Evening star., 1937-07-04
MIGRATORY LABOR
ELD0N|NCREASE
Miss Perkins Says Millions
Are Living Under DepIor.
able Conditions.

8y the Associated Press.
eecretary Of Labor Perkins told the
Senate yesterday that millions Of
American workmen and their fam
lilies have moved around the country
IN search Of jobs without adequate
direction and often living under de
plorable" conditions,
A certain amount OF this labor mi
grafton was necessary to take care
Of industrial changes and seasonal
work, such as harvesting, Miss Perkins
added in report on migratory work.
erS which the Senate ordered last year.
Increasing numbers of workers are
forced to move ceaselessly across State
lines to exc out a living by piecing
together short and scattered seasons
OF employment in agriculture and in
dustry." she said.
AS long as employers demand much
more labor in one season than an
other, workers must migrate or find
some alternative means of subsistence
within each local area.
Shifting Held Necessary.
For hundreds of thousands of
American workers, even a meager sub
sistence is dependent upon continual
interstate migration.
Migration OF workers, although
necessary, is largely unguided or ILL
directed. Although the relocation of
workers has been broadly advan-
tageous, it has often been inefficient
from the point of view of the par
tlcular individuals involved There
has been inadequate migration from
many standard areas At the same
time there has often been too con-
centrated a flow to particular locali-
ties.
Rarely does any type of migrant
have the assurance of a definite Job
until after he has moved The lack
OF such assurance is especially diSas-
trous for seasonal migrants who hope
at most to share in a few weeks of
employment in one place.
When the migration of seasonal
workers is overstimulated, untold
misery results.
such studies as are available sug-
eest that migrants seeking new per-
manent places of work, If they find
employment, earn less than most work.
ers IN the areas to which they go.
Seasonal migrants in agriculture seem
TO be able to average only about six
months Of work each year. They ap-
pear to average about $500 a year
per single man and s4Oo year per
family
Good Citizenship Menaced.
The conditions of migratory life,
as observed in the areas recently sur
Veyed, are a threat to the develop
ment OF good citizens.
The migrant and his family tend
TO be isolated from the normal activi-
ties OF the community, both because
OF their enforced mode of travel and
living and because OF community
%ANJNaASSo as dlllSU lllSIIl
Living conditions for most migrants
are deplorable. Families with as
many as six children are travelling in
OLD cars and trucks. At night they
sleep by the roadside, in suuatter
camps or crowd into one or two
room cabins in low-priced tourist
camps.
Unattached men live. for the most
part, in congregate shelters main
tanned by relief agencies or in 'iun-
giles. Even labor camps provided for
migrant agricultural workers are fire.
quently crowded, inadequately eouip-
ped and insanitary.
Lack Health Aids.
Lack OF medical care and health
protection menaces the community as
vel as the migrants themselves. Edu-
cAuonal opportunities are lacking or
extremely limited for the children of
thousands Of migrant workers. par
tlcularly those OF migrant agricul-
tural workers.
Children old enough to work in the
helds are expected to contribute badly
needed income, and parents often do
not consider it worth while to enroll
the younger children in school during
their short stay in any one COM
munity'
MISS Perkins emphasized that her
report was incomplete because of lack
OF funds for comprehensive survey
one said recommendations for legis-
lation might come after a more COM
plete study OF the problem was made,