Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1914-12-24
NAT|ON'S s LABOR
PROBLEM
OVER A MILLION AND A HALF
WOMEN WORK AS FARM HANDS
IN THE UNITED STATEu,
BY Peter RadfOrd
Lecturer National Farmers Union.

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 it's 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 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 bondape. We have
broken the shackles off the pegToes
and welded them upon our daughters.
The chaln-cang of Civilization.
A million women in bondage in the
southern fields form the chain-Fang Of
civilization - the industrial tracedv
Of the age. Thore is no overseer quite
SO cruel as that Of nnrestraincd greed,
no whip that stings like the laeh Of
suhorned DESTINY, ard no auctiOneer's
block cutie so revolving as that of or
gani2ed avartce.
The president Of tNe United states
was recently laudcd by the press, ard
very properly so for suggesting medi-
alton between the engineers and rail
road managers in adjusting their
schedule of time and paw The enpi-
no7rs threatened TO strike il their
wares we're not tncroased FROM ap-
proXimateiy ten to eleven dollars per
dav aid service reduced from ten to
eight hours and a similar roadiust-
ment of the overtime schedule Our
women are working in the fod many
of them barefooted. for less than SO
cents per day, and their schedule is
the rising sun and the evening star,
milk the cows, slop the hogs and rock
the babv to sleep Is anyone mediat-
ing over their problems and to whom
shall they threaten strike?
Congress has listened approvinely
tn those who toll at the forge and be-
hind the counter, and many Of our
statesmen hove s~,iIad at the threats
and have famed the fame of unrest
among industrial lahorers But wOm-
en- are as surely the final victims OF
Industrial warfare as they are the
burden-bearers in the war between ma
tiOns, and those who arbitrate and
mediate the differences between capi-
tai and labor should not forget that
when the EXPENSES Of any industry are
unnecessarily increased. society foNts
the bill bv drafting 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
dustrlal Justice, the still small voice Of
the woman in the field az she pleads
for mercy, and We beg that thew pinch
no crumb from her crust of bread or
put another patch upon her ragged
garments.
We beg that thnv 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 courter and
in the factory crv aloud for sympathy
end the press thunders out in their
defense and the pulrit pleads for
marcv hut bow about the woman in
the fold? VIII not these powerful
cXporents Of human riohts turn thor
relief? win the Goddess Of Tiherty
enthroned at WASHINGTON hold the cot
lOused hond and soo'he the fcverieh
brow Of hor Fey who sCws ard ro9ne
the nptior's harvest or win she nor0it
the male Cf the species tn shove
wOmep--weHk ord vearv--fron tire
hread-1ira of Industry to the back al
leys Of poverty?
Worren and children Fret.
The coreuq enumcratCrs toll us that