Strengthen Labor Policy, Farmers Demand

Farm Labor Shortage Threatens Food Supp y {

By CYNTHIA CARTER

According to farmers throughout the province, unless ad-
ditional steps are taken by the government to relieve the acute

farm labor shortage, there will
production in 1943.

This shortage ,according te a
recent report sent to Hon. K. C.
MacDonald, minister of agricul-
ture, by the B.C. Agriculture Pro-
duction Committee, has already re-
sulted in the “slaughter of dairy
heads at a time when we are short
of butter, milk and cheese; diminu-
tion of sheep flocks when mutton
and wool] are being asked for; a
smaller increase in swine when
Britain needs bacon; the difficulty
of maintaining poultry flocks when
eggs are needed to fill both export
and local demands.”

The report goes on to state that
“even the 1943 plantings of a num-
ber of our staple crops are being
restricted to fit in with the labor
famine inst@ad of being extended.”
And this at a time when the gov-
ernment feels that it is necessary
to increase hog production by 28
per cent and butter production by
15 per cent to meet growing needs.

For the farmer it is a vicious
eircle. There have been two prin-
ciple drains upon skilled farm labor
since the beginning of the war:
the first to the armed forces,
whether by enlistment or conscrip-
tion; the second to the higher pay,
shorter hours, and more comfort-
able living conditions of war indus-

THE

Rese SoS.

@ AID RUSSIAN

RELIEF DRIVE

be a marked decrease in food

This creates a problem to which
the farmer has no _ satisfactory
answer. He could, if it weren’t for
such things as price ceilings, raise
the wages he pays, which would
mean raising his prices, thus caus-
ing city living costs to rise. Or he
could risk being accused of one
of the milder forms of sabotage by
decreasing his production to what
he can raise and harvest single-
handed. :

Perhaps the plight of B.C. farm-
ers is best presented in a letter re-
ceived by MacDonald in answer to
a questionaire circulated in the

province. The letter, written by a
young girl, read in part as fol-
lows:

“As I'm the only girl home with
my aged parents, I donned a pair
of trousers and shirt and helped
harvest. ...I had the cows to milk
by myself, the milk to look after,
the family washing and the ironing
to do, besides picking and canning

berries, cultviating the vegetables
and other jobs too numerous to
mention.

“TJ wasn’t the only woman doing
such tasks; there were mothers
with ten smal] children out laboring
all day with their husbands, and,
my friend, not only in the summer,
but all winter, too.

+

and help

«©

those who are deserving of our help!

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Well laid out farms like the one shown above
production. Careful planning, long in advance, produces record crops, say farmers.

“There would be no shortage of
food of any kind if we could only
get the help. ... Next year we are
only going to plant what we are
able to put up by ourselves, and
the hell with the rest.”

This woman’s case is by no
means an isolated one. Is it any
wonder, then, that the minister of
agriculture describes the problem
as one of the most difficum that
we have to face, and points out
that “rationing of food is only pos-
sible when there is food to ration,
and production of food is only pos-
sible through a labor supply which
of necessity must be assured in
advance to effect the present tend-
ency to neglect plans for spring
sowing.”

The same problem has confronted
other countries, who have found
solutions with varying degrees of
success. In Great Britain, a Wo-
men’s Land Army was formed early
in the war. In the Soviet Union,
where every available man is on
the fighting front, women have
taken complete charge of collec-
tive farms. In both Britain and
Russia, shock brigades of students
have been recruited for work in
the harvest. Even in the United
States, Ontario and the prairie

provinces, women and students have
been recruited for farm work.
e e e

The present attitude of the gov-
ernment towards the shortage of
farm labor is made clear by the
new §&-point program announced
this week, which provides that:

@ all farm workers can volun-
teer for active service;

@ farm workers shall be re-
tained for farm work “as far as
possible”;

@® any farm worker who leaves
agriculture without a permit
loses any claim to exemption
from the draft;

@ farm workers who ask for
postponement from the draft
are to be granted it unless it
is proved that the applicant is
not an essential farm worker;
e if a farm worker is found
to be not essential to the work
of a certain farm the board can
order him to another farm. He
will then be given three-months’

postponement from the draft
while he seeks another farm
job;

@ men who have become farm
laborers since March 23, 1942,
when farm labor was “frozeny’

if their services are essential,
must now be considered as farm
laborers and entitled to mili-

tary deferment if “the merits of
the case are established”;

@ conscientious objectors will
not be directed into any gov-
ernment service as long as they
remain in essential farm labor;
@ men like conscientious ob-
jectors in alternative jgovern-
ment services will be invited to
apply for leave so that they may
go into farming.

This plan, while a definite step

in the right direction, will not
solve the problem completely-
With the exception of point 5,

which is the most important point
in the document, the regulations
still make use of the voluntary
systems for retaining farm labor.
The doorway to free enlistment is
still open to essential farm work-
ers. Every other point puts the
onus of claiming exemption on
the farm worker himself; he can

“apply” for postponement, and
“prove” he’s essential.
Yet, according to opinions ex-

pressed -by farmers through their
institutes and forums, farmers’
sons are enlisting to escape the
stigma of “hiding behind a post
ponement.” As a farm woman re-
cently stated: “We realize that a
farmer's son has an equal right
to fight for ‘his countrys free-
dom .. but on the other hand,
if Britain and HEurope must be
fed, it cannot be done without
sufficient farm workers.” ;

Although every farm er will wel-
come the steps taken by Ottawa
in this matter, it is obvious that
an even more drastic plan must
be put into effect immediately.
The solution is tied up with the
entire question of selective serv-
ice ,and the need for the fovern-
ment to face growing issues of
conscription and manpower.

In a radio program presented
by National Farm Radio Forum
from Ottawa .on November 30,
1942, the following conversation
took place between Arthur Mc-
Wamara, director of National Se-
lective Service; R. A. Stewart,
president of the Lanark County
Federation of Agriculture, and P.
D. MacArthur, dairy farmer from
Howick, Que.:

Stewart: What steps are being
taken to transfer workers from
non-essential industries to essen-
tial war work such as farming?

McNamara: You will have to
take our assurances, Stewart, that
these things will be done. ...
Wo effort will be spared to get
farmers the help they need and

must have.

are necessary to keep up Canadian f

And again:
McNamara: Well, if a”
wants to enlist, you can't |
well stop him, can you? :
MeArthur: Sure you can, =
really essential. They’re doin
in the States now. In the li
the present farm labor siti |
is it advisable to allow key n-
enlist voluntarily? j
Stewart: ... If food prod
is really essential, the very
the government can do is te
men on farms that it is the
triotic duty to stay there. We
want special privileges. Wa
want to be able to do our 3"
ficiently.

e e e
From coast-to-coast, farmer
ize that while different di
present different problems, ¢
firm federal policy on man
can serve to solve them. Ar
to a questionaire sent out I
Farm Radio Forum revealer
freezing of farm labor had #
most part failed because ¢
wages. Some provinces solyi
problem by the formation ¢
men’s farm service forces an
dent work brigades. Howevei
again the lack of governmen
ning was felt. In Ontario,
Mpaid to women were inade
(Women received 22146 cen
hour, out of which they we
quired to pay weekly boa
$4.50). On the prairies, man
dents complained that they
paid only half of what the
been promised.

These, then, are the sugge
that British Columbia farme
demanding that their gover
follow: first of all, stronger
tive service regulations; free:
manpower to land; format:
Women’s Land Armies; rec}
of shock brigades of student
city workers for the busy hi:
ing season; government subsi
of farm wages and prices; pr
upon railway companies fo
gain fares for harvesters; «
eration of plans for the 1
Japanese and conscientious
ors on the land.

If Canada’s food product
mot to decrease, the gover
must act. Otherwise, farme
be forced to leave their fa
order to make a living, at.
when our growing army, a
and navy need more and
food. Otherwise, all our
on production and  battl
will avail us nothing if ©
the war on the farm front.

207 West Hastings Street

x

DR. W. J. CURRY
DENTIST

Tel. PAc. 1526

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