Speech #870298623

In fact. agriculture had more fatalities than any other industry in 1958. Yet. when school is not in session. the employment of children in agriculture remains unregulated by the Federal child labor law. When migrant children who have not reached maturity in strength or judgment are called upon to work in modem farming operations. the occupational hazards in agriculture are vastly increased. Numerous State surveys and studies have clearly demonstrated that each year large numbers of migrant children under age 14 are severely injured or killed while working in farming operations. The old tradition of the small farm must not obscure the fact that todays largescale farm operations are sweat shops in the fields. Medical authorities have demonstrated that extended. fatiguing agricultural work is harmful to young children. Long hours of weary work expends energy which should be used in the natural process of growth. As a consequence. migrant children are tired. undernourished. and undersized. Such chronic exhaustion lowers the migrant childs resistance to disease and infections to which the migrants are constantly exposed. Failure to eliminate this potential cause of disease is in direct conflict with the purposes of the migratory health bill. S. 1130. which this Congress passed and the President signed into lawPublic Law 87692on September 25. 1962. Unfettered and unrestricted child labor in farming operations not only constitutes a definite physical hazard for young children but also makes it difficult. if not impossible. for the migrant child to obtain a proper education. Returning tired to cramped. unlighted housing after spending the afternoon they are unable to study. Moreover. afterschool harvesting has discouraged many local school officials from assigning homework to migrant children. Without needed homework. the educational development of our youth will be drastically limited. this is especially true for migrant children who are already burdened by environmental factors and seldom attain an education beyond the fourthgrade levelthe minimum standard of literacy in this country. In the general neglect of farmworkers and the failure to include them in the social and labor laws that protect other workers. the rejection of children has been the most cruel and the least justifiable. Existing Federal law permits children of any age to be employed on farms outside of school hours.