President. several weeks ago the Subcommittee on Migratory Labor held hearings on a number of bills that would bring much needed help to our hardpressed migratory farmworkers. Much of the testimony was an eloquent and articulate appeal for these often forgotten people. Witnesses described the burdens and the hardships of the migrant lifethe low wages. backbreaking work. the lack of education. lack of child care. the inadequate housing and sanitation facilities. and the abuses of labor contractors. Experts gave us carefully prepared statistics on the wages. the employments rate. the illiteracy rate. and the disease rate. The picture painted by the testimorny was neither pleasant nor new. Not that much has changed. Here and there the enlightened efforts of States or of hardworking individuals have improved the life of the migrant. But too much of the bitter hardship and deprivation of these people remains. In a life marked by thousands of daily. silent tragedies. the public only hears about the newsworthy tragedy. Such a tragedy occurred last Saturday in Florida. A bus. returning a group of 42 migrants to their homes after a day of work in the bean fields near Miami. was sideswiped by a passing truck and plunged into a canal beside the road. In the nightmare panic that followed. 15 adults and over 10 children under the age of 12 were drowned. The youngest child was only 4 years old.
Keywords matched
migrants migrant