Sugar Beet Workers

Random Topic #9 – sugar

Sugar beet workers, Sugar City, Colorado. Mary, six years, Lucy, eight, Ethel, ten.
Family has been here ten years. Children go to school in the winter. July 1915.¹

Three-year old Hilda, who is beginning beet work on a Wisconsin farm. July, 1915.²

“I don’t never git no rest.” This is the attitude that Henry, a six-year old beet worker takes toward life, on a Wisconsin farm. July, 1915.³

Ten-year-old Mollie Steuben topping beets. Many children of this age put in a full day’s work, and many begin younger. The work is hard and the children sometimes cut themselves or are “hooked” by the long tooth on the end of the blade. Mollie and her two sisters, 12 and 14 yrs. old, work from 6 A.M. to 5 P.M., near Sterling, Colorado, Oct. 21, 1915.⁴

Family of Fred Karb and their mud shack — beet workers near Sterling, Colo. They all work from 5:30 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. with about an hour for lunch. The 6 and 8 yr. olds pull and pile, -10 and 12 yr. olds pull and top. Oct 22, 1915.⁵

Part of the family of George Padroni, near Sterling, Colo. They have 9 children and some hired help. Only one child in school. This is 6 yr. old Lena, who works some, too. The 8 yr. old boy pulls and piles beets. 9 and 12 yr. old boys run the pulling machine, the mother said, “We all got to do all we can.” 11 yr. old girl piles and tops and does housework. 13 yr. old girl piles and tops. Says she hasn’t hurt herself with the knife this year, but did last year. The whole family begins work from 5 to 6 A.M. and works until 6 P.M. and after, with time off for dinner. Pedroni has been living here for 20 yrs., owns several hundred acres, about 100 in beets. Is said to be well-to-do.Location: Oct. 25, 1915.⁶

A Giddings beet-puller, drawn by 4 horses. The two knives pass along the sides of the beet rows and loosen the soil — but they do not pull the beets — the workers finish pulling by hand, often with some extra exertion. A kind of hand plow puller is often used on small farms. Near Sterling, Colorado, Oct. 23, 1915.⁷

The random topic this time was sugar which I used as a search term in the U.S. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog. Several Lewis Hines photographs of child sugar beet workers appeared on the first page of the search, which led to refining the search to sugar beet workers, from which I selected this images

Sources:

1. Hine, Lewis Wickes, photographer. Image. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/nclc/item/ncl2004004202/PP/. (Accessed October 06, 2016.)
2. Hine, Lewis Wickes, photographer.  Image retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/nclc/item/ncl2004004216/PP/. (Accessed October 06, 2016.)
3. Hine, Lewis Wickes, photographer. Image retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/nclc/item/ncl2004004203/PP/. (Accessed October 06, 2016.)
4. Hine, Lewis Wickes, photographer. Image retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/nclc/item/ncl2004004286/PP/. (Accessed October 06, 2016.)
5. Hine, Lewis Wickes, photographer. Image retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/nclc/item/ncl2004004301/PP/. (Accessed October 05, 2016.)
6. Wickes, photographer. Image retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ncl2004004254/PP/. (Accessed October 06, 2016.)
7. Hine, Lewis Wickes, photographer. Image retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ncl2004004310/PP/. (Accessed October 05, 2016.)