The Spectator., 1914-12-29
NATIONS LABOR
 PROBLEM
Over a million and a Half Wo- men Work as Farm Hands
 in the United States.
0y Peter Radford eturer National Farmers Union.

ui government never raced so tremendous 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 l,5l4,0OO women working in the field, most 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. 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 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 oi 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 to eight hours and similar read justment of the overtime Sched- ule. Our women are working in the field. many of them barefoot ed, for less than 50 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 a strike?
 Congress has listened app-ov- iogly 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 flame 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 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 some one footing the bill. 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 pull pit pleads for mercy, but how about the woman in the field } Will not these powerful expon- cnts 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 so0thc the feverish brow of her sex who sows and reaps the na-