Celebrating History: Plant spuds to fight the kaiser

By Emily Mayer

Congress had finalized draft regulations regarding its quotas for draftees to be sent to training to go fight the Great War. In an article on the front page of The Havre Plaindealer’s April 27, 1918 edition, stated the change was “so that men needed in agriculture or industry won’t be drafted from one district while workers in non-essentials are draft free in another.” The quota was based on the number of Class 1 draftees who met physical requirements and not the number of men who had signed up for the draft.

While Montana had among the greatest number of young men going off to...