Speaker. will wages drop? How far will standards of living fail? The ragged camps of migrants squatting in filth by the roadside. in open fields. along irrigation ditches. or on garbage dumps fairly beggar description. These people are not stumble bums. Disease is rife. and National as well as State health is seriously threatened. Large growers sometimes provide good housing for workers. but smaller groups with short peak seasons axe often unable to do this. Many camps similar to the present three Resettlement camps are needed to provide adequate housing for migrants not only in California but also in other States. where Dust Bowl refugees and other homeless tend to concentrate. The resettlement camps in California house 500 families. less than 1 percent of the States estimated migratory workers. Two years ago California threatened. in selfdefense. to close its borders to the destitute people who were creating such an economic problem within the State. The resulting howls from Washington. accompanied by threats of cutting off Federal relief aid. were heard across the country. Instead of closing her borders. the California relief laws were liberalized and migrants from all parts of the United States continued to pour into the State. But there is an economic limit to the number of destitute which the State can support. Taxpayers threaten to strike. and unless the Federal Government will make an effort to understand Californias unique relief problem and cooperate with the State in solving the situation. the State borders may yet be closed in selfdefense. The drought refugees from the Great Plains who have been pouring into California by the scores of thousands to the west coast are leaving areas where depopulation is desirable for the national economy. They are not drifting but are seeking resettlement. They are helpless victims of a shortsighted national policy which .threw open the Great Plains to a type of settlement unsuitable to natural conditions.
Keywords matched
migrants refugees