The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1914-12-04
NATIONS S LABOR
PROBLEM
OVER A MILLION AND A HALF
WOMEN WORK AS FARM HANDS
IN THE UNITED STATES.
BY Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union.


mendous 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 line.
There we're 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-cang 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, ana
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 If their
wages we're 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 30
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 a strike?
Congress has listened approvingly
to those who toll at the forge and be-
hind the counter, and many of our
: statesmen have smiled at the threats
I and have famed the fame of unrest
among industrial laborers. But WON
| en- are as surely the final victims o.
industrial warfare as they are the
burden-b bearers in the war between ma
tions. and those who arbitrate ano
mediate the differences between capi
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 Crus'
of Bread.
No financial award can be made
without someone footing the bill, ant
we commend to those who accept thu
responsibility OF the distribution of in
dustrial Justice, the still small voice Q
the woman in the field as she pleads
for mercy, and we beg that they pincl
no crumb from her crust of bread o
put another patch upon her ragge'
garments.
We beg that they listen to tn
scream of horror from the eagle o.
every American dollar that is wrun
from the brow of toiling women an
hear the Goddess of Justice hiss at
verdict that increases the want o
woman to satisfy the greed of man.
The women behind the counter an
IN the factory cry aloud for sympath
ana the press thunders out in thei
defense and the pulpit pleads fo
mercy. but how about the woman |
! the field? VIII not these powerfl
exponents OF human rights turn the
talent energies and influence to he
relief? viii the Goddess of Libert
erthroned at Washington hold the ca
orsed hand and soothe the feveris
-ow of her sex who sows and real
til g nations harvest or will she perm
the, male Of the species to shov
wor uen-weak and weary-from Il
brea dime of industry to the back
leys OF poverty?
Women and Children First.
The census enuHeIdtuiS eSii 10 ~
of the !, $4,000 women who work in Il
fields as farm hands 100000 are 81
teen years of age and under. What
=, the final destiny of nation whose
II ture mothers spend their girlhood da'
behind the plow, pitching hay al
hauling manure and what is to becon
of womanly culture and retineme
that grace the home, charm socie
and enthuse man 70 leap to glory
noble achievements if our daughte
are raised in the society Of the OK a.
the companionship of the plow?
., In that strata between the ages
Il sixteen and forty-flve are $780, 900 wo
N en- working as farm hands and ma
n of them with sucking babes II
n II.