Speech #870008288

Murrows production. Mr. Murrow says in his production that there are 600.000 of these migrant children who must be educated. At this point may I point out the testimony before a subcommittee of the Senate Education and Labor Committee given on May 2. 1960. by Mr. Ralph C. M. Flynt. Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Education. who said: No accurate national figure of the total number of migrant children exists. but estimates range from 350.000 to 500.000. A still lower figure is cited in the following quotation from Farm Labor Fact Book. page 111. by the U.S. Department of Labor: Approximatley 400.000 different individuals at some time of the year engage In migratory farm work. This figure excludes some 150.000 dependents who travel with the migrant workers. I call your attention to a paper dated September 4. 1959. entitled "Employment and Child Labor of Migrant Children." which is furnished to the Farm Bureau Federation and is cited by me in this extension. It was issued by the Office of Education and it says the Department of Agriculture estimates that in 1954 there were about 320.000 children under 18 years of age who were dependent upon the earnings of migrant farmworkers. Nearly half of these migrated with their families. including about 100.000 children less than 14 years of age. Even if we recognize the fact that a serious problem of education of migrant children exists. we see no valid purpose in exaggerating the size of the problem. The films portrayal of large migrant families is another distortion of facts. Some migrant families may be large. but obviously most are not. The official estimates cited above regarding the number of migrant children compared with correct data relative to the number of migrants discloses this fact beyond the shadow of a doubt. As to Mr. Murrows assertion thatThe U.S. Office of Education reports that the migratory workers have the highest rate of illiteracy in the country. Approximately 1 out of every 500 children whose parents are still migrant workers finishes grade school. Approximately 1 out of every 5.000 ever finishes high school. And there is no case upon the record of the child of a migrant laborer ever receiving a college diploma. We have inquired of the Department of Education concerning the source of this information. But we have not been able to find it.