The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1942-02-26
Skilled Farm Hands
Urged Not to-
Leave the Farms
Draft boards to defer
trained farm workers
as essential workers

/
Colonel Walter j. DeLong, State
Director of Selective Service for the
State Of Washington, today urged all
skilled farm labor to stay on the
farm as a patriotic duty and not to
leave the farm seeking higher wages
in defense industries.
It is obvious that when a skilled
farm hand leaves the farm to enter
industry, not only must he be train
ed for the job he is to take in in
dustry, but it is necessary to train
someone else to take his place on
the farm. Certainly the patriotic
thing for every skilled farmer to do
is to remain on the farm, and it
should be understood by all that
the farm hand who has been defer
red by his local board as an essential
farm hand is not unpatriotic be-
cause food production is certainly
a defense industry.
In order to maintain agricultural
production essential to the Nations
war status, all Local Selective Ser
vice Boards of the State of Wash
ington should consider carefully all
individual claims for deferment as
necessary man" in agriculture be-
cause of the increasing shortage in
this field. Such consideration should
include thorough analysis of the
status of each man with respect to
his agricultural employment and
should be based upon full informa-
ion regarding hose agricultural
produces which are essential.
Director DeLong asserted that
National Headquarters is taking
steps which it is believed will as
sist the local boards to obtain ade-
quate information upon which to
base the classification of registrants
engaged in agricultural pursuits. To
this end conferences have been held
by representatives of the Selective
Service System and agricultural
leaders which have resulted in ar
rangements to provide information
to Selective Service agencies on the
state and local levels. Arrangements
have also been made to inform all
agricultural employers Of the i'm
portance of limiting requests for
dccupational daferment to those
cases where men are clearly neces-
sary to the production of essential
products and cannot be replaced at
the time of classification.
At a recent conference of leaders
in agriculture, employment, educa-
ton and military, the question was
raised as to the necessity for filing
an official claim for deferment on
behalf of an agricultural worker as
a necessary man" before the local
board concerned would give consid-
Grafton to such deferment.
Director DeLong pointed out that
it was not necessary to file such a
claim, and insisted that it was the
duty of the local boards to make
that determination in the National
interest. He pointed out further that
agricultural workers determined as
necessary men" by local boards
should not, because of patriotic i'm
pulses, feel that the stigma OF
Stacker" would be attached to them
and that it was the duty of local
boards, regardless of the filing Of
a claim for deferment, to defer the
necessary" agricultural worker.
However, Director belong assert
ed, the public should not construe
all young men on farms to be "nec-
essary men" Only those men who
are skilled by virtue of experience
and training, and who are employ
ed on farms which produce a sub
stantial surplus for the general mar
ket, are to be considered those
employed on farms producing q
mere subsistence for its occupants.
At the recent conference herein
referred to, leaders of agriculture
emphasized that the growing short
ages in farm labor were attributable
more to the migration of men from
farms to defense industries than to
the selection of men for military
service by Selective Service Boards.
There is no comparison in the per-
centage of men who have voluntarily
left the farm for higher wages in
industry as compared with the linn
tied number of men selected for
military service" one of these lead
ers emphasized.
The Secretary of Agriculture has
been requested, and has agreed to
direct the state and county war
boards of the Department of Agri-
culture to make information avail
able upon the request of the Selec-
tive Service agencies. These county
war boards will he directed not to
interest themselves in individual
cases, but to be prepared to assist
Selective Service local boards should
they make inquiries concerning the
Importance of certain products and
the scarcity of men qualified to pro-
duce them.
ct is the desire of Selective Ser
vice headquarters that appeal