100 years ago in The Saratogian
Thursday, April 19, 1917
The 54 school children who have volunteered to grow crops for the Boys’ Farm Colony project “must command the respect of their fellow school children, as well as the respect of every adult citizen of Saratoga,” The Saratogian reports.
Since the U.S. declaration of war against Germany on April 6, increasing food production has become a top national priority. Civilians are being asked to volunteer their land or labor to increase the food supply for civilians and military alike.
Not all the volunteers for the Boys’ Farm Colony are boys. Four schoolgirls – Margaret Delong, Katherine Haniquet, B. LaMountain and Ruth Wallace, are “as willing as their sturdier companions to do their bit in the great army of producers which America must mobilize this spring.”
The volunteers from both sexes so far are less than three percent of the Spa City’s public school population. The Saratogian expects at least fifty more students to sign up for the Colony.
“The boys who can do this, but won’t because they place their baseball above their love of country are every bit as much slackers as the men who without a valid excuse evade service of their country on the first line of defense,” a reporter editorializes, “And the parents who neglect or refuse to back their boys in this endeavor are slackers, too, in a very real sense.”
Suffragists to aid census taking
The New York State Woman Suffrage Party is taking an indefinite break from their campaign for voting rights in order to do their part for the war effort.
New York State will hold its second referendum in three years on women’s suffrage this November. After the declaration of war the Suffrage party volunteered its services to the state government and was assigned to assist in organizing a military census.
“The aim of the census is to determine the exact military power of New York State, both as to soldiers and sailors and the vast army of workers for home service,” The Saratogian explains, “Every man and woman between the ages of sixteen and sixty years will be registered.”
The state government recruited the Suffrage party because its members “are the only women workers organized by election districts.” Their primary task is to recruit census takers for the count to be taken between May 10 and May 23.
Today’s report emphasizes that the census has “nothing to do with suffrage work.” Volunteers will be welcome whether they support women’s suffrage or not.
“There is no patriotic Saratogian who cannot give a few hours to the work of enrollment,” a reporter advises.