The Natchitoches enterprise. (Natchitoches, La.) 1888-1965, 1914-12-24
NATIONS LABOR
! PROBLEM
Over a million and a Half Wo-
men Work as Farm Hands
i In the United States.
by Peter Radford
eturer National Farmers Union.

LII by Peter Radford
eturer National Farmers Union.
Our government never faced so
tremendous a problem as that
now lying dormant at the doors
OF Congress and the legislatures,
and which, when aroused, will
shake this nation from center to
circumference, and make civiliza-
ton hide its face in shame. That
problem is-women in the field.
The last Federal census reports
show we now have 1,514,OOO
women working in the field,
most of them south of the Ma
son and Dixon line. There were
approximately a million negro
slaes working in the fields when
liberated by the emancipation
proclamation. We have freed
Our slaves and Our women have
taken their places in bondage.
We have broken the shackles off
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 su5orned destiny, and
no auctioneer's block quite so
revolving 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
were not increased from approx
imately ten to eleven dollars per
day and service reduced from ten
10 eight hours and a similar read
justIlent OF the overtime scffed-
ule. Our women are working in
the field, many Of them barefoot
ed, for less than so cents per
day, and their schedule is the ris-
ing sun and the evening star, and
after the days work is over they
milk the cows, slop the hogs and
rock the baby to sleep. Is anyone
mediating over their problems,
and to whom shall they threaten
o striker
Congress has listened app:ov-
iagiy to, those who toll at the
forge and Behind the counter. and
many of Our statesmen have smiled
at the threats and have famed
the fame Of unrest among indus
trial laborers. But women are 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 new
consignment Of women from the
home to the field:
Pinch No Crumb From Wonien's
Crust Of Bread.
No financial award can be. made
without some one footing the'bifl,
and we commend to oethose. who
accept the responsibility /. Of the
distribution Of industrial justice,
the still small Voice of the woman
In sthe field. As She pleads for
mercy; and we beg that they
pinch no erurnb from her. crust
of bread or put another patch up
on her ragged garments: ,..... ~.
We beg that they listen 70 the
scream o1i'horfof from the eagle
on every, American dollar that 10
wrung from the brow Of toiling
women and hear the Goddess Of
Justice hiss AT a verdict that .in-
|ereases' the want of woman to
satisfy the greed Of, man. ~
TIE women behind the counter
Ind ih the fartory,rry aiotd for
sympathy snds the sprrss !thunders
sotst in their, defense, and the pull
pit pleads for : mercy, but. how
about: the womafi IN the fieldi
VIII not these powerful expon-
. erts Of hnman rights turn their
taiEnt, energy and influence, to
her relief? VIII the Goddess. Of
|. Liberty enthroned at Washine.