Y4. Ap6/2: F22/944 HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE SEVENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESSO LISE SECOND SESSION ON H. J. Res. 208 FEB ទ 1944 A JOINT RESOLUTION MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO ASSIST IN PROVIDING A SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION OF FARM LABOR FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 1944 I'rinted for the use of the Committee on Appropriations UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1944 SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS KENNETH MCKELLAR, Tennessee, Chairman CARTER GLASS, Virginia MILLARD E. TYDINGS, Maryland JOSEPH C. O'MAHONEY, Wyoming [I GERALD P. NYE, North Dakota HENRY CABOT LODGE, JR., Massachusetts C. WAYLAND BROOKS, Illinois EVERARD H. SMITH, Clerk FARM LABOR PROGRAM, 1944 FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1944 UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:30 a. m., in the committee room, the Capitol, Hon. Kenneth McKellar, presiding. Present: Senators McKellar, Hayden, Tydings, Russell, Overton, Thomas of Oklahoma, and Holman. Senator MCKELLAR. The committee will please come to order. WAR FOOD ADMINISTRATION STATEMENT OF HON. MARVIN JONES, ADMINISTRATOR, ACCOMPANIED BY COL. PHILIP G. BRUTON, DIRECTOR OF LABOR; M. C. WILSON, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF EXTENSION, IN CHARGE OF INTRASTATE LABOR; AND R. W. MAYCOCK, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF FINANCE, OFFICE OF BUDGET AND FINANCE Senator MCKELLAR. Judge Jones, you are down here, I suppose concerning House Resolution 208. Judge JONES. Yes, sir. Senator MCKELLAR. Making an appropriation to assist in providing a supply and distribution of farm labor for the calendar year 1944. Judge JONES. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Senator MCKELLAR. Will you say what you have to say to the committee, please. CONTINUATION OF PRESENT PROGRAM AND ORGANIZATION Judge JONES. Mr. Chairman, let me make it clear to start with that we are going to do the best job we can with any tools that we are given and whatever this committee and the Congress works out, we will use as best we can. We do feel, however, that in the light of the experience that the organization has had in the handling of this difficult program, it would be wise to continue the program as it operated in 1943. A suggested bill was considered by the House committee which would have accomplished that purpose, with some changes that had been suggested in the light of past experience. PURPOSE OF APPROPRIATION Senator MCKELLAR. Now, let me ask you this question. You are lending this money out? Judge JONES. No, sir. Senator MCKELLAR. None at all? Judge JONES. No, sir. This is an appropriation to assist farmers in securing the labor needed to produce food under wartime conditions. As you know, we have some ten or eleven million people in the armed services, an increase in activities on the part of the United States Government, and vast production by industry along all lines that is necessary in wartimes, and the combination of all these has created quite a farm labor problem. In order to relieve that situation we organized locally; through the Extension Service we get local groups to help in solving the problem locally; then that is supplemented by the shifting of domestic and foreign labor from one State to another to meet the emergency harvesting and other vital needs. METHOD OF HANDLING DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR Senator MCKELLAR. As a matter of fact, how do you work that, by shifting the labor to meet the needs? Just as a matter of practice, take your own State, and the one next to it, Senator Overton's State, Louisiana. How do you deal with that question? Judge JONES. Colonel Bruton is the head of what we call the Office of Labor of the War Food Administration. To meet labor needs within the States he operates through the Extension Service, which is familiar with local conditions, and tries to meet labor needs within the State by recruiting local labor. Colonel Bruton's organization has arrangements to keep informed as to the labor needs in the various States that cannot be met locally. IMPORTATION OF FOREIGN LABOR We have foreign laborers who are brought in from Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and other places. They are placed at the points where there is insufficient labor within the State to meet the need, including the harvesting of perishable commodities. When the work is finished Bruton's organization arranges to have them transported and used in other labor-shortage areas. LOCAL LABOR AND INTERSTATE LABOR The farm-labor program involves the handling of three types of labor-local or intrastate labor, domestic interstate labor, and foreign labor. PRICE PAID TO LABORERS USED Senator MCKELLAR. If I am a farmer, do I pay these laborers their usual price? Judge JONES. Yes; the farmer pays that. Now, we have with foreign labor a situation where it is necessary to have a special contract dealing with those governments; but the farmer pays the prevailing wages in the area; and that is true of labor, whether they are brought from other States or brought from a foreign country. In order to get the labor in from some other countries we had to make some special arrangements with those countries; for instanct, with Mexico we have to transport and feed the laborers en route, and then take them back home. We got some fifty-odd-thousand laborers |