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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!