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No. 4-1539 THE WORKS PROGRAM --Works Progress Administrat ion-- For Release to Morning Newspapers Sunday, May 23, 1937. Hopkins Releases Survey of Migratory Workers "Although the existence of the migratory worker is vital to the economy of the nation, there is proi:,ably no group in t 1, e entire working population more exploited and disregarded, ·1' Harry L. Hopkins, Works Progress Administrator, said today in releasing a s tudy prepared by the WP.A Division of Social Research on 11 0f 11 The course I don't mean the 'bum,• celebrated in song and story, who shrinks from work as he does from a bath, 11 I Migratory-Casual Worker. 11 11 Mr. Hopkins explained. mean the large group -0f roaming, foot-loos o workors who traditionally supply the seasonal labor needs of that part of America's industry which is located in remote, spars ely popul r,, t ad o istricts. "Intensive large-scale farming of such crops as apples, hops, and lettuce; wheat raising; railroad riE.;ht-of-way ma intenance ; logging; road, levee, and tunnel construc t i 0n jobs, oil-well drilling--all these are dependent on migratory-cA,sual wor1re rs who can be on hand when 1arge numbers of workers are re qni r d1 sudden l~r and for sho rt pe riods of time. 11 Yet when the emergency for which those workers are needed is over, they are usually stigmatizP,d as 1 tramps ' and given their choice of going to jail for vagrancy or leaving town in a hurry. paper sarcastically puts it: 1 The As one news• only time a bum is e:iq:,ected to come here is when we need him as a harvest hand. What right has he to come between seasons?• "Even in the best of times, the migrri, tory-casual worker, because of low wages and time lost in traveling long distances between shorttime jobs, scarcely earned enough to live. 11 The depression hit the migratory-casua l worker e specially hard. It drastically restricted his job opport1L~iti e s. Everywhere resident labor entered into competition with tho mi gratory worker. Employers, able to pick and choose, could get stable family men for many of the jobs that once attracted only the roving single man. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY -211 No. 4.-1539 '17ages and worlcing conditions on the occa sio i1al j obs the rni gr a.at di d ge t in recent ye a~s were far below decent American st andards. "Loca l relief has been largely closed to the mt gratory workers, since most had long ago lost their legal residences. 11 Tod:i,y the migratory-casual worker presents a pressing prool 0m in humar1 conservation. The situation is this: Thous and:3 of c o:mo tent , ""or✓ a ble-boc:i rJ d,f.' 1irly young workers, habi,t uated to a roving life, &.r e drifting a bout the country getting onl;/ occasiO!;tal jobs and ea rning less thrin enough to ke iqp body a.11.d soul together. Many are stranded in the big citie s , crowcled together in the flop house districts. live by panh:mdling , sup:pl nmentec1. by an occasional handout of I They sinkers a.11.d coff ee. 1 "This study states the probl em. If the imminent physica l, moral and occupa tional degeneration of a particularly active and enterprising gr.oup of work-1rs means .s nything to us, the problem mus t be solv8d. 11 The study is bar,ed on extended int c~rvierrn with mi gratory-ca sual workers in 13 cities wl:-i ich are weJ.1-lmown concentration points for industrial and agricultural migra tory wor ker3. Although these wor kers were at transient bureaus a t the time the interviews we re made, their employment histories, extending over a period Qf t \70 y ears, p r ovi de convincing evidence that relief was incidental. Directed by Corrington Gill, Assistant Works Progress Administrator, and supervised by Howard B. Myers, Director of the WPA ' Division of Social Research, the repo rt was written by John N. Webb, Co-ordinator .• of Urban Research and author of "The Transient Unemp loyed," which is r ecognized as an authoritative work on the transient population of the United States. The report traces the origin of the migratory-c a su al worker to 11 the pool of unemployment, rising &"ld f::1lling with bu siness conditions, but never completely drained," which constantly furnishes new recruits for the ranks of the migratory workers from the younger unemployed who have drifted away from their home towns to seek opnortunity elsewhere. Unable to get steady jobs, they drift into migratory-casual work. Inadeq:Qate as this type of work: is, the possibilities of obtaining some work are always present, because most jobs employing mi gratory workers are simple, rather than complex, operations. Extra \70rkers on an auto- Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY No. 4-1539 mobile assembly line would only be in the way, but extra workers at harvest time serve the .double purpose of getting the crop in quicker and driving wages down. "An oversupply of migratory-casual workers (from the employer I s point of view) is difficult to i magine , 11 the study finds. A section of the r eport containing maps of routes of travel shows how migratory workers are able to maintain themselves by following the seasons over routes often more than a thous and miles in length. Agricultural workers may start with oranges in Southern California in the winter, follow a succession of crops up the Coast through the spring and summer, and fi n ish the ir year in October with work in the apple orchards of Eastern Washington. The same routes are often retraced lndustrial migratory workers follow routes of travel year after year. determined by the opening and closing of jobs in logging, construction, etc. These routes are, of course, . less regular since i ndus trial opera- tions are not so strictly seasonal. The workers stu<'lied wGre usually on the road 40 woekG of the year, working or seeking work. They found t110i:r chief employment in cotton, fruits, sugar-bee ts, grain, logging, oil drilling, railway maintenance work, and road construction. They usually spent the ir off-season (winter) in large cities, living in cheap hotels on the ir scant savings. When broke, they 11 bummed 11 ,for food, panhandled, and slept in flop houses, missions, or on park benche s. The migratory period was spent large ly in interstate travel. Two- thirds of the workers crossed at le a st one Sta te line and more than one ... fourth crossed six or more State lines. But most of this tra vel was fruitless in 1933 and 1934, for one-half of the workers got jobs in only one State and three-quarters in not more than two States. The f1:;w jo'bs they did manage to get were of short duration. Total time spent at work averaged only 20 to 25 weeks in each of the two years. Annual wages of the migratory-casual workers were found startlingly ( low. In 1933 and 1934 the average annual earnings of the workers ranged from $110 to $275. More specifically, agric 1.1ltural workers averaged. $110 in 1933 and $124 in 1934; industrial workers, $257 in 1933 and $272 in 1934; those who combined agriculture and industry, $223 in 1933 and Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY No. 4-15 ~9 $ 203 in 1934 . The r ep ort fl.isci.1-sso s the advantage s a ccruing to 0mploy 0rs, from t ho cxi sto'1ce of this abundant supply of choap highly mo·oilo l ab or. 11 Tho I t conclude.: s, howo v,Jr, t hat : advantage s t hnt the emp loye r dori vcs from a largo and mobile l abor supply are fre qu e ntly more ap:-i;:tr or~ t t han r r-al • . tho lowor tho wago level, tho hi ghnr tho p1.1-b lic cost." o tcrv, worke r i s r o£'ar de d 1:u, Too, the dogr e.d.ation of the mie:ra ........ ~ .) ; chc!r g ing tho community rd th dollnrs 11 resulting from 11 ruiothor 11 t ho co s t t h"l. t cannot b o a s s osso d in existence of a. g r oup who se lo'i7 02.rnings nocossit g t o a st:mdo.rd of living far below t h(; level of d ecen cy and comfort. The pre s ence of such a g r oup in any comm'.lllity , e ve n t hough for a short time each y ear, cannot fail to ;:,,ffect adversely t he wage level of resi dent wor ka rs. 11 After showin g t ha t t r.o public mus t itse l f mak e up t he de ficit in t he workers• wa g e s by :nenn s of r e li e f, the r ep ort disc1.1s ses such other u nhn..ppy results of a n ove rRbundnn ce of .md.e r :_nnid worke rs .1,s l abor 0 strife th2.t "promis es to incre ase r .'.7, the r thr.n decrease in bitte rnes s . 11 It is pointed. out t ha t i r::. a singl e st D.te, Cn.lifo:rni ..,, :i.r1 1933 thore were 37 agricultura l strikes , involving 47,575 worl:e rs. Pe r lmp s t he dar ke. s t a sp ect of mir:;rn. tory life fo;.md i s i n tho This p r emn turo sup r> r .: :i.nnua t ion discarding of th e midc..l e - agod wor ke r. is cite d a s th o c.':1.usn of a s erious proble m both for t h u worko r n.nd tho community in which ho happen s to b o : "Long before he is EO • • • ho wilJ. a lmo s t c erb.inly become a perma:1.o nt cha r ~e on sor.,e community, a s a 1 p a rk bum 1 , in a hospital, asyl u.rn , or j·lil, or ,' ls n p,qnh~.nd l or on tho streo t. 11 Tho 11 evidence of this report, 11 it is ooservod, "p oints cl oarly to tho conclusion that the, rdgrP.tory-eas1-1<.1.l worke r, clcsJ) ito his i nd opondont a t t i tudo and prid,J i n h is ability to 1 g ot b~·• on the r oo.c3- , is in f a ct an 1~_ndor-0mployed a nd poorly p8.id worke r who eas ily and fr eauon tly becomes a charge on soci e ty." l'fo attempt is made to sugge st a curo-all for tho socia1 problem pros0nted by the migrn.tory-casual worke r, which is de scrib ocl a s 11 mc r oly ono e.spc ct of the general problem of economic inso curi ty 11 which a ffects, a s \Voll, millions of reside nt worke rs. Difficulties in plans often urge d as solutions are pointe d out. For instance, tho use of employment offices to direct worke rs to jobs Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY No. 4-1539 and thus cnahl e them to dove-t2.il seas ona l emp loyment i nto a full year• s work is sh ow.a t o be i mp r a cti cabl e a s a full solution, i nasmuch as peak demands f or migra t ory wo rker s i n most crops al'.J.d i ndu strie s overlap one anothe r in t he months between May a nd Oct ob er. '.Elmplo;yment offices, the report points out, could be of little assista nco_duri ng the off-soas on when there is small demand f or nigrat ory worke rs. The second solution com;nonl;y prop osed is t ha t of dev is i ng new industri e s to enable migratory workers to support t hemselves the year a round between sea sons in areas where at pr e sent they are ne eded only a part of the year. While adm itting t he p os s i b ility , in some ca ses, of devising such off-sea son ope r a tions , t he study observe s tha t such attempts have 11 gonera lly led to even more than or di nary exp loi t a tion 11 of the migratory work er. The study further poin ts out tha t migr a tory work ers can hope for little from t he pre sen t provisions of the Stat e Social Se curity Acts. The working sea son is us~~lly too short to enable migra tory worke rs to comply with t he requir ement of a t l eas t 13 weeks of employment within one State before be ne fit s ca n be pai d . More ove r, much of tho employment is in agriculture, which t he a cts do not c over. I n some States (e.g., in Ma ssachusetts) all casua l workers are specifically excluded from benefits, even if emp loye d i n a covered i ndustry. There is no full and immedi a t e solution for the probl em of the ca sual worker, these findi ngs hold, but the re are s ome i nd ications tha t partial solutions may be ef fe ct ed. It is pointed out tha t t he Soci a l Security Act may ass ist indire ctly, in that unemployme nt compens a tion should r educe the compe tition of r e sident workers for t he jobs usu.ally fill e d by mig r a tory workers. 11 The possibility of t he workers themselves improving cond.itions through unionization cannot be ignor ed , 11 the report continues, 11 a l though organization of the migratory-casua l worke rs is extraordinarily difficult, because of their high mobility and low earni ngs. 11 Re cen t union successes among s eamen, l o,.sge rs, and fruit and ver:e t nb le ,v0rk0r s a re cited. As a pallia tive me'1.sure for the near fut ·u.re , t he stuJy suggests some form of er.1ploymont off ice direction of the worke rs, at a ll time s supplemented by a public works progrRm to p rovid e employment when time s are particularly hard. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1539 - 611 Asid.e from thes~ si1gge s t ed mti2ns ," th•:) W?A Gt ucl~, conclude s, "there is little possibility of a solutior. s hort nf t hose eventual and u nhu rri e d chang es in population pat tr)rr•. r1 t hat prom:.s c t o elirninat'.3 the function of the migratory-ca sua l '.7or 1-cer . rr Thi s 11 s ol u tio n 11 , it add.s , wi ll work incr e as ing hardshi p on thA army of habi t11al rn i gr an ts, and it 11 can be f ully app roved only by those who opp9se any a ttemp t to a lt er the workings 1 n atural of the laws I of our economy . 11 The color and ·s avor of migratory ti fe is p res ent ed in the personal hist or y secti on of the repo rt. These b ri ef ~e~ criptive accounts of typical workers , some of t hem writt en by t he wo:::-ker :1".. msc lf , s:J.ow , as statistics carn ot , the effect that the depression had on t he s ocia l attitudes of the migratory-casual wor ke r. After sGveral years of sca."lty , :pr c fi tl es s i7Ork , some of tho ·.,or kers \Ve r e still content to d rift .<1long on their seasonal r ounJ.s without worrying ab out the fn tur e ; so me vrn r e dis cour aged p.nd be li eved tha t they were a 11 lost gen e r a tion" tha t neve r would fin d v; ork agai n. Some f E:J. t · thn.t the l e an y0ar s soon would pass ; oth8r s , s1.:.ch es the work...i r t1ho said, 11 I don 't know \7hat 1 s go ing t o ho.pp cm to this count r y , but I'd ha t e to say uhat I think is go in b to hn,1mc n, 11 beli ev e d thoir mm troubl e s v10 r o IDE-re ly symptoms of a wides pread ill affecting all of s oci c t ;, . , , :1 '.10 o00C0000 •Jo Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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