Acting upon the order authorizing registrants who are farmers to be deferred until after July fifteenth, thousands of loyal, patriotic men who seek no exemptions but are really anxious to serve pitched their crops and are now in the very heart of the cultivating season. To call such men at this time will result in two evils: first, the crops will be absolutely lost; second, the spirit of loyalty and enthusiasm which we have been slowly building up in our rural communities and which is now eminently satisfactory will be seriously undermined. I think this situation worthy of the most careful consideration of the powers that be. I sincerely trust that you may be able to find some way of allowing these men to remain on their farms until July fifteenth. In the mean time “nos merituri te salutamus.”