FARMERS' PART IN WORLD WAR 29 



above military age, others unable to enter 

 the army on account of physical defects, and 

 boys not old enough for army service. 



Those in charge of the food stimulation cam- 

 paign did not seem to realize, however, that it 

 is not easy to draft large numbers of untrained 

 people into farm work and get the best of re- 

 sults, and while great aid was rendered by the 

 services of outside and inexperienced workers 

 the results from this farm labor campaign were 

 by no means so great as some had hoped that 

 they would be. 



It was estimated by the Department of Agri- 

 culture that at the beginning of the war about 

 fourteen million men were engaged in farming. 

 Before a year had passed about one and a half 

 per cent of these had been drafted and in addi- 

 tion to this a large number had joined the army 

 as volunteers and probably a much greater num- 

 ber had gone into the industries because of 

 higher wages. While the draft regulations were 

 drawn with a view to taking from the farms 

 relatively a smaller number of men, this had 

 little effect since public sentiment did not ex- 

 cuse the able-bodied farm boy who remained at 

 home, however necessary his services were on 

 the farm. Then, as always, the vigorous lads 



