The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1934-03-30
Fresno, Calf.

S4A40 OAk \ all UAAsAAA8 w
keep q promise / made to a little
i5-year-old Mexican girLat She
wanted to write to you because
she had heard you were doing
things for poor workers. She did
not write because she did not have
three cents for a stamp and be-
cause she never went to school to
learn how to write. Her earliest
memories are of wandering about
in an old, rafting, wheeling Ford
from vegetable field to fruit field,
from fruit field to vegetable field,
and you can't go to school if your
father needs your labor in the
fields as soon as you are seven
years old.
/ cannot give you her name be-
cause when 1 told her would
write to you for her she became
frightened and pleaded with me
not to mention her name. She
was afraid maybe you'd write the
boss and her family would be de-
MED the privilege of working in
the fields all day for S5 cents. She
said it was all right, so I'll tell
you how to find her.
Just take the main highway
from Fresno, Calf, to Mendoza,
which is about 80 miles away and
turn west at Mendoza for about
four miles. You can't miss it be-
cause you'll see a big sign Land
of Milk and Honey" When you've
passed this sign you'll see against
the horizon a cluster of houses and
when you come to the sign
"Hotchkiss Ranch-Cotton Pickers
Wanted" turn up the side road a
few hundred yards beyond the
comfortable farm house with its
barns and cotton shelters. There's
a row of fifteen outhouses along
the road. That is where the migra-
tory workers and this little girl
live, Mr.. President.
There are two more outhouses a
little away from these and those
are the ones actually used for out
houses. You can tell that by the
odor and the swarms of flies that
hover around these two especially
This is typical migratory work.
ers' camp, only some have five out
houses for the workers and some
have thirty. 1t depends upon tbs
size of the farm.
You'll recognize a migratory
workers camp because each out
house-''homes" they call them out
here's made of plain wooden
boards, dried by years of tropica
sun.
The little girl lives in the third
house from the front as you ap.
proach. You can't miss it. It has
large sign: SCARLET FEVER
on the door.
But don't worry about that be.
cause the health authorities here
are not worrying. They just put
up the sign on this clubhouse dool
and on that one there near the
end of the now and went away
They didn't tell anyone to be care.
ful about contagious disease be.
cause that might have the camp
quarantined and the whole crop
lost to the landlord, for all the cot.
ton pickers and their children have
been in that clubhouse. don't
imagine it's very dangerous though
for only two more children have
caught it. If it had been danger
Gus I'm sure the health authorize.
would have warned them.
In this clubhouse where a baby
girl has scarlet fever you'll fine
an iron bedstead. That's where the
baby sleeps, the one that's tossine
around in fever while the mother
tries to shoe the flies away. That:
the only bed and it's one of five
In the whole camp, so you cam
miss it. The other six in this
family sleep on the floor huddleC
together; father, mother. tive
grown brothers, a little brother
and the fifteen-year-old girl. They
sleep like most everybody else il
the camp, on the floor.
That barrel and rusty milk cal
in the corner of the room wher,
everybody sleeps on the floor hold.
the water they bring from Men
dota to cool the child's fever. L
is four miles to Mendoza and foul
miles back and eight miles costs {
little for gas so they have to b,
very sparing with the water. Thai
is why they all look so dirty
is not because they don't like K
wash. It's because it costs too
much to get water-water needec
for cooking and drinking. You
can't waste water just washins
yourself when it costs so much K
get. After all, when you make 81
cents for a full days work anc
spend some of that for gas to ge
water it leaves ysu that much les
for food.
The mother isn't in the field to
day because the baby is pretty
sick and those children playing il
and out of the house marked will
SCARLET FEVER signs are tot
young to go into the field but
everyone else is there. That.
where found the little girl fol
whom / am writing this letter.
Perhaps l had better tell YOU
exactly how / found her and wha
we talked about so you can under
stand just what she wants. /
would be a big favor, she said
and che would bo very grateful