Mr. President. it has been said that happy nations have no history and that great literature and other arts are distilled from mans divine discontent inspired by the injustices of oppression. exploitation and discrimination that harm both the exploiter and the exploited. Last week on July 22 with little notice or debate we passed a billand yesterday adopted the conference reportextending the Mexican contract labor program assuring the Mexican national entering this country to do agricultural work certain standards and protections on the job and in being transported to and from the job which are not guaranteed to and. clearly. are not enjoyed by United States citizens doing the same type of work. Today there came to my desk a clipping from the Denver Post of July 15. 1955. containing a brief article by the distinguished reporter and commentator. Roscoe Fleming. which. in its stark economy of words. challenges the conscience of everyone of us and. it seems to me. puts an obligation upon the Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee. of which I am a member. and upon Secretary of Labor Mitchell to investigate and to act to end such offenses against the dignity. health. and the very lives of people who. in Mr. Flemings words. "had the bad luck to be migrant workers. and the apparent further misfortuie to be American citizens." I ask my colleagues to take the few minutes necessary to read Mr. Flemings description. written with intelligence. feeling. and the directness of true art. stating the meager protection given Mexican migratory workers while being transported within the United States. and the utter lack of standards for United States citizens being transported to do migratory labor and his description of how the buck has been passed by the State of Colorado. the Interstate Commerce Commission and the United States Labor Department. Finally.
Keywords matched
migrant contract labor