Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-04-13
Enter the Land
Army Now
BY Frederic j. Haskin

oi the eastern coast. IL has opened Q
headquarters for summer enlistment or
the second floor of the Lexington Theatre
here, where the process of fiilIng out ap-
phcations for farm service is pleasantly
accompanied by lifting tunes that ioat
ON the stage below.
The housing of farming enterprise IN
such a theatrical atmosphere may seem a
bic odd, but il is very wise. 1t stimulates
recruiting, for almost anybody will pledge
his services 10 the crop cause IN order 10
enter theatre where rehearsal is gong
on. Then, too, the room IN which the
American Lard Service has Its recruiting
desk. is very large, with pianola and a
slippery floor which it intends to utilize
later on for series of barn dances and
other picturesque rural festivals as adj
vcrtising features TSr its work.
IL is wiling TO 60 10 the most elaborate
lengths, II says, TO mobilize n farm army
of Young men and women who will don
overalls and help to prevent the crop
catastrophe which occurred last year.
Then, thousands of bushels of everything
were wasted because the farmers could
not procure enough labor TO ship their
products. This wear the same thing Will
undoubtedly occur again, unless the neces-
Sary. labor Is provided.
REsPoND TO FARM CALL.
All consumers will lie glad to hear that
the prospects for its provision appear
extremely bright at present. In the three
weeks that the recruiting headquarters
has boon open, thousands of city residents
have responded eagerly to the call Of the
farm Many of these are seasonal work
Crs. who are anxious to employ their idle
time to advantage this summer, but
~tcnographers. clerks, students, teachers
and other "shut-in' workers are also in-
cluded in the list of applicants. Trust
the New Yorker to know a good thing
when he SECS 1t, and the opportunity the
Land STvIcc Is offering is a good thing.
II means a healthy, outdoor vacation with
paV. which viii be a splendid conditioning
PROCESS for the Forthcoming indoor work
Jf fall and winter.
u Is curious that the majority Of the
aupll.auts are city-bred workers, whose
acquaintance with farm life has been ac-
uuIicd almost entirely through the win
dows oi 4 railroad train. There have been
tcw applications from girls and boys who
have come from farms, although there
irt large numbep>of them IN New York.
\ great many ex-servIce men have seized
this chance to get back TO an outdoor
life. which they declare they have missed
ANA lngly since they left tho army.
During the first week that the Land
Service was open for enlistment, an ex.
service man. q Young lieutenant who had
cen decorated for bravery abroad, came
utu the office and applied for a job. He
lad Young wife and baby TO support he
said. but, after the army. the indoor office
,f. Ii hr NJ xs-ffa
an English girl, who helped to start the
woman land army on its way In Eng
and SO naturally the Land Service was
interested in seeing this early pioneer and
her husband well taken care of. 1t hunted
through it's flrs, and finally it found just
thr right thing for them. 1t was country
estate ont on Long Island, where the
lieutenant acts as a supervisor for the
owner. with a house and garden for the
llsc of his family. and so month in
vag, ; clear.
The land Service is now attempting to
ind SIMILAR place for a printer and his
,,ifc ard their, c.ght-vear-old little boy,
" no Is an Invalid. Their physicianNhas
assured them that there is little hopS of the
boy recovery While they remain An the
ritv. 81 he priEtSr is willing TO throw I'D
his job and become a farm hand for the
benefit OF his child.
HEALTH Is TIE lure.
Health. rather thah riches. IN fact.
seems to lc the chief lure of the Land
Every applicant who comes in
announces that it Is the outdoor life be is
after. and that il is worth a lot of money
10 him 10 be able TO get out of the CITY
during the hot, humid summer. Neverthe-
, /.
Just how much is still to be decided BY the
farmers. The Land Service is going to
Irv 10 make them pay thirty or thirtv-fve
rents an hour, but it suspects that the
farmers VIII agree TO pay only twenty /
five. which was the price paid last year.
This i for general farm work Berry, |
plckers will get three cents for every /
quart OF berries they pick, and it is esti- |
mated that a fairly rapid pickeF can earn /
At this rate on an average OF three dollars I
! day
In the case OF the girls, who will live at /
he camps established by the Land |
service. boarding rate of al least six
iollars a week viii be deducted from their
sGgrs The service has great ambitions
or these camps this year. Last year,
hey were comfortable enough, except that
D MANY rases the supervisors were said to
= Inefficient and unwiscly chosen And
great deal depends upon the supervisor,
or she l.. NJ complete charge Of the girls
md she can make their work q jov or q
lurdcn 10 hem. In addition to especially
rained and qud I6ed women for super
-Isors tins SUNNI Ter. the service expects TO
q lot Of expert equipment.
here VIII bc shower baths for the girls.
.nd an electric laundry and an electric
lIshwa4hlng machine Otherwise, the
lmpllcity ol the rural life will be undis-
urbed. Any girl who sleeps outdoors
must bring her own MOSQUITO netting. and
II must bring their own bedding and
blankets.
Most Of the boys are being placed as
Individual farm hands with farmers who
NIL also board them. If this means sleeD-
ng In the hay loft and performing ones
blutIons under d DurnO or IN a tin bucket.
be boy can stand it and wax strong on II
ut all are agreed that young ladies do not
hrive under such conditions. ,Indee d. one
'onders how som4 Of our city youths pull
Trough during the first few days Of this
nipple life.
There was a boy of 10 who came in with
is father, while the reporter was in the I
and service headquarters, for instance.
he boy face was pinehed and emaciated,
nd he sank YEARLY into chair as soon as
q reached the desk of the recruiting offic-
r Ills father, Il tremendous, robust man.
ID the talking The boy had heart
-oGble, he told the officer, and IL had oc- :
Irred TO him that farm work might be
BOD for him.
TENDING COWS
YES we have inst the very thing for /