Speech #830070122

FEBRUARY 27. 1952 picked by the family were weighed together The National Child Labor Committee is a and Joses father was paid by the pound for voluntary organization founded in 1904 and the family production. Joses parents felt incorporated by act of Congress in 1907. It that they had tokeep the children working has concerned itself with the children of in order to get enough money for food and farm migrants and rural child welfare genfor the inevitable time. not far distant. when erally almost since its inception. A list of they would again be compelled to travel. its many studies in this field is attached as perhaps a thousand or 2.000 miles. in quest an indication of its background and knowlof more work. edge of migrant problems. The story of Jose could be long and elabo- The National Child Labor Committee is rate. We will cut it short. After all. Joses gratified that your subcommittee is holding life was short. these hearings. It gives us hope that the Congress will recognize the gravity of the migrant farm labor problem and that at long last steps will be taken to give this most neglected group of our population the standards of living. of employment. and of education that this country seeks to provide for all within its borders. I shall comment briefly on some subjects covered by committee print bills. but the major portion of my testimony will be on the conditions under which migrant children are growing up with specific suggestions for Federal action. I One of the committee print bills deals with housing. In our studies In many States we have seen migrant housing that is fit only for animals. I could give documented and photographic corroboration of this. but I know you have had ample testimony on this point. I would. however. like to read an excerpt from a letter written to her mother by a college student who worked in a fellowship group in Colorado in 1950: "We spent some time nailing on a roof of a new Methodist camp. spoke before Rotary. led an evening of recreation among church youth. then spent a day traveling around the valley. stopped at a migrant camp and spent some time with the kids. etc. The reaction of the Czech girl who went with us to the migrant labor camp (theymigrant workersLwere living in the stalls of a barn. all the kids had watery eyes. many pockmarks. and deformed bone growth) was that she hadnt seen anything like this since the concentration camp and didnt realize It existed in America." We are especially interested in the bill- to regulate the activities of employment agencies and labor contractors. We regret that this proposed regulation is limited to those whose operations are interstate. We would raise the question as to whether. under the interstatecommerce power. Federal :regulation could be extended to all those who con.tract for labor that is employed on commodities that are shipped in interstate commerce. even if the workers recruited do not themselves cross State lines. The independent contractor Is the most vicious element -in the migrant picture. He is responsible to no one and his practices are utterly unscrupulous. Catholic and Protestant clergymen. welfare workers. teachers. and merchants in Colorado referred to him as a racketeer. an exploiter of human misfortunes. a thief. a robber baron.