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NATION’S LABOR
PROBLEM
a million and a Half Wo
men Work as Farm Hands
in the United States.
■y Peter Radford
cturer National Farmers' Union.
Our goverment never faced so
tremendous a problem as that
now lying dormant at the doors
of Congress and the legislatures,
Wd which, when aroused, will
Stake this nation from center to
(Sircumference, and make civiliza
tion hide its face in shame. That
JKoblem is—women in the field.
. The last Federal census reports
&tatnv we now have 1,514,000
jwomen working in the field,
Inost of them south of the Ma
son and Dixon line. There were
approximately a million negro
slaves working in the fields when
liberated by the emancipation
proclamation. Wc have freed
our slaves and our women have
taken their places in bondage.
,Wt have broken the shackles of?
the negroes and welded them
upon our daughters.
( The Chain-Gang of Civilization.
A million women in bondage
in the southern fields form the
chain-gang of civilization —the
industrial tragedy of the age.
.There is no overseer quite so
cruel as that of unrestrained
greed, no whip that stings like
the lash of suborned destiny, and
no auctioneer’s block quite so
revolting as that of organized
avarice.
The president of the United
States was recently lauded by the
press, and very properly so, for
suggesting mediation between the
engineers and railroad managers
in adjusting their schedule of
time and pay. The engineers
threatened to strike if their wages
iwerc not increased from approx
imately ten to eleven dollars per
day and service reduced from ten
to eight hours and a similar read
justment of the overtime sched
ule. Our women are working in
tlic field, many of them barefoot
ed, for less than 50 cents per
day, and their schedule is the ris
ing and the evening star, and
after the day’s work is over th“v
milk the cows, slop the hogs and
rock the baby to sleep. Is anyone
mediating over their problems,
and to whom shall they threaten
a strike?
Congress has listened approv
ingly to those who toil at the
forge and behind the counter, and
many of our statesmen have smiled
at the threats and have fanned
the flame of unrest among indus
trial laborers. But women arc as
surely the final victims of indus
dustrial warfare as they are the
burden-bearers in the war be
tween nations, and those who ar
bitrate and mediate the differ
ences between capital and labor
should, not forget that when the
expenses of any industry are un
necessarily increased, society
foots the bill by drafting anew
consignment of women from the
home to the field.
Pinch No Crumb From Women’s
Crust of Bread.
N'o financial award can be made
without someone footing the hill,
and we commend to those who
accept the responsibility of the
distribution of industrial justice,
the still small voice of the woman
in the field as she pleads for
mercy, and we beg that they
pinch no crumb from her crust
of bread or put another patch up
on her ragged garments.
We beg that they listen to the
scream of horror from the eagle
on every American dollar that is
wrung from the brow of toiling
women and hear the Goddess of
Justice hiss at a verdict that in
creases the want of woman to
satisfy the greed of man.
The women behind the counter
and in the factory cry aloud for
sympathy and the press thunders
out in their defense and the pul
pit pleads for mercy, but how
about the woman in the field ?
Will not these powerful expon
ents of human rights turn their
talent, energy and influence to
her relief? Will the Goddess of
Liberty enthroned at Washing-
ton hold the calloused hand and
soothe the feverish brow of her
sex who sows and reaps the na
tion’s harvest or will she permit
the male of the species to shove
women—weak and weary—from
the bread-line of industry to the
back alleys of poverty?
Women and Children First.
The census enumerators tell us
that of the 1,514,000 women who
work in the fields as farm hands
409,000 are sixteen years of age
and under. What is the final des
tiny of a nation whose future
mothers spend their girlhood
days behind the plow, pitching
hay and hauling manure, and
what is to become of womanly
culture and refinement that grace
the home, charm society and en
thuse man to leap to glory in
noble achievements if our daugh
ters are raised in the society of
the ox and the companionship of
the plow?
In that strata between the
Of sixteen and fofcty-five are 9a0,-
000 women working as farm
j&ands and many of them with
suckling babes tugging at their
breast, as drenched in perspira
tion, they wield the scythe and
filde the plow. What is to be
me of that nation where pover
breaks the crowns of the
<hieens of the home; despair
Sirls a mother's love from its
rone and hunger drives inno
cent children from the school
room to the hoe?
The census bureau shows that
J55/XX) of these women are forty
<JVe years of age and over. There
is no more pitiful sight in civili
eation than these saintly mothers
Of Israel stooped with age, drudg
ing in the field from sun until
SUn and at night drenching theit
dingy pillows with the tears of
despair as their aching hearts
take it all to God in prayer. Civ
ilization strikes them a blow
when it should give them a
crown, and their only friend is
He who broke bread with beg
gars and said: “Come unto me
all ye that are weary and heavy
laden and I will give you rest.”
Oh, America! the land of the
free and the home of the brave;
the world’s custodian of chivalry,
the champion of human rights
and the defender of the oppressed
—shall we permit our maidens
fair to be torn from the hearth
stone by the ruthless hand of
destiny and chained to the plow?
Shall we permit our faithful
wives, whom we covenanted with
God to cherish and protect, to be
hurled from the home to the har
vest field, and our mothers dear
to be driven from the old arm
chair to the cotton patch?
In rescuing our citizens from
the forces of civilization, can we
not apply to our fair Dixieland
the rule of the sea—"women and
children first?” •
There must be a readjustment
of the wage scale of industry so
that the woman can be taken
from the field or given a reason
able wage for her services. Per
haps the issue has never been
fairly raised, but the Farmers’
Union, with a membership of ten
million, puts its organized forces
squarely behind the issue and we
now enter upon the docket of civ
ilization the case of “The Woman
in the Field” and demand an im
mediate trial.
RURAL SOCIAL CENTERS.
We need social centers where
our young people can be enter
tained. amused and instructed un
der the direction of cultured,
clean and competent leadership,
where * aesthetic surroundings
stir the love for the beautiful,
where art charges the atmos
phere with inspiration and power
and innocent amusements in*
•truct and brighten their lives.
A TEXAS WONDER.
The Texas Wonder cures kidney and
bladder troubles, dissolves gravel,
cures diabetes, weak and lame backs,
rheumatism, and all irregularities of the
kidneys and blndcter in notn men and
women. Regulates bladder troubles in
children. If not sold by your druggist
will be sent by mail on receipt of SI.OO
One small bottle is two months’ treat
ment. and seldom eu r fails to perfect a
cure. Send for te-t ; :'ilia’s from this
and other states. Hr. K. WYHall, 29*i6
Olive Street, St. Louis, Mo. Sold by
druggists.
Winter Tourist Fares
Via Southern Railway
PREMIER CARRIER OF THE SOUTH
Reduced Round Trip Fares to all Principal
Points in the
SOUTH, SOUTHEAST, SOUTHWEST
For information call on nearest agent or address
J. C. Beam, A. G. P. A., Atlanta, Ga.
J. S. Bloodworth, T. P. A., Macon, Ga.
PAYROLL OF
CIVILIZATION MET
BURNER
WANTS NO “DEADHEADS”
ON LIST OF EMPLOYES.
A Call Upon the Law Makers to
Prevent Useless Tax on
Agriculture.
By Peter Radford
Leoturer National Farmers' Union.
There is no payroll in civiliza
tion that does not rest upon the
back of the farmer. He must
pay the bills—all of "them.
When a farmer buys a plow
he pays the man who mined the
metal, the woodman who felled
the tree, the manufacturer who
assembled the raw material and
shaped it into an article of use
fulness, the railroad that trans
ported it and the dealer who sold
him the goods. He pays the
wages of labor and capital em
ployed in the transaction as well
as pays for the tools, machinery,
buildings, etc., used in the con
struction of the commodity and
the same applies to all articles
of use and diet of himself and
those engaged in the subsidiary
lines of industry.
The total value of the nation’s
annual agricultural products is
around $12,000,000,000, and it is
safe to estimate that 95 cents on
every dollar goes to meet the
expenses of subsidiary industries.
The farmer does not work more
than thirty minutes per day for
himself; the remainihg thirteen
hours of the day’s toil he devotes
to meeting the payroll of the
hired hands of agriculture, such
as the manufacturer, railroad,
commercial and other servants.
The Farmer’s Payroll and How
He Meets It.
The annual payroll of agri
culture approximates $12,000,000,-
000. A portion of the amount is
shifted to foreign countries in ex
ports, but the total payroll of in
dustries working for the iarmer
divides substantially as follows:
Railroads, $1,252,000,000; manu
facturers, $4,365,000,000; mining,
$655,000,000; banks, $200,000,000;
mercantile, $3,500,000,000, and a
heavy miscellaneous payroll con
stitutes the remainder.
It takes the corn crop, the
most valuable in agriculture,
which sold last year for $1,692,-
000,000, to pay off the employes
of the railroads; the money de
rived from our annual sales of
livestock of approximately $2,-
000/XX),000, the yearly cotton
crop, valued at $920,000,000; the
wheat crop, which is worth $610,-
000,000, and the oat crop, that
is worth $440,000,000, are re
quired to meet the annual pay
roll of the manufacturers. The
money derived from the remain
ing staple crops is used in meet
ing the payroll of the hankers,
merchants, etc. After these ob
ligations are paid, the farmer hat
only a few bunches of vegetables,
some fruit and poultry which he
can sell and call the proceeds
his own.
When the farmer pays off his
help he has very little left and
to meet these tremendous pay
rolls he has been forced to mort
gage homes, work women in the
field and increase the hours of
his labor.
We will devote this article to
a discussion of unnecessary ex
penses and whether required by
law or permitted by the man
agements of the concerns, is
wholly immaterial. We want all
waste labor and extravagance, of
whatever character, cut out. We
will mention the full crew bill as
illustrating the character of unnec
essary expenses to which we refer.
Union Opposes “Full Crew” Bill.
The Texas Farmers’ Union
registered its opposition to this
character of legislation at the
last annual meeting held in Fort
Worth, Texas, August 4, 1914,
by resolution, as follows:
“The matter of prime impor
tance to the farmers of this state
is an adequate and efficient mar
keting system; and we recognise
that such a system is impossible
without adequate railroad facili
ties, embracing the greatest
amount of service at the least
possible cost. We further recog
nize that the ifcrmers and pro
ducers in the end pay approxi
mately 95 per cent cf the expense
of operating the railroads, and it
is, therefore, to the interest of
the producers that the expenses
of the common carriers be as
small as is possible, consistent
with good service and safety.
We, therefore, call upon our law
makers, courts and juries to bear
the foregoing facts in mind when
dealing with the common car
riers of this state, and we do
especially reaffirm the declara
tions of the last annual conven
tion of our State Union, opposing
the passage of the so-called “full
crew” bill before the thirty-third
legislature of Texas.”
The farmers of Missouri in the
last election, by an overwhelming
majority, swept this law off the
statute book of that state, and
itrshould come off of all statute
books where it appears and no
legislature of this nation should
pass such a law or similar legis
lation which requires unnecessary
expenditures.
1 his applies to all regulatory
measures which increase the ex
penses of industry without giving
corresponding benefits to the pub
lic. There is ofttimes a body of
men assembled at legislatures—
and they have a right to be there
-—who, in their zeal for rendering
their follow-associates a service,
sometimes favor an increase in the
expenses of industry without due
regard for the men who bow their
backs to the summer’s sun to
meet the payroll, but these com
mittees, while making a record
for themselves, rub the skin off
the shoulders of the farmer by
ur £* n g the legislature to lay an
other burden upon his heavy load
and under the lash of “be rt en
acted goad him on to pull and
surge at the traces of civilization,
no matter how he may sweat,
foam and gall at the task. VVhen
legislatures “cut a melon” for
labor they hand the farmer a
lemon.
The farmers of the United
States are not financially able to
carry “dead heads” on their joay-
roils. Our own hired Hands are
not paid unless we have some
thing for them to do and we are
not willing to carry the hired
help of dependent industries un
less there is work for them. We
must, therefore, insist upon the
most rigid economy.
Legislative House-Cleaning
Needed.
While the war is on and there
is a lull in business, we want all
legislative bodies to take an in
ventory of the statute books and
wipe off all extravagant and use
less laws. A good house-cleaning
is needed and economies can be
instituted here and there that will
patch the clothes of indigent chil
dren, rest tired mothers and lift
mortgages from despondent
homes. Unnecessary workmen
taken off and useless expenses
chopped down all along the line
will add to the prosperity of the
farmer and encourage him in his
mighty effort to feed and clothe
the world.
If any of these industries have
surplus employes we can use
them on the farm. We have no
regular schedule of wages, but
we pay good farm hands on an
average of $1.50 per day of thir
teen hours when they board
themselves; work usually runs
about nine months of the year
and the three months dead time,
they can do the chores for their
board. If they prefer to farm on
their own account, there are more
than 14,000,000,000 acres of idle
land on the earth’s surface await
ing the magic touch of the plow.
The compensation is easily ob
tainable from Federal Agricul
tural Department statistics. The
total average annual sales of a
farm in the continental United
States amount to $516.00; the
cost of operation is $340.00 leav
ing the farmer $176 per annum
to live on and educate his family.
There is no occasion for the
legislatures making a position for
surplus employes of industry. Let
them come “back to the soil” and
share with us the prosperity of
the farm.
An Easter Message.
You must live before you can be
lieve. If you would have a right to
the tree of life, if you would have the
right to know that there is a tree of
life, you must seek this immortal life
here, and seek it from the God who is
here, and seek It through the channels
that he opens for you.
Live here and now the immortal
life, and then, if you are mistaken and
there is no life after the grave, still
you will have been Immortal.
We must have the immortal life here
and now if we would have a rational
hope to have it hereafter. This is my
Easter morning message to you.—Ly
man Abbott
An Acorn Tea Party.
An acorn’s the usefulest thing that I
know—
At least things that grow upon trees.
When children are lonely—bing! Into their
laps
Pop acorns brought down by the breeze
A party with acorns for dishes and cups
Is the pleasantest thing to me,
But sometimes while eating they drop on
. your head.
And sometimes they pop in your tea.
Oh, many’s the thing that mi acorn will
make—
A basket and dishes and bowl.
Not even to mention the cradles and
pipes
And brownies with faces so droll.
At evening I lay them away in a box
And put my dear brownies to bed.
But when In the morning I seek them
again.
Alas, they are shriveled and dead!