The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-09-14
BY FLORENCE STRAND

IODe Vi lne UlliliOIlS Ol migrant IdTU
workers in this country, direct hin
to the Statue Of Liberty, show hin
the inscription on its base, anC
chances are he'll laugh out loud
hard bitter laugh.
The words read: Give me youl
poor, your tired, your huddlec
masses, yearning TO breathe free
The wretched refuse Of your TEEN
ing shores. Send these, the home.
less, tempest-tost, to me. / lift my
lamp beside the golden door"
The migrant workers have beer
Americas displaced Persons" foi
the past quarter Of century. Their
plight has been Exposed" year
after year. Hundreds of books
millions of words, thousands OF
groups have protested their in.
human lot. Yet an official Of the
National Child Labor Committee
told the Presidents Commission on
Migratory Labor at a Washington
hearing only a few months ago
that "there seems to have been
little change in the unbelievably
substandard conditions of life and
labor among many migrant farm
workers"
Every few years there is a stir
made over the Shocking, "inde-
cent, brutal conditions. Humane
citizens cry something should be
DONE" Their cry is loud and de-
manding for a few months. Soon it
is just whisper. And what is left
is low, heavy moan, yelling up
from the farmlands of the nation,
the moaning of the second-class
citizens. For % years this cycle
has operated and this year an ex-
pert was forced to report that
there seems to have been little
change in the unbelievable sub
standard conditions of life and
labor among many migrant farm
workers."
Today, the cry is on the land
again. A commission appointed by
the President to make a study of
the problem is at work, going from
one farm area to another, looking
things over, holding hearings. The
commission of five men has receiv-
ed enough facts and opinions to
pave the highway from Maine to
California. Every interested group
in the nation is giving testimonies.
Everyone who has even seen the
plight of the migrant and remem-
bers it with pain is contributing to
the gigantic flow of information
and pleas for action directed at
the commission.
The commission is to submit its
report and recommendation to the
President by Dec. Is. If, when har-
vest season 1851 comes around,
conditions are still, Shocking,
brutal, and indecent, a great
many people will have lost a great
deal of faith in the workings ofl
American justice.
Migrant farm workers are notl
covered by social security or min
imum wage laws. Because of theirl
need to keep on the move following
the crops, they do not meet the re-
sldence requirements in any county
or state so as to draw most bene-
fits. Last winter the distress
among many migrants was sol
great that most of the states pull
ed out of the relief picture alto
gether. The counties do little more,
in most cases, than hand out an oc-
casional dole.
Migrants wages are so low, the
time between jobs so long, that
they have no money with which to
improve their conditions. Most
camps throughout the nation lack
all the necessary facilities. The
dwellings, are shacks, or tents, that
are filthy. Water is usually at a
premium-as are toilets and show
ers. There is generally no provision
for garbage disposal. In most
states inspection of the camps just
doesn't happen.
The closest wage estimate for a
worker in the major crops is
around $4 to Sc a day. There are
of cases on record of
weekly earnings averaging Sc to
5l0. The wages that growers are
'ond of citing, such as $50 and $40
weekly, are the wages earned by a
nan, plus his wife and two or three
.hildren.
Various devices are used to keepl
wages down. For the past twentyl
years, the most effective and often
lsed device is that of flooding the
market. A call is sent out-through
'adio and hand bills and agents.
hat 10000 men are needed in GER
ain areas. When the 10000 arrive,
hey find there is work for 5000.
The money spent in getting there
makes it almost impossible for ,
hem to refuse the offered wage
be it 80 cents ar hour, 25 cents ;
N hour, or less. .
There are hundreds of thousands :
f unlicensed labor contractors who !