The diamond drill., 1918-07-13
STORY OF BEET FIELD BOYS.
&C. rtinued from Page Onc)

The state director was advised that
a unit OF 35 boys. together with a su-
pervisor you'd be ready to leave for
the beet fields about June 9Th. On
June 4th the following telegram was
received:
BE sure to send the boys tomorrow.
Camp ready and situation serious.
Can use boys just past 18th birthday
II strong and husky boys.
(Signed) CHAS. A. PARCELS.
a. State Director
On June 9Th telegram as follows
was received:
Are 40 boys and supervisor starting
for Fowler? Wire collect.
State Director
fSigned) CHAS. A. PARCELLS,
Results Were Discouragmg.
After the boys had been in camp
about ten days they found that they
were not making money as fast as
they expected TO. in fact were making
little more than their board. The
company. at the request OF the super
visor, agreed to guarantee them zoe
an hour, but asked that they work
ten1ours a day.
After this episode things went
smoothly, so far as the people OF Iron
county were advised, but few days
later some boys returned home, re-
ported that they were unable to make
any money and that the board was
very poor. The parents OF two boys
reported this to the county commits
sion and stated that they wanted their
boys sent home. Whereupon a letter
was at once dispatched to the super
visor asking for a report OF the true
conditions. He was asked to report
by wire at once IL the boys in ques-
tion should, in his judgment, be ablq
within a couple of weeks to earn
enough, in excess OF their board, to
pay their fare home. To this the su-
pervisor replied as follows:
"Boys in question not good workers
Could II they wanted earn money TO
| get home in a couple of weeks. Both
have worked very little lately. Ex-
pect money from home"
(Signed) f. II. FISHER.
Following that telegram, reporting
more fully on one OF them by letter,
the supervisor has the following to
say concerning this boy:
"He could have earned $15 in the
last-two weeks, over board, but in
1 stead he has worked only an average
of four and one-fourth hours per
day and he does very poor job AZ
that. i do not know why his name
was not in the book OF work ending
June 22nd, but he did almost nothing
last week, although almost all OF the
time he stayed here and boarded on
the company and pretended to work
He worked one-half day for farm
er who told me he did not want to
have him on the place as he did not
do a tap of work except when he
watched him. That was not sugar
beet work either.
1--WE will soon be through blocking
and thinning beets. then each field
should be hoed and the weeds gotten
out. A foreigner in fifteen hour day
usually makes from Sc to So a day
hoeing beets. / worked for two and
one-half hours one day, shortly after
dinner, when the boys were saying
how hot II was and made about $1.00
in that time and the piece was ve>s
grassy"
(SIgned) +. H. FISHER.
The same day letter signed by
fifteen boys arrived, stating, among
other things, that the cooking and the
cook were o. X. Another communi.
cation signed by all the boys in camp
was also received and follows here.
with:
irhe Boys Want Americans job.
mir. J. F. Mason;
I'VE, the boys OF this camp, have
been asked TO let you know the con
ditions OF this camp. We heard thru
tyour letter to Mr.. Fisher that the
conditions are poor, II you think so
como down and find out. We are sat
isiied with everything but pay and
work. All the people here think
we've been fooled into this organiza.
tion by the big fellows OF Iron coun-
ty, such as the superintendent OF the
schools and the commissioner.
We've been down here almost 9
month and haven't cent, not even
enough ~ buy a stamp. The 4th OF