The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1914-11-26

pinch no crumb from her crust
Of bread OF put another patch up
ON her ragged garments,
We beg that they listt0 70 the
scream Of horror from tls eagle
on every American dollar that Is
wrung from the broW Of toiIing
women and hear the Goddess 81
Justice hiss at verdict that in
creascs the want Of woman to
satisfy the greed Of man.
The women behind the counter
and III the factory cry aloud for
sympathy and the press thunders
out ii their defense and the pull
Dit 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? VIII the Goddess Of
Liberty enthroned at Washing
ton hold the calloused hand and
soothe the feverish brow OF her
sex who sows and reaps the ma
tons harvest or will she permit
the male Of the species tolshove
women weak and weary-from
the bread-line Of industry to the
back alleys Of poverty?
Women and Children First.
The census enun1erators tell us
that Of the 1,514,O00 women who
work in the fields as farm hands
100000 are sixteen years Of age
and under. What is the final des-
tiny OF nation whose future
mothers spend their girlhood
days behind the plow, pitching
hay and hauling manure, and
what is to become of wonanly
culture and refinement that grace
the home, charm society and en-
thuse man to leap to glory in
noble achievements if our daugh-
tiers are raised in the society of
the OK and the companionship Of
the plow?
In that strata between the ages
of sixteen and forty-fve are ESQ.,
600 women working as farm
hands and many Of them with
sucking babes tugging at their
breast, as drenched in perspira-
ton, they WELD the scythe and
guide the pillow. What is to be-
come of that nation where power
ty breaks the crowns Of the
queens Of the home; despair
| hurls mothers love from its
throne and hunger drives inno-
cent children from the school
room to the hoe2
The census bureau shows that
! l55,O00 Of these women are forty
| FIVE years of age and over. There
is no more pitiful sight in civili-
cation than these sanity mothers
| Of Israel stopped with age, drudg
ing in the field from sun until
sun and at night drenching their
dingy pillows with the tears Of
despair as their aching hearts
take it all to God in prayer. Civ
ilization strikes them a blow
when it should give them a
crown, and their only friend is
/ He who broke bread with beg
CARS and said: Come unto me
all We that are weary and heavy
laden and | will give You rest.
Oh, America the land Of the
free and the home Of the brave
the worlds custodian of chivalry,
the champion of human rights
and the defender Of the oppressed
shall we permit our maidens
fair to be torn from the hearth
Stone by the ruthless hand of
destiny and chained to the plow ?
Shall we permit our faithful
| wives, whom we coyenanted with
| God to cherish and protect, to be.
| hurled from the home to the har-
vest field, and our mothers dear
to be driven from the old arm
chair to the cotton patch3
In rescuing our citizens from
! the forces of civilization, can we
not apply to our fair DixieIand
the rule of the women and
children first"
There must be a readjustmeni
Of the wage scale Of industry SO.
that the woman can be taken
from the field or given a reason
able wage for her services. Per
haps the issue has never been
fairly raised, but the Farmers
Union, with membership Of ten
million, puts its organized forces
squsrely behind the issue and we
now enter upon the docket Of civ
! ilization the case of "The Woman
in the Field" and demand an i'm
mediate trial.