18
COSTS OF PRODUCING SUGAR BEETS
A part of the hand work, which is performed largely by contract
labor, is done by children. It has been estimated that in Colorado
over 6,000 children are annually employed in the beet fields.! The
first hand operation—the blocking—is usually done by adults, and
the thinning to some extent by children. The several hand hoe-
ings following cultivation are mostly the work of adults or of older
children. In some places older children also help in pulling and top-
ping. The hand-labor contract is made between the farmer and the
head of the family or an adult labor contractor and does not require
that any part of the work be done by children. The kind and amount
of work done by the children in the beet fields is a matter which
rests entirely with their parents.
The use of migratory hand labor, which often has no more to do
with the regular work of the farm than have fruit pickers or harvest
hands, may lead to undesirable conditions unless it is carefully reg-
ulated. A report was issued by the Children’s Bureau of the United
States Department of Labor covering the conditions of child labor
in the Michigan and Colorado beet regions in 1920.6 Investigators
for the bureau found some unsatisfactory conditions of housing
among these temporary workers. Many were housed in unsanitary
and crowded shacks built of flimsy material and a considerable
amount of ill health and disease and retardation in schooling was
found among the children of these workers. With greater attention
to these matters by local and State authorities, sugar-beet companies,
farmers, and others interested, child-labor and housing conditions
may be made satisfactory among these workers, sanitary and ade-
quate housing may be provided, and additional school terms may be
furnished for children who are required to work in the fields and who
thus lose time from the regular school work. The out-of-door work
in the fields with their parents is not necessarily in itself harmful to
proper development of the child, but may be both wholesome and
profitable. Whether the work is wholesome or harmful depends
upon the age and size of the child and the kind and amount of work
required of him. In many localities attention already has been given
these matters by local and State authorities with the result that
better sanitary and housing conditions have been established. Also
school periods have been especially adapted by the school authorities
so that beet workers may attend school for a full nine-month period.
There appears to be every prospect that the production of sugar
beets will continue to be in large part a hand-labor industry.
Although some progress has been made in the development of machines
for pulling and topping, these have not proved generally practicable
and no machines have as yet been invented for blocking and thinning
or hoeing between plants—work for which children have been used.
Consequently the conditions, if unsatisfactory, should be made satis-
factory for the beet workers.
8 “Child Labor and the Work of Mothers in the Beet Fields of Colorado and Michigan,’ U. 8. Dept. of
Labor, Chiidren’s Bureau, Publ. No. 113.