The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1923-06-07

beet farmers, and they are doing
in any way they can. One man VIII
Is working for wages and Is we
n along in years, has four acres {
beets and worked nights and morr
ings to keep them in right condition
He says he has seen men who hav
smaller acreage riding around tn
country hunting for beet thinner.
and spending enough time huntin
help to get lot of thinning done
they applied the time on that
One man with six acres of beet
had couple of Mexicans thinnin
them, and three boys came alon
with hoes in hand and he halle,
them. They said they wanted t
work and he belived them. Ate
they had worked a while he looked
it over carefully and found that the.
were spacing the plants carefully
and we're leaving the large beets
rather than the little ones, tho i
t'took little longer to do it that way
They had said they knew how t.
thin beets and now they had proved
it, and proved also that they were
willing to do it right. He went over
to where the Mexicans were working
and found they were doing it the
easiest way, cutting out the bic
beets and leaving the little ones
where they happened to space right
or where there happened to be two
large ones together SO that 1t would
be necessary to pull one out to give
the other a chance. II there was a
little beet In about the right place
and two large ones near by, they
cut the large ones, left the small
one and thereby gained a few sec
onds. But the little beet will be a
small beet in the fall. and probably
immature and carrying but little
sugar. Insofar as that practice Is
followed in thinning, 1t may cut the
tonnage in half and then cut the
sugar content in half. so 1t cripples
the farmer and the factory both
The farmer fired the two Mexicans
and told them why they were fred.
Then he went back to the three home
boys and engaged them to take care
Of the rest of the field, and each
time he returned to look over their
work he found the same painstaking
in evidence. and the large beets left
growing.
We investigated the record of
those three boys and found that each
of them has bank account-spall
of course, but they are saving money.
Each OF them has lit in mind that
he is going to need money at fueure
time to finish schooling. EACH of
those boys had applied to a Japanese
beet raiser for a job of thinning on
his big tracts, and at first were told
that it was too early to thin beets
and later he told them he had en-
gagged Japanese and Mexican labor
to do all his work. He gave as his
reason, that the Japs and Mexicans
were after the money and he could
depend on them to be on the Job
when he wanted them while the
American boys he had given trial
we're after the ball games and were
not dependable. He said that when |
there was ball game, and beets
needing attention he wanted help |
hat would stay with the beets, so
when he had a chance to contract
With the brown men he had closed
| deal with them while the closing
vas good.
One man who hired some Ameri-
,oh DOyo oohOo LII lhOl DOyo anu
me of them said he knew another
me who wanted job and he would
ry to get him. When found, the
10Y replied that he had already
armed all the money he wanted-he
ust wanted to get scout suit and
ball and bat.
A lady living in town who was
eeping in touch with the demand for
eet thinners counted eighteen boys
on the ball grounds at nine o'clock
I the morning and thirty-two in the J
fternOon, ranging in age from the
mall boys to full grown boys. Pre-
umably they are the sons of local !
lillionaires and are not concerned
bout dull times nor making money {
lille the beets grow. 1t would be T
lteresting to sift such crowd and {
re If any of their fathers are talk
e of hard times and inability to pay c
lie family expenses, and it would n
, interesting further, to see if any a
them were the sons of people who b
e on the county INDECENT list or S
ms of widows who are drawing t
,nsiOns. The honest-tO-goodness t
xpayers who are supplying money t.
pay INDECENT and pension bills are n
It making it by playing ball during II
e vital parts of the cropping sea- "
n. e.
A very fine girl applied for a job n
the newspaper office and we did W
It have anything for her to do. m
me folks might have judged that II
e was too fine girl to send out 81
do manual labor or beet thinning, H
It we considered that the beets
ght to feel honored at being thin NJ
d by such fine girl, and that it
,uld be pretty good way to test
e fineness of the spirit abiding in pt
at beautiful physical temple, SO we M
ggested that she don boomers or tr
veralls and go to the beet fields, a
rk short hours the first few days til
she got used to the hot sun and or
, STOPPING and the bruising on her tn
ees and the dirt and blistering
ect on her hands, and earn some M
ney and a reputation for doing sh
ID work thinning. We suggested an
1t by the time the thinning was til
ne there would be mowers and ag
Y rakes to operate, and derrick tn
rses to manage, and by the time sa