The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1922-03-17
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.

Chairman of the Fair Tariff Lea

American worker are always tHe clllel
objects Of solicitude put forward by
the high tariff politicians, when an up
ward revision Of the tariff is in order.
That has always been true and is now
true In Congress in connection with ef
forts to enact the high rates in the
Fordney so-called Permanent Tariff
Bill
The farmer as we'll as the worker
however. has come to realize that any
benefit he may derive from an exorbi-
tant tariff. levied in the name Of pro-
lection on an article which, he pro-
duces, Is more than offset by the
tribute which he must pay on arti-
cles which he consumes but does not
raise.
Sugar Is a good example OF how this
works out with reference to the farm
err The American beet sugar Industry
prospered under protective tariff of
one cent pound on Cuban raw sugar.
The Emergency Tariff Act increased
this 90 per cent. one OF the arguments
advanced for this tremendous increase
was that the beet sugar industry need
ed this protection In order To protect
the American farm Iaborer engaged In
raising sugar beets.
Unfortunately for this argument
there is very little American farm labor
in the beet sugar Industry as the rec
ords Of the Department Of Labor and
the Department OF Agriculture show.
Sugar beets are raised and harvested
almost entirely by the cheapest grade
obtainable IF foreign labor, contracted
for by the sugar manufacturers and
turned over to the beet growers
Field bosses in the beet sugar sec
tons have indeed frequently told In
vestigators that American labor is not
wanted because "a Yankee can't stand
the hard work"
Child Labor In Ma jority
Not only is the larger part Of the
beet sugar labor this low priced for
eign labor which we are warned
against but even q larger part are the
children or these foreign families
In Colorado alone. one OF the most
important beet sugar states. the Na-
tional child Labor Committee found
5000 children between the ages Of SIX
and fifteen years, practically all Of
alien parents regularly engaged In the
cultivation OF sugar beets
From The time the beets are In the
ground untn they are delivered at the
factory the hardest kind Of manual la
Dor Is required And much ot this Is
done by small children. These children
spend long. hard hours on their hands
and knees wedding and thinning the
| beets Then when the beets are full
| grown they spend more long hard
hours lifting the heavy roots 10 theiT
knees and with wide sweep T dau-
gerously sharp knife cut of the tops
The Federal Children'S Bureau made
an intensive study Of the Colorado sit
uatlon. OF 1.077 included in this study
seven-tenths We're the children Of con
tract laborers. Over one fourth Of
them were under ten years old. a small
percentage under eight. Less than
one-tifth were as much rs fourteen
years old Considerably over halt
ranged from nine TO thirteen From
SO to 81 per cent, according 10 The
( process In which the child was engag-
ed. worked nine hours or more day
From one seventh To onethird again
varying with the process. worked
eleven hours or more day The
average working day for all processes
was usually between nine and ten
hours
Evil Effect on Children
Postural deformities and malposi
tions were found in 20 per cent OF tbs
children examined by the Bureau,
physicians. Another serious effect i,
the interference with their educa
tion Among $50 children from
nine 10 sixteen years Of age for whom
school records were obtained over Il
per cent We're from one 10 seven year,
below the normal grade for their age,
The general study OF the Nationa
Child Labor Committee in Colorado
and Michigan indicates that these con
ditions hold generally throughout III,
beet raising sections farmer wht
owns or leases land contracts with III,
sugar company to furnish a certain
number OF acres on which beetS are [,
be grown. The company agrees 10 fur
nlsh the hand labor. The compan,
then contracts with q laborer. usual.
Russian. Jap or Mexican. TO do th'
work on definite number of acres.
The number OF acres laborer con
tracts to care for is based largely oI
the number II children he has
The labor employed in the Colorad,
beet fields Is practically all foreign la
Dor. Mexican, Japanese and Russian
The Mexicans and japanese, however
do not work their children as much a
do the Russians The Russian chill
dren often begin work as early as fou
or f1Ve years Of age.
In Michigan conditions are very sim
liar. excepting that the nationaIitie
OF the workers are more diversified
and there are fewer Russians and Mex
leans and no Japanese. They ar
made up largely Of Hungarians. Slav
from the small provinces Polish an,
Germans. In Michigan. as IN Colora
do, the beet people are exploiting tn
foreign laborer and his children
All of which pretty thoroughly pune
lures any pretense that high tari1
on sugar will in any way protect Amsi
lean farm labor.
Dubious Prospect.
81 saw Dubson dining with hi
fiancee last evening"
did he look happy?'
"Not exactly. Her mother and three