Full text of Child Labor and the Work of Mothers in the Beet Fields of Colorado and Michigan, Bureau Publication No. 115

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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
JAMES J. DAVIS. Secretary

CHILDREN’S BUREAU
GRACE ABBOTT. Chief

CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF
MOTHERS IN THE BEET FIELDS
OF COLORADO AND MICHIGAN

Bureau Publication No. 115

W A S H IN G T O N
G O V E R N M E N T PRINTING OFFICE

1923

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ADDITIONAL COPIES
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AT

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PURCHASER AGREES NOT TO RESELL OR DISTRIBUTE THIS
COPY FOR PROFIT.— PUB. RES. 57, APPROVED MAY 11, 1922

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A ' 1 s*

CONTENTS.
Page.

Letter of transmittal___.._____ :_________ ______!__,_____________________________
Introduction ______ ________________ ____________________________ ________________

]_9

The sugar-beet crop and its hand workers__________ ___________________
1
Comparison of conditions in Colorado and Michigan __________ ___
5
Families working in the Colorado beet fields______________ __________ ______11-78
Scope and method o f study________________________,s _______________ ._____
11
12
Economic status o f families__________________ . i ______ :<________ ______f_
Nationality_____________________________ _______
14-18
N ativity __i____________ a_____ £ _______ __J______ &____________________
14
16
Knowledge o f English_____ „*______________ _____________ __________ _
Child labor___ ___ 1___________ i______ _________________ i _ _ ________ ^ ______18-37
18
Number and ages o f children and duration of work________ ^_
Hours and duration o f work in each process______________________26-34
Blocking and thinning________________ ________ ^ / _____ _________ _
26
Hoeing______________________________________ r _____ ______________
28
Pulling and topping-.________________
30
Number o f seasons at work_____________ ____________________________
34
Amount of work per child________________ ____________ _________ ■£&■.: . 36
Education o f children__________________________________
37-53
The compulsory school attendance law and its enforcement_______
School attendance o f children in the families visited____ _____ ___
Retardation o f children in the families visited___ ________________
Supplementary studies of school attendance and retardation__47-53
Study of records of resident beet-field workers in rural
schools_________________

37
39
42

Study of school records of migratory beet-field workers____
52
W ork of mothers in the beet fields.:____________________________________ 53-60
Hours of labor and duration of season____________________________
55
Care of young children-__________________ _________________ — _______
58
Family earnings------------------------ ___________ 1 ________________ ____ _______ 60-65
Rate of pay and earnings from beet contracts_____________„ ____ _
60
Father’s earnings in other work^_____ ___ n ________— _______ ____ _
63
Housing and sanitation___ _______
65-69
Houses_____________________
65
Overcrowding_______________
67
W ater supply___:____
68
Health of children____________________ _______- __________ *___________ L;___ 69-78
Nationality, age, and sex of children examined.__________________
72
Findings o f physical examinations_________
73-78
Heights and weights_______________________________________ - ___
73
Orthopedic defects______________________________________________
76
The mouth and nasopharynx___________________________________
77
The eyes-------------------------------------------------78
Hearing_________________________
78
Diseases o f the skin________________ __________ ___¿,___ _____ ___
78
Smallpox vaccination ___________ - __- __ __________________
78

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CONTENTS.

Page.

Families working in the Michigan beet fields----------------------------------------------- 79-119
Scope and method of study---------- -----------------------------------------------------------^9
Economic status o f fam ilies--------------------- --------------------------—-----------------80
Nationality--------------------------------- --------— i--------------- --------------------------------- 82-85
Nativity----------------------------------------------------82
Knowledge of English------------------------------------------------------------------------83
Child labor_____________________________________________________________ — 85-95
Number and ages of children and duration of work------------------------85
Hours and duration of work in each process------------ -----------------------89-94
Blocking and thinning-------.------------------- ’------------ — -------------------89
92
Hoeing_________________________________ _— -------i— --------------■--------Number o f seasons at work-------------------------------------- 4§*--------------------94
Amount of work per child----------------------------95
Education of the children------------------------96-107
The compulsory school attendance law and its enforcement---------96
School attendance of children in the families visited----------------------98
Retardation of children in the families visited--------------------- ----------99
Supplementary study of school attendance and retardation---------102
W ork of mothers in the beet fields------ .--------------------------- -------------------1 107-111
Hours of labor and duration of season---------- --------------------------------108
Care of young children------ ---------------------------------------------- «--------------119
Family earnings--------------------111-115
Rate of pay and earnings from beet contracts— ------ &----------------111
Father’s earnings in other work------ ------------- ------------------------------ -—
114
. Housing and sanitation---------------------------------115-119
Houses---- .-------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- -— --------Overcrowding— — ----------------- ------------------ ------------—jj-------- 1-------------

11®
H7

Privies______________________________________ — ---------------------------------—
W ater supply--------------------------- — -------------------------------------------------- -—
Conclusion---------- ------------------------------------------------------------------ ;■-------------- ----------

H8
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ILLU STR A TIO N S.
Two families of beet-field workers.

Frontispiece.

Thinning b eets-------------------------------- ---------------------*-----------------------------------------Hoeing b eets----------------------------------------— -------------------------------------------------------Topping beets---------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- )---------------Mothers and children work side by side--------------------------------------------------------Shacks occupied by Colorado beet-field laborers------------------*----------- ------------One of the better class of houses for the Colorado beet-field laborer-----------A baby tent of canvas— --------------------------- ------------------------------------ ---------------Company houses in Michigan------------ :------ -------------------------------------------------------

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^
27
66
67
H6

LETTER OF TRANSM ITTAL.

n it e d

S tates D

e p a r t m e n t of

abor,

C h i l d r e n ’s B

ureau,

Washington July 18 1922.

: I transmit herewith a report entitled “ Child Labor and the
Work o f Mothers in the Beet Fields of Colorado and Michigan.”
The investigation was planned and carried on under the direction
o f Ellen Nathalie Matthews, director o f the industrial division o f
the bureau. Dr. Gertrude A. Light made physical examinations of
children in the Colorado beet-field region and analyzed the findings
with reference to health.
It is .a pleasure to acknowledge the cooperation given by the beetsugar companies and by local school officials in both Colorado and
Michigan. Among the latter, special mention should be made o f the
assistance given by the commissioner of schools o f Saginaw County,
Mich., Mrs. Evangeline G. Tefft, in the supplementary study of the
effect o f beet-field work upon school attendance.
Respectfully submitted.
S ir

G race A

Hon.

Jam es J. D

a v is ,

Secretary o f Labor.

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bbo tt,

Chief.

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CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN THE BEET FIELDS
OF COLORADO AND MICHIGAN.
INTRODUCTION.
T H E S U G A R -B E E T C R O P A N D I T S H A N D W O R K E R S .

The beet-sugar industry in the United States is o f comparatively
recent development; but its growth during the last 20 or 25 years
has been so rapid that its importance both as a manufacturing and
an agricultural industry is fully established. In 1896 there were but
7 factories in the country, producing 37,536 tons of beet sugar; 10
years later the number o f factories had increased to 63 and the sugar
tonnage to 483,612.1 In 1920 there were 98 factories with a total
output o f 1,090,021 tons.2
The increase in sugar-beet acreage has kept pace with the growth
in the manufacture o f beet sugar. In 1920, 872,376 acres o f beets
were harvested % an increase o f almost 700 per cent over the acreage
in 1899.4
Beet-growing areas are located all the way from Ohio to California,
but are concentrated in three sections: The middle Western, o f which
the most important States are Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin; the
western mountain section, with Colorado, Utah, and Idaho leading
in beet production; and the Pacific coast section in which California
is the only important beet-growing State. Table I shows the relative
importance o f the beet-growing States in 1920.
1 Letter from, the Secretary o f Agriculture, Sixty-first Congress, F irst Session, Senate
Docum ent 22, pp. 3, 14.
2 TJ. S. Departm ent o f A griculture, M onthly Crop Reporter, April, 1921, p. 38.
8 Ibid.
4 Thirteenth. Census o f the United States, 1910, VoL V, Agriculture, p. 691. W ashing
ton, 1913.

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CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN
T a b l e I. — Beet-sugar production in the United States, by States.1

Sugar produced.
State.
Number
tons.1

Utah.....................................

1,090,021
167,997
294,482
57,603
165,899
89,518
47,073
162,588
20,943
83,918

Area harvested.

Per cent Number Per cent
distribu- acres.1 distribu
tion.
- tion.
100.0
15.4
27.0
5.3
15.2
8.2
4.3
14.9
1.9
7.7

872,376
122,813
219,847
45,810
149,559
72,296
49,199
112,567
20,686
79,599

100.0
14.1
25.2
5.3
17.1
8.3
5.6
12.9
2.4
9.1

Beets worked.
Number
tons.1
7,999,222
1,051,889
2,165,737
413,178
1,243,868
669,666
382,273
1,261, Oil
168,854
642,746

Number
Of facto
Per cent ries in op
eration.1
distribu
tion.
100.0
13.1
. 27.1
5.2
15.5
8.4
4.8
15.8
2.1
8.0

98
10
17
9
17
5
5
18
5
12

1 U. S. Department of Agriculture, Monthly Crop Reporter, April, 1921, p. 38.
2 Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Washington, Wyoming.

Contracts for beet growing are arranged every year between the
sugar-manufacturing companies and the farmers in beet-raising lo
calities, and every acre o f sugar beets is contracted for before the
seed is sown. The farmer with his machinery prepares the ground
for planting, seeds the crop, cultivates between the rows, and at
harvest time loosens the beet roots from the soil. But the intermedi
ate and subsequent processes are performed by an army o f hand
workers, for although machinery for certain o f these processes is
being tried, it is not as yet in general use. As the work is distinctly
seasonal and also comes at a time when regular farm labor is busy
with other crops, the farmer usually hires labor on contract to do
the handwork. These laborers have no more to do with the regular
farm work than harvest hands or fruit pickers, though in the inter
vals between the hand processes they sometimes hire themselves out
to the farmers for other work. The amount o f hand labor required
for the beets is usually estimated at 1 adult worker to every 10 acres,
which means that in the United States approximately 87,238 adult
laborers or an equivalent working force o f adults and children were
required in 1920.
A large part o f the work is done by children ranging in age from
6 to 16 years. Just how many children are employed in the beet
fields is not known.5 A ll contracts are made with the head o f the
family, usually the father, and as he merely agrees to take care of
the work on a given number of acres, no record appears anywhere
6 Seventeenth Biennial Report, Colorado Bureau o f Labor Statistics, 1919-20, p. 20 (D en
ver, 1920), contains the follow ing1 statem en t:
_ ,
,
“ A n estim ate o f the number o f children w orking in th e beet fields in C olorado was
made a fte r conference w ith Judge Baker o f the W eld County court, and a representative
o f the Great W estern Sugar Co., Denver.
m
“ Judge Baker stated th at the number o f children at work in the W eld County beet
fields is about 2,500. T he number o f children in that county w h o are put to w ork in
the fields is perhaps larger than in any other part o f the State, but 400 children are
in the fields fo r every fa ctory in Colorado * * * which would give the total in the
entire State at 6,800, which estim ate is probably liberal and fo r some o f the districts it
may be high.”

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TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLOBADO AND M ICH IG AN .

o f the number or ages o f the persons working for him. Although the
sugar companies bring in large numbers o f laborers to hire out to the
farmers and it is possible to secure from the companies the number
o f families brought in, and in some cases the number o f full fares and
half fares paid, that information obviously does not show how many
children, even o f contract laborers, worked.
Although children working in the beet fields are for the most part
those of contract laborers, some are the children o f land owners or
renters who, although they have a fairly large acreage, are not pros
perous enough to hire labor, or who have a small beet acreage which
they feel can easily be cared for by their own families.
The supply of contract hand laborers comes from two sources.
First, there are the families resident near the beet fa'rms. These are
usually families that have originally come either from cities or from
other rural areas in the United States to work in the beet fields and
have remained in the district the year round. In some cases they
buy or rent little houses o f their ow n; in others »they remain in the
“ beet shack ” supplied them by the sugar company or the farmer,
paying a nominal rent, if any, during the winter. Those who are
brought in from outside for the work are usually recruited from the
foreign quarters o f large cities. During the winter the agent o f the
sugar company visits such localities as are likely to furnish laborers,
advertises in their papers, visits local employment agencies, and other
wise gets in touch with the labor supply. Formerly it was possible
to recruit from Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh^ and
other cities and towns o f the Middle West sufficient labor for the
Michigan beet fields; and Denver, Pueblo, Trinidad, and some o f the
Nebraska and Kansas cities or western mining districts supplied labor
for the Colorado section. But during the period immediately follow
ing the war it was impossible to find enough labor near by, and the
labor agents were obliged to go into New Mexico and Texas and to
the border o f Old Mexico and to draw to a much greater extent upon
the great field of Mexican labor. Fort Worth, El Paso, and San
Antonio have become important recruiting centers for beet-field
laborers, from which whole trainloads o f Mexicans are shipped
north and east to the beet fields.
The laborer contracts to do the handwork on as many acres as he
thinks he and his family group can take care of. The sugar com
pany, or the farmer—if the agreement is made directly with the
latter—contracts to pay the laborer a fixed rate per acre, part o f the
amount to be paid after each operation. In addition, the railroad
fares o f the workers to the fields where they are to work are paid by
the sugar company, and shelter is provided either by the company or
by the farmer for whom the laborer is to work.

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CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN

The first operations turned over to the hand worker are Blocking
and thinning. It has been found cheaper to be liberal with the seed
and plant more than enough than to risk a poor stand, but to obtain
the most perfect beets only one plant must be allowed to mature, and
the plants should be-from 10 to 12 inches apart in the row. Accord
ingly sections o f seedlings are chopped out with a hoe, and only small
clumps 10 or 12 inches apart are left. Blocking, as it is called, is
usually done by adult laborers6-and is followed immediately by thin
ning, a process performed as a rule by children. It consists in pull
ing out all but one beet plant and leaving one—preferably the strong
est, though usually no great discrimination is shown by the children—
to attain maturity. The blocking and thinning must be done before
the beet plants grow too large, and the work is usually done under
pressure.
As soon as the blocking and thinning are completed hoeing begins.
The farmer cultivates with machinery between the rows, but be
tween the' individual plants in the rows the ground must be kept
free from weeds and the soil stirred about the growing beets, neces
sitating one, two, and often three, hand hoeings. Where the machine
cultivation is neglected the weeds often grow rank and strong and
make the hoeing very difficult. There is not, however, the same
pressure in hoeing as there is in blocking and thinning and it is
always done in a more leisurely way. This is usually the work o f the
older children or adults.
Between the last hoeing—that is, about the end o f July— and the
time o f harvest an interval of some ‘ weeks elapses. The date of
beginning the harvest depends upon the sugar content of the beets
and is determined by the chemists in the testing stations o f the sugar
companies. After the beets have been loosened from the soil by
a horse-drawn machine known as a lifter, they are pulled up by
the hand worker and thrown in piles or rows to be “ topped.” For
the latter operation a sharp, heavy knife, about 18 inches long, with
a hook at the end, is used. The worker, with the knife grasped in
the right hand, hooks up the beet and chops off the crown of leaves
with a sharp, downward stroke. A ll leaves must be cut cleanly
away and to do this more than one stroke is frequently required.
As the beets, though averaging under 3 pounds with the tops, are
often too heavy for a child to hold firmly enough to stand the cut
ting stroke o f the knife, many children rest the beet on their knee,
standing on one foot while they cut the leaves off or “ top ” the
beet. Where adults and children are working in groups together,
the children frequently pull and throw the beets in piles for the
adults to top; but if there are more children than are needed for
pulling, the larger children top and the smaller ones pull and pile.
6 “ A dult ” throughout this report means a person 16 years o f age or over.

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TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO AND M ICH IGAN.

While the families are usually brought to the beet fields in April,
and occasionally as early as March, the handwork does not begin
before May. In order that the whole crop may not be at the same
stage o f growth at the same time the planting season is extended
over a month or more and in consequence different fields are ready
for the same operation at different times. Blocking and thinning
usually take the laborers about five or six weeks. The hoeing is
spread over four or five weeks longer. After it comes an interval
o f about six weeks in which there is no handwork in the beet fields.
The beet harvest begins about the 1st o f October and lasts until
about the middle of November, or between six and seven weeks.
The beet-field laborers then pack up their belongings and hasten
south to the warmer climate of New or Old Mexico or go back to the
cities to look for work in some factory or shop; or, if they elect
to remain in the beet districts for the winter, they settle down on
the earnings o f the family in the beet fields or try to secure the scarce
jobs in the vicinity.
C O M P A R I S O N O F C O N D IT IO N S I N C O L O R A D O A N D M IC H IG A N .

The present study was made in Weld and Larimer Counties in Colo
rado, and in Gratiot, Saginaw, and Isabella Counties in Michigan,
which were selected as representative o f the beet-raising areas in
their respective States and sections. Families were selected for study
in which at least one child under the age o f 16, or the mother if she
had a child under 6 years o f age, had worked in the beet fields in
1920.
Conditions in the Colorado and the Michigan sections were in gen
eral very similar.' The great majority o f the parents in the families
interviewed in both sections were foreign born, though most o f the
children themselves had been born in the United States. In the
Michigan area studied, however, where the beet farms averaged only
5 or 6 acres, a larger number o f native American families o f Englishspeaking stock were engaged in the work in their own fields than
in Colorado, where the plantings averaged upwards o f 20 acres.
Almost seven-tenths o f the Colorado families were Russian-Ger
mans, and one-tenth were Mexicans; the Michigan workers included
a wide range o f nationalities, most o f them Slavic, in addition to
Mexicans. In each section migratory workers had been brought in
from more or less distant points to supplement the available resident
labor, but practically four-fifths o f the Colorado families, as com
pared with only one-third o f those in the Michigan section, resided
within a few miles o f the beet farms. Some farm owners, tenant
farmers, and contract laborers were included in the survey in each
area; but largely because o f the smaller acreages proportionately

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CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN

more beelt farmers’ families in Michigan than in Colorado were
doing handwork on their own beet crop.
Tenant farmers and farm owners lived in the ordinary farmhouse
o f the area, but laborers’ families in both Colorado and Michigan
occupied any kind o f shelter that was available for temporary use—
abandoned farmhouses, rude frame or tar-paper shacks, and even
tents and caravan wagons—though some o f the sugar companies in
Michigan had provided one or two room portable cottages for their
laborers. The dwellings were in many cases in bad repair, dark,
ill ventilated, and far from weatherproof.
Overcrowding was
extreme. In Colorado 77 per cent and in Michigan 60 per cent of
the laborers’ families lived with two or more persons per room.
Sanitation was poor, and the water supply, especially in the irrigated
districts o f Colorado, was often neither plentiful nor protected
against contamination. Most of the laborers occupied, their “ beet
shacks ” for five or six months a year.
In the Colorado section 1,073 children between 6 and 16 years o f
age and in the Michigan section, 763 had worked in the beet fields
in the summer o f 1920. A large proportion (from one-fifth to onefourth) even o f the 6- and 7-year-old children in the families inter
viewed had worked; but the workers constituted a majority—
approximately three-fifths— of the 8-year-old children, and prac
tically all o f those over the age o f 10. One fourth o f the working
children ki each section were under 10, over one-half from 10 to 13,
and only one-fifth 14 or 15 years o f age. Girls as well as boys o f
all ages did the work; a slight tendency to spare girls, apparent
for all ages in the Michigan families, in Colorado affected only girls
under 10 years o f age.
More than half the Colorado child workers had worked more
than six weeks in the beet fields in 1920. Practically the same pro
portion o f Michigan workers had spent more than four weeks at the
work, and at the time the study was made in Michigan the fall work
o f pulling and topping, which would add two or more to the num
ber o f weeks worked, had not begun.
Contract laborers’ children in both sections worked several weeks
longer than did the children o f beet farmers, whose acreages, even
in Colorado, where the beet farms were relatively large, were
smaller than those for which a laborer usually took a contract.
Partly because o f the smaller acreage, the children o f farm owners
and tenant farmers did not work under the same pressure as did
the children o f contract laborers. In many cases their hours were
shorter and the weeks spent at the work were few er; but even when
growers’ children worked long hours throughout a number o f weeks
the acreage which they worked indicates that usually they were not
obliged to work so hard and so fast as laborers’ children, who as

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TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLOBADO AND M ICH IG AN .

soon as they completed the work in one field were set to work on
another. Practically all the working children in each section studied
took parti in the spring process, for even the youngest children can
thin, and the necessity for thinning out the plants before they have
grown too large is urgent. Only about four-fifths o f the working
children in each of the sections did hoeing. Not only is the need
for haste, and consequently for using all hands, less than during
blocking and thinning, but the work is also somewhat heavier than
the spring process and can not be done so satisfactorily by very
young children. In Colorado 85 per cent of the children worked
from 9 to 14 or more hours, a day in the thinning season, as compared
with only 67 per cent in Michigan— a difference probably due to the
relatively larger proportion o f farm owners with small acreages in
the Michigan study. The proportion—two-thirds— working nine
hours a day or longer while hoeing was no greater in Colorado than
in Michigan. Even the contract' laborers’ families, who constituted
the bulk o f those visited in Colorado, were able to take this work in
a somewhat more leisurely way than they had the blocking and
thinning. No fall work had begun at the time o f the study in
Michigan. In Colorado the labor of practically all the children was
again utilized in pulling and topping in order to get in the crop
before it was caught by a heavy fost or otherwise spoiled; threefourths o f the children working at this process reported a working
day of from 9 to 13 hours.
The Colorado children were more experienced workers than those
in the Michigan families included in the survey. O f the former,
only 17 per cent o f those from 10 to 15 years o f age were working in
the beet fields for the first tim e; o f the latter, 35 per cent were be
ginner^. On the one hand many o f the Russian-German workers in
Colorado had been engaged in beet-field work season after season
for a number o f years; on the other, some o f the Michigan farmers’
families owing to local conditions were doing their own handwork
for the first time. The more experienced Colorado child workers
on an average cared for 5.9 acres per child, whereq^ the Michigan
workers averaged only 4.1 acres per child.
In both sections absence from school fo r work in the beet fields,
especially during the harvest season, was reported, and difficulty was
experienced in enforcing the school attendance law in the case o f beetfield workers. The average percentage o f attendance for resident
children in the Colorado section who attended schools making no
special provisions for beet-field workers was 74 per cent in the case
o f laborers* and 89 per cent, in the case o f farm owners’ children.
In Michigan these percentages were 72 and 85, respectively. In
Colorado summer sessions provided for beet-field workers in a few

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CHILD LABOR AND THE ^ O R K OE MOTHERS IN

towns had resulted in bringing up the percentage of attendance to
90 for laborers’ as well as for farmers’ children attending these
schools. The proportion o f retarded children in the families studied
in each area was considerably larger than the average. Thirty-five
per cent o f the resident children 8 to 16 years o f age in Michigan
beet-field workers’ families and three-fifths o f the corresponding
group in Colorado were retarded from one to six or seven years. The
comparatively large number o f farm owners’ children, who are less
retarded than laborers’ children, decrease the proportion o f retarded
children in the Michigan families. Most of the Michigan children
living near the beet fields attended rural schools. About half the
Colorado children attended schools in the sugar-factory towns, and
these children had a_ percentage o f retardation more than twice as
large as the average for city schools, measured by even a very con
servative standard. Children attending schools providing a summer
session for beet-field workers were little, if any, less retarded than
tliose for whom no such provision had been made, despite the im
provement in their school attendance. Such sessions have been held
at most but two or three seasons, and it is impossible as yet to ascer
tain what effect they may have in reducing retardation among the
children who lose time from the regular session for work on the beet
farms.
Supplementary studies o f school attendance and retardation among
resident children in both sections covering approximately 3,000 chil
dren in Colorado and 1,300 in Michigan showed that the percentage
o f school attendance o f beet-field working children o f every age
was from 20 to 30 less than that o f nonworking children and that
the proportion o f retarded working children was greater for every
age than that o f retarded nonworking children. In the Colorado
section the percentage of retardation for workers ranged, according
to the ages o f the children, from one and one-third times to more
than twice that for children who had not stayed out of school to
work in the beet fields.
The children o f migratory laborers are likely to lose even more
time from school than resident children, as they are withdrawn from
school early in the spring in order to get settled in the beet-growing
area in time for thinning and seldom return to town until late
November or December, some weeks after school has begun. Among
the migratory laborers’ families in the Colorado section the per
centage o f retarded children was 62' that for children in the Michi
gan migratory families was 47.
The mothers o f many young children were beet-field workers.
Very few o f the Russian-German mothers, including farmers’ as
well as contract laborers’ wives, in the Colorado families studied did

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TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO AND M ICH IGAN.

not work in-the beet fields. In Michigan, on the other hand, although
proportionately as many mothers in contract laborers’ families did
beet-field work as in Colorado, only about one-half o f the farm
owners’ wives worked in the fields. Farm owners’ wives o f native
birth were relatively numerous in the Michigan section, and among
these women field work is not customary. The average number o f
seasons at work was 8 for Colorado women and only 3 for Michi
gan women. Women worked about the same hours and approxi
mately the same number o f weeks as children, and during the busy
seasons were able to give little attention to their homes or the care
o f their children. Babies were usually taken to the field, where they
remained all day, in some cases sheltered by a canvas tent, but in
others without even the shade o f a tree. In many families they
were left at home, either alone or with older children to care for
them. Many of these caretakers were under 7 years o f age.
Family earnings from beet contracts ranged from less than $100
to $3,000 or more, according to the number o f workers and their
ability. In both sections studied the largest group, approximately
one-fifth o f the laborers’ families, expected to receive for their sea
son’s work in the beet fields from $800 to $1,000. About one-half of
the families in Colorado and less than one-third o f those in Michigan
earned $1,000 or more. The value o f a child’s work, i f he engaged
in all the processes, averaged in the Colorado section about $200
and in Michigan from $114 to $122.7 The Michigan children, it will
be remembered, were far from being such experienced workers as the
Colorado children.
The Colorado families, especially the resident Russian-Germans,
were supported largely, i f not entirely, by their beet-contract earn
ings. About'one-fourth o f the Colorado fathers did no regular work
from beet season to beet season, partly, no doubt, because winter work
was scarce, but also because the earnings of women and children
from their work in the beet fields relieved the father in some cases
o f the necessity o f working throughout the year to support his family.
In Michigan only 7 per cent o f the fathers who were laborers had had
no employment during the winter preceding this survey.
7 Includes a bonus o f $7 an acre.

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FAM ILIES WORKING IN THE COLORADO BEET FIELDS.
SCOPE A N D M ETH O D O F ST U D Y .

The beet-sugar industry has been developed on a larger scale in
Colorado than in any other State in the Union, and for a number of
years Colorado has led all States in the area harvested and the tons
o f sugar produced, though both Michigan and Utah have as many
sugar factories in operation.8 The beets are grown in the irrigated
basins o f the Platte and the Arkansas Rivers, the Arkansas Valley
covering a tract o f land approximately 125 miles long from the Kan
sas State line to Pueblo, and the northern irrigated districts reaching
north from Denver for about 75 miles, then running east and north
again along the Platte River. On the western slope o f the Rockies
along the Grand and the Gunnison Rivers is another irrigated beet
growing section, but the area there is small compared to that in the
eastern part o f the State.
The present study of child labor and the work of mothers in the
Colorado beet fields.was made in the beet-raising area north o f Den
ver, in Weld and Larimer Counties. In no other two counties in
Colorado are beets so extensively grown. In Weld County there were
in 1920 three sugar factories— one at Eaton, one at Greeley, and one at
Windsor—which reported9 45,412 acres o f beets tributary to them.
In Larimer County there were two sugar factories, one at Fort Col
lins and one at Loveland, supplied from 30,130 acres o f beets. A ll
these factories were owned by one sugar company. They reported
to the Children’s Bureau that 4,234, or 44 per cent o f the hand
workers who they stated were required, were brought in from outside
districts and that the remaining laborers were resident, usually liv
ing in towns near the beet fields the year round. Practically all the
resident workers were members o f family groups. Approximately
80 per cent o f the nonresident workers also were in family groups,
8 See Table I, p. 2.
9 Each o f the beet-sugar factories in the districts selected fo r study in both Colorado
and M ichigan furnished the Children’s Bureau w ith inform ation fo r their territory on
the follow in g p o in ts: (1 ) Number o f acres in sugar be e ts; (2 ) number o f sugar-beet
g row ers; (3 ) number o f grow ers ow ning fa rm s; (4 ) number o f grow ers renting fa rm s;
(5 ) number o r proportion o f grow ers who do their ow n handwork and hire no la b orers;
(6 ) number o f hand laborers requ ired ; (7 ) proportion o f these laborers.w h o are residen t;
(8 ) proportion o f resident laborers w ho are single m e n ;. (9 ) total number o f transient
laborers brought in fo r season o f 1920 by com p an y ; number o f single men and number
o f fam ily groups thus brought i n ; (1 0) proportion o f farm s in the d istrict grow ing beets.

17623°—23---- 2

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK QF MOTHERS

according to the figures given by the four factories reporting on this
point. Thus about nine-tenths of the workers, resident and migra
tory, as reported by four of the five factories in the two counties
belonged in families in which father, mother, and some or all o f the
children worked in the beet fields.
Families in these two counties in which at least one child under
16 years o f age or the mother o f a child under 6 had worked in the
beet fields for at least one week in the season o f 1920 were selected
as the basis o f the study and were visited by agents o f the bureau.
It was difficult to locate families having children at work, especially
as at the time the study was begun (the 1st o f September) no hand
work in the beet fields was in progress and the resident workers had
returned to their homes in the near-by towns to await the harvest
season. The best means o f securing the names of resident families
with children appeared to be to take the names o f the children who
had enrolled in the suriimer schools and early school sessions of both
counties. These were almost exclusively children who were taking
summer-school work because they expected to be out in the fall for
the beet harvest.10 The complete enrollment was taken for schools
at Greeley, Windsor, Fort Collins, and Loveland, which were hold
ing summer sessions,11 and for four rural schools in each o f the two
counties. The lists so secured did not include the names o f many
nonresident families, for they did not, in many cases, put their
children in school in these districts. In order to secure a proper
proportion o f these families, lists giving the names and locations of
families brought in for the work were secured from the sugar fac
tories, and districts were selected for visiting to which the sugar
factories reported that transient families had been sent. In addi-:
tion, agents making the visits were instructed to take the name
o f every unlisted family found in the district which they visited
and to ask especially for transient families. Notwithstanding these
efforts a very large proportion o f resident families seems to have been
included in the study, as compared with the proportion o f resident
laborers shown by the figures o f the sugar factories. As a result the
report depicts somewhat more favorable conditions, at least in re
spect to the school progress made by the children,12 than if the pro
portion of transient families included in the study had been more
nearly representative o f the counties as a whole.
E C O N O M IC S T A T U S O F F A M I L I E S .

The great majority—over three-fourths—o f the 542 families inter
viewed in the two counties, were those of contract laborers. ComSee pp. 38-39.
11 See p. 38.
18 See Study o f school records o f m igratory beet-field workers, pp. 52-53.
m

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TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

paratively few were families owning or renting farms and culti
vating their own beets; barely a tenth were farm owners, and only
13 per cent were tenant farmers. It will be remembered that no
family was included in the study.unless at least one child or the
mother worked in the Ipeet fields, and, as a rule, the grower, even
when he only rents his land, does not do the handwork on his beet
crop, nor is this work performed by the members of. his family.13
The tenants and farm owners whose families work are usually men
who have risen from the ranks o f contract laborers, and who, with
few exceptions, are living in a poor way on the land, striving body
and soul to save enough money to purchase a farm or to add to the
few acres which they have laboriously acquired. For farm owners,
at least, there is a certain social stigma attached to a working in
the beets,” and they are likely to hire contract labor for the work as
soon as they are able to do so.
O f the 418 laborers’ families in the study, 348 were resident' in
the beet-growing area. Many o f these families had come directly
from Europe, where they had worked in the beet fields, some of
them since childhood. They were with few exceptions thrifty, in
dustrious, and ambitious, anxious to save money, buy a farm, and
“ let some one else work the beets.” When not engaged on the beet
crop the fathers, i f they had any other occupation, were for the
most part general farm hands, or else they worked in the sugar
factories during the weeks following the harvest when sugar was
being made, living during the winter in shacks and small houses,
which they usually owned, clustered on the outskirts o f the sugar
manufacturing towns. Seventy families o f laborers had been
brought into, the area for the work from more or less distant points
in the United States, where most o f the men had worked as factory
hands, miners, or railroad laborers.
Slightly fewer children to a family were reported among the
laborers included in the study than among the growers, so that
although more than three-fourths of the families were those of
laborers, less than three-fourths o f the children were laborers’ chil
dren. An even smaller proportion o f the children over 6 years of
age were in laborers’ families. The laborers’ families included more
young couples with babies and small children, whereas the beet
growers were older people, many o f them with grown sons and
daughters.
18 A ccording to reports made to the Children’ s Bureau by the Colorado sugar companies
the proportion o f beet growers, including owners and tenants, w h o did their ow n hand
work varied from 2 to 20 per cent. A bout one-sixth o f the grow ers in the districts tribu
tary to the five fa ctories in W eld and Larim er Counties did their own handwork

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

T a b l e I I .— Economic status o f family, by age o f child; children under 16 years

of age in families that worked in beet fields: Colorado group.

Children under 16 years of age.
Econonlic status of family.
Age of child.
Tenant farmer.

Laborer.

Total.

Farm owner.

Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.
Total.................................

2,115
715
1,400

1,581
561
1,020

748

310

147

224

10.6

78.5
72.9

99
211

13.8
15.1

55
169

7.7
12.1

N A T IO N A L IT Y .

Nativity.

Few o f those who work in the beet fields o f Colorado are the wives
and children of native Americans, and these with rare exceptions are
o f foreign extraction, the grandparents o f the children having been
born in foreign countries. Less than 15 per cent o f the fathers and
mothers in the families visited had been born in America, and over
two-fifths o f these were o f Mexican stock. On the other hand, most
o f the children themselves had been born in the United States.
About one-fourth o f those between 6 and 16 years o f age had not
been born in this country, but less than a fifth o f all the children and
only 3 per cent o f those under 6 years o f age were foreign bom.
Russian-Germans formed the largest group o f foreign-bom pa
rents. Not quite seven-tenths o f the fathers were o f this stock and
their children constituted not quite three-fourths o f all the children
in the study. The Russian-Germans predominated in every economic
group— laborer, tenant farmer, and farm owner. They made up the
bulk o f the resident families who may be considered the backbone
o f the hand labor in the Colorado beet fields. They had been brought
into the State originally in the early years o f the beet industry when
its increasing growth demanded more laborers than could be secured
near by. Although they came to the United States from Russia, they
are descendants o f Germans who migrated to Russia in the eighteenth
century but who did not intermarry with the Russians to any extent,
retaining even to this day their Teutonic habits, language, and
religion. They cling also to the customs o f their forefathers, one o f
which is that women and children work in the fields. Many o f them
had been beet-field laborers before they came to the United States,
for although Germany led the world in beet-sugar production pre
vious to the war, most o f her agricultural laborers were imported

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

from Russia, and Russia herself was second only to Germany in beetsugar production.14
T a b l e I I I .— Nationality of father, by economic status o f fam ily; children under

16 years of age in families that worked in beet fields: Colorado group.

Children under 16 years of age.
Economic status of family.
Total.

Nationality of father.

Laborer.

Tenant farmer.

Farm owner.

Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Number. distri Number. distri Number. distri Number. distri
bution.
bution.
bution.
bution.
Total..............................

2,115

100.0

1,581

100.0

310

Native............: .......................

287

13.6

225

14.2

Mexican..........................
Other................................

104
183

4.9
8.7

104
121

6.6
7.7

8.4

16.1

Foreign bom ...........................

1,825

86.3

1,356

85.8

284

91.6

185

82.6

Mexican............................
Russian-German.............
German.............................
Slav..................................
All other...........................
Nationality not reported.

149
1,554
55
34
21
12

7.0
73.5
2.6
1.6
1.0
.6

149
1,135
30
25
9
8

9.4
71.-8
1.9
1.6
.6
.5

261
11
9
3

84.2
3.5
2.9
1.0

158
14

70.5
6.2

9
4

4.0
1.8

NatM ty not reported............

1.3

’

100.0

224

100.0

8.4

16.1

In contrast to this predominance o f RuSsian-Germans in the resi
dent labor supply, most o f the migratory laborers brought into Weld
and Larimer Counties in the season o f 1920 were Mexicans—90 per
cent according to the figures furnished the Children’s Bureau by the
sugar factories. Six per cent o f the fathers included in the study
were Mexicans, and another 6 per cent were o f Mexican stock. Their
children formed respectively 7 and 5 per cent o f the total number o f
children15 included in the survey. Most o f the families had been
brought from Texas, many haying gone there directly from Old
Mexico during the war-time suspension o f immigration restrictions.
Others came from New Mexico or Ihe mining districts of Colorado.
As yet the Mexicans have not been assimilated by the communities
to which they have flocked. None of those included in the present
study had progressed to the position o f farm owners, or even tenant
farmers. In Weld and Larimer Counties they seldom remain
through the winter. Little or no work is to be had, and the climate
is coldtr than they like'. Every day after the 1st o f November sees
little groups o f them at the railroad stations, many o f them thinly
V clad, carrying shabby bits of hand baggage. They make their way
14 The Sugar Industry, U. S Departm ent o f Commerce, Bureau o f Foreign and Dom estic
Commerce, M iscellaneous Series No. 9, p. 102. W ashington, 1913.
15 I f more m igratory fam ilies had been included, the proportion o f M exicans would
have been larger. See p. 12.

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

back to the South or in some cases only to Denver, to live crowded
in miserable shanties until spring calls them out again to the beet
fields.
Knowledge of English.

Many o f the children whose families work in the beet fields hear
English for practically the first time when they go to school. As
the result o f a law passed in 191916 requiring instruction in the com
mon branches to be given in the English language this situation will
probably improve. Prior to the passage o f the law instruction in
the parochial schools attended by many o f the children was in Ger
man. Even among the children 6 years old or over, in the families
studied, 53 could speak no English, though 22 o f them had been born
in this country. Eighty-eight o f the fathers and 251 o f the mothers
had no knowledge o f the language. The Russian-Germans live apart
in their own little settlements and worship in their own churches, and
despite the fact that jmany o f them had been in the United States
10 or 15 years and none less than 5 years, German is the language of
the household. The men come in contact with English-speaking
persons in their daily work to some extent, but the women seldom go
outside their homes. Thus most o f the Russian-German fathers (82
per cent) had acquired some knowledge o f English, at least enough to
make themselves understood, but less than half the mothers were able
to speak English.
T able IV .— Literacy cmd ability of father to speak English, by number o f years
in the United States and nationality; fathers in families that worked m beet
fields: Colorado group.
Fathers.

Years in the United States and
nationality of father.

Unable to
speak
English.
Total.

Unable to
Unable to
read and
Unable to
read and
write
in any
read English. write
English. language.

Num- Per Num Per Num Per Num Per
bet. cent.“ ber. cent.“ ber. cent.“ ber. cent.“
Total............................................

6518

17.0

343

66.2

372

71.8

108

20.8

Native...................................................

1. 4

21.6

28. 4

9.5

33
41

444

16
9
155
134
127
3

12
5
46
15
8
1

Foreign-born..................................... ..

5 years, less than 10........................
10 years, 1ess than 15......................
15 and over.....................................

16
19.6

327

29. 7
11.2
6.3

15'
9
130
98
74
1

6
1

20
1
73.6

351

83. 9
73.1
58.3

15
9
136
104
86
1

79.1
•
87.7
77.6
67.7

101

22.7

8
5
45
26
17

29.0
19.4
13.4

a Not shown where baseisless than 50.
b Excludes 23 fathers who were dead or had deserted and 1 for whom nationality, years in the United
States, ability to speak English, and literacy were not reported.
16 C olorado Laws, 1919, ch. 179.

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OE COLORADO.

T a b l e Y . — Literacy and ability o f mother to speak, English, b y number o f years

in the United States and nationality; mothers in families that worked in beet
fields: Colorado group.
Mothers.

Years in the United States and
nationality of mothers.

Unable to
speak
' English.
Total.

Unable to
Unable to
read and
Unable to
read and
write
in any
read English. write
English. language.

Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per
ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1
Total............................................

2525

250

47.6

429

81.7

444

84.6

222

42.3

Native............................... ...................

19.0

31.6

' 28

35.4

16.5

33
46

446

235

21
13
159
132
121

21
11
112
58
33

Foreign bo m .........................................

5 years, less than 10.......................
10 years, less than 15......................
15 and over.....................................

22
3
52.7

404

70.4
43.9
27.3

21
13
152
120
98

10
3

25
3
90.6

416

95.6
90.9
81.0

21
13
154
123
105

93.3

209

46.9

96.9
93.2
86.8

16
10
73
60
50

45.9
45.5
41.3

1 Not shown where baseis less than 50.
2 Excludes 16 mothers who were dead or away or had deserted, and 1 for whom nationality, years in
the United States, ability to speak English, and literacy were not reported.

The Mexicans are comparatively newcomers to the beet fields—
little more than half the fathers and only one-third o f the mothers in
the study had lived in the United States as much as 5 years. Con
sidering that they stay but a short time in any one place, and like
most o f the foreign born tend to live in little colonies o f their own,
it is not surprising that o f the native Mexican fathers included
in the study only 42 per cent could speak English. As always among
immigrants, the women, coming in contact with Americans even more
gradually than the men, learn English much more slowly, and only 7
per cent o f the mothers could speak the English language. O f the
Mexican parents bom in the United States, all the fathers except one
could speak English well enough to make themselves understood,
whereas almost half the mothers had no knowledge o f the language.
Some o f the women may have spent part o f their lives in Old Mexico,
but it is highly probable that many of them grew up in the United
States without attending school or attending schools where the in
struction was in Spanish, always speaking their native tongue in the
family, and not mingling enough with outsiders to pick up English
as the men did.
Where so few had a speaking knowledge o f English one might ex
pect that the ability to read and write it would also be the exception
rather than the rule. Such, indeed, proved to be the case: Only 1
foreign-bom father in 4 could read the language, and only 1 in 5 was
able both to read and to write English. Only 42. o f the 446 foreign-

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CHILD LABOR AHD TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

bom mothers had learned to read English and only 30 to read and
write it. In addition to their ignorance o f English a large number
o f the parents were illiterate even in their own language.
Thus handicapped it is difficult for these parents to share in any
way in the life o f the community. Besides the personal inconven
ience which they suffer they are cjut off from the many avenues of
popular instruction which would be o f assistance in safeguarding
their children’s health, in guiding their conduct, and in becoming
their companions. It is difficult for them to understand American
customs, ideals, and institutions, and if they do not cooperate with
the public schools as effectively as might be desired it is hardly to be
wondered at.
Little attempt has been made locally to provide instruction for nonEnglish speaking men and women. In the two counties studied
only one instance o f an evening school for adults was found. In
Greeley, at the instigation o f the local woman’s club, an evening
school had been held in the late winter and spring of 1920. It was
spoken o f with appreciation many times by the foreign-born beetfield workers who had attended it, and regret was expressed that it
had been started so late that many had been obliged to withdraw for
the spring work before the course was completed.
C H IL D L A B O R .

Number and ages of children and duration of work.

In the families visited 1,073 children between 6 and 16 years had
worked in the beet fields during the season o f 1920. A ll except 37
o f them had worked for their own parents and without remunera
tion. The child-labor law o f Colorado, like* that o f most States,
exempts agricultural work from its minimum-age provision,17 and
children may be put to work in the fields at any age. Four children
even younger than 6 years were reported by their parents as having
worked a part o f each day for from one to eight weeks. Among the
working children between 6 and 16 years of age covered by the study,
well over one-fourth were less than 10 years o f age, and more than
one-half were from 10 to 13, inclusive.^ Only 191 working children
had reached their fourteenth birthdays.
17 The law prohibits work in specified occupations, n o t including agricultural pursuits,
under the age o f 14 and also any work fo r compensation “ during any portion o f any
m onth when the public schools * * * are in session.” I t continues, “ Nothing in
this a ct shall be construed to prevent the employment o f children in any fr u it orchard,
garden, field or farm : P rovid ed , T hat any child under 14 years o f age engaging in such
em ploym ent fo r persons oth er than their ow n parents must first secure a perm it from
the superintendent o f schools in accordance w ith the provisions o f section 15 o f th is act.
T he hours o f work during each day, o r in any week shall be in com pliance w ith the
provisions o f this act as to the hours during any day or week when children may be
em ployed.” The natural interpretation o f the last sentence is that the maximum hours
provision o f the child labor law (See footn ote 19', p. 22) applies to children working in
“ fru it orchard, garden, field, or farm .” M ills’ A nnotated Statutes, revised edition 1912,
sec. 657.

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IÏT TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

T a b l e V I .— Age o f child, by economic status of fa m ily; children between 6 and

16 years of age working in beet fields: Colorado group.

Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Economic status of family.
Age of child.

Total.
Laborer.

Number.

Tenant farmer.

Farm owner.

Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
distri Number. distri Number. distri Number. distri
bution.
bution.
bution.
bution.

Total................

1 1,073

100.0

1774

100.0

164

100.0

' 135

100.0

6 years, under 7.........
7 years, under 8.........
8 years, under 9 .........
9 years, under 10.......
10 years, under 11___
11 years, under 12___
12 years, under 13___
13 years, under 14___
14 years, under 15___
15 years, under 16___

15
56
91
127
171
116
170
136
122
69

1.4
5.2
8.5
11.8
15; 9
10.8
15.8
12.7
11.4
6.4

8
44
76
95
120
81
124
95
83
48

1.0
5.7
9.8
12.3
15.5
10.5
16.0
12.3
10.7
6.2

6
6
7
20
31
19
24
23
17
11

3.7
3.7
4.3
12.2
18.9
11.6
14.6
14.0
10.4
6.7

1
6
8
12
20
16
22
18
22
10

.7
4.4
5.9
8.9
14.8
11.9
16.3
13.3
16.3
7.4

1 Excludes 4 children under 6 who worked in beet fields.

The tendency among the families in which it is customary for
children to work is to make the children’s labor count as soon as
possible. A s one o f the.mothers said, “ Asa’s worked ever since he
could lift a beet.” More than three-fifths o f the 8-year-old chil
dren in the families in which at least one older child had already
gone to work were beet-field workers.18 From the age o f 10 on, prac
tically all worked in the cultivation o f beets. Even among the
6- and the 7-year-old children one child in four was reported as working. Girls as well as boys worked at all ages, but there appeared to
be a tendency to spare the youngest girls. Thus, 60 per cent o f the
boys under 10 years o f age in the families, studied but only 36 per cent
o f the girls under 10 years o f age were reported as working; all the
10-year-old boys helped with the crop, as compared with 89 per cent
o f the 10-year-old girls. In these families, however, the proportions
o f working girls and boys over 10 years o f age who worked were
practically identical—94 and 95 per cent, respectively.
The work, it will be remembered, is not continuous. Blocking and
thinning, the first handwork, begins about the 1st o f June. During
the last days o f May wagons or motors carrying the beet-field labor
er’s family and his household goods, with perhaps a chicken coop
on top and the family cow bringing up the rear, fill the roads leading
18 T he totals on which are based this proportion and the follow in g proportions o f
children o f different ages at work exclude 189 children— (1 ) the eldest w orking child in
each fam ily, and (2 ) children w ho were the only child w orkers in their respective
fam ilies. T o avoid a bias in fa v o r o f a high proportion o f children working which would
be given by the basis o f selection o f fam ilies in the present study (i. e., fam ilies in
w h ich a t least one child w orked), these working children who presumably furnished the
reason fo r the selection o f the fam ily are excluded.

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

out from Greeley, Fort Collins, Loveland, and other neighboring
sugar-factory cities where the resident beet-field laborers live dur
ing the winter. By the 1st o f June they, as well as the migratory
workers, have been apportioned among the farmers and are estab
lished in the shelters provided for them, usually adjacent to the beet
fields where they are to work. Shortly after blocking and thinning
are completed, hoeing is begun, and, i f several hoeings are required,
may extend into August. From the middle o f August until the har
vest there is no handwork in the beet fields. After the last hoeing
the resident families usually return to their homes on the outskirts
o f the near-by cities. The early days o f October witness their sec
ond migration to the beet fields, this time for the work o f pulling
and topping.
A t the time o f the Children’s Bureau agent’s visit many families
had not completed the fall work, and some o f them expected to work
at least two or three weeks longer. O f the 1,073 working children, 571
had already spent more than six: weeks in the beet fields during the
1920 season, and 61 o f them had worked from 12 to 17 weeks. The
latter were all laborers’ or tenants’ children. Five children under 8
years o f age, 18 between 8 and 9, and 16 between 9 and 10 had worked
10 weeks or more. One-fifth o f the laborers’ children had worked at
least 10 weeks—practically twice as many proportionately as the
children o f tenant farmers. The largest group o f owners’ children
had worked five weeks and the largest group o f tenants’ and o f
laborers’ children had worked seven weeks.
T a b l e V II. — Number of weeks worked, by age o f child; children between 6 and

16 years of age working in beet fields: Colorado group.

Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Number of weeks worked.
Age of child.

Total.

Less than 1.

‘

Num Per Num Per Num Per Num . Per Num Per Num Per
ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1
Total.............. 21,073
7 years, under 8 .. ^.
8 years) under 9 . . . .
10”years, under 11 ..
12 years) under 13...
Ì5 years, under 16...

15
56
91
127
171
116
170
136
122
69

0.4

1
1

1.8
1.1

24
1
3
3
6
2
5
1
3

2.2
1.8
3.3
2.4
3.5
1.7
2.9
.7
2.5

28
1
1
5
5
2
4
5
3
2

2.6

1.8
1.1
3.9
2.9
1.7
2.4
3.7
2.5
2.9

3
6
8
9
12
3
7
5
2
2

5.3

10.7
8.8
7.1
7.0
2.6
4.1
3.7
1.6
2.9

1
6
8
8
12
12
8
11
10
5

1 N ot shown where base is less than 50.
2 Excludes 4 children under 6 years o f age who worked in beet fields.

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7.5

125

1L6

10.7
8.8
6.3
7.0
10.3
4.7
8.1
8.2
7.2

3
9
11
19
15
17
19
15
10
7

16.1
12.1
15.0
8.8
14.7
11.2
11.0
8.2
10.1

I F TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.
T a b l e V I I .— Number o f weeks worked, by age of child— Continued.

Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Number of weeks worked.
Age of child.
6

• 9

Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per
ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1
Total..........................

119

6 years, under 7...................
7 years, under 8...................
8 years, under 9...................
9 years, under 10.................
10 years, under 11...............
11 years, under 12...............
12 years, under 13...............
IS years, under 14...............
14 years, under 15...............
15 years, under 16— .........

2
5
11
15
16
11
21
11
18
9

11.1

154

8.9
12.1
11.8
9.4
9.5
12.4
8.1
14.8
13.0

1
9
12
21
19
17
24
24
16
11

14.4

117

16.1
13.2
16.5
11.1
14.7
14.1
17.6
13.1
15.9

3
5
7
19
15
11
24
12
14
7

10.9

118

11.0

7.3

4.0

8.9
7.7
15.0
8.8
9.5
14.1
8.8
11.5
10.1

1
5
5
5
25
15
16
16
17
13

8.9
5.5
3.9
14.6
12.9
9.4
11.8
13.9
18.8

1
10
8
15
10
13
11
8
2

1.8
11.0
6.3
8.8
8.6
7.6
8.1
6.6
2.9

1
2
2
11
5
7
6
5
4

1.8
2.2
1.6
6.4
4.3
4.1
4.4
4.1
5.8

Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Number of weeks worked.
Age of child.

Not re
ported.

Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per
ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1
Total..........................
6 years, under 7...................
7 years, under 8...................
8 years, under 9...................
9 years, under 10.................
10' years, under 11...............
11 years, under 12...............
12 years, under 13...............
13 years, under 14...............
14 years, under 15...............
15 years, under 16...............

2.2

2
2
4
5

3.6
2.2
3.1
2.9

6
3
1
1

3.5
2.2
' .8
1.4

22
1
1
2
2
4
2
6
3
1

2.1
1.8
1.1
1.6
1.2
3.4
1.2
4.4
2.5
1.4

0.8

1.1

1.8

1.2

2
1

1.6
1.4

0.4

1.1

1
1

.7
.8

0.2

1.1

64
1
3
6
7
9
6
ii
9
8
4

6.0
sM

6.6
fi, fi
fi, 3

fi, 2
6 .5
6 .6

6.6
5.8

1 Not shown where base is less than 50.
a Excludes 4 children under 6 years of age who worked in beet fields.

The farmer whose family works in the beet fields has usually
only a small beet acreage and needs help for only 2 or 3 weeks,
whereas a laborer will require the help o f his children for from
6 to 12 weeks or even longer to take care o f the acreage for which he
has contracted. Three-fourths o f the farm owners and three-fifths o f
the tenant farmers in the study cared for less than 30 acres o f beets
as compared with one-half the contract laborers, and half the farm
owners had less than 20 acres o f beets. Thus it was unnecessary for
the children in farm owners’ families to work either such long hours
or so many weeks a season as the children o f contract laborers did.
In addition to the work on the beet crop, it should be noted that
many o f the children did a variety of other farm work, adding to

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

the number of weeks spent in the fields. For example, both boys
and girls took part in threshing and haying, helped cultivate va
rious crops, tended stock, and, more rarely, loaded beet wagons.
Some o f the boys 12 years o f age and older did heavier work, such
as plowing. Many o f the farmers’ children who did such work as
this had worked only a few weeks on the beet crop. Others, how
ever, had spent as much time in the handwork as the laborers’
children. In addition to 11 weeks’ work “ in beets” one farmer’s
boy had done cultivating, driven a team, mowed and stacked hay;
and another had done cultivating and haying besides 9^ weeks’
work in the beet fields. Although it was usually the farmers’ chil
dren who had such tasks as these, it was not uncommon for the con
tract laborers’ families to do other jobs in the intervals between the
work on the beet crop. Among the many children who worked at
gathering potatoes from the ground was a 7-year-old girl who had
spent over 4 weeks in the beet fields. A number o f the younger chil
dren weeded onions, and one 9-year-old boy with his older brothers
topped them in addition to spending 11 hours a day for more than
7 weeks working in the beet fields. One 10-year-old girl cut corn
and gathered potatoes besides spending 12 weeks on the beet crop.
Three little boys hoed beans and gathered potatoes in the intervals
between their handwork in the beet fields. Another 12-year-old boy
did both cultivating and planting in addition to more than 11 weeks
o f work on his father’s beet contract.
The number o.f weeks that the children work and the length of
their working day,19 like the age at which they begin to work, is in
practice determined according to the judgment o f the individual
parent. Some o f the parents included in the survey were careful
about the amount and kind o f work their children did. “ Too h ot;
such work not for kids,” they would say, or “ So hard work not good
for children.” One mother helped with the thinning herself, though
she was not well, because she was “ sorry for Jacob,” who at 8 years
o f age worked 6| to 10i| hours a day for 7 weeks during the beet
season. Some parents, on the other hand, usually the excessivelv
thrifty ones, eager to “ get ahead ” at any cost, drove their children
hard. A few accounts o f the work done by individual families will
make clear the attitude o f different parent? toward their children’s
work, besides illustrating conditions under which the work is done.
Four Russian-German children, ranging in age from 9 to 13 years, came to the
beet fields with their fam ily the 1st o f June. They worked at thinning and
blocking for more than 3 weeks, 14| hours a (fay, beginning at 4.30 a. m. They
19The Colorado child labor law provides a m aximum o f 8 hours per day a t “ any
gainful occupation ” fo r children under 16, w ith exem ptions lim ited to children o f 12
years o f ag e and over, on special perm it granted b y the county school superintendent or
his deputy. (M ills’ Annotated Statutes, Revised Edition, 1912, secs. 657, 671.)

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

took 5 minutes in the morning and again in the afternoon for a lunch when, as
they said, they “ just got chunks in.” They took 20 minutes for dinner. About
July 1 they went home, remaining until the middle of the month, when the
hoeing began. They spent 5 weeks, 14J hours a day, hoeing, and again went
home, returning September 21 for the harvest, which lasted 4 weeks. During
the harvest their working day lasted 10 hours only. On October 25 they re
turned to town for the winter, having spent a total o f 12£ weeks at work. These
four children and their father and mother cared for 51 acres. Ten acres was
the generally accepted average for an adult, according to-statements made to
the Children’s Bureau by the sugar companies. The family owned a car and
their town house was being repapered and repaired; two men were working on
it at the time o f the agent’s visit.
“ Healthful work for children,” said one father, “ if they don’t work too long
hours or in the heat o f the day.” H is 15-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy never
worked longer than 7$ hours, taking about 5 hours off during the middle of the
day. H is 9-year-old girl worked irregularly. These three children with two
adults cared for 12 acres.
Another father, who owned a small farm, declared that the work was good for
children “ providing they don’t begin too young, don’t work too long hours, and
don’t lose their schooling.” H is 13- and 11-year-old children worked from 7 a. m.
to 5.30 p. m., taking 2 hours off in the middle of the day and spending only about
2 weeks at the work. They did no hoeing. These children had begun to work in
the beet fields when 10 years of age.
How hard Sam and John, two boys 10 and 12 years of age, worked is indi
cated by the fact that they, with their parents and one other adult, worked 65
acres o f beets. I f each adult cared for 15 acres, which is h alf as much again
as the average, each child would have had to care for 10 acres, the, average
amount supposed to be cared for by a full-grown worker. These boys worked
hours a day during the hoeing season and 10 hours daily during the fa ll and
spring processes, covering about ' l l weeks. Sam, the 12-year-old, also worked
between the beet processes at cultivating and planting.
In a fam ily in which the girls of 11 and 13 years preferred work in the beet
fields to housework the statement was made that the girls worked steadily but
not fast— which is evidenced by the fact that they, with three other children and
two adults, took care of only 12 acres o f beets, an average o f less than 2 acres
per person.
A Mexican fam ily that came to Colorado from Texas about the middle of
May had only 1 »child at work, a girl o f 12 years. She had spent over 14 weeks
working in the beet fields— almost 9 weeks thinning, 31 weeks hoeing, and more
than 2 weeks pulling and topping. The family remained in the country through
out the season, and the girl had picked beans and gathered potatoes during the
interval between the completion of hoeing and the beginning of the beet har
vest. She had completed only the first grade, despite the fact that the family
had moved much less frequently than was customary among Mexican beet-field
laborers. This fam ily, consisting of father, mother, and 12-year-old girl, had
cared for 27 acres, a fact which indicated that their work must have been fairly
steady.
Three little boys o f 8, 10, and 12 years, with their 15-year-old sister and their
mother and father, worked off contract for more than 14 weeks 11 and 12 hours
daily, caring for 53 acres of beets. This family owned a car and a new house.

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Fourteen-year-old Lizzie, the daughter of a contract laborer, worked 10$
weeks “ in beets ”— a little over 4 weeks in June, a little over 4 weeks in Octo
ber, and 2 weeks in the summer. Her working day in hoeing and in the fall
work was about 12 hours, but during the thinning and blocking process she
worked between 14 and 15 hours a day. During the summer she had also gath
ered poatoes. This was her seventh year in the beet fields. She had completed
only the fourth grade in school. Lizzie had lost a good deal o f time each year,
her father said, for the beet-field work. School, he explained, had been com
pulsory for only a few years.
A little Mexican girl, aged 8 years, worked at thinning 10 hours a day for 4
weeks in June. She did no hoeing. Up to the time of the agent’s visit she had
spent 3$ weeks on the beet harvest, working, as in the spring, iO hours a day.
Altogether she had worked 9$ weeks in the beet fields in addition to 3 weeks’
work gathering potatoes before the pulling and topping began.
In one native American fam ily 4 boys, aged 7, 10, 12, and 15 years, spent 3
weeks at the spring process, working an 11-hour day. They were in the field
from 7 in the morning until 7 at night, but took 1 hour off for dinner. They
spent 1 week at hoeing, working 10$ hours a day, with 1$ hours off in the
middle of the day. The topping was not finished when the agent saw the family.
They had been working at it 10 hours a day for 1$ weeks and expected to com
plete the job in 2 weeks more. The 4 boys had spent a total o f about 5$ weeks
at the work. The 15-year-old boy also hired out with his father to do haying
and threshing work which lasted 5 weeks. The 12-year-old boy did some
haying also. This fam ily had had 4 years’ experience in beet-field work. The
4 children and 2 adults, however, cared for only 28 acres o f beets. The chil
dren probably worked in a very leisurely way ( i f the 2 adults cared for 20
acres the children averaged only 2 acres each), and it is not surprising that
they considered it “ a great treat to be out on a farm ,” and preferred it to stay
ing in town.
Five children and two grown persons in another American family cared for
20 acres— all working 11 hours a day for 2$ weeks in the spring, 11 hours a day
for 2 weeks at hoeing, and 9$ hours a day for a little over 1 week in the fall—
about 6 weeks in all. These children, aged from 10 to 14 “ didn’t mind working
in the beets,” though their parents said that they sometimes had to be bribed
to keep at it.
A Russian-German family came out from town March 22. In this family
were 3 children working, 12-year-old Frieda, 9-year-old W illie, and Jim, aged 7,
who worked irregularly. They spent 3 weeks at the spring work, putting in a
12$-hour d a y ; 2 weeks at hoeing for 11 hours a day, and up to the time, o f the
agent’s visit had spent about 3 weeks at the harvest, which was not yet finished.
Altogether they had worked about 9 weeks, probably very hard, since the 3
children, one working irregularly, and 3 adults had cared for 50 acres.
Somewhat similar working conditions were found in a family in which 2 little
girls, aged 12 and 13 years, with 3 adults, took care o f 50 acres of beets. The
children had worked altogether more than 11 weeks, 10 and 12$ hours a day.
A Russian-German family, with 4 working children ranging in age from 8
to 15, arrived at the beet field on M ay 25 and remained throughout the. season.
All the children worked almost 12 hours a day <or 4 weeks at thinning. A ll
except the youngest, who did no hoeing, worked 2 weeks, almost 12 hours daily,
at hoeing. A ll o f them had been working 3 weeks at pulling and topping at the
time of the agent’s visit and expected to spend another 2 weeks at it. The

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

8-year-old boy worked irregularly at this process, but the 12- and 15-year-old
boys and the 13-year-old girl spent 11 hours a day at the work. Altogether
they had worked more than 9 weeks, with the two adults caring for 43 acres.
This fam ily said that the work was profitable because the children could help.
The fam ily owned a car.
The 7-year-old daughter o f a Russian-German farm laborer who owned a
car and had a well-furnished house with a piano worked 9$ hours a day thin
ning for 3 weeks and irregularly at pulling and topping for 4 weeks. This
father had no winter occupation.
One Russian-German father said that with the help o f his wife and his 4
children, one of whom was over 16 years of age, he made enough ($1,400) on
his beet contract of 40 acres to live on all the. year round. H e did no other
work throughout the year. The children, aged 8, 9, and 11 years, averaged 11
hours a day in thinning and hoeing, and 10 in pulling, and topping, working
over 10 weeks in all.
Five children of a Russian-German laborer, ranging from 8-year-old Henry
to 15-year-old Katie, arrived at the beet fields the last of May. A ll the children
worked at thinning for 4 weeks, putting in more than a 13-hour day, from 6 in
the morning until 8 at night. After the thinning they returned to their town
home for about 1 week, coming out to the field again July 7 for the hoeing.
Their hours during the hoeing were the same as in the spring process, and
again all the children worked, this time, however, for 7 days only. They again
returned to town, remaining there until the end o f August. They spent a little
over 4 weeks at pulling and topping, working during that process 10 hours a
day. They worked in all 9$ weeks, the 5 o f them with their father caring for
50 acres. The youngest boy was reported to have begun work in the beet
fields at the age o f 4. This fam ily owned a car. The father did no work in
the winter.

Those who did not find the work hard were usually families
caring for only a few acres, and able to take their own time.* A
family consisting o f mother and three children, one o f whom was
over 16 years o f age, who “ took the work easily and had so much
fu n ” working 18 acres in nine weeks is typical o f this relatively
small group o f workers.
A great many families, on the other hand, spoke o f the hardships
o f the work on the beet crop, especially for women and children.
“ We all get backaches,” was a common complaint. “ Hardest work
there is,” said others. One mother “ couldn’t sleep nights ” because
her “ hands and arms hurt so.” Although children being small
do not have to bend over the plants as constantly as adults, and
therefore may not suffer the same sort o f hardship, yet the work
is no doubt a strain. A little girl, 6 years old, told the Children’s
Bureau agent that her back was getting crooked from her work “ in
beets.” One mother declared that the “ children all get tired be
cause the work is always in a hurry.” A contract laborer with a
large acreage said that his children “ scream and cry ” from fatigue,
and another said “ The children get so tired that they don’t want
to eat, and go right to bed. Beets are harder work than working in

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

a steel mill. The children don’t get any fresh air as they have to
lie in the dust and crawl on their knees all day.”
Hours and duration of work in each process.

Blocking and thimning.—When the beet seedlings shoot a few
inches above the ground about the 1st o f June or a little earlier,
the work o f blocking and thinning begins. The blocker, usually an
adult, walks down the long rows o f beets chopping out the super
fluous plants with his hoe. Close at his heels come the children,
both boys and girls, most o f them clad in overalls. Straddling the
beet row, they kneel, and, bending over, crawl from plant to plant
on hands and knees; they usually work at high speed, for thinning
must be completed before the plants grow too large.
O f the children covered by the present study, 1,037 did blocking or
thinning or both in the spring o f 1920. The youngest working chil
dren can thin, and because they are active and their fingers are
nimble, they are believed by some to be the most effective workers
in this process. Less than a fifth o f the children, including 16
per cent o f the boys and 20 per cent o f the girls in the survey who
engaged in the spring work, had reached their fourteenth birthdays.
About one-half of them,' both boys and girls, were under 12, and
273 children, or more than a fourth, including 30 per cent o f the
boys, were under 10 years o f age. In fact, 6 per cent o f these child
workers were less than 8 years old—16 o f them only 6 years and 50
o f them 7 years old. Undoubtedly these younger children worked
less steadily than the older ones, but in some cases their hours were
very long.
T a b l e V I I I .— D aily hours thinning and blocking, by age of child;

children
between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields: Colorado group.
Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Age.

Daily hours thinning and
blocking.
Total.

Total...................................

1,073

14'
11
12
13
15
10
8
9
.6
7
years, years, years, years, years, years, years, years, years, years,
under under under under under under under under under under
14.
15.
16.
12.
13.
11.
9.
10.
8.
7.
15

127

171

116

170

136

122

15
1

6
50
1

5
86
2
1

5
122
1
2

3
113

6
164
1

3
133
1

3
119

2
67

1
1
3
1
1

2
2
4
5
8
12
2
3
11

2
9
29
32
27
8
2
4
6

1
3
6
44
50
38
14
3
3
1

2
6
27
52
26
13
2
4

5
5
9
27
16
5
4
3
9

3
168
1
1
2
4
12
30
55
32
16
2
3
10

Did not work thinning and

36
Worked tiunning and blocking.. 1,037
8
5
7
22
61
8 hours, less than 9 ................
214
9 hours, less than 10..............
327
10 hours, less than 11.............
213
11 hours, less than 12............
82
12 hours, less than 13.............
24
25
49
Not reported and irregular...

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

1
1
1
9
26
45
17
6
3
2
2

1
1
6
30
36
25
9
4
4
3

2
3
13
19
19
8
1
2

TH IN N IN G

BEETS.

A w o r k i n g d a y o f 11 o r 12 h o u r s w a s n o t u n c o m m o n .

H O E IN G

BEETS.

Fou r-fifth s o f th e w o r k in g ch ild r e n h o e d — th e m a jo rity 9 h ou rs o r m o r e a d ay.
26— 1

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

TO P P IN G

BEETS. •

mmam

A s h a r p h e a v y k n i f e w i t h a h o o k a t t h e e n d is u s e d in t h i s o p e r a t i o n .

MOTHERS

AND

CH ILD R E N

T h e 9 -y e a r -o ld b o y (left) had w o r k e d
26— 2

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WORK

SID E

BY SID E.

11 h o u r s a d a y f o r o v e r t h r e e w e e k s a t p u l l i n g a n d
topping.

IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

The usual hours for agricultural work prevailed— that is, “ from,
sunup to sundown.” . Six o’clock was reported as the usual hour
for beginning work, but some families started as early as 4.30 or 5
o’clock. “ The old man chases us down to the field early in the morn
ing [4 o’clock],” said one boy, adding, “ But we get even with him;
whenever he leaves the field we stall.” After a hasty breakfast, eaten
in some cases in the field, work was practically continuous until mid
day, when the majority o f the families went home to a hot dinner.
There was not a general lay off, as in some kinds o f farm work, dur
ing the heat o f the day. Only an hour was usually allowed for
dinner. A few o f the families reported their “ dinner hour ” as last
ing only 10 minutes. W ork continued until 6 or 7 o’clock. About
half the laborers’ families said that they took a rest of 15 minutes
or half an hour in the morning or afternoon, or both, often eating a
slice o f bread at that time, but some regarded such a practice as
“ all foolishness.”
The net working day, exclusive o f meals and rest periods, was,
according to statements made by parents, 9 hours for 85 per cent
o f the children, both boys and girls, o f whom 36 were children only
6 or 7 years o f age. One-third o f the children, however, reported
11 hours or more and one-eighth o f them 12 to 15 hours as constitut
ing a regular working day. Six children under 8 years o f age
worked 12 hours or more, and all except 6 o f the 65 working chil
dren aged 6 and 7 years were reported as putting in a working day
o f at least 8 hours. With such long hours, it is hardly surprising
that, as one boy said, “ Your back gets awfully tired from thinning.
Sometimes you get such headaches you can’t hardly stand it.” Chil
dren in families owning or even renting their farms Worked some
what shorter hours than did the children o f laborers. Nevertheless,
almost nine-tenths o f the farm owners’ children who did thinning
and blocking worked 9 hours or more a day, and approximately onefourth o f them were reported as working from 11 to 14 or more
hours daily. These long working days continued in some cases for
weeks. A number o f the children included in the study, somewhat
over one-tenth o f the total number, had worked practically through
out the spring process; that is, 5 or 6 weeks or more. One 12-year-old
Mexican child had had to work at thinning almost 9 weeks in order
to complete with the aid of his father and mother a 27-acre contract.
17623°— 23----- 3

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

T a b l e I X .— D aily hours thinning and Mocking, b y economic status of fam ily;

children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields: Colorado
group.
Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Economic status of family.
Daily hours thinning and
blocking.

Total.
Laborer.

Tenant farmer.

Farm owner.

Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Number. distri Number. distri Number. distri Number. distri
bution.
bution.
bution.
bution.

Did not work thinning and

1,037
8

100.0
.8

7 hours, less than 8..........
8 hours, less than 9..........
9 hours, less than 10.........
10 hours, less than 11.......
11 hours, less than 12.......
12 hours, less than 13.......

7
22
61
214
327
213
82
24

N ot reported and irregular

.7
2.1
5.9
20.6
31.5
20.5
7.9
2.3
24
4.7

751
5
4
5
10
47
131
239
154
73
22
24
37

Worked thinning and blocking........................................
Less than 4 hours............

135

164

774

1,073

100.0
.7
.5
.7
1.3
6.3
17.4
31.8
20.5
9.7
2.9
3.2
4.9

158
1
1
2
6
8
50
40
31
9

100.0
.6
.6
1.3
3.8
5.1
31.6
25.3
19.6
5.7

1
9

.6
5.7

128
2

100.0
1.6

6
6
33
48
28

4.7
477
25.8
37.5
21.9

1.6

2.3

H alf the children worked 4 weeks or longer. These included
399, or more than one-half of the laborers’ children and two-fifths and
slightly over one-third, respectively, o f the tenants’ and farm owners’
children.
Hoeing.— Hoeing requires more physical strength than the thin
ning process, and many of the small children who work at thinning,
or at pullingf*8tnd topping, do not hoe. By thorough cultivation be
tween the rows the farmer can make the work o f hoeing.much easier,
but, even when the land is “ clean,” hand hoeing between the plants
involves considerable exertion. The time over which' the work can
be extended is longer, also, than that allowed for any other process,
so that there is not the same need o f pressing into service every
available worker. One-fifth o f the children who worked did not
hoe. A slightly larger proportion o f the farm owners’ and tenants’
children than o f the laborers’ did this work, as might be expected
from the nature o f the process, and the fact that they were on the
average a little older.
Nevertheless many young children hoed. More than one-fifth of
the children in the study who did this work, though not quite onefifth o f the girls, were under 10 years o f age, and 42 o f the workers
were 6- or 7-year-old children. The majority, in the case o f both boys
and girls, were from 10 to 13 years o f age. Among the children of
contract laborers one-fourth o f the hoers were under 10, but the

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

majority among these children, as among the group as a whole, were
children from 10 to 13 years o f age.
T a b l e X .— Daily hours hoeing, by age of child; children between 6 and 16 years

of age working in beet fields: Colorddo group.
Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Age.
Daily hours hoeing.
Total.

11
12
13
14
15
10
8
9
6
7
years, years, years, years, years, years, years, years, years, years,
under under under under under under under under under under
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
11.
10.
7.
8.
9.

Total.......... ........................ 1,073

127

171

116

170

136

122

213
860
21
14
9
24
54
90
197
209
115
41
15
12
59

8
7
1

21
35

35
56
2
3

28
99
2
1
2
i
7
9
19
24
12
4

32
139
5
2
4
5
4
14
35
34
17
8
2
1
8

24
92
1
2
1
3
8
11
26
21
9
2
1
1
6

29
141
3
3

16
120
3
1
1
3
14
10
23
39
12
8
1
1
4

13
109
4
1
1
3
4
13
27
27
17
4
2
2
4

7
62

Did not work hoeing...................
Worked hoeing.............................

7 hours’ less than 8................
9 hours, less than 10..............

Not reported and irregular..'.

2
2
2
5
5
7
2
1

2
3
2
12
13
6
2
4
1
6

3
15l

4
7
21
32
30
24
8
3
2
4

1
4
8
17
16
11
3
1
1

The working-day was slightly shorter in hoeing than in blocking
and thinning, and was o f approximately the same length for both
sexes. The hour o f starting work was later, being usually 7 a. m.,
and the working-day usually ended at 6 p. m. The time for the mid
day meal, too, was longer and in general the workers took the work
more easily. Nevertheless, 589 children, or 69 per cent, worked 9
hours or more daily; 21 per cent, 11 hours or more; and 8 per cent, 12
hours or longer.
A larger proportion o f the children in farm owners’ families who
hoed than o f either laborers’ or tenant' farmers’ children, reported
that they worked 9 hours or more, possibly because the group in-,
eluded proportionately more older children; that is, children from 12
to 15 years of age. But no beet grower’s child, even in families that
rented their land, worked at hoeing as much as 13 hours, whereas 27
o f the contract laborers’ children— 14 of them from 7 to 11 years o f
age—were reported as having had a working-day of 13 hours or even
longer.

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

T a b l e X I .— D aily hours hoeing, by economic status of fa m ily; children beticeen

6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields: Colorado group.

Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Economic status of family.
Daily hours hoeing.

Total.
Laborer.

Tenant farmer.

Farm owner.

Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Number. distri Number. distri Number. distri Number. distri
bution.
bution.
bution.
bution.
Total..............................
Did not work hoeing..............
Worked hoeing__ ..................
Less than 4 hours............
4 hours, less than 5___...
5 hoursj less than 6..........
6 hoursj less than 7..........
7 hours, less than 8..........
8 hours, less than 9..........
9 hours, less than 10.........
10 hours, less than 11____
11 hours, less than 12.......
12 hours, less than 13.......
13 hours, less than 14.......
14 hours'and over............
Not reported and irregular

1,073
213
860
21
14
9
24
54
90
197
209
115
41
1512
59

100.0
2.4
1.6
1.0
2.8
6.3
10.5
22.9
24.3
13.4
4.8
1.7
1.4
6.9

774

164

159
615
17
14
5
17
35
69
128
153
84
34
15
12
32

30
134
4

100.0
3.0

4
4
16
15
32
28
17
3
11

ÌÒ0.0
2.8
2.3
0.8
2.8
5.7
11.2
20.8
24.9
13.7
5.5
2.4
2.0
5.2

135
24
in

100.0

3.0
3.0
• 11.9
11.2
23.9
20.9
12.7
2.2

3
3
6
37
28
14
4

2.7
2.7
5.4
33.3
25.2
12.6
3.6

8.2

14.4

Hoeing has to be done twice, and sometimes three times, a season,
during a period o f about four weeks after blocking and thinning are
completed. Practically two-fifths o f all the children who hoed
reported that they had worked between two and three weeks on this
process. The largest group among the laborers’ children, and
among the children of tenant farmers and o f farm owners as well,
was that comprised o f children who had worked between two and
three weeks. Nevertheless, one-third o f the tenants’ children, onefourth o f the laborers’ , and one-tenth o f the farm owners’ children
had worked three weeks or more. Barely, however, had a family
“ just hoed along all summer,” as the members o f one family said
they had done.
• Pulling and topping.—When the word goes out from the factory,
to begin the harvest, the farmer with a horse-drawn machine loosens
the beets and lifts them to the surface. They must then be pulled
up from the loose soil, struck together in order to knock off the dirt
caked upon them, and thrown into piles. The smaller children
usually pull up the beets and throw them into piles for the adults or
larger children to top, but this division of the work depends on the
working force, and occupations are shifted as the occasion demands.
The use o f topping knives by children involves a certain amount
o f danger. Cuts on the legs or knees were rather common, and oc
casionally a serious hurt—sometimes the loss o f a finger— was re
ported by a member o f the family, though none of the children

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IN' TH E BEET FIELDS OP COLORADO.

visited had up to the time o f the visit suffered in that season a
serious permanent injury.
Steady stooping and liftin g.along the beet rows day in and day
out for several weeks is heavy work, and it is probably this work o f
pulling and topping that requires the greatest amount o f physical
effort on the children’s part. The father o f three children who
had worked in the spring and summer processes said that he was
not going to top as it was “ too hard on the kids.” Although the
average beet with its top on weighs only a little over 2 pounds,20
the child lifts a considerable load in the course o f his long day’s
work.
For 138 o f the children included in this study a definite report was
securedjis to the acreage harvested daily. The acreage so reported
averaged one-fourth of an acre per child. Inasmuch as the average
beet yield in Colorado was about 11 tons an acre in 192021 for the
section studied, i f a child pulled or topped one-fourth o f an acre in a
day he would handle daily about 2f tons, or, allowing one-third
extra weight for tops and dirt, almost 4 tons of beets, A little
girl o f 10 said that she did not have the backaches complained o f by
many workers, but that “ pulling and topping hurts awfully at the
back o f your neck.” One mother, who described pulling as very
hard, complained o f “ tearing pains like rheumatism after a day’s
work,” and others, even after years o f experience, said that their
arms were so sore from pulling and topping that they could hardly
use them.
Serious discomfort is experienced by the worker in that often the
thick, rank beet tops, heavy with frost, which comes early in the
mountain regions, soon soak the workers from the knees down, unless,
as is rarely the case, they wear high rubber boots. “ Fall is the
meanest time,” declared one of the fathers. “ Women are wet up to
their waists and have ice in their laps and on their underwear.
Women and children have rheumatism. Jacob [13 years old] is big
and strong but already feels rheumatism, so he has to kneel while
topping. Can’t stand all day.” Often the clothing freezes stiff in
the frosty air and only by midday does the warm sun dry off the
cotton skirts or overalls. In wet years the workers say that they “ get
muddy to the skin.” During the last weeks o f the harvest, light' falls
o f snow frequently add to the discomfort. The children’s hands, are
chapped and cracked from the cold, and their fingers are often sore
and bleeding.
“ Careful records kept by the sugar factories fo r a number o f years, fo r the purpose o f
showing farm ers that large beets were not necessary fo r large yields, showed the average
w eight o f the beets w ithout tops to. be 1.58 pounds. Estim ates worked ou t fo r average
yield, number o f beet plants to the acre, and average stand, from figures secured from
the United States Departm ent o f A griculture sugar-beet investigations, show the average
weight, w ithout tops, to be 1.59 pounds, alm ost exactly the figure o f the sugar factories.
21U. S. Departm ent o f,A gricu ltu re, M onthly Crop Reporter, Dec., 1920, p. 148.

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

While not quite so many children take part in the harvest as in
the spring work, practically nine-tenths o f the working children re
ported that they had worked at pulling and topping. Those who can
do nothing else can throw the beets loosened by the lifter into piles
ready for the topper. The labor o f the younger children is again
utilized. Sixty workers in this process, 18 o f whom were girls, were
less than 8 years o f age, as compared with 42 workers o f this age
reported as hoeing and 65 as blocking and thinning. As in blocking
and thinning, over four-fifths o f the children were under 14 years of
age. One-fourth, including 28 per cent o f the boys but only 21 per
cent o f the girls, were under 10 years o f age. On the other hand,
the largest single age group instead o f being composed o f children
10 years o f age, as among children engaged in thinning, was 12 years
o f age. Those 10 years o f age formed the next largest group. In
these families by far the greatest number o f children who did har
vest work, both girls and boys, were between 9 and 13 years o f age.
T a b l e X I I .— D aily hours pulling and topping, b y age of child; children between

6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields: Colorado group.
Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Age.
Total.

6
7
8
9
10
ll
12
13
14
15
years, years, yearsy years, years, years, years, years, years, years,
under under under under under under under under under under
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12. • 13.
14.
15.
16.

Total...................................

1,073

127

171

116

170

136

122

Did not work pulling and topping
Worked pulling and topping.......

114
959
31
5
3
10
36
71
233
330
121
23
3
93

2
13
2

9
47

18
73
7

19
108
6

25
146
3
1
1
3
6
10
38
51
16
1
i
15

7
109
2
i

12
158
5

7
129
3
2
1

13
109
2

2
67
1

2
5
12
30
39
g

i
6
8
'39
61
24
4

4
15
27
50
* 15

1
4
7
36
33
12

9 hoursj less than 10..............
10 hours, less than 11.............

Not reported and irregular...

2
2

2
2
2
9
12
5

1
3
5
13
23
6
3

1
13

4
6
27
36
15
2
i
10

2
6
12
23
20
1
2

Owing to the fact that the beet harvest comes at a season of the
year when the days are getting short, there is to some extent a day
light limitation to working hours. On the other hand, because of
the danger from freezing, all possible haste must be used in harvest
ing the beets, for if left too long in the ground they may be caught
by a hard frost so that they can not even be pulled. It is not un
common for laborers’ families to work by moonlight when the nights
are fine and clear, and at times the lanterns o f the “ beeters ” are
seen in the fields in the evening. Usually, however, the day ends

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO

by 6 p. m. The hour o f beginning, as in thinning, was generally re
ported as 6 a. m., though in October daylight comes late. The in
creased pressure o f work is shown by the fact that in spite of short
ened daylight three-fourths o f the children reported 9 hours or
more in the field, as compared with the 69 per cent who reported
such hours in connection with hoeing. Thirty-one children under 8
years o f age reported working at pulling and topping for 9 hours
or more a day. The largest single group, one-third o f all the children
working at the process, reported 10 hours; about one-eighth reported
11 hours; and a few—between 2 and 3 per cent—reported 12 to 13
hours a day.
A somewhat larger proportion of the farm owners’ children who
worked at this process spent 9 hours or more a day pulling and
topping than did the children o f laborers or o f farm renters, 81
per cent, as compared with 73 and 71 per cent, respectively. But
again, as in both spring and summer work, it was contract laborers’
children who worked the longest day. Four per cent o f them re
ported working 12 hours or more, whereas only 1 owner’s child
worked as long as 12 hours. Some o f the children who were re
ported as working short hours worked before and after school. Two
children, a 13-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl topped beets
from 5.30 to 7.45 in the morning, and after school from 4.45 to 6
o’clock. They expected to spend a little over 7 weeks at the harvest
work.
Since pulling and topping were in progress at the time the Child
ren’s Bureau study was made, it is impossible to give any exact
figures on the length o f time during that season spent by the children
at the process. The work began the 1st o f October and lasted until
the middle o f November, though most o f it was finished by the end
o f the first week in November. It is probable, therefore, that for
most of the laborers’ children the duration o f work was from 4
to 5 weeks. The children of men who rented or owned farms were
likely to work less time than the children of contract laborers.

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

T a b l e X I I I .— D aily hours pulling and topping, by economic status of fam ily;

children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields: Colorado
group.

Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Economic status of family.
Total

Daily hours pulling and
topping.

Laborer.

Num
ber.

Per cent
distri
bution.

Num
ber.

Worked pulling and topping.
Less than 4 hours............

7 hours, less than 8..........
8 hours, less than 9..........
9 hours, less than 10.........
10 hours, less than 1 1 .....
11 hours, less than 12.......
Not reported and irregular

114
959
31
5
3
10
36
71
233
330
121
23
3
93

78
696
18
4
2
8
28
55
165
230
91
22
3
70

100.0
3.2
.5
• .3
1.0
3.8
7.4
24.3
34.4
12.6
2.4
.3
9.7

Num
ber.

Per cent
distri
bution.

Farm owner.

100.0
2.6
.6
.3
1.0
4.0
7.9
23.7
33.0
13.1
3.2
.4
10.1

Per cent
distri
bution.

Num
ber.

164

774

1,073
Did not work pulling and

Per cent
distri
bution.

Tenant farmer.

135

21
143
8

100.0
5.6

1
2
4
11
30
57
15

.7
1.4
2.8
7.7
21.0
39.9
10.5

10.5

15
120
5
1

100.0
4.2
.8

4
5
38
43
15
1

3.3
4.2
31.7
35.8
12.5
.8

6.6

Number of seasons at work.

Under the strain o f long hours at exacting physical labor, extend
ing over a period o f weeks, many o f the children in these families
worked season after season during some o f the most formative years
o f their lives. Table X I V shows the number o f seasons which the
children o f different ages had worked.
T a b l e X I V .— Number of seasons in beet fields? by age o f child; children be

tween 6 and 16 years of age: Colorado group.

Children between 6 and 16 years of age.
Number ofseaso]as in beet fields.1
Age of child.
Total.

Did not work in
beet fields.

Number. Per cent. Number. Percent. Number. Percent.
Total..................................

1,400

327

23.4

305

21.8

327

23.4

6 years, under 7 ..........................
7 years, under 8...........................
8 years, under 9......................... .
9 years, under 10.........................
10' years, under 11.......................
11 years, under 12.......................
12 years, under 13.......................
13 years, under 14.......................
14 years, under 15.......................
15 years, under 16.......................

148
148
145
149
183
124
171
137
126
69

133
92
54
22
12
8
1
1
4

89.9
62.2
37.2
14.8
6.6
6.5
.6
.7
3.2

12
44
58
55
52
22
33
13
11
5

8.1
29.7
40.0
36.9
28.4
17.7
19.3
9.5
8.7
7.2

3
10
27
66
86
48
38
28
15
6

2.0
6.8
18.6
44.3
47.0
38.7
22.2
20.4
11.9
8.7

1 Includes season o f 1920.

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1ST TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.
T a b l e X I V .— Number of seasons in beet fields, etc.— Continued.
Children between 6 and 16 years of age.
Number of seasons in beet fields.
Age of child.
3
Num
ber.

Per
cent.

159

Total..............................
6 years, under 7......................
7 years, under 8......................
8 years, under 9......................
9 years, under 10....................
10 years, under 11...................
11 years, under 12...................
12 years, under 13...................
13 years, under 14...................
14 years, under 15...................
15 years, under 16..................

4
Num
ber.

5
Per
cent.

Num
ber.

6
Per
cent.

11.4

119

8.5

1
.7
2
1.4
5
3.4
22
12.0
30
24.2
44
25.7
28
20.4
22
17.5
5 ;va 7.2

1
2

.7
1.4

1.4

8
9
29
28
27
15

4.4
7.3
17.0
20.4
21.4
21.7

3
5
19
21
21
15

1.6
4.0
11.1
15.3
16.7
21.7

6.1

Num
ber.

Per
cent.

2.6

1
6
9
11
9

.8
3.5
6.6
8.7
13.0

Children between 6 and 16 years of age.
Number of seasons in beet fields.
Age of child.
7
Number.

9
Per
cent.

Total.............................

1.8

6 years, under 7......................
7 years, under 8......................
8 years, under 9 ......................
9 years, under 10.....................
10 years, under 11...................
11 years, under 12...................
12 years, under 13...................
13 years, under 14...................
14 years, under 15...................
15 years, under 16...................

1
7
11
6

.6
5.1
8.7
8.7

Number.
9

Per
cent.
- 0.6

Number.
3

Not reported.
Per
cent.
0.2

Number.
3

cent.
0.2

1
1
4
5

3.2
7.2

1
2.9

1.4

One-third, o f the working children had begun to work when they
were 8 years o f age or younger— 4 per cent of them when only 6
years o f age. It was not surprising, therefore, to find that, although
the oldest children included in the study had not reached their six
teenth birthday, a large number o f them were reported as having
worked in the beet fields at least 5 seasons, some o f them as many as
6, 7, 8, or even 9. Comparatively few were doing their first season’s
work—only 28 per cent, even when the youngest working children
are included. Fewer still among those from 10 to 15 years o f age,
in fact only 17 per cent, were working in the beet fields for the first
time. The majority o f the children o f these ages had been working
at least 3 years and one-fifth o f them had worked for 5 seasons or
more, including 3 o f the 171 10-year-old children, but well over half
o f the 15-year-old group.

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

Amount of work per child.

It was impossible to estimate satisfactorily how much work a child
did in a day. Parents and children worked together, and the acreages
completed at the end o f the day represented the labor o f adults and
children o f different ages and working ability. In families where
the parents were able to give what seemed to be a careful and intelli
gent estimate o f their children’s work the average amount blocked
and thinned in a day per child was about one-third o f an acre;22
the amount hoed daily averaged two-thirds o f an acre;23 while on the
average only one-fourth o f an acre could be pulled and topped by a
child in a day.24
One little Russian-German girl gave the following account of her fam ily’s
fall work. The working members o f this family besides the father and the
mother (who left the field early to do the cooking) were Amelia, aged 9, her
sister Mina, aged 12, and 7-year-old Albert. Working together they pulled
and topped 37$ acres in 28 working days. The father working alone, the
mother aided by Mina, and Amelia with the help of Albert arrived at the same
time at the end o f their respective beet rows, so that the daily acreage of
1.3 acres was divided equally among three teams, the little girl and the boy
of 7 between them doing the work on something over two-fifths of an acre.

The statement made by local observers that when a child arrives
at the age o f 7 the family may contract for 5 additional acres is
borne out to some extent by the average amount o f work per child
during the season as calculated on the basis o f the acreage worked
and the number o f workers in the families covered in the present
study.25
In 291 families o f beet-field laborers whose acreage was the same
throughout the season each working child cared for an average of
5.9 acres, or over three-fourths o f the average amount taken care o f
by an adult, which, for these families, was 7.6 acres.26 It is not known
whether or not each adult and each child in these families worked
in all the processes, but the figures represent the average number of
acres on which a child and an adult, respectively, did all the hand
work during the season. For the comparatively few (72) laborers’
families reporting that at least the mother and all the children
under 16 who worked had actually worked on all the processes, it
was found that the average acreage cared for by a child during the
season was 5.5, while that cared for by an adult was 7.9. It may
2a Tixe

reports o f 73 fam ilies were used in this estimate.
28 The reports o f 142 fam ilies were used in th is estimate.
24 T he reports o f 138 fam ilies were h sed in this estimate.
* The average acreage worked by children and adults is calculated by the m ethod o f
least squares from data giving the total acreage, and the number o f adults and children
a t w ork upon it. F or this purpose only those cases are taken in which, so fa r as in for
m ation w as available, all those w h o worked had worked a t a ll processes.
26 The average acreage .per adult is usually estimated as 10. The fa ct that many o f
the w orking adults in these fam ilies were m others w h o on account o f housework and
cooking may have worked shorter hours than other adults has the effect o f low ering the
average. .

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

have taken a child considerably longer to do the work, acre for acre,
than a man or woman, but his record of accomplishment at the end
o f the season compares favorably with that o f an adult.
E D U C A T I O N O F C H IL D R E N .

The compulsory school attendance law and its enforcement.

& Difficulty had been experienced in Weld and Larimer Counties
in enforcing the compulsory school attendance law in cases in which
parents wished to keep their children out o f school for work in the
beet fields.^ The Colorado law 27 provides that every child between
the ages o f 8 and 16, unless mentally or physically incapacitated,
must attend school, but that a child may leave school at 14 years o f
age i f he has completed the eighth grade, or he may leave at 14
without completing the eighth grade if his earnings are necessary
to his-own or his parents’ support, or if it is for his own “ best inter
ests.” 28 Attendance is required during the entire school session.
The spring work on the beet crop does not usually necessitate loss
o f time from school, at least i f the families are resident in the beet-,
growing area, for the schools are ordinarily closed by the 1st o f June.
Children in nonresident families, however, especially those from
more or less distant cities, have to leave school some time before the
end o f the term in order to get settled in the beet-growing district
before the actual work begins. The fall process obliges all the chil
dren who work at it, whether resident in the district or not, to be
absent from school from four to six weeks in October and early
November.
In Colorado, the entire responsibility for the enforcement o f the
school attendance law is lodged in a local board in each district.
The colinty court may be appealed to on failure o f persons to comply
with the law, but the court may not act to compel the attendance o f
a truant unless the local officers have acted without' avail. Under this
system there are likely to be as many different standards o f enforce
ment in the county as there are school districts. Especially in rural
districts the small unit o f administration makes trouble. Everyone
is acquainted with everyone else in the community, so that members
o f the school board honestly desirous o f enforcing the law to the
letter find themselves in an embarrassing position when their friends
and neighbors are the offenders. When the members o f the board
and the attendance officer are, as in the beet-growing counties, beet
farmers themselves, in some cases keeping their own children out of
school for work on the beet crop or hiring the families o f beet laborers
w M ills’ A nnotated Statutes, Revised Edition, 1912, secs. 639, 640.
28 T he local or county school superintendent on, application o f the parent may excuse
the child fo r his ow n “ best interests.”

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

to do their handwork, it is exceedingly difficult to get any action on
reports o f truancy made by teachers and school officials. One attend
ance officer was reported to have kept notices to be served on parents
in his. pocket until the beet harvest was over. In another district no
attendance officer had been appointed. Unless some member o f the
community filed a complaint against the school board no action to
provide an attendance officer could be taken. In one county the
warnings o f local attendance officers had proved so ineffectual that
the teachers reported cases directly to the county superintendent, who
in turn reported them to the sheriff. I f the sheriff’s notice was not
heeded, the parent was brought into court and fined.
Advantage was also taken o f the provision in the law requiring a
parent to return a truant child to school within five days o f the notice
served by the attendance officer. It frequently happened that parents
would not send their children back to school until the fifth day;
would take them out again after a few days ; and would not return
them until, notice had been served again and five days had again
elapsed, repeating the subterfuge throughout the harvest. One judge
did in a measure curb this, scheme by allowing only five days o f grace
in all, not five for each offense.
So far as the law itself is concerned, such changes as are needed to
prevent evasions o f this sort should be made. It is beginning to be
recognized also that a larger unit o f administration, in which the
personal element does not play so large a part, is necessary for the
effective enforcement o f the school attendance law in agricultural
areas.
Adapting the school program to the demands o f the local crop has
also been advocated as a means of meeting the problem, and in a
number o f districts in Weld and Larimer Counties this expedient had
been adopted to permit children to aid their parents in the beet
harvest and at the same time to receive a normal amount o f school
ing. Some o f the schools, in rural districts gave a “ beet vacation ”
during the harvest season, beginning the fall term earlier than the
customary September 1, and dismissing the entire school during the
vacation, which lasted two or three, and occasionally four, weeks.
In three o f the largest beet-sugar centers o f Weld County, each hav
ing a sugar factory and a large settlement o f resident beet-field
workers, the experiment o f holding an extra session during the sum
mer had been tried, with the understanding that those who had
attended the summer term (which was not obligatory) could be
excused in the fall season for a corresponding period, which was in
one town, eight weeks; in another seven; and in a third, six weeks.
This plan had been in effect three years in one Weld County town
and several years in another, so that in those towns it had become

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TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

customary for children who expected to be out in the fall for the beet
harvest to attend the summer session. A third town in Weld County
had experimented with the summer session in 1919, but had given it
up after one season. In Larimer County only one town had tried the
summer school, having held a six weeks’ session each summer for
three years.
Probably the problem o f school attendance—undoubtedly a per
plexing one to local officials in all beet-raising districts—has nowhere
been more earnestly considered than in these two Colorado counties.
Hence, the findings in the present study may be regarded as represent
ing conditions above the average rather than those typical o f beetgrowing sections throughout the country.
School attendance of children in the families visited.

The great majority o f the children included in the study had
entered school at 6 years o f age, the usual age for beginning even
when attendance is not required, as by the Colorado school attendance
law, until the child is 8 years o f age. Only 184 o f the 1,400 children
visited who had reached their sixth birthday but were not yet 16
years old were not enrolled in school, and all except 19 o f these were
under 8 or were 14 years o f age or over. Even of the 15-year-old
children five-sixths were still in school. No doubt both inability to
get winter work in the vicinity and slow progress in school, which
makes it impossible for many children to complete the grammar grades
in the standard number of years, are contributing factors in keeping
children in school after they are 14 years o f age, in spite o f the exemp
tions permitted by the law.
To secure records o f school attendance even for the children o f resi
dent families covered by the study was difficult and often impossible,
especially in cases where children had attended more than, one school
during the term. Complete records from teachers’ registers for the
school year preceding the inquiry were finally secured for 796 chil
dren. None o f these were migratory laborers’ children, whose school
attendance is likely to be o f even shorter duration than that o f the
resident beet-field workers.
Even among this group o f resident children, however, more than
two-fifths o f those who had attended schools that had neither a “ beet
vacation ” nor a summer session had been in school less than 80 per
cent o f the term, and the average attendance was only 79.3 per cent
o f the total possible days. They had therefore lost on an average onefifth o f their schooling for the year. Children o f contract laborers
had decidedly less schooling than beet-growers’ children. Consider
ably over half the former had been present less than 80 per cent of
the session, and one-fifth o f them had not been in attendance so much
as three-fifths o f the time, whereas only one-fourth o f the growers’
children had missed as much as a fifth and only 6 per cent as much as

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CHILD LABOR AHD TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

three-fifths o f the term. In other words, contract laborers’ children
attended school on an average o f only 74 per cent o f the term, losing
one-quarter o f their school year, while the tenants’ children attended
on an average 91.5 per cent of the term, and owners’ children 88.7
per cent, these two groups losing only about one-tenth o f the school
year. As the average school term in the schools attended by these
children was 163 days, exclusive of holidays, the contract laborers’
children had on an average only 120 days o f schooling during the year.
T a b l e X V . — P er cent of attendance, by economic status of family and type of

school attended; resident children between 6 and 16 years of age attending
school: Colorado group.
Children between 6 and 16 years of age attending school specified per
cent of school term.
Economic status of family and
type of school attended.

60 less than 70.

50 less than 60.

Less than 50.
Total.

Number. Percent.1 Number. Percent.1 Number. Percent.1
Children who attended neither
summer school nor beet-vaca-

Children who attended summer

8.7
11.9
5.5
1.6

27
23
3
1

2312
2194
55
63
381
307
48
26

Children who attended beet-

19
16
3

6.1
8.2
5.5

36
32
1
3

11.5
16.5
1.8
4.8

5
3

1.3
1.0

12
7
1
4

3.1
2.3

6.8
7.9

13
13

12.6
17.1

2
7
6

1.9
2.6

2
2

103
76
11
16

Children between 6 and 16 years of age attending school specified per cent
of school term.
Economic status of family
and type of school attended.

70 less than 80.
Num
ber.

Children
who
attended
neither summer school nor
beet-vacation school............
Laborer........................... .
Tenant farmer................ .
Farm owner.....................
Children who attended sum
mer school:3........................
Laborer.................
Tenant farmer................
Farm owner...................
Children who attended beetvacation school4................
Laborer.................... ......
Tenant farmer................
Farm owner....................

Per
cent.1

i less than 90.
Num
ber.

Per
cent.1

90 less than 100.
Num
ber.

Per
cent.1

100 and over.6
Num
ber.

Per
cent.1

25.0
22.7
34.5
23.8

90
39
16
35

28.8
20.1
29.1
55.6

2.2
1.5
1.8
4.8

6.6

6.2

24.9
24.4

185
153
23
9

48.6
49.8

15.5
16.3

26.2
31.6

18.4
21.1

33
13
7
13

32.0
17.1

2 .6

17.3
18.6
21.8

9.5

1.9

1 Not shown where base is less than 50.
'
1
2 Includes 1 child for whom per cent of attendance was not reported.
.
3 Excludes 93 children attending summer school for whom the number of days attended ■
wasi not reported..
4 Excludes 6 children who also attended summer school. These were classed with those attending
SU6See^pf 42 ?°^Éxcludes 171 children who were never in school, 13 who had left school, and 327 for whom
no information in regard to school attendance was secured.

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TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

Not all this absence is due to the work which the children do in
the beet fields. It is significant, however, that according to their
parents, statements almost one-fourth o f the school children in
cluded in the survey for whom absence was reported had missed
more than four school weeks from the regular school session during
the school year preceding the inquiry in order to help with the
beet crop.20 Three times as many contract laborers’ as beet farmers’
children in proportion to their numbers had stayed away from
school more than four school weeks for work in the beet fields. The
larger acreages worked by the contract laborers lead to heavier de
mands upon the school time o f the children. Not only do farmers’
children work exclusively on the home farms, so that their work
is more quickly completed, but since all the harvest work conies dur
ing the regular school session, their parents find i t ’ more difficult
than do contract laborers to keep them out o f school for the work
unless the school is one which has made some special arrangement
for the children who expect to work in the beet harvest. Laborers’
children, coming as a rule from outside the school district, are able
in most cases to escape the vigilance o f school authorities. As mentioned above, one o f the compromises adopted in some dis
tricts to improve school attendance and at the same time to allow
children to work during the beet harvest was the “ beet vacation,”
lasting from two to four weeks, the time being compensated for by
the earlier opening o f school. The vacation, however, was seldom
long enough to allow the children o f the laborers as much time as
they needed for their contract work, and school officials in the areas
studied complained that attendance was very small for a week or
more before and after the vacation. Judged also by the school
records o f the 103 children included in the study who attended
schools giving the “ beet vacation,” the expedient was not a satis
factory one in improving school attendance. The average percent
ages o f attendance for the children attending schools giving “ beet
vacations ”—90 per cent for owners’ children, 88.6 per cent for farm
renters’, and 76.8 per cent for the children o f contract laborers—
show practically no improvement over those for children attending
schools with only the regular session, though many o f the latter also .
stayed out for harvest work. (See Table X V .) Almost half (47.5
per cent) the children attending schools giving “ beet vacations ”
missed a fifth or more o f the education provided for them in the
public schools o f the two counties.
29Judge Herbert M. Baker, o f W eld County, in “ The farm and the school,” Colorado
State Teachers College Bulletin, September, 1918, p. 24, makes the follow in g statem ent:
“ The greatest causation o f irregular attendance am ong children o f all nationalities (in
W eld C ounty) is the w ithdraw al o f children to w ork upon the farm .”

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

Schools holding a summer session showed a decided improvement
in the percentage o f total attendance for the year over schools mak
ing no provision for beet-field work or those which closed for only
a brief period during the height o f the harvest. In the families
included in the study, 474 children had availed themselves o f this
opportunity for increased schooling. Complete attendance records,
however, were secured for only 381 children. For these the per
centage o f attendance was 90 or more for over three-fifths and less
than 80 for only 11 per cent, A number o f children who had not
taken their full allowance o f days out in the fall had an attendance
record o f more than 100 per cent. Only 4 per cent o f the children
going to summer school, in contrast to the 33 and 23 per cent, respec
tively, o f children having only the regular term, or a regular term
which allowed a “ beet vacation,” had received not more than i20
days o f schooling during the year preceding the inquiry. Laborers’
children attending summer schools, moreover, had attendance rec
ords quite as good as those o f the beet farmers’ children. In striking
contrast, proportionately more than twice as many o f the laborers’
children „who had not attended summer schools, as compared with
farm owners’ children who had not done so, had been in school less
than four-fifths o f the term.
Retardation of children in the families visited.

Irregular attendance is one o f the most important factors in caus
ing slow progress in school. An effort was made to ascertain to what
extent the children in the families visited had reached the grades
regarded as normal for their years in spite o f the handicap which
their frequent absences imposed or to what extent they had failed to
do so and might be considered retarded. A statement o f the age and
grade o f each child was secured from the families.
A child usually enters the first grade when he is 6 years o f age
and is expected to advance a grade each year, being 7 when he enters
the second grade, 8 when he enters thet third, and so on. In deter
mining retardation, however, a more conservative standard has been
generally adopted, according to which a child is regarded as having
made “ normal ” progress if he is 6 or 7 years o f age in the first grade,
7 or 8 in the second, and 8 or 9 in the third; and is retarded only if he
is 8 years o f age or older when he enters the first grade, 9 when he
enters the second, and so on.
‘j .
,
Measured by even this standard, approximately three-fifths o f the
778 resident children between 8 and 16 years o f age for whom records
were secured were retarded in school.30
so The records o f children less than 8 years o f age were excluded, since, according to
the standard adopted, a child younger than 8 is not considered retarded.

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IN' TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO,

O f those who had attended rural schools during the school year
preceding the study, 62 per cent were over age for their grade; o f
those attending city 31 schools, 57 per cent were retarded.
T a b l e X V I .— Comparison of retardation of resident children, between 8 and 16

years of age in beet-field workers' families, with the average rate o f retarda
tion 1 of children in 80 cities.

Resident children between 8 and 16 yeats of age whose school
attendance was reported.
Attending city schools.

Attending rural schools.

Age of child.
Retarded.

Retarded.

Total.

Total.
Number. Per cent.2

Average
rate of re
tardation
for speci
fied age
in 80
cities.

Number. Per cent.2

Total,

394

224

56.9

384

240

8 years, under 9...
9 years, under 10..
10 years, under 11.
11 years, under 12.
12 years, under 13.
13 years, under 14.
14 years, under 15.
15 years, under 16.

53
65
62
47
59
55
35
18

15
24
30
29
41
39
28
18

28.3
36.9
48.4

46
48
64
47
59
50
49
21

7
20
37
30
39
42
45

69.5
70.9

62.5

57.8
66.1

84.0

10.53
15.52
21.57
26.88
32.35
36.54
37.78
37.27

1 Proportions of retarded children from a distribution of 1,142,179 pupils in 80 cities, 1917-18. Unpub
lished figures furnished by the U. S. Bureau of Education.
2 Not shown where base is less than 50.
T a b l e X V I I .— Retardation, by economic status o f fam ily and type o f school

attended; resident children between 8 and 16 years of age in beet-field
workers' families: Colorado group.
Resident children between 8 and 16 years of age whose school
attendance was reported.
Attending city schools.

Attending rural schools.

Economic status of family.
Retarded.

Retarded.

Total.

Total.
Number. Percent.1
224

Total................................. ..: .........
Laborer.................... .................................
Tenant farmer..........................................
Farm owner..............................................

329
40
25

189
18
17

57.4

Number. Per cent
384

240

62.5

222

157
37
46

70.7
45.7
56.8

81
81

1 Not shown where base is less than 50

The proportion of laborers’ children retarded was higher than that
o f beet growers’ children, more than seven-tenths of those attending
rural schools being below normal grades as compared with 46 and 57
81 T he definition o f city— a com m unity w ith a population o f 2,500 or more— used in
“ Statistics o f City School Systems,” U. S. Bureau o f E ducation Bulletin, 1920, No. 24,
p. 7, w as adopted in classifying the schools in this study in order that the retardation
figures fo r city schools m ight be comparable with figures furnished by the U. S. Bureau o f
Education.

17623°—-23— - 4

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

per cent, respectively, o f tenant farmers’ and farm owners’ children.
Even those laborers’ children who had had the advantage of city
schools had as large a percentage of retardation as had the farm own
ers’ children in rural schools. The social background o f the Colo
rado beet-field laborers’ children is not essentially different from that
o f the farm owners’ and tenant farmers’ children who work in the
beet fields, the chief difference among the economic groups affect
ing school progress being the less regular school attendance of the
laborers’ children.
T a b l e X V I I I .— Retardation, tty age and type of school attended£ resident chil

dren between 8 and 16 years o f age in beet-field workers? families: Colorado
group.
Resident children between 8
and 16 years o f age whose
school attendance was re
ported.
Age of child and type of school attended.
Retarded.
Total.
Number. Per cent.1

Attended schools having neither summer sessions nor beet vacation...

778

464

59.6.

99
113
126
94
118
105
84
39

22
44
67
59
80
81
73
38

22.2
38.9
53.2
62.8
67.8
77.1
86.9

247

151

61.1

43
35
42
23
38
28
26
12

12
15
24
14
29
23
23
11

439

248

56.5

40
65
70
58
69
67
46
24

5
22
31
34
42
51
39
24

33.8
44.3
58.6
60.9
76.1

70.7

16
13
14
13
11
10
12 1
3

5
' 7
12
11
9
7
11
3

1 Not shown where base is less than 50

No retardation figures for children attending rural schools are
available which would be strictly comparable with the figures secured
for the children in the present study who attended rural schools.

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IN' TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

More than half the child beet-field workers in resident families at
tended city schools, however, and for these 394 children it is possible
to make comparisons, showing that the proportion below the grades
which were normal for their ages was considerably larger than the
average. A t average rates o f retardation 32 only 100 instead o f 224
children would have been retarded— that is, approximately only onefourth— instead o f considerably more than one-half. A t every age
period the proportion o f retarded children in these families is strik
ingly higher than the average. A t the age o f 15 every child was
retarded, whereas the average rate o f retardation for 15-year-old
school children is 37 per cent. Possibly the provision o f the Colo
rado school attendance law which keeps children in school until
they are 16 unless they have completed the eighth grade may
account for some o f this difference, since in some States children
are permitted to leave school at 14 without completing the ele
mentary grades, and the duller pupils, those most likely to be re
tarded, are likely to drop out as early as the law allows, leaving
only the brighter 15-year-old children in school. But further ex
planation o f the high rate is probably to be found in the fact that
the older children have been kept out o f school year after year to
help on the beet farms.
Weld and Larimer County schools, it will be recalled, had for
several years been giving especial consideration to the problem of
the beet-field worker, and high as the proportion o f retarded pupils
was found to be among the children included in the present study, -it
was lower than that found in other beet-growing counties in the
State. In a city school in another northern county, for example, 40
children between 8 and 16 years o f age were reported as beet-field
workers. A ll except 5 o f these children, most o f whom—like the
Weld and Larimer County beet-field workers—were Russian-Germans, were below the grades which, according to their years, they
should have reached. In a city school in a southern county attended
chiefly by Mexican children, who constitute an especially difficult
problem, 46 out o f the 49 children between 8 and 16 years o f age had
fallen behind in their school work from 1 to 8 years.
Whether or not the provision of summer sessions for beet-field
workers in lieu o f exacting attendance throughout the regular school
session has succeeded in reducing retardation in Weld and Larimer
County schools is impossible to determine. According to Table
X V II I, the proportion o f retarded children attending schools hav
ing a summer session is indeed somewhat smaller than that o f chil
dren who attended schools having only the regular session; but the
difference, only 5 per cent, is hardly significant.
82 A verage rates o f retardation fo r children o f each, age between 8 and 16 based on
the proportions o f retarded children from distribution o f 1,142,179 pupils in* 80 cities,
1917-18. Unpublished figures furnished by the U. S. Bureau o f Education.

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CHILD LABOR AHD TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

The summer session has been in existence too short a time to prove
whether or not it may be successful as an expedient permitting
children to help on the beet crop and at the same time secure a normal
amount o f schooling. The opinions o f local school authorities differ
on this point. Whether or not the summer session can ultimately
enable the “ beeter’s ” child to make progress in school comparable
with that o f the child whose school session is not interrupted by work
in the beet field seems to depend to a great extent on how carefully
the school holding the summer session is organized. A child, to
gether with other children who expect to work on the beet harvest
in the fall, takes in the summer session the first six or seven weeks’
work of the regular school term. He then enters school in Septem
ber with all the children, for he does not need to stay out for the
beet-field work until October. Unless he is to repeat the work
which he has done in the summer session, an obvious waste o f time,
he must be put in a special class and there given the same instruc
tion that the nonworking children will receive while he is out for
the pulling and topping, so that when he returns to school he may
enter the class with them. This arrangement requires extra teachers
for the beet-field workers, thereby increasing greatly the cost per
pupil. Moreover, it is difficult, according to some local school offi
cials, to secure teachers who are willing to work during the summer
and take a vacation in October. In addition to administrative diffi
culties, the plan has other drawbacks. The beet-field worker is
separated f rom the children in the school who do not work on the
beet farms for fully a third o f the school term. Such a segregation
emphasizes social and economic differences between the children o f
American and those of foreign parentage whose isolation is great
under the best of circumstances, and who are particularly in need
o f association in the schools with children from English-speaking
families and families in which American standards prevail. Finally,
in thus adapting the school session to meet the needs o f the sugarbeet industry there is always the danger that the claims of the indus
try will come to be considered superior to those of the children.
Even though the sentiment o f a community may be in favor o f the
summer school, until summer sessions are actually available there
rests upon the community the responsibility o f enforcing the pres
ent school attendance law to the letter. Lax enforcement is costly
to the community as well as to the child. Many school districts fail
to get the returns on the money expended for educational purposes
because absences result in school equipment and school buildings not
being used to their full capacity. Thus, in the school year 1917-18,
Colorado virtually lost $3,036,765, almost a third o f its entire school

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

appropriation, because the average attendance for the year was onethird less than the average school term provided.33
Supplementary studies of school attendance and retardation.

Study of records of resident beet-field workers in rural schools.—
Since the majority of the children covered in the schedule study at
tended city schools and the total number moreover was small, a fur
ther study o f school attendance and retardation among children
working in the beet fields was made through questionnaires34 sent
to teachers o f rural and village schools in beet-growing districts.
Ninety-seven o f the 147 school districts in Weld and Larimer Coun
ties and 7 districts in Logan, an adjoining county, were canvassed.
The teachers were asked for attendance records for the period cov
ering the beet harvest, including every child whose name appeared
on their registers from the opening o f school in 1920 to November 15
o f the same year. This date was selected as marking the close o f
the harvest season. Unfortunately, as it appeared later from state
ments sent in by the teachers, a good many beet-field workers did
not enter school at all until after November 15. While it is impos
sible to state the number o f these children, those mentioned by the
teachers on their own initiative amounted to nearly 6 per cent o f
the total number o f child workers on the registers, and it seems prob
able that there were more. The attendance figures for the children
working on beets may be considered conservative, therefore, as the
late entrants, had they been included, would have reduced the at
tendance percentage considerably.
Table X I X shows the number o f children in all three counties for
whom records were received, classified according to whether or not
they worked on the beet crop. Children who worked before and
after school hours only were not considered beet-field workers and
are not included, though evidence indicates that there were numbers
o f such children doing a considerable amount o f beet-field work.35
88 Statistics o f State School Systems, 1917—1918, TJ. S. Bureau o f E ducation, B ulletin
1920, No. 11, pp. 14, 16. W ashington, 1920.
34 See p. 102.
38 T eachers told, fo r instance, o f children rushing in as the bell rang saying that they
had had to top a certain number o f row s o f beets before they could come to school and
had had to run to get there on time, and o f others, who, wakened early and sent out
to the beet fields to work until school time, w ould sometimes fa ll asleep a t their desks.

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CHILD,LABOR AND TH E WORK OP MOTHERS

T a b l e X I X .— Comparison of school attendance o f children working in beet fields

with that of children not working in beet fields during the autumn of 1920
(up to November 1 5 ), by cou n ty; pupils in schools in W eld,' Larimer, and
Logan counties, Colo.1

Total num
ber of chil
dren report
ing days
present and
daysabsent.

County.

W eld.............................................................................
Larimer...........................................................................
Logan.................................................................................

2,346
1,338
397

Children working in
beet fields,

Total
possible
days.

Number
reporting.

110,898
62,092
19,937

444
277
156

Possible
days.
21,201.5
12,960.0
7,750.0

Children working in beet fields.

County.

Days present.

Days absent.

Days absent for
beet work.

Per cent
Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent. Number. of total
absence.
Weld............................................................. 13,418.5
9,220.5
2,825.0

63.3
71.1
36.5

7.783.0
3,739.5
4.925.0

36.7
28.9
63.5

6.613.5
3,283.0
4.546.5

85.0
.87.8
92.3

Children not working in beet fields.
County.

Days present.

Days absent.

Number Possible
reporting. days.
Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.

W eld.............................................................
Larimer.........................................................

1,902
1,061
241

89,696.5
49.132.0
12.187.0

82.968.5
46.067.5
10.796.5

92.5
93.8
88.6

6,728.0
3.064.5
1.390.5

7.5
6.2
11.4

i Includes the pupils from 30 schools in Weld, 18 in Larimer, and 7 in Logan County for whom school
attendance was reported.

In the 30 rural school districts in Weld County which returned
questionnaires, sufficiently complete attendance records were fur
nished for 2,346 children who had enrolled up to November 15.36
The attendance o f the children working in the beet fields, as Table
X I X shows, was strikingly less than that o f those who did not work.
The percentage of absence for the former was five times as great as
for the latter group. The beet-field workers in these school districts
had been absent from school from 1 to 40 days. Up to November 15
they had missed, on an average, 17| days out o f a possible 45, and in
9 districts they had been absent more often than they had been pres
ent. Eighty-five per cent o f the absence o f beet-field working chil
dren in these schools was reported as due to work in the beet harvest,
and only 15 per cent had resulted from miscellaneous causes. That
86 In each case in, which there was any doubt as to the completeness or accuracy o f the
attendance record the attendance w as counted as “ not reported.”

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

is, 15 out o f the average 17£ days o f absence were directly chargeable
to the exigencies o f the beet harvest. Five o f the schools had, in
addition, been closed for a “ beet vacation ” o f from 2 to 4 weeks,
which had affected 18 per cent o f the children. But a large propor
tion (37.3 per cent) even o f these children had had absences due to
the beet harvest, showing, as did the records for the children in the
schedule study who had attended schools giving “ beet vacations,”
that the time permitted was too short for the fall work. The great
majority (two-thirds) o f the beet-field workers who had enrolled in
these schools were residents o f the district; about three-tenths had
come from near-by towns for the harvest w ork; only a few were from
outside the county.
In Larimer County the situation was similar. Eighteen school dis
tricts sent in attendance records for 1,338 children, approximately
one-fourth o f whom were children who worked in the beet fields. As in
Weld County, the workers were reported absent almost five times as
often as the children who had not helped with the beet harvest, and
again, the greater part o f the absence among the workers, amounting
to 88 per cent o f the total, was explicitly stated to have been due to
work on the beet crop; this, too, in spite o f the fact that well over a
third o f the children had had “ beet vacations.” In Larimer County,
as in Weld, approximately two-thirds o f the workers thus avoiding
school attendance were residents o f the district where they had en
rolled in school, while the others with few exceptions came from
other school districts in the county.
The records for Logan County but add to the evidence that chil
dren working in the beet fields are not enjoying the same opportunity
to receive a common-school education as the children in the same
localities who are not helping in the beet fields. An even larger pro
portion o f the children in the seven school districts located in beet
raising areas in Logan County were beet-field workers than in the
other two counties, amounting to 40 per cent o f the children for
whom information was furnished. These children were out o f school
practically two-thirds o f the time up to November 15, and more than
9 absences out o f 10 among them were due to harvest work. As
Table X I X indicates, in the schools reporting they had been absent
over five times as much as children who did not help with the beet
harvest. Less than a fifth o f them were not permanent residents of
the district where they were supposed to be going to school.
Among more than 3,000 children between 8 and 16 years of age in
these rural and semirural schools almost two-fifths were below the
grades which children o f their years should have reached.37 Many
were from 2 to 7 years below the very conservative standard regarded
as normal.
37 See Table X X , p. 50.

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

Comparison of retardation of children working in beet fields with
that of children not working in beet fields, by cou n ty; children between 8
and 16 years o f age in schools in W eld, Larimer, and Logan Counties, Colo.

T able X X .

Children between 8 and 16 years of age.
Retarded.
Employment of child,
and county.

Total.

1 year.

Num- Per
ber. cent.

Num- Per
ber.
cent.

Normal.

Advanced.

2 years and
over.
Number.

cent.

524

16.8

ber.

Per
cent.

1,714

54.9

Num Per
ber. cent.

Total................... 3,122

1,203

Worked in beet
fields................... i 829
Did not work in
beet fields........... 12,293

534

64.4

238

28.7

296

35.7

286

34.5

1.0

669

29.2

441

19.2

228

9.9

1,428

62.3

195

8.5

Weld............................. 1,794

603

33.6

353

19.7

250

13.9

1,055

58.8

136

7.6

Worked in beet
fields...................
426
Did not work in
beet fields........... 1,368

245

57.5

101

23.7

144

33.8

175

1.4

26.2

252

18.4

106

7.7

41.1

358

64.3

130

9.5

476

46.2

255

24.8

21.5

510

49.5

4.1

Larimer......................
Worked in beet
beet fields...........
Did not work in
beet fields...........

Worked in beet
fields...................
Did not work in
beet fields...........

1,030

38.5

679

21.7

203

6.5

1280

202

72.1

33.9

107

38.2

26.8

0.7

1 750

274

36.5

160

21.3

114

15.2

435

58.0

5.3

298

124

41.6

23.8

17.8

149

50.0

8.4

123

70.7

34.1

36.6

29.3

175

21.1

16.6

4.6

113

64.6

14.3

1Includes 1 child for whom grade was not reported.

The beet-field workers o f every age,38 as Table X X I shows, were
more retarded than the children who did not work on the beet
crop. From one and a third times to considerably more than twice
as many workers as nonworkers in proportion to their numbers
were over age for their grades.
88 I t is n° t practicable to compare the retardation fo r workers and nonworkers o f all
ages between 8 and 16 years, since the proportion o f older children (am ong whom re
tardation is invariably greater than am ong the younger) is larger in the w orkers’ group.
For the purpose o f comparisons between w orkers in the different counties and nonworkers
in the different counties, however, the totals fo r retarded, normal, and advanced children;
classified by counties and according to whether or not they worked, are given in Table
X X . I t should be noted that the totals fo r the different counties, including both workers
and nonworkers, are n ot comparable, since the proportion o f w orkers is different in each
county.

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

Comparison of retardation of children working in heet fields with
that o f children not working in heet fields, hy age o f child; children between
° and 16 years of age in schools in Weld, Larimer, and Logan counties, Colo.

T able X X I .

Children between 8 and 16 years of age.
Not working in beet fields.
Age of child.
Total.

Retarded.

Normal.

Advanced.

Total.
Number. Per. cent. Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.
Total................

3,122

1 2,293

669

29.2

1,428

62.3

195

8.5

8 years, under 9.........
9 years, under 10.......
10 years, under 11___
11 years, under 12___
12 years, under 13___
13 years, under 14___
14 years, under 15___
15 years, under 16___

476
489
476
440
436
360
293
152

395
390
356
337
286
246
183
1 100

61
65
86
97
98
104
86
72

15.4
16.7
24.2
28.8
34.3
42.3
47.0
72.0

298
276
234
205
164
131
96
24

75.4
-70.8
65.7
60.8
57.3
53.3
52.4
24.0

36
49
36
35
24
11
1
3

9.1
12.6
10.1
10.4
8.4
4.5
0.5
3.0

Children between 8 and 16 years of age.
Working in beet fields.
Age of child.
Total.

Retarded.

Normal.

Advanced.

Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.
Total.................................
8 years, under 9......................
9 years, under 10.......................
10 years, under 11..................
11 years, under 12......................
12 years, under 13....................
13 years, under 14.................
14 years, under 15......................
15 years, under 16..................

1829

534

64.4

286

34.5

1.0

81
99
120
103
150
114
110
152

30
46
67
66
99
84
92
50

37.0
46.5
55.8
64.1
66.0
73.7
83.6
96.2

49
50
52
36
51
29
18
1

60.5
50.5
43.3
35.0
34.0
25.4
16.4
1.9

2
3
1
1

2.5
3.0
0.8
Ì.0

0.9

1Includes 1 child for whom grade was not reported.

Part o f this difference may be due perhaps to the fact that the
majority o f those whp did the handwork on the beet crop were o f
foreign parentage, whereas among the school children who did not
work in the beet fields Americans predominated. In Weld County,
for example, almost three-fifths o f the working children were Rus
sian-German and almost three-fifths o f those not working on the
beet crop were American. In the absence o f figures for workers
and nonworkers o f similar cultural background it can not be deter
mined to what extent the slow school progress o f those who worked
in the beet fields is due to the difficulties which children o f foreignborn parents may have in using English, and to other unfavorable
social and economic conditions surrounding the foreign born; and
to what extent it is due to irregular school attendance resulting from
field work. If, however, the child o f foreign parentage is handi
capped to an unusual degree from the beginning, it becomes all the

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E W O EK OF MOTHEES

more imperative that his schooling should not be interrupted. No
matter how favorable to the child’s progress other conditions may
be, he can not be expected to do standard work i f he loses, as these
children working in the beet fields were losing, a considerable part
o f the instruction given in the classroom. When other conditions
are unfavorable, irregular attendance constitutes an additional ob
stacle. The result is that many reach the age o f 16 before they
have completed the elementary grades and leave school without hav
ing received from it what it aims to provide, not only in personal
equipment, but also in an understanding o f the duties o f citizenship.
Study of school records o f migratory beet-field workers.—Unsatis
factory as the school progress o f resident laborers’ children is, that
o f the migratory worker’s children is even less satisfactory. W ork in
the beet fields cuts into the school attendance o f children in migra-.
tory families much more deeply than into that o f resident children.
They leave the classroom in April or May, to go into the beet fields.
As they do not return to the city until after the harvest, they do not
enter school until late November, and in some cases December or
January. Some families do not even return to the same city which
they left in the spring. As one father whose children were included
in the schedule study remarked, “ The children’s grades are bad
for their years, but we move around so much they can not pass up.”
It was impossible to secure school-attendance records for the indi
vidual children in the nonresident families visited in the course o f
the Children’s Bureau study. Moreover, as in these families there
were only 80 children between 8 and 16 years o f age who were in
school and reported their grades, it was necessary to obtain addi
tional data upon which to base conclusions as to the school progress
made by children in migratory beet-field laborers’ families. A study
was therefore made o f the attendance and age and grade records for
the school year 1919-20 in 3 schools attended by migratory beet-field
workers when in their winter homes. One was in Denver, Colo.,
and 2 were in Lincoln, Nebr.— a city from which many laborers go
to the beet fields o f Colorado.
Records39 were taken for 412 children who the teachers said were
beet-field workers.' In these 3 schools 67 per cent o f the entries were
in November or later, and 93 per cent o f the pupils enrolled withdrew
before the close o f the term, the majority o f them 4 or 5 weeks be
fore school closed. It was found that the average days attended
by beet-field workers ranged from 74 to 112, though the school terms
were from 165 to 177 days. In the 2 Nebraska schools the percent88 These records in each case coyer the attendance in one school only, and it is possible
that some o f the children may have had some attendance in. another school.
But
wherever a child was known to have come from another school or to have le ft to go
to another, he w as excluded from the study.

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

ages o f attendance were 56 and 68; in the Denver school, where the
workers were Mexicans, the percentage of attendance was only 42.
Children who are absent from school almost as many days as they
are present can not pass from grade to grade at the normal rate.
O f the 335 children in these schools between the ages o f 8 and 16
years, over three-fourths (78 per cent) were retarded. The lowest
proportion o f children who had failed to make their grades was in
one o f the Nebraska schools, but even that was 66 per cent o f the 91
children aged 9 to 15.40 In the other Nebraska school and in the
Denver school the proportion o f retarded pupils among those who
helped cultivate beets was four-fifths or more; in the one it was 84
per cent o f 106 children, and in the other, 80 per cent o f 138 children.
In every one o f the schools for which records o f children in migra
tory beet-field laborers’ families were obtained the number of re
tarded children was proportionately even greater than that found
among the transient laborers’ children in the Children’s Bureau study.
O f the 80 nonresident children between 8 and 16 years o f age sched
uled in the course o f the study who reported their grade in school,
50 (63 per cent) were retarded. Even this proportion, however, is
over twice as great as it would have been had these children been re
tarded no more than the average retardation rate for city school chil
dren o f their ages.41
Although some o f the children o f migratory laborers enter the local
schools in the districts covered by the Children’s Bureau survey, in
many districts they are overlooked or are not held strictly to the
compulsory attendance law. Finding them is not always easy, inas
much as the school census is taken before March 1,42 when the mi
gratory families are not in the district. In Some cases, no doubt,
attendance officers do not -consider it worth while to get them into
school for a “ few weeks.” Often, however, their residence in the
beet-growing area is o f 10 or 12 weeks’ duration, and as it usually
occurs at a time when school is in session they miss practically a third
o f a standard school year unless they are in school during this period.
Under pressure of-work beet growers are tempted to ignore the law
so far as it applies to foreign-born migratory labor and to use the
children’s labor in the fields whether school is in session or not. And
school officials do not always welcome these children, especially when
the schools are already overcrowded.
W O R K O F M O T H E R S IN T H E B E E T F IE L D S .

In families where the children work in the beet fields it is cus
tomary for the mother to work also. A few fathers were apologetic
40 In this school n o.8-year-old children were reported as w orking in the beet fields.
41 A t average rates (T able X V I) 21 children would h a v e been retarded.
^ M ills ’ A nnotated Statutes, 1912, sec. 6668.

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over the fact that in order to make both ends meet their wives were
obliged to help in the beet fields, but fo r the most part field work
for women was regarded in Colorado as a matter o f course. In the
542 families studied were 454 mothers who were beet-field workers.
The proportion o f working mothers is influenced to some extent
by the fact that some o f the families were included in the study be
cause the mother worked. By excluding families in which the
mother but no children worked, the bias caused by the method of
selection is corrected. Considering, therefore, only mothers in fami
lies in which children also worked in the beet fields, a total of 464
families, 395 mothers (85 per cent) worked on the beet crop. It
would appear from the families studied that laborers’ and tenants’
wives were somewhat more likely to work in the beet fields than the
wives of men owning their farms, inasmuch as only 77 per cent o f the
latter as compared with 86 per cent o f the former had done so, but
the difference is not striking. It should be remembered in this con
nection, however, that the Colorado farmer caring for his own beets
has in most cases the same background and traditions as the con
tract laborer. Rather more marked are differences o f practice in
regard to field work for women among the different nationalities.
For example, excluding families in which only the mother and not
the children worked, 9 out of 10 o f the Russian-German and German
mothers were beet-field workers, -whereas among native families—
even though most o f them were o f foreign extraction—7 women out
o f 10, and among Mexicans born in Mexico, 6 out o f 10, had worked
in the beet fields.
Many o f these women had worked for a number o f years in the beet
fields. The average number of seasons was about eight. The aver
age for laborers’ wives was not quite so high as for the women in
the farm-renting or farm-owning families—approximately only
seven seasons instead of nine or nine and a half. Farmers whose
families take care o f their own beet crop are usually those who have
been the most ambitious and successful laborers, and those whose
wives and children have worked hard for many years.
During the years when the mothers are bearing children they spend
weeks at hard manual labor, working in some instances up to the
very day o f confinement. Some o f them laughed at' the question as
to whether they quit work during pregnancy. One mother remarked
that “ Annie was almost born in the beet field,” and another w topped
until 6 a. m., and Lucy was born at 7 a. m.”
Many o f them complained that the work was very bard and that
they suffered from backaches and sore or stiff muscles. One young
woman who had been a beet-field worker for 13 years said that dur
ing topping she could not “ sleep nights because her hands and arms
hurt so.” Another mother was “ used up from beets.” She was only

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TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

49 years old, but she had had to work so hard that she felt she could
not last much longer. Those who reported, as a few did, that they
“ liked beet work better than housework,” or found it “ easier than
haying,” were almost invariably women who, with four or five others,
worked a small acreage, many hands making light work. “ Beet
work is easy i f you know how to do it,” said one mother who, with
five other workers, was caring for 15 acres.
As is usually the case with the mother who is gainfully employed,
the day’s work during the beet-growing season does not end with the
end o f the field day. During the period o f their field work only 14
o f the 454 working mothers were relieved by some other adult in the
household o f the burden o f preparing food for the family, and only
42 had a child to help them. Where the meals were eaten at home,
as was done in 9 out o f 10 o f the families, the mother left the field a
little earlier than the other workers in order that the food might be
ready for them on their arrival, and she remained at home somewhat
longer than they in order to clear up after the meal, unless, as was
sometimes the case, she left all the dishes to wash at night. When
the meals were taken to the field they had to be prepared by the
mother before she left home in the morning. Six families took their
breakfasts to the field, and began work before eating, and three o f
these families also carried their dinners. Forty-seven other families
took only their dinners to the field. That the usual rising time for the
women was very early can be easily understood. Many said that
they rose at daylight, and that Saturday night, when the family wash
ing was done, became Sunday morning before they went to bed.
Hours of labor and duration of season.

Women’s work in the beet fields was not a matter of helping out
in the fields when household duties permitted. It was in these fam
ilies a serious occupation, taking precedence over all others, and pur
sued in most cases throughout the season. “ Our meal,” declared
one of the mothers, “ stands on the table from one end o f the beet
work to the other. No time to clean house.”
Nine-tenths o f the working mothers did blocking and thinning.
The daily hours reported by the greatest number o f women were 10,
exclusive of mealtime. Close to one-half o f those who did the spring
work had worked 10 hours or more, though proportionately fewer
women in farm owners’ or tenants’ families worked so long a day.
Forty-two mothers, all except one o f whom was the*toife o f a laborer
reported an average working-day o f 12 hours or longer.

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

T a b l e X X I I .— D a ily hours thinning and blocking b y econom ic sta tus o f fa m ily ;
m oth ers w orkin g in beet field s: Colorado group .

Mothers working in beet fields.
Economic status of family.
Total.
Daily hours thinning and blocking.

Tenant farmer.

Laborer.

Farm
Per cent owner.1
Per cent
Percent
Number. distri Number. distri Number. distri
bution.
bution.
bution.
Total
Did not work blocking and thinning...
Worked blocking and thinning............
5 hours, less than 6..........................
6 hours, less than 7..........................
7 hours, less than 8..........................
8 hours, less than 9 ..........................
9 hours, less than 10........................
10 hours, less than 11......................
11 hours', less than 12......................

Not reported and irregular.............

47
407
3
2
11
24
34
54
80
84
61
27
9
6
12

100.0
.7
.5
2.7
5.9
8.6
13.3
19.6
20.6
15.0
6.6
2.2
11.5
2.9

39
313
2
1
3
14
27
39
64
62
52
27
9
5
8

352
100.0
.6
.3
1 .0

4.5
8.6
12.5
20.4
19.8
16.6
8.6
2.9
1.6
2.6

5
36

3
58
1

100.0
1.7

6
6
4
10
10
12
5

10.3
10.3
6.9
17.2
17.2
20.7
8.6

1
2
4
3
5
6
10
4

1.7
5.2

i Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 50.

H alf the mothers who did blocking and thinning spent four weeks
or more at it. The largest group, comprising 155, or not quite twofifths o f those who worked at the process, worked between four and
five weeks; the next largest number, 122, or three-tenths, worked
between three and four weeks. But little difference appeared in the
length o f time worked at the process by wives o f contract laborers
and wives of beet growers.
Somewhat fewer mothers than did blocking and thinning—though
still close to 90 per cent of those who worked—did hoeing. In this
operation 8 to 10 hours was the working day for considerably more
than half the women in every group, as Table X X I I I shows; almost
one-sixth o f the women, chiefly the wives o f contract laborers, had
worked 11 hours or more a day.

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I F TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

ÖY

T a b l e X X I I I . — D a ily hours hoeing, b y econ om ic sta tus o f f a m il y ; m others
w orkin g in beet field s: Colorado group.

Mothers working in beet fields.
Economic status of family.
Daily hours hoeing.

Total.
Laborer.

Number

T ota l.............. ..............
Did not work hoeing...........
Worked hoeing.........................
Less than 4 hours............. .
4 hours, less than 5............
5 hours, less than-6............
6 hours, less than 7............
7 hours, less than 8.......
8 hours, less than 9............
9 hours, less than 10..........
10 hours, less than 11........
11 hours, less than 12.........
12 hours, less than 13........
13 hours, less than 14.........
14 hours and over............. .
N ot reported and irregular.

Tenant fermer.

Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
distri Number. distri- Number. distribution.
bution.
bution.

454

352

65
389
7
6
14
32
41
65
82
64
40

49
303
5
4
8
'26
35
45
64
53
35
9
6
4
9

7
54
2
1
5
5
4
14
8
8
3

100.0
3.7
1.9
9.3
9.3
7.4
25.9
14.8
14.8
5.6

7.4

10
6

4
18

100.0

1.8

1.5
3.6
8.2
10.5
16.7
21.1
16.5
10.3
2.6
1.5
1.0

4.6

100.0
1.7
1.3
2.6
8.6
11.6
14.9
21.1
17.5
11.6
3.0
2.0
1.3
3.0

Farm

41
9
32
1
1
1
2
6
10
3
2
1
5

1 Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 50.

From two to three weeks was reported by well over one-third o f
the mothers as the duration o f their work in hoeing, but 99, or
one-fourth o f them, had worked three weeks or more. One mother
whose fields were very weedy had “ hoed every day all summer.”
In the harvest work hours were long. Not quite one-fourth of
the 404 mothers who worked at pulling and topping reported 9 to
10 hours in the field. More than one-fourth had worked 10 to 11
hours; and one-ninth had worked 11 or 12 hours daily. Only threetenths o f the mothers had worked less than 9 hours a day, pro
portionately fewer o f the wives o f laborers than o f the wives o f
farm renters and owners. Table X X I V gives the daily hours spent
at pulling and topping by the women in each of the three groups.

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

T a b l e X X I V .— D a ily hours pulling and topping, b y econom ic sta tu s o f fa m il y ;
m o th ers w orkin g in beet fields: Colorado group.

Mothers working in beet fields.
Economic status of family.
Total.
Daily hours pulling and topping.

Laborer. .

Tenant fermer.

Farm
Per cent owner.1
Per cent
Percent
Number. distri Number. distri Number. distri
bution.
bution.
bution.

5 hours, less than 6..........................
6 hours’, less than 7..........................
7 hours, less than 8..........................
8 hours) less than 9..........................
9 hours, less than 10........................
10 hour’s, less than 11.......................
11 hours) less than 12.......................

Not reported and irregular..............
1

\.41

454

352

50
404
7
6
7
19
32
55
96
105
45
8

100.0
1.7
1.5
1.7
4.7
7.9
13.6
23.8
26.0
11.1
r 2.0

39
313
6
5
4
13
25
39
78
80
41
8

100.0
1.9
1.6
1.3
4.2
8.0
12.5
24.9
25.6
13.1
2.6

9
52
1

100.0
1.9

2
4
4
8
10
16
1

3.8
7.7
7.7
15.4
19.2
30.8
1.9

1
1
2
3
8
8
9
3

5.9

4.5

11.5

Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 50.

For the largest number of mothers (106* or a little over onefourth) pulling and topping had lasted between 2 and 3 weeks, but
in many cases was not completed at the time the investigation was
made. Two-fifths of them had spent more than 3 weeks at the
harvest work. Those in families renting or owning farms, usually
with small acreages in beets, did not work so many weeks, as a rule,
as did the wives o f contract laborers. Forty-five per cent o f the
latter pulled and topped for 3 weeks or more, whereas only 25 per
cent o f the growers’ wives had spent as much time at t'he work in
the fall.
Including all the handwork on beets, almost three-fourths o f the
working mothers had worked in the beet fields in the season o f 1920
between 4 and 12 weeks, usually long hours each day. Almost 8 per
cent, or 35, all except 6 o f whom were wives of contract laborers,
had worked between 12 and 18 weeks. More than half o f all the
mothers who worked spent 7 weeks or more in the beet fields. In
many cases the fall work had not been concluded when the mother
was interviewed so that at least for some o f the women the season s
work was several weeks longer than the time reported.
Care of young children.

Because o f their mothers’ work in the field, many young children
were to a greater or less degree neglected during the beet season.
The mother o f 4 little children, the oldest o f whom was 6 years,

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

said that she did not like to work in the beet fields, because her
children “ cried all the time and it made her nervous.” In the
families studied there were 715 children under 6 years o f age, 561,
or almost four-fifths, o f whom weje in the families o f laborers. The
mothers o f 651, or more than nine-tenths, o f these little children
were beet-field workers. Sixty-one working mothers had 1 child
under 1 year; 69 had 1 child between 1 and 2 years o f age; 52 had 1
child between 2 and 3 years o f age; 47 had 2 children and 1 had
3 /children under 3 years o f age. Altogether 230 mothers working
in the beet fields had a total o f 279 children under 3 years o f age.
F ifty o f these mothers were the wives of men who owned or rented
their farms and in many cases because o f the greater amount of
housework which they were obliged to do they worked harder than
the laborers’ wives.
Usually the babies were brought to the field and left in a box or
basket within sight o f their mothers. Occasionally a family would
report that “ the dog takes care o f the children.” Sometimes a
small tent was put up as a shelter, as there was seldom any shade
near the fields. I f the mother came out early the baby had to come
early, too, and stay until the mother went home. In some families
a grandmother, aunt', or older sister cared for the children left
at home, but in the majority o f cases the mother had no adult on
whom to depend.
Twenty-three children under 6 years o f age were left at home
with no one to care for them, and 7 were sometimes left at home,
sometimes carried to the field and given only such attention as the
mothers could give while working. Six o f the 23 children left at
home alone were less than 3 years old and 12 were less than 5.
In some families the little children were in charge o f brothers
or sisters, usually those too young to work. More than a tenth o f
them, some when even less than 1 year o f age, were cared for by a child
under 7 years o f age, the children in many cases being kept away
from school for the purpose. Some o f the babies in the care o f these
young children were left at home and some were taken to the field
where the parents and older children were at work.
One mother who because o f cold weather had left her 3 little
girls aged 5, 3, and 2 years at home in the afternoon instead o f tak
ing them with her to the beet field as usual returned to the house
with the Children’s Bureau agent about half past 4 in the afternoon
to find that the fire had gone out and that the 2 older children
had taken all the clothes off the baby and were feeding her an ear
o f corn. Stories told by other mothers regarding their inability
to give their children adequate care had a more tragic aspect. One
o f the mothers told the bureau agent how on her return from work
17623°—23---- 5

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CHILD LABOR AHD TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

in the fields she had found her baby, whom she left in the care o f a
neighbor’s child, cold and unfed; at the end o f 3 weeks it had fallen
ill and died. Another mother said that her baby 1 year old had
died through lack o f care and cold while she was working at pulling
and topping in the season o f 1920, a statement confirmed by the head
physician o f the county hospital.
When children just old enough to run about were taken to the
fields, with no one to take care o f them, the irrigation ditches offered
a special source o f danger. In each o f 2 families a child under 3
years o f age had been drowned in an irrigation ditch.
F A M IL Y E A R N IN G S .

Rate of pay and earnings from beet contracts.

Laborers are engaged either by the sugar company or directly by
the farmer whose beet crop they are to handle. The resident families
in Colorado usually make their working agreements directly with the
farmers. Most o f them have lived in the locality a number o f years
and are thoroughly familiar with all conditions pertaining to the
handwork. Many families return to the same farm to work year after
year. They know the farms, their locations and the conditions o f
work, the rates paid, and, in short, are in a position to make their own
bargains. O f 348 resident laborers’ families included in the present’
study only 21 reported that they had secured employment through the
sugar company whereas 318 had made their agreement directly with
the farmer. The great majority o f the migratory workers, on the
other hand, were engaged by sugar-company agents, who apportioned
them among the growers, the company paying their railroad fare to
the beet fields. Forty-three o f the 70 nonresident families studied
had been engaged by the sugar company and only 19 had made their
own agreements with the farmers.48
According to the terms o f the contract made with the grower, which
in many cases is only an oral one, the laborer undertakes the hand
work on a specified number o f acres at a specified rate per acre for
each process, while the grower in addition to the money payment
agrees to furnish living accommodations, water, and transportation
between the railroad station and the farm. Over half the families
covered in the study had signed no contract. This group included
well over one-third even o f the laborers whose agreement was made
with the sugar company and three-sevenths o f the migratory laborers.
The terms as stated in the printed contracts drawn up by the sugar
companies nevertheless formed the basis o f all agreements.
18 Two families were engaged through, friends, two through an employment office, and
two through other beet workers, one through a contractor, and one did not report the
method of engagement.

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I N TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

The rate per acre to be paid for the handwork in beet raising
is usually fixed at the beginning o f the season, whether or not
a contract is signed, and the same rate prevails quite generally among
all workers, though in exceptional cases a different rate may be given.
In the season o f 1920, $35 an acre, including all processes, was the
usual rate. O f the 388 laborers who did all the handwork, 203 or
somewhat over one-half, received $35 an acre; only one man received
more, $36, and the rest received from $30 to $34.44 In this connec
tion it may be said that the company agents when recruiting labor
promised only $30 an acre. Some o f the laborers, quick to discover
the rate paid resident workers, demanded and obtained $35; still 38
per cent o f the TO transient families received only $30 per acre, while
y cL Per ^ nt o f t.he residents were paid at this low rate, and
three-fifths o f the resident laborers received the top rates, whereas
only three-tenths o f the migratory workers had obtained it. Some
times the farmers were obliged to increase the rates, if they had engaged workers at $30 who subsequently found out that others were
getting $35, but in most cases the rate agreed upon was held to.
Twenty-one o f the laborers had not done all the handwork. Where
the hoeing had been omitted the rate was $27 in one case, and $29.50
i ^ ai f ther’ ^ ere no PuUin& and topping were done $14.50 and
$16.50 were paid; where pulling and topping alone were done rates
ranged from $15 to $19 per acre. When a contract for pulling and
nppmg is made after the beets are well grown it is possible to -judge
o f the variation in the amount o f work on different pieces o f land,
so that the price may fairly vary with the stand o f beets. No pay
ment is made until after the completion o f a process, which may not
be for as much as two months after the work has been begun.
What the earnings o f a beet-field laborer’s family amount to in a
J aries with the acrea£ e worked and the number o f workers.
With the same number o f workers, moreover, the acreage undertaken
and consequently the earnings vary according to the proportion o f
children and their ability. (Table X X V .) The largest group of
laborers families worked from 30 to 40 acres, and only half o f those
reporting had an acreage o f less than 30. Among the 331 families
m the present study that had worked all the season and that reported
then* earnings, the largest group was that whose earnings were be
tween $800 and $1,000. Somewhat less than one-fifth o f the families
were ifi this group. They totaled 254 workers, two-fifths o f whom
were xhildren, the most usual working combination being 2 adults
Three-tenths o f
laborers’ families earned less
than $800, 41 °r one-eighth o f them earning even less than $600.
Nearly half these 41 families had, however, but 2 workers. About
one-half the families earned $1,000 or over. Oyer one-seventh reu Twenty-three families did not report rate of pay.

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

ceived between $1,000 and $1,200 for their work on the beet crop, the
combination o f workers most often found being again 2 adults and
2 children, though there were 2 families where 1 adult and 2 children
had brought in this amount, and others where there had been 7 work
ers. One-third earned from $1,200 to $2,000, including 34 families
where there were but 2 adult workers (that is, workers over 16 years
o f age), and 2 families with but 1 adult. The number o f children
in a family varied from 1 to 6. Ten families, or 3 per cent, earned
from $2,000 to $2,600, and there were in these families 71 workers,
37 o f whom were children.
According to the average acreage cared for per child as found m
the present study, the value o f a child’s work on the beet crop aver
aged approximately $200 if he worked in all the processes.45
T able X X V .— Amount payable for work in beet field», by number o f persons
w orking; fam ilies1 working in beet fields on all operations: Colorado group.
Families i working in beet fields on all operations.
Number of persons working.2
Total.
'4

Amount payable for
work in beet fields.
«

Per
cent
Num distri
ber. bu
tion.

Per
Per
Per
cent Num cent Num cent
Num distri
distri
ber.
ber. bu ber. distri
bu
bu
tion.
tion.
tion.

Total............... 8331 100.0

85 100.0

3.0
9.4
17.2
18.4
15.4
7.9
13.0
9.1
3.3
3.0
.3

6
13
8
6

1
9
13
13
7

2
5
20
23
19
6
8
2

8400-8599___
$600-8799___
$800-8999...........
$1,000-81,199.. .
$1'200-81^399..............
$1^400-81^599............
$1,600-81,799..............
$1^800-81^999^...
$2'000-82'599..............

10
31
57
61
51
26
43
30
11
10
1

2.4
5.9
23.5
27.1
22.4
7.1
9.4
2.4

64 100.0

10 Í5. A
8 12.5
16 25.0
11 17.2
13 20.3
4.7
3
1 1.6
2
3.1

54 100.0

3
3
8
5
7
8
12
7
1

1
1
3
2
4
1
7
11
2
4

5.6
5.6
14.8
9.3
13.0
14.8
22.2
13.0
1.9

9-11

1
1
6
2
1
1

2
1

vi
1 Excludes tenant and farm-owning families.
a Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 50.
8 Excludes 40 families that did not report amount payable.

For the leñgth of time actually worked, the handwork on the beet
crop appears to bring in fairly high returns, though the method of
delaying payment until after a process is completed makes it diffi
cult, perhaps, for the laboréis to spend their money to the best
advantage.46 The income from the work is further augmented for
migratory families, if not for those resident within a few miles of
See p. 36.
48 Two hundred and forty-one, or almost three-fifths of the laborers’ families, bought
their supplies entirely on credit ; 110 on credit and cash both ; and only 59, that is,
about one-seventh, had wholly cash dealings. Migratory families found it difficult to
obtain credit. In some cases the farmer would establish credit with the storekeeper up
to a fixed amount, if the laborers had no cash to pay ; 12 such cases were reported, and in
9 of them the fanner himself paid thé bills, deducting the amount from, the beet-field
laborer’s pay, a practice which is obviously subject to certain abuses.

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I X TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

the beet fields, by the fact that shelter is provided and that in some
cases it is possible to have a garden and a cow and chickens.47 Some
o f the workers, in fact, maintained that there was “ good money in
beets,” and among the more thrifty o f the resident laborers there
were evidences o f prosperity, such as the owning of a small house
or an automobile. One hundred and thirty-one laborers’ families,
or almost one-third, had purchased automobiles, presumably from
the proceeds o f the work in the beet fields, as most o f them did little
other work.
The income from beet-field labor, however, represents family
earnings and not the earnings o f the head o f the household. Be
cause the work o f women and children could be depended upon to
bring the family income up to a point where it was believed to be
sufficient for family needs, as it did in many families, the necessity
for work throughout the year on the father’s part was not so urgent
as it would have been had he borne the full responsibility for the
support o f wife and children. The attitude of one Russian-German
father was not an uncommon one: “ Too old to work—53 years old,”
he told the bureau agent. “ Winter time rest, summer time work
little mit kids.”
Father’s earnings in other work.

The income from the work in the beet fields represents in a large
number of families included in the study the major part, if not all,
o f the annual income. About four-fifths of the fathers who were
contract laborers did a little work during the summer in addition
to their work on the beet crop, and about the same number had
winter employment.
T a b l e X X V I .— Father’s summer occupation, by amount of earnings; fathers

with employment in summer other than in beet fields: Colorado groups
Fathers with employment in summer other than in beet fields.»
Total.
Father’s
summer
occupation other
than laborer in
beet fields.

Per
cent
Num dis- Un
der $25ber. tri$49.
bu- $1.25.
tion.

Total............... «314 100.0
Farm laborer............
Factory employee...
Sugar..................
Other.................
Skilled trades...........
Railroad laborer.......
All other occupations

Amount of earnings.6

228
19
17
2
25
24
18

72.6
6.1
5.4
.6
8.0
7.6
5.7

Not
$50- $100- $150- $200- $250- $300- $400- $500 re
$99. $149. $199. $249. $299. $399. $499. and port
over. ed.

36
3
3

27
2
2

22
3
3

8
2
2'

1
8
1

7
6

3
1

1
2
3

1
2
1
1
3

3
1
1

7
3
2
1
2
1
i

a Excludes fathers in tenant and farm-owning families.
b Farm laborers in addition to cash earnings usually received one or more meals and in some cases
lodging.
c Includes 10 fathers who did not work in beet fields.
47 Six o f the 70 m igratory laborers’ fam ilies kept cows, 8 kept chickens, and about
one-third had gardens, m ost frequently one-eighth o r one-fourth o f an acre in size.

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E W ORK OE MOTHERS

A few fathers, after the thinning and blocking had been completed, left the hoeing to be done at a more leisurely pace by the mother
and children, and engaged in other work until the beet harvest.
Others worked during the period o f six weeks or two months which
elapsed between the completion of hoeing and the beginning o f
pulling and topping. Grain was being harvested at this time, and
employment as a harvest hand was easy to obtain. Farm work, in
cluding harvesting, gave employment to 228, or almost three-fourths
o f the fathers who had had some summer occupation in addition to
the work in the beet fields. Less than one-sixth o f those who reported
their earnings had made $250 or more, several as much as $500; but
almost half had earned less than $100.
Between-seasons employment for the resident laborers did not
amount to much. Eighty-six, or almost one-fourth, o f the fathers
in these families did no work beyond an odd job or two, perhaps,
from the end o f one beet season to the beginning o f the next, and
another fifth had worked less than six weeks in addition to beetcrop work. How much o f this was due to inability to find work it is
impossible to say. It was not easy to secure winter work in the
beet-growing districts. “ Everybody tries to get work in the sugar
factory,” said a number o f fathers, “ and the man who gets work
there is lucky. There ar© so many men after the jobs, and there is
almost nothing else to do.” Stock raising had been advocated as
a means o f providing winter employment for farm hands and in
some localities gave work to a few men. On the other hand, ac
cording to current report and to statements of the families them
selves, a number of the men made no effort to find regular work
during the winter. They remained idle for six months, supported
to a considerable extent by the labor o f wife and children during
the other six. In many cases they were thus enabled not only to take
their ease for half the year but also to put money in the bank.
The migratory laborers made more o f a business o f winter em
ployment than did the resident workers. They were largely Mexi
cans, who, lacking the thrift o f the Russian-Germans, rarely saved
enough from the summer to last through the winter. Only six re
ported that they did no work in the winter. The majority were
laborers in factories or mines or on railroads.
O f the 228 fathers, including both resident and migratory laborers,
who had worked during the winter preceding the inquiry and who
reported the amount which they had earned, 142, or more than threefifths, had made less than $300 at their winter employment, covering
a period o f approximately six months from December 1 to the be
ginning o f the spring work in the beet fields. Only 1 in 10 had1
made as much as $600.

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

T a b l e X X V I I .— Father's w in ter1 occupation, hy amount of earnings; fa th ers*

who were employed in w inter: Colorado group.

Fathers2employed in winter.
Amount of earnings.3

Total.
Father's winter
occupation.1

Total...............
Farm.........................
Farmer................
Laborer..............
Factory employee. . .
Sugar...................
Other..................
Skilled trades............
Railroad laborer.......
Domestic and personal service..........
Mining.......................
All other occupations

Per
Not
Less
Num cent
re
$150- $200- $300- $400- $500- $600- $800
dis than $50- $100and port
$149.
$199.
$599.
$799.
ber. tribu
$99.
$299.
$399.
$499.
(50.
over. ed.
tion.
306 100.0

65 21.2
9
2.9
56 18.3
141 46.1
125 40.8
16 5.2
21
6.9
26
8.5

7
11
10
1

6
19
18
1
1
5

3
18
17
1
2

4
8
7
1

28
25
3
2

5
14
11
3
1

5
3
3

3
4
4

4
7
6
1
5

i
6

1
3
1

5
11
37

1.6
3.6
12.1

1
1

1
2

2
4
1
1
3

1
1
2

22
9
13
27
24
3
8
3

1
3
14

1 From Dec. 1 to beginning of work in beet fields.
2 Excludes fathers in tenant and farm-owning families.
3 Farm laborers in addition to cash earnings usually received one or more meals and in some cases lodging

H O U S IN G A N D S A N I T A T I O N .

Houses.

In the northern counties o f Colorado, where the beet farms are so
large that a beet-field laborer’s family usually finds employment
enough for the season on one farm, families being selected by the
farmer with reference to their working capacity and his beet acreage,
living accommodations are generally provided by the farmer. In
only one case among the families studied did a laborer’s family
occupy quarters owned by the sugar company. In a few cases the
farmer provided part' o f or all the furniture, which usually consisted
o f a bed, a stove, and a few boxes and cooking utensils, but almost all
the families, including a large proportion o f the migratory group,
brought their household equipment, including the stove, with them.
Some o f the beet-field laborers, including 39 families in the present
study, lived in their own houses on the outskirts o f town in the
Russian-German settlements and went out each day to work in the
beet fields, in some cases in their own automobiles. The houses owned
by the laborers, though seldom more than one story high and often
containing only two or three rooms, were as a rule clean, well-kept
little places, frequently very attractive, with good furniture, bright
rugs or new linoleum, lace curtains, and plants in every corner.
The 90 per cent o f the laborers who Jived in houses provided by
farmers did not usually fare so well as those who pwned their own
dwellings, although the districts studied are among the oldest beet
raising areas in the State, and housing for beet-field laborers in these

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CHILD LABOE AND TH E W O BK OF MOTHEES

districts has probably reached a higher stage o f development than
the average. About 44 per cent were lodged in fairly new, little oneand two-room houses, usually in fair and often in good condition,
reflecting a growing realization on the part o f the farmer that the
better class o f laborers will not stay in the tumble-down shanties
that used to be considered good enough for the “ beeters.” But over
half the 378 families whose living quarters were furnished by the
farmer occupied buildings which deserved the name “ beet shack,” by
which they were generally known. A typical one is shown in the
upper illustration. The shack was built o f tar paper, or o f cor
rugated iron, or was a roughly boarded shanty with, in some
cases, only one window and one door. Sometimes it was only a cara
van wagon, which, hung from end to end with pots, pans, washtubs,
and clothes, was moved about from field to field as the work re
quired. The tenants were entirely dependent on the good will o f the
farmer for the comfort and even the cleanliness o f their quarters.
Many families complained of bedbugs and other vermin left by pre
vious tenants. W ell over a third o f the 143 shacks for which a report
as to the condition of repair was secured were found to be in bad
condition and not weatherproof. Leaking roofs, broken windows,
and general dilapidation prevailed. Sometimes the farmer would
“ mend” a badly leaking roof by throwing an old piece o f canvas
over the worst part o f it. One mother, who at the time o f the agent’s
visit was scouring her kitchen and painting it because it was “ full
o f bedbugs when we came,” said that the previous year her shanty
had been so bad that during a snowstorm she had to “ crawl under
the table ” with her child, and “ all the food in the house got wet.”
One family declared that their house was “ nothing but a dog house.”
Another described theirs as “ not fit fop chickens to live in.” Rain and
snow came in and there were holes in the floor through which snakes,
it was said, had several times come up into the room and had been
found crawling around the floor. In one case, typical o f many, rough
unmatched boards with wide cracks between, one window frame with
no glass, and one door, inclosed a small, square room which had no
furniture except a bed, a stove, two boxes, and a trunk. A few rods
away stood a new poultry house, clapboarded and shingled, the win
dows of which had not a single pane missing.
Even when in good condition, the shacks, thin-walled, without
shade, and in most cases with no means o f securing proper ventila
tion, were in summer exceedingly hot; when the chill nights and
mornings of October and November came— and some families con
tinued to occupy them even further into the winter—they were
practically impossible to heat. The season o f 1920 was very favor
able, as far as weather was concerned, yet snow fell before the beets
were all harvested and mornings when the temperature was well

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■

V /'

.. .MB
„„if “.......
»,s..io»32

SHACKS

O C C U PIE D

66— 1

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

BY C O L O R A D O

B E E T -F IE L D

LABORERS.

~ -

ONE

THE

BETTER

CLASS

HOUSES

B E E T -F IE L D

A BABY T E N T

PR O V ID E D

FOR

THE COLORADO

LABORER.

OF CANVAS.

A rare in s ta n c e o f carefu l prov ision f o r th e b a b y ’ s p rotection w h e n ta k e n to th e field.

66—2

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

below freezing were not infrequent. Little children were sometimes
found huddled 'together in the shanties, bundled up in coats trying
to keep warm while they waited for their parents to return from
work. According to one o f the laborers, workers who came in from
the fields with wet clothes found it impossible to get dry even when
standing by the fire—so badly built were the shanties.
Toilet facilities were not always adequate. Though almost all
families had an outside privy, 35 shared theirs with one other
family and nine with two other families. Ten families had no toilet
facilities whatever.
The beet-field laborers’ quarters are regarded as merely tempo
rary dwellings. Some o f the families resident in towns near the
beet fields stayed in the “ field houses” only during the time they
were actually engaged in each process. Others, however, occupied
the “ field houses” for approximately six months. The migratory
families, if they engaged in all the processes, were obliged to spend
practically six months in them.
Overcrowding.

Many o f the beet-field laborers’ families lived under such condi
tions o f overcrowding that all comfort and convenience had to be
sacrificed and no privacy was possible. Table X X V I I I shows the
number o f persons in the household and the number o f rooms in
the house. T o the left o f the zigzag line are shown the number
o f families with two or more persons to a room. There were 320
o f these families, amounting to 77 per cent o f the total number.
Only 21 per cent reported less than two persons per room.43 Almost
half were living with three or more persons to a room. One hundred
and ninety-one families, averaging 6.6 persons per family occupied
two-room dwellings. Among them were 94 households o f more
than 6 members each and 14 o f 10 or more each; the latter included
one household in which there were two families, and another con
sisting o f three families. This means that from three to seven per
sons had to sleep in each o f the two rooms, one of which had to be
used as a kitchen and living room. F ifty families, consisting o f
from 3 to 11 persons per family, lived in one room., One o f these
households included a father, his son and daughter, each over 16
years o f age, a younger child, and a girl over 16 who helped the
family with the beet-field work.
48 Twelve families did not report the number of rooms.

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CHILD LABOE AND TH E W O BK OF MOTHEKS

T a b l e X X V I I I .— Number of persons in household, by number of rooms in house;

fam ilies1 wording in beet fields: Colorado group.
Families1 occupying specified number of rooms.
household.2
Total.

Total.................................

418

191

2..................................
3..................................
4..................................

1
1
29 — T
16
36
6 T T

3
5

2
5

5..................................
6..................................
7..................................
8..................................
9..................................

60
71
62
72
45

11
6
8
5
2

10................................
11..............................
12. . . . . . ......................
13................................
14................................

19
12
3
3
4

3
1

15 and over................

11
6
31
32 T T
5
8
23
15
32
19 — r
11
4
25
6
5
3

5
3
3
1

2
1
1

17
1

1
1
4
1

Not re
ported.
12

2
i
3

2
3
1
1

1
1
2

5
1

1
1

1 Excludes tenant and farm-owning families.
2 There were 4 instances of 2 families each and 2 of 3 families each living together in complex households.

W ater supply.

As most o f the beet farms in Weld and Larimer Counties lie in
irrigated lands to which water is brought from some distance, in
many cases the supply o f drinking water had to be hauled from the
nearest town, distances varying from half a mile to 6 or 7 miles.
Over half the contract laborer’s families reported the use o f water
stored in cisterns, which were sometimes very dirty. Complaints of
the water were frequently made. “ They bring you water once in six
weeks,” said one father, “ and dump it into that cistern. When it’s
warm it gets stale; and if you drink it, you get sick.” Apart from
the question o f its being unpalatable or impure, water which must
be brought from a distance is not likely to be plentiful. A scant water
supply increases the work o f the housewife and is bound to result in
lower standards o f cleanliness on the part o f the family.
One-fifth o f the laborers had the use o f a drilled well. Seven per
cent reported using a dug well, which, if not carefully protected, is
liable to pollution from surface water. Two families reported the use
o f the irrigation-ditch water for all purposes, though commonly it
was used only for washing. One o f these families had formerly used
the farmer’s well, as was usually done when the shack was near the
farm house, but the farmer and his wife were so> disagreeable when
they went for water, the father said, that the family preferred to use
the water from the ditch. This water had, o f course, drained land
which was polluted by the refuse from barns and privies. One of

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

the

beet

f ie l d s

Co l o r a d o .

the families using it said that in wet weather it was too muddy to
use, and that “ dogs and ducks die in it and make it bad.”
Only 11 households had water piped into the house. The others
had to go outside for their water supply, which was at a distance of
from several feet to a quarter o f a mile from the house. In a majority
o f cases, however, it was less than 10 yards away.
H E A L T H O F C H IL D R E N .

As a part o f the present study, complete physical examinations
were made o f approximately 1,000 children in families employed in
the beet fields.49 A physician and nurse from the United States
Children’s Bureau visited the schools in Weld and Larimer Counties
during October, November, and December, 1920, and examined all
such children in each school until the desired number o f records had
been secured. There was no attempt to select groups, racial or other
wise, the children being examined as they presented themselves.
It was not difficult in Weld and Larimer Counties to find in school
during school hours in October, November, and December, 1920,
1,022 children belonging to families employed in the beet fields,
although the beet-harvest season was at its height and many schools
in these two counties had been closed to allow the children to work
in fields. These children may be considered a fairly typical group
as far as working conditions are concerned—a disproportionately
large number o f them, however, belonged to farmer’s families, so that
in general their living conditions were better than those o f the group
included in the schedule study.
49 See form used, p. 70.

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[PHYSICAL EXAM INATION RECORD FORM.]
U. S. D epartment of L abor ,
Children’ s B ureau .
(father)

(Surname)

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Child: 1. M. F. 2. Bom . 1..192... 3. Age..yrs..mos. N asopharynx: 30. Mouth breathing, N. 31. Nasal
4. Entered (a) Kinderg’t’n, N., at___yrs. (6) First
discharge, N.
grade, N., at___yrs.
32. Nasal obstr., N. 33. High arch palate, N. 34.
PHYSICAL EXAMINATION.
Adenoid facies, N.
G e n e r a l : 5. Weight___lbs....... oz. 6. Height, .in.
35. Tonsils: Rem. (a) enlrg., N. (5) greatly enlrg.,
7. Anemia, N ___8. Nutrition: excel., G., P., V P ..
N. (c) dis. N.
9. Temp...® 10. Vaccinated, N. (o) Age..yrs. (6)
36. Other abnorm.................................................
Scar, N .
H ead : 11. Size: normal, large, small...................... 37. Diagnosis of Sp
Circumference............... in ...................................
Associated
Pal En Great
12. Shape: normal, abnorm. (spec.)........................
Glands: 38
en infection
pable larged ly
13. Fontanelle: closed, open.........cm .....................
larged
(spec.)
14. Craniotabes, N. 15. Abnormal condition, N . . .
Y NY NY NN
16. Diagnosis:............................................................ (b) Submaxillary Y
NY NY NN
Eyes : 17. Vision (a) R ___(&) L ___ (c) Imposs. to (c) Cervical
Y NY NY NN
*
test._____________________________ ,__________ (d) A xillary;
Y NY NY NN
Y NY NY NN
L
N T (e) Epitrochlear
18. Diseases.
Diseases.
(/) Inguinal
Y NY NY NN ■
(/) Conjunctivitis
Y NY N
(g) Thyroid
N.
Y NY NY NN
(n)
Other
(a) Blepharitis
Acute...........
(b) Style.............
Circulatory System : 39. Heart............
Phlyctenular
(rf) Corneal opa
(g) Strabismus...
(a) Apex beat displ., N. (6) Enlarged, N.
cities.
- - (c) Murmur, N. (loc.).......... ....................
(e) Corneal ulcer.
19. Glasses, N ...
Transmitted back, axilla, sternum, N
20. Other abnorm.
21. Diagnosis of Sp
40. Heart disease, N., Diagnosis:
E ars: 22. Hearing: R .........ft. L ................... ft.......
23. Otorrhea: (o) Acute, N., R.., L. (5) Chronic, R espiratory System : 41. Chest: (a) Excursion:
N „ R ., L.
Normal, abnormal, (spec)..................... .......
24. Other abnorm....................................................
25. Diagnosis of Sp................................................... (5) Fremitus: normal, deer., incr.........................
Mouth : 26. Teeth: (o) Temp. No. Decayed No. (c) Dullness, N. (sp ec.)........................... ...........
Fined No.
(d) Rales: N., kind........loc..................................
(b) Perm. N o .. Decayed N o.. Filled N o.. 27. 42.. Other defects............................... .................
Malocclusion, N.
28. Alveolar abscess, N ____ 29. Other abnorm___ 43. Respiratory dis., N., Diagnosis:

Date

, 192

Skin : 44. Pediculosis: (a) body, N. (6) scalp, N.
insects, N.; nits, N.
45. Eczema, N. (loc.)......................... 46. Acne, N.
47. Hypertrichosis, N. 48. Impetigo, N. 49. In
fected sores, N.
50. Scabies, N. 51. Ringworm: (a) scalp, N. (6)
body, N.
52. Other conditions................................................
A bdomen : 53. Distension, N...................................
54. Tenderness, N. (lo c .)..,.....................................
55. Enlarged liver, N ................................ ..............
56. Enlarged spleen, N ............................................
57. HerniajN.; umbilical; inguinal, R.. L., double;
femoral, R., L., double. 58. Other defects.
B oney and Muscular System: 59. Beaded ribs, N.
60. Harrison’s groove, N. 61. Enlarged epiphyses, N.
62. Round shoulders, N. 63. Winged scapulae, N.
64. Scoliosis, N.
65. Lordosis, N. 66. Kyphosis, N. (loc.)
67. Knock-knee, N .68. Bowlegs, N. 69. Flat foot, N.
70. Pigeon toe, N. 71. Clubfoot, N. (spec.).............
72. Arthritis, N. (spec.)...........................................
73. Pronation, N. (a) R., N. (6) L., N — ..........
74. Paralysis, N. (spec.).........................................
75. Other defects (cong. and acq.)......... ...............
Nervous System : 76. Speech defects, N. (a)
Stuttering, N.
(6) Stammering, N. 77. Tic, N. (spec.)............
78. Chorea, N. (spec.)................................
79. Other defects........................ ...................... .
80. Nervous dis., N., Diagnosis:
(Over.)

CHILD LABOE AND T H E W ORK OF MOTHERS

Sym.

-a

(address)
Examined by

School
Sym.

(child)

S. N.

[PHYSICAL EXAMINATION

RECORD FORM (REVËRSE).l

Genitalia: 81. Male: prepuce adherent, contracted, normal___
89.

(a ).

N ’VŸ
N P

82. Female: vaginal discharge, N ........................................... .

(d)
F ff

(f)

F 0

Mental Condition: 83. (a) Normal, N. ( 6 ) Defect app. (spec.).
(c) Abnormality susp. (spec.)................ .......... .........................

(A )
(/)
(9)
Country National Speak
Eng
of birth
ity
lish

YN
Y N

M.
F.
■

90.

■

OCCUPATION

M. Gain. emp. N. Home (spec.)....................................................
Away (spec.)........... ............................................................. ........
Ch. Brw.: (a) Fa. N. (dead, deserted, no occ.).
85. P revious I llness: (a) Contagious....
(6) Respiratory:..................................
(c) Digestive:.....................................
(d) Other:............ ..............................
86. B ad H abits: .......................................
87. Summary of Defects and Diseases:
88. R ecommendations: ..........................

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Other (spec.)..

(5) Farmer: owner, tenant; Farm laborer. Other (spec.)___...

IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO

84. L aboratory Findings: .........................................................

CHILD LABOE AND TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

Nationality, age, and sex o f children examined.

Table X X I X presents the father’s nationality for the entire group
studied— a total o f 1,022 children, o f whom 838 (82 per cent) were
o f foreign white origin, 723 (86 per cent) being Kussian-German.
One hundred and seventy-seven (17.3 per cent) were native white.
T a b l e X X I X .— Nationality of father, b y sex o f child; children given physical

examination: Colorado group.

Children given physical
examination.
Nationality of father.
Total.

Boys.

Girls.

Total____________ _____________________________________________

1,0 2 2

562

460

Native white..................
Foreign-bom white..........................................................................................
RUssian-German........................................................................................
Mexican.....................................................................................................
Swedish.....................................................................................................
German............................................................................................
Other...............................
Indian...............................................................................................................
Japanese............................................................................................................
Not reported.............' ......................................................................................

177
838
723
51
17
16
31

99
461
384
35

78
377
339
16
5
4
13

1
2

1
1

12
12

The age o f the children in the group studied is given in Table
X X X and their maturity in Table X X X I .
T able X X X .— Age,

by s e x ;

children given physical examination: Colorado
group.

Children given physical
examination.
Age.
Total.

Boys.

Total.......................................................................................................

1,0 2 2

562

4years, under 5.......: .......................................................................................
5 yearsj under 6 ................................................................................................
6 yearsj under 7................................................................................................
7 yearsj under 8 ................................................................................................
8 years', under 9....................................................................... ........................

3
13
39
53
47
63

10*years,

under

1 1 .............................................................................................

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

19
80
113
114
115
141
114
115
96
70
34
3
3

70
65
60
40
21
2

Girls.
460
2
6

41
60
67
52
55
44
50
36
30
13
1

IN'

the

T a b l e X X X I . — Maturity,

beet

f ie l d s

colobado.

by s e x ; children given physical examination:
Colorado group.

Children given physical
examination.
Maturity.
Total.
Total......................................
Prepubescent...........................
Pubescent.................... .
Postpubescent.............
1-----------

Boys.

Girls.

1,0 2 2

562

460

798
149
75

453
77
32

345
72
43

It should be noted particularly that 912 o f the entire group, or
89.2 per cent, were under the age o f 14 years, and that 701, or 68.6
per cent, were under the age o f 12 years. Moreover, 78.1 per cent
o f the children were prepubescent.
Findings of physical examinations.

Table X X X I I summarizes the physical findings in the children
examined. A discussion of significant facts follow s:
Heights <md weights.— The children examined were weighed on a
scale which was capable o f fine adjustments and exact control, and
small enough so that it could be packed securely in a small trunk
and carried about with the bureau staff. The children were meas
ured against an architect’s blue print marked off in inches, pasted
on a jointed board which could be unfolded and fastened to the wall
in exact apposition. Readings were made by sliding a carefully
built wooden right angle down the surface o f the blue print until it
rested on the head o f the child, whose feet were squarely on the floor
against the wall, his erect body outlined against the measuring sur
face. Measurements o f height and weight were taken without shoes
and after the removal o f sweaters and coats. The usual dress for the
boys was an overall garment o f cotton and the girls wore cotton or
woolen dresses.
The weight table used as a standard in the Colorado study—the
one which was in use by the Children’s Bureau—is reproduced on
page 75. It presents the average weights for boys and girls at the
different ages up to 16 years. From this the average weight for the
different inches o f height were calculated and a table prepared giv
ing the average weight for height and an estimated minimum weight
for height which was figured by deducting 10 per cent from the
average. Children were classified as underweight if their weights
in proportion to their heights fell below this minimum; if their
weights were 15 per cent or more above average, they were classed as
overweight.

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CHILD LABOR . AND TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

T a b l e X X X I I .— Physical defect or disease, Ml sex of child; children given

physical examination: Colorado group.

Children given physical examination.
Physical defect or disease.

Total.

Boys.

Girls.

Number.

Per
cent.

Number.

Per
cent.

Number.1

Total............. .................................................

1,0 2 2

100 .0

562

100.0

460

100.0

Without defect or disease.......... .....................................
With defect or disease...............................................
General—
Poor or very poor nutrition 1 .............................
Skin—
Scabies.........................................................
Pediculosis capitis.............................................
Acme............ *........................
Eczema.................................................
Herpes.............................................
Impetigo................................
Xeroderma......................................
Eyes—
Vision defective.............................. ^..................
Eye diseases..........................................
Injected eyeball due to dust........................
Conjunctivitis (palpebral)..............J..........
Conjunctivitis (acute ocular)......................
Trachoma........ ...................'.......................
Blepharitis...................................
Strabismus...................................................
Ptosis............................................................
Corneal opacities..........................................
Stye.............................................................
Ears—
Hearing defective.................f ...........................
Mouth—
Decayed teeth............. : ..........................
Malocclusion.................................................. .
Gingivitis.............................:...................... .
High-arch palate................................................
Nasopharynx—
Moutn breathing...............................................
Nasal obstruction......................... .............
Defective tonsils.................................. ..............
Enlarged only.............................. ..........
Enlarged and diseased................................
Diseased only............................................ .
Glands—
Hypertrophied...............................................
Goiter (simple).............................................
Respiratory system—
Respiratory diseases...................................
Circulatory system—
Heart disease...................................................
Abdomen—
Hernia (umbilical)...........................................
Nervous system—
Chorea............ ........................................ .
Tic..................................................
Orthopedic—
Winged scapulae...............................................
Other functional malpositions affecting the
spine and shoulders........................................
Flat foot............... ............................................
Other malpositions of the ankles......................
Asymmetry of sternum, ribs and skull (resulting from rickets or nasophary ngeal obstruc
tion) .................................................................
Other defects (resulting from trauma, organic
diseases, other than rickets or congenital
malformations)......................................

5
1,017

.5
99.5

561

9
99. Ä

4
456

99.1

150

14.7

13.2

3.3

3.6

11
8

9
5
3
7

.9
.5

208
98
49

20.4
9.6
4.8

1 .0

1 Includes

Grades III and IV (the Dunfermline scale).

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1.5

6
8
6
2

.6
.8
.6
.2

1 .2

5
3
1
6

94
61
32
7
11
1
6

76 ..

3.0

1.3
.9

2
2
1

1 .2
2 .0
J2
1 .1

16.5

' 14
4

16.7
10.9
5.7

Per
cent.

114
37
17
3
4
5
2
2
2
2

24.8
8 .0

3.7
7
.9
1 .1

^4
.

4
4

1
2

4.2

4.3

4.1

624
44

61.1
4.3

60.0

2 .6

2 .0

1.9

61.9
5.7
3.0
2.5

276

348
32
17
14

34.9
48.3
42.8

237
84
236

42.2
14.9
42.0

120

26.1
89.1
43.7
9
30! 7

19
357
494
437
12

.4 .

3
5

410
201
1

7
l!l

293
132

1 .2

28.7
12.9

152
73

27.0
13.0

141
59

964
35

94.3
3.4

548

97.5

416
33

90.4
7.2

1 .6

1 .8

1.3

1 .1

5
3

2
1

676

6 6 .1

386

68.7

290

63.0

5.7

4.6

221

2 1 .6

47
113

5
111

2 .0

1 2 .8

7
4

2 0 .1
.2

108
,4

2.4
23.5
.9

10 .8

13.3

7.8

1 .8

2 .1

!. 3

IN' TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.
T a b l e X X X I I I . — Table of heights and iveights of children.1

[Directions for using table of heights and weights.—Heights and weights are given separately for boys and
girls. Averages are given for births, for 3 months, for every month from 6 to 48, and thereafter for every
year up to 16. The heights and weights of the children examined are to be compared with'these average
heights and weights. No heights and weights are given for the separate months after 48 months.
With a child over 4 years of age, use the age at his last birthday.]
Boys.

Girls.

Age.

Boys.

Height. Weight. Height. Weight.

Birth.......
3 months..
6 months..
7 months..
8 -months..
9 months..
10 months.
1 1 months.
12 months.
13 months.
14 months.
15 months.
16 months.
17 months.
18 months.
19 months.
20 months.
21 months.
22 months.
23 months.
24 months.
25 months.
26 months.
27 months.
28 months.
29 months.
30 months.
31 months.
32 months.

Girls.

Age.

Inches.
2 0 .6

23}
26}
27}
27f
281
28}
29
29§
29}
30}
30}
31}
3lf
3lf
32}
32?
32}
33}
33?
33}
34
344
34}
354
35f
35§
35}
36

Lbs? Inches. Lbs?
7.6
20.5
7.16
13
3 18
25} 3 16}
3 19}
26} 3 17f
3 19}
27
3 18}
3 20f
271 3 19?
3 20 }
27? 3 19}
3 2 l|
28§ * 20 }
3 2 11
28} 3 20 }
3 221
29| 3 21
3 23
29} 3 2 1 }
3 23f
304 3 2 1 }
3 244
30} 3 22 f
3 24}
30} 3 22 ?
3 24|
314 3 23}
3 25}
31} 3 23}
3 25}
32
3 244
3 25}
32} 3 24}
3 26}
321 3 25}
3 27*
32? 3 25#
3 274
33§ 3 26}
27}
33}
26?
28}
27}
33}
29
33?
27}
294
34*
27}
29}
34}
27}
29}
34?
28}
30}
354
28}
30|
35}
29

Height. Weight. Height. Weight.

33 months............
35 months............
36 months............
37 months............
38 months............
39 months............
-40 months............
41 months______
42 months............
43 m o n th s........
44 months............
45 months............
46 months............
47 months............
48 months............
5 years.................
6 years............... .
7 years.................
8 years.................
9 years.................
10 years...............
1 1 years...............
12 years...............
13 years...............
14 years. ..........
15 years...............
16 years...............

Inches.
36}
36?
36}
37?
37}
37?
37}
384
SH
Sid
.m
38}
39
39
39}
39?
41.6
43.8
45.7
47.8
49.7
51.7
53.3
55.1
57.2
59.9
62.3
65.0

Lbs?
301
3lf
31}
32}
32}
32}
33}
33}
33§
33}
33}
34?
344
34}
35}
35}
41.1
45.2
49.1
53.9
59.2
65.3
70.2
76.9
84.8
94.9
107.1
1 2 1 .0

Inches.
35$
3fi|
364
36}
36}
37
37}
374
37}
38T
38}
38?
38?
38}
38}
39
41.3
43.4
45. 5
47.6
49.4
51.3
53.4
55.9
58.2
59.9
61,1
61.6

29i
30}
3óf
30}
31
31|
32
32}
324
32}
33
33}
334
33?
33}
39.7
43.3
47 5
52^0
57.1
62.4
6 8 .8

78.3
88.7
98.4
106.1
1 1 2 .6

1 The figures for height and weight at birth are from L. Emmett Holt (Diseases of Infancy and Childhood,
1916, p. 20) and are based on original observations. Those for boys at 3 months were given in a personal
communication by Dr. Holt. The figures for height and weight from 6 to 48 months are from the Anthro
pometric Table compiled for the American Medical Association by F. S. Crum, and are based on the
measurements of 10,423 normal babies (5,602 boys and 4,821 girls) examined at baby-health conferences
in 31 States and possibly represent measurements slightly above the average, especially in weight. The
figures for height and weight from 5 to 16 years are quoted from Bowditch ( 8th Annual Report of the
State Board of Health of Massachusetts, 1877, p. 275) and are based on the measurements of 23,931 Boston
school children of American and foreign parentage (13,415 boys and 10,516 girls). They agree very closely
with the table of average American height calculated by Boas from the data of 45,151 boys and 43,298
girls in the cities of Boston, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Worcester, Toronto, and Oakland; and the table of
average American weight calculated from the data of about 68,000 children in the cities of Boston, St.
Louis, and Milwaukee. (See Baldwin, B. T., Physical Growth and School Progress, U. S. Bureau of
Education Bulletin, 1914, No. 10. Whole No. 581, p. 150.)
2 Approximate equivalents of decimal fractions of a pound in ounces: 0.1, 14; 0.2, 3; 0.3, 44; 0.4. 6 : 0.5.
8 ; 0.6,9J; 0.7,11; 0.8,12}; 0.9,14: 1.0,16.
'
’
'
3 The weights given in this table for children under 2 years are somewhat higher than those given by L.
Emmett Holt (Diseases of Infancy and Childhood. 1916, p. 20). These are: 6 months, boys 16 pounds,
girls 15.5 pounds; 12 months, boys 21 pounds, girls 20.5 pounds; 18 months, boys 24 pounds; girls 23.5
pounds; 24 months, boys 27 pounds, girls 26 pounds. A variation of from 1 to 2 pounds from the averages
given in the table above should therefore not be considered abnormal. The heights given in the above
table correspond very closely to those given by Holt.

17623°—23---- 6

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

T able X X X I V .— Average weight for height, by s e x ; children given physical ex
amination: Colorado group.

Boys.
Height
(inches).

40.....................
41.....................
42.....................
43.....................
44.....................
45.....................
46.....................
47..............
48.....................
49.....................
50.....................
51.....................
52.....................
53.....................
54.....................

Boys.

Girls.

Average
Num Average
weight Num weight
ber.
(pounds). ber. (pounds).
1
2
8
11

9
21

28
22

27
25
37
39
32
49
41

35.75
40.53
41.28
43.27
42.87
46.98
47.81
51.85
52.95
56.68
57.71
60.80
62.90
66.69
67.83

5
6

16
10

17
28
20

30
39
24
31
28
26
18

39.19
37.93
38.65
40.95
42.53
43.49
46.27
49.46
50.67
52.43
57.43
58.65
60.67
64.89
67.32

Height
finches).

55...................
56.....................
57.....................
58.....................
59.............
60..................
61.....................
62.....................
63...................
64.....................
65.............
6 6 .....................
67.............
6 8 .........
71.....................

Girls.

Average
Num Average
weight Num
weight
ber. (pounds).
ber. (pounds).
43
35
20
22

23
20

13
9
1
8

3
5
4
2
2

71.74
76.73
81.40

10
22
21

8 6 .1 1
88.02

93.93
92; 66
98.85
106.56
109.93
120.0 0

125.19
122.38
130.50
141.41

16
27
21
10

4
6

71.05
75.50
79.98
86.05
88.15
99.60
98.96
102.40
110.06
106.09
141.54

Rating the cases on the basis of the Dunfermline scale for estimat
ing nutrition,50 150 cases of malnutrition among 1,022 children were
found— a percentage o f 14.7 (Grades I I I and IV , Table X X X V ) .
Orthopedic defects.—A high percentage o f orthopedic defects was
found among the children examined. A total o f 676 cases o f winged
scapulae were found among the 1,022 children, 66.1 per cent o f the
entire group having this defect; hence 2 children in 3 were tax
ing the muscles o f an undeveloped shoulder girdle in this period of
their growth. In normal development the scapulae swing round
on the back and lie flat on the rear wall of-the chest, but when the
shoulder blades lie obliquely on the sides o f the chest, protruding
behind, the weight o f the arms and the entire shoulder girdle is
thrust too far forward, and marked deformity results. The back is
high and bowed over, the chest is dragged downward, and free action
in breathing is interfered with. This high percentage o f winged
scapulae suggests that the steady stooping in the kneeling and
crouching position which blocking and thinning necessitate and the
intermittent stooping to handle and lift the very considerable weights
involved in the harvest has an effect on the outline and posture o f
the growing child’s body.
60 The Dunfermline scale distinguishes four groups, as follows: Grade I, “ Excellent ”
means the nutrition of a healthy child. Grade II, Children whose nutrition falls just
short of this standard are “ good.” Grade III, Children “ requiring supervision ” are
on the border line of serious impairment. Grade IV , Children “ requiring medical treat
ment ” are those whose nutrition is seriously impaired.

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF COLORADO.

•

T a b l e X X X V .— Grade of nutrition, by s e x ; children given physical examina

tion: Colorado group.

Grade of nutrition.

Percent distribution of chil
dren given physical exam
ination.
Total.

Total......................................................................

Boys.

Girls.

100 .0

72.0

75.4
11.4
12.3
.9

67.8
14.6
15.9
.7
.4
.7

Grade1....................................................1. .. .
Grade I I ...............................................
Grade III..........................................................
Grade IV ....................................................
Overweight..................................................
Not reported.........................................................

1 2 .8

13.9
.8
.2

Cases o f flat foot were noted in 221 instances. The normal foot
has a natural arch in its structure, and the cause o f flat foot in so
considerable a number o f the cases (21.6 per cent) in the present
study may again be laid to undue strain oh immature muscles.
Growth which is accompanied by rapid increases in weight, and
exhausting field labor in the period o f growth undoubtedly create
a disproportion between the weight which the foot is called upon
to bear and the ability o f the muscles to sustain it, accompanied
by a breakdown o f the arch from overwork. The condition may not
cause pain. Frequently individuals do not know they have fallen
arches until their attention is called to it in the course o f physical
examinations, and this is particularly true o f children, though some
o f the children described a typical flat-foot pain in the muscles of
the leg. The existence o f left flat foot only, or the presence o f a
more marked collapse o f the arch on the left side in case both feet
were affected, was noted, which recalled the fact that children often
support the weight o f the body on the left foot and raise the right
knee in topping beets.
The occurrence o f flat foot in 6 per cent o f 245 well children in a
Boston institution, and 9 per cent o f 357 children in attendance in
the out-patient51 department o f the Massachusetts General Hospital
was reported by Dr. W. R. P. Emerson, as contrasted with its
appearance in 21.6 per cent o f the children in this study; stoop
shoulders occurred in 42 per cent o f the well children and in
65 per cent o f the children applying for clinical care, as competed
with the occurrence o f winged scapulae in 66.1 per cent o f the
working and presumably healthy children in the present study.
The mouth and nasopharynx.—Decayed teeth were noted in 624
o f the children examined (61.1 per cent), indicating striking neglect
o f mouth hygiene.
81American Journal of Diseases of Children, March, 1921, p. 285.

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS— COLORADO.

Children having diseased tonsils or tonsils sufficiently enlarged to
be obstructive, numbered 437 (42.8 per cent) and 357 children (34.9
per cent) were mouth breathers. There is a possible associations
o f cause and effect between overcrowded living conditions; 52 expos
ure during the harvest to dampness, soaking the workers from the
knees d ow n ;53 and the large percentage o f nasopharyngeal disorders.
Free nasal respiration is requisite for normal physical development
in childhood, and the unobstructed use o f the air channels should
be regarded as o f equal importance with the proper kind o f diet.
The eyes.— Beet harvesting is^ a dusty occupation; moreover, the
farmers’ wagons cut up roads on their way to the dumps with the
beets, so that the children travel to school through clouds o f irri
tating dust. The 49 cases o f subacute and chronic vascular injection,
a sort o f inactive “ pink eye,” may be an occupational disorder, the
result o f abnormal exposure to clouds o f dust.
There were 208 cases o f defective vision, as classified in Table
X X X I I , a percentage o f 20.4.
i
Tests o f vision indicate, o f course, the visual acuity of the child at
the time o f the test. Normal visual acuity may, however, be accom
panied by eyestrain as the child may strain his eyes in order to see
clearly for the purposes o f the test.
Hearing.— Hearing defects were likewise high in the Colorado
children, a result to be expected wherever infections and defects of
the nasopharynx are neglected. There were 43 cases o f defective
hearing (4.2 per cent).
Diseases of the shin.—The bodies and clothing o f children exam
ined were in general notably clean. The presence o f 34 cases o f
scabies in several schools where special attention had not been di
rected to the contagion and the treatment essential to its cure, is
responsible for the high percentage o f parasitic diseases o f the skin.
Smallpox vaccination.— Smallpox protection in rural districts is
frequently low. Only 325 o f the 1,022 children bore the evidence o f
a successful vaccination against smallpox, and the protected children
were in general either foreign-born children who had been vaccinated
as a quarantine requirement, or children recently vaccinated in a
district where smallpox had been prevalent, or children who had
mqyed into the country from a community where there was better
law enforcement.
52 See pp. 67-68.
68 See p. 31.

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FAM ILIES WORKING IN THE M ICHIGAN BEET FIELDS.
SCOPE A N D M ETH O D O F ST U D Y .

Michigan ranks second among the States in the acreage o f sugar
beets harvested and third in tons o f sugar produced. In 1920, IT
factories were in operation and reported a beet acreage o f 149,559.54
Although beet fields and #sugar factories are found in almost every
part o f Michigan, beets are grown for the most part in the central
portion o f the State, particularly in the region surrounding Saginaw
and Bay City.
The district selected for study centered in Gratiot County, and
extended into Isabella County on the north and Saginaw County on
the east. It was chosen, after consultation with public officials and
representatives o f the leading sugar companies, as typical of the
beet-raising areas not only o f Michigan but also o f the entire Middle
Western beet-growing section. It had the additional advantage o f
being a district which supplied beets to the factories o f three differ
ent companies, so that any difference among them in arrangements
with laborers could be noted.
Three factories were located in the districts included in the s t u d y one at Alma, one at St. Louis, and one at Mount Pleasant. One other
factory at Owosso, though outside the district, took the beets o f some
o f the farmers in the section visited. Three o f these four factories
reported to the Children’s Bureau that they held contracts for about
37,000 acres o f beets.56
Three o f the factories reported that an average o f only 30 per
cent o f their laborers were resident. The fourth factory had an even
smaller proportion o f resident labor, as it had been more recently
established. The bulk o f the handwork in Michigan, in contrast to
the situation in Colorado, was done by nonresident laborers, but in
Michigan, as in Colorado, a great majority o f the workers, both
resident and nonresident, were in family groups. The proportion o f
single men engaged in the work was even smaller in Michigan than
in Colorado. Michigan sugar companies reported only 1,045 ^ e r See Table I, p. 2.
“ The acreage supplying the fourth factory was not separately reported but was
included in a total acreage of 31,000 acres reported by the sugar company owning the
fourth factory as supplying three factories, two of which were outside the districts
included in the study.
79

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

sons outside family groups brought into the entire State for the
work in 1920 and few or no resident single men engaged for the work
in the beet fields. Inasmuch as practically all laborers brought into
the State for the work are brought in by the sugar companies, ap
proximately 90 per cent o f the beet acreage in the State was prob
ably taken care o f by family groups.
In order to locate families in which either a child under 16 or the
mother o f a child under 6 years o f age had worked in the beet fields
at least one week during the season o f 1920, lists o f the beet-field
laborers and o f the farmers doing their own handwork were secured
from the sugar company’s agent in each section. As many as pos
sible o f the families, both those o f farmers and those o f laborers,
were visited.
E C O N O M IC S T A T U S O F F A M I L I E S .

A comparatively large number o f beet growers in Michigan do
their own handwork. Usually the average acreage planted in sugar
beets is small.56 Even on farms where beets are planted as one o f the
regular farm crops, the average number o f acres in beets was said
by factory managers to be only about 10, as compared with an
average o f 21 acres in Colorado. It was said that the average num
ber o f acres per grower was still further reduced by the fact that
many farmers and even residents o f towns and villages had been
induced by the high price o f sugar during several years preceding
1920 to plant in sugar beets a small tract o f land, from 1 to 5 acres,
in order to get the privilege granted by the sugar companies to all
growers, irrespective o f acreage planted, of buying at factory prices
50 pounds o f sugar for each member o f the family. These hold
ings reduced the average number o f acres per grower to 5.6. Thus,
though Michigan, according to estimates furnished the Children’s
Bureau by the sugar companies, had but 144,593 acres o f beets as
compared with the 223,201 acres in Colorado, there were 26,000
growers in the State, two and one-half times the number in Colo
rado, and 35 per cent o f them did their own handwork, as compared
with 15 per cent in Colorado.
The fact, too, that securing sufficient satisfactory labor for the
beet fields in the season o f 1920 seems to have been very difficult,
very probably caused many growers who ordinarily hired contract
labor to do their own handwork. Labor agents of the sugar com
panies in the spring o f 1920 had. had to go far to secure labor.
They? had been obliged to bring in workers not only from Detroit,
Chicago, and the larger cities o f Ohio, but also from the mining
districts of West' Virginia and from small towns in Texas and
66 One o f the sugar companies, however, operated a farm o f 10,000 acres, 860 o f which
were planted in beets.

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IN THE BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IG AN .

even Mexico. There was no large resident population o f “ beeters ”
like the Russian-Germans in Colorado. Belgian labor, which
had been the prevailing beet-field labor in earlier years, had
practically disappeared since the war, and the supply o f Central
Europeans also had fallen off. The labor turnover was high. In a
number o f cases cited by the sugar companies’ agents 15 or 20 fam
ilies brought in for the spring work had all disappeared by mid
summer, and it was expected that an entire new lot would have to
be brought in for the fall work. Inability to secure labor had led
in some places to the formation o f crews o f day workers, usually
boys, but occasionally girls, from 10 to 16 years of age or over. The
children generally lived in the towns where the factories were located
and were taken out by the sugar-company agent to the fields each
day. They were paid a day or piece rate, worked usually about
eight hours, and earned from $2 to $5 a day. One company reported
that their work was not as satisfactory as that o f the regular
laborers.
In view o f the difficulty experienced in securing labor, it is not
surprising that many farmers who were accustomed to hiring con
tract labor for their work had decided to do their own.
Among the 511 families interviewed because either the mother or
the children worked in the beet fields, 150, or 29 per cent, were living
on their own farm s; 72, or 14 per cent, were renting farms, and 289, or
57 per cent, were the families o f contract laborers. O f the children
in these families, 1,005 were laborers’ children; 245 were the children
o f tenants, and 560 were the children o f men who owned farms.
T a b l e X X X V I .— Economic status of family, 6y age of child; children under 16

years of age in families that worked in beet fields: Michigan group.
Children under 16 years of age.
Economic status of family.
Age oi ernia.
Laborer.

Tenant farmer.

Farm owner.

Total.
Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.
Total..................................

1,810

1,005

55.5

245

13.5

560

30.9

Under 6 years..............................
6 years, under 16.........................

679
1,131

423
582

62.3
51.5

97
148

14.3
13.1

159
401

23.4
35.5

O f the 289 laborers’ families only 96 were resident and 193 were
nonresident. The fathers in migratory families were usually men
who, during the winter, worked in factories, in mines, or on railroads.
A few"said that they had come to the beet fields because o f the high
cost o f living in the city or because they were out of work, others
had wanted to spend the summer in the country, and still others

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OE MOTHERS

wanted to settle permanently in the country. The prospects held
out by the recruiting agents looked good to city laborers. Seventeen
migratory workers said that the representations o f the company
agent regarding the attractiveness o f the work had been their prin
cipal reason for coming. The opportunity, always emphasized, o f
utilizing the labor o f the entire family was undoubtedly an induce
ment also.
The resident laborers were chiefly agricultural workers or fac
tory hands during the winter. They belonged to one o f two groups.
The first was composed o f one-time migratory laborers who had
little ambition or initiative and no great earning capacity, and who
found it easier to stay on after the beet harvest in their “ beet shacks ”
at a nominal rent and subsist, even though meagerly, on their beetcontract earnings till the spring work began, than to go back to the
city and find work for the winter. The other group included a few
American families—most o f whom had lived in the country all their
lives without becoming successful farmers— and former migratory
families who had come to work in the beet fields, had liked living in
the country better than in the city, and had elected to stay therein
the hope that they would sometime own a farm. The father in fam
ilies o f the latter type got work, i f he could, in the beet districts or
in near-by towns. In some cases for a few months in the winter
he left his family in the country and went to the city to earn money.
These were the families that would eventually, if things went well,
become first tenant farmers and then farm owners. O f the 150 farm
owners included in the study, 41 had been beet-field laborers, averag
ing 4 years at the work in the United States before owning their
own land, and 25 others had rented, averaging 3^ years as tenants.
O f the 72 tenant farmers included in the study, 52 had worked as
laborers before renting farms.
N A T IO N A L IT Y .

Nativity.

Although well over one-fourth o f the children included in the
study were o f native parentage, the parents were not, save in ex
ceptional cases, from English-speaking stock. Usually they were of
Slavic origin, the family having been in this country but one or
two generations. Among the foreign born the range o f nationalities
was much greater than was found in Colorado. Bohemians were
the most numerous o f the foreign-born groups, with Poles a close
second. Mexican labor had but recently appeared in the Michigan
beet fields, but 10 per cent o f all the laborers’ families interviewed
in the course o f the study were Mexican. There was little differ
ence found between the nationality o f resident and o f nonresident
labor in the Michigan beet fields, except that only one resident

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DT THE BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IG AN .

family was Mexican. For the rest Bohemians, Poles and other
Slavs, Germans, and Magyars appeared among both transient and
resident families.
More Bohemians were in the position o f farm owners and tenant
farmers than persons o f any other nationality, except the American
bom, but some o f each nationality save Mexican were found among
farm owners and tenants. The Mexicans did nojt seem ambitious to
become land owners or farm tenants in the beet-growing districts,
and in the rare instances in which they were saving money for a
definite purpose, they were usually planning to buy a little place in
Mexico. Although almost two-thirds o f the farm owners and over
one-fourth o f those renting farms were natives,'more than one-third
o f the farm owners aiid 70 per cent o f the tenants were men o f
foreign birth who had, as a rule, worked their way up into the
landowning and renting class. Most o f their children were born in
the United States. O f the 679 children under 6, only 25, or 4 per
cent, were born outside the United States, and only 17 per cent o f
those 6 years o f age or over were foreign born.
T a b l e X X X V I I . — Nationality of father, by economic status o f fa m ily; children

under 16 years o f age in families that worked in beet fields: Michigan group.

Children under 16 years of age.
Economic status of family.
Nationality of father.

Total.
Laborer.

Number.

Tenant farmer.

Farm owner.

Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
cent
distri Number. distri Number. distri Number. Per
distri
bution.
bution.
bution.
bution.

Total................

1,810

100.0

1,005

100 .0

245

100 .0

560

100.0

Native.........
Foreign bom ............
Other Slavic.......
Bohemian........
Polish...............
Magyar................
Mexican...............
German............
Belgian........ .
All other............
Not reported.......

501
1,300
416
252

27.7
71.8
23.0
13.9

85
920
292
132
189
114
79
50
3
61

8.5
91.5
29.1
13.1
18.8
11.3
7.9
5.0
0.3

27.8
69.8
25.3
15.9

348
209
62
81

62.1
37.3

210

131
79
77
24
111

1 1 .6

7.2
4.4
4.3
1.3

6 .1

171
62
39

1 1 .1

14.5

21
12

8 .6

4.9

2 .0
8 .6

3.9

4.5
2.4

39
3

7.0
.5

21
11
6

Knowledge of English.

Most o f the fathers had acquired a speaking knowledge of English,
but 49 (13 per cent) of the foreign bom , 15 o f whom were Mexicans’,
did not speak the language in spite o f the fact that most o f them
had been in the United States 5 years or more. No very great differ
ence was noted among the various Slavic peoples in their ability to
use English. Among the Mexicans less than one-half could speak
the language. Comparatively few o f the latter had been in the United

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

States more than a few years, whereas the average for all the nation
alities was about 10 years. The mothers in the families visited, as is
usually the case with immigrants, were less well acquainted than the
fathers with the English tongue. Only 56 per cent o f all the foreignborn mothers could speak English, the proportion being greatest
(63 per cent) among Polish women. Only 1 o f the 28 Mexican
mothers could speak English; she had been in the United States be
tween 10 and 15 years. The majority o f the Mexican mothers, how
ever, had immigrated within 3 years. Only 7 mothers in other groups
had been in the country less than 5 years, and the average for all
foreign-born mothers was about 10 years.
T a b l e X X X V I I I .— Literacy and ability o f father to speak English, by number

of years in the United States and nationality; fathers in families that worked
in beet fields: Michigan group.
Fathers—

Unable to speak
English.'

Years in the United States and nationality of father.
Total.

Unable to read
and write in any
language.

Number. Percent.1 Number. Per cent.1
Total............ i — .............. ................................

2 502

Foreign b o m ............................................... - ................

136
366
19
1

5 years, less than 10................................................
10 years, less than 15...............................................
15 and over..............................................................
Not reported...........................................................

78
116
100

49
49
12
1
10
11

9
6

9.8'
13.4
'

7.2

.7
9.6

35
7

1 2 .8

9.5
9.0
11.5

11
8

6.4
9.5
8 .0

7.7

1 Not shown where base is less than 50.
2 Excludes 7 fathers who were dead or had deserted, and 2 for whom nationality, years in the United
States, ability to speak English, and literacy were not reported.
•

T a b l e X X X I X .— Literacy and ability of mother to speak English, by number of

years in the United States and nationality; mothers in families that worked
in beet fields: Michigan group.
Mothers—

Unable to speak
English.

Years in the United States and nationality of mother.
Total.

Unable to read
and write in any
language.

Number. Per cent.1 Number. Percent.1
Total.......................................I............................
Foreign bom .............................................................. :.
5 years, less than 10................................................
10 years, less than 15...............................................
15 years and over....................................................
Not reported............................ . . . .......................

2 506

144
362
25
1
120
86

78
52

158
158
24

31.2
43.6

1 2 .8

.7
17.7

64
11

58
35
18
22

48.3
40.7
23.1
42.3

14
19
12
8

11.7
2 2 .1

15.4
15.4

1 Not shown where base is less than 50.
2 Excludes 4 mothers who were dead or had deserted, and 1 for whom nationality, years in the Umted
States, ability to speak English, and literacy were not reported.

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IGAN.

Whereas practically all the native-born fathers and mothers were
literate, 35 foreign-bom fathers and 64 foreign-born mothers were
not able to read or write in any language, the largest proportion
o f illiterates, both o f fathers and mothers being found among the
Mexicans. These men and women are even more helpless, o f course,
than those parents who, while they speak no English, can read and
write their own language. Both are at a disadvantage not only in
transacting their business and safeguarding their interests, but also
in rearing their children. Instruction in English is the first step in
putting them in touch with forces which will assist them to over
come some o f the handicaps o f a defective early education, especially
in regard to the intelligent care and training o f their children.
C H IL D L A B O R .

Number and ages of children and duration of work.

In the 511 families visited were 763 children between 6 and 16
years o f age who had worked in the beet fields in 1920. Only 1 in 5
had reached the age o f 14 or 15, while 1 in 4 was less than 10 years
o f age. Over one-half were from 10 to 13 years o f age. In some
families no child was considered too young to count as a beet-field
worker. One Hungarian father, a miner from West Virginia, who
said that he had come to the beet-growing country because his chil
dren were too young to work in the mines but could help “ in beets,”
had all 4 o f his children at work in the fields, the oldest 12, the
youngest only 5 years o f age. Four children under the age o f 6
years were reported by their parents as working. In most families,
however, the tendency was to spare the very youngest children. A
Polish laborer, for example, whose boys o f 11 and 13 years helped
with his beet crop, would not let his 5- and 6-year-old boys work,
saying, “ Children have to be careful o f and beets is too hard for
little ones.” Nevertheless, in families in which it appeared to be
customary for children to work, judging by the fact that at least
one older child was a beet-field worker,57 almost one-fifth o f the
6-year-old children and two-fifths o f those who, were 7 years o f age
were at work. At 8 three-fifths o f the children in these families
and at 11 practically all, had begun working in the beet fields.
Both girls and boys work in the beet fields, but in the families
studied there were somewhat fewer workers among the girls in
proportion to their numbers than among the boys. Only one-fourth
o f the boys, but almost two-fifths o f the girls, between 6 and 16
years o f age were reported as not working. Not only the youngest
57 The totals on which are based this proportion and the following proportions of chil
dren of different ages at work exclude 187 children: (1) The eldest working child in each
family and (2) children who were the only child workers in their respective families.
For an explanation of these exclusions see p. 19, note 18.

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CHILD LABOB AND TH E WOBK OP MOTHEBS

girls but those o f all ages, with the possible exception o f 11- and
12-year-old children appeared to be less likely to be set at field work
than boys o f the same age. This may be due partly to custom. In
some families, no doubt, at least one girl is kept at home to care
for younger children and to lielp with the housework or, as in the
case o f one 13-year-old girl, to do all the housework while the mother
works in the fields.
With few exceptions the children work ftfr their own parents,
either on the acreage for which the father has contracted or on the
home farm. Seventeen children in the present study had hired out
to work, usually after the work on the family acreage was completed.
T a b l e X L . — A ge of child, by economic status o f fa m ily; children between 6 and

16 years of age working in beet fields: Michigan group.

Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Economic status of family.
Age of child.

Total.
Laborer.

Number.

Tenant farmer.

Farm owner.

Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
distri Number. distri Number. distri Number. distri
bution.
bution.
bution.
bution.

Total................

763

100.0

361

10 0 .0

105

100 .0

297

100 .0

years, under 7.......
7 years, under 8 .......
8 years, under 9.......
9 years, under 10___
10 years, under 1 1 ___
1 1 years, under 1 2 ___
12 years, under 13___
13 years, under 14___
14 years, under 15___
15 years, under 16___

16
38
52
91
93
105
114

2 .1

9
23
' 28
39
43
57
58
41
40
23

2.5
6.4
7.8

1.7
3.4

10 .8

1.9
4.8
5.7
12.4
11.4
13.3
12.4
17.1
5.7
15.2

5.0
6 .8

11.9
1 2 .2

101

13.8
14.9
13.2

76
77

1 0 .0
1 0 .1

11.9
15.8
16.1
11.4

5
12

14
13
18

1 1 .1

6.4

18
39
38
34
43
42
30
38

6 .1

13.1
1 2 ,8

11.4
14.5
14.1
'

1 0 .1
1 2 .8

The handwork on the beet crop in Michigan as in Colorado spreads
over a period o f between 5 and 6 months, beginning about the last o f
May. At the time the study was made, during the month o f August,
the beet harvest, which would add from 1 or 2 to 6 weeks to the work,
had not begun, so that it is not possible to state how many weeks
during the season o f 1920 the children covered by the study worked.
On only the first 2 processes—blocking and thinning, and hoeing—
more than half o f the 763 working children had worked at least 4
weeks, 35 per cent from 6 to 13 weeks, and about one-tenth between 9
and 13 weeks. It would appear that the younger children were
almost as likely as the older ones to be kept at the work for a number
o f weeks, since the proportions o f those under 10 years o f age work
ing at least 4 weeks and working from 6 to 13 weeks were practically
the same as for all the children. Whether a child was in a laborer’s.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

IH TH E BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IG AN .

a tenant’s, or a farm owner’s family made considerably more differ
ence than did his age in the number o f weeks that he worked. Thus,
four-fifths o f the laborers’ children had worked 4 weeks or more,
whereas only two-fifths o f the tenants’ children and one-fourth o f the
farm owners’ had worked so long; and while three-fifths o f the chil
dren whose fathers had contract work had spent from 6 to 13 weeks
in the beet fields, less than one-fourth o f the farm renters’ children,
and only 7 per cent o f the children o f farmers owning their own land
had done so. Because o f the small beet farms in the districts visited
there is no comparison between the tax on the strength and endur
ance in working on the home beet acreage and in working throughout
the season as contract laborers. Almost half the farmers owning
their land worked less than 5 acres, and only 5 took care o f as many
as 20 acfes, whereas more than half the laborers reporting acreage
had contracted for at least 25 acres. Thus, work on the beet crop for
farmers’ children seldom lasted long or necessitated extreme hours.
Only 8 per cent o f the farm owners’ children and 23 per cent o f the
tenants’ children had worked 6 weeks or more, whereas 61 per cent o f
the laborers’ children had worked afe least 6 weeks.
T a b l e X IA .— Number of weeks worked, by age of child; children between 6 and

16 years of age working in beet fields: Michigan group.

Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Number of weeks worked.1

Number.

Percent.11

11.9

Per cent.1

Number.

n .i

8.7

9.3

1 2 .2

7.7

9.9

8
11

8 .6

8
10
11
8

8 .6

Ä
5
14 9
13 9

143

Per cent.1

1.3 114

o
y
©
(k

Number.

16
38
52
91
93
105
114

4
Percönt .1

76ß

Number.

Total.................
years, under 7..........
7 years, under 8 ..........
8 years, under 9..........
9 years, under 10.........
10' years, under 1 1 .......
1 1 years, under 1 2 .......
12 years, under 13.......
13 years, under 14.......
14 years, under 15.......
15 years, under 16.......

Number.

Per cent.1

Number.

Less
than 1 .
Number.

Total.

Percent .1

Age of child.

101

76
77

4
10
1
1
2
2
1
1

14.9 '85

1 .1
1 .1

1.9
1 .8
1 .0

1.3

17
12
11
21

14
6

19.2
18.7
12.9
10.5
18.4
13.9
7.9
23.4

1 Not shown, where base is less than 50.

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3
10

9 ft
1 1 .0

13
19

14.0
18.1

8 .8

9
9

1 1 .8

7,8

8.9

3
g
9
13
9
14
11
10
12

2
2

9.9
14.0
8 .6

12.3
10.9
13.2
15.6

4
13
7
8

10.5'
3.5
12.9
9.2
10.4

9.5
9.6
7.9
9.2
13.0

il
17
14
g

15.4
1 ft
1 ft

CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS
T a b l e X L I .— Number of w eeks worked, by age of child, etc.— Continued.

Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Number of weeks worked.1

Number.

Percent .1

Number.

Percent .1

Number.

Percent .1

5.9

8.4

3.5

3.7

3
7

5
4

7.7

6 .6

1
10

0.9

©U
©

0.3

Percent .1

Total..................... 45

i
3
£

Not
reported.
1 Number.

Number.

U
©
$

Percent .1

|Number.

Percent .1

Age of child.

0.3

7.6

1.9
1 1 .0

7 7.5
5 5.4
4 3.8 1 1 1Ö.5
7 6 .1
7 6 .1
4 4.0 • 9
8.9
6
7 9.2
7.9
4 5.2

2
6

3.8
6 .6

4 4.3
4 3.8
5 4.4
2

2 .0

3.9
1.3

1
1
2

1.9
2 .2

4 4.3
3 2.9
5 4.4
4 4.0
6
7.9
2

1.9

1
2
1

2 .2
1 .1

1 .8

1
2

1 .0

1 .8

3
4
5
7
9
7
12

1.3

2 .6

1.3

4
5

7.7
5.5
7.5
8 .6
6 .1

11.9
5.3
6.5

1
1

Not shown where base is less than 50.

In the absence o f any legal restrictions on agricultural work other
than those imposed by the compulsory school attendance law, the
children work as many hours a day as the parents wish or as the
crop seems to require, and there is the greatest variety in the condi
tions under which the.work is done. In one farmer’s family, the 13and 15-year-old girls averaged only 4 hours daily in the beet fields,
working in the cool of the day, morning and evening, and complet
ing the spring and summer work in 3 weeks. Brothers 10 and 14
years o f age in a native family were reported as working “ 3 or 4
hours a day during several weeks, but not nearly every day.” A
tenant farmer said that he had not wanted his children to work, but
had been obliged to have them help because contract labor was so
unsatisfactory. His 13-year-old daughter and twin boys o f 11 had
worked 7 hours a day for 2 weeks. But instances o f very long hours
were much more common. Thus Anna, the 11-year-old child of a
Polish laborer, began her field work at 5 o’clock in the morning, leav
ing the field at 8 at night, with only 1 hour out for dinner. Her work
in thinning and hoeing had lasted 7 weeks. The children o f another
Polish laborer, Helen, aged 14, Stevie, 12, and Julia, 10, worked
from 5 a. m. until 8.30 p. m., with one-half hour for breakfast and
one-half hour for dinner. At the time o f the agent’s visit all the
members o f this family were working very hard. They had spent
over 9 weeks on the beet crop, and had not begun pulling and topping.
Another example o f a 14-hour day is found in the case o f a Hun
garian boy o f 13 years, whose work “ in the beets ” had lasted 4 weeks.
His was a tenant family renting its land for the first season after

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IN' TH E BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IG AN .

8 years as beet-field laborers. Even more extreme conditions o f work
were occasionally encountered in the course o f the survey. Thus the
7-year-old child o f a Mexican laborer had worked more than 8 weeks
H i hours a day; the daughter o f a Slovenian laborer, aged 6 years,
had worked 9 weeks, from 8 to 11 hours a day, besides helping with
the housework and gardening, and carrying water; 5-year-old Man
uel with his 2 brothers aged 7 and 10, respectively, spent an 11Jhour day in the beet fields, their work continuing between 8 and 9
weeks. The effort put into the work differed also from family to
family. Thus one group o f workers, consisting o f father, mother,
and 3 children from 10 to 13 years o f age, reported that they had
worked 10£ hours a day for 10 weeks, caring for only 12| acres;
whereas another family, in which the workers were the father and
4 children, the oldest 12 and the youngest 7, cared for 50 acres, work
ing 12| hours a day for a little over 6 weeks. A child o f 11, with his
parents, working 13 hours a day for 9 weeks cared for 41 acres.
These varying conditions of work give rise to widely varying dif
ferences o f opinion as to the difficulties o f the work. One father
found it “ much easier than work in a steel mill ” ; another, who had
worked in the cotton fields o f Texas and whose m a x im u m working
day in the beet fields was 7 hours, thought* it “ not so hard as cot
to n ” ; one family reported that the children did not get very tired,
as they worked only every other day, and then not longer than 8
hours. A 13-year-old girl and her two younger brothers, who had
thinned 7 hours a day, said that they did not mind the work, except
that* it took away their play time. These families were usually work
ing small acreages and were able to take their own time in doing the
work. One mother stated that the work was no harder than other
field work, if it was not too prolonged; she and her children never
worked, however, more than 6 hours a day. Several maintained
that it was impossible to work more than 4 or 5 hours a day
without being exhausted. A mother, who worked 10 hours a day,
said that she was so tired at night that* she “ could hardly stand it,”
though she was only 29 years old and an experienced worker. One
mother said that her hands became so sore that she could ~cry, and
the work made her “ feel sick all over.” Several fathers, who had
been miners, declared that the work in the beet fields was much
harder than mining. Swollen arms and aching backs were often
complained of, especially among those doing the work for the first
time. A Serbian mother, whose 14-year-old boy worked 14 hours
in the field, told the agent that “ the children cried this year when
their father told them we would do beet work again.”
Hours and duration of work in each process.

Blocking and thimiing.— All except 4 o f the 763 children in
the study who worked took part in the spring process, about one
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CHILD LABOE AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS

fifth of them doing only the thinning. The youngest working chil
dren were engaged in thinning. One-fourth o f those who did the
work—whether they were the children o f contract laborers or worked
on their parents’ farms, and proportionately as many girls as boys—
were less than 10 years old, more than half were under 12, and
only one-fifth were as much as 14 years of age. Seven per cent of
the workers were under 8 years o f age—ten 6-year-old boys and 26
who were 7 years o f age, and 18 girls o f 6 and 7 years.
T a b l e X L I I . — Daily hours thinning and blocking, by age of child; children

between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields: Michigan group.

Children between

and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Age.

Daily hours thinning and
blocking.

Total.....................................
Did not work thinning and
blocking..............................
Worked thinning and blocking...
Less than 4 hours....................
4 hours, less than 5..................
5 hours, less than 6 ..................
6 hours, less than 7..................
7 hours, Jess than 8 ................^
8 hours, less than 9.................'
9 hours, less than 10................
10 hours, less than 1 1 ..............
1 1 hours, less than 1 2 ........... ...
12 hours, less than 13..............
13 hours, less than 14..............
14 hours and over..........
Not reported and irregular...

To
11
6
7
10
8
9
tal. years, years, years, years, years, years,
un un un un un un
der der
der
der der
der
7.
8.
10 .
11.
12 .
9763

526

4
759
14

16
2

92
3
4
4
3
5
9
u

104

3
1
1

186
90
67
33

1
1

112

3
3

4
5

11
8
2
1

6
8
8
8
2

1
1

15
26
48
76

4
2

4
•4
12

16
19
11

3
1
8

105

1
1

5
3

5
9
ID
16
24
14
9
4
3

21
12
6

12
14
13
15
years, years, years, years,
un un un un
der
der der
der
14.
15.
16.
. 13.

114

101

' " 77

114
4

1
100
1

19
24
16

7
16
33
9

12
8

6
2

3
3

1
6
10

13
16
9
8

5
5
3

4
3
3
6

u
26
8
2
2
2
2

The early summer days are long, the work pressing, and the work
ing day is extended accordingly. For the laborers’ families work
usually started at 6 a. m., though 5 or 5.30 was sometimes given as
the hour of beginning, and even 4 o’clock was reported. The
laborers’ families usually took the shortest possible time for meals,
and worked till 6, 7, and sometimes 8 p. m., or later. Even when
meal time is excluded these hours indicate a long working day.
Almost two-thirds o f the children, only slightly fewer girls than
boys in proportion to their numbers, were reported as working 9
hours or more a day. The largest group, both, boys and girls,
amounting to a little over one-fourth o f the boys and one-fifth of the
girls, reported 10 hours daily ; 26 per cent o f the boys and 29 per
cent o f the girls reported from 11 to 15 hours’ daily work in the
fields.
It was the children o f contract laborers who worked the longest
hours— practically 9 out o f 10 o f them reported a working day of 9

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IGAN.

hours or more and 5 out o f 10 had worked from 11 to 15 hours.
But while fewer farmers’ children spent so long a day at field work,
less than 5 per cent reporting as much as 11 hours a day, almost half
had worked 9 hours or more.
D aily hours thinning and- blocking, by economic status o f fa m ily;
children between 6 and 16 years o f age working in beet fields: Michigan
group.

T able X L I I I .

Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Economic status of family.
Total.

Daily hours thinning and
blocking.

Laborer.

Tenant farmer.

Farm owner.

Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Number. distri Number. distri Number. distri Number. distri
bution.
bution.
bution.
bution.
Total.............................
Did not work thinning and
blocking...............................
Worked thinning and block
ing........................................
Less than 4 hours............
4 hours,less than 5 .. .....
5 hours, less than 6 ..........
6 hours, less than 7..........
7 hours, less than 8 ..........
8 hours, less than 9..........
9 hours, less than 10........
10 hours, less'than 1 1 .......
1 1 hours, less than 1 2 ......
12 hours, less than 13......
13 hours, less than 14.......
14 hours and over............
Not reported and irregu
lar.............................

763

361 ..............

105 ............ .

297

10 0 .0
1 .8
2 .6
2 .0

361
3

105

293

10 0 .0

3.4
6.3

2
11
10

3.4
4.1
4.1

3.1

10
12
12
20

46
81
84
59
33
15

12.7
22.4
23.3
16.3
9.1
4.2

4
759
14
20

15
26
48
76
112

186
90
67
33

1 0 .0

14.8
24.5
11.9
8 .8

4.4

2 .6

6.9

•

10 0 .0

.8
.3
.8

7
4

.6
2 .8

3.6 J

11
22
10

10 0 .0
1 .0

6.7
3.8
10.5
2 1 .0

26
44
56
72
5

6 .8

8.9
15.0
19.1
24.6
1.7
.7

9.5
31.4

1
6

5.7

1.9

1 .0

7.6

Ì0 .6

1 .0

Ih e farmers’ children spent only a few weeks at the work. Seventenths o f the farm owners’ children, and-, almost half the children o f
the tenant farmers, reported that their spring work had taken less
than three weeks. Less than one-seventh of the laborers’ children,
on the other hand, had spent less than three weeks blocking and
thinning, and more than one-fourth had worked throughout the
duration o f the process, that is, for six weeks or more, passing on to- a
new field as soon as the work on one was completed. A few farmers’
children had hired out to other farmers when the Work on their own
acreage was completed, adding to the number o f weeks worked, but
only 19 had worked as much as six weeks in the spring process.
Crawling along in the dirt for nine hours or more a day for several’
weeks is hard work for children, even if they do only the thinning.
Four-fifths o f the children engaged in the spring work did blocking
also. |A girl-mother o f 17 years, who had worked in the beet fields since
she was 14, related how her “ arms used to get so tired with the
blocking that after going to bed they wouldn’t stay still—they’d just
17623°— 23-------7

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

move backwards and forwards as if they still held the hoe.” Another
experienced worker, a young Bohemian woman, said that after a
day o f thinning she was so tired at night that she could hardly stand
it, and added, “ I f you don’t wear gloves you wear your fingers down
to the quick.”
Hoeing.—Almost one-fifth o f the working children were not re
quired to do hoeing, which is heavier work than thinning. Never
theless, 623 children between 6 and 16 years o f age had hoed and 3
other children, only 5 years o f age, were reported by their parents
as working in the process for 10 or 11 hours a day. About onefourth of both girls and boys doing this work were under 10 years
of age, including 26 boys and 8 girls who were only 6 or 7 years of
age; and well over half the workers, both girls and boys, were from
10 to 13 years o f age.
T a b l e X L I V .— D aily hours hoeing, by age o f child; children between 6 and 16

years of age working in beet fields: Michigan group.

----------- ------------

Children between 6 and 16 years of age working in beet fields.
Age.

Daily hours hoeing.

Total.....................................

15
14
12
13
11
10
9
8
7
6
To
years, years,
tal. years, years, years, years, years, years, years, years,
un
un
un
un
un
un
un
un
un
un
der
der
der der der
der der der der
der
14.
16.
15.
12.
13.
11.
10 .
9.
8.
7.
763

105

114

10 1

140
623

10
6

9
43

25
80

15
99
3
4
4

11
1
2

10
66
1
2

28
1

19
13
27
38
64
106
145
63
63
Not reported and irregular—

16
43

i
1

2
2

9
6
2

3
4

3
2

7
5
5

71
1

3
2

4
4
8

13
15
3

12
1
1

72
3
4
3
4
4
6
10

17
10
6
2
2
1

1
1
6

5
9
13
16
7
7
3
3
9

5
9
21

19
13
14
3
1
2

5
8

17
26
7
4
2

3
9

3
8

14
15
6
8
2

4
2

77
9
68
2

3
3
5
9
9
21
6
2
1
2

The hours did not differ greatly from those that were customary
in the spring work. Four hundred and eight children, including
63 per cent o f the girls and 67 per cent o f the boys, had hoed for 9
hours or more a day; and about one-fourth, slightly more girls than
boys proportionately, reported that their average working day had
been 11 hours or more.
More laborers’ children than the children of farmers had a very
long working day, though many o f the latter also spent long hours
at the field, work. For example, over four-fifths o f the laborers’
children reported that they had averaged from 9 to 14 hours or

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IG AN .

more a day in hoeing, while 56 per cent o f the tenants’ and 47 per
cent o f the farm owners’ children spent 9 or more hours a day at
the work. Earely did any farmer’s child report that he had hoed
more than 10 hours a day.
T able X L V .— Daily hours hoeing, by economic status of fa m ily; children be
tween 6 and 16 years o f age working in beet fields: Michigan group.
Children between

and 16 years of age working in beet fields.

JA___ i-----------------------------------------------------Economic status of family.
Daily hours hoeing.

Laborer.

Tenant farmer.

Farm owner.

Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Number. distri Number. distri Number. distri Number. distri
bution.
bution.
bution.
bution.

Worked hoeing.......7 ..............
Less than 4 hours............
4 hours, less than 5..........
hours) less than 7..........
7 hours, less than 8 ..........
hours, less than 9..........
9 hours, less than 10.........
10 hours, less than 1 1 .......
1 1 hours, less than 1 2 .......
12 hours, less than 13.......
6

Not reported ahd irregular

763

361

105

140
623

60
301

34
71

100 .0
1 .8

19
13
27
38
64
106
145
63
63
15
16
43

3.1

100 .0

.3
.7-

1 .0

2 .6

15
17
47
59
57
57
15
14

6.9

.7
5.0
5.7
15.6
19.6
18.9
18.9
5.0
4.7
4.0

2 .1

4.3
6 .1

10.3
17.0
23.3
.

1
2

1 0 .1
1 0 .1

2.4

5
4
6
12
10

25
1
2

297
1 Ô0 .Ô

1.4
7.0

5.6
8.5
16.9
14.1
35.2
1.4
2 .8

2 .8

4.2

46
251
9
12
10
21

17
35
49
61
5
4
28

100 .0

3.6
4.8
4.0
8.4
6 .8

13.9
19.5
24.3
2 .0
1 .6

1 1 .2

The duration o f the hoeing was, like that o f the blocking and thin
ning, much longer for the children o f laborers than for the chil
dren o f tenant farmers and farm owners. The largest number in each
o f the three groups had worked between 2 and 3 weeks, but almost
one-third o f the laborers’' children had worked 3 weeks or more, whije
only one-ninth o f the children of tenants and only 4 per cent o f the
children o f farm owners reported spending 3 weeks or more hoeing.
Moreover, two-fifths o f the farm owners’ children as compared with
only 5 per cent o f the laborers’ children had worked less than 1 week.
The length o f time spent in hoeing does not depend entirely on the
acreage. The time spent at the work as well as the ease with which
it may be done, depends upon how thoroughly the farmer cultivates.
Thus one family reported that a 5-acre field in good condition was
hoed in a day, whereas another field containing only 6 acres required
10 days for the hoeing, because it was so weedy and hard to work.
Numerous complaints were made by the families visited regarding
the poor cultivating that was done, and it was said that the hoeing
had been particularly hard that season on most o f the farms because
the weeds had been so bad. One father and mother reported that the

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C H IL D L A B O R A H D T H E W O R K OF M O T H E R S

ground was so hard that they and their 2 children had had to start
early and work hard to “ make three-fourths o f an acre a day.” A n
other father had refused to hoe, he said, until the farmer cultivated,
declaring “ I ’m not going to kill my children with weeds.”
The study in Michigan was completed before the pulling and top
ping began, but it is probable that in essential details conditions did
not differ greatly from those in Colorado.
Number of seasons at work.

The children in Michigan were much less experienced workers than
those in the Colorado families visited. Well over two-fifths o f those
who worked in the beet fields were spending their first season at the
w ork; even when the children under 10 are excluded, 35 per cent were
doing their first season’s work. The majority o f those over 10 years
o f age had been working at most but 2 seasons, and only about onetenth had been working 5 seasons or more. Those who had been work
ing 5 seasons or more constituted, however, almost three-tenths o f the
15-year-old, one-fifth o f the 14-year-old, and one-tenth o f the 13-yearold children. One 13-year-old boy had been working ever since he
was 6; similarly four 14-year-old children—3 girls and 1 boy—had
worked 8 seasons; and six 15-year-old children, all except 1 o f whom
were boys, had worked since they were 8 years o f age. The majority
o f the children had begun to work in the beet fields before they were
10 years o f age. About one-fourth had begun before they were 8
years old, about 4 per cent when only 6. One boy told the agent that
he had begun to do thinning when only 5 years o f age, “ but,” he said,
“ they had to lick me a lot to make me do it.”
T a b l e X L V I . — Number of seasons in beet fields,* by age of child; children be

tween 6 and 16 years of age: Michigan group.
Children between 6 and 16 years of age.
Number olseasons in bee t fields.1
Did not work in
beet fields.

Age of child.

Total.
Per
cent.

Num
ber.

368 • 32.5

Num
ber.
Total..... ......................

1,131

years, under 7......................
7 yearsj under 8 ......................
8 yearsi under 9......................
9 years, under 10..................
Id year’s, under 1 1 ..................
1 1 years, under 1 2 ..................
12 years, under 13... ! . ..........
13 years, under 14..................
14 years, under 15..................
15 years, under 16..................

150
124
115
119
118
117

Includes season o f 1920.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

12 1

108
80
79

134
86

63
28
25
12

7
7
4
2

89.3
69.4
54.8
23.5
2 1 .2

10.3
5.8
6.5
5.0
2.5

Per
cent.

Num
ber.

332

29.4

245

16
28
39
50
49
44
43
33
17
13

10.7
2 2 .6

33.9
42.0
41.5
37.6
35.5
30.6
21.3
16.5

10
10

32
34
43
41
30
22

Per
cent.
21.7

Num
ber.

Per
cent.

7.2

1.7
2.5
7.6
9.4
14.0
19.4
15.0
7.6

8 .1

8.7
26.9
28.8
36.8
33.9
27.8
27.5
29.1

3
9
11

17
21
12
6

Dif TH E BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IGAN.

T a b l e X L V I . — Number of seasons in beet fields,* by age o f child, etc.— C on .

Children between 6 and 16 years of age.
Number of seasons in beet fields.1
Age of child.

Not re-,
ported.

Num Per Num .P er Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per
ber. cent. ber. cent. ber. cent. ber. cent. ber. cent. ber. cent.
Total..........................
years, under 7...................
7 years) under 8 ...................
8 years) under 9...................
9 years, under 10.................
10' year’s, under 1 1 ...............
1 1 years) under 1 2 ...............
12 years) under 13...............
13 years', under 14................
14 years) under 15...............
15 years) under 16.. ; ..........

4.1

3.4

1.7

1 .1

0.9

1 .0

0.5

i
2

.9
1.7

1
2

.9
1.7

8
10

4.3
4.1
7.4
12.5
16.5

3
4
4
7

.9
2.5
3.7
5.0
8.9

2_
2

3
6

1.7
1.9
3.8
7.6

1
2

4
3

-.8

1.9
5.0
3.8

4
6

.9
5.0
7.6

Includes season of 1920.

Amount of work per child.

It was even more difficult in Michigan than in Colorado to secure
estimates as to the amount o f work children could do. The families
had had less experience as laborers—the average number o f years
in the work was less than three in Michigan, while it was seven in
Colorado— and they could not gauge their children’s capacity so well.
But according to the statements o f the 113 families making an
estimate, children averaged about one-fourth o f an acre a day in
blocking and thinning, or one-half o f an acre for thinning alone,
while in hoeing they could cover one-half o f an acre in a day’s work.
In 244 families o f contract laborers included in the present study,
each working child during the season had cared for an average o f
4.1 acres, somewhat less than one-half the number of acres—9—
cared for on the average by each adult in these families.57a That is,
each worker did all the blocking and thinning and hoeing during
the season on the specified number o f acres, though some workers
may have taken longer to do the same amount o f work. The average
number o f acres cared for per child is less for the Michigan than
for the Colorado workers, both actually and in proportion to the
average acreage per adult, a fact which may be due to the relative
inexperience o f many o f the Michigan workers and possibly to the
fact that the Colorado resident beet-field workers are unusually
thrifty and perhaps keep their children at the work more steadily.
67a See footn ote 25, p. 36.

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CHILD LABOR AND THE W ORK OF MOTHERS
E D U C A T I O N O F T H E C H IL D R E N .

The compulsory school attendance law and its enforcement.

W ork in the beet fields had resulted in loss o f schooling for a
majority o f the school children covered by the survey, including
children in resident as well as nonresident families. According to
the compulsory attendance law o f Michigan, every child between
the ages of 7 and 16 years who is physically able to do so must
attend school.. during the entire school session unless he has been
excused to go to work, which he may be when he has completed the
eighth grade.58 For most employments, but not including agri
culture, the child must obtain a permit which can not be secured for
work during school hours until he is 15. A child over 14 years o f
age, however, who has completed the sixth grade may be excused
from school attendance by the county commissioner of schools or
city superintendent o f schools, on recommendation o f the district
board, if his “ services are essential to the support ” of his parents.
Practically all the children included in the survey who legally
should have been in school had attended school for some time during
the school year preceding the survey but during the beet season
attendance was in most cases unsatisfactory. As in many rural areas,
there were too few attendance officers to insure adequate enforce
ment o f the law. In fact each o f the counties in which were located
the districts studied had but one truant officer. No one man, even
though constantly on duty, can handle the rural school population
o f an entire county. While the system in Michigan, under which
the truant officer is appointed by the county commissioner of
schools59 and is responsible to him, has decided advantages over the
district system, such as that found in Colorado,60 the advantages
to be gained by the larger unit are not enjoyed if the force is inade
quate. Prompt action is impossible unless the number o f attendance
officers is sufficient', and the lack o f such action results in situations
like that described by one farmer who told the bureau agent that he
had kept his boy out o f school to help with the beet harvest and
that by the time he was notified that the’ child must be sent to school
the work was all done, “ So I didn’t care.”
The county commissioner of schools in one o f the counties included
in the survey, asks, “ What can one truant officer do with 162 school
boards, 200 teachers, and 7,000 children scattered over 900 square
miles o f territory ? ” He further states: •
58 H ow ell’s Annotated Statutes, 1918, see. 10110, as amended by A cts o f 1917, A ct No.
109. A child under 9 years o f age living more than 2J miles from a schoolhouse is not
required to attend unless free transportation is provided, and pages or messengers in
either house o f the legislature are also exempted.
59 Graded districts and. cities may have their own attendance officers, responsible to
the graded district or city superintendent o f schools.
60 See p. 37.

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I F TH E BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IG AN .

* * * Children who are over 14 and have passed the sixth grade may be
excused by the county commissioner to help at home if the local school board
will recommend it and i f such help is absolutely necessary. Some boards have
told me naively that they dislike refusing a favor to a neighbor, so they sign
the recommendation for the Sake of peace. That puts it up to the county
school office to try to determine the real necessity o f the case. Fortunately
this office is not anxious for peace at the price of a child’s future. Some
parents not only overemphasize their need, but willfully misrepresent the child’s
age or grade. I f it is a transient fam ily, it is practically impossible to get
records and we must accept the statement o f the parents. W e are often asked
to excuse children as young as 7 years. When permits are refused, the chil
dren are sometimes kept out anyway, and the young, timid, untrained teacher,
to whom the law and the procedure are new, usually fails to report them
promptly as truants, and by the time we hear of it the work for which they
were wanted is done. Too much local influence brought to bear on teacher
and board, the very limited horizon of some teachers, boards, and parents,
long distances and poor roads, uncertain rural mail and telephone service, and
an inadequate force o f attendance officers in the county office are the condi
tions which are loading the burden of the shortage of farm labor onto the
youthful shoulders of the children. * * * The executive committee o f our
county farm bureau has stated as its official opinion that the demand for child
labor is more a habit than a need.

By requiring a parent who wished to have his child excused from
school attendance on the ground o f necessity to appear at the office
o f the county school commissioner before the request, was acted
upon—in the meantime insisting that the child must be kept in
school every day— and through close cooperation with the teachers
in rural schools, the school commissioner in this county was making
a special effort to keep in school children who would have been with
drawn unnecessarily for farm work.
In the case o f migratory families, or even those o f resident laborers
newly settled in the district, it was even less difficult than in farmers?
families for the parents to keep their children out o f school i f they
wished to do so. Families were often not included in the school
census, even i f living in the district at the time of the census taking,
unless they were known to be permanently settled. Thus it was quite
possible for a family o f beet-field laborers, who had come to live in a
rural neighborhood, to keep the children out o f school not only dur
ing the beet season but also during the entire school year without
receiving any notification that the children must be sent to school.
In one fam ily, for example, three little girls, all of school age, worked!
throughout the beet harvest, and on a snowy day in December started to the
nearest school for the first time. Getting wet and eold on the way, they turned
back, and, bad colds resulting from the exposure, they made no further attempt
to enter school. W hen visited the following August they had lived for over 16
months in the same house without having had any notice whatever taken of
them by the school authorities.

According to the statements made by parents three-fourths o f all
the children o f school age in the study, including four-fifths o f the

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CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS

children o f contract laborers and two-thirds of the children o f
farmers, had had absences from school on account o f their work on
the beet crop ; almost half the children for whom duration o f absence
was reported and three-fourths o f those in contract laborers’ families
had been absent for this purpose more than 4 school weeks. A few—
27 laborers’ and 10 farmers’ children—had been absent 10 weeks or
more because o f their beet-field work.
When absences for field work are added to the inevitable absences
for illness and for stormy weather and bad roads the result is a
school attendance so brief and so interrupted as to make it almost
impossible for the children to receive an elementary education by the
time they reach the age o f 14, or even 16.
School attendance of children in the families visited.

School-attendance records for children in the families visited were
secured in as many cases as possible. Owing to the fact that the
schools were not in session during the survey, and teachers’ records
were therefore not accessible, it was necessary to postpone securing
school data until late November and early December, and at this time,
besides the usual difficulty o f tracing down the complete record for a
year, the roads to the rural schools were in many cases impassable
for automobiles. As a result only 461 records were secured, almost
all o f which were for resident children. The effort made in half a
dozen cities to trace the families o f migratory workers met with little
success.
The school attendance o f resident workers’ children is undoubtedly
more satisfactory than that o f nonresident children. Nevertheless
the records for these relatively favorably situated children show that
the average attendance was but 78 per cent o f the average school
term—72 per cent for contract laborers’ and fo r tenant farmers’
children and 85 per cent for the children in farm owners’ families.
This means that the average child in the laborers’ families lost 9
weeks o f school, while many must have lost considerably more time;
and that even in the farm owners’ families the children averaged
nearly 6 weeks out o f school. In addition, a number o f schools, as in
Colorado, gave a “ beet vacation ” during which, by vote o f the school
board, school was closed. This vacation usually lasted about 2 weeks.
Although it affected the whole school, and so would not have had any
particular effect on the attendance or retardation o f working chil
dren more than others, it tended to shorten further a school term
already much curtailed by absence for field work. About one-tenth
o f the children for whom school records were obtained had had such
a vacation, 30 o f whom were farm owners’ children; 12, tenants’
children; and only 6, laborers’ children.

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IG AN .

Retardation of children in the families visited.

On the basis o f the generally accepted standard,61 aJarge propor
tion o f the children in the families engaged in beet-field work were
over age for the grade that they had attained.62 Thus, among 571
children between 8 and 16 years o f age living all the year round in
the immediate vicinity o f the beet farms, 197 (35 per cent) were
retarded in school, a number o f them 2 years or more. It is sig
nificant in view o f the less satisfactory school attendance among beet
laborers children that considerably over twice as many of them as
o f farm owners’ children, in proportion to their numbers, had failed
to reach grades which were normal for their years. While a child’s
progress in school is influenced by many factors, the importance o f
any one o f which it is impossible to estimate, irregular school attend
ance is unquestionably one o f the most influential. Absence for
work in the beet fields makes it difficult for the children to proceed
satisfactorily with their school work on their return to school after
the harvest, not only because they have missed the earlier instruction
but also because in most cases they are physically tired. Whether
or not any permanent physical injury is done, a child who has been
doing hard outdoor work for 10 or 11 hours a day for 4 or 5 weeks
or more is bound to be more or less tired physically and in no condi
tion to put forth the unusual mental effort necessary to make up the
school work which he has missed by his absence. The teachers re
ported almost unanimously that the first few weeks back in school
found the children tired, sleepy, and listless.
Unfortunately there are available no figures with which these per
centages o f retardation may fairly be compared. Average rates o f
retardation are available only for children attending city schools63
whereas almost all the resident beet-field workers attended rural
schools.
61

See p. 42.

Late entrance in to school may result in a child’s being above the standard age fo r
his grade, but the retardation figures in the present study were affected by this fa ctor
little i f a t all. P ractically all the children entered school before the age o f 8 , the
m ajority when they were 6 or 7 years o f age.
63 That is, comm unities with a population o f 2,500. or more.
See Statistics o f City
School Systems, United States Bureau o f Education Bulletin, 1920, No. 24 p. 7
W ash
ington, 1920.
62

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100

CHILD LABOE AND THE WORK OP MOTHERS

T a b l e X L V I I . — P er cent of attendance, by economic status of fa m ily; resident

children between 6 and 16 years of age attending school; Michigan group}
Children between

Economic status of family.
Total.

and 16 years of age attending school specified per cent
of school term.

Less than 50.

50, less than 60. 60, less than 70. 70,lessthaii80.

Num
ber.

Per
cent.

Num
ber.

Per
cent.

Num
ber.

Per
cent.

Total.............................

977

2.9

3.2

5.9

8.7

Laborer..................................
Tenant farmer........................
Farm owner...........................

482
132
363

2 .1

3.3
7.6
1.4

33
13

6 .8

34'
24
27

7.1
18.2
7.4

13
5

9.8
1.4

9.8
3.3

Children between 6 and 16 years of age attending school specified per cent of
school term.
Economic status of
family.

80, less than 90.

90, less than 100.

100

and over .2

Not reported.

Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.
Total................

124

12.7

12 1

12.4

1 .1

519

53.1

Laborer......................

5.0
12.9

20
86

24
17
80

Farmer owner............

3.7
15.2
23.7

2.5

345
35
139

71.6
26.5
38.3

1 Includes 7 children
2 See p. 42.

2 2 .0

who left school during or at end of school year.

T a b l e X L V I I I .— Retardation, by economic status o f fa m ily; resident children

between 8 and 16 years of age in beet-field workers' families: Michigan group.
Resident children between
Economic status of family.

Retarded.

and 16 years of age.

Normal.

Advanced.

Total.
Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.
571

197

34.5

314

55.0

141

72
50
75

51.1
45.0
23.5

57
52
205

40.4
46.8
64.3

8.5

9
39

8 .1
1 2 .2

111

319

10.5

The children o f migratory workers were at an even greater dis
advantage as far as school attendance is concerned than were those
in resident families, and as a whole, their retardation was greater—
47 per cent as compared with 35 per cent. Those children in migra
tory families who had attended city schools were less retarded than
those who had attended rural schools, the percentage o f retardation
falling to 41, a much smaller proportion than that found among the
children o f resident laborers; but even these children who may per
haps have enjoyed the advantages o f large, well-organized school
systems were considerably more retarded than the children o f farm

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101

IN THE BEET FIELDS OE MICHIGAN.

owners attending rural schools in the beet-growing districts, whose
school attendance was relatively good in comparison with that o f
migratory workers’ children.
T a b l e X L I X . — Retardation, by type of school attended; children between 8 and

16 years of age in migratory families: Michigan group.
Children between 8 and 16 in’ migratory families.
Type of school attended.

Retarded.

Normal.

Advanced.

Total.
Number. Percent .1 Number. Per cent.1 Number. Percent.1
Total.................................

271

126

46.5

130

48.0

5.5

City.............................................
Rural............................... ...........
Not reported...............................

209
54

41.1
64.8

109
18
3

52.2
33.3

6.7
1.9

35
5

Not shown where base is less than 50.

How much greater than the average is the retardation among the
children o f migratory laborers is indicated by the fact that at aver
age rates64 for city school children only 52, or 25 per cent, o f the
209 children in transient families attending city schools would have
been over age for' their grades, whereas actually 86, or 41 per cent,
were retarded. The cumulative ill effect o f frequent moving from
place to place on the schooling o f the children is shown also in the
fact that' whereas the average rate o f retardation for children in city
schools increases from 11 per cent among 8-year-old children to 37
per cent among those 15 years o f age, the rate among the children o f
transient families included in the present study rose from 10 per
cent among 8- and 9-year-old children to 70 per cent among children
aged from 12 to 15 years o f age.
T a b l e L .— Retardation, b y age of child; children between 8 and 16 years of age

in migratory families, attending city schools: Michigan group.
Children between 8 and 16 in migratory families,
attending city schools.
Age of child.

Retarded according
to average rate.®

Retarded.
Total.

Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.
Total...............................................
years, under 9.......................................
9 years, under 10............................
10 years, under 1 1 ....................................
11 years, Under 12...............................
12 years, under 13.........................................................
13 years, under 14..........................................................
14 years, under 15..........................................................
15 years, under 16................ : .......................................
8

209

41.1

52.3

25.0

34
28
37
29
30
23
14
14

2.9
17.9
45. 9
20.7
50.0
82.6
71.4
92.9

3.6
4.3

10.5
15.5

5
17
6

15
19
10

8 .0

7.8
9.7
8.4
5.3
5.2

2 1 .6

26.9
32.4
36.5
37.8
37.3

a Based on proportions from a distribution of 1,142,179 children in 80 cities, 1917-18. Unpublished figures
furnished b y the U. S. Bureau of Education.
64 See p. 45, note 32.

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102

CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

Supplementary study o f school attendance and retardation,

The question may be raised as to whether these conditions of re
tardation and attendance are not found also among the school chil
dren o f the districts studied who did not work in the beet fields. An
effort was made to secure information on this point. One o f the
county superintendents, thoroughly appreciative o f the imperfect
functioning o f the school system in the case o f the children who
worked on the beet crop, had prepared and sent out in 1919 a ques
tionnaire covering attendance and absence for beet-field and other
agricultural work. This Questionnaire, slightly changed and adapted
to the Children’s Bureau study, was sent to the majority o f schools
in the beet-growing districts visited, with the request that the teacher
fill in the information requested for every child who had been en
rolled in the school from the opening of school up to November 15.65
It developed later that, as in Colorado, many children stayed out o f
school entirely until the beet harvest was over, often making the date
o f entering school late November or early December. Figures based
on these records are therefore conservative; and were all children
in these schools who worked in the beet fields included, the propor
tion o f workers would be larger, the attendance poorer, and the re
tardation probably greater.
The questionnaires were filled out by 54 schools, all in beet-grow
ing districts, in the 3 counties o f Gratiot, Saginaw, and Isabella.
Complete or nearly complete records were given for 1,809 of. the
1,89266 children who had enrolled up to November 15. The records
o f 358, or 20 per cent, o f these children showed unexcused absence
for work in the beet fields exclusive o f “ beet vacations.” These
children for the purposes o f the study, have been classed as beetfield workers. A ll others have been regarded as not being workers,
for while there were doubtless some children who worked in the beet
fields on Saturdays or before and after school, even though they
did not stay out o f school for the work, the only definite division
that could be made between workers and nonworkers was on the
basis o f actual nonattendance for work on the beet crop.
65T he inform ation requested included': ( 1 ) the child’s n a m e; ( 2 ) s e x ; ( 3 ) present a g e;
(4 ) present grade ; (5 ) date child entered school this fa ll (1920) ; ( 6 ) number o f days
attended, number o f days absent, to Nov. 15, 1 9 2 0 ; (7 ) number o f days absent because
o f beet-field w o r k ; ( 8 ) dates excused by county superintendent or com m issioner;
(9 ) cause o f absence not due to beet-field w o r k ; (10) date o f leaving d is tr ic t; (11) resi
dent o r m igratory fam ily ; (1 2) i f m igratory, where from ; (1 3) fath er’ s name ; (14) pres
ent ad d ress; (15) fath er’s occupation ; (1 6) nationality.
68 The 83 cases in which teachers gave incom plete or indefinite records have been
om itted from the tables.

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103

IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IG AN .

T able LI. Comparison of school attendance of children working in beet fields
with that of children not working in beet fields during the autumn of 1920
(up to November 15), by cou n ty; pupils in schools in Gratiot, Isabella, and
Saginaw Counties, Mich.1

School attendance.
Total
num
Children working in beet fields.
ber reporting
Days absent
Days present.
Days absent. '
days
Total
for beet work.
pres possible
ent
days of Num
and
attend ber Possible
Per
re
days
ance.
days.
cent
port
ab
Per
Per
of
ing.
Number.
sent.
cent. Number. cent. Number. total
ab
sence.

County.

Gratiot..............
Isabella....... ..........
Saginaw.................

771
2 12

703

35,692.5
10,546.0
3,276.0

181
31
146

8.322.5
1,548.0
6.616.5

5.147.0
1.091.0
3,497.5

61.8
70.5
52.9

3,175.5
457.0
3,119.0

38.2
29.5
47.1

2.768.5
396.0
2.687.5

87.2
86.7
8 6 .2

School attendance.
Children not working in beet fields.

County.

Gratiot....................
Isabella....................
Saginaw.-..................
1 Includes

Days present.

Num
ber reporting.

Possible
days at
tendance.

Number.

590
181
557

27,370.0
8,998.0
26,143.5

25,150.5
8 , 0 1 1 .0
22,398.0

Per
cent.
91.9
89.0
85.7

Days absent.
Number.

2.219.5
987.0
3.745.5

Per
cent.
8 .1
1 1 .0

14.3

only the pupils for whom school attendance records were secured.

In Gratiot County school records up to November 15 were secured
for 819 children.67 O f these, 213, or .26 per cent, were reported as
working in the beet fields. In spite o f the faet that three-fourths
o f these 213 children were residents o f the districts where they went
to school, they had been in school on an average only 28 out o f the
46 school days up to November 15; that is, they had failed to receive
38 per cent o f the instruction provided. Almost all the absence was
definitely stated to be for work on the beet crop, 87 per cent being so
recorded by the teachers, The children* who did not work fn the
beet fields, on the other hand, averaged 43 days in school out o f the
46. They had a percentage o f attendance of 92, as compared with
the 62 o f the beet-field workers. One hundred and seventy-seven of
the children attended schools which closed for a “ beet ,vacation ”
o f 1 or 2 weeks, but 69, or 39 per cent, o f even these children had had
unexcused absences during the beet harvest, in addition to the “ beet
87 This is exclusive o f 49 whose records were incom plete, the total enrolled to Novem
ber 15 being 8 6 8 .

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104

CHILD LABOR AND TH E W ORK OF MOTHERS

vacation.” Except for children o f farmers, who help harvest beets
only on their home farms, thè “ beet vacation ” usually did not cover
the number o f days which the children were called upon to work.
In Saginaw County conditions were similar. O f 740 68 children,
172, or 23 per cent, worked during the beet harvest. The workers
had been absent approximately 22 days out o f 47, the average num
ber o f days school sessions had been held prior to November 15, while
the nonworkers had been absent but 7 days. Considerably over fourfifths o f the absences among the workers had been for the purpose o f
harvesting beets. Only 1 school reported a “ beet vacation.” That
vacation affected one room only and lasted only 1 week. Thirtyseven o f the 50 children in that room had additional absences on
account of their work on the beet crop.
In Isabella County69 the beet industry is o f more recent develop
ment, and the proportion o f workers among the school children was
decidedly smaller. Only 32 out o f 250 children70 registered as in
school up to November 15 were classed by the teachers as beet-field
workers. These children were largely from migratory families.
Nevertheless their attendance was better than that shown by the beetfield workers in the other counties, though considerably less satisfac
tory than that o f children who did not work on the beet crop. Thus,
they had attended 70 per cent o f the school days up to November 15,
whereas children who did not work in the beet fields had been present
89 per cent o f the possible days. Beet-field work caused 87 per cent
of the absence o f the working children, who out o f a possible 50 school
days had averaged but 35. No “ beet vacations ” were reported.
A large proportion o f all the children in these schools, for whom
records were secured, had failed to reach the grades regarded as
normal for their ages, but at every age71 a larger proportion o f the
working than o f the nonworking children were retarded. Thus,
among the 9-year-old children one-fifth o f the nonworkers, but over
one-half of the workers, were retarded ; at 12 years of age only threetenths o f the children who had not worked were over age for their
grade, as compared with three-fifths o f thos,e who were kept out o f
school for the purpose o f working in the beet fields.
68 This is exclusive o f 27 enrolled previous to November 15 whose records were incom
plete.
" A s only eight schools in Isabella County made satisfactory returns in reply to the
questionnaires sent out, this county is not as w ell covered, nor are the records as repre
sentative, as those fo r G ratiot and' Saginaw Counties.
Some o f the schools in the
largest beet-growing centers failed to answer thé questionnaires.
70 This is exclusive o f seven whose records were incom plete.
71 See p. 50, note 38.

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105

IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF MICHIGAN,

T a b l e L II.— Comparison of retardation of children working in beet fields with

that of children not working in beet fields, by coun ty; children between 8
and 16 years o f age in schools in Gratiot, Isabella, and Saginaw Counties,
Michigan.

Children between 8 and 16 years of age.
Retarded.
Employment of child, and
county.

Total.

year.

Normal.
2

Advanced.

years and
over.

Num Per Num Per Num Per
ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1

Num Per Num Per
ber. cent.1 ber. cent.1

Total...................................

1,306

512

39.2

315

24.1

197

15.1

673

51.5

115

8 .8

Worked in beet fields...................
Did not work in beet fields.........

2 341
3 965

211

61.9
31.2

119
196

34.9
20.3

92
105

27.0
10.9

119
554

34.9
57.4

105

2.9
10.9

Gratiot...............................
Worked in beet fields............ .'...
Did not work in beet fields.........
Isabella......................... .........
Worked in beet fields...................
Did not work in beet fields.........
Saginaw.................... .............
W orked in beet fields...............
Did not work in beet fields.........

593
2 169
3 424
166
30
136
547
142
405

227

38.3
66.3
27.1
37.3

130
61
69
45
15
30
140
43
97

21.9
36.1
16.3
27.1

97
51
46
17
5

16.4
30.2

296
51
245

49.9
57.8
53.0

64
5
59
16

3.0
13.9
9.6

2 2 .1

25.6
30.3
24.0

83
36
47

' 8 .8
15.2
25.4

58.1
52.8
41.5
56.8

15
35
4
31

301
112

115
62
20

42223
79
144

30.9
40.8
55.6
35.6

10 .8
1 0 .2

1 1 .6

9
79
289
59
230

2 0 .2

10 .8

1
1 1 .0

6.4
2 .8

7.7

1 Not shown where base is less than 50.
2 Includes 1 child for whom grade was not reported.
3 Includes 5 children for whom grade was not reported.

T a b l e L I I I .— Comparison of retardation of children working in beet fields, with

that of children not toorking in beet fields, by age of child; children between
8 and 16 years o f age in schools in Gratiot, Isabella, and Saginaw Counties,
Michigan.

Children between 8 and 16 years of age—
Not working in beet fields.
Age of child.

Total.
Retarded.

Normal.

Advanced.

Total.
Number. Percent .1 Number. Percent .1 Number. Percents
Total................

1,306

2 965

301

31.2

554

57.4

105

10.9

years, under 9.........
9 years, under 10.......
10' years, under 1 1 ___
1 1 years, under 1 2 ___
12 years, under 1 3 ....
13 years, under 14___
14 years, under 15___
15 years, under 16___

200
202

»162
162
4 146
4127
137

31
35
36
42
40
47
30
40

19.1

*104

2 1 .6

112

24.7
33.1
29.2
38.8
44.8

91
65
72
71
36
3

64.2
69.1
62.3
51.2
52.6
58.7
53.7

24
15
18
19
25
3

14.8
9.3
12.3
15.0
18.2
2.5
1 .5

1 Not shown
2 Includes 5
8 Includes 3
4 Includes 1

203
170
187
173
106
65

12 1

67
43

where base is less than 50.
children fo r whom grade was n ot reported.
children fo r whom grade was not reported.
child fo r whom grade w as n ot reported.

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106

CHILD LABOE. AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS

T a b l e L I I I . — Comparison of retardation o f children, etc.— Continued.
Children between 8 and 16 years of age—
Working in beet fields.
Age of child.
Advanced.

Normal.

Retarded.
Total.

Number. Percent.1 Number. Percent.1 Number. Percent.1
Total..........
years, under 9 ..
9 years, under 1 0 .
10 years, under 1 1 .
1 1 years, under 1 2 ,
12 years, under 13.
13 years, under 14,
14 years, under 15.
15 years, under 16.
8

Not' shown,
Includes 5
Includes 3
^ Includes 1

1
2
8

4 341

»2 11

38
440
57
43
50
52
39

21
21
22

27
31
40
28

2.9

61.9

119

34.9

47.4

17
17
29
18
15

50.9

1
1

1 .8

30.0

8 .0

2 1 .2

62.0
76.9

■

11
11
1

1.9

where base is less than 50.
children fo r whom grade w as n o t reported.
children fo r whom grade w as n ot reported.
child fo r whom grade w as n ot reported.

The proportion o f children o f foreign parentage, it is true, is much
larger among the beet-field workers than among those not working
in the beet fields. The teachers in the schools furnishing records re
ported that only IT per cent o f the working children, as compared
with 63 per cent o f the nonworkers, were Americans or Englishspeaking. To what extent this circumstance accounts for the less
satisfactory school progress o f the beet-field workers it is impossi
ble to determine from the data available. Lack o f familiarity with
the language^ and possibly an unstimulating home environment, may
account for part o f the difference in the school standing of those
who work in the beet fields and those who do not. But the strikingly
poorer school attendance o f the former, due almost entirely to their
work on the beet crop, is probably the most important factor in their
failure to make normal grades, or even to make as satisfactory prog
ress as thé children who do not work.
The following are a few characteristic comments on the effect o f
absence for the beet harvest made by teachers in the schools for which
attendance records were secured.
You ask for my opinion as to the effects of these absences upon the child’s
progress, and I can only say that it is a very great hindrance. * * * Not
only the child himself but the whole class, is kept back in their work and the
whole school year spoiled.
I have found during my teaching experience that even short absences retard
a child’s progress.
In regard to your inquiry concerning the effect upon the child’s school prog
ress o f absence due to beet work, I would say that my experience has taught
me that such circumstances make a child’s “ average ” school progress impos
sible.

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107

IN' TH E BEET FIELDS OF M IC H IG AN ,
I think'the progress o f children in school is greatly retarded by
absences due to beet work.

I think the greatest effect upon the child’s school progress of absences due
to beet work and other work is the loss of the school work and the loss o f
their interest in school work.
I notice that the children who stay out o f school are unable to keep up with
their class. The Russian children were very bright when they had a chance,
but when they were kept out so much it made it very hard for them.
It is my opinion that absence for beet work does retard the pupils in their
school work and makes it very difficult for them to “ catch u p ” in their work
when they remain out during the harvest season.
There is, o f course, a bad effect upoii the children’s progress when they are
absent. W e can not keep the others back for them, and so they must do extra
work or else lose out entirely on what they missed.
It seems next to impossible for a child after being absent four or six weeks
a t the beginning of the year to be able to take up his work with his regular
class. I also find they are not fitted for school work when they do return, as
they are too tired and listless. Many o f them work beyond their strength and
it takes them so long to adjust themselves to school routine.
W O R K O F M O T H E R S I N T H E B E E T F IE L D S .

In all except a few o f the beet-field laborers’ families visited the
mother as well as the children worked on the crop. Not counting
families included in the study only because the mother worked72
and thus correcting the bias given by the method o f selecting fami
lies, only 108 o f the 357 mothers in families in which one or more
children worked had not helped with the handwork on the beets,
and more than half o f them were the wives o f farm owners. Only
one-half o f the mothers whose husbands owned their farms had
shared in the beet-field work, but three-fourths o f the tenants’ and
four-fifths o f the beet-field laborers’ wives had done so. The ma
jority o f the farm owners’ wives were of American stock whose
traditions were usually opposed to field work for women, a preju
dice which was not present in families o f foreign birth. Fourfifths o f the foreign-bom mothers worked as compared with only
one-half o f those o f native birth. Even among the foreign families,
however, with the possible exception o f the Poles, beet-field work
was not quite so generally done by these women as by the KussianGerman women o f Colorado.
The mothers in the Michigan families studied were not such ex
perienced workers as those ,in Colorado, the average number o f
seasons at the work being only three as compared with eight for the
mothers in the Colorado families. Even the wives o f farm owners
and tenant farmers, whose average number o f seasons was more than
72

T hat is, fam ilies in w hich n o child worked.

17623°—23---- 8

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See p. 54.

108

C H IL D L A B O R A N D T H E

W O R K OF M O T H E R S

twice that o f the laborers’ wives, had averaged only five years in the
beet-field work, whereas the farmers’ wives in the Colorado study had
averaged nine seasons. On the other hand, almost one-fifth o f the
wives o f beet farmers had been cultivating beets for 10 seasons or
longer.
Field work throughout pregnancy is not uncommon with these
women, even when they are not feeling well, some reporting that
they worked “ in the beets” up to within a few hours o f the birth o f
a baby. They do not in some cases have adequate rest after con
finement, especially i f it occurs during the beet season. One mother
was out thinning and blocking two weeks after her confinement; an
other began to pull and top one week after her baby was born.
Many women declared “ beet work is no work for a woman,” and
told o f their difficulties in trying to help in the fields and perform
the most necessary household tasks even when adequate care for the
children was not considered. The following are typical comments
on this situation made by mothers, all o f whom had young children:
I have to work in the field from 4 o’clock in the morning until 7 at night,
and then come home and cook and bake until 12 and 1 o'clock.
A t first I tried to cook— worked in the field from h a lf past 5 in the morning
until 7 at night, and then came home and was often making bread and cake
at 1 and 2 in the morning. But it was too much and toward the end o f our
hoeing there were days when we practically lived on milk.
In order to get my work done before going to the field I often have to get
up at 3 o’clock. I bathe the children and prepare the food before going out.
Then at night I must bake and clean house, so that there are many nights
when I do not get more than 3 hours’ sleep. The work is too hard for any
woman. B y the time you have worked 12 or 13 hours a day bending over you
don’t feel much like doing your cooking and housework.
It is hard to leave your children all day and work in the beet fields. On
Sunday my husband and I have to clean house, bake, wash clothes, and take
care o f the garden, and we’re all tired out Monday morning and have to start
all over again.
I have little time for housework during the week in the beet season, and
must do it all Saturday night and Sunday. I generally work almost all night
Saturday washing and cleaning house, and on Sunday I iron and bake. I get
very little sleep those two nights.

Hours of labor and duration of season.

The 397 working mothers did full days’ work. In the laborers’
families the most common hour o f beginning during the blocking
and thinning was 6 a. m., though nearly as many began at 7 or at
5 and a few at 4 a. m. Amy mother who began later than 7 o’clock
delayed her field work to finish housework. Six p. m. more often
than any other hour marked the end o f the working day, but 7 and
even 8 were reported by nearly as many workers. The time taken
for dinner was usually 1 hour, but often only half an hour. Some

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109

1ST TH E BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IG AN .

women left their work early to prepare dinner for the family. In
rare cases this took 2 hours, but usually less.' The largest group
o f women worked between 10 and 11 hours a day. Only 32 o f the
253 working mothers in laborers’ families worked less than 9 hours
a day and 89, or more than one-third, worked 12 hours or more.
The blocking and thinning usually lasted from 4 to 6 weeks. The
largest group o f laborers’ wives had worked at this process at least
6 weeks. Only 11 said they had worked less than 2 weeks, 64 reported
4 weeks, 35 had worked 5 weeks, and 71 reported 6 weeks or more.
T a b l e L IV .— D aily hours blocking and thinning, by economic status of fam ily;

mothers working in beet fields: Michigan group.

Mothers working in beet fields.
Economic status of family.
Daily hours blocking and thinning.

Total.
Laborer.
Num
ber.

Per
cent.

Num
ber.

Total...........................................

397

253

Did not work blocking and thinning.
Worked blocking and thinning,.
Less than 4 hours......................
4 hours, less than 5...................
5 hours, less than 6 ......................
6 hours, less than 7...................
7 hours, less than 8 ............
8 hours, less than 9...................
9 hours, less than 10..........
10 hours, less than 1 1 .............
1 1 hours, less than 1 2 . . . ...............
12 hours, less than 13...............
13 hours, less than 14...............
14 hours and over...................
Not reported and irregular...........

4
393
7
5

17
27
36
35
68

58
53
29
21

100.0
1 .8

1.3
3.1
4.3
6.9
9.2
8.9
17.3
14.8
13.5
7.4
5.3
6.4

251
2
2
1
2

9
16
18
49
55
41
28
20
8

Tenant fermer.

Per
cent.

Num
ber.

Per
cent.

Farm owner.
Num
ber.

Per
cent.

84
2

100.0
.8
.8

.4
.8

3.6
6.4
7.2
19.5
21.9
16.3
1 1 .2
8 .0

3.2

100.0

1.7
5.0
6.7
13.3
16.7
11.7
11.7
5.0
16.7

1
6

10 .0

3
4
8
10

7
7
3

1.7

82
2_
11
10
10
10
12

TOO. Ô
2

12 2
14

2
1

1 .2

13.4

As many of the beet farms in the Michigan areas studied were
small, a few farmers, chiefly foreign bom, who had worked on con
tract before renting or owning their land, took a beet contract after
their own work was completed. The result o f this arrangement was
that their wives worked as hard as the laborers’ wives. Taking
contracts in addition to their own work was reported by 21 families,
11 o f whom owned their own farms. In 16 o f these families the
mother worked on both the contract and the home acreage. As a
rule, however, both the wives o f tenants and owners had compara
tively light work and were not obliged to work so many hours a day
nor to give so many weeks to the field work as the women whose hus
bands had contracts. The hour o f beginning during the spring
process was usually 7 or 8 o’clock and work commonly ended by 5
or 6. Many o f the farm owners’ wives reported that they took 2
hours for dinner. Although about one-fifth of the mothers in tenant
farmers’ families and 3 o f the farm owners’ wives worked 12 hours

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110

C H IL D L A B O R A N D T H E W O R K

OF M O T H E R S

or more daily, and about half o f the former and three-tenths o f the
latter reported a working day. o f 9 house or more, the majority
worked shorter hours than were customary for women working on
their husbands’ beet contracts.
Almost half the tenants’ wives and three-fifths o f the wives o f farm
owners had worked less than 3 weeks at blocking and thinning and
only 7 o f the former and 2 o f the latter reported 6 weeks or over
on the spring work.
Hoeing took from 2 to 3 weeks for most o f the women in laborers’
and tenants’ families; the wives o f farm owners spent even less time
at the work, the majority reporting less than 2 weeks. A working
day o f from 10 to 12 hours was most commonly reported by all
classes.
The fall work had not begun at the time the study was made.
T a b l e L V .— Daily hours hoeing, by economic status of fam ily; mothers working

in beet fields: Michigan group.

Mothers working in beet fields.
Economic status of family.
Total.

Daily hours hoeing.

Laborer.

Tenant farmer.

Farm owner.

Per cent Num Per cent Num Per cent
Per cent
Num distribuNum distribu
ber.
ber. distribu
ber. distribu
ber.
tion.
tion.
tion.
tion.
Total..........................................
Did not work hoeing...........................
Worked at hoeing................................
Less than 4 hours..........................
4 hours, less than 5.......................
5hours, less than 6 ........................
6hours, less than 7 . . . ...................
7 hours, less than 8 ........................
8 hours, less than 9........................
9 hours, less than 10.............
10 hours, less than 1 1 ....................
1 1 hours, less than 1 2 ............■___
12 hours, less than 13.....................
13 hours, less than 14...................
14 hours and over..........................
Not reported and irregular...........

397

253

35
362

14
239

10 0 .0

1.7
1.9

2 .2

19
25
37
41
68

54
37
20

15
25

5.2
6.9
1 0 .2

Hi 3
18.8
14.9
1 0 .2

5.5

4.1
6.9

ióò.ò

.4
1.3

2
10
22

4.2
9.2

24
51
50
32
20

15
9

1 0 .0

21.3
20.9
13.4
8.4
6.3
3.8

1
2
2
6
6
6

’

ÌÓÓ.Ò
2. 0 .
4,0
4.0
1 2 .0
1 2 .0
1 2 .0

14.0

1 2 .0
6 .0
10 .0

1 2 .0

73
4

100 .0

2
6

2 .7

h
9
9

5.5

8.2
i5a

10
11
1

12.3
12.3
13.7
15.1
1.4

13.7

Care o f young children.
Many o f the working mothers had young children. Some had 2
children less than 3 years of age, and 1 mother had 3. O f the
679 children under 6 years o f age included in the study, 423 were
in contract laborers’ families, where mothers had little opportunity,
because o f their work in the fields, to give much attention to their
babies. The mothers o f 9 out o f 10 o f the laborers’ children and
o f 6 out o f 10 of the farm owners’ children under 6 years o f age
were beet-field workers. The latter, inasmuch as their work was
on their pwn farms, had a much better opportunity to look after

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IG AN .

I ll

their children than did the laborers’ wives. Many o f the laborers
lived at some distance from their work, and unless some one could
be left with the children they had to be taken to the field by their
parents and kept there throughout the working hours. Practi
cally one-half o f the children under 6 years o f age (331) were
usually and 267 were invariably taken to the fields. O f these
children, 152 were under 3 years o f age and 43 were not 1 year old.
The babies were sometimes left in baskets or boxes under a tree,
though many fields were without any shade. A small canvas tent
was sometimes put up for them, and was a common sight in the beet
fields. Few children were protected by netting from flies and mos
quitoes. In one family 2 children, neither one o f them old enough
to walk, were laid on a blanket under a tree near the beet field. The
parents began their work before breakfast, bringing both breakfast
and dinner with them. The mother brought milk for the children,
which she said usually soured in warm weather. She remarked that
the hot days were very hard on the children. Both looked pale and
sickly. One baby, less than 1 month old, was seen lying on the
ground about 50 feet frtìm where his parents were working. They
explained that there was no room in the truck which brought them
to the field to carry a basket for the baby. The older children—that
is, those 3, 4, and 5 years o f ago—played about the beet fields or
adjoining farms. The mother usually kept an eye on them, though
frequently children somewhat older were supposed to look after the
little ones. One 6-year-old child, on being asked by the agent what
she did all day in the field, said, “ I sit in the sun and wish to myself
that I could die.” Her mother said that there was no shade near
the field and that it was very hot.
O f the 343 children who were left at home, 179, or only about onehalf, were cared for by their mothers or other adults. Fifteen had no
caretaker in the house, but the houses in which they lived were
usually near the beet fields, so that their mothers could look in on
them occasionally. Three o f these children were under 3, and 12
were from 3 to 5 years o f age. One- was a 9-months-old baby. He
was left alone in the house, which was completely shut up, while
the mother worked from 5 a. m., with only 1 hour at home in the
middle o f the day, until 7.30 p. m. Twenty-eight others were left
at home under the care o f a child less than 7 years o f age, and 121
more were left in charge o f child caretakers 7 years o f age or older.
F A M IL Y E A R N IN G S .

Rate of pay and earnings from beet contracts.

Practically no laborers in the Michigan beet districts studied were
engaged by thè beet grower. As many o f the beet plantings are

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112

CHILD LABOR AtfD THE WORK OP MOTHERS

sm all, a fam ily does not, ordinarily, find enough work fo r the season
on one farm , and the factory undertakes to find for the laborer as
large an acreage as he Can take care o f.

To this end all the farmers

report their needs in the way o f labor to the company field agent o f
their district and he undertakes to provide labor fo r, and assign
labor to, each farmer— in other words, to see that the handwork is
done.

I f, as sometimes happens, laborers leave after they have been

brought in and established in a given locality, supposedly fo r the
season, the field boss is obliged to bring in others to do the. work,
and i f he has to hire day workers at a cost greater than that o f the
contract labor, the company, not the farmer, pays the difference and
sustains the loss.

Seventy per cent o f the laborers reported that they were engaged
by company agents. In essential details the companies did not differ
from one another in their arrangements with laborers. Upon en
gagement the laborer entered into a contract with the company
whereby he agreed to do the handwork on a given number o f acres
at a specified rate per acre for each process. The company agreed
to provide in addition transportation to the beet fields and living
accommodations. In the season o f 1920 the rate paid was $28 an
acre when the rows were 22 to 24 inches apart and $26 with rows
26 to 28 inches apart. This amount was paid by the farmer, and
in addition a bonus o f $7 an acre was paid by the company i f the
laborer worked according to agreement. Payment was made in
three installments. The employer always held back a part o f the
pay due, even when payment was long deferred, in order to hold the
laborer throughout the season. The laborer was not paid for block
ing and thinning, for example, until the hoeing was partly done ;
and part o f the money for hoeing was likewise held back until the
harvesting was completed. As in Colorado, the contract tended to
become merely an understanding rather than a written document;
only one-fourth o f the laborers reported that they had signed a
written agreement. One laborer said that he would not sign a con
tract, because if he did so the company would send him into poor
fields, whereas without a contract he was in a position to choose
where he would work.
Between two-fifths and one-half of the 250 laborers’ families that
reported the amount their work would bring them expected to earn
less than $800 for their 6 or 7 months in the beet fields, providing
they performed all the processes on the same acreage on which they
had worked up to the time o f the interview. Most o f them would
earn from $500 to $800, including 66 families with but 2 workers—
usually 2 adults, but in some cases 1 adult and 1 child. In the group
expecting to earn $800 to $999 were- 52 families, approximately onehalf o f them having 4 or more workers. Thirty-two larger families

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113

T H E B E E T F IE L D S OF M I C H I G A N .

expected to earn from $1,000 to $1,199. Forty-seven families, aver
aging a little over 5 workers a family, expected to earn between
$1,200 and $2,000, and the earnings o f 7 families with an average o f
between 6 and 7 workers per family would amount to between $2,000
and $2,600.
According to the average acreage cared for per child as based on
reports o f the families visited73 the child who worked in all the
processes earned on an average, including the bonus, from $114 to
$122, according to the distance between the rows. Although some
families declared that the work was profitable “ because the children
can help,” others seemed to realize the disadvantages o f an income
earned by the whole family. One father remarked, “ I can make as
much in two weeks in the factory as all four children and I make
together in a month in the beets,” and another who was a street
cleaner in Bay City said, “ The whole family work and work hard and
we are no better off here than we were in the city,” where only the
father worked.
T a b l e L V I .— Amount payable for work in beet fields, by number of persons

worki/ng; fam ilies1 working in beet fields: Michigan group.

Families1 working in beet fields.
Number of persons working.3
Total.
Amount payable for work in beet
fields.

Per
cent
Num distri
ber. bu
tion.
Total__
Less than $400.
$400-$599.........
$60O-$799........
$800-1999.........
$1,000-$1,199...
$1,200-$1,399...
$1,400-$1,599...
$1,600-$1,799...
$1,800-$1,999...
$2,000-$2,559...

Per
cent
Num distri
ber. bu
tion.

«250

100 .0

10 0 .0

8 .8

14
23
29
18
5

15.4
25.3
31.9
19.8
5.5

1
2

2 .2

40
50
52
32

16.0

2 0 .0
2 0 .8
1 2 .8
8 .0

14
5

2 .0

5.6

3.2

2 .8

7
9
6
1

20
10

3
3
9
3

8 -10

1
1

1
1
6

1
2

2
2

i
i

4
1

2
1
1
1
1

1 Excludes tenant and farm-owning families.
* Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 50.
3 Excludes 39 families that did not report amount payable.

The cash income o f beet-field laborers—nonresident as well as resi
dent—is often supplemented by produce from a garden, and by the
keeping o f a cow and chickens,74 all factors tending to reduce the
See p. 95.
u Eighty-eight per cent o f the laborers reported a gkrden, usually one-fourth o f an acre
or le s s ; 60 per cent kept a few chickens, usually less than 1 0 ; 41 per cent kept cows,
6 fam ilies reporting more than 1 .
73

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114

CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS

cost o f living. On the other hand, the method o f deferring payment
until certain processes were completed probably made it difficult for
some families who were obliged to buy on credit to purchase advan
tageously. Practically two-thirds o f the total number of families,
190, reported that they made their purchases entirely on credit. For
about one-half o f the laborers’ families credit was established by the
sugar companies; that is, the company vouched for their accounts up
to a stated amount. This they did usually by paying the store bills,
deducting the amount from the laborers’ pay. It was customary, as
has already been pointed out, for the company to pay the laborers by
taking the farmer’s note for an equal sum. Many o f the workers ex
pressed dissatisfaction with the arrangements, saying that they were
overcharged by the stores, that they did not know where they stood
financially, and that they bought more than they should when they
made a practice o f buying on credit.
The beet-field laborers in the Michigan areas included in this
study lacked on the whole the prosperity o f the Russian-German
resident laborers o f Colorado. Nevertheless, the most ambitious and
thrifty, as in Colorado, save money and become renters and even
tually owners o f farms.
Father’s earnings in other work.

The proportion o f fathers having winter occupations was much
larger among the Michigan than among the Colorado laborers.
This was due, no doubt, to the fact that many industrial centers were
near at hand, where up to 1920 the demand for labor had been so
great that almost any man could find work. Moreover, the majority
o f the laborers were migratory, expecting as a matter o f course to
return to city jobs when the beet-field work was completed. O f the
282 fathers who were contract laborers, only 19 were reported as
doing no work during the previous winter. This represents only
about 7 per cent o f the beet-field laborers, whereas, in Colorado
almost* one-fourth of those who might have worked had had no oc
cupation during the previous winter.
Over one-half o f the 263 fathers in the Michigan beet-growing
areas who had worked during the winter of 1919-20, had worked in
factories, about one-third o f them in metal-manufacturing plants,
chiefly in Detroit. A small proportion, about one-eighth, had worked
on farms, a few in mines and on railroads, and the rest in a variety
o f occupations. O f the total number o f fathers, both resident and
migratory laborers, who had worked during the winter preceding
the inquiry and who reported the amount earned, 47, or slightly over
one-fifth had made less than $300 from their winter employment,
but over three-fifths had made $400 or more, and approximately 40
per cent had earned at least $600.

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TH E BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IG AN .

115

T a b l e L Y II.— Father’ s w in ter1 occupation, ~by amount of earnings; fa th ers8

... who w ere employed in w in ter: Michigan group.
Fathers8 employed in winter.
Total.
Father’s winter
occupation.1

Amount of earnings.8

Per
Not
Less $50Num cent
$100 - $150- $200- $300- $400- $500- $600- $800 re
dis
ber. tribu than $99. $149. $199. $299. $399. $499. $599. $799. and port
|50.
over. ed.
tion.

Total...............

263

100 .0

Farm.........................
Fanner...............
Laborer..............
Factory employee...
Sugar..................
Metal...................
Other..................
Skilled trades............
Railroad laborer.......
Domestic and personal service..........
Mining......................
All other occupations
Not reported............

12.9
2.3

10 .6

28
136
18
91
27
25
8
8

14
37
1

51.7
6 .8

34.6
10.3
9.5
3.0
3.0
5.3
14.1
.4

4
8
1

4
2
1
1

3
x
3

2
1
1

1
10

3
i

31
2 _l
2

17
5

1
11

3^
12

5
i

1 From Dec. 1 to beginning o f w ork in beet fields.
‘ Excludes fathers in tenant and farm -owning families.
Farm laborers in addition to cash earnings usually received one or more meals and
in some cases lodging.

H O U S IN G A N D

S A N IT A T IO N .

Houses.

In the Michigan beet-raising area covered by the survey the beet
acreages were usually so small that each family o f laborers worked
on three or four different farms during the season. As a result,
living quarters were furnished not by the farmers, as in Colorado,
but by the sugar companies, the farmers paying the company at the
rate o f 50 cents for each acre o f beets cared for by laborers for whom
the company had provided shelter. O f the 289 laborers’ families
visited, only 4 were living in houses furnished by farmers. Nine
others owned or rented their houses. A ll the remaining families
occupied houses belonging to the sugar companies.
While it was to the advantage o f everyone to have the farms on
which a family worked close together, it frequently happened that
the various working places were some distance apart. To meet
such conditions the sugar companies usually provided small portable,
houses, easily moved from place to place, so that the family could be
established at the location most convenient to their work. The
portable houses were 1-, 2-, or 3-room structures, usually sheathed
"N and shingled, set up on wooden props, and having 2 or 3 small
windows and 1 door. They were purposely kept as small as pos-

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116

CHIU) LABOR AKD THE WORK OE MOTHERS

sible, 16 feet by 24 feet, so that they could be moved easily. When
not overcrowded and when clean and weatherproof, they were
suitable enough camping places for the summer, but all too fre
quently too many people were crowded in, and the houses were
allowed to fall into disrepair. In 1 house, for example, which
rested on 4 stones and looked as if it might fall to "pieces, the floor
had warped and settled and was full o f cracks, which were stuffed
with rags to keep out the cold. Several described their houses as
u nothing but cardboard and paper,55 or “ cardboard papered.
The
buildings were neither suitable nor intended for all-the-year dwelling
places, though some families remained in them through the winter
for lack of a better place. Occasionally a “ shack ” of tar paper or
tin, or a caravan wagon to be moved about as the work required, was
the only shelter provided. These wagons furnished such cramped
quarters that, as one child told the agent, the family “ has to take
turns going in, as there isn’t room for all o f us at once. One wagon
housed 2 families of Mexicans, 10 persons in all. A double-decked
bed (about the size of an ordinary double bed), built o f rough boards
covered with a nailed-down mattress, had been provided, each family
using 1 berth.
The companies also lodged the beet-field laborers’ families to a
considerable extent in unused farmhouses. For one reason or an- /
other a good many old farmhouses stood vacant, and where they
were in decent repair they made the most desirable dwellings; often,
however, they were even more dilapidated than the portable houses.
Families frequently reported that they were unable to use the upper
floor o f such houses because the roof leaked badly. As one family
expressed it, “ in good weather we have three rooms, in bad two.”
In one house some o f the windows were out and boards had been
nailed over the frames. In another house in which the window
glass was out the family had repaired the windows with glass taken
out o f their picture frames. One-fourth of the 276 company houses,
including portable houses and farmhouses, were badly out of repair
and did not furnish decent living quarters. Only two-fifths of them
were in fair condition, while but little more than one-fourth were in
good shape, that is, were tight against wind and weather, had doors
and windows that were whole, and wood or plaster that was sound.
Both the farmers and the sugar companies have for so long appar
ently acted on the principle that “ anything is good enough to house
the beet-field laborers,” that the change to better conditions, though
gradually coming, is slow. One of the sugar companies was remodel
ing some o f its best houses for winter use, hoping thereby to make
permanent settlement attractive to some o f the better families o f
laborers. A number o f families told agents o f the bureau that if the

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COMPANY

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HOUSES

IN M I C H I G A N .

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IG AN .

117

company would give them better houses to live in they would stay
all winter.
J
The most intelligent and ambitious families will not take the
worst old “ beet shacks.” One mother told o f being taken to three
or four houses before she found one that she considered suitable for
her family— an unused farmhouse* with trees, a bam, space for a
garden, and, just across the road, the district school. The family
was well pleased and had decided to stay permanently. Eventually
they would rent, and, in all probability, own a farm. But for one
such family and house there were a dozen less enterprising families
and less satisfactory houses. The majority o f the migratory workers
took the places offered them, and i f they did not like them left,
or tolerated them till the end o f the season, when they returned
to the city. Complaints of the failure o f the company to provide
such accommodations as had been promised by the company agent
were frequent. “ Beet work isn’t like it stood in the newspaper,”
was a typical remark. “ Newspaper said company give wood and
coal and big wages and nice house. But it don’t.” In a few cases
the families charged that no house had been given them. One family
had been housed in a shed until they had threatened to leave. The
father o f another family stated that while waiting for a house his
family o f 5 had been forced to live for 2 weeks in 2 rooms containing
19 other people; during this time his baby had caught cold and
had died.
About three-fifths o f the families jiad brought all their own fur
nishings and another fifth everything except a stove, the company
paying the freight to the beet-growing region but not the return
freight charge in every case. The company provided the fur
nishings as Well as the house for 25 families. The furniture and
household equipment provided were usually insufficient and of the
roughest sort— a stove, shelf or rough board table, 1 or 2 chairs or
boxes, and a bed, often o f boards with only a rough mattress and a
few blankets, comprising the outfit. One father remarked, “ You
could buy all the furniture in the house for 25 cents.” A Mexican
family whose house was exceptionally clean and tidy had been pro
vided with only 2 beds, 1 without any mattress, a rough board table,
3 tree stumps for chairs and a few dishes. In many cases not enough
bedding was supplied to keep the family warm.
Overcrowding.

In addition to other discomforts and inconveniences the beet-field
laborers suffer also from overcrowding. A generally accepted stand
ard of comfort and decency requires, in addition to a kitchen and a
living room, a bedroom for the parents and 1 for the children o f each
sex. A minimum, even for temporary quarters, would be 1 room in

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118

CHILD LABOB AND THE W OBK OF MOTHEES

addition to the necessary bedrooms. Many o f the beet-field laborers
were obliged to sleep with from 3 to 10 persons o f both sexes in a
small, ill-ventilated room, even when the combined kitchen and liv
ing room was also pressed into service as a bedroom. There were 112
laborers’ families, two-fifths o f the total number, with 2 persons or
more per room and 39 families with 3 or more persons per room.
Thirty-six families with from 3 to 9 members lived in houses contain
ing only 2 rooms, and 10 families, consisting o f from 3 to 10 persons,
Occupied 1-room dwellings.
Although the outdoor life possibly renders such conditions o f
crowding less intolerable and perhaps less injurious to health than
they would be in a city, the moral danger for growing boys and girls
involved in spending six months a year in quarters where practically
no privacy is possible is no less great than if they lived in a crowded
city tenement.
T a b l e L V I I . — Number of persons in household, by number of rooms in house;

fam ilies1 working in beet fields: Michigan group.
Families1 occupying specified number of rooms.
liousefiold.
Total.

Total............... .................

289

3 .................................................
4 .................................................

31
36
68
41
42
36
11

5
1
2

7
7
12
4
4
1
1

3
2
6
6
6
6
2
1
3
1

11
17
22
15
17
8
1
2
1

6......................................

7 ........................................ .......
8 .................................................
9 ......................... s'..............................
10.................................................
11.................................................
1 2 . . ................. ............................. .
13................................................

8
5
2

22
11
7
14
3
1
2
3

3
3
4
2
2
1

1
1
3
1
1
.2

1
1
1

Not re
ported.
1

1
1

1 Excludes tenant and farm-owning families.

Privies.

An outside privy was provided for the great majority o f the
families. Only 3 reported water-closets. In general only 1 family
used each privy, but 30 families shared theirs with 1 other family
and in 8 cases 3 families used the same privy. Twov families had
no toilet accommodations provided for them. Especially where
privies are used, screens for doors and windows are an essential pro
tection against contamination o f food by flies, but screens were sel
dom found, and, if found at all, almost never included more than
a screen door.
W ater supply.

The majority (69 per cent) o f the laborers’ families reported the
use o f drilled wells. Fifty-seven, or about one-fifth o f them, had

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IN TH E BEET FIELDS OF M ICH IG AN .

119

only a dug well, which was not always itf good repair or free from
surface pollution. Open wells were in some cases protected by a few
loose boards, and tin cans, pieces o f wood, and other rubbish had,
in some instances, fallen into the water. Some families reported
that the water was muddy or sandy; others that it had a bad odor
or made them ill. Several complained that the company had re
fused or neglected to repair the well when its condition was re
ported. In one o f these cases the water was secured by letting
down a pail attached to the end o f a rake. Eight families obtained
their water from springs or brooks, and in 1 case from a ditch, all
o f which sources were likely to be dirty and polluted. Generally
the water was within a few feet o f the house, but 75 families re
ported that it was 50 yards or more distant. This means additional
labor for the mother, who usually has to carry a large part of the
water used, and makes it difficult to maintain high standards o f
personal or household cleanliness.

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CONCLUSION.

Although the employment o f children in agricultural occupations
is beginning to be recognized as a problem worthy o f serious con
sideration,75 up to the present there has been little or no attempt at
direct regulation o f child labor on farms of any kind. Most State
child labor laws, in fact, specifically exempt agricultural work from
their provisions. While a few forbid the employment of children
during school hours in “ any gainful occupation ” and fix maximum
hours o f labor for children in all occupations, the tendency has been
to ignore the application o f these laws to agricultural pursuits.
Admittedly the application o f such laws to children’s work on
farms involves difficulties o f enforcement; and experience may show
that a somewhat different type o f legislation will be needed to ex
tend the protection o f the State to children doing agricultural work.
No automatic decrease in the number o f children employed in the
beet fields is likely to take place in the near future. Although chil
dren as beet-field laborers do not reduce the labor cost to the beet
grower or to the sugar company, inasmuch as they do the work no
better than adults and are paid on the same basis, they do increase
the number o f available “ hands” ; and the problem o f securing and
holding labor, particularly for some o f the processes which the chil
dren do, has been a serious one in sugar-beet growing in the United
States. Progress is being made in the development o f machines for
pulling and topping,76 but no machines for blocking and thinning,
for which children have been generally accepted as a necessary part
o f the labor supply, have as yet been invented, sa that even i f child
workers were replaced by machinery in the harvest they would still be
in demand for the spring work. Single men, chiefly Mexicans, have of
late years been going to the beet fields in large numbers; but although
they may temporarily replace to some extent the family labor now
so prevalent, Mexicans with families also are beginning to “ go to the
beets,” and their wives and children, like those o f the Russian75 F or example, am ong the d ra ft conventions relating to agricultural labor adopted by
the International Labour Conference at its third session, in Geneva, October, 1921, was
the follo w in g : “ Children under the age o f 14 years may not be employed or work in
any public o r private agricultural undertaking, or in any branch thereof, save outside the
hours fixed for school attendance. I f they are employed outside the hours o f school
attendance, the em ploym ent shall n ot be such as to prejudice their attendance at
school.”
(International Labour Office, Official Bulletin, Supplement to Vol. IV, No. 23,
Dec. 7, 1921, p. 5.) Up to July, 1922, no country had ratified this convention.
78 Saving Man Labor in Sugar-Beet Fields, U. S. Departm ent o f Agriculture', Farm ers’
Bulletin 1042, p. 13. W ashington, 1919.

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CHILD LABOR AND TH E WORK OF MOTHERS.

German and Central-European beet-field laborers, are going to
work in the beet fields.
Because o f its interference with schooling, the long hours involved,
and the uneducative character o f the work—as monotonous and
repetitive as many factory processes—labor in the beet fields is un
suitable for young children. Only one State, however, has attempted
any specific regulation o f child labor in the beet fields: Nebraska
includes such work by name under the maximum-hours provision o f
its child labor law.
An indirect method o f reducing to some extent the work o f chil
dren on the beet farms is offered through the strict enforcement of
school attendance laws. If, as the findings o f the present study
indicate, adequate school attendance laws were effectively enforced,
at least one serious objection to beet-field work for children would
be met. Satisfactory enforcement requires adequate administrative
machinery— a sufficient number o f full-time attendance officers, for
example, and enforcement under State supervision.77 It requires also
cooperation on the part' o f the parents, and if the fullest cooperation
is to be expected o f the foreign-born beet-field laborer in rearing
and educating his children he must himself be given opportunities
to learn the language and be put in touch with the general com
munity life. So long, also, as the theory o f payment for the beetfield work is in effect that of a family wage it is not to be expected
that the children will be kept in school regularly or the mother
withdrawn from the field to care for her children and the home.
Special provision seems to be necessary if the children o f migra
tory workers are to escape undue hardship. The responsibility for
their education and welfare, falling between the community from
which they come and that to which they go, is assumed by neither.
An interesting experiment in attacking the admittedly difficult
problem o f schooling for migratory workers’ children has been made
recently in California through the passage o f a law (June 3, 1921),78
making it the duty of the State superintendent o f public instruction
to organize and maintain special classes for the education o f chil
dren o f migratory laborers in the rural districts of the State. Such
an arrangement may or may not prove practicable in a given locality,,
but it is usually assumed that so far as it is found necessary or con
venient to import families o f laborers for seasonal work, it is the
obligation o f the community to which they go to provide school
facilities for the children. I f the community can not undertake it,
the responsibility clearly devolves upon the State.
77 Minimum Standards fo r Child W elfare, U. S. Children’s Bureau, Publication. No. 62,
p. 6. W ashington, 1920.
78 C alifornia Law s o f 1921, ch. 691.

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Full text of Child Labor and the Work of Mothers in the Beet Fields of Colorado and Michigan, Bureau Publication No. 115

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