make a respectable stab at it, which was a very difficult, detailed investigation. My instructions from my editors were, specifically, that I was to do an objective story in presenting both sides. The evidence of the people that I interviewed indicated that I was making that effort to get both sides. I made no request to be expelled, but when they said I would be expelled, I said I would certainly approve a police escort, because if they dumped us on the street in front of the jail, we would be seized and probably beaten up, in my belief, because nobody else had ever been arrested under similar circumstances or had been in the valley and managed to get away without being beaten, so far as I know. Mr. WOOD. You nor your associate never, at any time, suggested that you be escorted out of the State? Mr. RORTY. Never, no. Mr. DUNN of Missouri. You did not have to request that; they sent you out? Mr. RORTY. Yes; and I cannot state that too strongly. As to our belongings, I asked the sheriff by what right he kept them, and he said because he wanted to. One letter consisted of a list of subscribers to the publication that was the organ of the now defunct Communist League. The subscribers were people of intelligence whom I desired to contact on my trip, because they represented one wing of the radical movement, and I was talking to all wings and the American Federation of Labor and the chambers of commerce, and it was entirely proper that I should have that material, and it was illegal, as far as I know, that the sheriff should retain it. For example, I had obtained a copy of the Glassford report, and later on I was not able to find that Glassford report. The CHAIRMAN. That Glassford report was a report made by General Glassford, formerly Chief of Police of Washington, who was sent out there by Miss Perkins? Mr. RORTY. That is right. I have that report right here. General Glassford was sent out there to represent the Department of Labor, the Department of Agriculture, and the National Labor Board. How much more of my stuff was kept I have not been able to check. As I say, I had about a hundred pounds of documents, and I cannot find my address book and the Glassford report, and I am fairly confident both of those were retained. As I say, we were sent back into our cells after being grilled, and at 1:30 we were again let out and escorted by the sheriffs. One automobile with the sheriffs preceded us, and they went around a circuitous route before we hit the main road to Yuma, and then when we reached the bridge they simply waved and told us to go on. The statement has appeared in the press that we were escorted out of the county by the county sheriff, and I believe that is true, and I think the statement has been made by the Maricopa County sheriff, and I suspect that was true, because as I drove out toward Phoenix I saw that a car was following us. I stopped at an airport about 10 miles out of town, I think, and the lead car slowed up and turned around and went in the airport. I tried to go into the airport and I said I wanted to have a look at it, and thev said it was not open to visitors, and I said, "How about the fellows that just went in; are they your officers?" And they said "Yes." I assume they were Maricopa County sheriffs. So I continued to drive for about 120 miles until I got to a small town called Sentinel, a tank town on the railroad, and there I wired my editor, the first wire I had been able to get off, and I wrote my story the next day. That is the substance of my experience there, and perhaps it would be just as well for me to answer any questions now, and then continue later. The CHAIRMAN. All right. You were not run out of Arizona, were you? Mr. RORTY. So far as I know, at no time did the Maricopa County sheriffs stop us or speak to us. It was merely my observation that the car following us had two men in it, who were apparently sheriffs. I picked up in the press a statement by the Maricopa County sheriffs that they kept us moving out of Maricopa County. The CHAIRMAN. They ran you out of El Centro; is that close to the Arizona line? Mr. RORTY. About 100 miles, I think. The CHAIRMAN. Did they take you up to the State line? Mr. RORTY. They took us right up to the bridge and told us to keep going. The CHAIRMAN. The State line? Mr. RORTY. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. So that you were run out of the State of California? Mr. RORTY. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. First of all, are you a Communist? Mr. RORTY. I am not a member of the Communist Party of America. Mr. MARCANTONIO. Even if he had been a Communist, he had a right to be there. The CHAIRMAN. Yes; I simply bring that up because everybody here hears the statement that you are a Communist, if you stand up for the rights of people. Mr. MARCANTONIO. I want to go on record further than that: Even if he had been a Communist he had a right to be there. Mr. RORTY. That is my own view. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. May I say the same thing? The CHAIRMAN. Your purpose of going out there, as you have testified, of course, was to write these articles, and you wanted to find out the labor conditions in that valley? Mr. RORTY. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. As far as this bill is concerned, on page 3, section 3, it says "but shall not include any individual employed as an agricultural laborer, or in the domestic service of any family or person at his home, or any individual employed by his parents or spouse." So this part of the bill would not apply to agricultural workers. The reason that I invited you before the committee is, that I wanted the committee to get this evidence of yours, because what has happened to you has happened in many similar cases directly in industry which this bill is concerned with. For instance, Mr. McGrady, who is Assistant Secretary of Labor now, when he went down into Tennessee, was run out of town; and down in Hardin County, Ky., people went in there to find out the conditions of strikers, and they were run out of town; and now you have the same thing happen to you in the agricultural situation. Now, can you tell us anything, from your experience out there, of what was going on in that strike, what they were striking for, and about the workers' conditions out there? Mr. RORTY. You will have gathered from my former statement that I have already made, that my investigations were interrupted. Therefore, the information I gathered was fragmentary. I can, however, make certain statements about the conditions that I encountered and certain statements made to me by workers and the business agent of the A. F. of L. union. The CHAIRMAN. The Glassford report gave, too, I suppose, the conditions out there, did it not? Mr. RORTY. Sure. In that Glassford report, a copy of which I have and which I will be glad to submit for the record The CHAIRMAN. Is it long? Mr. RORTY. It is a very short report, consisting of six pages. The CHAIRMAN. If there is no objection on the part of the committee, I would like to have it go into the record. (The report of Pelham D. Glassford is as follows:) BRAWLEY, CALIF., June 23, 1934. To: Imperial County Board of Supervisors. Before departing from Imperial Valley it is appropriate that I submit to you certain recommendations deemed essential for the amelioration of labor conditions. The difficulties arising from alien labor and its control present important considerations. On this subject I am submitting recommendations direct to the Federal Government. STANDARD OF LIVING OF MEXICAN FIELD WORKERS As a result of my investigation it appears that standard of living of Mexican field workers, at the present time, is based upon an average annual income of less than $400. With intermittent periods of employment, and the necessity for automobile transportation to seek work at the widely scattered ranches, very few Mexican families of agricultural workers are able to maintain a decent existence. Although it is boasted that melon pickers are able to earn $5 or more a day (occasionally as much as $12), the number of days when such earnings are possible are comparatively few, and melon pickers represent a small percentage of the field workers employed throughout the year. On one ranch where melon pickers were employed during a period of 15 days, I found that their average daily earnings amounted to less than $1.50 a day. It may be true that alien Mexicans receive higher wages and live better in Imperial/ Valley than they do in their own country, but this cannot constitute an excuse for countenancing poverty and squalor in the United States. To ameliorate the living conditions of agricultural field workers, I submit the following recommendations: 1. Establish seasonally a minimum wage scale for all types of agricultural labor, based upon a reasonable balance between profit and labor costs. 2. Reduce the unemployable aliens on relief and the surplus of alien labor by inaugurating a system of repatriation of alien Mexicans such as has been accomplished successfully in Los Angeles County (see recent report of Mr. Rex Thomson, Bureau of County Welfare). 3. Promote the establishment of small farm homes of one-fourth to one-half acre, to supplant the system of congested ranch camps, thus enabling resident workers to provide at little cost a large part of their subsistence requirements. STANDARDIZATION OF WAGE SCALE Difference in wages paid by different growers I find to be one of the most important sources of discontent. Although an agreement on wages and other stipulations was made on March 27 for the present melon-harvesting season, this agreement was not sufficiently inclusive, as to the types of labor, not strictly enforced, and subject to variations depending upon difference in interpretation. Likewise the necessary protection to growers by withholding part of the wages until the end of a contract has not always been accomplished in conformity with the State labor laws. A wide variation in the amount withheld by different growers has been a serious source of discontent. Recommendations: 1. Prior to a harvesting season the growers and shippers should be urged to prepare a standard wage scale covering all types of agricultural labor, with adequate provision for its enforcement. 2. A bonus, when necessary for the protection of the growers, should be standardized, and specified as entirely separate from wages. Rules should be standardized relating to the conditions under which a bonus may be earned at the end of the contract, or upon discharge prior to the termination thereof. 3. Standard forms of contracts for agricultural labor should be prepared to replace the several different forms now in use. When a contract provides for a bonus, the wording of the form should be specific in regard to the time and conditions of payment. These revised forms should be prepared by a committee of growers in collaboration with the division of industrial relations. PROTECTION OF WORKERS AGAINST EXPLOITATION There have been a great many instances where the workers have not been paid for their labor, due to the failure of the tenant grower to realize from his crop. In most of these cases a shipper or wholesaler contracts with a tenant grower for the marketing of his crop and provides funds in advance or at intervals for the expense of planting and harvesting, and often for the living expenses of the grower. The shipper or wholesaler assumes no responsibility for the payment of labor. As an outstanding example there are unpaid labor claims against H. S. Fujita, accumulated since 1931, amounting to more than $1,800, yet this tenant grower operated a melon and tomato ranch this year without meeting his current labor obligations in full. Recommendation: That the State labor laws be strengthened to protect the workers, in the receipt of their wages, to include payment of the workers' wages direct by some bonded or responsible party, a system already in vogue by some of the larger growers and shippers. THE PROBLEM OF SURPLUS LABOR Although it was asserted by several growers and shippers that there was adequate resident labor in Imperial Valley to meet the demands of the present melon-harvesting season, efforts to secure preferential employment to resident workers have met with little success. The traditional "fruit tramps" cannot be immediately eliminated; nor is it possible to prevent entirely the migration of agricultural labor to take advantage of seasonal opportunities. The question of migratory agricultural labor in California presents a tremendous problem, and Imperial Valley is one of the principal sufferers. It will be possible to gradually ameliorate these conditions through a system of labor registration, and the utilization of the United States Employment Service, Department of Labor (in collaboration with other employment agencies) in regulating the movement of agricultural labor. A tentative plan for this purpose was placed before the chairman of the board, and discussed with a large number of growers. A revised plan has been forwarded to the Department of Labor for consideration. A copy is forwarded to the chairman of the board of supervisors under separate cover. Recommendation: That the growers and shippers cooperate with the Department of Labor in instituting a plan for the registration and supply of agricultural labor. IMPROVEMENT OF MARKETING CONDITIONS AND FINANCING Wages are dependent upon receipts for the perishable crops of Imperial Valley, and receipts are dependent largely upon marketing conditions. Some of the larger growers and shippers are well organized for marketing, and thereby possess decided advantages over their smaller competitors, many of whom have inadequate backing financially, and as a consequence frequently are forced to dispose of their crops at a considerable loss. It is believed that conditions can be improved by the establishment of equitable and effective policies of proration, including, when necessary, plowing under crops that must, for the good of all, be eliminated from the market. Unquestionably the Department of Agriculture will welcome an opportunity to assist in questions of marketing, finance, and reduction of the high costs of transportation, provided the problems of Imperial Valley can be fairly and impartially presented. Recommendations: 1. A comprehensive study of equitable proration and the enforcement thereof. 2. Appointment of a committee, to include smaller growers, to present to the Department of Agriculture the problems of finance, marketing, and costs of transportation. INVESTIGATION OF LAWLESSNESS BY THE GRAND JURY After more than 2 months of observation and investigation in Imperial Valley, it is my conviction that a group of growers have exploited a communist hysteria for the advancement of their own interests; that they have welcomed labor agitation, which they could brand as "red", as a means of sustaining supremacy by mob rule, thereby preserving what is so essential to their profits, cheap labor; that they have succeeded in drawing into their conspiracy certain county officials who have become the principal tools of their machine. It is first my endeavor to correct the situation by argument and persuasion. This failing to curb illegal assaults, intimidation, and unfair convictions, it became necessary to take a decided stand against the continuance of these deplorable conditions. Standing within the power of the board of supervisors is the removal from office of Mr. B. A. Harrigan, agricultural commissioner. In my opinion he has not always made fair and impartial use of his powers. Several who claim to be victims of his tyranny and unfairness have come to me with their stories. Fearing reprisal they have exacted my promise not to reveal their names or accusations. Attached for your consideration are statements I am at liberty to present. Spread upon the pages of recent Imperial Valley history are certain lawless and illegal events which have been suppressed or distorted in local news accounts, and which have not been investigated by the officials who are charged by law with that responsibility. Reputable clergymen, lawyers, business men, and other citizens of Imperial Valley have informed me of their personal knowledge and observations, insisting upon a promise of confidence, so great was their fear of retaliation, boycott, or actual violence. One active vigilante remarked, "I'd like to be out of this mess, but what can I do? If I don't line up' my business will be ruined." I strongly recommend a thorough grand-jury investigation, and the indictment of those who have been guilty of law violations in connection with an apparently organized campaign of terrorism and intimidation. Particularly do I recommend the investigation of the following: 1. The kidnapping and abuse of Attorney A. L. Wirin on January 23, and the running of his automobile over an embankment on January 24. It seems to be common knowledge that one deputy sheriff and another county official were involved in these affairs. 2. The conviction on February 21 of Miss Emma Cutler on a charge of vagrancy, when she had been in Imperial Valley, prior to her arrest, not more than a few hours. 3. The assault upon Attorney Grover Johnson under the shadow of the courthouse at El Centro on March 28. It seems to be common knowledge that one county official participated in the assault, and that two county officials stood over him in a menacing manner, one of whom is reputed by several witnesses to have declared, when Attorney Johnson asked for his eyeglasses, "If you ever |