Evening star., 1941-02-02
Solving Migratory
Labor Problem
By Frederic J. HaSktn.

more than a million men, women and
children-are wandering from State to
State in a desperate effort to earn a
living as migrant farm laDorers.
These families probably have the low
est living standards of any group IN the
United States Their incomes range be-
tween 5000 and $3.50 a year. They fol-
low the crops in rickety automobiles,
packed with their only possessions-a
tent, a blanket or two, few pots and
pans. Many 0f them travel as far as
1000 miles year. Their children have
little chance for education, adequate
medical care or normal community life.
Malnutrition and disease are common
among both adults and children.
These migrant workers are essential
to some Of the Nations most important
farm areas. In California, for example,
a big vegetable or cotton farm may use
only few dozen workers during most
of the year, but in the harvest season,
it will need as many as 500 laborers for
a week or two
The same is true in other areas where
the old-fashioned family-sized farm
has almost disappeared and agriculture
has become big industry. In these
regions single farm may cover thou
sands of acres. and often is owned by q
corporation which operates it like fac
tory with modern machinery and crew.
of day laborers.
This type OF farming is most common
in the speciality crop regions of Cali
fornia. 1t also is widespread, however,
in the lettuce, cotton and vegetable
fields of Arizona; the fruit, berry and
hop regions of the Pacific Northwest;
the beet and potato country of Idaho,
oregon, Washington and Colorado; the
cotton and citrus areas of Texas, and
parts of Florida and New Jersey.
In Texas alone there are nearly 500 900
migrant laborers. who find most of their
work in the cotton harvest. Most Of
the cotton land now is planted and cul-
tivated by machinery, so that hand labor
IS needed in abundance only in the pick
ing season The cotton harvest lasts
nearly six months in the State as
whole, but in any single area it lasts for
only TO 10 weeks.
Consequently, the cotton pickers start
work in early July on the lower Rio
Grande Valley. They drift north into
the Corpus Christi area, then into Black
lands during August and September:
into the South Plains and Western cot
ton area. and finally back into the ex-
treme southwestern part of the State In
December.
For years most of the migrant farm
workers in all sections of the country
we're foreigners. Today however, these
races have been largely replaced by
native. white American families, which
now make up about 85 per cent of the
migrent labor supply.
Most of these families were once small
farmers in Southern and Midwestern
States. Many of them we're driven out
of the so-called Dust Bowl by the great
droughts of 1884 and 1886. Others were
foreclosed and lost their farms in the
early days Of the depression, and still
others came from land worn out by
decades of soil erosion and bad land use.
Many thousands Of additional families
mostly tenants. were pushed of the land
by the increasing mechanization of agri-
culture. All through the Southern Great
Plains and the Mississippi Delta, small
tracts once operated by tenants and
mule power are being combined into large
rim with ord al
day laborers.
The presence of this horde Of migrants
has created grave health housing and
economic problems, especially in the Pa
cific Coast States. Through the Farm
Security Administration, in 1886 the Feds
eral Government, at the request OF
States. set out to help them meet some
of the most urgent health and housing
problems which had been created by
this great wave of migration. The Gov
ernment has constructed a number of
stationary camps where migrant families
can live as they follow the crops. Since
the migrants are continually flowing in
and out of these camps as the demand
for labor changes in each area as many
as 1900 or $1,000 families may use the
camps in year.
In addition to the stationary camps,
during the past year kind of travel
ing camp was worked out-a camp on
wheels This camp gives more service
to more people on a more economical
basis to the Federal Government. the
States and to the campers themselves.
There are IS of these special camps,
which is about half the number of sta
tionary camps.
When the mobile camp arrives, a va.
cant lot is transformed into an orderly
village. Rows of tents are set up in army
style, traffic regulations established and
sanitary facilities provided. In addition
there is a community tent where church
services and entertainments are held.
Most of the camps have a children's
clinic, nurse and visiting physicians;
an isolation ward for persons who have
contagious diseases; small shop where
the residents can repair their automo-
biles and a cottage for the camp man.
ager.
Each camp is governed by a Camp
Council. elected by the residents. This
council represents the camp population
in its relations with the manager, and
handles problems of discipline and order
within the camp. All camps are, Of
course, subject to the police and health
authorities of the counties in which they
are located