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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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was provided, and then jolly good times were provided, and the farmers got their cherries picked or their beans picked, or whatever it was. Then the group would move on. They lived in camps or tents or other suitable housing. There was a committee to oversee it. They had a very pleasant time, and it got to be a sort of a routine with these girls who had gone out and worked in the land army, and worked in the garment trades the other months of the year. They looked forward to it. They would go sometimes if they only had three weeks, they'd go in for three weeks. They looked forward to it very much. And then, it was called the Women's Land Army and every year it was recruited. It was not heavy farm work no. It was light farm work, suitable for women to do--and for unskilled women, I mean women who were not accustomed to farm work. And it was a great success.

Well, Roosevelt had heard about that and remembered it, and he thought that that could be duplicated on a large scale all over the country.

Interviewer:

Wickard said, “Just imagine the average farm wife, with a whole pile of women coming out from the towns, all over the farm.

Perkins:

Well, I don't know about the average farm wife, but in upper New York State, it was no problem to them.





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