Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-04-02 | Page 18 | Ruling is Sought by Fruit Growers

RULING IS SOUGHT BY FRUIT GROWERS i I Employment of Children Necessary in ! Picking Strawberries, Is Claim ! of Farmers. For the benefit of fruitgrowers in Utah, the state Industrial commission has applied to the federal department of labor for a ruling on the employment of i i i dren, particularly as to application of the new child labor law to employment of j children in strawberry picking. j Inhibition of employment of children in canning factories has led porno straw- berry growers to conclude that the law will also apply to strawberry pir kintr, in ! which boys and girls have heretofore I been extensively used. On this arcount, ! many owners of strawberry bens ha e j proposed to plow them up as being un- j profitable if the labor of children In pick- ing1 the berries cannot be utilized. While tins child labor law makes an exception in favor of the employment of ; "bona fide boys' and girls' canning clubs, recognized by the agricultural department j of the several ta ten and of the T 'nit ed .States," fear is expressed that the im- pression now held by strawberry growers, with the consequent determination to plow up their beds, may cause a .erious ' shortage in that fruit this year for can- j ning purposes. . Some growers who had intended to plow up their strawberry- bedfl have been Induced In-duced to hold off until advices shall have been received from Washington by the state industrial commission.