Alo—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 7,1981 Lancaster Farming says... What’s more difficult to find than a cow that will produce 20,000 pounds, a lamb that’ll reach 100 pounds in 90 days, or a field yielding 175 bushels of corn per acre 7 The answer is a good hired hand We can find little sympathy for the farmer who ic looking for new help every six or r, ne months On an operation like that, the problem rests with management and not the hired labor Even on the best of farms there is a wide difference between what the help receives in pay and what they deserve It is to farming's shame that the worst treated workers often are those who aren’t hired outsiders, but rather are members of the operator’s family It’s no secret that farm operators realize less return than other small businessmen And farm labor likewise receives less income But IS GOD FAIR? March 8,1981 Background Scripture: Matthew 20 Devotional Reading: Leviticus 20 22-26 How would you feel if your employer were to pay you the same amount as he paid •y-v f NOW IS ' THE TIME SS V\S V. s By Max Smjth Lancaster Countv Agricultui St - Phone 71/-St' i' TO USE WOO- . burning stoves am. . u. popular at this time in order to save fuel costs The ashes from wood are useful as a soil con ditioner, and to some extent, as a fertilizer These ashes will be alkaline, rather than acid, and therefore, should not be used near acid-loving plants such as azaleas, hollies, or rhododendrons In addition, folks growing pototoes should not use wood ashes on that soil. However, for most other crops on the farm or in the garden, wood ashes will provide some potash and will help break down a heavy, clay type soil These ashes should be applied and worked into the topsoil before any planting is done xxx TO FILE INCOME TAX REPORT EARLY... Why wait until April 15th to file your income tax report 9 One good answer might be for the person who has money to pay - put it off as long as possible. However, there are several good reasons to file early, many folks already have sent in there is a limit to how little a hired hand and family can receive and still survive In some cases it seems the hand must be a better money manager than the boss Worse yet, the figures for pay on Pennsylvania’s thriving farms are poorer than for the nation as a whole The Crop Reporting Service this week put farm wage rates, for all methods of pay converted to an hourly rate, at $3 73 That’s less than $7500 per year, less than an average secretary makes sitting in an air conditioned office The national farm wage average was $4 12, up 43 cents from 1980 But even when it comes to wage increases, Pennsylvania farm em ployers were stingy Hired hands received an average 18 cents per hour increase over the last year That’s a six percent boost in times of 12 percent inflation a teilow employee doing the same task but for con siderably fewer hours ; I’m sure you’d be outraged at the employer's unfairness 1 would That’s what makes Jesus’ parable of the workers m the vineyard (Matthew 20 1-16) so difficult for us The householder in this parable seems utterly unjust not to mention unwise in the way he treats his workers He hires workers at 8a m, 11 a.m ,Ipm, and 3pm Yet he pays them all the same wage l It is not hard to un derstand their angry response These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal Mil, <eDoa It you are due a 'Ciuao the soonei you get that monej and use it, or put to work, the bettei In addition, when you file at the last minute you’re more likely to rush and make mathematical mistakes Also, it takes longer to get a refund when you are among the ‘ big rush” at the deadline date Income tax returns are expected from all of us and we might as well get the report made and sent in without penalty TO BE CAREFUL WITH DISCARDED PESTICIDES... What are you doing with left-over spray materials, or containers' These need special attention in order to prevent poisoning and pollution in the first place, any left-over pesticide should be used as in tended, if it is still legal to use if not legal, you have a problem of disposal because it is unwanted everywhere. To bury it away from any water supply has been one suggestion One thing that should not be done is to throw it into an old stone quarry or sink-hole This will very likely get into someone’s Pay a fair wage to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat' I Choose To Give But the reply of the householder puts the whole matter in a different light Friend, 1 am doing you no wrong, did you not agree with me for a denarius ’ Take what belongs to you and go” (20-13) The crux of the matter is, not that the longer-term workers were denied what they were promised, but that they begrudged the employer paying the short-term workers the same wage. I choose to give to this last as I gave to you Am I not allowed to do what I choose water supply in the near future Our state officials, such as DER, are looking for violators using this disposal system Containers in which pesticides have been stored and now empty, should be punc tured, or flattened so they cannot be used for any other purpose This is very important to eliminate pesticide accidents Be caretul with all spray materials and containers TO MANAGE SEPTIC TANKS... The spring ot the year is a very common time for septic tank trouble No doubt this is due to the extra moistuie in the drainage field area after snow melt and spring rams In most cases the septic tank should be cleaned out every three to five years. This will depend upon the size of the family and the size ot the tank. Dram fields need kept free ot all shrub and tree plantings, the roots from these plants will seek out the moisture m the dram field and fill the area with additional roots Willow trees are especially bad for clogging dram fields and cesspools If both the septic tank and the drain field are kept m good condition, they should perform tor years However, a filled up septic tank will permit the solids to get out into the dram field area and clogg the system Good management should aim to prevent trouble i ather than try to correct the trouble after it ap pears Field workers received a whopping two cents per hour average increase An offer like that has to be seen as an insult to the hired hand Surely a good combine operator, running a $50,000 machine, is worth as much as a union scale trucker But those field workers, who average $3 64 per hour, are well off compared to their fellows on livestock operations Livestock workers took home an average $3 14 per hour, well below current minimum wage Their only bright spot was they came up from deep in the financial cellar with gams from average wages of $2 80 per hour last year Most painful is the reaction that more enlightened farm managers are paying their employees a fair living wage So, there must be some hired hands living well below the poverty line Is it any wonder, then, that it is with what belongs to me ' Or Actually, Jesus is not do you begrudge my talking about a householder generosity' (20 15) in this parable, but God He Yes, they did begrudge his is not advocating that em generosity Their unspoken ployers conduct their affairs charge of unfairness - as the householder in the stemmed, not from an> parable, tor the employer failure for him to keep his and the God of the universe agreement with them, but in do not stand on the same that they resented someone level What the workers in else getting what they did the parable receive is not and for considerably fewer really a wage, but something hours Yes, they begrudged more something that goes the householder s generosity considerably beyond what and so would most of us —as they deserve What God secretly we may sometimes "pays them, therefore, is begrudge the grace of God not a wage, but grace. All of freely given to those whom the workers would be due we would judge as being considerably less than they unworthy of the same were paid if they received salvation promised us only what they were worth HAV HAWS BY CURT HARLER, EDITOR next to impossible for some farmers to get and keep good help 7 The answer on some operations has been to put the children to work without compensation Some ob servers, pointing to agriculture’s exemption from child labor laws, claim this common practice is one step above slavery for one’s own offspring While that is going too far in most cases, the results show up in a child’s attitude toward farming Is it any wonder, then, that so many of our young people flee the burden of hard - work long hours, and low pay for more attractive jobs 7 The laborer is worthy of his hire There can be no pride in U S agriculture’s record as a food producer until the farm community learns to take care of its own members rather than have them suffer to the benefit of American’s cheap food policy Beyond Fairness It is not a matter, then, of God or the householder being •fair’ but of being gracious to all workers/children None of us deserves the grace of God Therefore, none of us has the right to begrudge that same grace being given to others. We are j not able to judge as to whom < should God bless and whom..- he should condemn Nothing is more self condemning than for the person who is the beneficiary of God’s grace to begrudge that same grace to someone else God is not • fair’ (not by our stan dards, anyway), God is love
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers