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