The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1914-11-27
NATIONS LABOR
PROBLEM
OVER A MILLION AND A HALF
WOMEN WORK AS FARM HANDS
IN THE UNITED STATES.
BY Peter Radford

/
Our government never faced so ire
mendous 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
civilization hide its face in shame.
That problem is-women in the field.
The last federal census reports
show We now have 1,514,0OO women
working in the field, most of them
south of the Mason and Dixon line.
There were approximately a million
negro slaves 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 Chaln-Gang Of Civilization.
A million women In bondage In the
southern fields form tho chain-g 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 revolving as that of or
ganized avarice.
The president of the United States
was recently lauded by the press, and
very properly so, for suggesting medi-
alton between the engineers and rail-
road managers in adjusting their
schedule of time and pay. The engi-
neers threatened to strike II their
wages were not increased from APP
proximately ten to eleven dollars per
day and service reduced from ten to
eight hours and similar readjust-
ment of the overtime schedule. Our
women are working in the field many
of them barefooted, for less than 80
cents per day, and their schedule is
the rising sun and t&e evening star,
and after the days work Is over they
milk the cows, slop the hogs and rock
the baby to sleep. Is anyone mediat-
ing over their problems, and to whom
shall they threaten a strike?
Congress has listened approvlngly
to those who toll at the forge and be-
hind the counter, and many Of our
|, statesmen have smiled ut the threats
and have famed the fame of unrest
among industrial laborers But wom-
en- are as surely the final victims of
industrial warfare as they are the
burden-bearers in the war between ma
Etlons, and those who arbitrate and
mediate the differences between capt.
tai and labor should not forget that
when the expenses of any industry are
unnecessarily increased, society foots
the bill by drafting a new consignment
of women from the home to the field.
Pinch no crumb From Women's Crust
Of Bread.
No financial award can be made
/, , without someone footing the bill, and
we commend to those who accept the
I responsibility of the distribution of in
dustrial 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 upon 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 increases the want of
woman to satisfy the greed of man.
The women behind the counter and
in the factory cry aloud for sympathy
4 and the press thunders out in their
defense and the pulpit pleads for
Q mercy, but how about the woman in
:. the field? VIII not these powerful
y opponents of human rights turn their
}. talent, energies and influence to her
d relief? Will the Goddess of Liberty
Q enthroned at Washington hold the cal
IS loused hand and soothe the feverish
n brow of her sex who sows and reaps
n the nations harvest or will she permit
It the male of the species to shove
h women-weak and weary-from the
bread-line of industry to the back al
t. leys of poverty?
pit Women and Children First.
s. The census enumerators tell us tina
DR. Of the 1,514,000 women who work in tn
fields as farm hands 400, 900 are six
. teen years of age and under. What i
the final destiny of nation whose FL
ture mothers spend their girlhood day
= behind the pillow, pitching hay an
hauling manure, and what is to becom
of womanly culture and reinemen
that grace the home, charm societ
and enthuse man to leap to glory
noble achievements if our daughter
are raised in the society of the OK an
the companionship of the plow?
In that strata between the ages {
sixteen and forty-five are $50, 900 won
en- working as farm hands and man
Of them with sucking babes tu
ging at their breasts, as drenche
in Precipitation, they WELD the SCI th
Give Thanks!
Praise God for wheat so white al
sweet of which we make our brea
Praise God for yellow corn wi
h,~1, fatlI