The Country Needs You to Help Harvest the Cotton
An elderly farmer in shirtsleeves, hat in hand, looks out of a window onto a white cotton field beneath a large American flag, a picking basket at his feet. The text asks office workers to lock their desks and join the harvest. The tell of transfer is the flag filling the window: the national symbol is laid over a request for farm labour.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1918
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- U.S. Department of Agriculture; H. Devitt Welsh (artist)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Labor, War and the military
- Event
- World War I
- Regime
- Wilson administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 4 (U.S. Food Administration), World War I Posters (NAID 512439), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- NARA Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
U.S. Department of Agriculture. National Archives and Records Administration, 4-P-64.
Text on the object
THE COUNTRY NEEDS YOU TO HELP HARVEST THE COTTON LOCK YOUR DESK -- CLOSE YOUR DOOR AND DO YOUR PART APPLY to your county agent or agricultural college U.S. DEPT. of AGRICULTURE H. Devitt Welsh
The boxed 'D P' monogram at lower right and the artist's signature are printed marks, not slogan text.
