The Home Front:
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Hope for Our Migrant Workers ONE DAY, some years ago, my wife and I were driving along the roads of Delaware. I don't even remember where we were or...
...If reform had depended upon me, I should have been tempted to say: "I can't do a thing...
...All together there are more than one million migrant workers in this country...
...To be sure, there are some places where Christianity still survives in this country: There are villages and towns where church women have done wonders, but the effects of their work don't last long...
...Out West, most come from Mexico...
...Oh...
...Who has a right to be happy when so many fellow citizens are so drearily miserable...
...Then, as suddenly as it began, the exhibition of misery ended and we were left breathless...
...In the East, many come from Puerto Rico and other West Indian islands, but most of them are Southerners...
...I suppose the whole thing didn't take more than a minute, but in all the years since then I have never forgotten those people...
...It ought to make us blush for shame that foreigners are treated better than our own people...
...Almost every witness who appeared before Senator Williams' committee had some suggestion to make and the chairman listened respectfully and asked questions about every item which seemed to have any value...
...And I say to myself...
...They have their governments behind them, while our people have nobody to protect them on a regular basis...
...let it ride...
...He seems to have a special gift for getting hold of the right people and making them pull together...
...The Department of Labor is to spearhead the effort with the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare helping in areas which fall under his competence...
...They weren't laughing, or talking, or running, or playing games...
...Many states have already attempted some relief...
...The farmers who hire migrant workers need them...
...many of them know little English...
...The proposed laws cover education, housing, health, transportation and other aspects of a very complicated set of problems...
...They stay in one place only a few weeks at a time, and they are generally not accepted anywhere—not even in church...
...The group included a few slatternly, skinnv and discouraged-looking women: I suppose they had remained in the camp to care for the children while the husbands and older youths worked in the orchards and fields...
...most of them can't read or write...
...He was elected to the Senate in 1958, and his energy and intelligence have already made a substantial impression...
...But nobody wants them around...
...And then, suddenly, there they were, lined up behind a wire fence so close to us that we could almost have reached out and touched them...
...They live, for the most part, in miserable shacks and know little about health or sanitation...
...These people are vastly different in character, education, habits and the conditions under which they travel and live...
...Our economic system requires their labor...
...They just stood there in ragged and skimpy clothes, their sad eyes telling the story of their lives...
...The birds were singing and gaily tinted flowers bloomed on all sides...
...Last week in Washington, I discovered that relief is in sight both for the poor devils who are forced to make their living on the road and for fellows like me who have this thing on their consciences and have never known what to do about it...
...We were driving slowly, taking in every little thing...
...The eyes followed us solemnly as our car slowly rolled along...
...The main impetus must come from Washington...
...They speak numerous languages...
...I think of them at night as I am going to sleep or they come to me when we are particularly happy riding through this blooming and fruitful land...
...Senator Harrison A. Williams (D.NJ...
...had brought together in a hearing room a group of Government officials and experts to see what could be done about these forgotten people...
...Edith and I were in a jolly mood, telling stories and recalling our childhood days...
...In his hearing room were 30 to 40 men and women who have been battling with the problem for the last two decades...
...I don't even remember where we were or what highway we were on, but I do recall that it was a lovely summer day...
...When these measures are enacted— and some of them will be enacted —they will be the results of the joint labor of countless experts who gave the subcommittee the benefit of their experience...
...I never feel safe from the possibility of again seeing such a group...
...Williams is chairman of the Subcommittee on Migratory Labor, and he's the sort of person who starts things and keeps them going...
...But Senator Williams has gathered around him social workers with stout hearts and long experience...
...But states must compete in selling their farmers' crops, so they naturally hold back in passing legislation...
...in time Ave shall get better machines and get along without these migrants...
...But most of them were children...
...we said, "migrant workers —it's too bad...
...He has worked out a program of 11 bills designed to have the Federal government attack this evil...
Vol. 44 • May 1961 • No. 19
