Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1914-12-11
NATIONS LABOR
PROBLEM
OVER A MILLION AND A Hall
WOMEN WORK As FARM aANos
IN THE UNITED STATES
BY Peter Radford
Iactrrer National Farmers Union

lecturer National Farmers Union
Our government never faced SO ire
n,endous problem as that now lying
dormant at the doors Of Congress ana
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 held.
The last Federal census reports
show we now have 1,514,OoO women
working In the field, most of them
south of the Mason and Dixon line.
There were approximately million
negro slaves working in the helds
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-Gans of Civilization.
A million women in bondage in the
southern fields form the chain-gang OF
civilization II the industrial tragedy
of the age. There is no oyerseer quite
so cruel as that of unrestraind greed,
no whip that stings like the lash OF
suborned destiny and no auctioneer's
block quite so revolving as that OF or
organized avarice.
The president of the United States
was recently lauded by the press, and
very properly so, for suggesting medl'
alton between the engineers and rail-
road managers in adjusting their
schedule of time and pay. The engl-
neers threatened to strike if their
wages were not increased from ap-
proximately ten to eleven dollars per
iav and service reduced from ten to
eight hours and similar reauJust-
ment of the overtime schedule. Our
women are working in the field, many
of them barefooted, for less than SO
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 behind
the counter, and many of our states
men have smiled at the threats and
have famed the fame of unrest among
industrial laborers. But women arr
as surely the final victims Of industrial
warfare as they are the burden-bearers
in the war between nations, and those
who arbitrate and mediate the differ.
ences between capital and labor should
not forget that when the expenses OF
any industry are unnecessarily IN
creased, society foots the bill by draft
ing new consignment of women from
tie home to the field.
Pinch no Crumb from Women's crus,
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
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 breao
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
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
1.-THE field? Will not these powerful
lexponents of human rights turn their
talent, energy and influence to her
relief? Will the Goddess of Liberty
lenthroned at Washington hold the cal
Housed hand and soothe the feverish
brow of her sex who sows and reap:
the nations harvest or will she permit
the male of the species to shove
women-weak and weary-from the
Ibread-line of industry to the back al
leys of poverty?
Women and Children First.
The census enumerators tell us that
lof the 1,514,O00 women who WORK in
the fields as farm hands 100000 are
sixteen years of age and under. What
lis the final destiny Of a nation
whose future mothers spend their girl
hood days behind the plow, pitching
hay and hauling manure, and what is
ito become of womanly culture and re.
inement 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
Iplow?
In that strata between the ages OF
sixteen and forty-flve are $4,000
women working as farm hands and
many Of them with sucking babes
Itugging at their breast, as drenched
lin perspiration, they WELD the scyths