SOME PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL LABOR 859 



lives of so many of these families. The houses are really nothing 

 but shanties, poorly constructed and equipped, and are designed 

 for temporary residence only. This reveals the readiness with 

 which the workers sacrifice all comfort and even necessaries to the 

 immediate needs of the work. The children of these families are 

 not permitted to attend school regularly throughout the school 

 year, for their parents insist upon their helping with work in the 

 fields. 



The Colorado compulsory education law is not enforced in the 

 beet sections. Children of all ages are absent for months at a time 

 and no action is taken. This disregard of the law is unfortunate from 

 every point of view, and if the present and future welfare of these 

 children is to be conserved the people cannot afford to tolerate these 

 conditions longer. The school teachers call attention to the grave 

 mistake of permitting the children of these immigrants to grow up in 

 ignorance, as unassimilated masses; to the waste of money spent on 

 ineffective schools; to the loss to all the children, non-beet-workers 

 as well as beet- workers, due to the disorganization of the schools; 

 and to the impossible task laid upon the teachers themselves) who are 

 expected to get good results under such conditions. Otherwise Colo- 

 rado is trying to establish high standards for rural schools, but all 

 these efforts are of no avail unless the children attend. The failure 

 to enforce the compulsory education law in these districts is of such 

 long standing that families now look upon attendance as optional. 

 Many a teacher says, "What can we do to enforce attendance when 

 the members of our own local school board keep their children at 

 home to work in the fields ? " 



The consensus of opinion is in favor of what is known as the 

 county unit system which would make the county into one school 

 district with a county board of education; this board could then 

 employ a truant officer to enforce the law through its jurisdiction. 

 Some such step is necessary to insure the effective enforcement of the 

 school attendance laws. The welfare of the children of these districts 

 actually depends upon this issue. 



NOTE. Colorado is not the only state in which child labor con- 

 stitutes a real problem of rural life. There are the children of the 

 onion fields, the potato fields, the berry fields, and perhaps worst of 

 all of the cotton fields. The following accounts of child labor in 

 cotton sections are taken from the letters from farm women to the 

 Secretary of Agriculture (Report No. 105, Office of the Secretary, 



