United States

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1795102764

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-179770

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: United States

Place of publication:: Washington

Publisher:: Gov. Pr. Off.

Year of publication:: 1928

Scope:: VII, 112 S

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Economic considerations concerning the maintenance and growth of the industry

Collection:: Economics Books

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.

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