Cut Bank pioneer press. [volume] (Cut Bank, Mont.) 1909-current, 1914-12-18
NATIONS LABOR
PROBLEM
OVER A MILLION AND a HALF
WOMEN WORK AS FARM HANDS
IN THE UNITED STATEs.
Hy peter Radford

BY Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union.
Our government never faced so tire
mendous a problem as that now lyina
dormant at the doors Of congress ano
the legislatures, and which, when
aroused, will shake this nation from
to circumference, and make
civilization hide its face in shame
That problem is--women in the Held.
The last federal ems 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 q million
negro slaves working in the fields
when liberated by the emancipation
proclamation. We have freed u
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-Gang Of Civilization.
A million women in bondage in the
southern fields form the chain-gang OF
civilization 49, 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 auctioneer1s
block quite so revolving as that OF or
ganized avarice.
! The president of the United States
was recently lauded by the press, and
very properly SC, for suggesting medf
alton between the engineers and rail-
road managers In adjusting their
schedule of time and pay. The engi'
neers threatened to strike II their
wages we're not increased from ap
proximately ten to eleven dollars pei
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 bU
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
and have famed the flame OF unrest
among industrial laborers. But WON
EN- are as surely the final victims Of
Industrial warfare as they are the
burden-bearers in the war between ma
lions, and those who arbitrate and
mediate the differences between CAPT
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 a be made
without someone footing the bill, ant
we commend to those who accept the
responsibility of the distribution of in
dustrial Justice, the still small voice O.
the woman In the field as she pleads
for mercy, and we beg that they pincf
no crumb from her crust of bread o.
put another patch upon her ragget
garments.
We beg that they listen to thu
scream of horror from the eagle OIL
every American dollar that is wrunl
from the brow Of toiling women AM
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,
and the press thunders out in thei
defense and the pulpit pleads TO
mercy, but how about the woman i
the field? VIII not these powerful
opponents of human rights turn thei
talent, energies and influence to he
relief? Will the Goddess Of Libert
enthroned at Washington hold the ca
ioused hand and soothe the feveris
brow of her sex who sows and rear
the nations harvest or will she perm
the male of the species to shov
women-weak and weary-from tn
bread-line of industry to the back a
leys of poverty?
Women and Children First.
The census enumerators tell US tn.
of the 1,514, 900 women who work in tt
fields as farm hands 400, 900 are 81
teen years of age and under. What
the final destiny Of a nation whose I
ture mothers spend their girlhood da.
behind the plCw. pitching hay al
hauling manure, and what is to becon
of womanly culture and refneme'
that grace the home. charm socie
and enthuse man to leap to glory
noble achievements II u daughte
are raised In the society OF the OK a
the companionship of the pillow?
In that strata between the ages
sixteen and forty-fve r $4,000 wo
en- working as farm hands and ma
of them with sucking babes t.
cling at their breasts, as drench
IN p~erspiration, they WELD the scyt