The School Boy as a 'Man on the Farm'
Facing a labor shortage due to the Great War, Washington officials look to high school students to save the harvest.
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Uncle Sam today called upon Washington high school students to help harvest the state’s crops this summer and prevent a threatened shortage of labor in the farming districts. The call, which enables students to help their country and obtain employment at prevailing wages, was issued by Henry M. White, United States commissioner of immigration and employment. The United States employment service has adopted the slogan, 'School boy can be a man on the farm.' Governor Ernest Lister is expected to issue a proclamation naming May 18th as enrollment day in the state’s five hundred high schools. The Tri-County agricultural committee of Kittitas, Yakima, and Benton counties has emphasized that with many farm hands enlisting in the army, students are the only available labor supply to ensure food production. The committee further resolved that it would be patriotic and economical for the schools of the state to remain closed until October first, allowing students to assist in the harvest.
“School boy can be a man on the farm.”
This 1917 mobilization highlights the historical reliance on youth labor to maintain agricultural output during crises. Today's debates about labor shortages in Washington's agricultural sector remain just as contentious, though the reliance has shifted toward complex visa programs rather than student volunteers.
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