Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1922-05-05
CHILD And alien
LABOR IN BEETS
American farm Worker Not Pro.
tected BY Sugar Tariff.
LOW WAGES ARE BEING PAID

yankees Not Wanted" Say Field
Managers In Colorado and
Michigan.
ey n. z. MiLeA.
Chairman q The Fair TaHH LoaUsA
The American farmer and the
American worker are always the chief
objects Of solicitude, put forward By
the high tariR politicians, when an up-
yard revision Of the tariff 10 In order.
That has always been true and 70 now
true In Congress In connection with e.
forts to enact the l1gh rates In the
Fordney so-called Permanent Tariff
Bill.
The farmer - well a. the worker,
however, has come to realise that any
benefit he may derive from an exorbi-
tant tari6. levied IN tie name Of pro.
tection on an article which hs pro-
duces, u more than o6tDet by tie
tribute which lie must pay on arti.
cles which he consumes but does not
raise.
Sugar u Q good Example Of how this
works ont with reference to the farm
q. The American best sugar industry
prospered under q protective tart1 Of
one cent q pound en Cuban raw sugar.
The Emergency TariR Act hcreaseA
this 60 per cent. One Of the argumeat.
advanced for this tremendous increase
was that the beet sugar industry need
Cd this protection In order to protect
the American fafh laboree engaoed In
raising sugar beeta
Unfortunately Tor this argument
there ID very little American faym labor
In the best sugar industry - the rec
erds Of the Depart:aHt Of labor and
the Department Of Agriculture show.
Sugar beets ara faisSA and harvested
almost entirely u tie cheapest grads
obtainabls of foraSa labor, contracted
for By the .sl0r niapfacturers and
turned over to ne Set growers.
Field bosses n, ~ beet sugar sec.
lions have inAssi lsclsently told In
vestisators that <A@lsan labor u not
wanted becauss 4 IsnkSs can't stand
the hard wsukt
chfM LaSsss 1aalsrisy
Not only = - Nbosf part Of the
beet sugar .A0tf p low priced for.
sign labor vAss8>vs are warned
against but even . lSsOse part are the
children Of tnaa9y lssalsn families
In Colorado q - eAs Of, the most
important beet. G II states, tho Ma
tioaal Child L1Asr Committee found
5000 childrsa letYssn the ages Of six
and fifteen y jjaetcally all Of
allen parents. reguietiy engaged In The
cultivation sfs - bssts.
From the tims t1s bssts are in the
srsund until 49, 80 dalivsrsd ct the
faetory the Aaf1lIe kisl Of msnual L.
Dor y required. !, Ara much. Of thie 1s
done b. small shtdrsn. These children
spend long, hard Aosrs. "a their hands
and knses weedfns md thinning the
beeta. Then when the beets are full
grewn they send u.rs long. hard
hours lifting the hsavy roets To- tbar
knees and with Q wide sweep q q dan
gerously sharp knife cut OF the topa
The Federal Chiidren's Bursau m3As
IN intensive study u the Colorado 1T
uation. OF LOTT included In this study
seven-tenths were the children Of con
tract laboreF1. Oxes one-foarth of
them were under ten pears Old. q small
percentage under eight. Leo than
one-hfth were ~ mueh % Seurtsen
years old Considerably evse Q half
ranged from nine to thirteen. From
60 to e6 per ceat according to the
process In which the child was ensag-
Cd, worked nine hours or more q day.
From one-eeventh to o0e-third, again
varying With the pcscess, worked
eleven hours - nsrs Q day. Ths
average workinG day for all Processes
was usually between nine and ten
hours.
RMs Effect o. Children
Postural deformitiso end malpoGl-
lions were found "a ~ PER cent Of the
children examined By the Bureaus
pAysicianA Another serious eject n
the Interference with their educa-
ton. Among $50 children from
nine to sixteen years Of ags for whom
school records were obtained over -
per cent were from one 70 seven years
below the normal Uade for their age.
The general study Of the National
Child Labor Committee In Colombo
and Michigan indicates that these con-
ditions hold generally throughout the
beet raising sectiorA A farmer who
owns or leases land contracts with the
sugar company to furnish q certain
number of acres on which beets are 70
Ne grown. The company agrees to fur.
nlsh the hand labor. The company
then contracts with q hbofer. usually
a Russian. Jap or Mexican. to do The
work on a definite number Of acres.
The number Of acres laborsr con
tracts to care for n based largely %
the number Of children he haA
(. The labor employed In the Colorado
best fields IL practically Ill foreign L.
Dor, Mexican, Japanese and Russian.
The Mevicana ana yanonaae hov~v~1