Show OVER A MILLION AND A HALF WOMEN WORK AS FARM HANDS IN THE UNITED STATES by peter radford lecturer national farmers union our government never faced so tremendous a problem as that now lying dormant at the doors of congress and the legislatures and which when aroused will shake this nation from center to circumference and make civilization hide its face in shame that problem Is women in the field the last federal census reports show we now hae women working in the field most of them south of the mason and daxon line there were approximately a million negro slaves working in the fields when liberated by the emancipation proclamation we have treed our slaves and our women have taken their places in bondage we hava broken the shackles off the negroes and welded them upon our daughters the chain gang of civilization A million women in bondage in the southern fields form the chain gang of civilization the industrial tragedy of the gel there is no overseer quite so cruel as that of unrestrained greed no whip that stings like the lash of suborned sub orned destiny and no auctioneers block quite eo revolting as that of or avarice the president of the united states was recently lauded by the press and very properly so for suggesting atlon between the engineers and rail managers in adjusting their heddle he dule of time and pay the engl threatened to strike it their bages were not increased from approximately ten to eleven dollars per 11 and service reduced from ten to it hours and a similar readjust nent of the overtime schedule our women are working in the field many them barefooted for less than 60 ants per day and their schedule Is r rang sun and the evening star nd after the day work la over they ellk the cown slop the hogs and rock hi baby to sleep Ts anyone medhat n ivr their problems and to whom they threaten a strike congress has listened approvingly 0 o those who toil at the forge and be the counter and many of ajr statesmen havo emild at the threats nd have fanned the alime of unrest arong industrial laborers but worn an are as surely the final victims of u trial warfare as they are the i dpn bearers in the war between na alors and hose who arbitrate and mediate the differences between caal tal and labor should not forget that when the expenses of any industry are unnecessarily inar isad society foots IP bill by i rew consignment of women from abo home to the field pinch no crumb fow crust of bread no financial award can be mado without someone footing the bill and we commend to those who accept tho responsibility ot the distribution of industrial du justice the still small voice 0 the woman in the field as she pleads for mercy and we beg that they pinch no crumb from her crust of bread or put another patch upon her ragged garments we beg that they listen to the scream of horror from the eagle on every american dollar that Is wrung from the brow of tolling women and hear the goddess of justice hiss at verdict that increases the want of woman to satisfy the greed of man the women behind the counter and in the factory cry aloud tor sympathy and the press thunders out in their defense and the pleads for mercy but how about the woman in the will not these powerful exponents of human rights turn their talent energies and influence to her relief will the goddess of liberty enthroned at washington hold the cal loused band and soothe the feverish brow of her aex who bows sows and reaps the nations harvest or will she permit the male of the species to shove women weak and weary from the br eadline of industry to the back alleys of poverty women and children first the census enumerators tell us that of the 1514 women who work in the fields as farm hands are sixteen years of age and under what Is the final destiny of a nation whose fu ture mothers spend their girlhood days behind the plow pitching hay and hauling manure and what Is to become of womanly culture and refinement that grace the home charm society and enthuse man to leap to glory in noble achievements it our daughters are raised in the society of the ox and the companionship of the plow in that strata between the ages ot sixteen and forty five are 59 women working as farm hands and many of them with suckling babes tug ging at their breasts as drenched in they wield the scythe legand of it was reported that he had ordered an officer to be put to death for appearing at his eee with the clank of spurs and that he had hung a valet de chambre for presuming to wake him without orders it was said that his palace was built on the ruins of a hundred houses that his stables were of the moat sumptuous description that each horse had a rack and man ser of polished steel and that the stalls were divided by inter columna stalls were divided by davenport adama and gi id the plow what Is to be ome ol 01 that where poverty breaks the crowns of the queens of the home despair hurls a mothers love from its throne and hunger drives innocent children from the schoolroom to the hoe the census bureau shows that of these women are forty five years of age and over there la no more pitiful sight in civilization than these saintly mothers of israel stooped with age drudging in the field from eun until sun and at night drenching their dingy pillows with the tears of despair as their aching hearts take it all to god in prayer civilization strikes them a blow ft hen it should ghe them a crown and their only friend is he who broke bread with beggars and said come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I 1 will give you rest oh america the land of the free and the home of the brave the world s custodian of chivalry the champion of human rights and the de fender of the oppressed ahall we per alt our maidens fair to be torn from abo hearthstone by the ruthless hand of destiny and chained to the plow shall we permit our faithful wives whom we covenanted with god to aber ish and protect to be hurled from the home to the harvest field and our mothers dear to be driven from the old arm chair to the cotton patch in rescuing our citizens from the forces of civilization can w e not apply to our fair dixieland the rule of the sea women and children first there must be a readjustment of the wage scale of industry so that the women can be taken from the field or given a reasonable wage for her services perhaps the issue has never been fairly raised but the farmers union with a membership of ten million puts its organized forces squarely behind the issue and we now enter upon the docket of civilization the case of the woman in the field and demand an immediate trial |