Apparently the illegal issue is much stronger there in California than it is up here in Oregon. Yes, we have our illegals. They work the expansive landscape nursery industry up here for the most part. There are crude jokes going around addressing this. One thing that occurs to me: When I was a kid, about 100 years ago, here in Oregon, working the crops (green beans, pears, walnuts, apples, strawberries, etc.) was what the children did each summer to earn school money. Somewhere between then and now we, (the adults) decided that that was child labor, so we made it illegal for children under (I think it's 14 or 16) to work the crops. That left a huge, empty labor market. Traditionally, it paid beans (pun intended - 1 1/2 cents per pound in my day), so no adult with a family to support was willing to go there. Besides, it was hot and dirty, and seasonal work only. The farmers did what they had to do to stay in business. Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating breaking the law. I'm just saying, there were (and are) few options for an industry that cannot pay a living wage (because we, as consumers would refuse to pay the necessary increase in price in our goods). What would happen if we reversed that law and allowed our children to work the fields again? What if we required our children to work helping others clean house, mow lawns, weed, wash dishes, and other odd jobs that illegals occupy today? Of course, it would take a major shift in thinking for young parents today to allow their 8-year-old to go hoe beets for a day, or the 11-year old to mow a lawn, but that just might be a good thing. It seems that the children that were to be protected by that law are still slaving away in the hot sun, out of sight and out of mind to most of us, while our puffy, white American kids, fat on fast-food are spending their summers in front of the X-box. Hmmmmm . . . . what's wrong with this picture? Just food for thought
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beans, country life, work, child labor
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