The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1943-12-24
Was '!!'l ION DIG
Victory Volunteers Proved
Satisfactory Farm Hands
Most Of 100000 Young People Made Good,
Quickly Learning Agricultural SkHIs,
And Working Hard and Long.
BY BAUKHAGE
Neps analyst and Commentator.
WNU Service, Union Trust Building,
We shin @fnva n n

4 ~-"~"-~y~~ -
WNU Service, Union Trust Building,
Washington, d. G.
World War II has taught the world
that it is one thing to raise an army
and another thing to feed it-feed its
mouths and feed its guns.
It didn't take the United States
long after Pearl Harbor to realize
that it was easy enough to find
enough sailors and soldiers If you
didn't have to worry about finding
the civilians to take care Of them.
At present, 10 men out of every
100 are deferred from military serv-
ice because industry needs them; Is
out of every 100 because the farmers
have to have them. Thirty-six out Of
every 100 men now in the armed
forces were working in shops or
factories in 1910. Twenty-three out
of every 100 were on farms three
years ago.
Industry has charged that con-
! gress has been kindlier to the farm
ers when it came to deferring their
help than it has been to them. How
ever that may be, you won't hear
any farmers complaining about hav-
ing too much help. One thing, how
ever, according to the reports that
have come into the department Of
agriculture, the farmers are not
complaining on one score that lot
of them thought they were going to
have to complain about that is, the
help they get from the Victory Farm
Volunteers of the U. s. Crop corps.
Many farmers who came to scoff
remained to pray for more of the
same.
Not all Of the young folks who
worked on farms this summer were
perfect. It is estimated that there
may have been some 700, 900 of these
young people, half were provided
through the Federal Extension serv-
ice of the War Food administration,
as many more probably found jobs
for themselves. Under the leader
ship of the State Extension service
and with the active support of the
schools, the youth-serving agencies,
civic organizations and farm lead
ers, these Victory Farm Volunteers
were assembled. Most Of them
made good.
Their story makes an interesting
chapter in the history of American
youth.
"A Huge Task
It was no little job to launch the
project. Forty-three state farm la
Dor supervisors and some 5000
county farm labor assistants, under
the guidance of the county extension
agents, worked out the plans and
procedure based on the local needs.
They worked with state, county and
often local labor committees.
OF course, training was necessary.
The boys and girls were carefully
selected and many specially trained
and supervised, and the farmers
themselves learned that they could
train better if they had a little train
| ing in the art of teaching themselves.
This was provided.
Most Of the young workers lived
at home and were transported to
| the farms. This was done in school
buses, trucks or cars. Teachers,
ministers, youth leaders, acting as
supervisors, often accompanied the
workers right into the fields.
In some places, boys lived in
camps, but $4,000 boys and girls
lived right with the families where
they worked and many soon became
a part of the family, joining its activ-
tiles, church, grange meetings,
dances, picnics. Some liked the life
so well, especially those from the
big cities, that they stayed right
through the winter, attending the To-
cal schools.
Of course it was natural that the
farmers were skeptical at first at
the idea of letting these strange kids
overrun their places. But the
majority changed their minds when
they found how well the experiment
worked. The young folks couldn't
rival a trained farm worker, but
some were able to do much of the
work as well, and in some cases,
even better. Many farmers ar
ranged to keep the same workers
the next year.
| ! talked to one farmer who took
on an utterly green city boy. It was
late summer when saw them both.
They were going to part and ! can
tell you both were pretty blue. School
\ time had come and the boys parents
thought he better come home. He
told me that he was going to be q
farmer when he grew up and be-
lieve nothing will stop him.