The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1922-02-24
child AND ALIEN
LABOR IN BEET,
American Farm Worker Not Pro
tected by Sugar Tariff.
LOW WAGES ARE BEING PAIL
yankees Not Wanted" Say Field
Managers In Colorado and
Michigan.
BY n. &. MILES
~ - - 49,
Chairman Of the Fair Tariff LEAGUE

American worker are always the chief
objects OF solicituhe, put forward by
the high tariff politicians. when an up
ward revision or She tariff Is in order.
That has always Been true and is now
true Ia Congress III connection with ef-
forts 10 enact liJe high rates In the
F"rdney so-called Permanent Tariff
BIZ.
The farmer as we'll as the worker.
however. has come 10 resliZe that any
henetii ne may derive from an exorbi-
tan; tariff. Levied in the name Of pro.
tec.ion an an article which he pro-
du.es. i more than onset by the
tribute which he nrhSt pay on arti-
cleS which he consumes hut does not
raise.
Sugar is good example ~ how this
works oui with reference to the farm
err The American beet sugar industry
proSpered under r protective tariff OF
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 beelS.
Unfortunately f.r this argument
there IL very little American farm labor
I'm The beet sugar Industry as the rec
erds ~ the Department Of Labor and
the Department of Agriculture show.
Sugar beets arr raised and harvested
almost entirely 10y the cheapest grade
obiainahle If foreign labor, contracted
for 10y the sugar manufacturers aud
turned over 70 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 Majority
Not only Is the larger part OF the
beet sugar labor this low priced for
eign labor which We are warned
against but even u larger part are the
children Of these foreign families.
In Colorado alone. one OF the most
important beet sugar states, the MI
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 ot sugar beetS
From rhe time the beets are in the
ground until ghey are delivered at the
factory the hardest kind Of manual Ia
Dor is required And much Of 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 TO their
knees and with a wide sweep Of dan
ger0usly sharp knife cut off the tops.
The Federal Children's Bureau made
I'm intensive study Of the Colorado sit
nation. OF l.071 Included in this study
Seven-tenthS we're the children OF con-
tract lahOrerS over One-fOurth OF
them were under ten years old. small
percentage under. eight. Less than
rne-fifih We're ass much AS fourteen
years old. Considerably over q half
ranged from nine to thirteen. From
90 to 81 per cenT. sccordiBg "a the
process ia which HE child WAS ehgsg-
ed. worked pine hours or more day.
From ane-settntTl lea one third. again
varying with the process. worked
eleven hours or more n day The
average working day for all processes
was usually between nine and ten
hours.
Evil Effect on Children
Postursl deformities snd ms!posi-
lions were found in 30 per ceDr az The
children examined by the Bureaus
physicians. Another serious effecI is
the interference with their ,educs-
ton. Among $50 children from
niue TO sixteen years OF age for whom
school records were obtained over 40
per cent were from one t" seven years
below the normal grade for their age
The general study az the NatiODs |
Child Labor Committee IN COlors do
aud Michigan indicates that these con
ditions hold generally throughout the
UePk TdlSAis Sc'li'hS- n iolLhrI Nv
owns or leases land contracts with the
sugar company To furnish 3 certain
number OF acres on which beets are 10
be grown. The company agrees TO fur
nish the hand labor. The company
then contracts with lsborer, usually
a Russian. Jap or Mexican. TO DO the
work on definite number Of acres.
The number OF acres a labOrer con
tracts To care FOR is based largely on
the number ef children he has.
The labor employed In the Colorado
beet fields is practically all foreign la.
Dor. Mexican, japanese and Russian.
The Mexicans and japanese. however,
do not work the!r children as much as
do the Russians The Russian chill
dren often begin work as early as four
or FIVE years OF age.
In Michigan conditions are very sim
liar. excepting that the nationalIties
OF the workers are more diversified
and there are fewer Russians and Mex
leans and no Jan"nese. rhey are
made up largely Of Hungarsns. Slavs
from the small provinces. Polish and
Germans. In Michigan. as In C,lora-
do. the beef people are exnloiting the
foreign lahoret aud his children.
All % whlth pretty thor uChly pune
lures any pretepse that a high tariff
&.