The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1914-12-31
NATIONS LABOR
PROBLEM
OVER A MILLION AND A HALF
WOMEN WORK AS FARM HANDS
IN The UNITED STATES.
BY Peter Radford

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 its face in shame.
That problem is-women in the field.
The last federal census reports
show we now have 1,514 900 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 bondage. We have
broken the shackles off the negroes
and welded them upon our daughters.
| The Chain-Gane 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 iauded by the press, and
very properly so, for suggesting medi-
alton between the engineers and rail-
road managers in adjusting their
schedule of time and pay. The eng1-
! neers threatened to strike if their
wages were not increased from ap-
proXimately ten to eleven dollars per
day and service reduced from ten to
eight hours and a similar readjust-
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, STOP 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 approving1y
70 those who toll at the forge and be-
hind the counter, and many of our
statesmen have smiled at the threats
and have famed the flame of unrest
among industrial iaborers 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 capl-
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 Crust
{ Of Bread.
. no financial award can De made
without someone footing the bill, and
we commend to those who accept the
responsibility Of the distribution of in
dustriaJ Justice, the still small voice Of
the woman in the field as she pleads
: fer mercy, and we beg that they pinch
no cTumb from her crust of bread or
, nut 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
J near the Goddess Of Justice hiss at a
} verdict that increases the want of
( woman to satisfy the greed of man.
IN the factory cry aloud for sympathy
I and the press thunders out in their
I defense and the pulpit pleads for
! mercy, but how about the woman in
the field? VIII not these powerful
exponents of human rights turn their
{ talent, energies and influence to her
I relief? VIII the Goddess of Liberty
I enthroned at Washington hold the cal
! loused hand and soothe the feverish
brow of her sex who sows and reaps
} the nations harvest or will she permit
J the male of the species to shove
J Women--weak and weary-from the
brea6-1ine Of industry to the back al
s Ioys OF poverty?
} Women and Children First.
The census enumerators tell US thai
: of the 1,514,00O women who work in the
fields as farm hands 100000 are six
I teen years of age and under. What i:
the final destiny of q nation whose fu
ture mothers spend their girlhood day:
( behind the plow. pitching hay ant
! hauling manure. and what is to becom'
J of woman1y culture and refinemen
I that grace the hc1e, charm societ.
I and enthuse man to leap to glory il
: noble achievements if our daughter
I are raised in the society Of the OK ant
: the companionshfp of the plow?
In that strata between the ages o
? sixteen and forty-dve are 950, 900 won
! en- working as farm hands and man,
} of them with sucking babes tug
( ging at their breasts, as drenche
in perspiration, they wield the scyth
: IND r1lfde tine n1Sw What is to b,
! coma of that nation where povert
I breaks the crowns Of the queens
the home; despair hurls mother
) love from it's throne ano hunger drive
innocent children from the schoo1rool
to the noe?
The census bureau shows that 155
900 Of these women are forty-hV
years Of age and over. There is n
more pitiful sight in civilization tha
{ these sanity mothers of israel stoope