Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1916-04-28
Hioh Tariff and Child Labor

High arm ana Cniio LABOR
The Republican Publicity associa-
ton, through its president, Jonathan
Bourne, Jr., is busy now in the work
of moulding public opinion, and in a
statement given out last week claims
the tariff is a moral issue, saying in
part:
'The tariff is a moral question be-
cause it is at the basis of American
prosperity. A child labor law is sup
posed to involve a moral question, be-
cause it affects the education and ply
steal health of future generations. In
no less degree, and sometimes in far
greater degree, the tariff affects not
only the education but the physical
well-being of our citizens. Following
the enactment of the democratic tar
iff laws we experienced industrial de-
pressions which made it impossible
for millions of American people to
properly feed, clothe and educate their
children. 1t became necessary for par
ents to send their children into pri.
vate employment in order to supple.
ment the meager earnings of the par.
ent, which in normal times, under a
protective tariff. would have been en-
tirely adequate"
OF course, the assumption is that
lin normal times under a protective
tariff, child labor is practically abol.
ished, owing to the increased price
received for the products of labor that
would permit better wages to the
adult workers. But, equally Of course
this assumption is not borne out by
the facts.
Sugar has been and is protected by
the tariff, in the alleged interest OF
sugar beet farmers and their help, yet
it is doubtful If any existing indus
try exploits child labor to the extent
discovered by a Child Labor Com.
mission in Colorado in the cultivation
Of sugar beets in that state. On
March -, last, the Rocky Mountain
News published an article entitled
Labor in Fields Retards Pupils. Child
Labor Committee Report Estimates
5000 Children Work in Beet Industry
Extracts from the article follow:
give thousand children are reported
to be working in the beet fields OF
Colorado during the growing season
of each year, according to figures
given out last week by the national
hid labor committee. School teachers
and the national child labor commit
tee, as well as other authorities, have
been gathering information on this
subject for some years, a part of which
has been made into reports.
THE committee declares that the
children are overworked in the fields
so much so that their progress in
their studies is seriously hampered.
"The children are used principally
in caring for the beets while they are
growing. The farmer who contracts
with the beet sugar factory to grow q
certain number of acres is told that
he must place proportionate mum
Der of persons upon the tract. If he
has 20 acres, he will require a certain
number of laborers; if 40 acres, he
must have twice the number. The
work of thinning, cultivating, topping
and irrigating the beets is done by con
tract, the head of family being pait
certain price per acre-from $18 t.
$20-for the work.
Six.Year-OId Children Work.
Russian men usually contract tt
do the work, and when the farmer
looks about for some one to engag,
for the summer, he inquiries for {
family with the number of members
to correspond with that required fo
the work. Ordinarily the contract il
made for father, mother, and chill
dren to make up the required number
1.-THE age of the children is said tt
be taken into consideration under the
contract, and those OF tender year