During World War I, Americans were asked to make do with less. One thing in short supply was labor. The war hit farmers especially hard. They were being asked to grow more food while facing a labor shortage. Agriculture was crucial to the war effort, so many farm workers were exempt from the draft. But that didn’t stop eager volunteers from leaving the farm to join the military or work in factories producing goods for the war.
The government took the labor shortage seriously. In 1918, the Farm Service was established to help alleviate the shortage. It helped direct available labor to where it was most needed. A Bismarck Tribune article urged North Dakotans to pitch in, saying that unless people had been called to the fields of France, they should “hear your government’s call for Soldiers of the Soil.” Schools across North Dakota adjusted their calendars so children could help with spring planting and the fall harvest.
When the war ended abruptly in 1918, Americans expected their boys to come home soon. However, military leaders had expected the war to continue into 1919, and there was no immediate plan to bring nearly two million soldiers back. Americans grew impatient to have their soldiers return home, and farmers were eager to get their labor back in the fields. On this date in 1919, the Williston Graphic published an editorial cartoon on page one. It showed a farmer in the War Department’s office telling a clerk, “I want to get my boys back from over there.” The clerk responds, “Our shipment of boys seems to be delayed, but we have plenty of this,” pointing to a pile of red tape.
The demobilization process was chaotic. Men anxiously waited at debarkation centers near French ports for transport ships to take them home. The last combat units left France in September 1919, almost a full year after the war ended. It took another six months before all the troops were finally returned to the U.S.
Dakota Datebook by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- NDStudies. “Trouble on the Farm, 1914-1930.” https://www.ndstudies.gov/gr4/north-dakota-agriculture/part-1-north-dakota-agriculture/section-14-troubles-farm-1914-%E2%80%931930 Accessed 12/30/2024.
- Footnote. “Down on the Farm.” https://footnote.wordpress.ncsu.edu/2019/03/21/down-on-the-farm/ Accessed 12/30/2024.
- The Food Historian. “We Eat Because We Work.” https://www.thefoodhistorian.com/blog/world-war-wednesday-we-eat-because-we-work Accessed 12/30/2024,
- National World War I Museum and Memorial. “Coming Home.” https://wwichangedus.org/topics/coming-home/ Accessed 12/30/2024.
