The Press., 1914-12-02
NATIONS LABOR
 PROBLEM
OVER A MILLION AND A HALF WOMEN WORK AS FARM HANDS
 IN THE UNITED STATEO.
By Peter Radford


 Our government never faced so tre- 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 1,514,000 women working in the field, most of them south of the Mason and Dixon hne., 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 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 or ganized avarice.
 The president of the United States was recently lauded by the press, and very properly so, for suggesting med1- ation between the engineers and rail- road managers in adjusting their schedule of time and pay. The engi- neers threatened to strike if their wages were not increased from ap- 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 50 cents per day, and their schedule is the rising 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 mediat- ing over their problems, and to whom shall they threaten strike?
 Congress has listened approvingly to those who toll at the forge and be-
 
 statesmen have smiled at the threats and have famed the flame 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 na- tions, and those who arbitrate and mediate the differences between capi- %o1 1oh 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 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 and the press thunders out in their defense and the pulpit pleads for mercy, but how about the woman in the field? Will not these powerful opponents of human rights turn their talent, energies and influence to her relief? Will the Goddess of Liberty enthroned at Washington hold the cal loused hand and soothe the feverish brow of her sex who sows and reaps the nations 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 al- leys 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 4090 are six teen years of age and under. What is the final destiny of nation whose fu- ture mothers spend their girlhood days behind the blow, pitching hay and hauling manure, and what is to become of womanly culture and refinement that grace the home, charm society and enthuse man to leap to glory in noble achievements if our daughters are raised in the society of the OK and the companionship of the blow?
 In that strata between the ages of sixteen and forty-f1ve are 950,000 wom- en working as farm hands and many of them with sucking babes tug ging at their breasts, as drenched fin, tlo5z Ez1iold 4ho tknn