The spectator., 1922-02-28
CHILD AND ALIEN
 LABOR IN BEETS
American Farm Worker Not Pro.
 teeted by Sugar Tariff.
LOW WAGES ARE BEING PAID
''Yankses Net Wanted" Say 1otd Monaoors In Colorado and
 Michigan.

Wono00ro tn CoIoroAo ano
 Michigan.
 Dy H. E. MiLES,
 ChAinran e tho Fair Tariff LeAVAe.
 The American farmer aAA the American worker are always the chief sb1scts of solicitude. pat forward by the high tariff politicians. when an up ward revision of the tariR is In order. That has always been true and is now true in Congress In connection with ef- forts to eoact the high rates in the rordnsy se-ealled Permanent Tari6 Ball.
 The farmer ~ well e the worker, however. has ceme to realize that any benefit he may derive from an exoriN tant tarih, levied in the name of pro- tsctaon on an article which he pre- duces, is msrs than offset by the tribute which he must pay on arti- cles which he consumes but does not raise
 Sugar is . good example of how this works out with reference to the farm CT. The American beet sugar industry prospersd under . protective tariff of one cent . pound on Cuban raw sugar. The Emergency Tariff Act increased this 60 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 laborer engaged in raising sugar beets.
 Unfortunately for this argument there is very little American farm labor In the beet sugar industry as the rec se1s of the Department of LAbsr and the Department of Agriculture show.
 Sugar bests are raised aad harvested almsst entirely by the cheapest grade 0etainaA3e sf foreign labor, contracted fer by the sugar manufacturers and turned ever ts the beet growers
 Field bosses In the beet ssgar sec usns Aavs indeed freQueatly tsid in- vestigatofs that American labor Is not wanted because "a Yankee can't stand the harl work"
 chttd Labor In Majority
 Net enly is the lsrger part of the bsst sugar labor this lew priced for eiSn labor which we ar< warned against but even . larger part arc the chAldrsn sf these foreign families,
 In Colorado alsns. enc of the most important beet sMyar states, tho Na- tional Chill Labor Csmmlttee feund 5,O00 chil1ree between the asss Sf ax aad Afeeen years, practically, al Of alisa parents, regularly engaged sn the cultivation of sugar beets.
 From t+s tims the beets are h the grssad until they are dslivsred at the fActsry tAe hardest kind of nauuA ia. Der is reQuired. And much ef this 10 dens by small children. Asss cAiidreo sDeol leag. hard hours sa ehslr Aanes aad knees wedding and thinning the bsstS. Thea wae. the bsets arc full seswn they spea1 mors loag. hard hsurs Aftiag the heavy rosts te tAalr knees and with q wide sweep sf . dan. xerously sharp knife cut o(f the tops
 The Federal Children's Buroau made a intsaavs study Of the CeaoraAe at- uatieu. Of LOTT Included In this study ssvGn-tenths were the children of con. tract lAborsrs. Over 0ne-fourth of then wses uader tsa year. cd, small percentage unAsr eight. Less thaa oAeAfth were e much as fourteen years eil. Oonsidsrshly evsr q half ranged frsu nine t0 thirteen. From q to e5 per cent, according to the prscsss in which the cAiid was eAgag. a. worke1 nine hours or more . day. Frsn oae.seventh te sns-third, again varying with the process. worked eleven hsurv or mere . day The average working day fer all processes was usually between nine and tea hours.
 Evil EMsct sn childrsn
 Postural deformitiss and malposi- tlons were found ia 70 per cent of the children examined by the Bureaus physicians. Another serious eject 10 the interference with their educa. ton. Among 9S0 children from nine ts sixteen years of age for whom schssl records were obtained over 40 per cent were from one te seven years below the normal grade fer their age.
 The general study of the National Child Labor Committee in Colorado and Michigan indicates that these con- ditiOns hsil generally throughout the beet raising sections \ farmer who owns or leases land contracts with the sugar company ts furnish . certain number Of acres on which beets are to be grown. The company agrees te fur nish the hand lab~r. The company thea contracts with labsrer. usually . Russian. Jap CT Mexican, ts dc the wsrk eu . definite number of acres.
 The number of acres . laberer con. tracts t0 core for is based largely 0n the nunber cf children he has.
 ns labor employed iR the Colorado beet Acids Is practically all foreign Ia. Dor, Mexican, JapAnsse and Russian. The Aextcahs and Japansse however. do not work their children as much ss do the Rnssisns The Rassisn chil-