Last year. the Congress ended once and for all the socalled bracero program. It also passed an Economic Opportunity Act which contained a $15million program specifically aimed at improving the education and living conditions of the American migratory worker. In passing both these bills. the Congress made crystal clear its determination that the national disgrace of the migrant worker must be eliminated. More than onehalf of the Nations poor live in rural areas. and the migrant is the poorest of the poor. subsisting on an average income of scarcely more than $850 a year. It is an actual and tragic fact that the migrants income has actually declined in the past few years. If we are serious about the war on poverty. we must insist that the American migrant receive a decent wage. and not have his employment opportunities Jeopardized by imported foreign workers. No one is more fairminded and honest in his judgments than Secretary Wirtz. I am happy that he has decided to conduct a personal investigation of the farm labor situation in California.
Keywords matched
migrants migrant