Show ten per cent of army veterans want to be farmers seven per cent hope to start small businesses more than half will work for wages again 8 going to school by WALTER A washington correspondent seventy five per cent ot of the officers and enlisted men in the unit td ed states army have definite ideas bout about what they intend to do when they get back home another 20 per cent have made tentative plans fer or their postwar work A survey by the research branch of the information lor mation and education division of the army shows that fifty two per cent roughly men plan to work tor for salary and wages seven per cent or about a halt million men intend to go into small businesses retail and and service trades mostly for themselves ten per cent or more than men plan to operate c farms ei eight ht per cent or about alan plan to go to school the remainder have made only tentative decisions or are undecided the army however points out hat at least three factors must be taken into consideration in interpreting the results of the survey 1 the length of the war 2 economic opportunity after demobilization 3 an increasing percentage may seriously bon consider sider attending full time school opening a business or buying a farm under G GI 1 I bill of rights provisions one interesting feature of this survey reveals that 80 per cent of the white enlisted men plan to return to the states in which they lived before entering the service this leaves 20 per cent who may migrate to another section of the country As a matter of fact 10 per cent or about men definitely anticipate moving to another state the other 10 per cent being still undecided this ratio is heavier in the negro enlisted personnel where only about two thirds expect to go back to the same state in which they resided in civilian life young men going west the great majority plan to migrate to the far west among the negroes the greater shift t is from the south to the northeastern states if the indicated shirts shifts materialize among these returning servicemen servicemen they may happen as follows 1 J A rapid expansion to the pacific coast states 2 in migration but on a much smaller scale into the industrialized east north central states 3 no net movement ingo in go balancing outgo out go in the new england middle atlantic and mountain states and 4 A heavy migration out from the highly agricultural areas running from the west north central states through h the entire tier of southern states if the plans for 7 per cent of our soldiers to enter business for themselves materialize it means creation of a little more than a half million new firms in the small business field or just about the number which went out of business busine gs in the two year period following pearl harbor A great majority of these about 52 per cent will enter the retail trade radio stores filling stations shoes hardware and general merchandise outlets about 16 per cent plan to go into the service fields 9 per cent into wholesale and small manufacturing 8 per cent into transportation and public utilities 6 per cent into construction the other 9 per cent being spread over all other industries of the three quarters of a million men who plan to take up farming either as owners or farm workers the survey shows thal tha 9 out of 10 have had at least a year or more of full time farming behind them only about 2 per cen had no farming experience at all even the men with relatively vague plans for farming have had considerable previous farming experience one out of four of those who seriously plan to farm already owns a farm these men are the least inclined to migrate this survey shows and the great majority of the prospective farmers plan to return to the same region from which they entered the army by and large they expect to go back to the same type of farming wi with alth which they are familiar these three quarters of a million men who plan farming as a career are roughly equivalent to the total who were farming just prior to induction although induction records show that more than a million and a halt half men have been taken from the farms these however included farm youths who were in school and were not classed actually as farmers not room tor for all AH on land according to the army the chances are arc that the nations farms will not be able to absorb all of the men planning to return to them in spite of the current shortage of a million farm workers the army says that rural areas normally produce more young men and women than can be efficiently utilized on the farm the problem may very well become acute considering the wartime increase in farm production achieved by more efficient use of labor on fewer farms A little more perspective on the EXPECTED POST VAR MIGRATION PATTERN OF WHITE ENLISTED MEN WIDTH OF BAR represents percentage OF ALL WHITE MIGRANTS ili 1 FROM 1 NORTH 4 T W 17 13 0 TH L 6 4 JJ 1322 1417 I 1 FROM SOUTH td SA pro problem bgern may be had by a further analysis of the intentions of these men definitely planning to farm in the first place the survey makes it clear that a much larger proportion of the men want to become farm operators by either buying or renting than were farm operators before the war A majority say they can count on an returning to a tract of land which they or their families own or they already have in mind a specific piece of land they expect to buy or rent however one out of every three indicate they will need to locate a farm to rent or buy after leaving th the e army so if the plans of all these prospective spec tive farmers materialize there will be thousands of veterans looking for farms in the postwar period and they very well may come up against a shortage of good land which may too be selling at much higher prices than before the war so there is fear on the part of the army that many of these men may be forced to settle on cheaper land the army points out that relief would be possible on this score e if large sections of public domain or reclaimed land becomes available about one out of six veterans said they would be willing to move on such tracts of land the same thing is true with respect to the farmer serviceman as with the prospective business man most of them are thinking of investing sums ranging up to this may be compared with the department part ment of agriculture estimates of 5 to as the average cost of the family sized farm not counting necessary tools equipment livestock etc so these prospective farmers will also need financial help how many will actually end up on the farm will depend on this aid and on the comparative opportunities tuni ties offered by industry and agriculture ri after the war in conjunction with the american historical association the armed forces institute has prepared a booklet entitled shall I 1 take up farming which is available at the government printing office washington 25 D C most will work for wages of course by far the greatest segment of the armed forces plan to work tor for wages on their return two aspects of the plans of these four fou million men are noteworthy F first irs y only one third of the white enli enlisted men who were employees before induction and plan to be employees after the war definitely expect to go back to their former employers another one third say they may return but are not sure this leaves another million men who will either migrate and move to other jobs or who have learned new trades and expect to do different work As a matter of fact the tendency among a large percentage of these servicemen is to aspire for work calling for a higher level of skill and in general the proportion who plan to pursue their prewar occupations declines as one proceeds along the occupational scale five per cent of this group definitely plans to sect governmental jobs the federa government now is by far the largest employer in the country and the th monthly report of the civil service commission as of may 1 the lat est report shows paid employment employ men meril in continental united states totaled of which were i ft the war agencies of this number only are in washington while war cutbacks are expect ec et to decrease this number somewhat government work is expected to maintain the upward trend has prevailed since the last war state and local governments nor mally employ more than twice at as many persons as does the federal federa government and the five ye years ars immediately following the war are ex pecked to see inore more than a lillior and a quarter jobs opening in chii field favorable employment op ties and special considerations fol foi veterans are expected to draw ably 10 per cent of the 52 per ceni cen who plan to work tor for wages ant anc salaries into this federal state ant anc local government field many returning to school veterans counting on going back bach to full time school after the war is ii nearing the mark that most of these will enter college is indicated from the fact thai more than 9 in 10 are high graduates the army points ov oui that this war has brought about the first large decrease in college enrollment roll ment since the turn of the century and that nonmilitary non military enroll ments in colleges and universities dropped 44 per cent after the firs two years of war civilian couer and university students in 1943 num bared smaller than 20 years ago the deficit of college trained men particularly acute in the liberal arti and teaching fields will continue t accumulate as the war goes on ii view of these facts it is interesting inte to note that the two most popular courses picked out by servicemen service mei emet are engineering and architecture and the liberal arts and sciences engineering most popular other courses mentioned incaudo business administration pre medic medicine and dentistry agriculture law education journalism and the in general about one mar in five is considering courses a 0 study which can be classified as lib eral arts and sciences and the re bainder are thinking in terms 0 professional and technical special ciali bation with engineering leading tho th field another point of particular sig ance is that this full time course will take these men out a 0 the labor market about half a mil lion of them but the same thin thing cannot be true of another laret group about 18 per cent additional or about who plan to at tend part time school that is worl and go to school at the same time three fourths of these students de sire trade rade and business COU courses urse S these also are in an group and about one third are mar ried there is one more section of vet erans which the survey classified these were a group of about 3 pel pei cent about who said the definitely plan to stay in the army up to more than 10 per cent jhc would consider re enlistment dundei certain specific conditions two major considerations which will govera the actions of this segment are V 1 the terms under which re enlist ments will be offered including re of rank choice of service duration of enlistment and anity for commissions and 2 th kind and opportunities for civilian civili ai ax jobs which will be available afeei the war REGIONAL distribution OF MEN PLANNING TO FARM FULL TIME percent per cent of men with definite plans pla ns northeast Nort N orabel beast it south unclassified ia S 40 iw ay te ww asil nor tb central cen t ral west i residence prior mm amk 1 to induction 1 4 expected residence atler after the war |