity to
work at it during the war; Another
lis that the very considerable number
of men who, as a result of their war
experience. want jobs in the open,
favor the farm mechanic proposal.
Uncle Sam in his new role of In
,structor in farm mechanics will not
tell the graduates" what pay they
should receive on the farms, nor will
he attempt to dictate to farmers or
ranchers what wage they should pay.
The officials who are directing the
project tell privately. however, that
they feel that competent farm me-
chanic should be worth. anywhere in
the country, a wage CT not less than
Az nar month with keen. IL unmar.