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.