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This is due to the fact that in industry one frequently works 

 day in and day out under constant supervision at one or two 

 operations. On a farm the jobs change from morning to night, 

 day in and day out, with a minimum of supervision. Many 

 city-minded folks think of food production as a mass produc- 

 tion industry. More often, it is one man working alone at ever 

 changing jobs. He must know how to do the job and when 

 to do it. 



Reserve of Skilled Farm Labor 



There are millions of men and women in the United States 

 who know how to do farm work, but who are not working 

 on the farms. Agriculture not only produces a surplus of food, 

 it produces a surplus of well- trained workers who migrate to 

 industry. There is no other source of such an enormous re- 

 serve of skilled labor. 



Many of the farm-reared men in the cities have risen to 

 positions of responsibility and cannot be spared. Others are 

 ready to go back to the farm when the returns are equally 

 remunerative. A land army raised from this surplus of skilled 

 labor would be an effective one. 



Another important source of farm labor is the farm women. 

 In this as in other wars the heaviest burden falls on women. 

 Normally the farm women do all the housework and a little 

 of the farm work. Farm women did more than the usual 

 amount of farm work and will be called on to do still more. 



The great source of woman labor is in the city rather than 

 on the farms. City women raise fewer children and their 

 household activities are simpler; they do not preserve and 

 can the meat, fruits, and vegetables, or board the hired man 

 and do his laundry. City women can replace some of the 

 farm-reared men, who can then go back to farms. Although 

 not spectacular, this is effective. The beautiful farmerette 

 perched on a tractor is very picturesque but not very effec- 



