The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-11-09
Comment On
World Events

AFL President William Greel
has made a soundly based protes
against large-scale importation o
foreign workers for farm jobs il
the United States. In recommend
ing that farm workers be coveret
by labor and social welfare legis
lation, the same as industrial work
ers, he pointed out that importation
Of farm workers has introduced I
"new but extremely serious fac
tor" in the problem of justice 70
agricultural labor.
1--WE feel" President Green said
shat the importation Of foreigI
workers to work in our fields ant
to harvest our crops has in effec
denied employment to what is per
haps the most underprivilegeC
group in America. For those Amer
ican migrant workers who have
somehow been able to obtain jobi
in the face of this foreign competi
tion, it has had the effect Of de
pressing their wages and worsen
ing their already disgraceful work
ing and living conditions.
'1n making this statement, we dc
not want to be misunderstood. The
American Federation of Labor
strongly supports any action to i'm
prove the economic opportunitie'
of workers in other countries. Oul
wholehearted and energetic sup
port of the European Recovery Pro,
gram and Point Four testifies tt
our genuine efforts to improve
living standards in other coun-
tries"
Then came the clincher il
Green's argument: However" ht
said, at is neither common sense
nor sound economics to think that
the poverty of farm workers in Z
foreign country can be alleviateC
by importing them to this coun-
try where there is already an ample
supply of available farm workers.
!. - !.
Sweden is trying an interesting
experiment of aid for her seamer
in foreign ports, involving help ir
getting employment and benefits
for those who are unemployed. The
program was started Nov. / on a
trial basis.
Beginning only at 8 so-called
central ports'-New York, Sar
Francisco and Antwerp - special
seamen's labor exchanges were
established for the purpose of
maintaining a register of available
jobs and organizing a labor supply
system for seafarers.
Provision for the payment of
state unemployment benefits will
apply to 2 groups Of seamen: u
members of recognized unemploy-
ment funds who are entitled to
union ben efit, but who can
prove this is insufficient to
them; p those who are
not members of unemployment
funds and have no other source of
income. In the latter case, state
benefit will be granted in full,
while in the former it will supple
ment union benefit. In no case may
the total assistance from all sources
exceed a fixed daily allowance
based on local living costs. State
benefit consists of daily assistance
plus supplementary benefit plus
overseas supplement.
Pravda, faithful mouthpiece of
the Kremlin, gravely tells US that
the announcement of the Russian
on the construction of
an irrigation canal in Turkmonia
Central Asia) was received with
Exceptional enthusiasm" by the
workers of Riga, who expressed
their sincere thanks to "the great
Stain" for this measure.
A canal in Turkmonia can have
no bearing on the life or interests
of the Riga workers as long as they
are in Latvia. Can it be that they
feel that sooner or later they, too,
will be deported to Central Asia
where so many of their countrymen
are already languishing, and are
Stain for making the
desert of their future exile little