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INTERSTATE MIGRATION
HEARINGS
BEFOEE THE
SELECT COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE
INTEESTATE MIGRATION OF DESTITUTE CITIZENS
HOUSE OF EEPEESENTATIVES
SEVENTY-SIXTH CONGRESS
THIRD SESSION
PURSUANT TO
H. Res. 63 and H. Res. 491
RESOLUTIONS TO INQUIRE INTO THE INTERSTATE
MIGRATION OF DESTITUTE CITIZENS, TO STUDY,
SURVEY, AND INVESTIGATE THE SOCIAL AND
ECONOMIC NEEDS AND THE MOVEMENT OF
INDIGENT PERSONS ACROSS STATE LINES
PART 7
LOS ANGELES HEARINGS
SEPTEMBER 28, 1940
Printed for the use of the Select Committee to Investigate the
Interstate Migration of Destitute Citizens
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
SELECT COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE
INTEESTATE MIGRATION OF DESTITUTE CITIZENS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEVENTY-SIXTH CONGRESS
THIKD SESSION
PURSUANT TO
H. Res. 63 and H. Res. 491
RESOLUTIONS TO INQUIRE INTO THE INTERSTATE
MIGRATION OF DESTITUTE CITIZENS, TO STUDY,
SURVEY, AND INVESTIGATE THE SOCIAL AND
ECONOMIC NEEDS AND THE MOVEMENT OF
INDIGENT PERSONS ACROSS STATE LINES
PART 7
LOS ANGELES HEARINGS
SEPTEMBER 28, 1940
Printed for the use of the Select Committee to Investigate the
Interstate Migration of Destitute Citizens
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
260370 WASHINGTON : 1941
SELECT COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE INTERSTATE MIGRA-
TION OF DESTITUTE CITIZENS
JOHN H. TOLAN^, California, Chairman
CLAUDE V. PARSONS, niinoiP^ . ^, / 0/ CARL T. CURTIS, Nebraska
JOHN J. SPARKMAN, Alabama FRANK C. OSMERS Jr., New Jersey
Dr. Robert K. Lamb, Chief InvestigaU-r
Elmer A. Reese, Secretary
Richard S. Blaisdell, Editor
Harold D. Cullen, Associate Editor
Dr. Edwaed J. Rowell, Chief Field Investigator
LIST OF WITNESSES
Los Angeles Hearings, September 28, 1940
Page
Davis, Mrs. Jean, mother of Bette O'Neill, (q. v.) Address: Box 271, Mar
Vista, Calif 2864
Hallgren, Arthur, former Minnesota body-shop worker. Address: 431
West Ninety-first Place, Los Angeles, Calif 2931
Higgenbottom, Thomas Benjamin Harrison (with his wife Maude, two
daughters, June and Mary, and son Dale) former Oklahoma farmer.
Address: Fresno, Calif 2811
Huxley, H. D., California director, farm placement service, United States
Employment Service. Address: Los Angeles, Calif 2834'
Milhorn, Edward, former railroad man and farmer. Address: Highland
Park, Monterey Road, Los Angeles, Calif 2933
Montgomery, Harvey, son of Marvin Montgomery (q. v.). Address:
Migratory Labor Camp, Shafter, Calif 2902:
Montgomery, Marvin, former Oklahoma farmer. Address: Migratory
Labor Camp, Shafter, Calif 2902:
McCarthy, James Patrick, former Pennsylvania laborer. Address: 2720
South Raymond, Los Angeles, Calif 2914
O'Dwyer, Rt. Rev. Thomas J., general director of charities. Catholic Wel-
fare Bureau of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Inc., Address: Los
Angeles, Calif 2827
O'Neill, Bette, migrant movie extra. Address: Box 271, Mar Vista,
Calif 2862
Robertson, Robert B., assistant director of industrial relations, Lockheed
Aircraft Corporation. Address: Burbank, Cahf 2804, 2805, 2809-
Rubinow, S. G., Administrator, California State Relief Administration.
Address: Los Angeles, Calif 2867, 2888-
Schreiber, Lawrence C, chief deputy superintendent. Department of
Charities, Los Angeles County. Address: Los Angeles, Calif 2912
Snyder, Ralph, former Minnesota farmer and laborer. Address: Bell-
flower, Calif 2824
Stewart, Dr. Wendy, representative. Council of Social Agencies of Los
Angeles. Address: Los Angeles, Calif 2918-
Stockburger, Alvin E., representative of Mayor Fletcher Bowron of Los
Angeles. Address: Los Angeles, Calif 2803-
Wagenet, Richard G., director, Cahfornia State Department of Employ-
ment. Address: Los Angeles, Calif 2834
Wagner, Rev. Clarence, pastor Florence Avenue Methodist Church and
chairman of the Ministerial Migrants Committee. Address: Los
Angeles, Calif 2923,2926
III
STATEMENTS AND MATERIAL SUBMITTED BY WITNESSES
Subject and author
Letter from Lockheed Aircraft Corpora-
tion.
Statement on aviation training schools
issued by Los Angeles Chamber of Com-
merce.
The migratory boy and young man
Ruling as to placement of labor during
labor disputes.
Revised report of California Department of
Employment.
Problem of interstate migration
Report on transient program by James B.
Reese.
Effect of Migration on Community Life
Letter concerning Marvin Montgomery,
from S. G. Rubinow.
Letter from Gov. H. H. Blood of Utah,
accompanied by The Problem of Popu-
lation Migration in Utah, by Thornton
W. Petersen of the State Planning Board
of Utah.
Farm Security Administration work in
Utah, by Dwain Pearson.
Statement of United States Representative
Harry R. Shepard, of California.
Increase in cost of schools in Pinal County,
Ariz., by John J. Bugg, county school
superintendent.
Letter and statement of Walter C. Smith,
county supervisor, Pinal County, Ariz.
Letter from Floyd G. Brown, secretary of
Pinal County (Ariz.) Board of Social
Security and Public Welfare.
Letter and statement of Bertram P. Brown,
director of public health, California State
Department of Public Health, on tuber-
culosis among transients.
Letter and statement of Los Angeles
Chamber of Commerce, by F. L. S. Har-
mon, secretary.
Newspaper clippings about border patrol,
1935-37, Los Angeles Herald-Express.
Opinion of U. S. Webb, former attorney
general of California in re legality of
border patrol.
General data on migrant problem of Los
Angeles County, Calif., by Stephen A.
Eross.
Report on indigent alien transients, by
James E. Davis, superintendent of
police of Los Angeles.
Witness
Robt. B. Robertson
Thos. J. O'Dwyer..
R. G. Wagenet
R. G. Wagenet
S. G. Rubinow
S. G. Rubinow
Clarence Wagner
The Chairman
The Chairman..
The Chairman..
John W. Abbott
John W. Abbott
John W. Abbott.
John W. Abbott.
John W. Abbott.
John W. Abbott.
John W. Abbott.
John W. Abbott.
John W. Abbott.
VI
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
STATEMENTS AND MATERIAL SUBMITTED BY WITNESSES—
Continued
Subject and author
Material submitted by the county of Los
Angeles, including correspondence be-
tween Fred R. Rauch of the Work Proj-
ects Administration and Congressman
Leland M. Ford.
^'The Fifth Migration" a report on Cali-
fornia agricultural workers by Dr.
George Gleason, executive secretary of
the Los Angeles County Committee for
Church and Community Cooperation.
Transiency in Southern California, a report
by James E. Davis, former chief of Los
Angeles Police Department.
Letter from Mrs. Esther R. Elder, general
secretary of the city of Pasadena Wel-
fare Bureau.
Letter from Katherine M. Cobb, of 739
Garland Ave., Los Angeles, Calif.
Xetter from Joseph Willis, 125 WeUer St.,
Los Angeles, Calif.
Xetter from Eric H. Thomsen, Solvang,
Calif.
Copies of 6 California legislative bills deal-
ing with relief.
The Migrant Situation in Madera County,
Calif., by Dr. Lee A. Stone, health officer
(other material held in committee files) .
Statement by the Agricultural Labor Bu-
reau of the San Joaquin Valley, Inc.
Articles of incorporation. Agricultural La-
bor Bureau of San Joaquin Valley
Migration into California in the 1920's, by
Edwin Bates
Witness
John W. Abbott
John' W. Abbott
John W.
Abbott
3012
John W.
Abbott
3030
John W.
Abbott
3031
John W.
Abbott
3033
John W.
Abbott
3033
John W.
Abbott-
3035
John W.
Abbott. - --.
3050
John W.
Abbott
3062
John W.
Abbott
3065
3066
2987,
2994
2995
INTEESTATE MIGRATION
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1940
House of Representatives,
Select Committee to Investigate the
Interstate Migration of Destitute Citizens,
Washington, D. C.
The committee met at 9:30 a. m., in the circuit court of appeals
hearmg room, United States Courthouse and Post Office Building,
Los Angeles, Calif., Hon. John H. Tolan (chairman), presidmg:
Present: Representatives John H. Tolan (chairman), John J.
Sparkman, ancl Frank C. Osmers, Jr. Absent: Claude V. Parsons
and Carl T. Curtis.
Also present: Edward J. Rowell, chief field investigator; John W.
Abbott, field investigator in charge; Abe Kramer, field investigator;
and Alice M. Tuohy, secretary.
The Chairman. The committee will please come to order.
Mr. wStockburger, you will be the first witness.
WELCOME BY ARLIN E. STOCKBURGER, REPRESENTATIVE OF
MAYOR FLETCHER BOWRON, LOS ANGELES, CALIF.
Mr. Stockburger. Honorable committee members, I want to say
a word of welcome to the committee on behalf of iVfayor Bowron
who is on the high seas in a plane returning to Los Angeles, and who
will land at San Francisco today. He has been in the South Seas
for a month.
Mayor Bowron, I know, would be here this morning if he were in
the city. In talking to the chairman of the city council, Mr. Burns,
he asked me to convey his respects to the committee and assure you
of his interest in the program.
Secretary Wallace is here today, and the chairman of the city
council is doing the honors to the Secretary and will be very busy
this morning and around noon time, so he couldn't be present.
The city of Los Angeles is the hub of this migrant problem in
Southern California, of course. The city has no legal responsibility
for caring for indigents and participating in this relief problem. It is
primarily under State law and is a county problem. However, it is
very close to us and we do have a department of social welfare that
is working with the recognized agencies in handling this problem.
We are most happy that the Federal Government has recognized the
seriousness of the situation in California and what we are confronted
with, especially in Southern California, in connection with the migrant
2803
2804
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
problem and we are here to assure you that we will cooperate in every-
way possible in trying to furnish information to aid you in arriving-
at your conclusion.
The Chairman. Thank you. I want to simply say to you that
we opened our hearings in New York on June 29, and the first witness
in these hearings was Mayor LaGuardia of New York. He considers
that interstate migration is a national problem, and as president of
the Mayors' Conference he is contacting every mayor in the United
States on the subject. We are also contacting the Governor of each
State.
On behalf of the committee we wish you to express our thanks to
the mayor and to the city council, and extend to them our very best
wishes, and say to them that our records will not close until the final
hearing in Washington the last week of November, and if you have
any further material you may send it to our committee at Washington
and we will insert it in the record.
Thank you very much, Mr. Stockburger.
TESTIMONY OF ROBERT B. ROBERTSON, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT CORPORA-
TION, BURBANK, CALIF.
Mr. OsMERS. Mr. Kobertson, will you give your full name and
address and occupation to the reporter, please.
Mr. Robertson. Robert B. Robertson. Do you want my business
address?
Mr. OsMERS. Your business connection and your address.
Mr. Robertson. Assistant director of industrial relations at the
Lockheed Aircraft Co., Burbank, Calif.
MIGRATION TO AIRCRAFT INDUSTRIES IN CALIFORNIA
Mr. OsMERs. Mr. Robertson, you have submitted a letter to the
committee here in reference to the applications for employment that
you have received in a typical week at the Lockheed plant here.
It seems from this letter of yours that a great many of these people
that apply to you are interstate migrants.
(The letter referred to is as follows:)
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation,
Burbank, Calif., September 21, 1940.
Dr. E. J. RowELL,
Chief Field Investigator, House Committee on Interstate Migration,
San Francisco, Calif.
Dear Dr. Rowell: At the request of Mr. J. W. Abbott we have compiled
some hurried statistics regarding the locale of the men who are applying for jobs
at Lockheed. This information represents a tabulation covering about 1 week's
time and totals 2,050 applicants of whom 1,450 did not have the necessary training
or skill to warrant a second consideration on our part and the tabulation below
includes only those 1,450 men who we feel might possibly be or become a social
burden.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2805
Los Angeles County 825
State.
Texas
Illinois
Nebraska
Colorado
Kansas
Missouri
Arizona
Ohio
Iowa
Oklahoma
Michigan
Minnesota
South Dakota-
Washington __
Wisconsin
Idaho
New York
Montana
New Mexico. _
Oregon
114
43
34
29
26
25
24
23
19
16
15
13
13
12
12
10
9
9
9
8
7
Indiana
North Dakota
Kentuckj'
Hawaii
Louisiana
Alabama
Nevada
Marj'land
Washington, D. C.
Massachusetts
Tennessee
Florida
Wyoming
South Africa
Connecticut
Arkansas
West Virginia
Virginia
New Jersey
Ehode Island
South Carolina
You will note that the out-of-State applicants make up about 35 percent of the
total and at the present rate the total would be approximately 26,000 unskilled
for a 12-month period. We handle from 10,000 to 12,000 applicants per month
and have increaded our personnel from 3,000 to almost 14,000 within the past
2 years.
As you no doubt know a large number of so-called aircraft technical schools
have recently and suddenly sprung into existence here in Southern California.
The majority of the schools are poorly equipped and poorly staffed, and the value
■of the training given by them is practically nil. Some of these so-called schools
have been and are still sending representatives to other States (mainly the mid-
western States) and by the use of high pressure methods and actual promises of
jobs at extremely high rates are inducing a large number of young men to come to
Southern California. We feel certain that there is a wealth of material right in
this vicinity from which all of the qualified schools could easily draw the enroll-
ment for short courses for training in production jobs. We quite naturally give
every preference to local boys in hiring those who have completed the courses of
the few schools which offer training of value.
We have consistently advised strongly against unskilled workers coming to
California in the hope of employment in the aircraft industry and have publicized
this in newspapers on a country-wide basis.
I will be glad to appear personally before your committee on September 28,
1940, and would appreciate information as to the exact time.
Very truly yours,
R. B. ROBEBTSON,
Assistant Director, Industrial Relations.
TESTIMONY OF ROBERT B. ROBERTSON— Resumed
Mr. OsMERs. Now what conclusion do you reach in that tabulation?
Mr. Robertson. Well, we reach this conclusion out there, that from
35 to 50 percent of the applicants at Locklieed are out-of-State people
and that, I should say, approximately 75 percent of those people from
out of State are not employable at Lockheed.
I also might add that these technical schools or so-called technical
schools are, in my opinion, a bigger problem than the publicity that
the aircraft industry has received in the past year or so because they
are really going out after boys from back through the midwestern
States and other States and pulling them into Southern California,
rather than having the boys come out here cold with the expectation
of getting a job in the aircraft industry.
28Q6 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Mr. OsMERS. Would you say that the expansion of the national
defense program has acted as a magnet to bring these yoimg men here
from other parts of the country?
Mr. Robertson. To a certain extent.
Mr. OsMERS. Now, I wonder if you would explain to the committee
the apparent discrepancy between statements made by various labor
organizations that there is an adequate supply of skilled labor avail-
able here and the statement made by some men in the aircraft industrj'"
that there is not a sufficient supply of skilled labor.
Mr. Robertson. We still maintain that there is not. As a matter
of fact, we are recruiting throughout the East for skilled laborers
constantly.
Chairman Tolan. Right now?
Mr. Robertson. Right now.
Mr. OsMERS. For what type of work are you seekmg those men?
Mr. Robertson. Well, I Vv'ant to say, first, that we are not going
after any man out of the industries that are so-called essential and
vital to the defense program, and also I might add that 90 percent
of the men that we do get, skilled men, are emploj^ed now. We are
very careful to stay away from industries that are considered vital
to the defense program.
Mr. Osmers. Why do they come with your organization? Do you
offer them a better proposition?
Mr. Robertson. In a majority of cases I should say that the rates
of pay are not any more than they are receiving at the present time.
Mr. Osmers. Do you offer steadier work or better conditions?
Mr. Robertson. It might be steadier and, of course, the California
attraction is there, too. There are a lot of people throughout the
country that want to come to California, and we have found that that
is a selling point.
AIRCRAFT technical SCHOOLS ^
Mr. Osmers.' Now you have touched on a point there before, and I
would like to go into it a little further. These aircraft technical
schools that you have mentioned, would you describe those in detail
for the committee, the establishment and the type of work the}^ do
and their value?
Mr. Robertson. Well, some of them are all right. Some of them
are well equipped, well staffed with good instructors, and turn out a
boy that is useful to us; but they are very much in the minority. I
would say you could count those on the fingers of one hand.
Others have sprung up where they get together a bunch of material
and they throw that in front of the boy when he comes out and he
reads that, and perhaps they might give him a few hours with a rivet
gun or something like that, and consider him a graduate. Those
boys we cannot use.
Mr, Osmers. May I ask you how they solicit the boys for those
schools that do not deliver the education that they say they will?
Mr. Robertson. Well, I wouldn't like to say that this is a definite
accusation, but we have had any number of reports — and I think
authentic reports — that these schools send representatives back
through the Midwestern States and even back into some of the Eastern
' See p. 1523, Lincoln hearings, pt. 4
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2807
States, who make promises and statements that they are connected
with the aircraft companies and some of them say that the aircraft
companies own these schools. They promise rates up to $1.50 an
hour after 5 or 6 weeks of trainmg, which is absolutely untrue. It is
not possible because even the best of the schools that turn out boys
that we can employ we put through a brush-up course at our plant
before we put them to work. Those are the boys that come out of the
better schools.
I want to state that I think that these schools that are not qualified
present one of our biggest problems as far as the aircraft industry is
concerned m bringing out people from other States, and the majority
of these people have to sacrifice m order to raise the money to pay the
tuition.
Mr. OsMERS. You don't happen to know what a typical tuition
would be, do you?
Air. Robertson. I should say around $150 for 5 or 6 weeks, or a
4 weeks' course.
j\Ir. OsMERS. That is almost equal to some college tuition for a
whole 3^ear, isn't it?
Mr. Robertson. Yes.
Mr. Osmers. Here is a question that may be beyond your knowl-
edge. If it is, just say so. Are these schools licensed under any gov-
ernmental authority, or are they just independent private businesses?
Mr. Robertson. I cannot answer that definitely.
Air. Osmers. You don't laiow whether they are or not?
Air. Robertson. No.
Mr. Osmers. Do you believe that they ought to be regulated if they
are not?
Air. Robertson. I certainly believe they should be.
Mr. Osmers. Or better regulated if they are being regulated?
Air. Robertson. Yes. The California Labor Code cannot do any-
thing to regulate them, as I understand it, unless they charge the boys
for an attempt at getting them a job in an aircraft plant. If they
make a charge for securing employment they would come under the
employment agency section of the California Labor Code, but they
are careful not to do that.
Air. Osmers. Now, when we had hearings m Lincoln, Nebr., Mr.
Robertson, several letters from aircraft companies were offered and
placed in our record at that time. I believe at least one of these letters
charged that some of the aircraft companies were enticing skilled
labor away from certain other industries after these other industries
had taken the trouble to train the men involved.
Do you know whether that is a common practice in the aircraft
industry, or not?
Mr. Robertson. Well, I think
Mr. Osmers (mterrupting). I think you have said that before.
Air. Robertson. I think I made my statement before on that.
Mr. Osmers. That you people recruit?
Mr. Robertson. We will take skilled men away from industries
that are not considered vital to the national defense program. We
have done it and unless we are stopped we will continue to do it.
Mr. Osmers. I am quite sure that you are familiar with the residence
requirements that hold today in most States of the Union. I believe
2§Q3 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
the California residence law is 5 years— 3 or 5 years— and do you
feel, speaking for the aircraft industry in California, that if that law
remains on the books that it will increase your difficulties in recruiting
men to come to this State?
Mr. Robertson. No, I don't; because, as I say, we recruit only
skilled personnel that we cannot hire in this locality. I think I
stated before that 90 percent or better of these men are already
working and have good jobs. They don't think about the fact that
they might become a burden upon any State or community.
Mr. OsMERS. When you brmg a man here from the Middle West,
do you pay his carfare?
Mr. Robertson. In some instances.
Mr. OsMERS. Do you guarantee his carfare back?
Mr, Robertson. No.
Mr. Osmers. You do not?
Mr. Robertson. No.
Mr. Osmers. I think that is about all.
Mr. Sparkman. Wlien you bring one here you bring him here
under the expectation of his going to work?
Mr. Robertson. Well, we don't brmg anyone here unless he does
go to work.
Mr. Sparkman. In other words, he is employed by your company
before he comes here?
Mr. Robertson. He is employed before he comes here.
Mr. Sparkman. And if they are efficient, they have no difficulty
in maintaining that position?
Mr. Robertson. No.
Mr. Sparkman. Are these schools that you speak of — I have seen
a great many of them with their ads, or read of them — enticing young
men to come here to become skilled in the various trades in effect
in the aircraft industry— are they sunply doing a poor grade of work,
in your opinion, or are some of them outright frauds?
Mr. Robertson. That statement I wouldn't care to make. I will
say that the majority of them turn out a product that isn't very
useful or isn't useful at all to the aircraft industiy.
Mr. Sparkman. Their product is not what you would class as
skilled under any interpretation?
Mr. Robertson. That is right.
Mr. Sparkman. That is all.
(Following is a copy of a statement issued by the Los Angeles
Chamber of Commerce, in the form of a four-page booklet, in regard to
the above-mentioned schools:)
A Statement Regarding Aviation Training Schools and Employment in
Aircraft Factories in Los Angeles County, Calif.
(Published by Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce)
To Whom It May Concern:
In answer to thousands of inquiries from all sections of the country regarding
employment opportunities in the Los Angeles County aircraft manufacturmg
industry and the value of aviation training schools in preparing young men for
jobs in the industry, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, through its aviation
committee, has made a comprehensive survey of the field.
During this survey, the personnel heads of the five major manufacturers in the
countv were consulted. In arriving at conclusions, their statements were given
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2809
major importance in the belief that the manufacturers themselves are in the best
position to know the personnel requirements of the industry and the need for the
aircraft training schools. Based on this primary source, the following conclusions
have been reached:
1. A distinct differentiation must be made between vocational and job-training
courses. A vocational training course is one requiring from a 10-month minimum
to a 4-5'ear maximum for completion. It provides training in a broad range of
skills, and includes instruction in related technical subjects such as trade mathe-
matics and drafting. The job-training course, of from 6 weeks to 3 months dura-
tion, is designed to teach the student how to perform a single job, such as riveting-^
welding, or sheet metal assembly.
2. The employee who has received a general vocational education is readily-
adaptable to many different jobs and, therefore, has a good expectancy for steady
employment within the industry because he can be transferred from one depart-
ment to another if necessary. The job-trained employee is comparatively insecure
because his brief and restricted training equips him to do only one job and when
production schedules require curtailment in his particular field, he is not equipped
for transfer to another department.
3. There is absolutely no connection between the aircraft manufacturers and
the private training schools and there is no agreement either implied or stated
that the manufacturers will employ their graduates. Employment selections are:
made solely on the basis of merit, irrespective of the individual's former connect-
ions. In addition to mechanical knowledge and skill, there are usually other
qualifications that are considered, such as personality traits, physical fitness,
citizenship and in some instances the satisfactory passing of general intelligence,
temperament, mechanical aptitude and other selective tests.
4. The employee who is trained as a skilled mechanic with several years of
classroom and shop instruction has greater opportunity for advancement to
supervisorial and foremen's jobs than the job-trained employee. Promotions
are, of course, dependent upon other qualities of leadership.
5. The major aircraft manufacturers are unanimous in their opinion that there
is no current need on the part of the industry for aviation schools of the job-
training ty])e and anticipate no future need for them. When the industry first
began extensive hiring, the training offered by these schools was of some value,
but there is now an abundance of job-trained and semi-skilled workers in southern
California. The manufacturers are emphatic in their warning that with the two
exceptions of graduate engineers and skilled craftsmen, there is an abundant
local labor supply and the California aircraft industry offers no employment
opportunity to out-of-State applicants. It is believed by the industry that
should a future emergency again require extensive hiring, the companies could and
would conduct their own training program with greater effectiveness and less cost
to the student than would be possible by private schools.
6. Some of the public schools offer adequate courses in mechanic training and
is suggested that those interested in this field should consult the vocational edu-
cational departments of their local public school systems. The Civil Aeronautics
Authority, Washington, D. C, issues a list of private schools to which it has
issued letters of recognition indicating that their credits are acceptable for appli-
cation toward a Civil Aeronautics Authority Airplane Mechanic's Certificate. It
should be pointed out, however, that this C. A. A. approval is given with primary
reference to their capacity for training mechanics for the inspection, maintenance,
overhaul or repair of aircraft, engines, propellers, and appliances rather than for
the actual manufacturing processes.
March 28. 1940.
Testimony of Robert B. Robertson — Resumed
The Chairman. Mr. Robertson, in your recruiting experience^
is there any particular part of the country that you get the greatest
number from?
Mr. Robertson. Well, we have found that the Middle West —
Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan — there seems to be a
concentration of skill in those particular States.
The Chairman. Any farm boys?
Mr. Robertson. No. We don't bring anyone out unless they are
highly skilled craftsmen; tool makers, die makers, or machinists.
2810 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
The Chairman. We are trying to tie up the migrant problem,
don't you see?
Mr. Robertson. I don't believe our recruiting activities would
have very much bearing on the migrant problem because if something
should happen that a man we bring out, a skilled man, should not
stay with Lockheed, why, he could go the next day and get a job at
some other plant.
INSUFFICIENT SKILLED LABOR
The Chairman. What do you consider a No. 1 recruit?
Mr. Robertson. I don't know as I understand exactly what you
mean.
The Chairman. His qualifications?
Mr. Robertson. A man with 8 to 10 or 12 years' experience in a
skilled trade who, in all probability, has gone through an apprentice-
ship before that.
Mr. Sparkman. Where is he going to get that 8 or 10 years' expe-
rience?
Mr. Robertson. Well, as far as we are concerned, he has already
had it in the machine-tool industry and other metal trade industries
back in the Middle West.
The Chairman. The problem that I am thinking of, and the way
that it might fit into this picture with the migrant problem — take
those areas where we have a surplus of population or where we have
a surplus of farm population, due either to high birth rates, low eco-
nomic opportunities, or due to the Dust Bowl or whatever it might be,
suppose some kind of a training program were developed there in
order that those young men might train to become skilled workers —
the thought is how are they going to get that experience that is re-
quired by the aviation industry unless there is some intermediate
industry that can pick them up and give it to them?
Mr. Robertson. Well, of course, we are faced with this problem.
We are faced with the problem of taking highly skilled men and step-
ping them up the line in the organization and taking the people that
we might term as semiskilled, or specialists in certain machmes as
replacements. In other words, we have to spread the skill a little
thin and we realize that we have to do that even though the labor
organizations say that there is an abundance of skill. If there is, we
haven't found it.
Mr. Osmers. Mr. Robertson, I have questioned several witnesses
on this particular point in different parts of the country. Do you
feel that there is something missing and something wrong with our
educational system, our public educational system, because of the
fact we are not turning out young people in the vocational lines?
Mr. Robertson. Well, we are talking about two different things,
I think. When we talk about skill we are talking about a man that
can be made skillful in 6 months or a year.
Mr. Osmers. Changing the subject from that, I am talking about
your average employee that you say comes out of a pretty good school
and that you can use with a little added training, the man whom you
can use in your plant.
Mr. Robertson. Well, we are working very closely with the de-
fense program trainnig and we have got some pretty good boys out
of those schools already.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2811
Mr. OsMERS. But, Mr. Robertson, with all due respect to the de-
fense training schools, I am talking about the educational policy of
America for the past 150 years.
Mr. Robertson. In other words, you want to know
Mr. OsMERS (interrupting). Are we turning out a lot of white-
collar people when there aren't a lot of white-collar jobs?
Mr. Robertson. I think we have for the past 10 years. I think
we have lost one generation in that line. I really do.
The Chairman. In other words, there is an absence of teachmg
young men how to use their hands?
Mr. Robertson. That is right. I think we are beginning to realize
now that we have lost about one generation or about 10 years.
Mr. OsMERS. Certamly anyone in any industrial activity realizes
that. That is all.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Mr. Robertson, for givmg
ns your time. It was a very valuable contribution to us.
(Witness excused.)
The Chairman. Mr. and Mrs. Higgenbottom.
TESTIMONY OF THOMAS BENJAMIN HARRISON HIGGENBOTTOM,
MRS. MAUDE HIGGENBOTTOM, MISS JUNE HIGGENBOTTOM,
MISS MARY HIGGENBOTTOM, AND DALE HIGGENBOTTOM, OF
FRESNO, CALIF.
The Chairman. Mr. Higgenbottom, will you give your name?
Mr. Higgenbottom. Thomas Benjamin Harrison Higgenbottom.
The Chairman. And where do you live?
Mr. Higgenbottom. Fresno.
The Chairman. I want to say to you folks that we have been all
over the countiy and that you do not need to be afraid of this com-
mittee. We have met a lot of so-called migrants and you look just
as good to us as the governors and mayors and everybody else, so
we want you to tell about your experiences, and just relax and don't
worry about us. You will not be asked any sharp questions or any-
thing of that kind.
The Chairman. What is your name?
June Higgenbottom. June.
The Chairman. How old are you, June?
June Higgenbottom. Eleven.
The Chairman. Wliat is your name?
Mary Higgenbottom. Mary.
The Chairman. How old are you?
Mary Higgenbottom. Fourteen.
The Chairman. ^Y\mt about you, son?
Dale Higgenbottom. Dale.
The Chairman. How old are you?
Dale Higgenbottom. Eight.
The Chairman. How many more children have you?
Mr. Higgenbottom. We have four more living.
The Chairman. Four living. That is seven altogether that are
living?
Mr. Higgenbottom. Yes.
2812
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
The Chairman. And how many children did you have?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Eight.
The Chairman. And what did you do after you got married? Live
on a farm?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. What kind of a farm was it?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Just a general farm — cotton corn, oats, and
such as that.
The Chairman. Did you buy the farm?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. No ; leased from an Indian.
The Chairman. How much money did you pay for it; that is, lease
money?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Two hundred and something a year. Then I
did some building on it and cleaned up quite a little land.
The Chairman. Was your father a farmer ahead of you, before
you?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. He was also a farmer.
The Chairman. Well, how long did you remain on that farm?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Let's see — I taken the habit of cleaning up
land in Oklahoma at that time. It was new, you know, and would
sell out the leases; work a bunch m winter, you know, and sell the
leases for the profit that was in it. Sometimes made a profit and
sometimes I lose a little, but then generally I tried to make a profit.
The Chairman. Yes, that is a normal idea.
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. I stayed — I followed that for 5 or 6 years
mitil that section was cleaned up. It developed awfully quick when
it first started there, to about 1916 or 1917, why then it very nearly
aU went into cultivation.
The Chairman. Is that the eastern or the w^estern part of Okla-
homa?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, it is approximately called the central-
eastern. It is in the Indian Territory.
The Chairman. Did you make any money on that farm?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, I don't know. We made a living. We
did fairly well. We couldn't complain.
The Chairman. And when did you leave that farm?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. I left it the first year. I sold it out after I
cleaned it up and built a house and built the fencing; some fellows
moved in from Arkansas and I sold out to them in one dnj. I think I
got $1,800.
The Chairman. Cash?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Casli money.
The Chairman. Then where did you go?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. We rented a farm over hj what is known as
Slick, part of the ground that Slick is on; the town where the oil fields
are. It is the oil town. Slick.
The Chairman. How did you make out there?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, we did fairly good. We had taken what
is known in our country as malaria fever and chills. It developed
pretty much over the country at that time, on account of the rains.
The Chairman. You have had a good many chills since, after you
started to move, haven't you?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. I believe so.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2813
The Chairman. Well now, Mr. Higgenbottom, how long did you
remain there?
Mr. Higgenbottom. We stayed 1 year.
The Chairman. Did you make any money there?
Mr. Higgenbottom. Yes; we made a little money. We got ahead.
We accumulated quite a little stuff around us — generally a farmer
does — and we moved from there to another farm about 5 miles from
there that belonged to a banker. We did extra good there. We hit
a good crop.
The Chairman. You mean to tell me you made a little money from
the banker?
Mr. Higgenbottom. No; not the banker.
The Chairman. But you got a good deal, did you?
Mr. Higgenbottom. I cleaned up quite a little land for him. It
was good land in the river bottom. He hadn't had it developed yet,
so I went in there and we cleaned it up. We made a pretty good crop.
From there we moved to Kansas where her folks lived. We had
taken — we rented a farm there of about 640 acres. It was mostly in
alfalfa and in grass, and raised two or three hundred acres of crop.
We stayed 1 year.
There was a bunch of wheat growers come in from the west. At
that time the war was on pretty good, you know, and so we sold out,
sold our stock and went back to Oklahoma. I figured we could do
better there, knew our countr}^. We rented a farm down close to
Muskogee. We did fairly good. We made a good crop, I guess about
the best crop there was in the neighV)orhood at that time; corn and
cotton.
Then we moved close to Tahlequah, Okla. We stayed there on
that farm 2 years and it wasn't large enough, so I moved to another
farm and bought a farm at the same time.
We moved about a mile and we didn't do quite so good that year,
but on our own land we had quite a bunch of cattle. That was about
in 1920.
We had a free range and we bought cjuite a bunch of cattle and
had them around. It cost us $100 apiece, and there is where the
drought caught us with those cattle. Lots of people say if I could
look forward as I do backward — those cattle brought me $10 apiece
and I give a hundred for them. Of course, I had a little mortgage on
some of them and to quiet the mortgage I just sold enough to lack a
little of paying the mortgage. I owed a little land note and I didn't
have money enough, so I sold two hounds for $165.
The Chairman. Two what?
Mr. Higgenbottom. Two hounds; running hounds.
The Chairman. They must have been fast.
Mr. Higgenbottom. Well, I sold them for $165. I sold 16 head of
cattle for $160, but two hounds brought $165.
The Chairman. Why didn't you go into the hound business then?
Mr. Higgenbottom. Well, I did. Just about that time, the time I
got into the hound business, the Osage Indians, they didn't have any
money to spend. Oil went down.
The Chairman. The hounds went with them?
260370— 41— pt. 7-
2S14: INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. So tlicy quit buying hounds. Hounds like I
sold were selling for $10 apiece, and I give some of them away that I
raised.
The Chairman. What were they? Just rabbit chasers?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. No ; wolfhounds; fetch wolves. They were
running hounds with a pedigree; just a breed of hounds.
The Chairman. What kind of wolves were there there, timber
wolves?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Timber wolves and coyotes.
The Chairman. Go ahead.
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. We stayed there about 5 years on that farm
and we sold it. We moved on a larger farm about 2 miles from there,
in the same school district the other farm was in. We put in quite a
bunch of — quite a crop, I guess about the largest one there was in the
country, and I guess the best. I guess the best and biggest there was
in the country. I stayed on that place 4 years.
I think I had taken about $1,000 cash on the farm and the last year
I was on it, I had 27 head of cattle when we left and I was in debt
$500 and I left with three mules and a pony and no cattle at all.
The Chairman. Don't forget the wife and children.
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Of course, all this time, why, I was accumulat-
ing a little larger family.
The Chairman. Well, I would say you had made a good showing
with your accumulation, all right.
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. It had taken. I am a great hand, you know.
Now this boy here — we left Oklahoma 3 years ago, and as young
as he is, I put him out with a mule, running out in the cotton, and I
put them all out; these girls, both of them. x\ll of them, you see, I
start pretty young to farming so if I get behind or something, why I
let them do the work and they can all handle mules.
The Chairman. You manage to work the wife a little, too, don't
you?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. She is generally busy at the house. If
dinner wasn't ready, you know what takes place.
We moved from there and we went about 30 miles west from there
to Wagoner County, and then we started farming there. At the first
year I had taken $500 worth of debts and moved them over to this
bank, from one bank to the other, like we generally do when we move;
transfer our debts to the other county.
The Chairman. That is a new one on me. You go to one bank and
pick up your debt and transfer it to another bank?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. YcS.
The Chairman. Did you have any trouble doing that?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, not too much. There is a whole lot to
the person. You know the record generally follows a fellow, if he pays
his debts.
The Chairman. And it depends on the sort of a front you put up,
too, doesn't it?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, I don't know. I talked just as good as
I ever did, the last few years, but it doesn't go anywhere.
The Chairman. Then go on from there.
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. We made a crop that year; made a pretty
good cotton crop and corn crop. Everything was fairly good. The
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2815
lightning killed two of my mules in one night. There come up a little
thunderstorm. Then it was not very long until there was a little
cyclone hit through there — didn't hit quite at our place, but it hit —
and we had a good horse, about as good as there was in the country,
I guess, and he run into — he got excited and run into a tree and broke
his neck. That left us with one mule.
Well then, I went to buying what is called scrub stock for $10 and
$15, you see. I got down to where my credit wasn't good with the
bank any more because I didn't have any security.
So along about that time the plow-up program come.
You see the reason that I always get the children to help me, we
all work together. If I am out in the field, my shadow amounts to
a whole lot out in the field. I always try to stay out with them,
because maybe they get tangled up with the horses or something when
they were working, but it is not long until they can go along.
Along about that time they come through with the cut on the
cotton acreage. They cut the cotton acreage. On the farm I was
farming, it was just adapted to cotton. That was a cash crop.
You sec, we farm corn, wheat, and oats just enough, you knov/, and
we didn't want to get into it very large on account of it cost so much
for machinery. I have the hands to handle the cotton, and it requires
quite a little work.
Let us see, in '28 it was^ — I am going back — the reason I left over
there was that I didn't make anything. It rained the entire year.
Just before we moved to Wagoner it rained the entire year there.
The corn was awfully good, and the wheat and the oats that I had,
about 150 acres of wheat, and all that, were good; but the rain wouldn't
let you get in the field and cut it. It just fell do\\ai. And the cotton,
in the rainy season, the boll weevils worked awfully bad at that time.
On 35 acres of cotton I finally picked out a bale of cotton. On 10
acres I never got a bloom on it on account of the weevils. But we had
tended it good before we knew it wasn't going to make anything.
So I lost my wheat and other crops and the weevils ate up every-
thing on it except the mortgage. I had a pretty good mortgage on it.
Thebanker, he heM the mortgage and was a little luckier. He had
the mortgage in a safe place. That was the reason why I had taken
and I sold my cattle. Then I moved to this Wagoner County, Okla.
So that was the year that my horses died. I stayed there on that
place. In '33 — I will go on up to the story where I was — in '33, I
think it was along about that time, why I got a pretty good bunch
of cotton hands. We could really go to tOAvn on it. We raised it and
we generally had the finest flov/er garden in the country. The girls
come in at noon and I had seen them, they would grab the hoe and
go out and handle the flowers. We had the finest flower garden that
I seen anywhere. In fact I made a trip to Indiana and back and
I didn't see as nice a flower garden. The girls did that while they
were resting at noon from hoeing cotton.
Along about 1933, 1 think it was, they had — you know, they called
it the cotton reduction. Well, on this farm, why they cut my cotton.
I generally raised about 40 or 45 acres of cotton and I put in for it,
told them' how much cotton I raised — the truth. I always got by the
bank with the truth pretty well, found out it generahy paid. But on
this occasion, why there were several in the field, you know, that were
281g INTERSTATE MIOHATIOX
in the country, and when the cotton acreage came out it was nearly
twice as large as ever had been planted in the county. I seen then I
was hooked. I wasn't a very good hand to stay in the game or I
wasn't a good liar. Well, when they come through, they caught the
fellow that told the truth and they cut his acreage down, which had
taken mine down half or very near half. Then they give it another
reduction. But many fellows in there, probably that maybe planted
4 or 5 acres of cotton said they had planted 50 and 100, because they
seen what the Government pay-off was, and everything, saw that it
was a paying proposition, and they wanted lots of cotton. You see,
there was no check-up that was given, much.
The Chairman. Anyway, you didn't make it go there, is that right?
I am kind of anxious to get you started toward California if I can.
I want you to tell me why you are in California.
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. So wlien the cotton acreage was cut, my chil-
dren— I finally landed with 16 acres of cotton, with a big family that
could do the work, you know, on approximately 40 or 50 acres of
cotton, and do the other work growing the living, which we had to
have — I can raise cotton a lot cheaper than you can if you hire the
work done on that basis. I did that in order to keep my children at
home and, of course, if I was going out here and hire a lot of work done,
on the cotton, I w^ouldn't go at it that way. But in order to keep my
children to home, I can work them at home and they would all be at
home and we could raise largely our own living, but it takes some
money.
The cotton acreage was cut and a couple of the older children says
there is no use of staying there. "We will go hunt us a job." Of
course, that throwed a little extra labor on the market, as two of
them left home. But I alwaj^s want to keep m}^ cliildren home.
They have never been back since they left, since they left home.
They stayed away. One of them went to Arizona to pick cotton and
stayed his 6 months and came back for a little Avhile but no more.
There wasn't no work at home because we could handle the 16 acres
of cotton just, you might say, a one man's job.
Then we moved from that place. We moved from there to another
place about 5 miles from there.
The Chairman. In Oklahoma?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. In Oklahoma. Th^ first year — it was '36 —
it was the drought all over the country. We didn't make anything.
We had a few potatoes. We made quite a crop of potatoes. They
were a fairly good price and would keep us from starving to death.
In the fall we hooked up the truck and went to Texas to pick cotton.
We left the family there to do the work and we left quite a little canned
stuff and fruit and they had milk and butter and everything. We
come back and we were hunting location. That is what we were
hunting. We want to get somewhere where we might farm. We^
didn't want to sell our crop or teams and stuff, so we went to Texas-
and we picked cotton. Texas was somewhat of a failure, too. We
didn't make too good. We made our expenses and come back. Not
any better off than when we left.
So in '37 — '36 and '37 — why we made nothing.
That winter — we generally keep quite a bunch of chickens and milk,
cows and hogs around — we come back and we started in to. make-
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2817
another crop and I put in for the F. S. A. loan. I went to Muskogee
and I got a producer's loan. I already had that on this crop, you
know, and it didn't pay off anything so I had to get an F. S. A. loan
for feeding.
Well, there was nothing made. The chickens, along in January
and February— it was awfully cold — we lost, I guess, two or three
hundred chickens that starved to death. You could go out and see
them. We lost one mule, one cow, just on starvation. You laiow
that don't look good to a farmer, so I made up my mind then that
it was — we got our F. S. A. loan after we got most of our crop planted
and it was a big help when we got it, of course, but we didn't get it
in time. If I could have got that loan to have bought feed, you know,
the 1st of January, I could have put the chickens to producing and
went on. But everything went against me.
So I says, "Well, now, this is our last crop. I will never see any-
thing else that I have got starve to death."
The Chairman. So you left there?
DESCRIPTION OF MIGRATION FROM OKLAHOMA TO CALIFORNIA
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. I made that crop and sold out, paid up — I
don't owe no banks — paid the F. S. A. loan off and paid the producer's
loan off, and it left me a few dollars, and I loaded in just a little stuff
one morning and we took a notion to leave.
The Chairman. How many children did you have at that time?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. We had five with us at that time.
The Chairman. What kind of a car did you have?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. All A model. It was about '29. It wasn't
a new one.
The Chairman. No, it wasn't new. It was in '37 when you used
it and it was a '29. It wasn't exactly new; was it?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. No.
The Chairman. So you loaded up the wife and the five children
in the car, and at that time did you know where you were going?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, we heard of Gilbert, Ariz. That it was
a good cotton country.
The Chairman. How did you hear about that?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. My boy had come back and told me they was
quite a lot of cotton there.
The Chairman. But at that time you didn't intend to go to Cali-
fornia; did you?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. No ; we went to Arizona.
The Chairman. How much money did you have when you left?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. I dou't know. It was forty-some-odd dollars
I think.
The Chairman. You were still pretty rich?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Eight of us rode in what is called a roadster,
A model. It was pretty well crowded. I have seen lots of them and
wondered how — it was cold weather, as it was in December.
The Chairman. How did you get along? Do you know the route
that you took? What route did you take?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. We went on 66 I think to Amarillo and there —
where did we go?
2818
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Tbe Chairman. That is the famous old highway?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Wc come down through— I forget the towns.
The Chairman. Where would you sleep at night?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. We generally get tourist cabins, cost 75 cents
The Chairman. Your $40 was getting a httle lower all the time,
wasn't it, I suppose?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. YcS.
The Chairman. Did you have any trouble at the State hues?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, not on that trip, no. We didn't have
any trouble.
1. COTTOX PICKING IN ARIZONA
The Chairman. Did you go right into Arizona then?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Yes, about 27 miles southeast of Phoenix.
The Chairman. Where did you live there?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. We lived there in a tourist camp and picked
cotton.
The Chairman. Did the children help you?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Ycs. We started in picking cotton. The
cotton picking was pretty well over with. We would make $4 a day.
I was a pretty good cotton picker, but the cotton was pretty well over.
The Chairman. How long did j^ou work at $4 a day?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Until the first of 1938, wasn't it?
Mrs. HiGGENBOTTOM. The first of 1938.
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. The first day of 1938. Then I got on a
job on a dam at Mormon Flat. I went up there and I landed that
job. I worked and I w^as the last man off of it. All of them was laid
off one day and I went back and worked the next day to inspect
things with the superintendent and was there.
The Chairman. W^ell, wdien did you leave that place in Arizona?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. I left in July and went to Eloy, Ariz.
The Chairman. And all the time you lived in these tourist camps?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. YcS.
The Chairman. How much did you pay for it, did you say?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. $8 a month; $8 and $10.
The Chairman. You carried your bedding, of course, with you?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Ycs. It was a mighty filthy camp. We
didn't want to stay, but conditions — the money didn't let us.
The Chairman." Where did you go from there?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. We went to Eloy, Ariz.
The Chairman. Wliat did you do there?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Picked cotton.
The Chairman. How long were you there?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. We was there 3 or 4 months, I guess.
The Chairman. Wliere did you live there?
2. LIVING CONDITIONS IN COTTON CAMP
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. We lived in a cotton camp, in tents on the
ground, you know. We had a 12 by 14 tent.
The Chairman. And the eight of you lived in that tent?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. YcS.
The Chairman. Was it cold?
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 281^
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, it wasn't so cold. It was dusty, you
know. That dust — we would have to carry water and sprinkle down
on tlie groinid to keep the dust from rising, and then the wind would
sometimes blow the tents over. But we fixed ours pretty solid.
The Chairman. You had to carry yom- water, you say?
]Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, yes, sir; a couple of hundred yards.
The reason we did that, in order to keep from being in the main camp
where probably there was two or three hundred Mexicans and Negroes,
all lived side by side in there — two or three families moved out on the
desert. We had to carry water.
The Chairman. I suppose you had the latest sanitary appliances
in those tents, toilet facilities and everything?
Air. HiGGENBOTTOM. They was the earhest, I tlunk. There was
lots of brush down through the country. If we v.-anted to change
clothes, and if there was anybody around, we had to go down there —
if we wanted to go to town or anywhere — we would go over do^^Tl by
the brush there and change clothes and come back and go to town.
The Chairman. How long were you there. Mr. Higgenbottom?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. We were there until in January. We was
there when they c^uarantined us for smallpox.
You see, the smallpox come through there and we could walk
around in the field, you know. This fellow was quite a cotton farmer,
and my bunch was vaccmated — or that is, we thought they were all
vaccinated from smallpox at Gilbert, in the schools, and so we had
these smallpoxes. They would come out in the field. They was just
as scabby a? goats, you know, picking the cotton. The people would
tell the health officers.
Well, the fellow had his way for getting rid of those kind of fellows.
It was to fire them. When they would break- out with smallpox he
would fire them. He couldn't use them am* longer. That would
keep him from loshig his cotton camp.
Well, they would go over to some other cotton camp. Finally I
kept this girl here from school. She was — her head, you might say,
was a solid scab ; just broke out with smallpox, and here comes the
school fellow, you know, "You got to send her to school in the morning.
You see that she is in school."
We were keeping them out of school on.ce in a while to pick cotton,
and I don't blame him for kind of kicking up a fuss. We would have
to get up the grocery bill. Some days we got to do work and some-
times we wouldn't.
He was gone about an hour or 2 hours and here the health officer
brought her back. "You keep that girl from school. Why didn't
you keep her out? You have had the whole school cjiuirantined over
here."
Well, I said, "That is too bad." They ciuarantined the camp then
over this. We was under quarantine 21 days and they fed us.
The way they issued groceries there, the fellow that was "abatching"
in a tent, he got just as many groceries as a fellow with 15. Everyone
got so much. We got about enough to maybe get a meal if we could
eat it. I know we got some bacon one time — they was pretty liberal
with us, they gave us some bacon- — and we boiled it with beans. We
couldn't eat it any other way. We thought it would season the beans,
which it did. We went to cut it and vou could stick a fork in it and
2820
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
push it out over the plate. We figured it wasn't much to eat so we
threw it out. The wolves would come up within 20 feet of your tent
and howl of a night. We always figured they
The Chairman (interrupting). You missed the hounds then, I
suppose?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. We missed the hounds, but I wouldn t have
fed that to the hounds, I don't believe.
The Chairman. Now I am sorry, Mr. Higgenbottom; I have got to
hurry you along. We have a lot of witnesses here. Now tell me
when did you leave there?
Mr. Higgenbottom. We left — we went to the Avondale camp,
what was called the Avondale cotton camp. We stayed there 2
weeks and we was picking cotton and one morning we woke up and
looked — it was a tin shack and awful floors— it was just dirt, you
know— and my wife she looked through into the next room, through
some holes through the tin, you know, and there was a woman pickmg
lice off her children, so we loaded right away and got out as quick as
we could get out, and headed for Arizona.
Mrs. Higgenbottom. To California.
Mr. Higgenbottom. We came to California. They had the police
officers over here at "Calpat." We went in a Government camp
there at "Calpat."
3. FARM SECURITY ADMINISTRATION CAMP
The Chairman. You mean a Farm Security camp?
Mr. Higgenbottom. Yes, a Farm Security camp; emergency tent
camp.
The Chairman. You had nothing but tents there?
Mr. Higgenbottom. Tents was all we had there.
The Chairman. Was that a little better lay-out than the one you
left?
Mr. Higgenbottom. Yes. We had showers. We had everythmg
that was kept clean. There wasn't no papers blowing around and
everything was just kept clean.
The Chairman. How much did you pay there for that?
Mr. Higgenbottom. Didn't cost nothing.
The Chairman. How long did you stay there?
Mr. Higgenbottom. We stayed there until it moved, and then we
moved with it to Beaumont, Calif.
We didn't make any picking peas because I have seen 1,500 in one
field and each one would get a hamper of peas and leave. I have seen
them fight over rows, they wanted to pick peas so bad.
The Chairman. How much did you get for picking peas?
Mr. Higgenbottom. Well, when we first went there they was giving
$1.25 but in a little while they cut it down to $1. They figured they
couldn't pay any more. Peas was only 16 cents a pound.
Then we went to Beaumont and picked cherries there, and lived
in the Government camp there. From there we went to Thornton,
Calif. , up north here. We found very little work there. The Filipinos
were doing the most of the work there m the tomatoes. We worked a
little in hay and then we went to San Jose and worked in the apricots.
Then we went back to Thornton and thought we would work in the
tomatoes, but the Filipinos and the Japanese got all the good tomatoes,
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2821
which I guess they know how a httle more than the average fellow.
Then we went to Visalia and worked a while and then back to "Cal-
pat." I worked in a hamper mill last winter. Then we go back to
Thornton and we are here a while and then we go back and are working
at Thornton.
The Chairman. Are you at Thornton now?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. No. We just left there. We moved.
The Chairman. Where did you live at Thornton?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. In a Government camp.
The Chairman. How did you like it?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, the Government camp is far ahead of
any outside camp, you know. You have got it sanitary. It is not
desirable on account of the children, you know — moving around — the
schools are not — you have got to move the children out of schools and
they lose a certain interest. Then we moved down on a farm.
The Chairman. Now, before you leave that camp, did you pay
anything per day?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. We gave 25 cents a week to the fund to the
camp, to keep things agoing.
The Chairman, Who handles that money?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Why, it is handled by a committee in the
camp.
The Chairman. They elect a committee?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. A couusclor. It is for — maybe they will have
ice cream or something like that, and different things.
The Chairman, That was the only actual money that you were out,
was the 25 cents a week?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM, YcS,
The Chairman. And you were permitted to go out and work,
weren't you?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. YcS.
The Chairman. And where are you living now?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. I am on a farm 5 miles north of Fresno; on a
small farm.
The Chairman. Did you buy it?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM, No, I havcu't bought it.
The Chairman. Are you trying to buy it?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. I am figuring on trying to stay there another
year and farm.
The Chairman. What kind of a house have you got?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. It is a two-room house. It is not the best,
but then it is better than camps.
The Chairman. Have you or your wife ever been on relief?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. We have this year. We have got groceries
twice, I think, on relief. We was forcecl to get them at "Calpat" last
winter, and then when I went to Thornton I went and got them.
The Chairman. That is the only time?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Ycs. We was on relief last summer two or
three different times — maybe more — to get groceries.
The Chairman. Did you have any trouble getting these groceries or
money on account of not being a resident of California?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. No. That was the F. S. A.
The Chairman. The F. S. A. Oh, yes.
2822 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
You never applied for relief to the State of California or Arizona,
did you?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. No.
The Chairman. And so what started you off from Oklahoma was
that you just made up your mind that you couldn't make it go there?
That is the idea?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, it was useless to stay there, you know.
The Chairman. And the climate of California — you didn't know or
didn't hear anything about that, did you, before you started?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. No.
Mr. OsMERS. Mr. Higgenbottom, when did you first arrive in
California? I missed that as I was out of the room.
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. The 12th of February 1939.
Mr. OsMERS. That was the first time you ever came to California?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Yes.
Mr. OsMERS. I would like to ask one other question: Have you
ever used a California State Employment Service, the employment
offices where you apply when you are out of a job?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Ycs, sir; I tried to use them.
Mr. OsMERS. You tried to use them? Why weren't you successful
in using them?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Now last spring I had got registered in Beau-
mont. I went to the employment agent there at El Centro. One
has to be put on the list as a combine man, which I am, a farmer, and
I understand machinery, farming machinery. He told me, he says,
"We can't register you. We keep this for home people," and which
he was right, I guess. But I got a job on a combine there and
worked.
Mr. OsMERS. This was in Beaumont, Calif.?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Tliis was in El Centro.
Mr. OsMERS. He would not accept your application as a combine
worker, though you are a competent combine worker?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. YcS.
Mr. OsMERS. Now the reason I asked that question was tliis: You
told the committee that on several occasions you would go to dif-
ferent areas in search of employment and when you got there there
was no work. I think you mentioned that the Filipinos had all the
work and there wasn't any there. I was wondering if you had used
a California State Employment Service whether you could have
avoided that. They might have records in their office — I don't know
whether they do — but they might have records that would have told
you whether there M^as any pea picking or tomato picking in the
different places that you went to.
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. At ouc time we used the employment office
at San Jose to go out on a job, but it proved wortliless, you know.
The employment offices in some cases are used, you know, in order
to get a fellow out on jobs that are worthless. That is the way.
Mr. OsMERS. I am talking about public employment offices now.
I am not talking about those people who make a charge or something
like that, because they would have some interest in getting you out.
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. This was in a public employment service. Of
course, they didn't know what kind of a job that we would get out
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2823
on, but it was planned to be — it proved to be worthless as far as
money-making was concerned.
Mr. OsMERS. Was the money you made on the job less than they
led you to believe it was going to be?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, I don't know as it was. The job
Mr. OsMERS (interrupting). I am trying to get the facts. I want
to clear them or involve them, one or the other.
Did they misrepresent it, or didn't they?
Mr, HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, I don't know. I wouldn't say.
Mr. OsMERS. You wouldn't say that they had misrepresented it?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. I wouldii't Say.
Mr. OsMERS. That is all I have, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Sparkman. That was the employment office at San Jose?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Ycs, sir.
Mr. Sparkman. That is the only experience you have ever had
such as that?
Mr. Osmers. He had one other experience with an employment
agency.
Mr. Sparkman. That is all.
The Chairman. Mr. Higgenbottom, are you glad you came to
California?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Ycs, sir.
The Chairman. Do you want to go back home to Oklahoma?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, no; I don't beheve I do. I have better
health here than I had back there.
The Chairman. You have better health?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. YcS.
The Chairman. The children are all well, are they?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. YcS.
The Chairman. Are they all going to school?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Three of them are.
The Chairman. Well now, if you had a farm and could make it go
back in Oklahoma, would you try to live there?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. I dou't kuow. We have had so many failures
I would be afraid to risk it again.
The Chairman. There comes a time when people down there in the
dust bowl area can't make it go, and rather than starve standing still
they get out and move? Don't you think that is the idea?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Ycs, sir.
The Chairman. Was there anything else that you have in mind
that you haven't told us? I think you have covered it very well.
Mr. OsMERS. Mr. Higgenbottom, do you consider yourself a
Calif ornian today or an Oklahoman?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Well, I don't know. The California people
have always treated me mighty nice. I will have to say that.
Mr. Osmers. Then you would consider yourself a Californian?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. YcS.
Mr. OsMERs. I think that a great many Californians misuse the
word "migrant". I think that it should be "immigrant" and not
"migrant" because most of the people that come here expect to stay.
Isn't that true, as to those that you have met working around?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. I think there is a large percent of them that
intend to stay. You see, the wages in Oklahoma — they are so scarce
2824
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
and there is so little, you know, 50 cents a day there is about the wag&
scale on the farm. You could put up a sign on a post — I did on potato
picking — at 75 cents a day, and I think there was 100 come and I only
needed 20. I didn't think about getting the whole country in; 75 cents
a day to pick up potatoes, and they pick cotton at 15 cents a himdred,
which is generally the scale of wages.
Mr. OsMERS. You mean back there?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. YcS.
Mr. OsMERS. And here?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Here it is 85. You see, probably the cheaper
wages there drives people out. Now, I know that has a tendency, to
make money, you know, if you can get the work done for nothing,
why of course you can afford to farm. That has caused a lot of
farmers to develop theu- acreage, the large farms, to develop their
acreage.
The Chairman. According to the census figure in the last 10 years,
a million people have moved out of the Great Plains States, the Dako-
tas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas. We have had testi-
mony mtroduced in hearmgs at Oklahoma and Lincoln, Nebr., by
experts showing that 5,000,000 acres of land in the Great Plains States
have 25 percent of the topsoil gone.
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. YcS.
Mr. ToLAN. You believe that?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. Ycs. It is fully that much.
Mr. ToLAN. In other words the soil in some of those Southern
States isn't getting any more fertile and it is just gomg the other way,,
isn't it?
Mr. HiGGENBOTTOM. YcS.
The Chairman. Now, Mr. Higgenbottom, we thank you, and you,
too, Mrs. Higgenbottom. You are a pretty fine family, and I am
proud of you because we have heard a lot of eastern families testify
and I think you are right up with the best of them. I hope you have
a lot of good luck with the family and that you make your farming
stick. Thank you very much.
(Witnesses excused.)
Chairman Tolan. Mr. Snyder.
TESTIMONY OF RALPH SNYDER, BEIIFLOWER, CALIF.
Mr. OsMERs. What is your full name, Mr. Snyder?
Mr. Snyder. Ralph Snyder.
Mr. OsMERs. Where were you born?
Mr. Snyder. Slayton, Mmn.
Mr. OsMERs. How old are you?
Mr. Snyder. Twenty-nine.
Mr. OsMERS. Wliat education have you had, Mr. Snyder?
Mr. Snyder. Grade school and high school and 6 months' business
college.
Mr. OsMERS. You are a high-school graduate and you spent 6
months in business school?
Mr. Snyder. Yes.
Mr. OsMERs. Are you married?
Mr. Snyder. No.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2825
Mr. OsMERS. How many members are in your immediate family?
Mr. Snyder. Five and my mother and father; five children.
Mr. OsMERs. Do they still live in Minnesota?
Mr. Snyder. Bellflower, Calif.
Mr. Osmers. Bellflower, Calif.? Do you live with them?
Mr. Snyder. Yes.
Mr. Osmers. Wliat have you done since you got out of school?
Mr. Snyder. Well, I was raised on a farm and I have worked for
construction companies; worked m a paint store, and I am at present
working for the Pioneer Paper Co.
Mr. Osmers. What are you doing there?
Mr. Snyder. Working in the shipping department.
Mr. Osmers. Have you, in the course of your experience since you
left school, ever used anything that you learned in school?
Mr. Snyder. Yes.
Mr. Osmers. What part of your education was usefid to you?
Mr. Snyder. Well, my high-school education and business college.
The Chairman. A little louder.
Mr. Snyder. High school and business college, mathematics.
Mr. Osmers. Did j^ou derive more from your time in business
•college than you did from your high-school course?
Mr. Snyder. Well, no. I had bookkeeping in high school and I
took it up in business college.
Mr. Osmers. This business college that you attended was a private
institution?
Mr. Snyder. It was the Nettleton in Sioux Falls, S. Dak.
Mr. Osmers. Did you pay any tuition to go there?
Mr. Snyder. Yes.
Mr. Osmers. Now, when did you come to California?
Mr. Snyder. January 18 last year — this year.
Mr. Osmers. This year?
Yes.
How did you come to California?
Well, 1 was up in Minneapolis and 1 happened to get
a salesman for this aviation training — this training
Mr. Snyder.
Mr. Osmers.
Mr. Snyder.
in touch with
school.
Mr. Osmers.
Mr. Snyder.
You saw an advertisement?
Yes.
Mr. Osmers. Where is this school located that he represented?
Mr. Snyder. Well, it was on Figueroa — it was 1823 Hope, in Los
Angeles.
Mr. Osmers.
Mr. Snyder.
Mr. Osmers.
Mr. Snyder.
up there.
Mr. Osmers.
Mr. Snyder.
In Los Angeles?
Yes.
And you were in Minneapolis at that time?
I had been up there. I was staying with my brother
Yes. Now, did you talk to this man?
Well, when I came out here I went around to several
schools, the Fletcher School at Santa Monica, and I talked to a couple
of fellows that went through there. Of course, they gained employ-
ment. I went down to Santa Monica and I saw an ad in the paper — I
think it was the Los Angeles Examiner or — no; it was the Van Nuys
paper — I went down there.
2§26 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Mr. OsMERS. An advertisement for a school?
Mr. Snyder. Yes; an aviation training school. Dick M. Ward,
was the salesman.
Mr. OsMERS. He offered you employment?
Mr. Snyder. He said, "You will start in at 75 cents an hour."
I asked him about it, inquired into it.
I says, "Do you guarantee employment?"
Well, he didn't come right out. He says, "Yes," and he took my
background and he said, "You will make a good employee."
So I went ahead and joined up.
Mr. OsMERS. Well, how long a course was this?
Mr. Snyder. Well, I spent $300 for 7 weeks.
Mr. Osmers. Seven weeks?
Mr. Snyder. Yes.
Mr. Osmers. And what did they teach you?
Mr. Snyder. Well, some work, riveting, and layout work — sheet-
metal layout work— and drilling. They said they had welding but
there was no welding in the school. I went there and they never did
give any courses in it.
Mr. Osmers. Now, how did you finance this whole operation, the
trip here from Minneapolis and the school tuition?
Mr. Snyder. Well, I had $250 or $275 when I came out here.
Mr. Osmers. And what did this tuition cost?
Mr. Snyder. Well, it was $150 for the course, and I paid $75
down.
Mr. Osmers. And what did you do about the balance?
Mr. Snyder. Well, I still owe them a note for that.
Mr. Osmers. For $75? The other $75?
Mr. Snyder. Yes.
Mr. Osmers. Now, with what you have experienced since then,
would you say that that course qualified you for a position as an
aviation mechanic?
Mr. Snyder. No, I don't think so. It is just, you know, on the
body type of an airplane, the fuselage.
Mr. Osmers. What have you done since finishing that course? '
Mr. Snyder. W^ell, I worked for a construction company at
Bakersfield on pipeline work; oil-field work.
Air. Osmers. Yes?
Mr. Snyder. And I have worked for E. W. Jackson down at
Bellflower, Calif., at a chain store.
Mr. Osmers. Yes?
Mr. Snyder. I have helped put on roof, house roofing.
Mr. Osmers. You might say they are odd jobs?
Mr. Snyder. Yes.
Mr. Osmers. They weren't permanent positions?
Mr. Snyder. Well, at Bakersfield I worked a month, I think, on
the pipeline.
Mr. Osmers. Will you tell the committee, Mr. Snyder, about iher
efforts that the school made to get you employment?
Mr. Snyder. Well, they said they were helping. They gave me a
letter. I went out to Douglas and they took my fingerprints and
told me— I filled out an application blank and they took my finger-
1 See testimony of Robert B. Robertson, p. 2806 et seq.
INTERSTATE MIGKATION 2827
prints. There was five of us who went out at the same time, four
other fellows and me.
Mr. OsMERS. From the same scliool?
Mr. Snyder. From the same school. We filled out applications
and they took our fingerprints. They told us they would call us
when they needed us. Well, then, I w^ent — I was going out to Vultee
at that time — this school seemed to have or was in touch with Douglas,
where they were sending their scholars.
Mr. OsMERs. Yes?
Air. Snyder. So I stayed Rway a couple of weeks and I went back
out. You couldn't get to talk to the personnel man other than the
one at the door. He asked if I had made an application in there
and I said I had and he said, "Well, we Avill call you when we need
you," just like that.
Mr. OsMERS. They never called you?
Mr. Snyder. No.'
Mr. OsMERS. Did they make any comment at all upon the school
that you had attended, or has anyone since then expressed their
opinion as to the value of the courses given there?
Mr. Snyder. No. They never said am^thing.
Mr. OsMERs. Doesn't this school get after you for failure to pay the
unpaid balance on your tuition?
Air. Snyder. No. The agreement was that I would have to be
employed in an aviation factorv.
Mr. OsMERS. I see.
That is all I have, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Mr. Sparkman?
Mr. Sparkman. Have you applied at other aviation companies?
Mr. Snyder. Yes; Lockheed and Vultee.
Mr. Sparkman. You realize that you are not sufficiently skilled?
Mr. Snyder. W^ell, I wouldn't say I was sufficiently skilled. I
never had a chance. I am out of practice now, of riveting. You see,
they use air-pressure riveting guns and if a man doesn't study on it
he is out of practice.
Mr. Sparkm.^n. That is all.
(Witness excused.)
The Chairman. The committee will take a 5-minute recess at this
time.
(Whereupon, a brief recess was taken, after which proceedings were
resumed as follows:)
The Chairman. The meeting will please come to order.
Monsignor O'Dwyer, I understand you desire to make a statement?
We will be glad to hear you, Monsignor.
TESTIMONY OF RT. REV. MSGR. THOMAS J. O'DWYER, LOS
ANGELES, CALIF.
problem of transient youth
Monsignor O'Dwyer. Air. Chairman and members of the com-
mittee, I have here a statement which I wish to submit to you, and
for your information it lias to deal with one phase of the problem
which you are considering, and that problem is the problem of the
transient boy.
2828 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Much has been written, as you know, in magazines and newspapers
during the past 4 or 5 years regarding this problem. I have had
experience with this problem since 1924. Our agency has conducted
an institution that has cared for the transients in this community for
several years, and I have here statistical data which I believe will be
of interest to you and the members of your committee. It is based
on our experiences over a period of several years.
We have had boys in our institution from every State in the Union,
and others will testify before your committee today regarding other
phases of this problem. I simply wish to bring to your attention just
one aspect of the whole problem of migration and just want to quote
one or two sentences which I have in this statement here. [Reading:]
The transient boy and young man constitutes a problem of his own, and is not
comparable to any other originating from mass migration. This is particularly
true because of their youthfulness and inexperience, their courage and vivid
imagination, coupled with a romantic wish for new experience. Reasons, ranging
from the monotony in their home community and adventure in searching for
employment and healthier climates, could be enumerated here but, in spite of
these, today's child tramp is beginning his life as a vagrant. Tn the natural course
of events he will finish it as a street beggar or a criminal. The experience boys
derive from their travels is of little value; I have found little that is wholesome,
and nothing that is permanently good.
I need not point out to you the hazards and pitfalls in those sections of every
metropolitan center, commonly known as "skid row," where the down-and-outer,
the criminal, the degenerate, and the hopeless derelict congregate, leading not
only lives of want and privation, but of hopelessness and defeat. These men are
drifting, with no hope of becoming anchored and no chance of resuming their
place in normal society. Boys in their 'teens are to be found among them, starting
out on a life that can only lead to a bleak and bitter disappointment.
It would be hard to estimate conservatively the number of boys on the road
today. It is probably over 100,000. The highway still appears to have its usual
number of hitch-hikers, and the freight trains carry a still larger number of boys.
Hobo jungles are as noticeable and as numerous today as the}^ were 10 years ago.
The geographic movement of the migrants is still toward the west; this perhaps
being encouraged by huge construction projects such as the Boulder, Grand
Coulee, Shasta, and Parker Dams, to mention a few requiring a large number of
men for several years. Those are either completed or nearing completion, and to
take their place as a drawing card is the rapidly expanding aircraft industry and
the current building boom in southern California.
Of course, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, it is to be
remembered that the average age of the youthful migrant is approxi-
mately 17. He is immature and lacks the training which would
qualify him for industrial jobs that might be open. It is true that the
N. Y. A. and the C. C. C. have helped in a large measure to reduce the
number of boys on the road, and here I wish to compliment the
administration of the N. Y. A. and the C. C. C. for the outstanding
service that both services have rendered to the Nation's youth.
These programs are limited to strictly relief families and, con-
sequently, do not cover those boys who come from homes of low-income
families.
RECOMMENDATIONS
As to the treatment of the general problem, and the disposition of
the individual's problem, I would recommend that boys be cared for
separately from men; that they be given care and shelter in small
units of not more than 100 in any one camp or shelter; that the
emphasis of the program be on counseling and guidance, and reeduca-
tion for proper living, rather than on fire roads and fire breaks. While
a boy's return to his legal residence is perhaps best in a majority of
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2829
cases, provision should be made to rehabilitate those boys who have
no homes or such homes that would be unfit. That a strong follow-up
program be instituted, and that local facilities and social agencies be
used whenever practical. That local advisory committees be formed,
not only to interpret the program to the public, but actually to advise
the local administrations on policies and matters pertaining to the
individual's and the community's good, and finally a uniformity of
the legal settlement laws of all of the States of the Union.
There is considerable statistical data attached to this statement,
Mr. Chairman, and I appreciate the time you have given me to
present these few remarks regarding one perhaps small part of this
total problem which you are considering, but still, from the point of
view of crime prevention, and reduction of juvenile delinquency, I
think it a ver}^ important phase of the program and I trust that it will
receive your consideration.
The Chairman. I might say to you that the testimony so far
adduced before this committee indicates that among the millions of
these migrants, one third of them are children and it presents a unique
problem. The committee considers it an honor to have you take the
time to appear before us and we will introduce in the record, in full,
your statement, and I think it will be a very valuable contribution,
Monsignor.
(Witness excused.)
(The statement referred to is as follows:)
The Catholic Welfare Bureau of the
Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Inc.,
Los Angeles, Calif., September 2Jt, 1940.
Hon. John H. Tolan,
House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. Tolan: During a recent conversation with Mr. J. W. Abbott,
relative to public hearings of the House Committee on Interstate Migration to
be held in Los Angeles on September 28, 1940, I was advised that plans have been
made to secure several witnesses who, I feel, can deal with the subject quite
adequately, with the possible exception of the migrator}^ boy and young man.
At that time I promised to submit a brief report in writing, which follows:
"At the outset let me say that the views expressed herein are drawn from my
personal experience and close association with the problem of boy transiency for
the past 15 years; also incorporated in this report are the opinions of the director
of the Junipero Serra Boys' Club of Los Angeles, whose experience with this
problem covers the past 8 years. I have also drawn heavily from the material
and statistical data which is available at the club, as our organization has been
dealing directly with this problem since 1924.
"I sincerely trust that this report will be accepted in its proper light, viz, a
brief, frank, 'and realistic picture of the transient boy and the transient-boy
problem as it exists today, and based solely upon experience. Certain recom-
mendations are offered as' to the problem's future treatment. These seem to be
practical for our local situation and, consequently, may or may not be applicable
to other localities. Appended to this report are several statistical tables which
are self-explanatory. (See pp. .)
"While the number of boys who are cared for at the Junipero Serra Boys' Club
each vear is but a small percentage of the total number coming to southern Cali-
fornia, it is felt that it reflects a representative cross-section of the total number
on the road. In other words, their reasons for coming to southern California
are probablv the same as for those who go to New York, Florida, or elsewhere.
"This problem is not new to southern California; it has been recognized by civic
and social welfare leaders for the past 20 years. Definite attempts have been
made bv a few individuals and a few organizations to meet this problem, but its
260370 — 41— pt. 7-
2830
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
vastness and the lack of community understanding and intensive support, along
with the growing thought of its being a Federal responsibility, has greatly handi-
capped all local efforts.
"The transient boy and young man constitutes a problem of his own, and is
not comparable to any other originating from mass migration. Tliis is particularly
true because of tlieir youthfulness and inexperience, their courage and vivid
imagination coupled with a romantic wish for new experience. Reasons, ranging
from the monotony in their home community and adventure in searching for
employment and healthier climates, could be enumerated here, but in spite of
these today's child tramp is beginning his life as a vagrant. In the natural course
of events he will finish it as a street beggar or a criminal. The experience boys
derive from their travels is of little value; I have found little that is wholesome,
and nothing that is permanently good.
"I need not point out to you the hazards and pitfalls in those sections of every
metropolitan center, commonly known as 'skid row,' where the down-and-outer,
the criminal, the degenerate,' and the hopeless derelict congregate, leading not
only lives of want and privation, but of hopelessness and defeat. These men
are drifting, with no hope of becoming anchored and no chance of resuming their
place in normal society. Boys in their 'teens are to be found among them,
starting out on a life that can only lead to a bleak and bitter disappointment.
"It would be hard to estimate conservatively the number, of boys on the road
today. It is probably over 100,000. The highway still appears to have its usual
number of hitch-hikers, and the freight trains carry a still larger number of boys.
Hobo jungles are as noticeable and as numerous today as thej^ were 10 years ago.
"The geographic movement of the migrants is still toward the West; this
perhaps being encouraged by huge construction projects such as the Boulder,
Grand Coulee, Shasta, and Parker Dams, to mention a few requiring a large
number of men for several years. Those are cither completed or nearing comple-
tion, and to take their place as a drawing card is the rapidly expanding aircraft
industry and the current building boom in southern California.
"I see no particular reason for any sharp or marked reduction in this moving
element of surplus labor though, perhaps, better employment conditions through-
out the Nation, and the compulsory conscription of some of our youth, will provide
for a small reduction in tlieir numbers. It must l^e remembered that the average
age of tlie youthful migrant is, approximately, 17. He has completed the ninth
grade. His immaturity and lack of training will disqualify him for industrial
jobs that may be open. It is true that the National Youth Administration and
the Civilian Conservation Corps have helped in a large measure to reduce the
number of boj-s on the road, but these programs are limited to strictly relief fami-
lies and, consequently, do not cover those boys who come from homes of low-
income families. Our experience indicates that approximately 60 percent of the
boys on the road do not have serious economic problems in their own homes. Any
major catastrophe such as crop failures, drought, industrial depressions, etc., will
greatly increase the static load almost immediately, but these, of course, cannot
be predicted.
"As to the treatment of the general problem, and the disposition of the indi-
vidual's problem, I would recommend that boys be cared for separately from men;
that they be given care and shelter in small units of not more than 100 in any one
camp or shelter; that the emphasis of the program be on counseling and guidance,
and reeducation for proper living rather than on fire roads and fire breaks. While
a boy's return to his legal residence is perhaps best in a majority of cases, provision
should be made to rehabilitate those boys who have no homes or such homes that
would be unfit. That a strong follow-up program be instituted, and that local
facilities and social agencies be used whenever practical. That local advisory
committees be formed, not only to interpret the program to the public, but actually
to advise the local administrations on policies and matters pertaining to the
individual's and community's good, and finally, a uniformit}' of the legal settle-
ment laws of all of the States of the Union."
Respectfully submitted.
Rt. Rev. Thomas J. O'Dwyer,
General Director of Charities.
INTERSTATE M K IKATION
(The tables referred to are as follows:)
2831
state
(Legal residence of transients)
Fiscal year 1940 (to Sept. 1—
10 months)
Rural Urban
Total
1 4
2 10
3 6
18 49
8 7
1 1 4
5
12
9
67
15
5
1
2
3
1
District of Columbia . - .
2
2
5
4
1
16
2
6
4
1
6
1
48
5
4
3
3
64
7
9
7
3
1
1
1
2
3
1
4
5
9 j 7
6 ' 16
16
22
4
3
9
11
15
3
17
26
2 1 1
1 1 4
3
5
1
1
1
5
6
1 1 8
6 j 4
7 46
9
10
63
3
3
Ohio . -
4 16
16 14
20
30
5
7
5
31
3
10
38
3
1
1
2
15
4
6
36
5
8
Texas -
51
9
2
5
2
5
1
1
1
1
1
7
3
Washington - .
12
2
6
11
1
5
1
6
2
1
1
1
195 412
607
Distribution, bv age:
12 years_-l 2.0
13 years 13.0
14 years 18.0
15 years 67. 0
16 years 110.0
17 years . 156.0
Distribution, by age — Continued.
18 years 83.0
19 years 69.0
20 years 51.0
21 years and over 38.0
Average age (years) 17. 2
2832
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Distribution by highest grade
completed — Continued.
10 years 127.0
11 years 62.0
Distribution, by highest grade
completed :
0 to 1 year 1.0
1 year 1.0
2 years 4.0
3 years 3.0
4 years 5. 0
5 years 15.0
6 years 23.0
7 years 49.0
8 years 110.0
9 years 108.0
Social status:
Full orphan 59
Half orphan and broken home 290
12 years.
13 years.
14 years.
15 years.
16 years.
86.
8.
4.
0
1.
Average grade (years)..
9.2
Normal .
Religion :
Catholic. --
Protestant.
Jewish
None
258
228
332
29
18
state
(Legal residence of transients)
Fiscal year 1939
Rural
Urban
Total
1
2
8
19
9
1
10
11
43
12
4
3
4
1
60
2
12
19
62
21
4
Florida -
4
2
1
9
7
6
2
69
5 ; 6
7 5
11
12
4
7
5
1
6
6
1
1
3
9
28
8
10
13
6
2
3
7
6
4
■ 4
17
1
2
3
1
3
10
6
4
2
7
26
3
12
16
34
12
4
16
4
13
1
33
5
15
4
1
6
2
36
9
12
42
4
North Dakota ..
1
36
15
2
27
1
1
3
Ohio --
43
Oklahoma . .. -
41
Oregon - . . -- - . - .. -.
6
39
1
1
1
7
31
2
2
1
6
38
1
13
Texas
69
Utah -
3
Virginia . . . .. .
3
1
3
2
1
1
8
4
5
4
9
7
7
1
American Samoa
1
1
1
1
1
Colombia, S. A.
1
256
453
709
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2833
Distribution, by age;
13 years 5. 0
14 years 29.0
15 years 56.0
16 years 130.0
17 years 187.0
18 years 97.0
19 years 86.0
20 years 61.0
21 years and over 58. 0
Average age (years) 17. 3
Distribution, by highest grade
completed :
Oyear 1.0
1 year 2.0
2 years 6.0
Social status:
Full orphan
Half orphan and broken home
Normal
Religion:
Catholic
Protestant
Jewish
None
Distribution by highest grade
completed — Continued.
3 years 10.0
4 years 12.0
6 years 25.0
6 years 35.0
7 years 66.0
8 years 119.0
9 years 95.0
10 years 157.0
11 years 79.0
12 years.
13 years.
14 years.
15 years.
16 years.
Average grade (years)...
90.
5.
4.
1.
2.
8.9
78
275
356
359
397
33
20
state
Fiscal year 193S
(Legal residence of transients)
Rural
Urban
Total
Alabama.-
4
10
21
20
5
2
4
Arizona _
13
6
37
11
2
1
5
5
4
3
52
8
7
13
7
3
23
Arkansas
27
California _
67
Colorado
16
Connecticut.. . .
4
Delaware
1
District of Columbia
5
Florida .
1
7
5
6
5
7
14
4
3
6
Georgia... . ...... .... . ..
11
Idaho.-
8
Illinois
58
Indiana
13
Iowa. ...
14
Kansas , ... ... .
27
Kentucky -..
11
Louisiana
6
Maine
Maryland-- ... - .. .
2
3
6
3
8
20
2
4
2
3
11
18
1
2
27
2
10
2
5
Massachusetts -.-
14
Michigan. _ _ - -..
24
Mississippi .. . ..
4
Minnesota. ... ... - - - - --
10
Missouri
47
Montana -
4
Nebraska . ...
14
Nevada. -
4
New Hampshire -
New Jersey ... . ...
5
4
5
4
1
9
29
10
12
12
4
46
1
17
New Mexico . .
8
New York
51
North Carolina
5
North Dakota -
1
Ohio -..
44
17
6
31
1
1
53
Oklahoma
46
Oregon. .. . .
16
Pennsylvania
43
Rhode Island
1
South Carolina.. .
1
2
South Dakota..
Tennessee
7
30
3
3
64
1
10
Texas. .
05
Utah
4
2834
INTERSTATR MIGRATION
State
(Legal residence of transients)
Fiscal year 1938
Rural
Urban
Total
Vermont
Virginia.--
Washington-
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming -
Mexico
Canada
Philippine Islands.
Total
309
810
Distribution by age:
12 years 2
13 years 17
14 years 33
15 years 78
16 years 176
17 years 233
18 years 81
19 years 80
20 years 73
21 years over 35
Average age (years) 17. 2
Distribution by highest grade com-
pleted:
0 year 3
1 year 2
2 years 2
Distribution by highest grade com-
pleted— Continued.
3 years 8
4 years 14
5 years 34
6 years 55
7 years 90
8 years 166
9 years 142
10 years 145
11 years 64
12 years 64
13 years 6
14 years 7
15 years 2
16 years 0
Average grade (year.s) 8. 4
The Chairman. Mr. Wagenet and Mr. Huxley.
TESTIMONY OF H. D. HUXLEY, CALIFORNIA DIRECTOR, FARM
PLACEMENT SERVICE, UNITED STATES EMPLOYMENT SERVICE,
AND RICHARD G. WAGENET, DIRECTOR, CALIFORNIA STATE
DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT, BOTH OF LOS ANGELES,
CALIF.
The Chairman. Congressman Osmers, of New Jersey, will interro-
gate you gentlemen.
Mr. Osmers. Mr. Huxley, how long have you been associated with
the Employment Service in California?
Mr. Huxley. About 4 years.
Mr. Osmers. About 4 years?
Mr. Huxley. Off and on; not all the time.
Mr. Osmers. I wonder if you would give to the committee, in your
own words, a brief background of the history of the Employment
Service in California, pointing out its good points and bad points as
they have appeared to you, and a little bit about the structural set-up
of it through these years that you have been with it.
Mr. Huxley. Without going into the organizational structure and
without going into the increases
The Chairman (interrupting). I don't want to interrupt you, but
would you be kind enough to speak a little louder? I am rather
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2835
proud of tliis California audience and I believe they would like to
hear you.
Mr. Huxley. I don't think you wish me, Congressman, to go into
the organization as it increased and the expansion and so forth?
Mr. OsMERS. Not particularly. We are interested more in its
operations, frankly, and its success and failures.
CALIFORNIA EMPLOYMENT SERVICE
Mr, Huxley. Well, as you probably know, with the passage of the
Wagner-Peyser Act in 1933, they started out with, I think, 12 offices
in this State. The State put up a nominal amount of money — I have
forgotten the exact amount — and the funds were supplemented by
N. R. S. funds.
Mr. OsMERS. That is the National Reemployment Service?
Mr. Huxley. The National Reemployment Service. The service
at that particular time, I would say, went through the normal growing
pains of any service but did, I think, a reasonably good job in con-
nection with agriculture.
Subsequently, with the expansion of the service under the Unem-
ployment Compensation Act, and with the transfer of the service to
the Unemployment Reserves Commission, as it was known at that
time, the emphasis was placed not on employment service fimctions,
naturally, but rather on unemployment compensation, with the
result that there was not a normal expansion of the service commen-
surate with the increase in staff and increased financing made possible
through the Social Security Board funds.
There were also obviously certain organizational difficulties. I
think it should be borne in mind that when you have a new program
to administer there are a great many untried phases in it. You
don't quite know how to staff. I don't think there was enough staff.
I thmk also that administratively there were a number of points of
confusion, all of which mitigated against the proper operations, at
least to the fullest extent, of the placement phases of the service.
That condition persisted pretty much until, I would say, January and
February of 1940.
At that time a reorganization was made effective in the whole
department of employment. The emphasis was reversed from unem-
ployment compensation and was laid on employment service aspects.
Intermittently, during the years 1936 to 1938, the service did a good
job; generally, though, there was no real progress made, I think, in
any of those years in completely exploring the possibility of employ-
ment service.
Recently, in the development of the program, the emphasis has
changed locally, perhaps, because of the fact that unemployment
compensation has become rather standardized, and everyone knows
more or less where they fit into the picture. The people in the local
offices know what to do in a given situation. Formerly, naturally, it
was untested and untried.
Does that give you what you wish?
Mr. OsMERS. It gives me a pretty good picture of it. I wonder if
you would care to explain, in a little more cletail, your statement that
2336 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
between 1936 and 1938 that the service — I forget the words that you
used — did a spotty job.
Mr. Huxley. That is right. My own opinion is that during that
time there was improper administration control at the top ; there was
too much latitude allowed in the local offices; there was not proper
direction during that period of time; there was not, if you will, an
objective approach to the entire problem and it was spotty in the
sense that some local offices did a good job and other local offices did
not do so good a job.
Mr. OsMERS. But, Mr. Huxley, in a situation such as California
agriculture, where a great many of the workers move from place to
to place, the fact that one office was doing a good job was of very little
use if other offices along the line were not doing a good job, isn't that
true?
Mr. Huxley. That is correct.
Mr. OsMERS. Your referral from place to place would break down?
Mr, Huxley. It should also be borne in mind at that time that
there was no very great shortage of labor. It is questionable how
much the employment service could have been used at that time.
The whole migratory problem, I believe, was in a marked state of
flux; no one quite knew where it was.
(The following statement on clearance for agricultural labor,
between offices, was received later and accepted for the record:)
CLEARANCE
By regularly established procedures, an office in which unfilled job openings
exist makes a direct request to adjacent offices, or those which might reasonably
be able to fill the opening, for the referral of qualified apphcants.
By this procedure, the headquarters clearance comes into play only when direct
contacts between offices are not effective in filling the job openings.
For this reason, headquarters office records of clearance activities do not reflect
the majority of the openings cleared between offices. With few exceptions, the
headquarters clearance is not used for filling agricultural openings, since such
openings are handled almost exclusively between the individual offices concerned.
When the direct interoffice clearance is not sufficient, the headquarters office
clearance is used for agricultural as well as for other openings.
An illustration of this is the referral of hop pickers to the Santa Rosa office.
Headquarters clearance has been regularly used to aid in this problem. Between
August 11 and August 25, 1939, 41 offices of the department referred 2,591
registered apphcants to hop picking in the Santa Rosa area.
The department has been making intensified efforts to furnish to the personnel
of all offices, information relating to agricultural employment opportunities. The
success of these efforts will tend to decrease the use of both headquarters and
interoffice clearance for supplying agricultural labor, since authentic information
for the guidance of the person seeking agricultural work can be made available
prior to the existence of any considerable labor shortage, and should, in fact,
eliminate to a large extent any actual shortages.
The operations of the information stations will bave a similar effect, since
current information can be made immediately available to those seeking work.
Mr. OsMERs. I would like to ask another question: I think you
said at the beginning that this service had 12 offices?
Mr. Huxley. That is correct.
Mr. OsMERS. And it has how many now?
Mr. Huxley. Eighty-one.
Mr, Osmers. In your offices during the past year have you noticed
any increase or decrease in the number of out-of-State applicants for
INTERSTATE MKIKATION
2837
positions? I mean, docs it seem to the service tlmt immigration into
California is continuing at the pace that
Mr. Huxley (interrupting). At the pace it had in 1938, we will
say, or in 1939?
Mr. OsMERS. At the pace in 1937, 1938, and 1939.
Mr. Huxley. That is a question I can't answer. Generally, I
think that we are probably getting at the moment more people in our
offices. That, I think, is partly because of the fact that we are doing
a better job.
Mr. OsMERS. I wasn't concerned with the number coming into
your offices, but I was wondering whether your records were showing
that people had been in California 2 or 3 months, or something like
that, indicating a continued migration to California.
Mr. Huxley. May I refer that question to Mr. Wagenet?
Mr. OsMERS. Yes. Would you care to express yourself on that,
Mr. Wagenet?
Mr. Wagenet. I can only give you a very general answer which is
that
Mr. OsMERS (interrupting) . At best it will have to be a guess, and
I realize that.
Mr. Wagenet. As I have information from the managers of local
offices, I would say that the migration has not been as heavy during
the last year as it was in the 2 or 3 previous years.
Mr. OsMERS. My own personal observation in the field would lead
me to the same conclusion. I wondered whether there would be any
supportmg evidence for that feeling.
Mr. Wagenet. There would be supporting evidence, I think,
through the so-called quarantine stations at the border stations.
Mr. Osmers. They might have some information on that?
Mr. Wagenet. Yes.
(The following table showmg in-migration during the past 5
years, was accepted to complete the record.)
Migrants entering California
(Persons, members of parties in need of manual employment, entering California by motor vehicle)
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
9,437
3,800
4,152
5,335
5,524
6,895
8,418
10, 614
14, 129
13, 289
8,892
7,157
6,002
6,260
8,139
8,006
9,298
8,907
9,427
9,707
9,070
10, 026
11, 704
8,430
11,627
9,077
8,930
7,462
7,080
5,493
5,298
5,377
5.781
6.693
7,793
4,439
4,080
3,582
4,365
5,596
6,721
7,519
7,516
8,304
7, 526
9,739
8,077
4,934
4,131
4,057
6,100
April
7,747
May - - -
6,741
6,374
July
8.417
8,673
September
8,084
October . -
7,045
7,812
5,008
Total
97,642
104, 976
85, 050
77, 959
80, 189
Note.— Figures include returning Californians.
The California "border count" was begun in June 1935 at the suggestion of the Farm Security Adminis-
tration, and has been maintained continuously since that date. Acknowledgment is made to the California
State Department of Agriculture for maintaining these counts which are made at border quarantine stations
of the Division of Entomology and Plant Quarantine.
Sources: U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, and Farm Security Ad-
ministration.
OOQg INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Mr. OsMERS. Now, Mr. Wagenet, in coming down through the San .
Joaquin Valley from San Francisco we have had a great many different
statements as to the California Employment Service. How long have
you heen in the California Employment Service, Mr. Wagenet?
Mr. Wagenet. Since February 16, 1940.
Mr. OsMERS. 1940? You are a newcomer to California?
Mr. Wagenet. No, I am not. I am a native son of California.
Mr! OsMERS. Wliat was your background before you assumed the
position that you now hold?
Mr. Wagenet. Well, my immediate background was Dhector of the
Bureau of Unemployment Compensation of the Social Security Board,
which applied to the entire country and to the three territorial
jurisdictions.
Mr. OsMERS. Now you have, of course, and can give us an entirely
different picture of the service than Mr. Huxley who has been with
it for some tmie. I wonder if you would care to express yourself
about some of the features that you have noticed since you have been
here.
Mr. Wagenet. Well, I might say, Mr. Congressman, that I had
heard of criticism of the service before I came here. I thmk I can say
that I had the feeling that much could be done with the employment
service. I should also say that in my opinion, after looking it over in
my earlier days here — that is, early in this year — I was rather impressed
with the fact that there had been neither in California nor in any other
State a truly nationally developed and expanded employment service
in all the ramifications for which an employment service was set up.
Now, I mean by that that there was much to be done in veterans'
placement; in rehabihtation ; m junior placement, and in specialties
of that character, as well as in agricultural placement and industrial
placement with specialization in the industries as the industries
needed that specialization.
Such matters as testing programs to secure a more objective ap-
praisal of a worker's ability was done to a certain extent, and I might
add here that in California that particular program centers in three
centers in California, Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco, and
it was probably as good if not better than any other type of vocational
service rendered by a State employment service anywhere in the
United States.
Now that is not my own opmion. I am repeatmg there
Mr. Osmers (interrupting). That was to fit yourself for the
appraising of the quahty of the apphcation or placing his usefulness?
Mr. Wagenet. With special reference in the case I am speaking of
now to the juniors.
Mr. Osmers. To the juniors?
Mr. Wagenet. They have done an excellent job, and I give you
that appraisal not as my own but as coming from an authority in
Washington who was here and who specializes in that field.
From what I know of those offices, I would verify his appraisal.
Now the employment ser^nce in Cahfornia must, as you know, cover
a wide area with a great variation in geographical conditions and in
crop conditions; as well as in industrial conditions.
Mr. Osmers. I think, !^Ir. Wagenet, after 2 days commg through
just that one part of California, from San Francisco to here, that the
committee is ready to agree with you on that statement.
INTP:RSTATf^ MIGRATION 2839
Mr. Wagenet. Thank you. I didn't mean to sell you California,
but I just wanted to lay the basis in the record for the fact that there
is this tremendous variation and tremendous area to cover and a
variation that encompasses maritime operations as well as agricultural
operations, as well as intensified industrial operations, et cetera. I
think that we have everythmg to contend with in California from the
employment point of view that any other State in the Union has and
really more. They are all centered out here in California.
In addition to that you have a shifting population; otherwise you
gentlemen wouldn't be here. We have this migrant population on
top of it and we have all that goes with that, social and economic
readjustment operating in that area, and that is a very difficult area
in which to operate.
Mr, OsMERS. I might make just an observation, Mr. Wagenet:
In investigating this subject on the Atlantic coast we ran into quite a
similar situation to that which you have in yom* San Joaquin Valley,
where workers go from crop to crop as the season advances, but the
difference is that here the entire cycle is set in California and the
State has the workers with it for 12 months of the year and on the
Atlantic coast they will pass through 10 States and may not spend over,
at the most, 2 months in any one State, so that the burden is all divided
up.
Air. Wagenet. If you will permit me, I would like to say that we
have the bulk of the workers with us the full year, but we have a large
mterstate migration, also.
Mr. OsMERS. I can appreciate that, both from the north and to the
east.
Mr. Wagenet. Yes.
Mr. Osmers. Now, looking at the employment service, the question
was, What are the immediate problems?
Air. Wagenet. Undoubtedly the whole service has to be braced up.
One of the first problems — and the one I think you are primarily inter-
ested in — was that of agricultural labor. I wanted to loiow what Cali-
fornia had been doing m agricultural labor. I wanted to know why
they hadn't gone further than they had. I wanted to know what
could be done to improve the relationship and what we, as an organi-
zation, could do and what we would like to see m the way of cooperation
from those whom we were serving.
One of the fu'st things we did — if you are interested in a little of the
details
Air. Osmers. That is just what we want, Mr. Wagenet.
agricultural placement offices
Air. Wagenet (continuing) . Was to establish the position of super-
visor of agricultural placement for the whole State. In other words,
we put in the hands of one man the responsibility of seeing that the
offices located in the agricultural areas were properly staffed to handle
the agricultural problem as it would arise and to tic in all offices into
a general State-wide program so that we would be able to send workers
where they were needed.
Now along with that we braced up the agricultural offices that
needed specialists in agricultural placement. We hh"ed additional
2g40 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
personnel for that purpose. Then, in order to have accurate and cur-
rent information concerning the agricultural labor problem, and the
crop problem — because the two go hand in hand — we instituted a very
complete agricultm'al labor report, and in building up that report so
that it would be most effective to those who were interested, we asked
the statisticians of the employer associations, notably the chamber of
commerce, the Associated Farmers, and statisticians of farm problems
of the universities at Stanford and California, in particular, of the
State department of agriculture, and of any others and of several
other organizations who were interested in this problem, to assist in
bui ding up a form for this agricultural labor and crop report. That
report or that form was sent to a large number of agencies and it was
instituted on a weekly basis beginning the 1st of June. That report
is published each week and I have copies that I will be very glad to
make a part of this record so that the committee may study them.'
The report naturally has to start on an experimental basis, but it is
growing more and more accurate and more valuable every day. We
are given to understand from those who are using it, such as chambers
of commerce, that it is an invaluable report, and as time goes on it
will become more valuable. That tells us precisely when a certain
crop, and each crop in California, will come into harvest or when it
will require farm labor, and the periods for which it will need this
farm labor; the peak of the period, how many workers will be needed,
whether or not those workers will or will not be on the ground, or
will be secured locally, and how many will have to come from outside
sources.
Then, in addition to that, we set up three information centers for
migrant agricultural laborers. One center is in Indio, one near Bakers-
field — I hope you had the pleasure of seeing what they are doing there
as far as that service goes — and the one west of Pacheco Pass. (See
maps facing page and on p. 2857.)
That service is designed primarily to direct agricultural labor to
where the labor is needed and to give information to the workers and
also to local growers concerning the status of labor supply in the vari-
ous commmiities. The intent there is to cut down useless travel of
migrants, and I think the intent has justified the cost so far. As a
matter of fact, my own opinion is that that principle or method should
be extended further in California.
Mr. OsMERS. Have you had enough experience with these three
operations, the one at Indio, the one at Bakersfield — I didn't get the
name of the other
Mr. Wagenet. Pacheco Pass.
Mr. OsMERS (continuing) , Pacheco Pass, to give you any indication
as to its future usefulness?
Mr. Wagenet. Yes. We have and I have a report that I would
like to leave with the committee. It is not a very long one. I may
say that 2,381 persons stopped at those 3 stations since June 1
and were given farm information. In many cases they were placed
locally and a number of them were told where to go.
Air. OsMERS. In other words, they were being widely used?
Mr. Wagenet. They were being used, but not nearly as much as
they will if the system continues in the State, I think we can also,
as I say, establish other centers such as these during the harvest season.
' Sample weekly reports by counties and crops are held in committee flies.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
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INTERSTATE x\IIGKATION 2841
Mr. OsMERs. Now, there is another pomt that I think is probably
the keystone of the success of your organization, and that is the
question of grower cooperation. Now, in the committee's tour through
the State we found instances of fine grower cooperation and we found
some instances of great grower resistance to anything that had to do
with the employment service.
Now, what are you intending to do along those lines, Mr. Wagenet,
or what has been done?
grower's cooperation with service
Mr. Wagenet. Well there again, as I mentioned in my opening-
remarks, I thought that much could be done. On April 18, I think it
was, of this year, I met w4tli the agriculture committee of the State
chamber of commerce, at 350 Bush Street^ — their oflices in San
Francisco — and discussed briefly at that time the problem of cooper-
ation between their members and the department. It developed at
that meeting that there was a serious question in the minds of growers
as to whether they could use the service because of the referral or the
inability of this service, under the rules of the Waoner-Peyser Act,
to refer workers where there was a labor dispute. We discussed that
problem at some length but without reaching any conclusion. I ex-
plained that the question of referral in a labor dispute is a matter that
has come to each State agency under the rules and regulations of the
Wagner-Peyser Act, and the State agency must, under the terms of
its agreement, carry out those rules. That was one jjroblem.
Another problem was the question of speed in su}>piying the W'ork-
ers; speed in determining whether or not there was a labor dispute,
and umlerlyiug that whole matter of cooperation with the farmers
which has come to me from several different sources, is the question of
the insurance of the employees of the farmers, that is to say, bringing
the employees of the farmers under the unemployment compensation
insurance in the State.
It goes without saying, and I will say it is common knowledge, that
the agriculturists of the State do not want to come under the unem-
ployment compensation insurance features. That has a bearing on
this whole problem. There is no question about it.
Now, because that is a very serious question, a most serious one,
because we must have the growers' cooperation to place labor, and to
place competent labor — we can serve the grower and we can give him
competent labor if we are given a chance to do it — so I wrote a letter
following that meeting, sometime followhig, and I wrote a letter to
the secretary of the agricultural committee — a copy of which I have
here and would like to put in the rcjcord — suggesting that we do set
up a real cooperative venture and saying that the department was
more than willing to go ahead on such a proposition. I received an
answer 3 days later, on June 4, thaidcing me for the letter and saying
it was a splendid offer of cooperation, "which I am sure will be appre-
ciated throughout the State. I shall particularly bring it to the atten-
tion of our various committees," but I have never heard anything
further on this matter of cooperation since that letter of June 4. That
has not stopped us, however, from attempting to meet with farmers
:and farm organizations whenever we can to explain the service.
2842 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
(The letters referred to are as follows:)
June 1, 1940.
Mr. R. N. Wilson,
Agricultural Director, State Chamber of Commerce,
San Francisco, Calif.
Dear Mr. Wilson: In the report on migrants published by the State chamber
of commerce there are two recommendations in which I am particularly interested.
These recommendations are: (1) "That necessary steps be taken to provide for
effective reorganization of the California State Employment Service, designed to
provide a farm placement service which will more adequately service the needs
of the farmers ana workers," and (2) "That necessary steps be taken to develop
more adequate information on current crop developments and farm-labor require-
ments, needed both for better guidance of seasonal workers to available jobs, and
for the proper organization of camps and housing."
You will recall that 1 discussed both of these problems with your committee on
agriculture in the Chamber of Commerce Building on April 18 and made a definite
plea for cooperation between farmer and farm groups and this department.
I wish to renew that offer of cooperation and to extend it.
Since the meeting referred to above, the appointment of Frank Buckner as
coordinator of agricultural placements has been made to the field service of this
department, and three information centers for directing migrant farm labor have
been established. In addition another major innovation is the development of
agricultural labor and crop report on a weekly basis for obtaining current and
accurate information at the source concerning demand and supply of labor crop
by crop. I need not tell you that this schedule was developed with the assistance
of a representative number of economists and statisticians in private. State, and
Federal services, among them being j^ourself, Pat Merrick, William Sturm, and
Herbert Ormsby of your organization.
You will also be interested to know that we have assurances from the Social
Security Board that funds will be provided for the employment of additional
personnel in the placement service throughout the State with special emphasis on
agricultural labor.
The department is eager to assist the agricultural group as well as any other
employers to the end that the particular needs may be promptly and adequately
met. To be sure some situations require special techniques and understanding,
as is the case in agricultural labor, but that in ni}' oj^inion is no reason why the
State service should not be used to the utmost nor why it cannot give complete
service. It would seem that a willingness to cooperate is the first move. That
I assure you is the purpose of this letter. May we have your cooperation?
Very truly yours,
R. G. Wagenbt,
Executive Director, Department of Employment.
California State Chamber of Commerce,
Agriculture, and Industry,
San Francisco, June 4, 1940.
Mr. R. G. Wagenet,
Executive Secrctarrj, California Employment Commission,
Sacramento, Calif.
Dear Mr. Wagenet: Thank you very much for your letter of .June 1. Yours
is a splendid offer of cooperation which I am sure will be appreciated throughout
the State. I shall take the liberty of bringing it to the attention of our various
committees.
Again assuring you that your cooperation is sincerely appreciated, I am
Very sincerely,
R. N. Wilson,
Director, Agricultural Department.
RULING ON LABOR DISPUTES
Mr. OsMERS. I would like to have you explain to the committee,
or place into the record for the committee right at this point, the
ruling on labor disputes that you have from Washington, because,
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2843
after all, that is the ruling that you must go by, is it not, Mr. Wagenet?
Mr. Wagenet. Yes, sir; it is. I will be very glad to do that. I
have that with me.
Mr. OsMERS. I have read it and I want to make my own observa-
tion that I tliink it is entirely too broad for the proper functioning
of an office such as yours. Now maybe you don't agree with me
and maybe you don't want to express an opinion on it.
Mr. Wagenet. My opinion, Mr. Congressman, is that we can work
out a satisfactory relationship, I think, under this ruling.
Mr. OsMERS. You think you can?
Mr. Wagenet. I am rather hopeful that we can. I think t hat we
can get that ruling interpreted so that we can.
Mr. OsMERS. I think you'd better have a migrant Philadelphia
attorney here to do that for you.
There was one other thing
Mr. Wagenet (interposing). We would be glad to have your help.
Mr. OsMERS. I am neither an attorney nor am I from Philadelphia.
I am sorry.
Mr. Wagenet. May I put in evidence-
The Chairman (interposing). I might make this suggestion —
excuse me, Congressman
Mr. Osmers (interposing). I want that paragraph.
The Chairman. You shall have it.
You have some other reports there, and if you would place them in
a folder, we will mark it an exhibit so that we will have the whole
thing.
Mr. Wagenet. That is fine. I will give you the whole series here.
(The ruling referred to above is as follows:)
POLICY IN APPLYING SECTION 21.12 OF THE RULES AND REGULATIONS, AS AMENDED^
RELATING TO DISCRIMINATION IN REFERRALS
The rules and regulations amended as relating to discrimination in referrals
provide :
"The State service shall require that each employment office under its super-
vision, in referring applicants to positions, shall refrain from any act of discrim-
ination with respect to any person on the grounds of that person's affiliation or
nonaffihation with a labor organization. The term 'act of discrimination' as
used herein shall not be construed to include referrals of persons affiliated with
a labor organization on the basis of an order so specifying from an employer
pursuant to his agreement or understanding, written or otherwise, with repre-
sentatives of employees affiliated with such labor organization."
Section 21.12 is designed to prevent State employment services from knowingly
abetting violations of Federal or State laws governing labor relations. Thus, to
refer for employment, either pursuant to an order of an employer or otherwise,
persons selected because of their nonaffihation with a labor organization, would
clearly be in violation of the rule. Referrals, however, may be limited, pursuant
to an order of an employer so specifying, to persons affiliated with a labor organ-
ization in the various types of situations in which it would be lawful for the
emplover to condition employment on such affiliation.
Information concerning union affiliation, veteran status, race, religion, etc., is
secured from an applicant solely for the purpose of facilitating the advantageous
placement of the applicant and should be used for no other purpose. — Bureau of
Employment Security, Social Security Board, August 30, 1940.
260370— 41— pt. 7-
2844
1 NTERSTATE ^[ K iK ATION
PROCKDUKES IN APPLYING SECTION 21.10 OF THE RULES AND REGULATIONS, AS
AMENDED, RELATING TO REFERRALS IN LABOR DISPUTES
The rules and regulations amended as relating to referrals in labor disputes
provide:
"The State service shall require that each employment office under its super-
vision refrain from referring any person or persons to any positions left vacant
by reason of a labor dispute at any place of employment by a person belonging to
a grade or class of workers participating in, or directly interested in, such labor
dispute at such place of employment. For the purposes of this rule, the term 'labor
dispute' shall include any controversy concerning terms or conditions of employ-
ment or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating,
fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of em-
ployment regardless of whether or not the disputants stand in the proximate rela-
tion of employer and employee."
In carrying out this rule the State employment service and all local offices
should under no circumstances make any referral which will aid, directly or in-
directly, in filling any vacancy existing or created by reason of a labor dispute.
An example of indiiect assistance which is to be avoided is making referrals to
vacancies created at any place of employment by transfer of persons to positions
made vacant by reason of a labor dispute.
In carrying out this rule the State employment security agency should arrange
with the State agency which receives notice of labor disputes for prompt notifica-
tion of any labor disputes coming to the attention of such agency. Such notifica-
tion should be in writing and should give the pertinent details of the dispute.
In addition, the State employment security agency should arrange with the
various union organizations for prompt notification of any labor dis])utes in which
such organizations might be involved, which notification should likewise be in
writing and should set forth the details of the dispute.
The State employment security agency should notify managers of all employ-
ment offices under its supervision to arrange with local labor organizations for
prompt notification of labor disputes, which notification should bo in writing and
should set forth the details of the dispute.
In addition to the notice of labor disputes received from any State agencies or
from labor organizations as set forth above, the State director and the managers
of local employment offices, upon tlie receipt of information from any source as
to the existence of any labor dispute, should immediately verify the existence of
such labor dispute by contact with the parties involved.
When notice has been received in accordance with the procedure set forth above,
that a labor dispute exists at a certain place of employment, no person shall l)e
referred to any position which is vacant by reason of such labor dispute at such
place of employment until such time as the State employment security agency has
received notice from both of the parties involved (or until the State employment
security agency has made an indepcTident determination) that the labor dispute
does not exist and a notice to that eflfect has been placed on file in the local employ-
ment office.- — Bureau of Emplovment Securitv, Social Security Board, August 30,
1940.
(Other exhi])its contaii>ed in the above-mentioned file will be found
at the end of the testimony of Messrs. Hnxley and Wagenet, p. 2847.)
Mr. OsMEiiS. There is jiist one phase, Mr. Chaii'man, that 1 have
left. As you Imow, 1 am now leaving the work of the committee and
I wish yoii would have Mr. Huxley or Mr. Wagenet, or both, discuss
the local relief client phase as it aifects the unemployed, as it afl'ects
their work — in other words, should they refer local people or should
they refer people that are coming in from somewhere else — that
phase — and if you will excuse me, I will see you in Washington.
(At this point Congressman Osmers left the hearing.)
The Chairman. What I am interested in, gentlemen — of course,
this employment set-up within the States is important, and we have
heard so much of it — but the resolution that passed the House of
Kepresentatives provided that a survey and investigation of the
migration of destitute citizens is what our jurisdiction is, and so many
INTERSTATE MIGltATlON 2845
times we get lost in the maze of the States' employment ag-encies,
and I am interested primarily in the men and women and children
who start out and have to leave home under circumstances over
which they have no control. I am interested to see how they are
treated wlien they leave home and go through the State lines, and to
see if we can better their situation. That is what I am interested in.
Now we had a family here this morning — probably you heard
them — of eight children, three of whom were here. They started
out with $46, and some of them do not start out with that much.
There is no question but that they have been kicked around at the
State lines, and they don't know where to go. The first thing that
the committee is deeply interested in is in these private employment
agencies at the State lines where they take some of their last i)ennies
and give them misinformation. I think that Congress has juris-
diction over them as soon as they send them across State linos. It
is a hit-and-miss proposition. A third of the migrants are children.
They are going from State to State, and various States make it a
misdemeanor if they transport citizens across State lines. South
Dakota makes it a penitentiaiy offense. There are no barriers against
goods but there are against the human interstate commerce.
This is the sort of a picture I have gotten in my mind. It may be
a little far-fetched.
On Highway 66, or on our public highways from the east to the
west or from the west to the east, or on a border, a migrant family
starts out from Oldahoma and they go through these States. They
come to this State line. You could walk out — you could do it or
Mr. Huxley could — and ask them where they are gouig. They say
they don't know. They had to leave home. The farm is gone.
They have $25. They don't know where they are going. You can
say to them, "Well. I think that the best thing for you to is to stay
here tonight. The State and the Government have fixed some cabins
where you can stay overnight. We have cold water and you can cook
your supper. I will be over there after awhile and I will talk things
over with you and I will give you the best facts 1 have as to whether
you should turn back or whether you should go on."
Don't you think that something like that would be helpful?
Mr. WaCxENEi. Yes; 1 do, Mr. Chairman. I think it can be done.
The Chairman. Do you? Well, I would like to hear why and
how it can ])e done.
Mr. Wagenet. At the present time we see migrants coming into
the State now, at Indio, and near Bakersfield. Those are the main
migrant people who are coming in.
Let us put it this wav: The stations are there if they care to stop
at them. We do not stop anyone. We have signs posted 300 yards
on both sides of these offices "and they may stop if they care to, but
we don't actuallv stop them.
Now the quarantine people, I understand, do stop them at the
border.
The Chairman. They are looking for fruit diseases?
Mr. Wagenet. That is right.
The Chairman. But they don't know anything about the diseases
of the human heart or anything like that; they are to take care of
other things?
2g46 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
RECOMMENDATIONS
Mr. Wagenet. It would be possible to have those people give ta
the migTants either the instructions by word of mouth or hj pamphlet
saying that there was an office right down the road, and we might
have the offices closer to the quarantine office, as a matter of fact,
and contact them when they stop in at that office and talk with them
about work opportunities. We can do something in that line.
The Chairman. I think it would be wonderful. I will tell you
why — ^I don't want to interrupt you — it is estimated that between
three and four million people traveled last year — that is more or less
of an approximation — good American citizens traveling from State to
State; destitute, it is true, but you can't keep kicking around that
number of American citizens without striking at the morale of this
country. It just cannot be done by raising these criminal barriers
and in such ways. I don't know whether your attention has been
called to it, but the census figures are being delayed at Washington
on account of these hundreds of thousands of citizens who have
lost their residence in one State and haven't gained it in another.
They are homeless and jobless and still all American citizens. The
census department doesn't know what States to allocate them to.
You wouldn't do that with steel and iron. You would know how to
handle that all right enough, but the human question they don't
touch.
I think, and don't you think, that this is really a national problem,.
Mr. Wagenet?
Mr. Wagenet. There is no question about it.
The Chairman. There will come a time when indi^'idual States
cannot handle it.
Mr. Wagenet. I thinlc we have had some experience already that
indicates that it is more than a State problem; that it should at least
be a regional problem, and from a regional problem it would probably
grow right into a national problem. We have begun to see the
problem, as a couple of years ago there was quite a study made on the-
migration of workers, especially agricultural workers, by the W. P. A.,
showing the cycle that the workers took, which defined that cycle as
extending almost from coast to coast for certain workers. It is quite
an intricate pattern throughout the Middle West to the Pacific States..
That undoubtedly indicates that it is a national problem.
The Chairman. Well now, gentlemen, we certainly appreciate-
everything you have done, but we have a great many witnesses and
we only have one day here. I will tell you what 1 would like to have
you remember, that our record will not be closed until the last week
of November and if anything further occurs to you gentlemen in'
addition to what your statistics show, or if new conditions come to-
the State employment department of the State of California, you will
be granted permission to forward such information to the committee
at Washington and we will insert it, and anything that you have here
now that you want to place in a folder, we will send it back to Wash-
ington and I will have it marked as an exhibit and it will be there.,
Mr. Wagenet. I would like very much to present it here. I will
leave it with the committee.
The Chairman. I would like to have it all.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2847
Mr. Sparkman. I want to ask one question. In your opinion is
there sufficient legislation authorizing the employment service to
render this type of service that Mr. Tolan asked you about and that
you described?
Mr. Wagenet. Yes, sir. The question becomes, unfortunately,
one of money, solely.
Mr. Sparkman. We always run into that, and then cooperation.
Mr, Wagenet. Well, California can do it alone, but it would be
more effective
Mr. Sparkman (interrupting). I moan cooperation between the
employment service, the laborers, and the employers.
Mr." Wagenet. Oh, yes. That is right. We have a real under-
standing of what the service can do; the limitations of the service, and
we can show the consequences of the service, the necessity of constant
progress in keeping in touch with the community and developing with
the community. If we can have that sort of cooperation from all
sides, we wouldn't have any trouble.
Mr. Sparkman. The machinery is set up?
Mr. Wagenet. That machinery is here.
Mr. Sparkman. Giving you the personnel and the equipment to
operate?
Mr. Wagenet. That is right; but we can get more and more
personnel as the service develops, but we have to have the other man
give us the orders for the workers and then we can get such personnel.
Now just one point I might mention here, and that is that you must
realize that there are and have been literally thousands of workers at
the farmers' fences waiting for those jobs to open all along the line, so
that we really had no chance to make a placement, and why should
we if the workers are right there? Why inconvenience all con-
cerned? There is a worker and the farmer takes him. That is per-
fectly all right and is a perfectly natural operation if it comes to that
degree where you have that large surplus of labor, but where a selec-
tion is necessary, where there isn't that surplus of labor on the ground,
then our service can bring that labor, qualified labor, to the employer.
Mr. Sparkman. Do you give priority to the California citizens over
nonresidents or the migrants?
Mr. Wagenet. No, sir; we do not. We select on the basis of
qualification of the worker for the particular job offered.
The Chairman. We will mark that as an exhibit.
(The documents referred to were received and marked as an exhibit.)
(A revised report of the California Department of Employment
was received later and appears below:)
REVISED REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EM-
PLOYMENT, NOVEMBER 15, 1940
Mr. Chaihman: Most authorities agree that the migratory labor problem in
this State primarily involves agricultural workers.
The State department of employment has, therefore, extended its program to
include a regular agricultural reporting service which will give reliable answers to
the questions usually asked by migrant workers. This report contains informa-
tion from which answers can be given to such questions as—
Is there farm work in California?
Where is this work to be found?
When will the work begin?
2848
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
How long will the work last?
Is there a surplus or a shortage of labor for harvesting crops?
What are the wages and living conditions?
Agricultural Labor Report by Counties and Crops
Since May 31, of this year, data has been secured and reported on a weekly basis
by the managers of department offices for all counties of the State in which there
is any significant agricultural activity.
Data reported by office managers are tabulated, summarized and published
weekly for immediate distribution to each of the 81 regular offices, to the 3 infor-
mation stations, and to such special seasonal offices as are being operated at the
time.
These reports are used to aid those seeking agricultural work and are also of
considerable value to agricultural employers as an index of labor supply.
These reports are limited to those crop activities which require a considerable
numl^er of workers not regularly employed on a year round basis, and do not
include dairying, livestock raising, etc. For this reason these reports are not
comparable in some respects to those secured by other agencies.
Information is secured and reported weekly for all items appearing on Form
DE 881, a copy of which is attached for your consideration.
Very obviously there are no complete or accurate available data covering some
of the reported items. Estimates are made by each office manager on the basis of
his own knowledge of local conditions, and with the cooperation of such other
agencies or individuals as may be able to supply pertinent information. When
changes in estimates are required because of new developments between regular
weekly reporting periods, supplementary reports are issued.
The usefulness of these reports to those seeking agricultural work or to em-
ployers is dependent very largely upon securing and supplying the information in
the shortest possible time.
There is every evidence that this reporting program has already become of
considerable value to both the agricultural worker and employer. Continued
improvement in the accuracy, completeness and consistency of the data shown
will further increase the utility of the reports.
Copies of the State of California Department of Employment Agricultural
Labor Report, Forms DE 881 A and DE 881 B, are also attached for your in-
spection. This report is available to any agency who might be interested and the
information contained thereon can be used by States to regulate the interstate
movement of workers seeking agricultural employment.
INFORMATION STATIONS
The Department operated one experimental information station at Bakersfield
during the fall of 1939. Based on the results of that experiment, three information
stations are being operated this year for the specific purpose of serving migratory
workers. These stations are located on main traveled routes at Indio, Bakersfield,
and Pacheco Pass. Highw^ay signs clearly indicate station locations. Stations
are operated 7 days a week on a schedule of 11 hours each day. Their purpose is to
give information^ to migratory workers and employers on agricultural working
conditions throughout the State. Experience has shown that many worker
would not otherwise seek information from the department.
This service has eliminated to a considerable extent useless and expensive travel
to jobs that do not exist and has assisted in regulating the flow of labor to harvest
activities.
INFORMATION SERVICE
Pamphlets entitled "Information for Farm Workers," printed in English and
Spanish, are being distributed to agricultural workers by all field offices of the
Department.
In addition to the distribution through department of employment offices,
the State department of agriculture, division of entomology and plant quarantine,
is also distributing these pamphlets through their 12 border quarantine stations.
These stations are located at the State line on all main traveled highways leading
into the State. This cooperative plan provides a widespread distribution of
information regarding department of employment services. (Copies of the
pamphlets appear on pp. — .)
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2849^
SEASONAL OFFICES
Four seasonal agricultural placement offices have been operated this year.
Tlieae offices were located in isolated communities where intensive short-term
harvests required great numbers of workers. Seasonal offices have filled approxi-
mately 6,000 farm jobs during the season. These placements are in addition to
approximately 46,000 farm jobs filled by regular Department offices. It has
been proven that this type of service is very practical and that a widespread oppor-
tunity exists for seasonal offices in California. Plans are being made to operate
seven additional seasonal offices during the spring months to take care of isolated
harvests of vegetable and early fruit crops. Seasonal offices are established only
for the duration of the particular harvest involved. They are staffed by persons
familiar with the crop being handled. These offices work closely with the regular
offices of the Department and provide a full-placement service for their respective
communities during the period of operation.
STATE SUPERVISION OF FARM PLACEMENT SERVICE
The California Department of Employment has recently undertaken direct
supervision of its farm-placement program. This is in contrast to a former plan
of cooperation and joint responsibility with the United States Farm Placement
Service. State administration and supervision of the farm program is desirable
because of complete authority being vested in the one agency.
This clarifies field operations and eliminates confusion as to administrative
authority and operating functions. The new organization plan does not in any
way interfere with interstate relationships or complicate working ai-rangements
with other State or Federal agencies.
GENERAL
The California State Department of Employment is deeply concerned with the
migratory labor problem and appreciates this opportunity to appear before your
committee. Any data or information from our records which may be of interest
to the committee, will be gladly put at your disposal.
RECOMMENDATION
To facilitate the operation of the Farm Placement Service, we recommend that
there should be farm-placement supervisors who would report to the head of the-
United States Farm Placement Service in Washington, but who would work
through the various regional offices and the State services as situations requiring^
their attention arose. Such area supervisors would coordinate the work of the
States in connection with migratory labor and would be of technical assistance in
developing the State farm-placement program.
CALIFORNIA PLACEMENT RECORD
The following record of placements is taken from official reports of the Social
Security Board, and the California Department of Employment.
Total complete placements, all industries, for 10 highest States
1936
1. California 442,521
2. New York 402,176
3. Pennsylvania 348,873
4. Texas 342,152
5. Illinois 316,421
6. Michigan 160,318
7. Missouri 150,042
8. Wisconsin 134,696
9. New Jersey 129, 251
10. North Carolina 124,192
1937
1. Texas 391,671
2. New York 276,292
3. California 275,434
4. Illinois 275,276
5. Ohio 219,798
6. Pennsylvania 175,532
7. Michigan 107,709
8. Minnesota 98,038
9. North Carolhia 97,781
10. Iowa 93,447
2850
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Total complete placements, all industries, for 10 highest Stales — Continued
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
1938
Texas 378,266
California 223, 283
New York 165,224
Illinois 148, 375
Pennsylvania 112, 203
Ohio 98,695
North Carolina 89, 823
Iowa 75,960
Wisconsin 67,239
Michigan 64,650
1939
1. Texas 360,897
2. California 258, 865
3. New York 247,286
4. Ohio 148,314
5. Illinois 138,968
6. Michigan 130,543
7. Pennsylvania 124,310
8. North Carolina 107,634
9. New Jersey 106,463
10. Iowa 90,383
1940 (January- August)
1. Texas 224,547
2. New York 197,705
3. California 159,882
4. Ohio 112,258
5. Illinois 102,830
6. Pennsylvania 96,581
7. Michigan 82,249
8. New Jersey 71,010
9. Washington 66,659
10. Georgia 65,199
Source: Unpublished data compiled by the Bureau of Employment Security,
Social Security Board, Research and Statistics Division, October 28. 1940. Data
reported by State agencies, corrected to October 25, 1940.
State of California total placements {complete and supplemental), all industries
Total
Complete
Supple-
mental
1936 --..
1937
1938
1939
1940 (January-October)
442, 521
275, 434
242, 270
306, 774
268, 183
223, 283
258, 865
215, 907
18, 987
47, 909
52, 276
Sources: Unpublished data compiled by the Bureau of Employment Security, Social Security Board,
Research and Statistics Division, October 28, 1940, data corrected to Oct. 25, 1940; and official records of the
Department of Employment, State of California.
State of California agricultural placements {complete and supplemental)
1936 58,321
1937 65,897
1938 43,030
1939 58,770
1940 (January-October) 51, 774
More agricultural placements were made in September and October 1940 than
in any 2-month period in the history of the department.
Source: OflScial records, Department of Employment, State of California.
Information Stations Survey and Statistical Charts
information regarding migratory agricultural workers
Between June 3 and August 31, 1940, some 2,383 workers seeking agricultural
employment secured information from the three roadside agricultural labor
information stations maintained by the California Department of Employment.
These stations, located near Indio and Bakersfield and in Pacheco Pass (on three
of the main routes traveled by migrant agricultural laborers), provide current
information about openings in agricultural work in all counties of the State. They
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2851
were opened for the 1940 season on June 3, as an expansion of the program begun
in 1939, when a single station was maintained near Bakersfield from July 15 to
December 11. • • r
Analysis of the social and economic characteristics of the group usmg informa-
tion station facilities should give some knowledge, by implication, of the entire
migrant agricultural labor population of the State. Great care must be used m
applying any conclusions outside the group studied, however, since it is not a
carefully selected sample of the entire population of migrant agricultural laborers,
but rather a group that may well be considered unrepresentative for the very
reason of having made use of departmental facilities. It is reasonable to assume
that workers new to the State or to migrant agricultural labor would be more
likely to use these facilities than old hands confident from past experience that
they knew where satisfactory jobs could be secured— to mention only one of the
possible causes of difference between this group and the entire group of migratory
agricultural workers. , ^ , xi x
Parties calling at the station. — A total of 1,189 parties stopped at the three sta-
tions during June, July, and August, 1,026 of which included agricultural workers.
Comprising these parties were 2,383 persons seeking agricultural work; 624
children under 14; 131 persons seeking nonagricultural work (i. e., work not in
field or truck crops, and fruit) ; and 289 persons not seeking work— wives, em-
ployers, tourists, State or Federal officials, etc.
The average number of persons per party, for the 1,026 parties including work-
ers, was 2.9; the average number of workers, 2.3.
Place of origin of workers. — Information secured from 2,055 of the workers
seeking agricultural employment showed that 40 percent (827) were originally
from California and 50 percent (1,030) from States classified by the Farm Security
Administration as drought States.^ More than 10 percent of the workers came
from each of the States of Oklahoma, Arizona, and Texas, while no other State
was given as the place of origin of more than 5 percent of the workers. One hun-
dred nine workers were reported as coming from Mexico; all, however, residents of
California. ^ , ^„ , , •.
Place of last employment.— Borne 76 percent of the 2,106 workers from whona
information was secured as to the last place of employment were last employed in
California. Seven percent were employed in Arizona and 17 percent in other
States of the Union, for the most part the State of origin of the worker, borne
variation appears between the groups applying at the different information
stations: Ninety-one percent of the workers applying for information at the
Pacheco Pass station worked last in California, while only 65 percent of those
applying at both the Indio and the Bakersfield stations had worked last in
California. The geographical location of the stations probably accounts for this
difference. Conversely, 13 percent of the workers applying at the Indio station
had worked last in Arizona, compared with only 2 percent of those at the Pacheco
Type of last employment. — Ninety-five percent of the persons seeking agricul-
tural employment information had worked last on an agricultural job and only
5 percent at nonagricultural employment. This report agrees closely with
information secured about the agricultural experience of those workers— approxi-
mately 91 percent of them (1,991) having more than 5 years' experience in agri-
cultural employment. .
California residence.— California residence, defined as having spent a major
portion of the past 2 years within the State (presumably with the intention of
securing residence in the State), was claimed by 59 percent of the workers (1,345)
calling at all the stations. The Indio station showed only 49 percent of the work-
ers as residents and failed to report the residence of 15 percent. Bakersfaeld
reported 45 percent of the workers as residents, and Pacheco Pass — the station
with the largest proportion of people last working in California — reported 76
percent of the workers were residents.
Information secured concerning the length of time the workers had sought
employment in California should serve as a further indication of California resi-
dence. The proportion of workers having worked 5 or more years in California
varies with proximity to the Arizona border— as does the proportion of residents
to nonresidents, and of persons working last in California to those working last
elsewhere. The Indio station, nearest the border, reports 28 percent of the
1 The classification used is that given in Rowell, E. J. "Drought Refugee and Labor Migration to Cali-
fornia in 1936," Mon. Labor Rev., vol. 43 (1936), pp. 1355-63, at page 1357.
2852
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
workers as having worked in California for 5 or more years and 41 percent less
than 1 year; the Bakersfield station reports 40 percent of the workers with 5
years' or more experience in California, 48 percent with less than 1 year. The
Pacheco Pass station reports 73 percent of the workers with 5 years' or more
experience in California and 19 percent with less than 1 year.
Racial grouping and sex. — Some 82 percent of the workers calling at the stations
belonged to the white race. Sixteen percent were Mexican. That the migratory
habits of Mexican workers differ somewhat from others was indicated by the
fact that the Pacheco Pass station reported more than half the Mexicans calling
at all the stations, and had a much higher proportion of Mexican to white workers.
Negroes, orientals, and other racial groups formed a negligible proportion of
workers calling at the stations. Only 580 of the 2,383 workers calling at the
stations were women. Four hundred sixty-five of these were w^hite. Of the
1,803 men seeking agricultural work, 1,488 were white.
Social relationships of the workers. — One thousand four hundred one of the
workers were traveling in family groups. The 889 traveling without a family
were almost entirely white men. It is noteworthy that no women of the Mexican
race were reported as traveling alone and only 24 white women seeking employ-
ment were so reported.
Six hundred twenty-four children under 14 accompanied the workers. Too
much reliance cannot be placed on this figure, however, because in a number of
instances the workers calling at the stations seemed to be scouting parties for
families of undetermined size camped at some nearby locality.
Table 1. — 3,4'27 persons calling at agricultural information stations, by employment
status, June S~Aug. SI, 1940
Occupational status: Number
Seeking agricultural work 2, 383
Seeking nonagricultural work 131
Not seeking work 289
Under 14 years of age 624
Total 3,427
Table 2. — Workers seeking agricultural employment, by place of origin. Callers
at agricultural information stations, June S-Aug. 31, 1940
Place of origin '
Nvunber
Percent
Place of origin '
Number
Percent
California
827
1,030
25
37
25
40
50
1
2
1
New England States
Republic of Mexico.
Total
Not given *.
2
109
Drought States
5
Oregon and Washington..
Industrial States
2,055
328
99
Southern States
1 states grouped as in Rowell, £. J., "Drought Refugee and Labor Migration to California in 1^6,"
Mon. Lab. Rev., vol. 43 (1936), pp. 1355-63, at p. 1357.
' Includes 2 workers from Philippine Islands.
Table 3.— Workers seeking agricultural employment, by place of last employment.
Callers at agricultural information stations, June 3- Aug. 31, 1940
Total
Station I
Station II
Station III
Place of last employment
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Niun-
ber
Per-
cent
California
1.G02
148
356
7G
7
17
145
29
49
65
13
22
650
102
245
65
10
25
807
17
62
91
Arizona ....
0
Other States
-
Total
2,106
277
ICO
223
132
100
997
50
100
886
95
100
Not given
' Some 93 were not classified in the reports.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2853
Table 4.- — Workers seeking agricultural employment, by type of last employment.
Callers at agricultural information stations, June S-Aug. 31, 1940
Total
Stat
on I
Station II
Station III
Type of last employment
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
A grlcuJ tural
1,890
98
95
5
176
4
98
2
825
78
91
9
889
16
98
2
Total ---
1,988
395
100
180
175
100
903
144
100
905
76
100
Table 5. — Workei's seeking agricultural employment, by race. Callers at agricul-
tural information stations, June 3- Aug. 31, 1940
Total
Stat
on I
Station II
Station III
Race
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
White
1, 953
383
34
13
82
16
1
1
286
50
16
3
81
14
5
913
110
18
C
87
11
2
i
754
223
"i
77
Mexican.,
NesTO--
23
Other
Total
2,383
100
355
100
1,017
100
981
100
Table 6. — Sex, race, and membership in a family group for 2,383 persons seeking
agricultural work, calling at agricultural information stations, June 3- Aug. 31,
1940
Sex and membership in family group
Total
Race
White
Mexican
Negro
Other
Men:
864
860
79
736
688
64
96
162
14
25
5
1
7
5
Total -
1,803
1,488
272
31
12
"Women:
25
541
14
24
428
13
1
no
1
3
Total ...J
680
465
111
3
1
Total --
2,383
1,953
383
34
13
Table 7.- — Persons seeking agricultural work by years of agricultural experience
in California — For workers stopping at the India, Bakersfield, and Pacheco Pass
information stations June 3- Aug. 31, 1940
Years' experience in Cali-
fornia
Total.
Less than 1.
1 year
2 years
Workers
Number Percent
2,383
771
115
50
100.0
32.4
4.8
2.1
Years' experience in Cali-
fornia
3 years
4 years
5 and over.
Not given.
Workers
Number Percent
82
30
1,144
191
3.4
1.3
48.1
7.9
2854
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Table 8. — Persons seeking agricultural work classified by years of agricultural
experience in California and by place of origin — for persons interviewed at the
Indio, Bakersfield, and Pacheco Pass agricultural information stations June
S-Aug. 31, 1940
Total
Years agricultural experience in
California
Place of origin
Less
than 1
1 year
2 years
3 years
4 years
5 or
more
Not
given
Total all places of origin
2,383
771
115
50
82
30
1,144
189
California- --_
Other than California ..
827
1,228
0
762
6
107
6
42
33
39
3
18
767
205
12
55
250
248
248
109
85
288
149
172
187
0
50
204
32
26
20
0
4
25
13
14
5
0
3
7
5
13
5
0
13
3
5
6
0
0
3
4
26
11
19
102
9
38
20
Oklahoma- - -
6
12
7
3
Other 1 _
7
328
9
2
2
10
9
172
122
' No other place of origin showed more than 36 persons.
Table 9. — Total number of parties calling at agricultural information stations
June S-Aug. 31, 1940, by California residence, and type of work sought '
Total
number of
parties
Parties seeking
work in—
Parties not
seeking
Agriculture
Other
work
Total, all stations -_-
1,189
942
84
163
California residents ---
583
396
210
534
371
37
49
25
10
0
0
Residence unknown ....--
163
' Party means the group in an automobile, or 1 or more persons traveling together on foot. California
resident is defined, for purposes of this study, as one who has spent the greater part of the past 2 years in
California.
Information Pamphlets and Maps
This material is distributed by all department of emploj^ment offices, and by
12 border stations of the division of entomology and plant quarantine, California
State Department of Agriculture.
INFORMATION FOR FARM WORKERS
For authentic work information check the nearest office of the California
Department of Employment (list in this folder).
California's State Department of Employment maintains a clearing house of
information concerning the need for farm labor in the various agricultural sections
of the State.
Persons desiring farm work should inquire at one of the department offices
(listed in this folder), as soon as possible.
In addition to the offices, three information centers are maintained. These
are located near Indio (U S 99, 60, 70), south of Bakersfield (U S 99), and on
the west side of Pacheco Pass (U S 152). Clearance of the demand for farm
labor is available at these three centers, and in department offices.
Through contact with the department, the farm worker may obtain correct
information of the condition of crops throughout the State. If jobs are available,
the worker will be notified.
INTERSTATE jNIIGRATION
2855
State of California Department of Employment
These placement offices are at your service:
Alameda, 1536 Park Street.
Alhambra, 27 East Valley Boulevard.
Alturas, 911 Main Street.
Bakersfield, 1300 Eighteenth Street.
Berkeley, 2459-2463 Shattuck Avenue.
Bishop, 124 South Main Street.
Chico, 345 West Fifth Street.
Covina, 120 East Badillo Street.
Culver City, 9343 Culver Boulevard.
Dunsmuir, 901 Sacramento Avenue.
El Centro, 134 South Sixth Street.
Eureka, 239 G Street.
Fresno, 2146 Inyo Street.
Glendale, 207 West Colorado Boulevard.
Grass Valley, 111 South Auburn Street.
Hanford, 311 North Douty Street.
Hayward, 963-967 C Street.
Hollywood, 5407 Santa Monica Boule-
vard.
Huntington Park, 6906-6910 Pacific
Boulevard.
Inglewood, 351 East Queen Street.
Lodi, City Hall.
Long Beach, 416 Pine Avenue.
Los Angeles, 1200 South Grand Avenue.
Los Angeles (commercial and profes-
sional), 1050 South Hope Street.
Madera, 114 North F Street.
Marysville, 321 C Street.
Merced, 622 Nineteenth Street.
Modesto, 720 Tenth Street.
Monterey, 266 Pearl Street.
Napa, 1033 Coombs Street.
Oakland, 530 Eighteenth Street.
Ontario, Old Chamber of Commerce
Building.
Oroville, 1944 Bird Street.
Palo Alto, 2086 El Camino Real.
Pasadena, 38 East Union Street.
Pittsburg, 2 East Fifth Street.
Placerville, 596 Main Street.
Pomona, 145 West Fifth Avenue.
Porterville, City Hall.
Quincy, Town Hall.
Red Bluflf, Federal Building.
Redding, 1407 California Street.
Redlands, 14 Vine Street.
Richmond, 317 Sixth Street.
Riverside, 3469 Main Street.
Roseville, 700 Vernon Street.
Sacramento, 1330 J Street.
Sacramento, 1106 Second Street.
Salinas, 7 Natividad Street.
San Bernardino, 352 Court Street.
San Diego, 1165 Front Street.
San Fernando, 132 North Maclay Street.
San Francisco, 1690 Mission Street.
San Francisco (commercial and profes-
sional), 154 Sansome Street.
San Jose, 393 South Second Street.
San Luis Obispo, 967 Osos Street.
San Mateo, 15 B Street.
San Pedro, 250 West Seventh Street.
San Rafael, 1557 Fourth Street.
Santa Ana, 501 West Fifth Street.
Santa Barbara, 22 East Victoria Street.
Santa Cruz, 23 Front Street.
Santa Maria, 310 West Main Street.
Santa Monica, 1558 Fifth Street.
Santa Rosa, 501 Third Street.
Sonora, 81 1 North Washington Street.
South San Francisco, 215 Linden Ave-
nue.
Stockton, 201 North San Joaquin Street.
Susanville, 800 Lassen Street.
Torrance, 1927 Carson Street.
Turlock, 138 South Center Street.
Ukiah, 20 Smith Street.
Vallejo, 515 Marin Street.
Van iSFuys, 14529 Sylvan Street.
Ventura, 53 South California Street.
Visalia, 119 North Church Street.
Watsonville, 21 West Lake Avenue.
Whittier, 214 West Philadelphia Street.
INFORMACION PARA LOS AGRICULTORES
Para obtenir informacion aut6ntica de trabajo dirijase a una oficina del De-
partamento de Empleo del Estado de California (en este folleto encontrard
usted la lista da direcciones) .
El Departam.ento de Empleo del Estado de California mantiene una agenda
central de informacion concerniente a la necesidad de trabajadores en las varias
secciones agricolas del estado.
Personas que desean trabajo en las haciendas debieran preguntar por informa-
ci6n en una de las oficinas del departamento tan pronto como posible.
Ademds de las oficinas locales, liaj' tres centros de informacion. Estos estdn
situados cerca de Lidio (U. S. 99, 60, 70), al sur de Bakersfield (U. S. 99), y al
oeste de Pacheco Pass (U. S. 152). A cualquier de estos tres despachos 6 en
las oficinas del departamento se puede averiguar las posibiHdades para trabajo.
Por medio de este servicio, los trabajadores pueden consequir informaci6n
correcta respecto d las cosechas en todas partes del estado. Si hay trabajo, se
les notificardn.
2856
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Estado de California Departamento de Empleo
Estas oficinas estan dispuestas para servirle:
Alameda, 1536 Park Street.
Alhambra, 27 P^ast Valley Boulevard.
Altriras, 911 Main Street.
Bakersfiekl, 1300 EiKliteenth Street.
Berkeley, 2459-2463 Shattuck Avenue.
Bishop, 124 South Main Street.
Chico, 345 West Fifth Street.
Covina, 120 East Badillo Street.
Culver City, 9343 Culver Boulevard.
Dunsmuir, 901 Sacramento Avenue.
El Centro, 134 South Sixth Street.
Eureka. 239 G Street.
Fresno, 2146 Inyo Street.
Glendale, 207 West Colorado Boulevard.
Grass Vallev, HI South Auburn Street.
Hanford, 311 North Douty Street.
Hayward, 963-967 C Street.
Hollywood, 5407 Santa Monica Boule-
vard.
Huntington Park, 6906-6910 Pacific
Boulevard.
Ingle wood, 351 East Queen Street.
Lodi, City Hall.
Long Beach, 416 Pine Avenue.
Los Angeles, 1200 South Grand Avenue.
Los Angeles (commercial and profes-
sional), 1050 South Hope Street.
Madera, 114 North F Street.
Marvsville, 321 C Street.
Merced, 622 Nineteenth Street.
Modesto, 720 Tentli Street.
Monterey, 266 Pearl Street.
Napa, 1033 Coombs Street.
Oakland, 530 Eighteenth Street.
Ontario, Old Chamber of Commerce
Building.
Oroville, 1944 Bird Street.
Palo Alto. 2086 El Camino Real.
Pasadena, 38 East Union Street.
Pittsburg, 2 East Fifth Street.
Placerville, 596 Main Street.
Pomona, 145 West Fifth Avenue.
Porterville, City Hall.
Quincy, Town Hall.
Red Bluff, Federal Building.
Redding, 1407 California Street.
Redlands, 14 Vine Street.
Richmond, 317 Sixth Street,
Riverside, 3469 Main Street.
Roseville, 700 V^ernon Street.
Sacramento, 1330 J Street.
Sacramento, 1106 Second Street.
Salinas, 7 Natividad Street.
San Bernardino, 352 Court Street.
San Diego, 1165 Front Street.
San Fernando, 132 North Maclay Street-
San Francisco, 1690 Mission Street.
San I'rancisco (commercial and profes-
sional), 154 Sansome Street.
San Jose, 393 South Second Street.
San Luis Obispo, 967 Osos Street.
San Mateo, 15 B Street.
San Pedro, 250 West Seventh Street.
San Rafael, 1557 Fourth Street.
Santa Ana, 501 West Fifth Street.
Santa Barbara, 22 East Victoria Street.
Santa Cruz, 23 Front Street.
Santa Maria, 310 West Main Street.
Santa Monica, 1558 Fifth Street.
Santa Rosa, 501 Third Street.
Sonora, 811 North Washington Street.
South San Francisco, 215 Linden Ave-
nue.
Stockton, 201 North San Joaquin Street.
Susanville, 800 Lassen Street.
Torrance, 1927 Carson Street.
Turlock, 138 South Center Street.
Ukiah, 20 Smith Street.
Vallejo, 515 Marin Street.
Van iVuys, 14529 Sylvan Street.
Ventura, 53 South California Street.
Visalia, 119 North Church Street.
Watsonville, 21 West Lake Avenue.
Whittier, 214 West Philadelphia Street.
INTERSTATE M IGR ATION
2857
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
DEPARTrvENT OF EMPLOY^.i£r'IT
FARM PRODUCTS
NFORMATION STATIONS
INOIO
BAKERSFIELD
PACHECO PASS
MAIN HIGHWAYS
Crops are sliowi In geii«ral locstiona only.
This map is not to be taken ae asaiirance
that vork exists in acy given locality.
Ab£ attesdaats at Depajtment Informntloa
Stations or Local Offices for latest in-
formation as to the working conditions.
3AM oteoo
Note:— See reference in testimony of R. G. Wagenet, on p. 2840, to the information stations showrt
above, also map showing locaJ offices of State Department of Employment on p. 2840A.
2858
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
(The following statement and material was later received from
Messrs. Huxley and Wagenet and accepted for the record.)
Agricultural Placements, January 1936 to August 1940
GENERAL
The most noticeable characteristic of agricultural placements in California are
their large seasonal fluctuations. Normally, placements are at a seasonal low
during January and February since there are few crops requiring seasonal farm
labor at that "time. . . „ . /u t^ ,.
The harvesting of vegetables during the sprmg, especially m the Delta and
Coastal region causes agricultural placements to rise sharply and to reach a
spring peak about May or early June. After the spring peak there is usually a
decrease in agricultural activities until late in July or early August when a heavy
demand for farm laborers to harvest deciduous fruits, nuts, hops, grapes, and
later cotton, causes placements to rise to a peak for the year in late August or
early September. Placements then normally decrease gradually until the
following January or February.
This seasonal pattern for placements agrees with seasonal farm-labor require-
ments as determined in previous studies made by the Giannini Foundation and
by the State relief administration. During the year 1936 there were 54,778
complete agricultural placements.
During the first quarter there were 2,732 placements, which was only 5 per-
cent of the total for the year. The first quarter was, of course, a period of nor-
mally low activity in agriculture. During the second quarter of 1936 the har-
vesting of vegetables caused large seasonal demands for labor, while spring ground
tilling operations also contributed to the increased demand for labor. The net
result of these demands was the making of 12,688 complete placements or 23
percent of the annual total.
During the third quarter of 1936, 20,904 complete placements were made or
38 percent of the annual total. During this quarter the deciduous-fruit areas
showed large increases in placements. The last quarter was seasonally a period
of decreasing agricultural activity though the high level of placements at the
beginning of the quarter and a demand for laborers in the later crops such as
cotton kept the total for the quarter only slightly below the previous r|uarter
with nearly 34 percent of the placements for the year being made during the
fourth quarter of 1936.
During 1937 there were 63,744 complete placements made and the highest tor
any year during the period 1936-40.
The quarterly totals during the year were all higher than for the previous year
though the quarterly totals bore approximately the same relationships to each
other as in 1936.
The reasons for the increase in placements over the previous year appear to
be rather complex. Some of the more important factors are herein enumerated.
Most of the year 1937 was a period of increased business activity in most lines.
Increased opportunities in other types of employment undoubtedly helped to
create a relative scarcitv and consequently an increased demand for agricultural
labor. This was in contrast to some other years when a surplus of agricultural
labor existed in most localities.
Nineteen hundred and thirty seven was a year of exceptionally heavy crops
for many farm products. More fruits and vegetables, for example, were canned
in California in that year than in any other year according to the reports of
the ORTinGr's LcfiscuG.
During the year 1938 onlv 31,636 complete placements were made in agricul-
ture or less than half of the number made during the previous year.
The most noticeable thing about 1938 agricultural placements is a marked
decrease in the amplitude of seasonal fluctuations. During the first quarter of
1938, a period of normally low placements, 4,797 complete placements were made.
This was considerably more than in the first quarter of 1936 and only slightly
less than the first quarter of 1937. During the succeeding three quarters of 1938
there was surprisingly little difference between quarters in the number of place-
ments; 7,986 placements were made in the second quarter, 9,885 placements m
the third quarter, and 8,968 placements during the fourth quarter.
The explanation for the low level of placements has sometimes been attributed
to the pressure of unemployinent-insurance activities causing less emphasis to be
placed upon farm-placement activities.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2859
Although this may be a contributing factor it does not seem to afford a complete
explanation. During the first quarter of 1938, when the pressure of claims
activities was the greatest, farm placements were about the same as the average
in the 2 preceding years.
More important reasons can perhaps be found in economic and social factors:
The year 1938 was, especially during the first 9 months, a period of de-
pressed business activity with the result that many more persons were willing to
accept farm work tlian in the previous year. The production of a number of
crops requiring large numbers of seasonal laborers was below the previous year.
The Canner's League, for example, reports that the amount of fruits and vegetables
canned in California in 1938 was 38 percent below the previous year. Another
important factor was the continued immigration of farm laborers from other States,
especially the Dust Bowl States. The result of this immigration is to add gradu-
ally to the number of agricultural laborers in California. Though the influence
of this immigration was undoubtedly felt in 1937, the comparatively high level of
business conditions and the large crops undoubtedly minimized the noticeable
effect of the agricultural migrants from other States and their effect on the agri-
cultural labor market.
Placements in the year 1938, however, felt the combined impact of ever-increas-
ing numbers of migrants coming into California, the effect of residents thrown out
of work by the 1938 recession seeking agricultural work in the absence of other
work, and the effect of a decrease in the harvest yield in a number of crops.
The result of all these factors was a large surplus of agricultural labor in most
localities and, consequently, hiring on the spot was sufficient to meet most labor
demands of farm operators.
During 1939 there were 38,864 complete agricultural placements made.
The factors mentioned in the previous year still appeared to have a depressing
influence on farm placements.
Placements totaled 2,281 during the first quarter of 1939. This figure, although
much below the first quarter of the 2 preceding years, was only slightly below the
1936 figure.
During the second quarter, placements rose to 12,137; which was approxi-
mately 50 percent above 1938 and not greatly different from the second quarters
of 1936 and 1937.
During the third and fourth quarters of 1939 complete agricultural placements
totaled 1.5,666 and 8,780, respectively. Placements were above the previous year
in the tliird quarter and nearly the same as in 1938 during the fuurth quarter.
Agricultural placements, however, appear to show the effect of a large surplus of
agricultural labor, especially in the deciduous fruit, grape, and cotton areas of the
San Joaquin Valley, where perhaps a majority of agricultural migrants from the
Dust Bowl have settled. The effect of the European war has been a depressing
one on many California crops, since the export market for many fruit and nut
products has been an important one. Though the effect of this factor upon 1939
crops has not been ascertained, it would appear to have some bearing on the
demand for farm labor.
Placements during the first quarter of 1940 were approximately the same as in
the previous year.
During the second quarter, however, complete agricultural placements were
only 6,657, nearly 10,000 lower than in the same quarter of the previous year.
This decrease may be largely due to the extremely small harvested vegetable
crop in some areas, especially in the Delta region, where normally large numbers
of placements are made during the spring. The apricot crop, also, was only
25 to 30 percent of normal in many sections.
Complete agricultural placements were used in this analysis since they represent
the only complete series for the period studied.
Records of supplemental agricultural placements have been kept since January
1, 1938.
Supplemental placements show an ever-increasing proportion of all agricultural
placements. The seasonal pattern for supplemental agricultural placements is
approximately the same as for complete placements though the fluctuation
appears to be'of greater magnitude for the short period for which data are available.
260370— 41— pt. 7-
2§gQ INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Agricultural placements by quarter, January 1936-August 1940
Total
Complete
Supple-
mental
January, February, March.
April, May, June -
July, August, September
October, November, December.
1936
Total.
January, February, March
April, May, June
Jiily, August, September
October, November, December.
Total.
January, February, March
April, May, June
July, August, September
October, November, December-
Total.
January, February, March
April, May, June
July, August, September
October, November, December.
Total.
January, February, March.
April, May, June
July, August
8 months' total _
5,575
9,434
13, 975
14, 046
43, 030
2,982
16, 199
24, 506
15, 089
58, 776
2,843
6,657
14,360
23,860
2,732
12,688
20,904
18, 454
54, 778
6,402
13, 713
24, 516
19, 113
63, 744
4,797
7,986
9,885
31, 636
2,281
12, 137
15, 666
8,780
38, 864
2,193
4,534
4,759
11,486
778
1,448
4,090
5,078
11, 394
701
4,062
6,309
19, 912
650
2,123
9,601
12, 374
Year
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940 (8 months' total).
Total
43, 030
58, 776
23,860
Com-
plete
54,778
63, 744
31, 636
38, 864
11,486
Supple-
mentary
11,394
19,912
12, 374
Table I.'- — Persons seeking agriculttiral work by years of agricultural experience in
California — For workers stopping at the Indio, Bakersfield, and Pacheco Pass
Information Stations, June S-Aug. 31, 1940
Years' experience in
Workers
Years' experience in
California
Workers
California
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
Total
2,381
100.0
3 years . .. .
82
30
1,144
189
3.4
1 3
Less than 1
771
115
50
32.4
4.8
2.1
5 and over
48.1
1 year ...
Not given _
7.9
2 years
> These tables do not include similar service given agricultural workers at all local offices in farm areas.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2861
Table II. — Persons seeking agricultural work classified by years of agricultural
experience in California and by place of origin — For perso/is interviewed at the
India, Baker sfield, and Pacheco Pass Agricultural Information Stations, June 3—
Aug. 31, 1940
Total
Years' agricultural experience in California
Place of origin
Less
than 1
1 year
2 years
3 years
4 years
6 or
more
Not
given
Total all places of origin
2,381
771
115
50
82
30
1,144
189
California - .
827
1,228
0
762
6
107
6
42
33
39
3
18
767
205
12
Other than California
55
Texas -
250
248
248
109
85
288
149
172
187
0
50
204
32
26
20
0
4
25
13
14
5
0
3
7
5
13
5
0
13
3
5
6
0
0
3
4
26
11
19
102
9
38
20
Oklahoma
6
Arizona
12
Mexico
7
^
Other'
Origin not given...
326
9
2
2
10
9
172
122
1 No other place of origin showed more than 36 persons.
Table III. — Total number of parties calling at agricultural information stationSi
June 3- Aug. 31, 1940, by California residence and type of work sought ^
Total
number
of parties
Parties seeking
work in—
Parties
not
Agricul-
ture
Other
seeking
work
Total, all stations
1,189
942
84
16S
California residents.- .. _ ...
583
396
210
534 49
371 25
37 in
Oi
California nonresidents . .
0<
RftsidpncR unknown
16*
' Party means the group in an automobile, or 1 or more persons traveling together on foot. California
sident is defined, for purposes of this study, as one who has spent the greater part of the past 2 years in
alifnrnifl
resident
California.
Average wage rates paid to hired farm labor by States, Jan. 1, 1931-Oct. 1, 1940y
per day without board
Jan. 1
Apr. 1
July 1
Oct. 1
United States average:
1931
$1.87
1.40
1.06
1.21
1.26
1.37
1.51
1.55
1.53
1.55
3.00
2.45
1.80
2.10
2.30
2.50
2.70
3.00
2.75
2.85
$1.80
1.35
1.05
1.27
1.34
1.43
1.58
1.63
1.53
1.55
3.00
2.35
1.70
2.15
2.35
2.50
2.80
2.95
2.80
2.85
$1.73
1.23
1.12
1.30
1.41
1.54
1.87
1.70
1.59
1.62
2.80
2.10
1.85
2.30
2.50
2.60
3.10
2.95
2.80
2.85
$1 59
1932
1 19
1933 .
1 25
1934
1 3*
1935
1.47
1936 - . ...
1 5&
1937 .
1.83:
1938
l.eS'
1939 _.__
1.57
1940
California:
1931
2 eO'
1932 . - . - -.
2 OO^
1933
2. 15
1934
2.40'
1935
2 5C'
1936 - - . .
2.70'
1937 .
3.201
1938. ,
2.8Gi
1939 .
2.85.
1940
2862
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Average wage rates paid to hired farm labor by States, Jan. 1, 1.931-Oct. 1, 1940,
per day without board — Continued
Jan. 1
Apr. 1
July 1
Oct. 1
Iowa:
1931 -
$2. 45
1.70
1.20
1.25
1.35
1.60
1.75
1.95
2.00
1.95
2.35
1.60
1.25
1.40
1.35
1.50
1.65
1.75
1.70
1.05
1.50
1.10
.95
1.15
1.10
1.20
1.30
1.35
1.35
1.35
1.40
1.05
.85
1.10
1.10
1.15
1.25
1.35
1.25
1.25
1.10
.95
.70
.85
.90
.90
1.00
1.05
1.00
1.00
$2.45
1.05
1.20
1.45
1.55
1.80
2.00
2.15
2.15
2.15
2.25
1.60
1.25
1.40
1.50
1.55
1.70
1.80
1.75
1.75
1.40
1.05
.90
1.15
1.15
1.20
1.30
1.35
1. .35
1.35
1.30
1.00
.85
1.10
1.10
1.15
1.25
1.35
1.25
1.25
1.05
.85
.70
.85
.90
.95
1.00
1.05
1.05
1.05
$2.30
1.45
1.25
1.40
1.75
2.05
2.30
2.30
2.35
2.35
2.25
1.50
1.40
1.65
1.75
2.10
2.40
2.10
2.15
2.15
1.35
1.00
1.00
1.20
1.30
1.35
1.75
1.60
1.55
1.50
1.30
.90
.90
1.10
1.20
1.30
1.40
1.35
1.30
1.30
1.05
.70
.75
.90
.90
.95
1.10
1.05
1.05
1.05
$2. 05
1932
1.35
1933 _..
1.35
1934 --.
1 50
1935
1.95
1936
2 00
1937 -
2 50
1938
2 30
1939
2 35
1940
Kansa.s:
1931. .
1.80
1932
1.40
1933 ... . .
1 40
1934 -
1.45
1935-..
1.65
1 80
1937
2.05
1938
1.95
1939 . . . .
1 90
Oklahoma:
1931
1.20
1932
1.00
1.25
1934 -
1. 15
1935
1.30
1936
1.35
1937
1.55
1938
1.45
1939
1.45
1940
Texas:
1931
1.20
1932
.95
1933
1.10
1934
1.15
1935 .
1.20
1936 - .
1.35
1937 -
1.45
1938
1.30
1939
1.30
1940... -
Arkansas:
1931
1.00
1932
.75
1933
.85
1934
.90
1935
.90
1936
1.05
1937-
1.15
1938
1.05
1939
1.05
1940
Source: U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Agricultural Economies.
TESTIMONY OF MISS BETTE O'NEILL, MAR VISTA, CALIF.
Mr. Sparkman. Your name is Bette O'Neill?
Miss O'Neill. Yes, sir.
Mr. Sparkman. Speak up so the reporter can hear you. What is
your address, Miss O'Neill?
Miss O'Neill. Box 271, Mar Vista, Calif.
Mr. Sparkman. How old are you?
Miss O'Neill. Nineteen.
Mr. Sparkman. How long have you been in California?
Miss O'Neill. About a year and a half.
Mr. Sparkman. Are you here with your family?
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2863
Miss O'Neill. My mother and my brother.
Mr. Sparkman. Where is your father?
Miss O'Neill. I think he is in Michigan.
Mr. Sparkman. Your mother and father are separated?
Miss O'Neill. Divorced.
Mr. Sparkman. Just three of you in your family?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. I understand you were born in Illinois and later
lived in Michigan, is that correct?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. After yom* mother obtained a divorce, what did
the family do?
Miss O'Neill. Well, my brother and mother and I w^ent down to
Florida. We had been planning to go dowTi there and we stayed there
until just before Christmas. Then w^e
Mr. Sparkman (interrupting). Clu'istmas, but how long ago?
Miss O'Neill. That was in 1935.
Mr. Sparkman. Christmas of 1935?
Miss O'Neill. Yes. From there we thought we would go down to
Key West, but it looked so far we decided to go to Texas where most
of mother's relatives were. We went to Texas and got there in Janu-
ary and stayed about 2 years. We left in 1937, July 1937, and from
there we went back to ^lichigan to try to collect alimony that my
father was supposed to pay mother. We went back to Michigan and
stayed there. I stayed there in 1937 and up to August 1938, and then
I went to my aunt's home, which is in Seattle, Wash., to go to school
with her and live with her. Mother and Richard stayed in Michigan.
Mr. Sparkman. Richard is your brother?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. They stayed in Michigan how long?
Miss O'Neill. Three more months.
Mr. Sparkman. And you went to Seattle, Wash., and went to
school?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. How long did you stay there?
Miss O'Neill. 1 stayed there 7 months and mother and Richard
came out to Oregon. My father had gone to Oregon after we came
back to Michigan, and we went there. The lawyer told us to go
there and tiy to get the alimony there. She had to stay there 90 days.
I lived with my aunt, and she, Richard and my mother were in
Portland, Oreg. My father had a grand jury hearing or something,
and that didn't do any good, so my father went back to Michigan
and I came down into Oregon in March 1939 wnth mother. We
bought a trailer there before the money gave out, in Portland, and
then we came down to Los Angeles.
Mr. Sparkman. Now, let me see, you had a court proceeding in
Oregon in an effort to collect the alimony that your father owed to
your mother?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. Failing in that the family bought a trailer and
came to southern California?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
Mr. vSparkman. Now, M^hen was that?
2354 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Miss O'Neill. We got here — I think it was in April. I am not
sure. Anyway it was 1939.
Mr. Sparkman. February 1939?
Mrs. Davis. We arrived in CaUfornia on April 7th.
Mr. Sparkman. Is that your mother?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
The Chairman. Perhaps you would like to come up here.
TESTIMONY OF MRS. JEAN DAVIS
Mr. Sparkman. Will you give your name?
Mrs. Davis. Mrs. Davis; Jean Davis. We left there July 1937.
Mr. Sparkman. You left Texas July 1937?
Mrs. Davis. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. You came here February 1?
Mrs. Davis. April. We left in March, from Portland, Oreg., in the
trailer, and came here and arrived at the border on April 7, 1939.
Mr. Sparkman. Well, then, did you come straight on to Los
Angeles?
Mrs. Davis. Yes. We thought we would never reach it.
Mr. Sparkman. What schooling did you have?
Miss O'Neill. I finished the eleventh grade.
Mr. Sparkman. The last schooling you had in Washington was in
the eleventh grade?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. Well then, have you had any special training?
Miss O'Neill. Yes. I came down here and I have gone to several
dramatic schools and have been in many of the theaters. I appeared
in one and was supposed to get a salary but I didn't.
Mr. Sparkman. Did you have a purpose in coming to Los Angeles?
Miss O'Neill. Oh, yes. I wanted — I have always wanted to be
an actress ever since I can remember. I wanted to go either to New
York or to Holtywood, and Hollywood was chosen as I was out here.
1 came out to Hollywood.
Mr. Sparkman. In other words, it was nearer to Hollywood than
it was to New York?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. Did you try to get work as soon as you got here?
Miss O'Neill. Yes ; we did. We didn't have much luck. We went
to one employment agency and applied for work and they told us that
they had such a long waiting list that it wouldn't do any good. They
only had household work, domestic woik. We even put our names
on the list.
Mr. Sparkman. Well, how did you happen to go to these dramatic
schools?
Miss O'Neill. Well, I didn't know how else to go about getting
into the movies or the radio. It is so hard to make contacts. You
have to have an agent here in Hollywood before you get anywhere.
You can't go into the studios like you could 10 or maybe a little more
years ago when you could go in and speak for yourself. Now you
have to have an agent.
The best way to get an agent is that they always want to see you
in something — or most of them do — so you have to get in the theaters.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2865
I didn't know how, when we first came in here — I didn't know much
about anything, I was so green — we went to some schools that I
learned later were just rackets.
Mr. Sparkman. How did you come in contact with those schools?
Did you see ads in the papers or magazines?
Miss O'Neill. The first one, we saw an ad in the paper, and that
was a racket we found out later.
Mr. Sparkman. Did you go to it?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman, For how long?
Miss O'Neill. About 3 months.
Mr. Sparkman. What did you have to pay?
Miss O'Neill. $75 apiece. '
Mr. Sparkman. Both of you went?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
Mrs. Davis. We took a radio course.
Mr. Sparkman. Did they promise to get work for you?
Miss O'Neill. No; they didn't.
Mrs. Davis. They did orally.
Miss O'Neill. 0raUy;yes.
Mr. Sparkman. They led you to beheve that they would?
Miss O'Neill. Oh, yes.
Mr. Sparkman. But they did not put it in writing?
. Miss O'Neill. No.
Mr. Sparkman. Well, did they make any effort to place you after
you finished?
Miss O'Neill. No. The head of the school told me that I would
be on the radio within 2 weeks after I started there, getting about $5
a week, or something. I don't remember exactly what he said; and,
being perfectly green, we believed him.
Mr. Sparkman. You were not on the radio?
Miss O'Neill. No.
Mr. Sparkman. Never did at any time?
Miss O'Neill. I merely went on there — they had a skit every
Sunday for a while on KMTR. They had a little dramatic skit to
advertise their studios and I was on that for several Sundays.
Mr. Sparkman. Get any pay for that?
Miss O'Neill. No. That was merely to get more suckers. The
school said it was for experience on the air.
Mr. Sparkman. You were helping them recruit others?
Miss O'Neill. Yes, but I did not realize it until later.
Mr. Sparkman. You said you had worked with the Little Theater
on a few occasions?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. Did you get paid for that?
Miss O'Neill. Oh, no. We had to pay them. I was supposed to
get paid and appeared in "Satan is a Lady" at the Wilshire-Ebell
Theater. I had a contract for that. I was supposed to get four-
and-a-third of the box office receipts but the man turned out to be a
failure as a producer, and he had a hard time paying the theater.
I got back half of what I paid him to help the show along. The
actors and actresses in the show paid a httle bit. He had some
society women backing it. Mother got back all that she put in.
2SQQ INTERSTATE MIGRATION
We went to the labor commissioner and they got it back for us, except
I didn't get my salary or percentage of box-office receipts.
Mr. Sparkman. You mean he required you to help finance the
show and then you were to get paid back after it was produced?
Miss O'Neill. Yes; and a salary.
Mrs. Davis. He promised $75, at least.
Miss O'Neill. $75 a week.
Mr. Sparkman. Where have you been living during that time?
Miss O'Neill. When we first came in here we stopped at a trailer
camp at Burbank. We didn't stay there long.
Mrs. Davis. Until May 7, and then we went to Culver City.
Miss O'Neill. And stayed there until the end of September.
Then we went down to where we have been in a trailer ever since.
We have been down just near the county line, near Venice, just out-
side the Venice line.
Mr. Sparkman. Did you still have the same trailer j^ou bought in
Oregon?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman, And were living in it?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. \Vliat about your brother? Is he working?
Miss O'Neill. He is staying at the Hollywood Guild.
Mr. Sparkman. What is the Hollywood Guild?
Miss O'Neill. Well, it is supposed to be a place where they help
feed down-and-out actors and actresses. I guess there are other people.
I don't know much about it. We applied for Federal aid and as we
weren't residents of California and we have lost our residence in
Michigan, why, they wouldn't take us and couldn't send us back, so
they sent us to the Hollywood Guild and we have been getting our
meals there.
Mr. Sparkman. Havmg been gone from Michigan for more than a
year you lost your residence there?
Miss O'Neill. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. You never got it in Oregon?
Miss O'Neill. No.
Mr. Sparkman. And not having been in California 5 years you are
not residents of
Miss O'Neill (interrupting). Any State.
Mr. Sparkman. You are not residents anywhere?
Miss O'Neill. No.
Mr. Sparkman. In the legal sense of the word?
Miss O'Neill. No.
Mr. Sparkman, You are American citizens?
Miss O'Neill, Yes, indeed.
Mr. Sparkman, But from the standpoint of help you are not citi-
zens of any State?
Miss O'Neill, No,
Mr. Sparkman. Well, have you had any relief from any organiza-
tions?
Miss O'Neill, The Hollywood Guild helped us. They paid our
rent for a month and they have been giving us our meals, too,
Mr, Sparkman. Mrs. Davis, what kind of a place is the Hollywood
Guild?
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2867
Mrs, Davis. It is a charitable organization.
Mr. Sparkman. It is an association for the purpose of helping actors
and actresses who are in distress?
Mrs. Davis. Yes; who are in distress.
Mr. Sparkman. Do you have to be members of it?
Miss O'Neill. No, so they tell us. They just tell them about you
and you give references from different people who have known you.
Mr. Sparkman. Have you looked for any other line of work?
Miss O'Neill. Well, I appled at the N. Y. A. just about 3 weeks
ago. They told me to do that at the Hollywood Guild and he thought
he could get me a job in a State employment office.
Mr. Sparkman. You don't know any other work except dramatics?
Miss O'Neill. No. In Michigan, while we were there, I picked
peaches for 2 weeks. We were dismissed after a foreign-looking man
called twice and talked privately to the owner of the orchard. The
man who drove a truck through the orchard picking up baskets of
peaches said we picked more and faster than the men in another part
of the orchard.
Mr. Sparkman. You don't do stenographic work?
Miss O'Neill. No. I took typing and I can type about 30 or 40
words a minute.
Mr. Sparkman. You ought to push that up to about 50 because
they need lots of typists now.
Miss O'Neill. Yes; I know.
Mr. Sparkman. You are still hoping to get work?
Miss O'Neill. I am going to if I get to be old and gray, if I have to.
Mr. Sparkman. Well, I admire your spirit. I hope you are success-
ful, somehow or other. I rather believe in the old saying that where
there is a will there is a way and so I hope you find it.
Miss O'Neill. I hope so.
Mr. Sparkman. That is all.
The Chairman. The way has been postponed quite a while, though,
has it not?
Miss O'Neill. I should say it has.
The Chairman. I think it would be a good idea for you to take
shorthand, and there is a great demand for comptometer operators.
Miss O'Neill. Well, if you postpone your way too long and go
off on so many of these by^vays, why it takes so much of your time
that if you really go for that you have to keep at it all the time. I
have an agent who wants to see me in something. I have two theaters
that I am going to see in a very few days and play there, and I don't
have to pay.
The Chairman. Nowadays it takes travel on a good many byways
to get to the main road. We thank you very much,
(Witness excused.)
The Chairman. Mr. Rubinow.
TESTIMONY OF S. G. EUBINOW, ADMINISTRATOR, CALIFORNIA
STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRATION, LOS ANGELES, CALIF.
The Chairman. Mr. Rubinow, give your name and in what capacity
you appear, and I thmk you have an engagement.
Mr. Rubinow. S. G. Rubinow.
2868
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
The Chairman. In what capacity do you appear here, for the record?
Mr. RuBiNOW. Admmistrator, Cahfornia State Rehef Administra-
tion.
The Chairman. You have already filed a statement with us,
haven't you?
Mr. RuBiNOW. Yes; I have. I am filing it now, Congressman
Tolan, and it is merely a factual presentation with no interpretations
or conclusions. Then in addition I have prepared a very brief
statement, a general statement that I would like to present to this
committee, and then in addition to that we have three of our bureau
chiefs here who are technically qualified to answer any questions
you might have to ask. I am not because I am merely a layman.
The Chairman. Was there anything outside of your statement and
report? Was there any oral statement that you wanted to make at
this time?
Mr. RuBiNOW. I would like to make this general statement, which
will not take more than 5 minutes, and it includes some recommenda-
tions for legislative action.
The Chairman. That is what we would like to hear.
Air. RuBiNOW. Although they are very general in character. Then
will you call on the technical witnesses representing the State relief
administration for such questions as you would like to ask?
The Chairman. Yes.
MIGRATION FOR EMPLOYMENT
Mr. RuBiNow (reading). Interstate migration is a phase of the
general economic problem of unemployment. Men, women, and their
families migrate from one section of the United States to other sections,
and from State to State, to look for work which does not exist.
The desu-e to find work, to make a living, and to improve one's
economic position are the forces responsible for migration. All other
influences can be disregarded completely because they are negligible.
Therefore, the migration of destitute citizens is a national and not a
State or sectional problem alone and must be treated, for its solution,
from a national viewpoint in which Federal and State governments
participate jointly and bear joint responsibility.
The number one problem of modern society is unemployment.
This problem is not political. It is purely economic. Men and
women must be given an opportunity to work. There is no other
answer.
JS private initiative and private enterprise cannot provide work, it
then becomes the responsibility of Government to provide for its
destitute citizens on a scale which is comparable, at least, to the
minimum American standard of living.
This is not only imperative from the viewpoint of destitute citizens
but equally so from the viewpoint of those who are engaged in produc-
tive work and who maintain themselves by their work.
Government has the same responsibility to its citizens as they do to
their Government. No economic situation can be viewed with safety
which permits millions of its citizens to have no legal residence and to
whom citizenship has no permanent civic and economic significance.
The effect of such a condition upon the body politic is serious and
dangerous.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2869
Migration of destitute citizens merely means the crossing of artifical
geographical boundaries between States. A destitute citizen of Okla-
homa who migrates to California is still an American citizen, no
matter what the rules and regulations may be which define his legal
residence in California. If California cannot absorb, through
private enterprise, the destitute migrant from Oklahoma, and if
Oklahoma cannot provide opportunities to enable the Oklahoma
migrant to remain in Oklahoma, the time then comes when it is the
duty and the responsibility of the National Government to take
adequate care of its homeless and citizenless citizens.
RESIDENCE REQUIREMENTS SHOULD BE UNIFORM
It has been generally acknowledged that artificial trade barriers,
which stop the flow of goods and services, are uneconomic and un-
sound from the viewpoint of national welfare. Human trade barriers,
caused by lack of uniformity in legal residence requirements, as be-
tween States, or w^hich deprive citizens of their citizenship, merely
because there is no available work for such citizens, are equally
unsound and uneconomic in terms of general welfare.
There should be, therefore, a standardization of residence require-
ments, for the States, affecting public assistance by the States to those
of its citizens who cannot find work and who must look to government
for financial assistance.
ADMINISTRATION OF RELIEF AGENCIES
The time has also arrived where there must be greater centralization
m the administration of agencies furnishing public financial assistance
to destitute citizens and representing all categories.
There must be a minimum of administrative cost and a maximum
of benefits to recipients, irrespective of the nature of the programs, d
Because the problem of destitute citizens is a national one and not a
State or a local problem, the type of administration which must be
created to handle this problem is one which should emphasize a single
State agency, operating through a national agency, and financed by
State and National governments on a proportionate basis in terms
of population, per capita wealth, and other factors.
It is also most desirable to enact legislation which will prevent ex-
ploitation of destitute citizens. This is particularly necessary in the
field of agricultural employment, both for the benefit of agricultural
producers and farm migratory workers.
FARM PLACEMENT SERVICE NEEDED
States of origin. States of destination, and the Federal Government
should be given the opportimity of participating jointly in a highly
efficient farm placement service which will direct the flow of farm
migrants in a rational manner and which will maintain its operations
in line with actual needs of farm operators for farm labor.
Og-TQ INTERSTATE MIGRATION
TEMPORARY FEDERAL DOLE
While it is recognized that the dole is the least desirable method of
keeping aUve destitute citizens, because there is no substitute for work
and because the dole eliminates man's most necessary and most
natural impulse, the desire for work, nevertheless, until work can be
found through private initiative and enterprise or through govern-
mental works programs, every effort should be made, through jouit
State and Federal participation, to increase the purchasing power of
destitute citizens.
Much has been said in the past few years on the necessity of develop-
mg the American market for American agriculture and American
industry.
The largest single nandicap to a stabilized and improved American
market for American industry and agriculture is lack of purchasing or
consuming power.
For example, while the United States Army has a food allowance of
15 cents per meal per person at wholesale prices, millions of persons on
relief and in low-mcome groups are living on an average of 5 cents per
meal at retail prices.
The operations of the Federal food-stamp plan, for which Congress
has made appropriations with unanimous approval, has raised the
5-cent meal to relief recipients to 7J^ cents.
Studies of mcome groups throughout the United States show that
two-thirds of the families in America, comprising 80,000,000 persons,
have been tr3^ing to live on an average cash income of approximately
$70 per month for an entire family.
That amount is not sufficient to turn the wheels of industry or to
give agriculture even the cost of production.
There is greater need than ever for economic planning, by States,
by regions, and for the United States as a whole, through which to
work out an American pattern of life and living which will absorb
destitute citizens and enable them to become assimilated within
communities which can open up new opportunities for them.
Such planning would not be a violation of States rights or of the
rights of local communities; but, on the other hand, would be a great
contributing factor toward the stabilization of the physical and human
resources of the United States and the best known manner m which to
preserve and enhance American democracy.
That is our general statement, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. I want that to go into the record verbatim. This
report on the problem of interstate migration is a complete report of
the way in which this problem affects your relief set-up in the State
of California?
Mr. RuBiNOw. That is right.
The Chairman. We will mark that as an exhibit.
(The document referred to was received and appears below.)
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2871
STATEMENT OF S. G. RUBINOW, ADMINISTRATOR, CALIFORNIA
STATE RELIEF ADMINISTRATION, PREPARED BY BUREAU OF
STATISTICS, E. M. COOPER, CHIEF
The Problem of Interstate Migration as It Affects the California State
Relief Administration
functions of the state relief administration
The State Relief Administration of California is the agency of the State which
administers unemployment relief to the employable unemployed who are not
cared for under the program of the Federal Work Projects Administration.
The State relief administration extends aid to the unemployed entirely from
State funds and through its own offices located throughout the State. The county
welfare departments in the State of California do not enter directly into the picture
of unemployment relief.
The State relief administration was first created as the State emergency relief
administration in the spring of 1933 to distribute funds of the Reconstruction
Finance Corporation to the county agencies. The Governor appointed an emer-
gency relief administrator as the executive officer of the agency and an emergency
relief commission to aid the administrator in determining relief policies.
In July 1933, the Federal Emergency Relief Administrator appointed the
State emergency relief administration as the executive body to administer the
distribution of Federal funds in California. The State emergency relief adminis-
tration continued to act in that capacity until Federal funds were withdrawn and the
Work Projects Administration created in 1933. Since that time the State
emergency relief administration (now the State relief administration) has cared for
the unemployed for whom security wage employment is not available on projects
of the Work Projects Administration, either because of ineligibility to the Work
Projects Administration or because of lack of sufficient quota by the Work
Projects Administration.
The State relief administration is also the State agency which administers a
number of other Federal programs in California. It is the certifying agency of
p.'rsons eligible to Works Projects Administration and National Youth Adminis-
tration. It supervises enrollment of boys in tlie Civilian Conservation Corps in
California. It conducted the college student aid and emergency education
programs prior to the establishment of the National Youth Administration.
Together with the Work Projects Administration and the Federal Surplus Com-
modity Corporation, it has distributed millions of dollars worth of surplus com-
modities in California. It operates the school lunch program for needy children.
The State relief administration now administers the Federal stamp plan (food
and cotton) in California which is gradually expanding and taking the place of
the surplus commodity distribution program.
The State relief adviinistration and the transient programs.— In the depths of the
1932 and 1933 depression California localities were overburdened with care of
their own residents needing aid and were legally not responsible for those per-
sons who did not meet the residence requirements under the State's Indigent
Act, the most important provision of which required 3 years of independent resi-
dence in the State before application for relief.
"In the small cities, transients were frequently forced to move on by the police.
In the large cities, some shelter and food were given by public agencies but the
missions and other religious types of agencies gave most of this limited assistance.
Conditions were wretched. 'Flop houses' were overcrowded, food was poor, and
sanitary facilities were inadequate. Transients and homeless residents were
treated alike in the shelters, men and boys mingled, and there was no separation
of the diseased from the healthy. Those not accommodated in the shelters often
found a night's lodging in the city jails or a longer residence in the 'shanty towns'
and 'jungles' that sprang up on the outskirts of the cities. Families and single
men lived partly on the limited public charity available and partly from begging
and 'panhandling,' or even from petty theft." '
In response to such conditions prevailing throughout the country, the Federal
Government accepted responsibility for the care of persons who had been in the
State less than 1 year through the Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933.
"Financed with Federal funds, a transient program was established by the
State relief administration beginning in September 1933. Conforming to Federal
' Review of activities of the State Relief Administration of California, 1933-35, p. 28.
2372 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
policy, the first task was to provide sufficient shelters in the various cities to ac-
commodate the homeless, and then to establish work camps to which were sent
transients who agreed to accept care and a nominal cash wage in exchange for
work on useful public projects. Families were cared for through work and direct
relief provided by family bureaus located in the cities. By April 1935, the system
of transient units throughout the State included 17 family service bureaus, 39
camps for men and boys, and 17 shelters. In addition, the Transient Division
supervised 18 camps for homeless residents of California.
"Although the program sought by means of work, education, and recreation
to rehabilitate the transient men, their persistent tendency to move on from
shelters and camps nullified much of the constructive effort. This could not be
stopped because of the ease with which the men could find temporary shelter
in the cities under assumed names. Many of the boys also continued migration
even after being enrolled in one of the boys' camps. Only the families showed
stability, lacking inducements to travel on and generally remaining in the cities.
"Health problems were common among the transients, particularly venereal
diseases among the men. Mental and emotional disturbances also were a common
result of the unstable conditions accompanying migration. Temporarily, at least,
the camp program restored most of the men to more normal living habits.
"The transient program was liquidated between September and December
1935, in accordance with Federal policy to either return transients to their States
of residence for employment by the Works Progress Administration, or to absorb
^s many as possible on the projects of the California Works Progress Administra-
tion. The acceptance of new applicants was sharply curtailed during this period
when attempts were made to deal individually with each case already under care.
However, many men continued to leave camps and shelters for the road. As a
a-esult of this circumstance plus the influx of transients from other States during
the usual winter migration, and the loss of employment by many transients en-
gaged in seasonal agricultural work, the uncared-for population increased con-
siderably. By the end of the year, 'jungles' and 'shanty towns,' begging and
'panhandling' were once more in evidence. Although they were on a smaller
scale than in 1933, they still were serious symptoms of what appears to be a
chronic transient problem in California." ^
Further important details concerning the nature and size of the transient pro-
gram in California are presented in a "Review of Activities of the State Relie^
Administration of California, 1933-35," chapters VIII and IX, pages 167 to 200^
LEGISLATION AND RELIEF POLICIES CONCERNING RESIDENCE
Under the Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933, the Federal Emergency
Relief Administration established a transient division to extend grants to States
for transient relief, providing assistance to persons lacking 1 year's residence in the
State of application for aid. Individuals who had been in a given State more than
1 year were considered a responsibility of that State under the Federal Emergency
Relief Act of 1933. , , , . ,r
For a number of years, to be eligible for indigent aid through the county welfare
departments of California, a person had to have 3 years of independent residence,
that is, he must have resided in California for 3 years or more intending to estab-
lish his home here; and during this period he must not have received any public or
private assistance other than from legally responsible relatives.
Cooperating with the Federal relief programs the State relief commission,
appointed by the Governor, established a 1-year residence rule for aid to the unem-
ployed from State funds. This conformed with the Federal plan of accepting as a
Federal responsibility those persons who lacked 1 year's residence, leaving to the
State responsibilitv for persons of more than 1 year's residence.
In its relief activities, California, therefore, established a transient program
separate from its resident program. Persons were cared for under the resident
program out of State and Federal funds if they had been in California for 1 year
or more. Those persons who had been in the State for less than 1 year were cared
for out of Federal funds under the transient program which was liquidated
in 1935.
However, since the State Emergency Relief Administration still had a residue
of the Federal funds granted to California for this purpose, persons who had less
than 1 year's residence continued to be accepted for aid by the State Relief
Administration. Effort was made to verify legal residence and, upon receipt of
authorization from the State of residence, these persons were returned thereto.
* Review of Activities, op. cit., pp. 28-29.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2873
If the relief recipient refused to return to his State of residence, aid in California
was discontinued unless good social reasons existed for the continuance of aid. If a
family was without residence in any State, aid was continued indefinitely as long as
the family was otherwise eligible for aid from the State relief administration.
In January 1936, this policy was amended to the effect that aid was discon-
tinued to persons upon their refusal to return to legal residence after it had been
verified. , , ... ..
In the fall of 1937, with the establishment of the Farm Security Admmistration
grant program, persons lacking 1 year's residence in California and unwilling to
return to their place of legal settlement, were referred to the Farm Security
Administration for aid. The State relief administration thus extended only
temporary aid pending verification of legal residence and return thereto. The
Farm Security Administration gave more complete aid to persons lacking 1
year's residence. The Farm Security Administration adopted the policy of trans-
ferring cases to the State relief administration upon the completion of 1 year's
physical residence in California.
In June 1938 the State relief administration policy became more restrictive.
Nonresidents were accepted for aid only if they indicated in advance a willingness
to return to legal residence when such residence was verified.
In January 1939 the latter provision was rescinded. Applicants for relief were
not required to indicate willingness to return to legal residence in order to receive
aid. However, efforts were made to verify legal residence and to return these
persons. In March 1939 the Farm Security Administration agreed to continue
aid to persons receiving aid under the Farm Security Administration grant pro-
gram after completion of 1 year's residence; and not to refer them to the State
relief administration. .
At approximately the same time the State relief administration again decided
not to extend aid to persons lacking 1 year's residence unless the family indicated
at the time of application willingness to return to its place of legal residence.
This policy was again adopted because of lack of adequate funds for operation of
the various State relief administration programs.
In February 1940 the California Legislature, in enacting an appropriation bill
for the State" relief administration, included several residence provisions in the
act. The new law denied relief to persons who had not resided continuously in
California for a period of at least 3 years, unless such persons had, previous to
February 2, 1940, alreadv received aid from the State relief administration or
Work Projects Administration. It also specified that nonresidents could be
transported to their place of legal settlement with funds available from this
appropriation. However, persons once returned to legal residence could not again
enter California and receive aid from the State relief administration.
Under this act, the relief commission restricted aid to nonresidents to a maximum
of 30 days. The attorney general has interpreted the law to mean that trans-
portation of a nonresident may not be furnished if his legal residence is in Alaska,
Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or a foreign country.
In May 1940, the California Legislature, in another appropriation bill again
amended the residence requirements in the preceding relief appropriation act.
The present act states that none of the appropriation n^ay be extended for the
rehef of any person who "has not either lived continuously in this State for 5 years,
if he began to hve in the State of California after June 1, 1940, or lived continu-
ously in the State of California for 3 years, if he began to live in the State of Cal-
ifornia for 3 years, if he began to live in the State of California on or before June 1,
1940." With respect to aid to nonresidents the following provision was adopted:
"* * * the appropriation shall be available for relief pending transportation,
but not to exceed 30 days, and for the costs of transportation of a nonresident to
any State in which he resides. Every nonresident, who has once received assist-
ance under this subdivision * * * shall not be granted further assistance from
the appro])riation made bv this act."
At the present time, therefore, the State relief administration may not grant
aid, other then temporarv aid pending return to legal residence, to new applicants
who have not resided in California for 3 vears or more if they started to reside
here prior to June 1, 1940. Persons entering the State after June 1, 1940, may
not receive aid for 5 years after the date of entrance.
An illustration of "^the problems facing the State Relief Admmistration and
County Welfare Departments of California in attempting to work out policies
concerning the transient problem is contained in the following letter recently
received in reply to an attempt to verify legal residence of a transient applicant
for aid in San Diego County.
2874
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
United Provident Association,
Oklahoma City, Okla., September 11, 1940.
Be Smith — John, Mary.
Mrs. Kathryn Cox,
Social Service Supervisor, State Relief Administration,
Box SIO, San Diego, Calif.
My Dear Mrs. Cox: Please refer to your letter of August 24, 1940, regarding
the above-named family.
The information which we have secured during this investigation indicates that
the John and Mary Smith family have legal settlement in Oklahoma City. You
may return them, at your expense, any time prior to August 1, 1941, when their
settlement will terminate.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith's son, George Smith, is employed on the 'Work Projects
Administration program. He is unable to send funds for transportation for his
parents.
Please advise Mr. Smith that the facilities available for relief in Oklahoma are
very inadequate. If Mr. Smith is an able-bodied man and capable of doing manual
labor, he would not be eligible for assistance through the United Provident Asso-
ciation or the Salvation Army since these two agencies assist families where the
wage earner is temporarily incapacitated. Neither of these agencies accept unem-
ployment cases. Unemployment cases are cared for by the County Welfare Board.
That agency has thousands of families on its rolls. Its case load is so large and
funds so limited that each family receives a maximum of $2 or $3 a month. In
addition, county welfare board cases receive United States Government food
stamps redeemable in Federal surplus comm.odities but these are inadequate for
subsistence. Mr. Smith would not be eligible for relief from the American Red
Cross unless he is a veteran with a service-connected disability. The only other
type of relief available in Oklahoma to able-bodied persons is the Work Projects
Administration. At this time the Work Projects Administration rolls are offi-
cially closed. There are approximately twenty-eight hundred men in this county
who are certified for Work Projects Administration employment, but who have
never been assigned to work. Before new applications are taken and new certifi-
cations are made, this surplus must be absorbed. If Mr. Smith desires to return
to Oklahoma City after being informed of the existing relief conditions in this
community, you have our permission to send him here.
Very truly yours,
(Miss) Marie Dorney,
Case worker.
the volume and cost of aid to nonresidents
California has had the largest share of the Federal transient population in the
United States. During the Federal transient program, between 1933 and 1935,
10 to 13 percent of the national total of persons under care were aided each month
in California. The peak number was 38,815 persons under care on February 15,
1935. Table I shows the number of persons caied for under the California
transient program as reported to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration
the middle of each month during 1934 and 1935. It will be noted that at the peak
February 15, 1935, the 38,815 individuals included 23,309 persons from 6,652
families and 15,506 unattached persons.
Table 1. — Number of unattached and family transients under care of the California
transient program, Feb. 15, 1934, to Dec. 16, 1935
Year and month
1934
Feb. 15
Mar. 15
Apr. 16-
May 15.-
June 15
July 16-_
Aug. 15
Sept. 15.
Oct. 15
Nov. 15
Dee. 15
Total
individ-
uals
16, 498
18, 420
19,511
18, 585
19, 190
19, 878
19, 444
21, 292
24, 774
28, 537
32, 393
Unattached persons
Total
8,702
9,380
8,376
7,173
7,717
8,045
7,874
8,801
10, 894
12, 537
14, 199
Males Females
8,366
8,991
7,944
6,852
7,205
7,545
7,414
8,211
10, 262
11,839
13, 471
336
389
432
321
512
500
460
590
632
Family
individ-
uals
7,796
9,040
11,135
11,412
11,473
11,833
11, 570
12, 491
13, 880
16, 000
18, 194
Number
of fam-
ilies
2,241
2,562
3,080
3,149
3,189
3, 334
3,337
3,669
4,061
4,660
5,255
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2875
Table 1. — Ahimber of unattached and family transients under care of the California
transient program, Feb. 15, 1934, to Dec. 16, 1935 — Continued
Year and month
1935
Jan. 15
Feb. 15
Mar. 15 -.-
Apr. 15
May 15
June 15
July 15 -
Aug. 15
Sept. 16
Oct. 15...
Nov. 15...
Dec. 16
Total
individ-
uals
35,434
38, 815
38, 390
37, 661
34, 389
31,117
30, 665
30,923
19, 865
12, 971
8,993
7,225
Unattached persons
Total
14, 713
15, 506
14, 030
12, 696
9,951
8,369
9,060
8,785
4,906
2,481
1,891
1,495
Males Females
13, 976
14, 70S
13,253
11, 899
9,125
7,577
8,294
7,973
4,528
2,152
1,669
1,342
737
798
777
797
826
792
766
812
378
329
222
153
Family
individ-
uals
20, 721
23,309
24, 360
24. 965
24, 438
22, 748
21, 605
22, 138
14. 959
10, 490
7,102
5,730
Number
of fam-
ilies
5,928
6,652
7,028
7,075
6,933
9,494
6,201
6,324
4.067
2,927
2,001
1,485
Source: Mid-month census as reported to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.
Following the liquidation of the Federal transient program in 1935, the number
of transient cases receiving aid from the State relief administration has been
relatively small as a result of the policies concerning aid to nonresidents. At the
present time, therefore, the State Relief Administration is giving temporary aid
to only 475 transient cases including 1,660 persons.
With the inauguration of the Farm Security Administration grant program, the
major portion of nonresidents in need of assistance have been cared for under this
program. At the present time, approximately 4,500 cases are being given aid
under this grant program of the Farm Security Administration.
During the period July 1933 to June 1940, it is conservatively estimated that
more than 300,000 persons received aid within 1 year after they had come to
California. This number represents more than 32 percent of the estimated total
migration to California of 957,000 persons during the years 1933 to 1939 according
to estimates of the Division of Farm Population and Rural \^'elfare of the United
States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Agricultural Economics. To these
300,000 persons, aid has been e.xtended from State and Federal funds approxi-
mating $13,000,000, exclusive of administrative costs. At the present time, ex-
penditures from State funds for aid and transportation to transient cases ap-
proximate $750,000 a year.
Data concerning the size of the transient case load during each month and the
amount of relief extended to these cases are presented in table II.
Table 2. — Transient cases aided by State Relief Administration and relief extended
to the7n, June 1933 to August 1940
Month and year
1933
July
August
September
0 ctober
November
December.
1934
Jan uary
February
March
April
May
June
July
-August _
September
October ._.
November, _ _
December
1 Not reported.
' Estimated.
260370— 41— pt. 7 6
End of month
case load
0)
(')
(')
0)
(1)
(')
0)
3 10, 943
8 11, 942
3 11,456
3 10, 322
8 10. 906
3 11,379
3 11,211
3 12, 470
3 14, 955
3 17, 197
3 19, 454
Cases aided
during month
2 9, 200
2 10. 500
2 11, 600
3 8, 500
2 9, 100
2 10, 300
2 11, 500
0)
(')
(')
0)
(•)
0)
(>)
(')
(')
(')
(')
Relief
extended
$87, 285
64,005
82.001
86, 481
107, 720
211,915
242, 382
208, 440
261,698
393, 315
2 313.400
2 300, 600
2 278, 700
2 344, 100
2 285. 700
2 351, 300
2 406, 900
2 467, 700
2876
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Table 2.
- Transient cases aided by State Relief Administration and relief extended
to them, June 193S to August 1940 — Continued
January. --
February. -
March
April
May
June
July
August
September-
October
November.
December. .
January
February..
March
April
May
June
July
August
September.
October
November.
December.
January
February. -
March
April
May
June
July
August
September.
October
November.
December..
January
February..
March
April
May
June
July
August
September-
October
November.
December. .
January...
February..
March
April
May
June
July
August
September.
October
November.
December. .
January . .
February.
March
April
May
June
July
Total.
Month and year
1935
1936
1938
1940
End of month
case load
3 20, 641
a 22, 158
3 21, 058
» 19, 771
s 16, 884
3 14, 863
3 15, 261
3 15, 109
3 8, 973
3 5, 408
3 4, 886
3 4, 361
(•)
(')
(')
3 1,439
3 1, 327
3 1, 062
941
971
1,055
1,241
1,487
1,953
2,651
3,116
2,269
1,515
951
804
777
663
612
598
943
1,535
2,288
2,871
3,022
2,422
1,961
1,654
1,685
1,631
1,394
1,326
1,382
1,744
1,966
2,078
2,150
1,785
1,427
1,215
1,289
1,336
1,423
1.537
1,915
2,318
2,566
2,256
1,472
764
537
567
602
Cases aided
during month
1,437
1,562
1,596
1,691
1,938
2,405
3,435
3,916
3,741
2,775
1,676
1,434
1,353
1,168
1,010
1,019
1,347
2,146
(')
w
(')
(')
(')
(')
(')
(')
(')
0)
(')
(')
(')
(')
(■)
(')
(')
0)
(')
(')
(')
(')
2,997
' Not reported
2 Estimated.
3 Midmonthly census.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2877
The fact that persons who have been in the State more than a year, but are
still recent migrants, have had a marked effect upon the State relief administration
case load, is indicated by an examination of case-load data for individual county
offices of the State relief administration since 1937. A graphic presentation of
these case-load data for each county is contained in the attached chart.
In view of the fact that a large proportion of those migrating to California were
last employed in agriculture, and an even higher proportion turned to agriculture
in California for employment, it would be expected that in recent years the State
relief administration case load in agricultural counties would have risen more
rapidly than in urban counties. This is strikingly the case. The end of P'ebruary
may be taken as representative of the peak of the total State rehef administration
case load. At the end of February 1937, the total State relief administration
case load consisted of 70,397 cases, while at the end of February 1940 it consisted
of 112,354 cases, an increase of 60 percent. The combined case loads for the
four urban counties — San Francisco, Alameda, Los Angeles, and San Diego — •
totaled 42,419 at the end of February 1937 and 62,901 at the end of February
1937, an increase of only 48 percent. On the other hand, the combined case load
for eight counties of the predominantly agricultural San Joaquin Valley-San
Joaquin, Stanislaus, Fresno, Madera, Tulare, Kern, Kings — rose from 5,447 at
the end of February 1937 to 20,007 at the end of February 1940, an increase of
267 percent.
The sharp disproportionate rise in the State relief administration case load in
agricultural counties is also the result of another and important type of migration,
intrastate migration as contrasted to interstate migration. Migration within
the State, entirely apart from migration from outside of the State, is necessary to
meet peak requirements for labor by several California industries, particularly
agriculture. These occur at diflferent dates in different areas. From the attached
chart showing individual county case loads, it may be seen that the various
counties reached their peak in case load on varying dates. Similarly the low
points in case load are also staggered. The fact that relief case loads in the
agricultural counties of California tend to be more transitory and less stable than
in the urban counties is also indicated by comparative figures indicating average
differences between peak and low case loads. For the 3 years 1937, 1938, and
1939, in the above-mentioned agricultural counties, the average low point in case
load was 66 percent of the average peak, whereas in the four urban counties it
was 24 percent of the average peak. Typical patterns of migration within thy
State of California are shown in one of the appended documents — Migratore
Labor in California.
Table 3 shows bv months the number of cases closed by the State relief adminis-
tration through the return of transient cases to their States of legal residence
for the period December 1935 through June 1940. During this period 25,213
cases, including approximatelv 83,200 persons, were returned to legal residence
at a cost of approximately $600,000. (These figures are included in the number
of cases aided and in the relief extended data presented above.)
Table 3. — Cases closed by State relief administrations because of return to legal
residence December 1935 through June 1940
Month and year:
December 1935
March 1936- -
Number returned
through
1,985
April
May
June
July
August
September,
October
November-
December.
1936
1 200
191
155
141
159
207
189
205
342
Month and year— Con. Number returned
1937
January
February _-
March
April
May
June
July
August
September-
October
November.
December.
361
428
647
533
354
290
227
311
244
231
316
441
Estimated.
2878
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Table 3. — Cases closed by State relief administrations because of return to legal
residence December 1935 through June 1940 — Continued
Month and year — Con. Number returned Month and year — Con. Number returned
1938
January 639
February 807
March 895
April 1,012
May 824
June 790
Julv 645
August 729
September 579
October 489
November 540
December 707
January. _
February.
March
April
1939
724
565
601
494
May
June
.July
August
September.
October
November.
December -
1939
January..
February -
March...
April
May
June
1940
457
446
320
408
310
386
467
522
657
577
600
378
287
200
Total 25,213
The above figures pertain only to relief extended to cases during their first year
of residence in California. If one were to consider aid extended to recent migrants
to the State after they had met the State relief administration residence require-
ment, the volume of relief extended would be considerably greater. For example,
in February 1939, 26 percent of the State relief administration case load consisted
of cases and persons who had been in California for less than 3 years. A distribu-
tion of the State relief administration case load at that time according to length
of residence in California is presented in table 4.
Table 4. — Percentage distribution of family heads of State relief administraiion
cases by length of residence in California, as of Feb. 11, 1939
Number of years' resi-
dence
Number of
cases, per-
cent
9.2
2.5
7.7
6.9
4.3
3.5
1.9
2.0
2.3
Number of
cases, cu-
mulative
percent
Number of years' resi-
dence
Number of
cases, per-
cent
Number of
cases, cu-
mulative
percent
9.2
11.7
19.4
26.3
30.6
34.1
36.0
38.0
40.3
8
3.0
14.1
17.5
16.0
6.6
2.5
43.3
Less than 1 year
9 to 13
57.4
1
14 to 18
74.9
2 .
19 to 28
90.9
3
29 to 38
97.5
4
More than 38
100.0
5
Total
6
100.0
7
The fact that the present transient case load represents a small proportion of
the total load of the State relief administration does not mean that the problem
resulting from recent migration into California is now negligible. The State relief
administration's transient case load is small because —
1. Legislation prohibits State relief administration aid to persons who do not
meet the present residence requirements.
2. The Farm Security Administration is giving aid to a number of persons who
have no legal residence in California.
3. Most of the persons who migrated to California during the middle of the
past decade, when the largest migration occurred, now have California residence
and are not classed as transients.
Additional information on the aspects of the migrant problem in California is
available in other material presented with this statement to the House Committee
on Interstate Migration. This material includes "Review of Activities of the
State Relief Administration of California," "Migratory Labor in California," and
"Transients in California."
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2879
Characteristics op Transient Applicants for Relief, 1936
During the last quarter of 1936, the State relief administration collected
information on the background and characteristics of transient persons receiving
aid from the State relief administi-ation.
Questionnaires were filled out by case workers for a sample group of applicants
throughout the State. Data were tabulated from 1,961 questionnaires. A
summary of the information gathered follows :
The transient applicants came largely from the West Central States and from
Illinois. The table on page A shows not only the last State in which the transient
apphcant lived for 1 year or more but also the length of time from the date of
beginning their migration to the date of appHcation for relief in California. It
will be noted that more than 15 percent of the applicants came from Oklahoma,
with Texas and Missouri contributing the next largest proportions — 7.5 percent.
The other West Central States of Arkansas, Nebraska, and Kansas also con-
tributed significantl}^ The East Central State of Illinois was the State of origin
of 6 percent of the applicants. Outside of the Central States, the States of origin
of other significant numbers of these transient applicants were New York, Colorado,
and California's neighboring States of Arizona, Washington, Oregon, and Utah.
The table on page A i also indicates that most of the transients included in the
survey did not leave their homes to come directly to California because 62 percent
of the applicants had left their homes 3 months or more prior to the date of their
applications for aid in California, and 50 percent had been traveling 4 months or
more before they applied for aid in this State. One out of every eight of the
applicants had been on the road for 1 year or more before the date of their applica-
tion for aid from the State relief administration.
It is particularly significant to note from table 6 that 1,845, or 94 percent, of the
applicants were native-born American citizens. The nationality of these recent
migrants to California is presented in table 6.
Table 6. — Nationality of the heads of 1,961 Federal transient cases applying for
relief at the offices of the State Relief Administration of California during the last
quarter of 1 936
Nationality
Native-born
Foreign-born:
Austria
Belgium
Canada.-
Cuba
Czecho-Slovakia
Denmark
England.
Germany
Greece
Holland
Italy
Ireland..
Mexico
New Zealand.
Norway
Persia
Philippine Islands
Poland
Puerto Rico.
Portugal
Russia
Serbia
Spain
Spanisli- America
Switzerland.
Not specified...
Nationality not specified.
Total
Number of
persons
Total
1,845
30
1,961
' This table as submitted was illegible. It was removed and placed in the committee file.
2880
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
No in-
dustry
14
00
1 1 |<N 1^
o
<Oi-CCO
■*
>o.-iTl<rt eo
o
i-il<oO ii-HrJiN
Industry
not spec-
ified
13
00
CO
1 1 l,-i !c-<
"^
CO.-I ■>«(
2
■* |o-«<^
00
"5 COO 1 M COIC
Other
12
oo
M ItC ,-1 ',
1«
1 1 1 1 1 In
Domestic
and per-
sonal
service
11
00
1 1 itOrH,-!
; i i
CO
OOIOO
o
O^CO^C
O N O •* rH o: 00
Profes-
sional
service
10
-^
>i<
CO IM
00
N l-*CI 1
o
(MrtTTr-l^ Irt
Public
service
9
CO
li-H Ic^ 1 1
IM
M 1 1
■a
■-I icort ;
lO
1-H M -( Ir-I 1
rs
1
<o
1 1 1-«1 In
n
-H«„
t-cq^^io
■*
CO eo CO o cq to «
Transpor-
tation
and com-
munica-
tion
7
S5
t>
COrHCO
eq
NCOCOCOrH
M
CONION ICOCO
Construc-
tion
6
to
to
^ i leo-ii-i
lO
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■"fOO-^-H 1
IN ■* O -H ■>»• 00 O
Manu-
facturing
5
OS
o
1 1 !00rHrH
o
OcOt^
CO
t^- COOOO 1 CO
»H lO ^ 1 r-i COOO
Forestry
and fish-
ing
4
S5
^
CO
; lrt<N 1
to
Mining
3
00
■*
rH !cO
N
1 In 1 1
lO
llNN 1 1 1.1
1 1 1 :
Agricul-
ture
2
i ; 1 I 1 : i«
•<»<MI-
05
IN
ions 00 00 CO
o
CO ■* ^ O >0 CO IN
"3
Eh
i "
-w^g^c-. g
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u^ «D CO Oi lO
CO
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CS CO '!»' N rH to CO
a
o
"S
tH
O
(B
■a
a
03
a
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'>
5
a
a
,2
"So
a
Maine...
New Hampshire
Vermont
Massachusetts J.-.
•a a
2 0
a
1 ! C3
m
1
a
o
1
s
Ohio...
Indiana
Illinois
Michijran
Wisconsin
"3
t-i
a
o
Minnesota..-
Iowa
Missouri
North Dakota
South Dakota
Nebraska
Kansas
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2881
N
CO
"*"
tOCOTf—l
CO
im 1 Tj. M t~ •<l< rt
05
■"ji «
to
1 1 1 1 1 1 1<NM
in
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ta
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to
coco
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i i i i i i i
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1 1
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—1 CON o
CO to too ■* (N IC N
01
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CO
; 1 : : 1 :
r.
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CO
(N
1m 1
<o
CO wfq 1
t.
IN ic-)CO
>o
•-,-1 !.-< 1 'c-i !
(N
IN
a>
(NC<<^ 1 Irt rH llN
t^
c<ieoi-ii-< "5
r-l e<l (N o
IN (N
<N
COf-l !o-*io-* (N
to
0 to
•o
'n i 1 ' ii-i(N
CO
^ ;« ; It.
IN^ tCOO
•a
■«<.-l,-l(N»-ICOIN.-l
■«}<
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to
ie^ !^ !,H ; 1^ 05
lO
=° igg
•*
CO fl (N to IN M' C^ i
C^
10 to
i ; i
to
i,-l 1 !rt rt ^ IN
Tj<
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'-
I--I w in 1 CO CO i
■«<
r-CO
■*
c^
t~-
tCCO
N
CO
CO 1 1 1
2
cq I-* 1
■*
(Nrt f-1 I(NtI<CO.-<
IN
c^ 1
o
1 1 i cj « rt i-H n eq
CO
PllOCOCO
cq
lO lO CO
g
100i-105tO(NW.-<
0 1-1 cq
00
IN
to IN
g
C^I05'*TJ^«000«0--<0
to
-a< IN ii; lo
to ■* OC 00
o
cq
C005t-»OlCCDC^00
INCO OOMtO-*
CO
Sm
c^ooco
6
a
03
d
o
DQ
Delaware
Maryland
District of Columbia
Virginia
West Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia _.-
"3
a
o
S3
3
o
CQ
03
W
Kentucky
Tennessee
.\labama
Mississippi
s
1
u
a
o
1
Arkansas
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Texas
d
a
3
0
Montana
Idaho_
Wyoming
Colorado
New Mexico
Arizona
Utah
Nevada
d
tg
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Ph
a ;
0 ,
■& ;
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ja 0
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^0
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|5-a
2882
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
fi i. «>
f3 O."
s?
•*
-H .HIN
CO
oo
ICON 1 •
M rH
5£i
s
cc
1 J 1 M i r-l
CO
lO \ 1-1
■«<rtCO-HM
cq
ImcO ! i-fMi-H
o'i'g
12; a«
to
*"*
1 I 1 ! 'i "^
to
CO .CO
t^
(N Ico-hth
CO
IN <N -J" N IN — 1 CO
£ o
•^
s
^
\ 1 T"
s
ir3 lO OS
eo
«-^0«OC^ CO
>/; CI cc CO -i 02 00
Un-
skilled
workers
farm
CO
•<J<M t^
Ol
>.-: CO CO •« iM
t-^
M Tj< u; CO ■<>• oo 00
CO rt
Un-
skilled
workers,
non-
farm
t^
^
o
w : !(■- '.e^
c^
CO NOC
S
■0(M t~OC<<
5
CD« «(Ni-Ht^T-l
M
«
1 1 1 CO ■ C-l
s
C^ (N CO
COCD<M-H .
iMcoeoeoooo
Skilled
workers
t^
S
02
1 1 1 vn M c^
§ o-#o
O
O ^«0C ;
s
■«< CD CO -^ CO t^ -I
c-»
' ' i"^ ', i
'
CD
CO-HO«-^
^
CO clO .
CO '
Sales-
men
and
related
workers
a-.
^
'i 1 1 ""^ 1 1
o
t^-lN
CO
■a< t^ CO CO •>}<
'•^
rHlOe^ .rt rt t^
a
3
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2
S
; ; ;
CO
i'"1
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(M
ri
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£§■§1
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CO
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00
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INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2883
i i i
00
CO i rlTf
t^
fi 1 1 0 « «
CI
c^
•*
i ' 1 I1-1.-1 'm
«
^ i-H i-H
Cl
Mromt^
S
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00
Tt<-4<
"1
■^
1 1 1 1 I 1 llMC^
m
l-» ^ .-(
TT
CD 'cc "3
-
C-l M 1-1 rH IM C) M
Cl
CJ
1 . ""*
o
1' r-l 1 « rt r-( ^ rt <N
t^
n^m
s
0 CD 0: CO
" ! ■g'^;::'^'^
oc
s^
o;
1 le>) ICJ WrH M(N
IM
(N-* MM
0-.
CD
CO
1— 1 rH 0
s
Tl< .-*
1 *"* I
"
1 •■«• ! i 1 1 1 1 — .
■*
— C»i-I
CO "C W*
■<t'
. IC CJ IC Tf ^ t^ »-.
s
cor.
*"* *"* I
tc
■rH 1 IrHrHrt !«
in
^ cc ^^
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^
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05
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to
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Maryland...
Virginia
District of Columbia
West Virginia.
North Carolina
South Carolina
Oeorcia
Florida _ _ _ . _ _ _ _
1
e
a
C
c
K
1
Jill
,
"3
a
0
a
3
0
Arkansas
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Texas .-.
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Montana
Idaho
Wyoming
Colorado
New Mexico
Arizona
Utah
Npvndn
s
0!
d
0
bo
.Sc
■a S
1
1 3 0
ill
get:)
2884
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
The table on pages 2886-7 shows by State of origin the industry in which the
apphcants had previously been employed. Of the 1,961 persons 525, or 27 percent,
had an agricultural background, and 292, or 15 percent, had formerly been in
domestic and personal service. The manufacturing, construction, and trade
industry groups each contributed approximately 10 percent to this group of
migrants entering California and seeking aid.
It may be noted that, although agriculture as a whole contributed only 27
percent to the total number of applicants, in the four West South Central States
of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas, it contributed 43 percent; and
50 percent of the persons who had come from Oklahoma had agricultural back-
grounds.
The table on pages 2888-9shows the occupational classifications of the 1,9G1 tran-
sients included in the survey. The previous table indicated that 525 persons had an
agricultural background. Of these, 421 were reported as unskilled farm workers.
In addition to these, 267 workers were reported as unskilled nonfarm workers.
Therefore, a total of 688 persons or 35 percent of the number included in the
survey were reported as unskilled workers. The skilled trades, the semiskilled
trades, and the domestic and personal services each contributed in the neighbor-
hood of 13 percent. There were 149 or 7.5 percent of the applicants reported as
professional and kindred workers.
The reasons for starting migration, as stated by the 1,961 transient cases
applying for relief, are shown in table 9 according to their occupational classifica-
tions. Approximately one-half left their homes seeking work in general with no
specific place of settlement in mind. The fact that 50 percent of the applicants
took 4 months or more before reaching California is a reflection of this fact.
Table 9. — Reasons foi starting migration as stated by 1,961 Federal transient cases
applying for relief at offices of the State relief administration of California during
the last quarter of 1936, analyzed by occupational classification
Total
2
Occupational classification
stated reason for starting migration
1
Profes-
sional,
clerical,
man-
agers
and
owners.
3
Manual
non-
farm
work-
ers
4
Domes-
tics
and
per-
sonal
service
5
Farm
oper-
ators,
owners,
and
work-
ers
6
Inex-
peri-
enced
7
Not
speci-
fied
8
Unem-
ploy-
able
9
Drought - --- -
94
865
243
58
35
65
23
61
15
222
113
17
1
98
51
1
91
27
12
1
3
1
10
37"
13
7
1
17
3
20
353
122
33
12
26
12
13
7
92
29
6
5
105
38
7
12"
3
24
2
32
25
1
65
264
43
5
22
11
4
2
6
40
14
2
2
28
10
1
1
20
3
Seeking work in general
4
Seeking work in definite place
Adventure
12
1
3
Domestic trouble -
9
2
1
8
12
7
8
1
6
Visit or vacation . - - .
12
Other ---
30
20
16
2
17
7
8
1
4
17
6
Not specified ....
1
Total .
1,961
224
775
272
502
91
64
33
About one out of eight reported that they had left home seeking work in a.
definite place and about the same proportion indicated that they had started their
migration because of health problems.
The figures show that approximately 5 percent indicated that they had left
home because of the drought. However, this figure should be considered in
relation to the two reasons immediately following, "seeking work in general" and
"seeking work in a definite place," since the drought may have been the casual
factor in many of the cases of these persons leaving their homes to seek work.
It will be noted that in the group of farm operators, owners, and workers, 13
percent reported that they had left home as a result of the drought, but an addi-
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2885
tional 68 percent indicated that they had left seeking work, or because the loca-
tion was unhealthy. To what extent the drought entered into these latter cases
is unknown.
In interpreting the above statements it should be noted that the four reasons
above mentioned contributed in about the same degree in the case of nonagri-
cultural persons as it did in the case of the farm workers.
Table 10 shows the number of times the transients applying for relief had en-
tered California. In 1,388 of the 1,961 instances, this was the first time that these
persons had come to California. This represented 70 percent of the cases. An
additional 20 percent had been in Cahfornia once before. The few persons who
reported that they had entered California numerous times previously were, in all
probability, following the crops as agricultural laborers.
Table 10. — Number of times transients applying for relief have entered California
Number of
Number of times: '^°*^*
1 1,388
2 398
3l 105
4 43
oil 10
6 3
7 2
8 3
9 2
10
11 1
12 1
13 1
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22 1
Not specified ' 3
Total 1,961
1 For facility in presentation, the percentage data have not made allowance for the data shown in the
tables as "Not specified." This statistical correction would have no significant bearing on the figures
presented.
Table 11 indicates that in 1,604 of the 1,961 cases the head of the family was a
man and in 357 cases the head of the family was a woman. Of the 1,604 male
heads, 1,217, or approximately 75 percent, were persons who were classed as
phvsicallv capable of doing a full day's work and sufficiently skilled in their
occupations to be normallv satisfactory to private employers. Of the 357 women
heads, 201, or about 5o percent, were classed in this category of group 1
employables.
Table 11. — Employahility of 1,961 Federal transient cases applying for relief at the
offices of the State relief administration during the last quarter of 1936
Group I
Group II
Group III...
Not specified
Total..
Total
1,418
171
251
121
1,961
Male
heads
1,217
125
163
1,604
Female
heads
201
46
22
357
2g§g INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Employahility of alternate members in cases tchose heads were classified as group III
Number of
Employahility: cases
Group I 35
Group II 11
Not specified 205
Total 251
Definitions of groups I, II, and III:
Group I— Those persons who are physically capable of doing a full day's work and sufficiently skilled In
their occupations to normally be satisfactory to private employers.
Group II— Those persons who are able to do good work but who, because of age or other reasons, are
unable to compete normally in private industry with younger and more efficient workers in similar occupa-
Group III— Those who because of physical disabilities, age, or other reasons are unable to perform work
in a satisfactory manner.
Table 12 shows, according to sex of the head of the family, the size of the
household of the cases included in the survey. It is significant to note that of
all cases included in the survey, 22 percent were single men and 8 percent were
single women.
Table 12. — Size of household of 1,961 Federal transient cases applying for relief
at office of the State relief administration during the third quarter of 1936
Number in family
Total
Male
heads
Female
heads
1 -
683
364
291
212
171
88
61
25
16
6
3
427
286
244
187
151
83
59
25
15
6
3
156
2 . --
78
3
47
4
25
5
20
6
5
7 .
2
g .
9
1
\1
12 . .--
13 .
14
15 --
1
140
i
117
as
Total -
1,961
1,604
367
WHAT HAPPENS TO REJECTED APPLICANTS
It is necessary to be aware of the consequences of the rejection of applicants
for relief for reasons other than financial ineligibility. Rejected applicants con-
tinue to be a part of the economic structure of a county or State in which they
are present and therefore affect the social and economic conditions in the State.
Persons who are in need but who are denied public aid for technical reasons
continue to subsist through the sale of personal belongings, through borrowing,
through reducing the quantity and quality of their food, through doing without
necessary clothing and shelter, and through acceptance of jobs at substandard
wages which tend to reduce the general wage scale and the general standard of
living.
The State relief administration is aware of many individual situations where
persons continue to subsist through the above methods after having been rejected
by a relief agency. A sample survey was made to determine what happened to
persons rejected for technical reasons after the passage of restricted unemploy-
ment relief legislation in February 1940. In addition to changing residence
requirements, the Ief;islation denied relief to certain aliens, limited the niaximum
amount of aid which could be extended to a particular family, and required
deductions of all outside income of all family members, in determining relief
grants.
As a result of this legislation, cases which heretofore had been eligible for aid
became ineligible and othei applications which previously would have been
accepted were rejected. Tho State Relief Administration surveyed 148 cases in
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2887
San Diego County who were denied relief as a result of the new legislation, and
77 cases whose relief grants were reduced thereby. The 148 cases consisted of
71 cases whose applications for aid were rejected, and 77 cases which had been
receiving aid but which were closed as a result of the new legislation.
Of the applicants rejected, 25 of the 71 cases had found it necessary to move,
and it was impossible to secure additional information concerning them. Of the
remaining 46 cases, the major adjustment forced upon the family concerned their
food. Twenty families, or 43 percent, found it necessary to eliminate fresh milk
from their diets, or substitute canned milk therefor, reduce, and sometimes elimi-
nate, meat from the diets, increase the consumption of starches, etc. It should
be noted that a majoritj^ of the members of these 20 families were children.
Medical surveys in this area have indicated that diet changes caused by lack of
sufficient funds have often resulted in the occurrence of rickets, pellagra, scurvy,
secondary anemia and other diseases of malnutrition which tend to make the
patient susceptible to more serious diseases such as tuberculosis.
Rent was in arrears in 35 percent of the families interviev/ed. In 28 percent
of the cases utilities were delinquent. In 41 percent of the cases there was a
need for clothing. In one out of every four cases medical care was needed. It
was obvious that the refusal of relief intensified the problems of many of the
cases which had applied for aid. In a few instances the applicants have continued
to get along through inadequate part-time jobs at meager wages.
The cases to whom relief was discontinued as a result of the new legislation
show a very similar pattern. In 6 of the 77 cases the family found it necessary
to move since they were unable to meet their rent. Detailed interviews were taken
in the remaining 71 cases. Twenty-eight or thirty-six percent were behind in
their rent. In 3 instances ulilities had been discontinued and in 16 cases the
payment of utilities was alreadj' delinquent. Two-thirds of the former relief
recipients needed additional clothing. The situation in relation to diet was more
serious, with numerous reductions in the quantity and quality of food. Eleven
of the families indicated that they were unable to manage 3 meals daily. In
9 cases special diets had previously been prescribed because of illness but the
family had been unable to purchase the needed food.
A few examples will illustrate what has occurred to several of the cases surveyed.
Family A consisted of a man, his wife and three minor children. Their application
for aid was rejected because of lack of 3-year residence in California. At time
of application the family had exhausted all means of support, having borrowed
$100 on a car 2 months prior to application. Since termination of employment
a month prior to application, the family lived entirely on credit, accumulating a
$26 grocery bill. The rent was 1]4 months in arrears and gas and light bills
were delinquent. It was not possible to purchase milk and vegetables for the
minor children and their diet consisted chiefly of beans and potatoes. Credit
for groceries was being discontinued. At the time of the survey the family
was being pressed for their back rent and had absolutely no idea as to how they
would manage in the future.
Case B consisted of a man, his wife and three minor children. Their application
for aid was rejected by the State relief administration because of lack of resi-
dence. After rejection, the man secured some odd jobs as a laborer, but his total
earnings during approximately a month and a half were about $52. It became
necessary for the eldest child, a 17-year-old daughter, to leave home because of
the crowded condition and the lack of finances, and to move in with friends in
El Centro. The mother of the family at the time of the interview was pregnant
and expecting confinement shortly. Prenatal care had not been received. No
medical arrangements had been made. The family was unable to buy the proper
foods and was using canned milk entirely. All members of the family were in
need of clothing. The head of the family had no prospects of employment.
Example C. The case was that of a man 52 years old, temporarily separated
from his wife and child because of their financial situation and because of their
ineligibility for relief on the basis of residence requirements. The family had come
to California from Texas 9 months previously and had refused to return and was
therefore rejected by the State rehef administration. When the man lost his
job, his wife and child went to li^'e with her father, having been forced to move.
The wife's father's resources were limited because of the irregularity of agricultural
work and his familv of six. The only work "C" had had during 2^2 mouths was
four days of labor" during which he earned $12. With this he paid part of his
rent, sent $6 to his fami'y and reduced his grocery bill from $8.70 to $5.48. At
2888
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
the time of the interview "C was sharing a one-room lean-to with another man
and was eating one meal a day, consisting largely of potatoes, beans, and canned
milk, which had been his diet for several months.
TESTIMONY OF S. G. RUBINOW— Resumed
Mr. KuBiNOW. This is our report so far as it affects the migratory
workers particularly, with factual data and tables; but there are no
interpretations in it. It was for that reason that I begged the indul-
gence of the committee to present the general statement that I read
previously.
Now, I have a very miportant engagement, but before I leave,
Congressman Tolan, I would like to mtroduce Mrs. Marie Deal,
chief of our bureau of certification, Mr. E. M. Cooper, chief of our
bureau of statistics, and Mr. James B. Reese, chief of our bureau of
surplus commodities.
The Chairman. We will note in the record their presence here,
and I may say to you folks that it is after the adjournment hour and
now I am sure that the chief here has presented the data that we want,
but I will also lilve to say to you that our record will not close until
the last week in November and if anything additional occurs to you
on account of conditions between now and then, or anything else,
why, our records will be open for you.
Mr. Cooper. Then we would like to present these for the record
now.
The Chairman. We will mark them as exhibits.
(The documents referred to were received and marked as exhibits.)
(The exhibits mentioned consist of (a) a bound volume entitled
"Review of Activities of the State Relief Administration of Cali-
fornia," (b) List of References on Migrants, (c) a bound volume entitled
"Transients in California" and (d) a book entitled "Migratory Labor
in California," which are in committee files (not reprinted) and the
"Prelimmary Report Transient Program" is given below.)
PRELIMINARY REPORT TRANSIENT PROGRAM OF THE STATE
RELIEF ADMINISTRATION, LOS ANGELES COUNTY, FEBRUARY
1939, BY JAMES B. REESE
I. Introduction
No attempt was made in the preparation of this report to secure original or
new statistical information, nor were schedules prepared for the analysis of present
case loads. The reasons for these omissions were threefold: First, prior and sub-
sequent to the termination of the Federal transient program a multiplicity of
such studies were made; second, the results of any study of applications and
rejections of transients for relief to the State relief administration would undoubt-
edly give a distorted picture inasmuch as intake policy determines not only the
type of cases accepted for care, but also the volume of such applications; and,
third, such a survey would be impossible of accomplishment without a reasonable
allotment of staff to such a project. However, use was made of such studies ' as
were immediately available in the office.
The basis of this report is a study of policy, techniques, and facilities for the
care of transients as determined by conferences with State relief administration staflF
1 Transients in California, Division of Research and Survey, State Relief Administration, August 3, 1936.
Resume of Social Work and Camps for Transient Boys in Southern California, Helen Montegnffo, August
30, 1935. Statistical Information, Los Angeles, 1938, Berniee Copland. Miscellaneous Transient Files of
State Relief Administration.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2889
members, Council of Social Agencies, public and private agencies, and interested
citizens. 2
For expediency's sake this report will deal with the usual categories of the
transient problem separately and in the following order: Boys, single women,
families, single men, and medical care.
II. Resum^: History of Transient Care in Los Angeles County
Prior to the depression and while we were still riding the crest of prosperity,
California, and more particularly Los Angeles County, was the mecca of all
westward movement. Climate, newly developed agricultural fields, motion-
picture industries, adventure, and restlessness brought people to California during
the more prosperous times. Not an insigiuficant number of these people found
adjustment to their new environment difficult and many were cared for by the
Travelers Aid Society and other private agencies. In 1924 the Catholic Welfare
Bureau, noting that large numbers of boys were becoming stranded in Los
Angeles, opened the Junipero Serra Boys Club. This was followed by the opening
of the Community Boys Lodge in 1927, and still later a home for colored boys.
The depression brought increasing numbers of transients to California, and just
before the collapse of the public and private agencies in Los Angeles under this
ever-increasing problem, the Federal Transient Service was instituted in 1933.
This agency coordinated the activities of the private agencies and supplemented
them by an extensive program of its own. A familj^ welfare bureau, a single
men's department, and a boys' division were developed. The Federal Transient
Service continued to serve nonresidents until it was abruptly terminated by an
administrative order from Washington in September 1935. An attempt was
made to salvage the family bureau and boys' division by integration with the
State Relief Administration, but no attempt was made to carry on the single men
program beyond the time necessary to dispose of certain of the unemployables in
the camps.
Since September 1935 there has been a gradual restriction of care to transients
until we find, in Februarj' 1939, a program simply of emergency care pending
verification of residence, authorization for return, and transportation.
III. Transient Boys
A. PROBLEM
The lack of a centralized clearing house for transient boys, the State relief
administration policy of rejecting applications at point of intake for refusal to
return to legal residence, which tends to discourage applications, and the minimum
private agency care available in los Angeles, makes it quite hazardous to even
estimate the extent and scope of the transient boys' problem. However, such
statistics as are available are enlightening. For example, during 1938, 2,022 boys
applied to the State relief administration for assistance. Of tliis number 1,019,
or more than 50 percent, were rejected by the intake division and the balance
accepted for emergency care and transportation to legal residence.
An analysis of the reasons for the rejections developed the following:
Percent
Refusal to return to legal residence 50
Service only (referred to Travelers Aid Society) 20
Adequate resources 20
Under 18 years (referred to Bureau of Indigent Relief) 10
It will be noted from the above that over 500 hungry boys were turned out
into the streets to shift for themselves, without even the most temporary of care
during 1938, because they refused to say they would return to their legal residence
when authorization and verification was secured.
The Annual Report of the Los Angeles City Police Department for the fiscal
year 1937-38 shows 3,991 boys and 18 girls between the ages of 18 and 21 years
were arrested on vagrancy charges. The number of arrests for vagrancy of
youths under 18 vears is "not immediately available. (These figures are being
compiled for the State relief administration by the crime prevention detail.)
However, the bureau of indigent relief reports that 113 of the cases of boys closed
2 Bernice Copland, Elizabeth Connolly, Fuqua, Whittier, Mary Stanton, Walter Chamhers, Dorothy
Wysor Smith, Msgr. T. J. O'Dwyer, Joseph Thesing. Karl Holton, Lieutenant Graeb, Lieutenant Lester,
A. C. Price, Gertrude Logan, Charles I. Schottland, Fred Coggan, Henry Richmond, etc.
QOQQ INTERSTATE MIGRATION
during the period July 1, 1938, to January 31, 1939, were referred to it by the
police department. This would seem to indicate that between two and three
hundred transient boys under 18 years of age are coming to the attention of the
police department. (Actual number reported by juvenile police, 314.)
Social workers from both public and private agencies interested in the juvenile
problem advise me that the criminal court dockets are crowded with out-of-State
bovs between 18 and 22 years and that a substantial number of the twelve-
hu'ndred-odd persons who may be found sleeping any night in the six 5-cent all-
night motion-picture houses on Main Street are transient boys.
In the face of this problem the State relief administration continues its policy
of treating this juvenile problem as though it were one of unemployment relief.
The following analysis of 390 open and closed cases made by the transient
intake supervisor of the State relief administration, seems to substantiate the
statement that the transient boys' problem should be viewed as a juvenile problem
and not simply as one of unemployment relief.
Guardians — Continued.
Age groupings:
14 years 3
15 years 2
16 vears 6
17 years 13
18 vears 80
19 years 106
20 years 91
21 years 79
Over 21 years 4
Age unknown 9
Time on road on date of application:
Less than 1 week 37
1 week to 1 month 127
1 to 3 months 97
3 to 6 months 35
6 months to 1 year 9
1 to 3 years 30
Over 3 years 14
Unknown 41
Physical condition: Good, 353; dis-
ability, 32; not determined, 5.
Guardians:
Mother and father 159
Mother only 73
Father only 34
Father and stepmother 23
Mother and stepfather 26
Brother 7
Sister
Uncle 3
Grandparent 8
Foster mother 1
State 9
Stepmother 1
Married 9
Social agency 2
Not determined 21
Financial status of guardians:
Independent 233
Relief 42
Woi'k Projects Administration. 31
Not known 84
Educational status:
Second grade 3
Third grade 1
Fourth grade 4
Fifth grade 6
Seventh grade 22
Eighth grade 76
Ninth grade 52
Tenth grade 71
Eleventh grade 40
Twelfth grade 69
First year college 2
Second year college 2
Third year college 2
Fourth year college 1
Unknown 49
Aunt 6
The above statistical data (note financial status of guardians), plus the fact
that the Junipero Serra Boys Club and the Community Boys Lodge had under
care approximately 100 boys at all times prior to 1929, indicate that the plan
of treatment for transient boys should be somewhat different than that accorded
most unemployment relief problems.
B. PRESENT FACILITIES
The current State relief administration program for transient boys in Los
Angeles is intended to meet the relief and transportation needs of transient
unattached minors 18 to 21 years of age, inclusive, whose parents or guardians
are not residents of California. A discussion of the problem with the State
relief administration workers charged with the responsibility of carrying out this
program developed that major emphasis is placed upon emergency aid and trans-
portation to legal residence, and that there is little or no recognition of the social
problems involved. No attempt is made to determine by agency contacts the
underlving factors which caused boys to leave home, no counseling service is
provided to condition the boys' attitude toward returning to his legal residence,
and no effort is made to secure the services of a social agency in the community
from which the boys came to correct the conditions causing them to leave either
prior or subsequent to their return. In fact, these workers advise me that fre-
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2891
quently the only contacts they have with the boys are at the time of appHcation
and train time. Workers never visit boys while in camp or the Jnnii^ero Serra
Boys Club and only call them into the office for interviews when additional infor-
mation is required to verify residence.
Pending verification of legal residence and the securing of authorization to
return, the boys cared for by the State relief administration are placed in either
the Junipero Serra Boys Club or one of three State relief administration camps for
single men. Pacoima is used as an intake camp, DeVore for venereals, and Pales
Verde for men and boys of normal health.
The Junipero Serra Boys Club, in addition to providing food, shelter, clothing,
and a limited amount of medical and dental care, maintains a well-rounded leisure-
time program. The Los Angeles school system provides a teacher who has classes
from 9 a. m. to 3 p. m. 5 days each week. These classes are compulsory for boys
under 18 years of age and optional for those over 18. The educational program
includes classes in journahsm, handcrafts, shopwork, history, English, citizenship,
and mathematics. There are also night courses conducted by the Work Projects
Administration (E. E. P.) for boys over 18 who do not attend the day classes.
A recreational leader is in attendance 4 days each week. Athletic events are
held at a nearby playground while table games and boxing are conducted in the
clubrooms.
According to the annual report of the club, the per diem cost of the service
rendered these boys is 89 cents. The State relief administration pays 60 cents
per day per boy for those placed in the institution. The service rendered by
the Junipero Serra Boys Club could be improved by the addition of a case worker
and the development of a more constructive work program.
The State relief administration camp program for transient boys consists simply
of housing boj^s in one of the single-men camps (Palos Verde) pending their return
to legal residence. A gesture is made toward segregating the boys from the older
men, but it consists of merely assigning to them the required number of tents at
one end of the company street. The camp director explained the need for segre-
gation on the basis that the boys were too noisy at night for the older men, so it
was deemed advisable to remove them to the far end of the campgrounds.
Camp Palos Verde is located in the beautiful Palos Verde Hills overlooking
the ocean. Bathing, fishing, athletics, and shows are the chief recreational outlet
for the camp members. The housing units are tents rather than barracks, and
sleep six to eight persons in double decker beds.
The men and boys are employed 6 hours a day on a county road project. The
camp site is owned by the Palos Verde Land Co.
There is no counselor or case worker in the camp to serve the needs of the boys.
The director introduced me to a middle-aged man whom he described as a recre-
ational leader and attendance officer. The boys at the time of my visit, 3:30 p. m.,
were loafing around the camp and there was no evidence of any organized program
for them.
The bureau of indigent relief accepts responsibility for transient boys under
18 years of age. Its program is similar to that of the State relief administration.
Emergency relief is provided at the Junipero Serra Boys Club pending verification
and return to legal residence.
During the period July 1, 1938, to January 31, 1939, the bureau of indigent
relief cared for 345 transient boys. These boys were cared for pending their
return to legal residence in the following manner:
Junipero Serra Boys Club 278
Boarding homes 40
Juvenile Hall 8
County jail 3
Others 16
The age groupings of boys cared for by the bureau of indigent relief, as deter-
mined by a survey of 251 cases, were as follows:
Age:
10 1
11 2
13 5
14 16
15 38
16 75
17 114
260370 — 41 — pt. 7 7
2892
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Gertrude Logan, director of the children's aid section of the bureau of indigent
relief, stated that the experience of that organization has demonstrated the in-
advisability of a strict enforcement of a policy of emergency care and return to
legal residence. Recently the bureau of indigent relief changed its policy of
routinely returning boys over 16 years of age to their legal residence to one of
return on a selective basis only. The plan for those whom the bureau of indigent
relief will decide not to return is not well defined. Mrs. Logan advises that this
problem has not come up since this change in policy was made effective. She
believes that the State relief administration program for transient boys should
take into consideration boys between 16 and 18 years as weil as those over 18 years,
inasnmch as the bureau of indigent relief is not equipped to afford an adequate
plan for their care.
The juvenile probation department, through the juvenile court cares for delin-
quent transient boys. This program is mainly one of camp care and return to
legal residence.
The downtown missions for men provide housing for some boys. The exact
number is not obtainable. The director of the Union Rescue Mission states:
"No one is turned away as long as there is an empty bed." He further stated that
if he noticed a boy in the mission who appeared under 18 years of age, he referred
him to the bureau of indigent relief. He also expressed the opinion that some
provision should be made for those 18 to 22 years of age. The director of the
Midnight Mission makes use of the State relief administration and the bureau
for indigent relief for the care of boys and only occasionally during late hours
gives them housing.
The Travelers Aid Society is prepared to render case-work service to transient
boys, but due to its limited relief funds is able to provide very little care.
C. BOYS UNDER CARE
The State relief administration had under care on February 9, 1939, the follow-
ing boys:
Camp Palos Verde 48
Camp DeVore 3
Junipero Serra Boys Club 12
Home of relatives 5
Total 68
The juvenile: The juvenile probation department advises that it has under
care 15 delinquent transient boys.
The bureau of indigent relief "has 22 boys under 18 years of age, who are in the
Junipero Serra Boys Club awaiting transportation to their legal residences.
During 1938, 1,003 transient boys were accepted for care by the State relief
administration, 750 were placed in camps, 202 in the Junipero Serra Boys Club,
47 lived with relatives, and 4 received cash relief.
An analysis of the reasons for closing cases during the period March 1937 to
March 1938 developed the following:
Returned to legal residence 671
Deserted 457
Over age 57
Secured private employment 16
Placed in legal custody 15
Referred to various agencies 149
Total 1,365
D. PROPOSED PLAN FOR CARE OF TRANSIENT BOYS
1. Immediate policy changes:
(a) The emphasis at present placed upon return to legal residence by the intake
division should be replaced by one of attention to the immediate needs for shelter,
food, clothing, and medical care.
(b) The policy of rejecting boys at intake for refusing to return to their legal
residence should be discontinued.
(c) The policy of discontinuing aid to boys receiving care immediately upon
their refusal to return to their legal residence should be modified to a policy that
permits the social worker time to work out socially desirable plans for their welfare.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2893
(d) The age limits should be 16 to 22 years rather than 18 to 22 years.
2. Facilities needed:
(a) Transient boys registration bureau.
lb) Intake camp and treatment center.
(c) Vocational training camp.
Id) Additional private agency facilities similar to Junipero Serra Boys Club.
3. Program:
(a) Transient boys registration bureau. The function of this department
would be to:
(x) Provide a central intake for transient boys.*
ly) Assume responsibility for social work statistics pertiment to the transient
boys' problem.
(z) To provide a clearing house for those interested in arousing the com-
munity conscience to its transient boj^s' problem.
(b) Intake camp: It is intended that this camp provide emergency care pending
the development of a suitable plan by the social service staff for boys' welfare.
Facilities for physical and psychiatric examinations and the treatment of minor
ailments should' be available. If it is deemed impractical to provide medical
facilities in the camp, then the panel plan for medical care should be used and a
medical social worker assigned to this camp. This alternative program should
be supplemented by a first aid program.
(c) Vocational training camp: The facilities of this camp should provide a
constructive vocational training and work program. The work program should
be of such a productive nature that it would lend dignity to work and should be
geared into an educational program in such a way that when a youngster leaves
the camp he will take with him a sense of accomplishment and confidence in his
ability to become a productive unit of society.
Boys in this camp would not be asked to work for only their room and board.
Productive work is always worthy of an adequate wage. It is only "made work
programs" that call for work with a remuneration of maintenance only.
Certain safeguards, perhaps similar to a parent-son relationship, should un-
doubtedly be established to assist the boys in reaching a socially desirable objec-
tive. For example: It would probably be wise to exercise a reasonable control
over the earnings of these boys. The major portion should be deposited to the
boy's credit for transportation to legal residence, subsistence en route, education,
and to assist certain boys to become absorbed in this community.
The maintenance work of this camp should be of such a nature that boys will
learn as they work. For example, even such menial tasks as dish washing,
janitor, and kitchen duty should be a part of a planned vocational training pro-
gram. These tasks, under proper supervision and direction, have a definite
training value for restaurant, hotel, and kitchen work.
Training in cleanliness with proper implements and cleaning materials would
turn out efficient janitors and helpers. Painting in its true sense, not merely the
technique of "brush slinging" but color schemes, combinations, designs, mixing,
and paint removal, would be useful for future avocations.
For those interested in landscaping, gardening, and botany, the campgrounds
would lend unlimited possibilities.
The above programs would not only add zest to necessary maintenance work
but would also tend to raise the standard of camp life from the drabness into
which it has fallen, to an exciting experience of learning.
The foregoing work program, although essential to the maintenance of any
camp, would occupy the time of but a few of the boys. The major program should
be sufficiently varied to occupy the interest of all who come under care and is
Hmited onlv bv our imagination. The following are merely suggestive.
Auto mechanics: A machine shop where State equipment may be repaired by
boys under the supervision of a trained mechanic.
Animal husbandry: Dairy and poultry products could be raised, not only for
the camp, but also for general distribution.
Forestry Work: Fire prevention.
Farm products.
Tailoring.
3 It is proposed at this time that only a brief eligibility interview (similar to a qualifying interview) be
taken at the time of application by the transient boys registration bureau and that the complete first inter-
view and social planning be left to the intake camp case workers.
2§94 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Shoe repairing, and a multiplicity of other projects which would in themselve
be not only productive, but also vocational training in nature.
If the camp could be located within the Los Angeles school district undoubtedly
the school system could be prevailed upon to supply classes which would be par-
ticularly adapted to the transient boy. These classes could be supplemented by
EEP (WPA) workers.
It is axiomatic that all boys' programs must have an adequate recreational pro-
gram under trained supervision. For this reason a recreational program should
be developed which would call for the participation of the largest number of boys
and reduce to the spectator stage the smallest possible number.
Discreet and intelligent counseling by trained personnel aimed toward assisting
these boys to constructively plan for their future welfare should be an important
adjunct "to the camp program. Case workers should be charged with this duty
as a part of their responsibility toward the boys under care.
Since camp at best is an artificial situation, caution should be exercised lest the
camp become an "end in itself." It might be advisable to place a flexible time
limit on the period a boy could remain.
Aside from a certain basic well-trained staff the camp should be operated by
the boys themselves.
(d) Private lodges :
At the present time the only private agency attempting to meet the housing
needs of transient boys is the Junipero Serra Boys Club. This agency has a
maximum capacitv of 65 boys. This lodge is sponsored by the Catholic Welfare
Bureau and was established originally in 1924 to meet the needs of Catholic
transient boys stranded in Los Angeles. However, since the liquidation of the
Federal transient boys camps and the community boys' lodge (a community
chest agency established primarily to meet the needs of non-Catholic boys) the
Junipero Serra Boys Club has attempted to serve all boys referred to it by any
of the pubUc agencies.
There is an undoubted need for the reestablishment of a second housing unit
for transient boys similar to the old community boys' lodge, inasmuch as a liber-
alized transient bovs policy would bring under care the boys now reputedly
sleeping in flop houses, all-night theaters, and jungles. This boys' lodge should
have accommodations for approximately 50 boys.
The objective of these lodges should be to provide the medium by which boys
whom it is determined should not, for good social reasons, be returned to their
legal residences, may be absorbed into the community.
The program of these lodges should be aimed toward carrying to fulfillment the
plan determined upon by the social workers attached to the transient boys division
of the State relief administration.
The relationship of the State relief administration to these agencies should be
one that would supplement their programs but not supplant them. However, the
State relief administration, by virtue of its part in paying for the maintenance of
the boys under care, should have a voice, at least advisory, in the formulation of
the agency's program.
The State relief administration should pay an equitable amount, at least equiva-
lent to the cost of camp care, to these agencies. The present procedure of allow-
ing the minimum State relief administration single-man's budget is unfair, both
to the agency and to the boys, since the difference between actual cost and that
allowed must be taken from an essential part of the program which the State
relief administration must look to the private agencies to provide.
Three social agencies in Los Angeles have indicated a desire to enter into this
field of providing lodging for transient boys, i. e., Travelers Aid Society, the Mid-
night Mission, and the Volunteers of America. All are handicapped by a lack of
money, but each indicated that there was a possibility of its securing the necessary
funds, providing the State relief administration would meet a portion of the mainte-
nance cost by paying to the agency an amount approximating the single-man's
budget for each bov under care.
4. Staff requirements for transient boys work (for complete organizational chart
Bee latter part of report) :
Executive:
Supervisor of transient boys division, 1.
Secretary to supervisor of transient boys division, 1.
Social service:
Case supervisors — I to each 5 case workers and qualifiers.
Qualifiers for transient boys' registration bureau — 1 to each 8 to 10 applica-
tions per day.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2895
Caseworker — I to each 25 bojs in the intake camp and 1 to each 50 boys in
the vocational training camp.
Clerical: Should be allotted to the social-service division on the basis of 2 clerical
persons to every 3 professional persons employed.
Camps:
Camp director — 1 to each camp.
Assistant director and camp manager — 1 to each camp.
Recreational leader — 1 to each camp.
Supervisor of vocational training and work projects — 1 to each camp.
First cook — 1 to each camp.
Second cook — I to each camp.
Boys' counsellors — a minimum of 3 to each camp in order to have 1 for
supervisorial duty on hand at all times.
Medical care — 1 half-time physician for each camp.
5. Community programming:
The proposed program, to be successful, must have the support of the com-
munity. To secure this support it is suggested that a committee representing
labor, social agencies, the juvenile police and probation departments, and the
citizens at large, be appointed by the Governor, State relief commission, or some
authorized representative of the Governor, to act in an advisory capacity to the
transient boys division. This committee should be a subcommittee of the general
transient committee. (See committee and administrative organization in latter
part of this report.)
IV. Families
A. POLICY
Prior to February 9, 1939, the policy of the State Relief Administration in Los
Angeles County was to make "consent to return to legal residence" at the time
of application a condition precedent to relief. On this date the policy was
changed by an administrative order and transient families were made eligible for
emergency aid pending verification of residence and receipt of authorization for
return, whether or not they signify a willingness to return to their legal residence
at the time of application for relief. Under this policy, as soon as legal residence
can be verified and authorization secured for family's return, transportation ia
offered and if refused aid is discontinued.
The present policy is not as harsh as that which prevailed prior to February 9,
1939, but it still lacks much that is to be desired. During 1938, while the "return
or else" policy was in effect, 12,910 applications were received from transients,
of which only 5,292 or about 39 percent were accepted for temporary aid and trans-
portation to legal residence. Although there is no available statistical informa-
tion on the reasons for rejecting 61 percent of the applications, it is fair to assume
that the majority were rejected for refusing, at the point of intake to consent to
return to legal residences.
The policy now in force permits a slight breathing spell between that critical
time when the family is faced with the need of applying for relief and the necessity
for making a decision as to whether or not it will return to its legal residence.
The period, in most instances, is still too brief for a careful and well thought
out decision on the part of the family. It is still a "return or else" policy with
little or no consideration given to a determination of what is socially desirable
for the particular family.
B. SOME STATISTICAL INFORMATION
1. A review by the urban district oflfice of 290 transient applications accepted
for temporary care during the 4-week period just prior to February 1, 1939,
developed the following interesting facts:
Origin of these families Percent
Dust Bowl area 52
Great Lakes area 17
Rocky Mountain area 13
Northeastern area H
Southern seaboard 6
Pacific coast area 2
New applications 73
Apphed for assistance within 1 month after their arrival in California 21
Applied for assistance within 3 months after their arrival 54
Applied for assistance during the first week of their arrival 10
Apphed for assistance within 2 days after their arrival 7
2895 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
During this same period 36 percent of all transient applications for relief were
rejected for refusing to consent to return to legal residences.
2. The following is an analysis of the reasons for closing transient cases during
1938:
Secured employment in private industry 581
Assigned to Work Projects Administration or other Federal projects 90
Sufficient income or resources 22
Became unemployable 15
Under care of other agency 30
Sent to camp 98
Returned to legal residence in other States 2, 823
Refused to return to legal residence 181
Left of own accord or unable to locate 847
Responsibility assumed by relatives or friends 52
Unwilhng to furnish information necessary to establish eligibility 21
All other reasons 538
The State Relief Administration statistical reports do not show reasons for
closings broken down by classifications such as families, boys, and single women.
During the week ending February 23, 1939, 177 applications were received
from transient families. Ninety-three or 53 percent were rejected, while 84 or
47 percent were accepted for temporary relief and transportation to legal residence.
On the last day of the week 745 transient families were receiving reUef.
C. FACILITIES FOE THE CARE OF TRANSIENT FAMILIES
The urban district office, located at 660 East Twenty-second Street, receives
applications from transient families residing within the city limits of Los Angeles.
The Long Beach, Pasadena, Alhambra, and San Fernando district offices accept
applications from transient families living in the communities they serve.
The qualifying interview plus field intake S3"stem is used by the district offices
to determine eligibility. Staff is allotted to the intake divisions on the same basis
as resident cases and little consideration is given to the additional work involved
in serving transient families. Each field case aide is expected to carry a case load
in excess of 55 families. This results in the service rendered being quite mechani-
cal in nature and consists mainly of temporarj- care, verification of residence, and
transportation.
D. STAFF ATTITUDE
The attitude of the staff serving transients is somewhat difficult to define.
When asked for opinions as to how the State relief administration policy toward
transient relief might be changed, their reactions varied from those which seemed
to indicate they felt the previous policy was totally unsocial, to those best exem-
plified by the statement of one of the group to the effect; "The majority of transient
families bring little of value to California and should be returned to their legal
residences as soon as possible, lest they become a burden to the community."
The confusion in the minds of the staff probably results from the strict enforce-
ment, during the past several years, of the policy of returning transient families
to their legal residence, irrespective of what may await them in these communities.
Undoubtedly any indication that the State relief administration intends to
approach the problem in a more social manner would be received in an enthusi-
astic fashion by the staff charged with the responsibility of caring for transients.
E. RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Policy changes:
(a) The literal enforcement of the policj' of returning transient families to their
legal residences should be changed to a policy which takes into account:
(x) The welfare of the family.
iy) The family's plan for its future well-being.
(z) The conditions from which the family is attempting to escape.
(6) In general, emphasis might well be placed upon returning to legal residence,
but it should be in conjunction with cooperative planning by the family and the
State relief administration, and not by taking advantage of the economic distress
of the family.
(c) Families should not be denied relief solely for the reason they refused to
accept transportation to legal residences.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2897
(d) Recognition should be taken of the fact that it is not to the economic
advantage of this country to create stranded communities in nonproductive
areas, i. e., Dust Bowl area, solely for the reason they cannot secure relief else-
where, as is the case under the English dole system.
(e) Families whom it is determined inadvisable to return to legal residences,
should be afforded the same type care rendered resident families in order that
they may have an opportunity to make an adequate adjustment in this com-
munity, i. e., certification to Work Projects Administration, National Youth
Administration, and Civilian Conservation Corps placement for younger members
of the family group, and medical care.
2. Organizational changes:
(a) There should be established a transient family welfare division under a
well-trained supervisor. This division may have ofhce space in several of the
district offices but the personnel of the division should be responsible to the
supervisor of the transient family division and not to the district director. The
reason for this change in responsibility is to assure close supervision of this rather
technical problem and the enforcement of a uniform policy.
(b) Staff needs: Caseworkers should be allotted to the intake division on the
basis of 1 to every 20 applications per week, and to the field units on the basis of
1 to every 50 active cases.
This increase in the allotment of personnel is based on the increased amount
of work incident to the care of transient families and to the technical skill re-
quired. The allotment of case supervisors and clerical workers should be on the
same basis as at present, i. e. case supervisors — 1 to 5 case aides. Clerical— 2
to 3 professional persons.
V. Single Women
A. POLICY
The policy for determining the eligibility for relief of transient single women
has in general been the same as that in effect for transient families. Until re-
cently, as in the case of transient boys and families, consent to return to legal
residence was a condition precedent to relief. Since February 9, 1939, the policy
has been to accept single women for temporarj' relief pending verification of
residence and authorization to return, without insisting upon an agreement to
return to legal residence at the time application for relief is made. However,
when authorization for return is secured transportation is offered and if refused
relief is discontinued.
The strict enforcement of this policy of return to legal residence has placed the
burden of caring for single women on already overtaxed private agencies. Not
all of the single women refused relief by the State ralief administration find their
way to private agencies and can only hazard a guess as to the means to which
they must resort in order to maintain themselves.
B. STATISTICAL INFORMATION
Statistics are not available as to the number of applications the State relief
administration received from transient single women during 1938. We do know
however that 548 women were accepted for temporary care and transportation
to legal residence. On the basis of these acceptances, it is probably fair to assume
that over 1,000 applications were received.
The Travelers Aid Society reports that it has been caring for between 25 and
30 girls per month, whose applications were rejected by the State relief adminis-
tration for refusing to consent to return to their legal residences.
During 1938, 534 cases of single transient women were closed. Unfortunately
the State relief administration statistical report does not tell us the final disposi-
rtion of these women.
C. FACILITIES FOR THE CARE OP SINGLE TRANSIENT WOMEN
The workers assigned to the care of transient families are also charged with
the responsibility of serving transient single women. (See portion of report
•dealing with transient families.)
In addition the Travelers Aid Society has a small fund given it by the Pepper-
dine family, which enables that agency to care for single women coming to its
attention. The women are placed in the Brandon Guest House and the Mary
Martha Home. The executive secretary for the Travelers Aid Society reports
2g98 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
that the majority of these women find private employment and become self-
sustaining.
D. RECOMMENDATJONS
1. Policy changes:
(a) The present policy of temporary care pending return to legal residence
should be changed to a more constructive policy which meets the needs of these
women and recognizes that frequently return to legal residence is worse than no
plan.
(b) Recognition should be taken of the fact that transient single women in
the main are attempting to escape from either a real or fanciful situation which
to them has become unbearable.
(c) Recognition should also be taken of the fact that transiency among single
women is not always due to unemployment and that it is necessary to approach
the problem in a more skilled fashion than is ordinarily necessary in the instance
of a simple unemployment relief problem.
(d) Approved housing facilities for single women made available by private
social agencies, should be used when these units have something constructive to
offer these women.
(e) Social planning for single transient women should be done in cooperation
with the women themselves. The objective of such planning should always be
a socially desirable solution of their problems and not an arbitrary return to a
legal residence.
2. Organizational changes:
The organizational changes suggested under the section of this report dealing
with transient families, would probably meet the needs of unattached transient
women.
VI. Single Men
A. PRESENT POLICY
Since the liquidation of the Federal Transient Service in September 1935, the
policy of the State relief administration toward single transient men has been
as set forth in chapter I, section D, page 10 of the social service division manual:
"In general, transient unattached employable men are not eligible for any relief.
Exceptions may be made to this policy only when in the opinion of the social
service supervisor the circumstances of a particular case warrant special con-
sideration. Such circumstance might arise in the case of a man of substantial
background who has made an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself in em-
ployment, or a man with definite family ties elsewhere who has good social reasons
for returning to such place of legal residence."
The fact that the State relief administration in Los Angeles County had under
care on February 23, 1939, only two transient single men would indicate that
the exception to the general policy of no relief to single transient men is not very
generously applied to individual cases.
B. PROBLEM
As is true in the instance of transient boys, the lack of a central registration
bureau and adequate facilities for their care makes any estimate of the size of the
problem most difficult. However, there are certain figures available which
indicate to some extent at least the problem.
The director of the Midnight Mission reports that over 1,500 transient men
find shelter each night by the following means:
Midnight Mission 150:
Union Rescue Mission 200'
Motion-picture houses 1, 200
The limited facilities available in the form of mission care compel men to seek
shelter in all-night motion-picture shows. There are six of these establishments
on Main Street which charge a 5-cent admission fee and permit their customers
to remain until 5 o'clock in the morning.
The only available estimate of single transient men entering the city of Los
Angeles via freight trains, is that supplied the police department by the three
major railroads and covers the period of from May to October 1937. The rail-
road oflficials estimated that 28,929 entered the city during this period.
The Los Angeles city annual police report for the fiscal year 1937-38, shows
that 12,585 men over 21 years of age were arrested on vagrancy charges. Of
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2899
those arrested 5,276 were between the ages of 22 and 29, inclusive; 2,824 were
from 30 to 39 years, inclusive, and 2,364 were over 40 years of age.
The council of social agencies advises me that transient unattached men compose
the largest single unmet social problem in Los Angeles County.
C. FACILITIES FOR CARE
Other than the mission, jails, and all-night theaters mentioned previously, there
are practically no facilities for the care of transient single men.
During 1937 the city of Los Angeles appropriated $12,000 to care for transient
unattached men. The money was spent under a contract with the community
chest of Los Angeles. A central registration bureau was maintained for the period
February 1 to June 30, and men were allowed a maximum of 3 day's care at the
Midnight Mission. At the end of this time they were requested to leave the
city by the police department. No money was appropriated for this purpose by
the city during 1938.
The council of social agencies plans to present a request to the social service
commission on March 7, 1939, that it include in its budget the sum of $15,000
in order that 200 men per day may be provided with two meals and a bed for a
3-day period during the latter half of the fiscal year commencing January 1940.
A modified work program in connection with the parii and fire department is
contemplated. No request is being made for a registration bureau. This
problem will probably be met by one of the private agencies.
It should be noted that the request of the council of social agencies goes no
further than to suggest a plan of care that calls for only 3 day's relief, with the
inference that the man must then leave town.
D. RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Policy:
(a) The State relief administration must recognize its responsibility for the
care of employable transient unattached men.
(6) Recognition should be taken of the fact that the so-called bindle stiff or
hobo is a thing of the past and in their place we have a very large number of
comparatively youijg homeless men needing care. (See statistics arrest on
vagrancy charge.)
(c) The present negative policy of the State relief administration should be
changed to a positive one providing at least a minimum amount of care.
2. Form that relief should take:
(a) A program of camp care should be the minimum that is made available for
transient men.
(b) It would be advisable to develop productive work programs in these camps
flexible enough to gear into any Work Projects Administration program for tran-
sients that might result from the President's request to Colonel Harrington,
Work Projects Administration Administrator, that the Work Projects Adminis-
tration attempt to alleviate California's transient problem.
(c) Provision should be made for care outside of camp on a selective basis which
should take into consideration the individual's welfare.
3. Facilities needed:
(a) A registration bureau for transient unattached men.
(6) An overnight housing unit which would accommodate approximately 200
men. The State relief administration should gear into the facilities that may be
inade available by the city of Los Angeles, or failing this, make use of existing
private facilities.
(c) Camp facilities for at least 1,000 men during the winter and 300 during the
summer should be provided.
4. Staff:
(a) Central registration bureau:
Supervisor of Bureau.
Case aides, 1 to every 20 applications received per day.
Clerical, 2 to every 3 professional person employed.
(b) Housing unit:
Supervisors
Assistant supervisor
First cook
Second cook
Supervisor of maintenance work
Clerical
2900
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
(c) Camps: Each camp
Camp superintendent 1
Assistant camp superintendent 1
Recreational leader 1
Supervisor of work projects 1
First-aid man (registered nurse) 1
First cook 1
Second cook 1
Clerical 3^
(d) Social service staff:
Supervisor of men's division 1
Secretary to supervisor of men's division 1
Case supervisors, 1 to each 5 case workers.
Case workers : It is estimated that 1 case worker would be re-
quired for every 100 men receiving care. It is intended that
only a selective group would benefit by the service of a case
worker.
VII. Medical Care
A. PROBLEM
In general the eligibility of transients for medical care is determined upon the
same basis as that for rehef. The only exception to this policy is that the resi-
dence requirements are waived by General Hospital in the instance of acute
emergencies.
Transient clients of the State relief administration receive the same medical
service as other relief recipients. This service is very limited and is not intended
to meet chronic ailments.
Private agencies, i. e., All Nations and Santa Rita Clinics, as well as the Cedars
of Lebanon and White Memorial Hospitals, occasionally render medical service to
transients. Since the resources of these agencies are limited they cannot be
looked to for extensive service to this group.
The problem of medical attention for transients revolves itself to the single
statement, "Facilities are available to meet only acute emergencies."
B. RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that the medical division of the State relief administration
take under consideration the problem of medical care for transients and develop a
program of service which will more completely meet their needs. Service similar
to that rendered by the Agricultural Workers Health and Medical Association is
undoubtedly needed in Los Angeles County.
VIII. Conclusion
A. COMMITTEES
The Federal Transient Service was vulnerable to arbitrary termination by
administrative order in September 1935, because it fell short of attaining one of
its essential objectives, i. e., community support. This objective may only be
attained by means of an educational campaign by informed citizen committees.
For this reason it is recommended that there be appointed a general transient
committee, which in turn should appoint subcommittees to approach each problem
of transiency, i. e. boys, single women, families, unattached men, and the diffi-
culties in obtaining medical care for these groups.
This general committee should serve in an advisory capacity to the administra-
tive person in charge of the transient program in southern California, while the
subcommittees should be advisory to the supervisors of the subdivisions of the
transient program.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2901
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INTERSTATE MIGRATION
C. The transient program should at all times be one that is flexible enough to
gear into any Federal proposals which may result from the President's recent
request of Colonel Harrington. It should also take full advantage of the facilities
for the care of transients which have been made available by the Farm Security
Administration, the Work Projects Administration, and the Agricultural Workers'
Health and Medical Association.
The Chairman. We \yill adjourn until 1:30.
(Whereupon, at 12:15 p. m., an adjournment was taken to 1:30
p. m., of the same day.)
AFTERNOON SESSION
(After the takmg of a recess, the hearing was resumed at 1:30 p. m.)
The Chairman." The committee will please come to order.
Mr. Montgomery?
TESTIMONY OF MARVIN MONTGOMERY AND HARVEY MONT-
GOMERY, SHAFTER, CALIF.
The Chairman. Give your full name, Mr. Alontgomery.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Marvin Montgomery.
The Chairman. Marvin?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. How old are you?
Mr. AIarvin Montgomery. I am 57.
The Chairman. Where do you live?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. I hve at Shafter, the migratory camp.
The Chairman. Shafter, Calif.?
]Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. Son, what is your name?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. Harvey.
The Chairman. How old are you, Harvey?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. Seventeen.
The Chairman. Ai-e you living with dad?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. How many in your family?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. SLx.
Mr. Chairman. How many ghls?
IMr. Marvin Montgomery. One.
The Chairman. How many boys?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. Tlii-ee.
The Chairman. ^Yllere were you born?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. I was born at Little Rock, x\rk.
The Chairman. What did you do there?
Mr. AIarvin Montgomery. What did I do there?
The Chairman. Yes. ^r o i
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. I didn't stay there long. My lather
moved from there to Newport and we farmed in Jackson County.
The Chairman. You are a farm family?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes; oh, yes.
The Chairman. And why did you leave there, Mr. Montgomery?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Why did I leave there?
The Chairman. Yes.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2903
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. My father decided to come West and
he came to the Indian Territory. It was Indian Territory in them
days when we left Arkansas.
The Chairman. And how many in your family, j^our father's
family?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. There were seven of us.
The Chairman. And you moved
Mr. Marvin Montgomery (interrupting). Nine in all, you know.
There was five boys, two girls, my father, and mother.
The Chairman. Wliat do you mean by the Indian Territory?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, when we came, you know, when
we came west in 1898, we came to the Cherokee Nation. It was all
a Territory where we come to then; that is west of Fort Smith, Ark.,
right over across the river from Fort Smith was all Indian Territory,,
the Cherokee Nation, the Choctaw and the Osage, Seminole, Creek.
It was not Oklahoma then.
The Chairman. Well, what did you do then, in brief, Mr. Mont-
gomery? You farmed, did you?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. In the Territory?
The Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir,
. The Chairman. And how long did you remain there farming?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, the place where we moved to,
the town was Sallisaw. We lived there 10 years and then we moved
across the river into the Choctaw side, you know, which is Stigler now.
I lived there 30 years.
The Chairman. And how old were you when you left there?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. When I left?
The Chairman. You lived there 30 years, you said?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Thirty years when I left Oklahoma.
The Chairman. Now you moved over there and lived there 30
years?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. And lived there 30 years. How old
was I when I left there?
The Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. And come to this country?
The Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery, Fifty-five.
The Chairman. In other words, you have been here 2 years?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes; going on 3; will be the 15th of
next February.
The Chairman. And what caused you to leave there?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. To leave Oklahoma?
The Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, under the farming conditions.,
you know, the drought and such as that, it just got so hard, such a
hard get-by, I decided it would help me to change countries. If I
made any change — I decided to change and maybe it would help me.
The Chairman. In other words, you couldn't make it go there?
Is that the idea?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, no; I might have drug by like
some of the rest of them, and sort of lived. I just drug along as long
2904 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
as I wanted to. I wanted to change countries to see if I couldn't
find something better.
The Chairman. And when you left there did you have in mind the
State you were going to?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. The State I was going to?
The Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir. I knew right where I was
coming to.
The Chairman. And what is the name of that State?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. California.
The Chairman. You see, we want to get this in this record. I
know you think you are just talkmg to me, but we have to look at
this record after you make your remarks.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. What caused you to move? Was it advertising or
what someone had told you?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. No, sir; there was no advertising,
nothing that caused me to come to this country. It got hard back
there, you know, as I said; it was just a hard old going. I figured it
would help me to change.
The Chairman. Was the climate here in this country any induce-
ment for you to come here?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. No; I don't know as it was.
The Chairman. Was it relief?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. It certainly was not. It was work,
was what I was really looking for.
The Chairman. I see.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. I say it was work was what I was
really looking for. I couldn't get to work back there.
The Chairman. W^ell, when did you leave Oklahoma to come here?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. December 29, 1937.
The Chairman. And who came with you?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. My family.
The Chairman. Well, how many in the family?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Six.
The Chairman. And how did you come?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Come in a car.
The Chairman. An automobile?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. What kind of a car?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. A Hudson Super six, '29.
The Chairman. '29?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Eight years old, was it not? It was 8 years old?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes. It was a '29 model, '29 Hudson;
yes.
The Chairman. So you loaded the family up and you struck out
for California?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. How much money did you have?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. When I sold out and got my car and
everything ready I had $53 in money when I started to leave there.
On the way, you know my car — I got to where I had to blindfold it
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2905
to get it past a filling station. It was taking on lots of gas and oil.
I had two break-downs, too, and I had to stop at Eloy for 5 weeks
and pick cotton before I could come on over here.
The Chairman. I thought I had heard, or rather the committee has
heard, nearly every expression, but I think you have coined a new
one. You had to blindfold your automobile?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes. It used so much oil.
Mr. Sparkman. To get it by a filling station.
The Chairman. Did you get it by?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Did I get by?
The Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. I got to California.
The Chairman. Where would you stay at night?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, I stayed at tourist camps.
The Chairman. What do they generally charge you?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, about one and a half. They
charged me two and a half at Yuma and one and a half at Ft. Worth
and it was one and a half at Douglas. We drove all night one night.
We didn't stay every night at a tourist camp. We drove one night
all night long and didn't stop.
The Chairman. The six of you all go into one camp?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, yes.
The Chairman. Did you have any trouble at the State borders?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Not a bit in the world; not a bit. I
didn't have any trouble at all, whatever.
The Chairman. What highway did you travel?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. 66. We traveled 80 from Fort Worth
to El Paso. You know we came by El Paso. I don't know — I don't
remember what highway it was all the way that I traveled on. I was
on several different highways. I can tell the route, the towns I came
through.
The Chairman. Well, don't do that.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. What did you say?
The Chairman. Don't give us all the route or we will be traveling
that now until tomorrow morning, don't you see. What I would like
to know, of course, and what I am getting at, is how you got along
on the way. You knew where you were going and that was to the
State of California?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. I knew exactly where I was going.
I had a son and a married daughter here.
The Chairman. I see. The money got a little low? It was getting
low all the time, was it?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, yes.
The Chairman. Did you try to get any employment on the way
to California?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. I stopped 5 weeks and picked cotton
at Eloy, Ariz. I had to stop.
The Chairman. Did your children help you?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes; they helped me; yes.
The Chairman. How much did you make at that?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, I made all the way from 20 —
cotton picking — the cotton was good there, but we couldn't pick
much. You couldn't pick much cotton in that tall rank cotton.
We made something like $4 and $5 a day.
2906 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
The Chairman. Where did you hve when you were picking cotton?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. They furnished us a tent to hve in.
The Chairman. A tent for the six of you?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes,
The Chairman. How big was the tent?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. It was 12 by 14.
The Chairman. You had your own bedding, did you?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, yes; I had that old car loaded
to the full capacity, on top, the sides, and everywhere else — the
back end.
The Chairman. Are you a pretty good mechanic? You understood
that car?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. No; I am no mechanic at all.
The Chairman. But that car knew you and you knew the car?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes; I got acquainted with it on the
road. I found out it would use oil and gas.
The Chairman. It was a good oil burner?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. It certauily was.
The Chairman. Lots of times you thought you had a steam engine^.
I suppose?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Almost; yes.
The Chairman. WeU, what part of California did you come to?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. To Shafter.
The Chairman. I am following tliis up for the record.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. And what did you do there at Shafter?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Wlien I first came here?
The Chairman. Yes.
Mr. AIarvin Montgomery. I stayed a week with my son-in-law
and daughter, out north of Wasco, and then I moved into that
Government camp.
The Chairman. And how long did you stay there?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. In the camp? I lived in the tentthere
9 months.
The Chairman. In a tent?
Air. Marvin Montgomery. Yes,
The Chairman. How large was the tent?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, 14 by 16. That is the size, the
space that is in the tent.
The Chairman. Six of you?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. Did you pay any money there for camp privileges
or anything?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, I paid rent, you know.
The Chairman. How much rent?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Ten cents a day. That started the
first of June. I worked out my rent, though, the 1st of June, and then
the rent started and I paid 10 cents a day, $3 a month.
The Chairman. Does that price fluctuate much, that 10 cents a
day?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Did it which?
The Chairman. Did it fluctuate much, 8, 9, 10, or 11, or was it all
the same price, 10 cents?
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2907
Mr, Marvin Montgomery. All the same price, 10 cents a day, and
$4 Avork that you were told to do at the 1st of the month, so I always
got that off my chest the 1st of the month.
The Chairman. And how long did you stay there?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Nme months.
The Chairman. And dm'ing that time what work did you do?
Mr. Marvin jMontgomery. Well, I hoed beets some; hoed some
cotton, and I picked up spuds. That is principally the work that I
did.
The Chairman. Is your wife hving?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes; yes, sir.
The Chairman, And did she work any at all with you?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. No.
The Chairman. In the field?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. No, just me.
The Chairman. And the boys?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. And the girls. I have tw^o girls. I
just gotten one at home now. One of them is back in Oklahoma —
Tulsa.
The Chairman. And after living there 9 months, where did you go
then?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. I moved into one of the Federal
houses, in house 31.
The Chairman. That is a Farm Security camp?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. One of the farm camps?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. What do you pay there?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. $8.20 a month.
The Chairman. A month?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. What sort of a house have you?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. I have a two-room house.
The Chairman, Water and everything?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Water, lights, and everything; yes, sir;
and a little garden spot furnished.
The Chairman. And you are there now?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir. I am there now.
The Chairman. Are you satisfied, and the family?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, I reckon I am pretty well satis-
fied.
The Chairman. What are your ambitions? What are your hopes?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. W>11, if I had things hke I want, I
would rather be set up somewhere back on a farm, back ui the East.
I can't say that I Hke this country, but then there isn't anything back
in the East. I would rather be back on the farm, if you want to Imow.
I was born and raised on a farm; a farmer. That is what I like, I
raise hvestock and poultry and such of my own, you know.
Tlie Chairman, Yes; Mr. Montgomery. We have talked to wit-
nesses like you in New York and Alabama, Illinois, Nebraska, and
Oklahoma.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir.
260370— 41— pt. 7-
2908 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
The Chairman. And I would say that nearly 100 percent would
rather be back home on their own farms runnmg them, if they could
stay there, but there comes a time when you can't stay there.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, that is it.
The Chairman. The drought and wind and one thing and another;
the soil wearing out and you cannot stay there, so you start out?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. In other words, right now you feel that you are
doing for you and your family the best you can do?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. I certainly do, yes, sir.
The Chairman. Have you any criticism about the conduct of these
farm camps?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. No ; absolutely not.
The Chairman. You are treated all right?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. All right; no complaint.
The Chairman. How many at your camp? How many people in
the camp?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. In the camp?
The Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, I don't know just now just how
many is in there. The camp is not full, you know. There is 240
spaces, you know, in there; room for 240 tents and then the 40 houses.
The Chairman. How, Mr. Montgomery, do you graduate from a
tent to a house? You start in in a tent and then you work up to a
house? Is that the idea? Or how is it? What do you do about it?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, you want me to tell you how I
got my house?
The Chairman. I would like to hear it.
Air. Marvin Montgomery. I had been there and Bob Hardy was
camp manager at that time. Well, you know, when people start pay-
ing rent there in the camp, he had lots of trouble, you know, and
couldn't collect the rents hardly and people would move out — and do
now — they do that now sometimes. But always, at the first of the
month, I went down and paid my rent, you know, and done my 4
hours' work and got that off my mind so I could go ahead and do im^
other work.
Well, along about the first of August when people was putting in
applications for the houses, he come to me one day and he said, ''Mr.
Montgomery, why don't you put in an application for a house?"
Well, I said there wouldn't be any use for me to, I don't think, as
I haven't been here long enough.
"If you will put in application, I will do all I can to help get you in
there.''
So I went down and put in an application and I got one of the
houses. That is the way I got it. Mr. Hardy filled out and signed
the contract when it came in.
The Chairman. Mr. Montgomery, have you ever been on relief?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. Wliere?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Right there where I am living now,
Shafter, in that camp. I have been on relief.
The Chairman. How were you entitled to relief? You didn't live
there long enough, did you?
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2909
Mr. Sparkman. That is Farm Security.
The Chairman. Oh yes, Farm Security. You are not on State
rehef, are you? You are not on State rehef, you are on Farm Security
rehef?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, it is the State relief adminis-
tration, whatever you might call it.
The Chairman. Well, that is the State relief, the State relief
administration. How did you get by the residence requirements?
How long did you live there before you got relief?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. In one of the houses?
The Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, I was there about 4 months.
The Chairman. How much relief did you get a month?
Mr, Marvin Montgomery. Well, about $52 a month.
The Chairman. $52 a month?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. What I am trying to get in my mind is how you
were qualified, under the residence law. You weren't there long
enough. How long did you have to be there before you got State
relief. State relief administration?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, I don't know. The first relief
that I had was the Farm Security Administration.
The Chairman. I know.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. They transferred from the Farm Se-
curity Administration to the State relief administration at Bakersfield
and that is all I can tell you about it.
The Chairman. In other words, when you got it you didn't turn
it back, is that the idea? You were glad to get it and needed it?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir; I certainly was glad to get it.
The Chairman. Where do you claim your residence now? You are
a resident of the State of California?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir; I can vote here in California.
The Chairman. Have you voted?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir; I voted.
The Chairman. I noticed a decision at Woodland, Calif., the other
day, where the court held that you had a right to vote, don't you see.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. Tell me about you, son. You are 17?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. Wliat is your first name?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. Harvey.
The Chairman. How do you like this traveling around the comitry?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. I don't like it so well.
The Chairman. You don't like it. You would rather be back
home, would you?
Mr, Harvey Montgomery. I like California.
The Chairman. You like California? Are you going to school?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. No.
The Chairman, How long since you have gone to school?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. I went last year.
The Chairman. How long?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. All school term.
The Chairman. And what grade are 3^ou in?
2910 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Mr, Harvey Montgomery. I passed to the ninth.
The Chairman. Passed the ninth?
Mr. Sparkman. Passed to the ninth.
The Chairman. You passed to the ninth?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. ^Vliat do you intend to make out of yourself, .
Harvey?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. I guess just work on a farm.
The Chairman. Work on the farm?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. With dad?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. Do you remember Oklahoma?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. Would you rather go back there?
]Mr. Harvey Montgomery. No. I would rather stay out here.
The Chairman. And you and the family think that you are doing
the very best you can under the circumstances?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. Yes.
The Chairman. Waiting for something to break?
Mr. Harvey Montgomery. Yes, I guess so.
Mr. Sparkman. Two of your children are married, is that right?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. And you have four children at home?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes. Well, I have a grown boy who
once in a while eats at home, but who is most of the time off at work.
His name is Raymond. He is 24 years old.
Mr. Sparkman. Is Harvey the only one home regularly?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. And what are the ages of the others?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. The other bo^^s?
Mr. Sparkman. The other children.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. One is 15, you know; another one 16
months old. There is a little difference m their ages.
Mr. Sparkman. The one that is 15, is that a boy or a girl?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. A boy.
Mr. Sparkman. Well, that is three. Then there is another one?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. The girl, you know. She is 21.
Mr. Sparkman. Is she married?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. No.
Mr. Sparkman. You lived 9 months in a tent, is that right?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. Those tents are just one-room affairs?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, just in a tent.
Mr. Sparkman. And you paid 10 cents a day for that?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. And you paid $8.20 for the house?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. Now, Mr. Montgomery, Mr. Tolan was asking;
you about how you got the house. They require a certain annua!
income before they let you have the house, don't they?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir; supposed to.
Mr. Sparkman. Four or five or six hundred dollars, sometliing:
like that?
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2911
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir.
Mr. Sparkman. Now that is a two-room house with a garden plot?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir.
Mr. Sparkman. Do all your children work, except the baby?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. No. The other one goes to school.
He works when he is not in school.
Mr. Sparkman. He is 15?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Yes, sir. He is in school.
Mr. Sparkman. About this relief, you came to California in 1937,
is that right?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well now, it was '38 when I came in.
You know I stopped.
Mr. Sparkman. You stopped at Arizona?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. December 29, in '37, but then I
stopped at Eloy, Ariz., and picked cotton 5 weeks. It was February
8 when I crossed at Yuma.
Mr. Sparkman. When was it when you were transferred from the
Farm Security relief over to the State relief?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. The State relief administration?
Mr. Sparkman. Yes.
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. Well, I don't know as I could tell you.
Mr. Sparkman. Was it this year or last year?
Mr. Marvin Montgomery. It was last year.
Mr. Sparkman. I believe that is all.
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
(Witnesses excused.)
(The foUowing letter was later received, in regard to the above wit-
ness, from the Administrator of the California State Relief Adminis-
tration:)
California State Relief Administration,
Los Angeles, Calif., October 11, 1940.
Congressman John Tolan, tt^ 7 • rv ^
Tolan Committee, Congress of the United States, Washington, D. C.
My Dear Congressman Tolan: At a committee meeting held in Kern County
on September 28, a Mr. Marvin Montgomery appeared to give testimony. In
the course of this testimonv, according to newspaper reports, Mr. Montgomery
said he received aid from the Federal Farm Security Administration 1 week after
entering California 2 years ago. Four months later the family was transferred to
the State relief administration. There was some surprise expressed that Mr.
Montgomery so soon received State relief administration aid in view of the 1-year
residence requirement.
We asked our Kern County office for a clearance concerning this case, particu-
larly with regard to residence. We should like to give you a brief statement
which shows that the family was in this State slightly more than 1 year at the
time State relief administration accepted the case.
The family first made application for aid in May 1938 to the Farm Security
Administration and was accepted by them. They gave information that they
had entered California in Februarv 1938. The family was accepted by the State
relief administration on Februarv 22, 1939. However, we had had contact with
the children in .Julv 1938, when two of them requested National Youth Adminis-
tration certification. It would appear that Mr. Montgomery was in error when
he said that State relief administration accepted his application and granted relief
after he had been in the State 4 months.
We give you this information in order that your files on this case may be
complete.
Yours very truly, „ ^ -r.
S. G. RUBINOW,
Administrator.
2912 INTERSTATE MIGEATION
The Chairman. Mr. Schreiber.
TESTIMONY OF LAWRENCE C. SCHREIBER, CHIEF DEPUTY SUPER-
INTENDENT, DEPARTMENT OF CHARITIES, LOS ANGELES
COUNTY, CALIF.
Mr. Sparkman. Mr. Sclireiber, will you give your name and title
to the reporter, for the benefit of the record?
Mr. Schreiber. Lawrence C. Schreiber, S-c-h-r-e-i-b-e-r ; chief
deputy superintendent, department of charities, Los Angeles County.
Mr. Sparkman. Mr. Schreiber, have you submitted
Mr. Schreiber (interposing). I haven't personally submitted a
report, but the department of charities has submitted a series of
reports to the committee.
Mr. Sparkman. Yes. We have those. Suppose you just make a
statement as you wish.
Mr. Schreiber. Well, there is no particular statement, gentlemen,
that I wish to make other than that which already appears in your
records. I am here to answer any questions you might have to ask.
Mr. Sparkman. The Los Angeles Department of Charities, what is
the nature of that? Is it operated by the city?
Mr. Schreiber. No; the Los Ajigeles County Department of
Charities is operated by the county of Los Angeles.
Mr. Sparkman. It is a county association?
Mr. Schreiber. Yes; and it consists of four divisions — four operat-
ing divisions. There is the General Hospital which takes care of the
acutely ill ; the Olive View Sanitarium which takes care of tuberculars,
the poor farm which takes care of the infirm or incapacitated, and the
bureau of indigent relief which is again divided into two sections taking
care of general relief cases, aged, and dependent children, and the aid
of the needy blind and old-age security.
Mr. Sparkman. Is that the county set-up which ties in with the
social security?
Mr. Schreiber. Yes. That is a county set-up.
Mr. Sparkman. Is it a part of the State relief administration?
Mr. Schreiber. No. It has no connection whatever with the
State relief administration.
Mr. Sparkman. You have two separate — you have a separate wel-
fare department to handle social security matters and then you have
a separate State relief association, is that right?
Mr. Schreiber. I don't know whether I quite get your question.
Mr. Sparkman. I am trying to get this in my mind. You have two
separate agencies to handle those different functions. One is a State
relief association which handles direct relief with no connection with
the Federal Government?
Mr. Schreiber. Well, let me explain it this way: Within the bureau
of indigent relief of the department of '^harities we have two divisions
that are within the bureau, the one division handling our general relief
cases, that is, the unemployable unemployed, and the cases which are
composed of State aid to the needy children; then in the other division
of the bureau of indigent relief, all operating within the department of
charities, we care for those persons who qualify for old-age security
and aid to the needy blind. It is, however, one division, one bureau
of the department of charities.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2913
Now then again, in Los Angeles County, we have an office of the
State relief administration which, of course, is entirely different; an
entirely dift"erent organization, caring for the employable unemployed.
Mr. Sparkman. Oh, I see. You take care of the relief cases for the
unemployable unemployed?
Mr. ScHREiBER. That is correct.
Mr. Sparkman, And the State relief association handles those that
are employable?
Mr. ScHREiBER. That is right.
Mr. Sparkman. Is it a very heavy load that you are called on to
carry?
Mr. Schreiber. Well, the department of charities at the present
time has approximately 100,000 cases.
Mr. Sparkman. That is in Los Angeles County?
Mr. Schreiber. That is including all categories of relief.
Mr. Sparkman. In this county?
Mr. Schreiber. In this county; yes, sir.
Mr. Sparkman. Do you run into the migrant problem very much,
or are yours principally your regular and long-time residents?
Mr. Schreiber. No. As a general thing I would imagine that the
State relief administration is faced with a greater problem in connec-
tion with migrants than the department of charities. However, it
is a problem to us because, as you have noticed in the report, there
are approximately 220 or 225 cases that we have to turn away, per
month, who are unemployable and who do not qualify under the
residence laws of the State of California, and a very much larger
number than that, 1 imagine, would be turned away by the State
relief administration.
residence laws
Mr. Sparkman. Mr. Schreiber, you mentioned the residence laws
of California. We have run into difficulty with that every place
M^e have been. We find, just as we learned in connection with some
witnesses we had here this morning, coming away from their home
States, they usually lose their residence after the lapse of a year.
In fact, if they corne away with the intention of establishing them-
selves elsewhere, they lose it immediately, and yet we find a tendency
on the part of so many of the States to set the required time to acquire
residence very high, up as high as 5 years which I believe is the maxi-
mum under the social-security law. I wonder if you have any sug-
gestions or thoughts to give to us regarding that great variance in
residence requirements, and particularly that 2-, 3-, or 4-year gap
there during which time a person is not a resident, technically speak-
ing, of any State and is not entitled to rehef from any State whatso-
ever.
^Ir. Schreiber. Yes. We have given considerable thought to
that, and it seems that about the only way that something really
constructive could be accomplished along that line, and quickly,
would be through a Federal participation in the entire program.
It would, it seems to me, at least, be impossible, through influence
or pressure or any other method to get all States in the Union to adopt
uniform settlement laws or uniform residence laws in order to qualify
for relief, but there is the possibility — and that has been proven
through the Social Security Act, such as the old-age pension and the
2914 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
aid for the needy blind — that if the Federal Government were to step
into the program and, in participation with the States, set up a pro-
gram in which both the State and the Federal Government would
participate, the Federal Government by regulation setting up certain
standards and certain residence requirements — in other words, for
each State to qualify for the aid that would be given by the Federal
Government — that is the only and quickest way to effect what I
think you gentlemen are attempting to accomplish.
Now, along with that, of course, in order to make it impossible —
or not impossible, but at least possible to set up again another category
of relief in the United States that would be setting back just living on
relief — -it seems to me that it would be necessary to establish a uniform
employment service sponsored by the Federal Government to influence
and control the flow and market — the flow of labor and the market
over the United States — and it seems to me at this time that is about
the only possible chance of arriving at a quick solution.
The Chairman. Well, thank you, Mr. Schreiber. We appreciate
your appearance here very much. We are pretty well hooked up with
your views, don't you see, in our records throughout the case. Thank
you very much.
(Witness excused.)
The Chairman. Mr. McCarthy.
TESTIMONY OF JAMES PATRICK McCARTHY, LOS ANGELES,
CALIF.
The Chairman. Your name is James McCarthy?
Mr. McCarthy. James Patrick McCarthy; yes, sir.
The Chairman. Well, Mr. McCarthy, where are you living now?
Mr. McCarthy. At 2720 South Raymond, Los Angeles.
The Chairman. And where were you born?
Mr. McCarthy. Winchester, Va.
The Chairman. Wlien?
Mr. McCarthy. March 13, 1896.
The Chairman. You are 44 years old?
Mr. McCarthy. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Did you live with your family there after that?
Mr. McCarthy. No, sir. I was born there and my mother and
father went to St. Louis, Mo. I lost my mother at the age of 18
months. Then I never saw my father until I received word of his
death in 1920, and then I didn't get to see him because he died in
New Jersey.
The Chairman. Well, who did you stay with, Jim?
Mr. McCarthy. Well, after my mother died I stayed with my aunt
up until I was 11 years old, when my aunt moved away. From there
on I was practically on my own.
Then when the duration of the war came out I enlisted for the
duration of the war and stayed in after I came out. I just had taken
up athletic work, been traveling around the country with different
show organizations and meeting all comers in different places up until
'33. From '33 I got married — in '33 — and then I worked in and
around Philadelphia, in and out of there up until 1937. I got with a
show again and I came out, started west, working with shows all the
way out.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2915
The Chairman. How long were you in the war?
Mr. McCarthy. I was in for the duration of the war.
The Chairman. The duration?
Mr. McCarthy. Yes.
The Chairman. Were you in any battles over there?
Mr. McCarthy. No. I was on this side.
The Chairman. On this side?
Mr. McCarthy. Yes.
The Chairman. But you were in the entire time?
Mr. McCarthy. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Are you drawing any pension?
Mr. McCarthy. No.
The Chairman. Wliy?
Mr. McCarthy. I haven't that much disabiUty.
The Chairman. Are you not getting any disabihty compensation?
Mr. McCarthy. No, sir. I am not getting any disability com-
pensation at all.
The Chairman. No service-connected disability?
Mr. McCarthy. No. I don't have any service-connected disa-
bility at all.
The Chairman. I see. Was anything ever done about it?
Mr. McCarthy. No, sir.
The Chairman. You have a trouble, angina pectoris?
Mr. McCarthy. That is what they claim. I have never had any
indications of it. I just got a preliminary examination at the General
Hospital and the doctor out there just asked a few questions. He
just went over me slightly w4th a stethoscope. He asked "What is
your ailment?"
"None so far as I know, only a slight cold and possibly a few chest
things once in a while."
That was all that was said. I was only stripped dowTi as far as
my waist. He never asked me any more questions after that.
Then, when I came back — I will bring the story out plain — the
first, the starting of it, was that after my wife's second child was
born, my wife came home from the hospital. Well then, I had an
order to go into the W. P. A., which I fulfilled the order and went to
work on the W. P. A. Then my wife taken sick and had to go to
bed with the baby and I had another small boy, 20 months old now.
I couldn't walk out and leave them. I inquired for a housekeeper
at the W. P. A. Well, they sent me one out and she stayed a day
and a half and walked off. I couldn't go to work. I couldn't walk
out and leave my wife and baby and small boy in the house by them-
selves. I stayed off the usual 5 days and the wife got better and then
I went out to report back on the job and I got a dismissal for 5 days'
absence.
Well, then, they referred me back to the S. R. A. Well, 1 went
back to the S. R. A. and I made contact there. They told me at
the time to go out to the General Hospital for this examination.
Well, I went out for an examination, and that is the report that they
got on the examination. Well, when I reported back to the lady in
charge, the supervisor, why then she informed me that she had to
transfer me, that I was totally unemployable and the S. R. A. had to
have one employable member in the family, and my wife being with
2916 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
a nursing baby, she was unemployable, and I was declared totally
unemployable. They turned my case over to the county.
Well, that was on the 21st of June — not June, pardon me — the
21st of August. Well, I stayed on the county then and went down
and reported down there and got back on the county.
Well, in the meantime, by going down to Eighth and Wilson and
applying for reemployment on the W. P. A., I received another work
order. Well, immediately when I got the work order I went down to
the county agent and told him that I got a work order to go to work
on the W. P. A., and then they said, "We will stop your case right
now. Go to work with the W. P. A."
I started to go to work and when I got out there I found the order
was canceled by me being totally unemployable. They sent me back
down to the county. Well, then they advised me, asked me did I
want to go back to the State of Pennsylvania. I told them that I
didn't think I could establish residence back in the State of Pennsyl-
vania because, under this, I hadn't been there long enough at one
time to establish residence.
Well, then, they kept me on until the 25th of this month, on the
county. Then they give me a grocery order at intervals each week.
That was $5.27 a week. At the end of each week I went down to get
grocery orders. I got the acceptance last time. I went down after
the grocery order, on the day it was due, and they told me that I was
cut completely off.
The Chairman. And you are off now entirely?
Air. McCarthy. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. You have a wife and two children?
Mr. McCarthy. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. How old are the children?
Mr. McCarthy. One is 4 years and the other 20 months.
The Chairman. Well, then, what are you living on now?
Mr. McCarthy. Nothing right now; got to do the best I can until
I can get straightened out.
The Chairman. Do the best you can and keep on praying?
Mr. McCarthy. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. You were a boxer, too, weren't you?
Mr. McCarthy. Yes; I have fought some professional fighters.
That was long before they became champions, like Mickey Walker,
The Chairman. What is your weight?
Mr. McCarthy. My weight is 191.
The Chairman. Is that it now?
Mr. McCarthy. Yes.
The Chairman. You haven't lost any weight, perceptibly, have
you?
Mr. McCarthy. No, sir; I have not.
The Chairman. You consider yourself a well man, do you?
Mr. McCarthy. Yes, sir; I can get out. I am a painter by trade
and I can get out and I can pull a swing up four or five stories and
work there all day, or I can work at any height. I can do any hard
floor work. I specialize in refinishing floors. That is pretty hard
work. You get a pretty tired body when you are working at it.
Then I am around colors all the time, mixing colors.
The Chairman. You look hke a pretty healthy man to me. I
would hate to tangle with you.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2917
Mr. McCarthy. I am pretty good. , tt • j
The Chairman. You have traveled a good deal around the United
States, haven't you?
Mr. McCarthy. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Now, how did you travel with the children and the
wife?
Mr. McCarthy. As soon as I found out that the children were
going to come — that is the first one — I immediately got a job with
the United States engineers. That is when they had it here in Los
Angeles, working on the river project. I got a job there and it lasted
4 months.
Well, after that, why I had a little surplus money to go on. I went
on until November of 1938 and I found out my wife was in the con-
dition she was — she slipped and she fell on a pair of steps — well
then I seen I would have to have a doctor. That was my only out,
right at the time, not having the money I had to apply for relief.
I applied for rehef and got what they call transient aid. That was
up until— from November until around the 13th of March. It was
on my birthday. I was lucky enough to get a job with the Griffith
Construction Co., as night watchman.
Well, I went down and reported to the relief and had myself cut off
of relief and I went to work then. Then that job continued for a
couple of months. In the meantime I moved from Fremont, that is
in Los Angeles County, to Huntington Park.
In the meantime I kept in contact with the State employment office.
Well, as it happened, I was lucky out there. There was a veteran in
charge there, a pretty decent sort of a fellow, and he looked after the
veterans very exclusively. He kept m contact with all the jobs that
came in there available, and the veterans got them if it was possible
they could do it. I kept that up until I thmk it was in January of
'39 and then I found that I was unable to get any more work, and
work was pretty slack, and I went back on relief. They gave me a
year's residence requirement at the time, reopened my case and put
me back on relief.
Then, after that, I stayed on relief up until they transferred me to
the W. P. A. and that is when this other trouble started.
The Chairman. Well, what I am concerned with is your future,
Mr. McCarthy. Did you ever make application to the Veterans'
Administration for Federal compensation?
Mr. McCarthy. At one time, and that was in '34 and I was turned
down. I didn't have enough disability at that tune. At that tune I
think they required 25 percent disability.
The Chairman. We passed a bill recently reducing that dowTi to 10
percent. Did you know about that?
Mr. McCarthy. No, I didn't Imow about that. I never made
application since then. .
The Chairman. I would be glad to have you write either Con-
gressman Sparkman or myself, at Washington, about that, and ask,
under the new law, where you might fit in. Be sure and teU us just
what they did with your prior application and give us your case
number, if possible, don't you see?
Mr. McCarthy. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. There might be some light ahead there.
2918 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Mr. McCarthy. I made connections with the service bureau here..
I belong to the United States Engineer Post of the Legion here. I
have made connections through there and they are trying to get
my medical record out from the W. P. A. and the S. R. A. and after
they get that, why then they can speedily take my case up with the
authorities at Sawtelle and from then on they will continue taking
the case as it stands.
Mr. Sparkman. I have no questions.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Mr. McCarthy. If we can
help you out at any time, you just write us.
(Witness excused.)
The Chairman. Dr. Stewart.
TESTIMONY OF DR. WENDY STEWART, COUNCIL OF SOCIAL
AGENCIES OF LOS ANGELES, LOS ANGELES, CALIF.
Mr. Sparkman. What is your name?
Dr. Stewart. Dr. Wendy Stewart. I am appearing in connection
with the report from the legislative committee, division of family
welfare, Council of Social Agencies of Los Angeles.
Mr. Sparkman. Dr. Stewart, we understand that you are represent-
ing a group of private organizations comprising the Council of Social
Agencies of Los Angeles. I wonder if you would tell us something
about the functions of your organization.
RELIEF TO migrants BY PRIVATE AGENCIES
Dr. Stewart. Well, I might say this: That the Council of Social
Agencies includes representation from both the public and private
agencies, but that we have the most problems, perhaps, as to what
the private agency can do in order to fill in the gaps that the public
agencies cannot take care of.
As has been brought out in the evidence before you already, there
are many situations concerning the migrant where, under the law, the
public agency is not enabled to take care of persons who need assist-
ance, and that type of case necessarily applies to a private agency in
the hope that somethmg can be done.
I might say that my personal interest in the migrant problem, and
knowledge of it, goes back now some 7 years, to 1934, at which time,
as you know, there were available Federal Emergency Relief Adminis-
tration funds. We had committees tliat were committees of citizens
to consider how the funds should be disbursed and what cases should
receive aid, and I was a member of one of those committees at that
time.
Subsequently I continued my interest in the migrant problem,
largely through activities with the various committees of the Council
of Social Agencies, I might say particularly with one committee that
we had, to take into consideration the problem as it relates to the
transient, and then subsequent to that I have been acting with a
committee on social legislation which, of course, as part of its problem,
has to take into consideration legislation that affects the transient.
The report that has been submitted gives statistics, I think, that
indicate that there are approximately 1,000 at least — and probably
a good deal more than that — 1,000 cases a month in this locality that
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2919
cannot be dealt with under the present existmg laws by public
assistance.
Mr. Sparkman. Is that caused by the residence requirements?
Dr. Stewart. That is caused primarily by the residence require-
ments and the difficulties that there have been with legislation in
applying it to these individuals.
Mr. Sparkman. Now let me ask you this: Suppose that a person
can't get public assistance and applies to some private agency and
obtains private assistance, does not that stand as an obstacle toward
that person getting public assistance later? In other words, under
requirements that they must have resided here so long without any
assistance from these private or public agencies?
Dr. Stewart. Without any assistance from anyone other than a
legally responsible relative.
Mr. Sparkman. What are some of these private agencies, just in
order that I might have some idea?
Dr. Stewart. Well, there are quite a number, of course, such as
the Travelers Aid Society, the Salvation Army, the Midnight Mission,
and there are a large number of them whose names I wouldn't be able
to recall just at this moment. There are a number to whom these
applications for assistance are made, and, of course, primarily, the
private agency is designed to give assistance to the people other than
financial aid. In other words, the idea of giving financial aid by a
private agency is really only incidental to a social case work approach
to the problem. They don't have such finances that they can take
a family the same way that a public budget could, and supply relief
to that family over a sustained period of time. They just give tempo-
rary aid to assist a family over an emergency situation or something
of that kind and they are not designed in any way by their financing
to replace the public agency, all of which comes back once more, of
course, to the problem of residence laws.
Mr. Sparkman. Are these budgets of the private agencies raised
through subscription or the community chest or what?
Dr. Stewart. There are two groups of private agencies; those
which do have membership in the community chest here which means
that they are financed by a general drive where the general public
contributes to a general fund, which is then allocated to give the
agencies their proportion, and then there are also certain private
agencies which do not have any subscription or any membership in
the community chest and who solicit their funds direct from the
members of the public, but in no instance is the budget enough to deal
with the cases which are not covered, under present legislation, by
the public.
Mr. Sparkman. Do these private agencies have any residence re-
quirements at all?
Dr. Stewart. As far as a private agency is concerned, the private
agency is free to take care of whatever it considers a suitable case.
Mr. Sparkman. I understand the principal distinction is this: That
the public agency is looking primarily to administering to the needs
of the person, the physical needs, whereas the private agencies regard
them as social cases, and the physical needs are incidental thereto.
Is that right or not?
Dr. Stewart. I think one might put it this way: A public agency,
of course, is bound by the legal standpoint as to the circumstances
2920
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
under which a person can be given financial aid, and if a case comes to
the public agencies seeking financial aid, but is not eligible for it under
the residence requirements, the public agency, unless they can get it
under some emergency clause in the legislation, is powerless to act
further with that individual case — that is, they couldn't go outside of
the scope of the legislation — whereas a private agency, not being bound
by that, is bound essentially by the policy set up by the board of
directors, and, therefore, can do as it sees fit, as sodal case work or
giving financial aid where it is deemed desirable.
Mr. Sparkman. Do the public agencies refer cases to you that they
cannot handle?
Dr. Stewart. Public agencies refer cases to the private agencies.
Mr. Sparkman. When I say "to you" I mean to the private agency.
Dr. Stewart. When you say "referring to me" of course I am not
primarily in the social work field, except as being interested in the
legal standpoint, and the information I am giving you is more back-
ground of the angle of legislation than anything else.
Mr. Sparkman. I have read your paper, the paper that has been
submitted, and there is some reference made in there to a survey by
the Council of Social Agencies on nonresidence that was made in 1938.
I am asking you, was there a significant number of persons, as a result
of that survey, who did not quahfy for relief of either public or private
agencies?
Dr. Stewart. Well, I think I might say that from the standpomt
of pubUc agencies there was a large number of people who did not
quahfy; from the standpoint of the private agency it wouldn't be
quite correct to say they did not qualify. As I have indicated, the
private agency is not bound by qualification rules, but I could say
that they couldn't possibly be taken in by the existmg budgets of the
private agencies. ••no
Mr. Sparkman. What was the type of those people principally.''
Dr. Stewart. That I wouldn't know as a matter of personal knowl-
edge.
Mr. Sparkman. They weren't destitute?
Dr. Stewart. They were the people for whom nothing could be
done by a public agency because of a technical residence problem.
Mr. Sparkman. Now take the people who cannot be reached by
either. Wliat happens to them?
Dr. Stewart. Well, we haven't, of course, what I would call direct
knowledge. It has always been one of our difficulties that people who
don't understand the problems have said, in effect, when you have
stringent legislation that cuts people off by relief laws, by raising your
residence requirements, your problem disappears in that public money
does not get paid out.
Now obviously, unless you had some kind of a follow-up as to what
happened to these particular families in the way of costing, ultimately,
more money through police protection and delinquencies and things of
that kind, we don't have any way of knowing what does happen to
them, except you can predict generally the type of thing that might
happen to them. It is not tangible. It is something that has been
the subject matter of factual finding, and is at the present time.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2921
HEALTH PROBLEMS
Mr. Sparkman. Wliat did your survey show as to health problems?
Dr. Stewart. Well, it shows, of course, that in many instances
even the people within a given community were hampered by their
own legislation in protecting themselves against diseases brought in
by the migrant. They would have regulations that would make it
impossible to admit to a hospital, in some instances, a migrant indi-
vidual even who had an infectious disease, and in some cases they
couldn't be admitted now in many instances. Of course, that was
covered by emergency legislation that said in the case of an emer-
gency you could admit a person to local hospitals, but there were
some communities that didn't have that and had the strange policy
of not even protecting themselves against the infectious disease of
the migrant.
Mr. Sparkman. Wliat part do private agencies play in supplying
medical aid to these cases that come to their attention?
Dr. Stewart. I don't believe that I am equipped to answer that
again, excepting by referring 3''ou back to the information in the
written report. That is something which is primarily not of my
own knowledge.
Mr. Sparkman. Do you, or the organizations that you represent,
have any suggestions or recommendations to make to this committee
as to how the problems confronting these nonresidents can be met?
Dr. Stewart. Yes; I tliink we have. I think it comes back, of
course, to sa3nng that presumably froin the facts that have been laid
before you it is apparent that the problem is of sufficient magnitude
to warrant something being done about it.
The next question, as to what should be done, comes down to
recognizing that probably the problem has two parts, the one angle
of what can be done by legislation and the other the necessity — ^in
order to get the proper legislation and have it carried out, by way of
public opinion — of studied knowledge as to what the facts actually are.
Mr. Sparkman. Then, of course, of big concern to this committee
is the further question, with reference to legislation, as to what part
of it is the obligation of the Federal Government and what part
should be borne by the State and local governments.
suggested revisions of settlement laws
Dr. Stewart. Well, I think we come back there, of course, to the
observations which have already been made here, about the so-called
problem of uniform settlement laws, and we at once come up, of
course, against the fact that Congress is only empowered to act by
a grant of power and can't make a unifoiTn settlement law, and can
only do as has been done in other Federal social security phases, and
that is make an inducement to the States — offer some kind of aid —
the Federal Government offering, as an inducement, either 100 percent
or a certain percentage of the amount that would be spent as aid,
provided that the State comply with certain requirements which, of
course, does not give you a uniform settlement law but will give you a
minimum which the States must meet.
The Chairman. Right there, Doctor, if I can interrupt you: The
Congress of the United States cannot say to California, and the other
2922 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
States, "You make a 1 -year residence law, or a 5-year residence law."
They have no jurisdiction to do that. But when they give these
grants and aids to the State, jurisdiction follows the dollar and they
can say under what conditions that grant will be made and therefore
taking care of the residence law, can they?
Dr. Stewart. Yes; they can.
The Chairman. Just like the social security?
Dr. Stewart. Exactly. Now I think it is quite important to add
several things there that should be brought out, and that the State
should be required to comply with, and I think these things are actual
items that have come out from practical experience here and in
other places.
That is, of course, first, there should be a Umit as to the length
of time that should be required for so-called legal settlement in the
individual States; secondly, that in taking into account the period of
self-support that would be necessary it is wise, I think, to recognize
that a person who has a reasonable claim on some kind of relief might
not have been self-supporting, say, for the entire 2-year period. It
may have been, say, for 20 months out of the 2 years, or something of
that nature, and it is not very fair, it seems to me, to penalize the
person who may have been out of work for a month and got some
work at the end of the time.
Another thing I think that has to be taken into consideration rather
definitely is that angle of the situation where the residence is dependent
upon the situation of the person moving from the place where he has
had residence moving to a place where a residence has not been gained,
and whose residence has been lost in another State, by providing it
will not be lost in one place and gained in another. I think the final
point which is of importance — I don't think it has been stressed as
much as it should be from the standpoint of family welfare — has been
putting something into that legislation from the standpoint of the
person whose residence is dependent on that of somebody else.
Now, there are two phases of that. One, of course, is the problem
that we have had come up repeatedly, where a married woman's
residence is legally supposed to be that of her husband. We had an
interesting California case of a girl born here; when she was 25 she
was married and the man deserted her the next day and she thereby
became a transient unable to have relief , because of a legal technicality.
The other important phase, of course, in many instances is where
the law — and I think this is a most important feature — makes the
residence of a minor child the residence of the father. That works
a great many hardships in the instance where a court order has given
custody to tiie mother. There, in many mstances, you have a strange
situation. If the mother keeps the chUd with her she thereby makes
the child ineligible to receive any kind of assistance. If, on the other
hand, the only way of getting assistance is by giving up her child —
the custody of the child — she sends the child to the father, that
situation gives us things which don't seem to work out very well.
It seems to me that those items, at least, should be included in the
particular things that the States should have to meet in order to be
eligible to whatever aid Congress would offer by way of Federal
assistance.
Mr. Sparkman. This is a little aside from your testimony but, of
course, the very things you have mentioned assume that the Federal
The photographs on this and the following pages relate to testimony
taken on the Pacific coast, at San Francisco and Los Angeles and were
furnished by photographers for the Forest Service and the Farm
Security Administration of the Department of Agriculture and
accepted for the record by the committee.
Reference is made to testimony in Parts 6 and 7 of these Hearings.
This camp is occupied by the same families the year round, on and off relief. Photo taken in AiuU rJlO,
near Shatter, Calif.
2922-A
Meeting of the camp council, the governing body of the migratory labor camp near Farmersville, Calif.
Meeting of the Mother's Club in Arvea migratory labor camp in November 1938.
2922-B
'Jtie lirsi family in iocalf iii Ihe Wesiley migratory labor camp in (California, in 19:iy. They are from
Oklahoma.
Nurse uf the Agricultural Workers' Health and Medical Association clinic at Farmersville, Calif,
dressing the injured arm of migrant boy. May 1939.
2922- C
Kern County camp at Shatter, now occupied largely by families on relief, who abandoned "following the
crops" and are trying to establish a semipermanent home. Photo made in April 1940.
Scene on the All-.\merican Canal, near Coachella, Calif., talveu m May 1938. See next page.
2fj22-F
S2
2922- O
*J|!cf*
Land iiiade ready for irrigation near Calexieo, Calif. June 1939.
Irrigation canal near Yuma. Desert land on the near side of canal, irrigated field beyond.
2922-n
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2923
Government is going to make some kind of a grant to the State in
connection with this work. I am just curious to know what your
thought is as to how those grants should be made, whether on the
basis of matching by the State or on a basis of need regardless of
financial ability to match it.
Dr. Stewart. I am wondering whether the answer to that question
wouldn't be a matter of balancing out what might be the ideal against
what I call political expediency. In other words, I don't think that
there is any particular point in working for the ideal legislation if
you don't think it will be acceptable to the representatives of a suffi-
cient number of the States. If you want to get an improvement in
your legislation, you would have to see how far toward the ideal you
can go and still have a sufficient number of representatives of the
different States agreeable so they would vote for this legislation.
You, being in Congress, would know the answer to that a great deal
better than I would.
Mr. Sparkman. In other words, you agree with me that as a matter
of right you should be on a basis of need rather than on the ability
to match?
Dr. Stewart. I am not absolutely certain how far I would be
quite sure of that without examining into a number of factors. I do
rely, of course — and I think this is a fair statement to make — on
the fact that some of the States are very hard hit by the number of
transients who go to them. On the other hand, possibly they should
expect to support a certain amount of that load themselves. In
other words, I don't follow the theory at aU that a State should come
to Congress asking for everything and giving nothing. I don't see
how the States can expect the other States to be willing to fall in line
with a legislation of that type.
Mr. Sparkman. Well, of course, in framing the question I didn't
have in mind simply the relief to be given to the migrant problem,
but I was thinking of the whole scope of the Federal assistance to the
States in caring for these problems that we do recognize as national.
That is all, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you very much. Doctor.
(Witness excused.)
The Chairman. We will take a short recess.
(At this point a short recess was taken, after which proceedings
were resumed as follows:)
The Chairman. The committee will come to order, please.
Rev. Clarence Wagner, please,
TESTIMONY OF THE REV. CLARENCE WAGNER, LOS ANGELES,
CALIF.
The Chairman. You are the Rev. Clarence Wagner?
Mr. Wagner. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. And what is your address?
Mr. Wagner. Los Angeles; 7100 Wilson Avenue.
The Chairman. I have read your statement, Mr. Wagner, and I
don't know whether it is a compliment to me or to you, but it seems
to me that we speak each other's language in regard to this migrant
problem. Your statement will be in«5erted in the record at this point,
and then we should like to ask you some questions.
260370 — 41 — pt. 7 9
2924 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
(The statement is as follows:)
STATEMENT BY THE REV. CLARENCE WAGNER, PASTOR, FLORENCE
AVENUE METHODIST CHURCH, LOS ANGELES, CALIF., AND
CHAIRMAN MINISTERIAL MIGRANTS COMMITTEE.
The Effect of Interstate Migration on California Community Life
Following the drought of 1935 in the Dust Bowl, hundreds of thousands of
destitute small farmers and tenant farmers were faced with the alternative of
starvation or migration. Hundreds of thousands of them chose migration and
moved west.
The Migrants Cooperating Council ' support the right of these men and women
to move from one State to another in search of a better life. We believe that this
is in the finest tradition of a free America.
Inevitably, however, certain social and economic problems have arisen as a
result of this giant migration. These problems have followed the trail of migra-
tory workers as they moved westward. They exist at the end of this trail in
California.
It is the function of the Migrants Cooperating Council and each of its members
to prevent, alleviate, or remedy these social and economic problems, each in
the manner it feels most effective. They have combined to present here a com-
mon statement of conditions as they see them and a common program for improv-
ing these conditions.
Migration. — Perhaps the most fundamental problem of the migratory worker
is the wide discrepancy between the labor supply and the labor market. The
United States Department of Agriculture estimates that 200,000 laborers are
required to harvest California's crops at peak season. There are no exact statis-
tics available on the number of Dust Bowl refugees who have come to California
since 1935. Estimates vary from 350,000 to half a million. The problem of
unemployment is therefore acute.
In view of this, we must ask why these people left their homelands to look for a
doubtful livelihood in California. We cannot, of course, overlook the strong
appeal of California's fertile soil and highly advertised climate. But these cannot
be considered fundamental reasons for the exodus of 1935 to 1940. California's
climate and soil existed with the same appeal before those years but few of the
Midwest farmers tore their deep roots out of their native soil to move west.
The real answer to this question is twofold. These people had no choice.
Relief in Oklahoma, for example, runs under $4 per month for a family. It is only
slightly higher in Arkansas. Faced with a living standard such as this, even the
ties of heritage cannot hold a people to their homes. The reason they come to
California is of course, in part, that California seems to offer a higher living
standard. 2 More important, however, was the promise of employment advertised
through handbills put out by labor contractors telling of thousands of jobs avail-
able.^
Therefore, it is our conviction that a program of relief should be undertaken
by the Federal Government which will stabilize relief standards in the various
States. Such a program would involve an extension of existing agencies such as
the Farm Security Administration and an equitable minimum relief standard for
all States.
Such a program would discourage mass migration in the only legitimate way;
through making it possible to remain at home.
With regard to the exaggerated promise of employment, we feel that the
Federal Employment Service, in collaboration with State employment agencies,
1 Migrants Cooperating Council comprised of: Committee to Aid Agricultural Workers, represented by
Patricia Killoran; Methodist Men, Mr. L. E. Martin; Migrant Committee of the United Church Women,
Mrs. C. C. Douglas; Fellowship of Reconciliation, Harold Hull; Women's International League for Peace
and Freedom, Mrs. Alice Gilbert; Friends Service and Epworth League, Rev. Herman Beimfohr and
John Wav; president of Migrants Cooperating Council, Dwight Hughes.
2 Any comparison of relief standards has to be made in terms of wealth. California contains approxi-
mately 5 percent of the pojiulation of the United States. California's expenditure for all types of social
welfare and relief in January and February of 1939 was 6.5 percent of the national total. U. S. Department
of Commerce estimated that California received 7.3 percent of the national wealth. Because there is a
greater per capita distribution of wealth in California it necessarily follows that relief standards can and
should be higher in California than for a State with a lower per capita distribution of wealth (Carey Mc-
Williams, Hollywood Citizen News, January 1940).
3 Copies of these handbills may be found in the Farm Security Administration offices in San Francisco^
Calif.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2925
should make available all information as regards labor requirements in given areas;
this information to include an assured wage.
Practically, this could be accomplished through the appointment of one repre-
sentative of the Federal Employment Service to operate in each State in con-
junction with the State employment service and with the Federal operators in
other States.
Immediate relief.— It has become almost axiomatic that one-third of our Nation
or more is ill-housed, ill-clothed and ill-fed. Of this third, no other group is more
destitute than the migrant agricultural workers. Dr. Dickie, director of the
California State Department of Public Health, said "Of first importance is the
provision of adequate food for these migratory families." The lack of food, the
lack of adequate housing, the lack of shoes in the winter — these things mean
sickness.
Both as citizens of California and members of committees to bring relief to these
people, we contend that the problem of health among the migratory families is a
vital one to the State and Federal Governments.
The average wage of the migrant family falls below $300 per year. Almost half
of this is required in the upkeep of their automobile, the most essential posses-
sion. These soil farmers must buy their food in stores, since there is no land
available for them. Malnutrition is inevitable. Lack of adequate medical care
is inevitable. Chronic illnesses and disease accumulate until they become a
serious rnenace, not only to the migratory population as a whole but to the entire
community. These people are often herded into crowded, unsanitary camps, and
the spread of disease is rapid and difficult to control. Dr. Omar Mills, speaking
at the 1938 convention of the California League of Municipalities, stated:
"Particular types of health problems develop out of the mobility, the living and
sanitary conditions, and the economic status of this group. Among these are the
easy and rapid spread of communicable diseases; the prevalence of sickness caused
by unsanitary living conditions; the high incidence of diseases traceable to mal-
nutrition; and a general neglect of health due to poverty and to ineligibility for
State and county aid."
"Disease," writes Victor Jones in Transients and Migrants ^ "is no respecter of
county boundary lines, especially when its carriers cross them several times a
year." Smallpox, typhoid, tuberculosis are all common to the migrant workers.
Li 1938 smallpox was cariied from the San Joaquin Valley to the Imperial Valley
by agricultural workers, and typhoid was carried back from Imperial to Kern
County. In 1936 approximately 90 percent of the reported cases of typhoid
fever in California occurred among rural agricultural workers. ^
Therefore, we believe that the Farm Security Administration housing projects
should be extended immediately. This should include the establishment of
community camps in areas where short-season crops prevail and an extension of
the Farm Security mobile units. Along with this, the health units should be
extended along the lines of the Farm Security Administration's low-cost medical
program.
In counties which have 3-ycar residence requirements for relief, the Federal
and State Government must see that adequate health protection is offered tran-
sients until they are eligible for county aid.
Collective bargaiving. — American crops must be harvested. We must rely on
human hands to do this harvesting. These problems will exist in a greater or
lesser degree unsolved until the people who do the harvesting receive a living
wage for their work. Therefore we support them in their efforts to obtain a
better life through the organization into a union of their own choosing for the
purpose of collective bargaining with their employers. Consequently, we urge
the extension of all srcial gains made by urban workers to the workers of rural
areas, such as the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, Social Security,
unemployment insurance, etc.
Long-range program. — Agricultural employment offered by California is seasonal
in nature, leaving long periods during which the work available cannot possibly
take care of any but a negligible amount of migrant workers. This is indicated
by the tremendous increase in State relief agency case loads which is noted to
begin in September, continuing through until spring.
Coupled with this is the fact that there are more migrant families in California
than can possibly be maintained by California crops, even in peak season.
* Published by the Bureau of Public Administration, University of CaJifornia.
' Weekly Bulletin, California State Department of Health, p. 139.
2926 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Therefore, it is our conviction that no solution of this problem can possibly be
envisaged which does not contain a program with a view toward resettling these
families; toward stabilizing their incomes and their general contribution to the
communities as a whole. We strongly urge that such a program be presented,
including an extension of large-scale cooperative farms on productive lands, such
as the Salt River and Visalia projects. In addition, the Federal Government
should expand the subsistence farm program of the Farm Security Administration
with a view to settling families on land from which they may draw enough by
their own efforts to sustain themselves between periods of employment.
Along with such a program, we feel that an extension and a bringing into large-
scale operation of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenancy Act to enable the migrant
workers to work and purchase land under reasonable rates of interest is highly
advisable.
The great majority of California's migratory workers are completely without
voting rights. This is due to the transient nature of their work, along with the
extremely low standard of wages prevailing in agriculture, which make it impos.^ible
for the migrants to remain in a county for the 3-month period required to attain
voting privileges.
Agriculture is the main industry of California. By numerical count, the migra-
tory agricultural worker makes up the largest group employed in the maintenance
of that industry. That this group should have no voice in the democratic processes
of the State and Federal Government we consider as representing a very real
danger to the democracy of our State and Nation as a whole. Therefore, we feel
that it is incumbent upon the Federal Government, interested in the preservation
of democracy, to make available through the suggested extension of their housing,
medical and relief program, conditions under which these migratory workers can
sustain themselves until they are legally entitled to voting privileges and an
equitable voice in government.
TESTIMONY OF THE REV. CLARENCE WAGNER— Resumed
The Chairman. Suppose we start out this way: The causes of this
migration from State to State are varied and they are many and there-
fore, there is no single solution, but there will be several possible ap-
proaches to at least bettering the condition we are in now regarding
the migrant problem. That is true, isn't it?
Mr. Wagner. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. And also, Mr. Wagner, there is a school of
thought in California — and we met it in different sections of the
United States — who endeavor to dismiss this critical problem by
saying, "Wliy don't they stay home?" and I note from your paper that
you express the point that there comes a time when they cannot stay
home. Is that true?
Mr. Wagner. That has been our experience; yes.
The Chairman. And that there are different causes, the worn-out
soil, mechanization, drought, and different causes where the people
will move rather than starve sitting do\\Ti or standing still?
Mr. Wagner. Yes.
The Chairman. Now, I would like to have you, Mr, Wagner,
say anything you have to say about it, any possible recommendation
because, speaking for myself only, I think you know what you are
talking about. Tell me how this organization of yours sprung into
existence and, briefly, what it has been doing.
WORK OF church GROUPS AMONG MIGRANTS
Mr. Wagner. Well, for the past 8 years I have been living in the
San Joaquin Valley, in Fresno and Delano. Those have been rather
hot spots so far as migration is concerned. I have attempted to aline
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2927
myself with these different groups mentioned on the sheet, and see if
there wouldn't be some way whereby we might function rather effec-
tively as a minority protest group.
Especially with the Friends and the Epworth League we have tried
to organize groups so that we might get money and carry on a little
rehabilitation work among these camps.
Probably one of the outstanding efforts was at Shafter where we
built a recreation camp and have a college crew there, donating
their time and paying $75 for the privilege of working through the
summer and studying social conditions, talking at Rotary Clubs,
chambers of commerce — where they are allowed to get in — and trying
to interpret, just as much as possible, the attitude of the migrant and
their willingness to work, their good will, their honesty, and trying to
show, Chairman Tolan, that their morale just left them entirely and
they really needed a lot of help.
Then these organizations have further attempted to try to work
along with some kind of an industrial organization, something parallel
to our industrial organizations. I have always felt that the working
man hasn't any opportunity to express himself in agriculture. He
does not have the educational background. He does not quite know
how to approach the problem of organization. They are farmers and
they are interested in farming, and farmers are notoriously hard to
organize. A lot of these men have been farmers and when they come
together and face an organized industrial group and they are told that
they have to work for a certain wage that they have had nothing to
say about, they don't know anything better than to accept it. There
is no voice to represent them.
So these groups have tried to encourage the organization of such
groups that they might bargain collectively, but, I think, without very
much success. My experience in the valley has been that the con-
trolling agencies in the community, the ones who have the land, the
businessmen, are absolutely against the organization of farm labor and
intimidate farm labor. They have in their control the State patrol
bodies, the motor-vehicle force; they have the local sheriffs of the
counties strongly back of them. I have numerous cHppings here that
show there would be a group of a dozen automobiles filled with men,
probably with the intention of striking and about to cross a county
hne, and they would be just forced, forcibly, to turn back into the
county from whence they came. There is a great deal of that that goes
on and it is not hard to intimidate them because they feel the county
officeis are against them; the motor- vehicle officers are against them;
the chambers of commerce and other organizations are against them;
and that it is a pretty hopeless struggle.
Sometimes I wonder at their passive natm-e, that they don't turn to
radical organizations a whole lot more than they do, lacking leader-
ship that ought to come out of the business and social life of the com-
munities in which they live.
The Chairman. How do you find that out? You have mixed with
these destitute citizens coming from other States, haven't you?
Mr. Wagner. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Do you find them mostly American citizens?
Mr. Wagner. I would put them up against any man in our own
community — any of the businessmen. They speak a little brogue that
2928 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
is a little different from ours, but they love their children and they
want to have them get an education. When they are sick they feel
it like anybody else, and they need a lot of sympathy and a lot of help.
Instead of that they are put into Government camps — which are a
vast improvement over the normal camps that we find in an individual
farm — but, after aU, it is just a place, and if it rains the rain comes in
and you see the canvas flapping in the breeze. If they go into better
rehabilitation homes, there they have cement floors and it is not al-
together too nice, even of the best, and all of that just drives down the
morale of the people imtil they don't know where to turn. Then
every once in a while they will organize a protest, and if one will stand
in on one of those meetings you wifl reahze that they are rather hope-
less. They say, "What shall we do?"
I could teU you some of the work that we are trying to do toward
helping the migrant working in the field from a Christian point of
view, if you would like to know about that.
The Chairman. Yes; we would like to have that.
Mr. Wagner. An experiment was started just about a year ago
now in taking a young man who is a college graduate and who has had
3 years' further graduate work in Northwestern University and put-
ting him in a camp near Farmersville. He gathers together a group of
young people from the churches and a group of young people from the
migrant settlement and gets them in a home, which we have rented
for him, and allows them to have their folk games and their discussion
groups on Saturday night and over Sunday, and then dismisses them
again. His reaction to it all is that when they don't know each other
as migrants and as established citizens in a community, that their
ideals, their aims, and their dreams are just parallel and that there is a
fine fellowship.
It is a long program but our hopes are that we can lead these young
people into a feeling that they are a part of the community life; that
we are interested in them and want to work with them and believe
they are as good as any of our own young people. They respond to
that kind of treatment in a fine way.
The Chairman. You see under the conditions that you are not only
a citizen of California but you are a citizen of the other 47 States;
is that true?
Mr. Wagner. I hope so.
The Chairman. But it does not work out practically, sometimes,
going from State to State, does it? They run up against barriers,
don't they?
Mr. Wagner. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Now, you readily see, Mr. Wagner, that Fed-
eral interest in this problem is necessary for the reason that there
may come a time — and it probably has arrived now — where a single
State cannot, from a tax standpoint and from an educational and
health standpoint, absorb what comes in there and pack the load.
Isn't that true?
Mr. Wagner. Yes. We find that is true, all right.
The Chairman. In other words, you have had 850,000 people come
here in the last 5 years. The conservative figures are that 395,000
of those are destitute interstate migrant citizens. If you had a
disaster in Pennsylvania, by which the farms were uprooted and
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2929
destroyed and the people couldn't live and they had to migrate to
Ohio, 395,000 at one time, or in 2 or 3 weeks, the Congress of the
United States would convene in a special session to take care of that,
wouldn't they?
Mr. Wagner. I hope so.
The Chairman. But here, over a period of 5 years, imperceptibly
it has gone along on a hit-and-miss proposition; isn't that right?
Mr. Wagner. Yes.
The Chairman. I think that it is very commendable, your interest
in this, because you are convinced, aren't you, Mr. Wagner, that
migration can never be stopped in the United States?
Mr. Wagner. Well, I hope it can be handled in such a way that the
intensive migration will cease and these men can find places on farms,
either cooperative farms or collective farms, in one way or another, so
that they can become more of a part of the community than they are
at the present time. They are shoved off on the edge and they don't
get into our school boards; they don't join our chambers of commerce
or our service clubs, and they are just not represented. Their voice
is as one crying in the wilderness.
The Chairman. Have you given any thought to the settlement idea
based upon a certain plan?
Mr. Wagner. Yes. I think that is one of the great programs that
ought to be pushed.
The Chairman. It is not the whole situation, but it is an approach?
Mr. Wagner. I am convinced that it is; yes, sir.
The Chairman. And what do you think about the cooperative idea
of farms?
Mr. Wagner. I think that that is one of the great outstanding
accomplishments of the present administration. I am thinking of
one at Visalia.
The Chairman. Yes; we saw that yesterday.
Mr. Wagner. That was outstanding. I only wish there were many
more of those. I do wish our businessmen could catch a vision of
that and not throw the whole load on the Government. They would
be able to establish things like that themselves, but I think they are
scared, and they fight against the laboring man. I don't know what
they would have done if the Government hadn't stepped in and
given them the aid they have given them. I would hate to leave
them to the mercy of agricultural organized businessman. I don't
thinlv the individual small farmer would be intolerant — he has a pretty
big heart — but some executive comes along and then the farmer signs
his name on the dotted line and pays his dollar and becomes part of an
organization that he has no control in and no voice in, and yet that
organization wields a lot of power in these rural communities. It is
not right but it is hard to protest against.
The Chairman. In other words, Mr. Wagner, we have got to
get it in our heads, don't we, that these people, by the hundreds of
thousands, are going from State to State and are forced out of their
homes and their farms, and that they are not just people but that
thev are our own American citizens, don't we?
IVIr. Wagner. Well, everyone I have encountered is just fine, like
these men that we have been listening to here today. They are all
right.
2930 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
The Chairman. You heard that man, did you, with the eight
children and a smile on his face?
Mr. Wagner. Yes.
The Chairman. He looks like he can take an awful beating.
Mr. Wagner. He probably has already.
The Chairman. Have you anything, Congressman Sparkman?
Mr. Sparkman. I notice that you said you were sometimes sur-
prised that these people in these camps and these migrants, generally,
didn't give way more than they do toward radical thinking and learning.
Have you found very much radicalism among them?
Mr. Wagner. Very, very little. They will blow off individually,
but when it comes to being against the Government, they are not.
It is like when we were in the Army, we did a lot of beefing about
conditions, but if somebody really began to undermine, we would
stand right up for what we believed in, and those migrants are the
same way. They are fundamentally Americans.
The Chairman. You have no misgivings as to their loyalty and
patriotism?
Mr. Wagner. I think it is too bad that the radical element is given
the headlines and the stable element is not given an opportunity to
express itself.
The Chairman. You said about the only difference was the brogue
that they had. What do you mean by that?
Mr. Wagner. Well, "You all."
The Chairman. I want to say to you, Mr. Wagner, that this
is a very strange committee. It is the first committee m the history
of Congress that is dedicating its work just to this one problem. We
started in in New York to show that it was not a California problem
alone, and then we went to Alabama, Illinois, Nebraska, and Okla-
homa, and so forth. It is simply a question of arousing the Nation's
attention to it because the American heart is all right. Now we hope
to not only arouse the attention but we hope, upon the facts that we
have obtained here, to propose some remedial legislation. We are a
fact-finding body, and in another way we are strange. We have
never — probably for the first time in the history of Congress — issued a
subpena. That is, no witness has been served by any officer to appear
at any one of our committee meetings. Again that shows the heart of
the American people. They want to help out on this and they will if
we can just arouse them to the proposition. It has been a hit-and-
miss proposition. They watch the coal and iron and steel go across
State lines and it is protected religiously, but nothing is done about
the human in interstate commerce. We let them take care of them-
selves, isn't that true?
recommendations
Mr. Wagner. I think so. I think there ought to be a place for this
Wagner Labor Relations Act. I am no relation to him as far as I
know — I might wish that I were — but I certainly wish that there were
some way that that might be extended to take in agriculture, and
then there would be an unemployment insurance that would reach out
and touch these people, too. They need it just as much as people
around here in the city.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2931
The Chairman. Well, have you any other suggestions that you
care to make, or any other word that you want to tell us? We have
your full statement here, you know.
Mr. Wagner. Just that I am in fullest sympathy with these
people. I have seen them living in abject misery, and they still do;
families of five and six and seven in a room. I have buried babies
that have been born dead because of the malnutrition of their mothers.
I have seen the children with diseases in Kern County and it pretty
well extends over all the country — these infectious diseases that break
out. I have seen women that ought to be young looking at 40 looking
like they were about 60 already. I have seen children shunted out of
the schools at noon time and put in a big cotton field — children 5 and 6
years of age — dragging a sack between their legs, and something ought
to be done about that whole proposition. It isn't American and it is
not fair to these people who come out here and who have to work and
don't have any way of making their protest. Then, once in a while,
some group will try to organize them but it is hoimded out of existence
by another group that is highly organized. My sympathy is decidedly
with the agricultural worker.
The Chairman. Thank you very much. That was a very fine
contribution.
(Witness excused.)
The Chairman. Is Mr. Fishburn here? (No response) .
If not, we will call Mr. Arthur Hallgren.
TESTIMONY OF ARTHUR HALLGREN, LOS ANGELES, CALIF.
Mr. Sparkman. This is Mr. Arthur Hallgren?
Mr. Hallgren. Yes, sir.
Mr. Sparkman. H-a-1-l-g-r-e-n?
Mr. Hallgren. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. You five at 431 West Ninety-first Place, Los
Angeles?
Mr. Hallgren. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. How old are you?
Mr. Hallgren. 22.
Mr. Sparkman. Are you married?
Mr. Hallgren. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. How old is your wife?
Mr. Hallgren. 20.
Mr. Sparkman. Have you any children?
Mr. Hallgren. No.
Mr. Sparkman. How long have you been married?
Mr. Hallgren. Since January 3, 1940.
Mr. Sparkman. Wliere were you born?
Mr. Hallgren. In Mora, Minn.
Mr. Sparkman. Well, did you live in Minnesota most of your life?
Mr. Hallgren. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. Wliere? At Mora?
Mr. Hallgren. No ; Duluth, Minn.
Mr. Sparkman. Did you— how far did you go in school?
Mr. Hallgren. I graduated from high school.
Mr. Sparkman. Wliere?
2932
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Mr.
Mr. Sparkman,
Mr. Hallgren.
Mr. Sparkman.
Mr. Hallgren.
Mr. Sparkman.
Mr. Hallgren.
Mr. Hallgren. Diiluth, Minn.
Mr. Sparkman. Wlien?
Mr. Hallgren. 1938.
Mr. Sparkman. Did you get any work following that?
Hallgren. Yes. I worked at a body shop.
An automobile body shop?
Yes.
How long did you continue that work?
I worked there until I left there in June.
June when?
1940.
Mr. Sparkman. You just left there in June of this year?
Mr. Hallgren. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. You came directly to Los Angeles?
Mr. Hallgren. Yes. I came here June 7.
Mr. Sparkman. How did you happen to come to California?
Mr, Hallgren. Well, I had some friends up there in Duluth and
they left there 4 months before I left, and they got work out at an air-
craft factory. North American, and so they wrote back and said that
there was work out here. But they didn't say that there was 100 men
to every job.
Well, did they have any trouble finding work?
No. They got work right away.
Were they skilled worlonen?
No; just one of them attended school at Duluth.
He attended a trade school.
Mr. Sparkman. A vocational school?
Mr. Hallgren. Yes, sir.
Mr. Sparkman. Trade school?
Mr. Hallgren. Just a high-school trade course.
Mr. Sparkman. Well, had the others had any trainmg in a trade?
Mr. Hallgren. None of the others had gone through high school.
Mr. Sparkman. But all of them — how many of them were there?
Mr. Hallgren. There were four.
Mr. Sparkman. And all of them got work right away?
Mr. Hallgren. Yes. One of the boys didn't get work right
away — he didn't get work for about 2 months — finally he got work in
Mr. Sparkman.
Mr. Hallgren.
Mr. Sparkman.
Mr. Hallgren.
a machine shop.
Mr. Sparkman.
Mr. Hallgren.
Mr. Sparkman.
Mr. Hallgren.
Sparkman.
Hallgren.
Have you tried to get work?
I am working out at North American.
You are now working?
Yes. I got in there.
Mr. Sparkman. When?
Mr. Hallgren. The day before yesterday.
Mr, Sparkman. What are you doing?
Mr. Hallgren. I am working in a tin shop.
Mr. Sparkman. A machine shop?
Mr. Hallgren. No. A tin shop.
Mr. Sparkman. A tin shop? What have you been domg since
getting here in June?
Mr. Hallgren. The only thing I did here was work for a contractor,
mixing cement.
Mr. Sparkman. How much of that work did you do?
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2933
Mr. Hallgren. I only worked for them 2 weeks and I had to quit
because he didn't pay.
Mr. Sparkman. Well, did you get any other work?
Mr. Hallgren. Since then?
Mr. Sparkman. Yes.
Mr. Hallgren. Nothing except this job at North American.
Mr. Sparkman. You say there are about 100 persons to every job?
Mr. Hallgren. There is all of that.
Mr. Sparkman. Before coming out here did you hear much talk
about it out here?
Mr. Hallgren. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. About coming out this way?
Mr. Hallgren. They all talked about all these different Govern-
ment contracts, and all the airplane industries, I guess. And of all
the shipbuilding that they are getting up in San Francisco.
Mr. Sparkman. That has served as a kind of a suction to pull the
boys away, is that it, and have them come out here seeking employ-
ment?
Mr. Hallgren. Yes.
Mr. Sparkman. It is only natural to go where you think there might
be something doing?
Mr. Hallgren. That is correct.
Mr. Sparkman. Do you know of many people around here that are
in the same shape that you have been in until the day before yesterday?
Mr. Hallgren. There is a lot of them, all right. I made the rounds
of all the airplane factories and put in my application at all of them.
On every morning there would be a different bunch of men there, and
every morning there would be anyway two or three hundred.
Mr. Sparkman. You might have said a minute ago what it was,
but what is the nature of your work with the aircraft company?
Mr. Hallgren. Sheet metal work; in a tin shop.
Mr. Sparkman. Well, are you a skilled tin worker, a tinsmith?
Mr. Hallgren. Well, I got in the airplane factory because I
suppose they figured I was skilled at that, but I worked in a body
business building house trailers and it is nothing like the airplane
business.
Mr. Sparkman. But it did involve work with tin?
Mr. Hallgren. Oh, yes.
Mr. Sparkman. I believe that is all.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, son.
(Witness excused.)
The Chairman. Mr. Milhorn.
TESTIMONY OF EDWARD MILHORN, lOS ANGELES, CALIF.
The Chairman. You are Edward Milhorn?
Mr. Milhorn. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. And where do you live now?
Mr. Milhorn. I live in Higliland Park, on Monterey Road, Los
Angeles.
The Chairman. Wliere were you born?
Mr. Milhorn. Stonefort, 111.
The Chairman. And how old are you?
2934
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Mr. MiLHORN. I am 46.
The Chairman. Were you living on a farm there?
Mr. MiLHORN. No, sir. My father was a railroad man. That is
a small railroad terminal.
The Chairman. Well, how old were you when you left there?
Mr. MiLHORN. I left there when I was about 13. I left there in
about 1907.
The Chairman. Your father and mother were living there when
you left?
Mr. MiLHORN. Yes.
The Chairman. Why did you leave?
Mr. MiLHORN. Well, my father lost his position on the railroad and
he came south to Missouri. He got employment with the St. L. & S. F.
The Chairman. Did your mother go with him?
Mr. MiLHORN. Yes; we all went there. He went ahead and then
sent for us. We came down there about a month after he got work.
The Chairman. How long did you live there?
Mr. MiLHORN. I lived there until I joined the Army in 1917.
The Chairman. Did you see service?
Mr. MiLHORN. Yes.
The Chairman. How long were you over?
Mr. MiLHORN. Twenty-three months altogether. My outfit was
overseas about 11 months.
The Chairman. And then when you came back where did you go?
Mr. MiLHORN. Well, I came back to Memphis, Tenn.
The Chairman. Right across the line?
Mr. MiLHORN. They join.
The Chairman. And how old were you then?
Mr. MiLHORN. I guess I was about 24 ; something like that, 24 or 25.
The Chairman. And what did you do there?
Mr. Milhorn. Well, I had been railroading and I went back to
railroading.
The Chairman. And how long did you railroad at that place?
Mr. Milhorn. I railroaded until '29. I got a personal injury that
put me on the shelf so far as the railroad was concerned.
The Chairman. And where did you go then?
Mr. Milhorn, Well, I went up into Kentucky in 1930. They
paid us soldiers the soldiers' bonus, or part of it, and I took what I
had and I went up in Kentucky and bought myself a little farm up
there.
The Chairman. Were you married then?
Mr. Milhorn. Yes.
The Chairman. By the way, how many children have you now?
Mr. Milhorn. I have seven.
The Chairman. Only seven?
Mr. Milhorn. Just seven — that is, when I left home there were
seven.
The Chairman. You are not looking for a surprise, are you?
Mr. Milhorn. You can never tell. This world is full of them.
It is not a surprise to me any more.
The Chairman. Well, what kind of a farm was it?
Mr. Milhorn. Well, it was a httle stock farm. The land had been
farmed pretty extensively and it was just about worn out and I got
it at a bargain.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2935
The Chairman. What did you pay for it?
Mr. MiLHORN. I think I gave about $500 for 25 acres. The build-
ings were pretty well dilapidated and I spent what other money I
had in building another building or so on it and improving the
buildings. I had taken an option on 20 acres that was joining. I
figured on building the farm up and making pasture land out of that
more than anything else, and try to raise stock. I was drawing a
small compensation from the Government then.
The Chairman. How much a month?
Mr. MiLHORN. I was rated 50 percent partial permanent disability
and I was drawing at that time $18 a month. That is a non-service-
connected disability.
The Chairman. Well, how did you get along with the farm there?
Mr. AIilhorn. I got along pretty well.
The Chairman. How long did you live there?
Mr. MiLHORN. I lived there — I went up in there in '30, I believe
it was, and I stayed until 1933.
The Chairman. And then what did you do? Did you sell the
farm?
Mr. MiLHORN. Yes; I had to sell it. That is when they passed
the Economy Act, if you remember, and they cut us out of our dis-
ability allowance, and I hadn't made very big preparations as far as
raising feed was concerned. I was depending on that disability pay
mostly for my feed tlirough the winter. I had my stock and things.
And, incidentally, eggs went down to 6 cents a dozen and everything
else in proportion. I just didn't think I could make it. Of course, if
I had known then what I know now — Mr. Roosevelt didn't take me
into his confidence and I didn't know there was going to be any help of
any sort for the farmer — I picked up and sold out and left there and
came to town where I thought maybe I might get work.
The Chairman. How much money did you have when you left
the farm?
Mr. MiLHORN. I didn't have very much. I owed for the lumber
and the improvements I put on the place. It was a forced sale and
probably, as you know, a forced sale doesn't bring very much.
The Chairman. No; never. What did you do when you came to
town?
Mr. MiLHORN. I came back there and I went over in Arkansas.
My wife had some people over there. I went over into Arkansas and
went to work for the Chicago Mill Lumber Co. over there. I worked
for them until they got out their timber supply there, and then I went
on relief. I worked on the W. P. A. for a while.
The Chairman. How long were you on relief?
Mr. MiLHORN. Well, I don't remember just exactly how long I was
on there.
The Chairman. And what time did you leave there to come West?
Mr. MiLHORN. The first time I came out here was last year. This
is my second trip. I came out here in August of '39 and couldn't find
any work when I stayed out here.
The Chairman. How did you come out? Did you drive out?
Mr. MiLHORN. Yes.
The Chairman. How many children did you have then?
Mr. MiLHORN. I had six; six children.
2936 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
The Chairman. And you drove out? What kind of a car did you
have?
Mr. MiLHORN. A Lincohi ZephjT.
The Chairman. A late model Lincoln?
Mr. MiLHORN. Yes. It was a good car. It was, I think, a '38
model — it was last year's — just a year old.
The Chairman. And where did you land when you first came here?
Mr. MiLHORN. I came right into Los Angeles.
The Chairman. And what did you do here?
Mr. MiLHORN. Well I delivered this car to the owners. The car
didn't belong to me.
The Chairman. It didn't belong to you?
Mr. MiLHORN. No, sir.
The Chairman. I thought you were riding a little high.
Mr. MiLHORN. I was. I came in style. I delivered the car to the
owners and then applied — well, I had a few dollars and I looked around
and tried to find some work and I run out of money and I applied for
rehef, on S. R. A.
They gave me temporary relief and then they paid my transporta-
tion for my family and self back there.
The Chairman. You mean the Los Angeles County did?
Mr. MiLHORN. The S. R. A., the State.
The Chairman. The State?
Mr. MiLHORN. The transient bureau, whatever it is.
The Chairman. They paid the transportation of your wife and
your family?
Mr. MiLHORN. Yes.
The Chairman. Back to
Mr. MiLHORN (interrupting). Back East.
The Chairman. Back to what place?
Mr. Milhorn. Well, we should have went to Helena, Ark., but I
didn't go there. I went to Memphis.
The Chairman. Then you ran into residential troubles there?
Mr. Milhorn. Yes; I have been hop-skipping around ever since;
didn't have any residence there and haven't any anywhere now; no
residence anywhere now.
The Chairman. You still are an American citizen?
Mr. Milhorn. Yes; I did put in a winter back there. It was just
too tough and all.
The Chairman. What did you do, Mr. Milhorn?
Mr. Milhorn. I worked some at a little mill, a little veneer mill.
You have got to compete back there with colored labor at 30 cents an
hour— that is tops — and they have speeded production up where a
man my age cannot compete with the younger man. It is just too
tough. I made a resolution that if I could get out of there and get
to where the climate was not so hard, that I would do it.
The Chairman. What kind of a house did you live in back there?
Mr. Milhorn. Well, just a frame house; hard to heat.
The Chairman. How much rent did you pay?
Mr. Milhorn. I paid $12 a month. That is more than it was
worth.
The Chairman. How much did you earn a month?
Mr. Milhorn. Well, if I got in a full week back there — I beheve
42 hours, $12.60, after they deducted the insurance.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2937
The Chairman. $12.60?j
Mr. MiLHORN. $12.60 a week, and a family of nine of us.
The Chairman. Then when did you leave there again to come here?
Mr. MiLHORN. I came out here the 1st of August of this year.
The Chairman, How did you come? By what means?
Mr. MiLHORN. I came in a Cadillac eight this time.
The Chairman. Well, you were moving up all the time?
Mr. MiLHORN. Getting better.
The Chairman. Still belong to somebody else?
Mr. MiLHORN. Sure, another man's car. You see, back there, if
you can furnish them a little reference, and convince them that you
are a pretty good driver, you can get an automobile and drive it
out here. You furnish the gas and oil and they furnish the automobile.
The Chairman. Well, why don't all migrants come out that way?
Mr. Milhorn. They just don't know about it.
The Chairman. What did you do when you got here?
Mr. Milhorn. Well, this time I went to work, I was lucky. I
went right to work right off the bat.
The Chairman. Doing what?
Mr. Milhorn. I got a job driving and helping out here at a van
and storage company — well, they have two places — they had a
furniture department in connection with it, and between the two
I have had pretty regular work ever since I have been out here, up
until just a while back when I got a rib broken and I have been off
ever since. I went back to go to work the other day and I had lost
that job.
The Chairman. You lost that job?
Mr. Milhorn. Yes; I am out of a job now.
The Chairman. Did you figure you could get one?
Mr. Milhorn. Well, I think I can. I have some got pretty good
prospects. I don't know. Sometimes they don't pan out so good.
The Chairman. How are the children? Are they all well, they
and your wife?
Mr. Milhorn. The children are all well except I have one little
fellow that has some sort of a nervous disorder, but that was one of
the factors that brought us back out here. When we were out here
last year he seemed to get better. I don't know whether it was a
different environment or the schools or what it was, but anyway
he improved. When we went back there he got worse.
The Chairman. Well, notwithstanding that, or, I mean, with that
ailment of the baby, would you rather hve back there than here?
Air. Milhorn. No, I hadn't. No, sir. Om- money will buy more
in Cahfornia than it will back there. I found that out. I was out
here 22 years ago and I guess I kind of got bit by the California bug.
I don't know what else you would call it. I soldiered out here right
after the World War and I liked California.
The Chairman. Of course, you have driven through that Dust Bowl
area; haven't you?
Mr. Milhorn. Yes; I have di'iven through all of that area.
The Chairman. Don't you think, Mr. Milhorn, that lots of those
people simply have to get off of their farms and move, or starve,
either one of the two?
2938 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Mr. MiLHORN. I will tell you. If I had my choice, I would give it
all back to the Indians. I couldn't use the most of that country.
The Chairman. We can't find any Indians to give it back to.
Mr. MiLHORN. They wouldn't have it. I don't see anything back
through that country that could make a man want to go back to it.
You can take that hill land like they have in Tennessee and Ala-
bama and you can reclaim it. If you get a few gullies you can throw
in some brush and throw a few grass seeds down and you can stop it,
but I don't know what they could do with that country back there in
the Middle West. I don't know how they would stop that.
The Chairman. They lost, during the last 10 years, a million in
the Great Plains States, a million people. They can stand that diffi-
cult weather and wind just so long.
Mr. MiLHORN. I have an idea that is right. It is going to take its
toll. You have to have something there to hold it. Any time you
take something out of the soil you have got to put something back.
The Chairman. There was some administrative witness at Lincoln,
Nebr., who testified that there were 5,000,000 acres in the Great Plains
States where 25 percent of the topsoil was gone.
Mr. MiLHORN. I wouldn't doubt that at all. I don't know but
what you would find lots of areas where all of it was gone.
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
(Witness excused.)
The Chairman. Is Mr. Fishburn here? [No response.] Is Mr.
Burruss here? [No response.]
At this time, due to the fact that Governor Blood, of Utah, was un-
avoidably detained, and is unable to be here today, I would Hke to
have incorporated in the record a letter from Governor Blood to Dr.
E. J. RoweU.
(The letter referred to is as foUows:)
State of Utah,
Office op the Governor,
Salt Lake City, September 23, 1940.
Dr. E. J. RowELL,
685 Bush Street, San Francisco, Calif.
Dear Dr. Rowell: As arranged in my telephone conversation with Dr.
Lamb, I am sending today by air mail six copies of a statement entitled "The
Problem of Population Migration in Utah," prepared and sponsored by Mr.
Thornton W. Petersen of the State Planning Board of Utah. The intent of plac-
ing this statement in your hajids is that it may be used as supporting data re-
quired in your House investigations of destitute migrants.
An additional study has been made by the Farm Security Administration of
the work it has done in Utah in behalf of the low-income farm group.
I hope these two statements will suffice to give the committee helpful informa-
tion.
It may be impossible for me to be present at the Los Angeles meeting, but after
my conversation with Dr. Lamb I am assured that the documents I herein men-
tion will serve the purpose. If, however, you desire further information we shall
be glad to supply it.
Very truly yours,
Henry H. Blood, Governor.
The Chairman. I also have a statement presented by Thornton
W. Petersen concerning the problem of population migration in Utah,
which I at this time would like to incorporate in the record.
(The statement referred to is as follows:)
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2939
The Problem of Population Migration in Utah
Utah has a twofold problem in population migration. There is the problem
involving the human resource loss of a large proportion of its natural increase
through migration away from the State. There is the problem presented through
migration into the State. The first encompasses a consideration of the economic
and social losses sustained through the out-of-State migration of its youth and
population of productive ages. The second is of consequence to the State in
that the into-State migration is not only insufficient to offset the losses occurring
through the outward migration, but that also it is closely related to the State's
problems in relief, and to the socio-economic assimilation of the inward migrants.
These two principal problems have been identified and recognized by the entire
State. It should be clearly understood, however, that the many ramifications of
these problems have not been studied completely. The failure to have made
an exhaustive analysis of them is not because of a lack of interest by the people,
but essentially because the necessary data for their study are insufficient. Only
general trends can be observed. Inferences drawn from these trends are, of course,
to be taken only as approximations. The need for preparation of a thoroughly
exhaustive statistical basis for the study of these problems is obvious. Neverthe-
less, this paper ventures to place tentative interpretations upon these trends if
for no other purpose than to encourage the movement taking place to more fully
understand these probelms and the fundamentals in their solution.
While the population of Utah has increased throughout each decade, since first
settlement of the State, the rate of increase during each successive period has
declined. During the period between 1910 and 1940, the population curve as
seen in the following chart was leveling off to smaller proportional gains.
The natural increase in the State's population shows an increase of 5.3 per-
cent for the decade of 1920-30 over the previous one between 1910-20. This
situation has been reversed in the 1930-40 decade. In the latter period there
was a 10-percent decrease over the decade of 1920-30. Births decreased 7.2
percent in 1930-40 over 1920-30, while deaths decreased 2.1 percent. The ob-
servation is made here that economic factors have undoubtedly influenced the
birth rates. There is a sharp reversal in the trends between 1930-40 as com-
pared with those prevailing in comparing the decades of 1920-30 and 1910-20.
Since 1910, there has been an increasing loss of population through out-of-
State migration. The rate of loss between 1920-30 was nearly 4 times that in
1910-20. During the decade 1930-40, this extremely high rate of loss was ma-
terially reduced to approximately one and one-fourth times that of the previous
decade. Thus, it is seen that the number of persons migrating from the State
increased each period from 1910 up to 1940, but the percentage rate of change
has greatly declined.
These trends indicate the nature of the migration movements within Utah to
the extent of identifying its two fundamental migration problems. It is seen
that as time goes on, migration losses take a larger toll of the State's natural
population increase. Somewhat less definitely is depicted an influx of migrants
to the State. Between 1930-40, this latter condition appears to have increased
sufficiently to have made possible an 8.2 percent increase in the population in
face of a 10-percent decline in the natural increase.
It is acknowledged that not only are these problems of concern to Utah, but
also they are of immediate interest to its neighbor States. Where do Utah's
people migrate to, is a question of as much concern to other States as is the ques-
tion from whence comes the migrants into Utah. The directional movements of
the population directly involves the whole consideration of availability, produc-
tivity, and use of resources. The only data available in Utah which provide for
the study of migration movements between States are those of the United States
Census. Wherefore, at this date, we do not know the direction of migration
movements, during the years from 1930 to 1940, and, of course, cannot accurately
appraise the effects of into-State migrations during this period from other areas
suffering from drought and other adversities.
growing population pressure upon resources
The interstate interests are many that are affected by the internal problems of
each other as regarding their migration problems. In many ways, population
losses of one State result in gains to other States, and the opposite in instances
is equally true. It would appear then, to serve the purpose of this paper, to
260370— 41— pt. 7 10
2940
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
point out factors which in Utah contribute to its relatively heavy population
losses, and which also condition the State's absorption of new migrants.
When population pressures increase upon resources there are set up numerous
stresses which result in population adjustments. These adjustments take form
principally in migration or in the lowering of levels of living. To meet these facts
Number
of persons
1,000,000
300,000.
IQQ.OQO
10.000
1.000
^ssawf^*'*""; 20.4
♦ 13.0f.
6. si
Ut ah '3 Natural Jncreae e
i
^9
•i.'V.A
> 4'
Migration^
ft.pulatiDnl910 1920
Decennial Periods - Natural 1910-1920
Increases and Migration Losses
1930
1920-1950
1940
1930-1940
reaUstically, it becomes necessary to take cognizance of certain general and un-
mistakable trends. The people of Utah have long endeavored to maintain a high
standard of living. Their children have been imbued with the spirit of progress
and the unwillingness to accept the status quo. Thus, it becomes necessary to
review in general terms the predominant trends in order to understand why Utah
has lost so heavily through migration.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2941
The increase in Utaii's population has not been accompanied by adequate devel-
opment of resources because of limiting factors both physical and economic. This
is not to say that every feasible means has not been employed to provide a favor-
able ratio of resources to population, but rather that fundamental developments
have not been able to keep pace with abnormal conditions of depression, drought,
and their far-reaching influences.
There has been an increased dependency upon the limited agricultural resources
and agricultural industry of the State. The volume of industrial production suf-
fered a sharp decUne between 1930 and 1933, but has made steady gains during
the past 6 years. This, however, did force additional burdens upon the land
resources in the State, inasmuch as a distinctive feature in Utah is part-time indus-
trial employment of a large number of small-farm operators. The irregularity of
industrial production during the years from 1920 to 1930 had its effects upon
migration from the State, and at least intermittently forced pressure upon the
land resources.
The State's mineral production, increasing rapidly from 1920 to 1930, has influ-
enced the internal population movements of the State. The expansion in the
mineral industries during the twenties and the sharp decline after 1929, caused a
dislocation in the population whereupon further burdens were forced upon the
land. Production has recovered from its depression low and consequently pay-
rolls have relieved some of the stress. It is observed, however, that these fluc-
tuations contribute to migration of population both into and out of the State. It
should also be pointed out that these fluctuations in the State's mineral industries
are not always controllable, and that insofar as migration is affected by these
industries, there is likely to continue resultant population maladjustments.
The dechne of Utah's manufacturing industry, more or less a general one since
1925, has added to population pressure upon resources. The index of value added
by manufacture reached a peak between 1927 and 1929. A long period of decline
in manufacturing has followed. The impact of this decline is made manifest
throughout the entire State. In 1920, there were 1,160 manufacturing establish-
ments; in 1935 only 543. In 1920, there were 18,868 wage earners in the industry;
in 1935 only 11,524. In 1920, the value added by manufacture amounted to
$46,779,000, in 1935 only $34,852,000. The lowest year was in 1933 over which
1935 shows considerable recovery. The fact that the resulting loss has been wide-
spread over the State emphasizes the effect it has had upon opportunity to supple-
ment rural-family earnings through part-time employment in local industry.
Thus, so far as the migration problem is involved, manufacturing expansion is
necessary, the lack of which has seriously aggravated increasing population pres-
sures upon resources.
EXTENT AND NATURE OF AGEICULTURAL RESOURCES
The whole question of migration in Utah is inextricably bound within the limi-
tations of the State's agriculture. At this point it is perhaps most appropriate
to review some of the general features of the incidence of migration as areas
within the State are affected. The rural aspects of the problem most importantly
qualify the considerations of it. The migrations by counties within the State
is enlightening of its relationship to agriculture, wherefore a brief summary of
trends within the counties should be of interest.
Based upon the birth and death data of counties, migration gains or losses have
been derived for the period 1910 to 1940. The study of these data reveal ten-
dencies which clearly indicate population pressures in rural areas to be prepon-
derantly the crux of"^ Utah's migration problems.
Between 1910-20 eleven counties representing 62.5 percent of the State's
population obtained net migration gains. These were the counties in which
during this period there was expansion in agriculture, mining, and manufacturing.
In the following decade, 1920-30, only five counties registered gains through
migration. The population in these five counties was 53.1 percent of the State
population. They were the ones in which mining activity was the sustaining
factor. In the recent decade of 1930-40, five counties showed migration gains
over losses but they were a different set and represented only 16 percent of the
State's population. The total gains through migration of all counties expressed
as a percent of the State population increase during the respective decades have
decreased from 22.4 percent in 1910-20 to 17 percent in 1920-30, and to 3.3 per-
cent in 1930-40. Throughout the 30-year period generally those counties which
sustained losses each successive decade were rural and basically agricultural
counties.
2942 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Communities registering population increases during 1920-30 were generally
those which serve as trade centers within their respective areas. Communities
suffering losses were those small places having remote influences as centers and
in character largely farming localities. Better than 75 percent of the com-
munities losing population during this period had less than 1,500 persons.
Since it has been possible to associate Utah's migration problems with aspects
of rural conditions in the State, it should now be proper to trace the trends in
agriculture and rural industry which may make possible the formulation of a
more definite conception of forces causing the State's migration problem.
A salient and determining factor in the question of migration is the fact that
only 2.5 percent (1,324,000 acres) of land used for agricultural purposes in Utah
is irrigated. Adding to this the dry farming land, the State has only 1,684,000
acres under cultivation. The total is only 3.2 percent of all lands in use. This
clearly indicates a ceiling placed upon population growth so far as agriculture is
concerned.
The number of farms has increased each period since 1910. By 1935, farms in
the State numbered 30,695 which was an increase over 1910 of 41.6 percent. Less
land was available for crops in 1935 than in 1920. "Smaller total production
and more farms reduced the average production per farm for period 1931-37 to
76 percent, and cash income to 53 percent of that for the preceding 7 years." '■
Farms have become smaller units through subdividing, their productive ability
has been reduced through lack of adequate water, low farm price has reduced
farm income — all are factors which indicate that greater population pressures on
resources are likely to ensue. Migration is the only means of mitigating the con-
sequential lowering of living levels of the State's rural population, unless these
conditions can be offset by expansion in old and new local industries, and the
increase in farm productivity.
The future of Utah's agriculture depends directly upon its relationship to the
State's ability to acquire a more adequate water supply for irrigation, and to also
more profitably control the relationships between land and water. A recent
study of "Types of Farming In Utah" published by the Utah Agricultural Experi-
ment Station, shows that in more than half of the counties less than 40 percent
of the lands have first-class water rights. There can be no question as to whether
or not a more adequate water supply would improve the status of agriculture in
this State. It would. Furthermore, there can be little hope in retarding losses
through migration until this problem has been met.
Can it be met? The answer to this question is suggested by the following
statement, "It is believed that by a judicious use of existing water supplies and
the development of supplementary supplies through storage and underground
water, most of the 47 percent of the classified irrigated area now having second-
and third-class water rights can be given a firgt-class water right." ^
Classes of water rights for 20 principal irrigated counties in Utah
Total acreage classified as to water rights acres _ _ 1,123, 445
Percentage of classified acreage by class:
Class No. I percent-- 41
Class No. II do 25
Class No. Ill do 22
Class No. IV do 12
It is of particular interest at this point to note the association between losses
through migration and the extent of first-class water rights in the counties of the
State. Taking the migration losses by counties for the period 1930-40 as com-
piled by the Utah State Planning Board, it is possible to observe the influences
of water upon migration. Nine out of ten counties which have less than 40 per-
cent of their farm lands provided with first-class water rights had on the average
lost 74 percent of their natural increase through migration. The counties having
over 40 percent of their lands provided with first-class water rights lost 46 percent
of their natural increase. Of course, many other factors are reflected in this
comparison but the difference of 28 percent in loss is strikingly a large difference
and there is little question of the water factor not being the principal determinant.
■ Some Trends in Agriculture, Walter U. Furihman, bul. 286, agricultural experiment station, Utah
State Agricultural College, Logan, Utah.
2 "Types of Farming in Utah," Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, bul. 275, pp. 29-30.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2943
EXTENT AND NATURE OP' INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES
Important as the agricultural aspects of the migration problem are in Utah,
they do not transcend exclusively the influences of trade, manufacturing, and
services. The industry and business in the State have been hard pressed. The
volume of industrial production is just recently recovering from its low depression
state. Output was long on the decline, and employees and pay rolls, notwith-
standing recent gains, have not increased to previous high periods. Similar at
least in one respect to the agricultural situation, the losses in industry and business
capacity and activity are widespread. This fact now identifies problems in this
major field as closely approximating in importance the basic requirement of
water. The expansion of present and the development of new industry is essen-
tial in order to deal with the aspects of migration which are both purely non-
agricultural and those which are interrelated.
The vastness of Utah's mineral resources cannot possibly be described in this
paper; suffice it to say their quantity and ciuality have never been overstated.
The extent to which these enormous resources can be and are being exploited
(conservationally speaking) has a more immediate bearing upon the migration
problem than does remote potentialities in the State's mining future.
To review the changes in mineral production is to readily see how profoundly
the mining activity in Utah can affect population problems. The following table
shows the value of Utah's mineral production from 1923 to 1937.
1931 $40, 301, 788
1932 22, 620, 230
1933 24,311,851
1934 32, 527, 119
1935 41,881,265
1936 61, 209, 302
1937- 105,652,422
1923 $86, 221, 000
1924 : 84, 356, 626
1925 100, 275, 442
1926 98, 985, 218
1927 90, 388, 455
1928 97, 381, 148
1929 115, 131, 131
1930 64, 224, 307
The foregoing shows a decline in value from the highest year of 1929 to the
lowest in 1932 with an improvement up to 1937.
The long lean years of 1930 to 1936 in mining assuredly had their effect upon
the increase in migration losses from the State during the decade 1930 to 1940.
Continued recovery in this industry, started back in 1933 will mitigate these
losses.
MANUFACTURING
The migration of population from Utah cannot be fully understood without
reviewing the importance of inanufacturing in the State and the trends within the
manufacturing industries. The following table depicts the changes in manu-
facturing prominence and activity:
Manufactures
Year
1899.
1904
1909
1914.
1919
1921
1923
1925
1927
1929
1931
1933
1935
1937
Number
of estab-
lishments
575
606
749
1,109
1,160
645
585
517
556
651
573
440
538
552
Wage
earners
5,413
8,052
11,785
13, 894
18,868
13,310
14, 945
15, 077
13, 585
15, 601
10, 747
10,213
10,808
13, 094
Wages
$2, 763, 000
5, 157, 000
8, 400, 000
10, 852, 000
21,455,000
18, 392, 000
18, 344, 000
18, 200, 000
16, 689, 000
19, 099. 000
12, 498, 000
9, 299, 000
10, 304, 000
14, 479, 000
Cost of ma-
terials, etc.
$11,440,000
24, 940, 000
41,266,000
62, 233, 000
110,154,000
74, 873, 000
114,183,000
127, 543, 000
120,567,000
157, 902, 000
63, 673, 000
49, 363, 000
80, 268, 000
156,911,000
Value of
products
$17, 982, 000
38, 926, 000
61,989,000
87,112,000
156,933,000
111,055,000
161,607,000
177,225,000
163,118,000
214, 629, 000
95, 781, 000
80, 968, 000
114,167,000
204,857,000
Value added
by manu-
facture
$6, 541, 000
13, 987, 000
20, 724, 000
24, 879, 000
46, 779, 000
36, 183, 000
47, 424, 000
49, 681, 000
42, 551, 000
56, 727, 000
32, 108, 000
31,605,000
33, 899, 000
47,946,000
Source: U. S. Bureau of the Census.
2944 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
A rapid growth in the number of manufacturing establishments took place be-
tween 1899 and 1919. Since 1919 the number has declined to a point in 1937 when
there were fewer establishments than in 1899. The greatest number — 18,868 —
of wage earners in manufacturing were employed during the year 1919. The
smallest number — 10,213 — employed was in 1933 and in 1937 there were 13,094,
or only 84 percent of the number — 15,601 — in 1929. The value added to products
through the processes of manufacture is possibly the best indicator of the manu-
facturing industry. In 1929 the value added by manufacture totaled $56,-
727,000. This dwindled down to $31,605,000 in 1933, but has since recovered to
where in 1937 it amounted to $47,946,000, or 84.7 percent of that for the year 1929.
The most significant point revealed by these trends as pertains to migration is
one which is also borne out by study of the industry on the basis of its distribution
throughout the counties of the State. It is the apparent concentration of manufac-
turing activity in Salt Lake, Weber, and Utah Counties and greatly restricted
activity in other counties. This indicates along with other considerations that
small and more widely distributed local plants have been greatly reduced in num-
ber. It is observed that fewer plants employing fewer workers are capable of
keeping up materially the output of the bulk of the State's manufactured products.
There has resulted from these conditions definite local displacements of workers,
creating in turn population pressures which make migration inevitable.
DISTRIBUTION
It is quite unnecessary to continue the tracing of effects of industrial curtail-
ment upon the question of migration in Utah. As has already been seen it is cer-
tainly an important factor. In way of further emphasis, however, the changes
which have taken place in the fields of wholesale and retail distribution are worthy
of at least a passing comment. Since these changes are generally prevalent
throughout the State the example of one county will be reviewed here to point out
some of the relationships between migration and distribution.
Taking Utah Covmty as a case it is seen that little change occurred in the
number of retail stores throughout the county since 1929. The total volume of
retail sales was, however, 50.1 percent less in 1933 and 32.2 percent less in 1935 than
in 1929. The number of employees in retail distribution was reduced from 1,188
in 1929 to 823 in 1933, then increased to 1,157 in 1935. The average annual
wage was 30 percent less in 1935 than in 1929.
In wholesale distribution the number of establishments remained practically
without change since 1929. The net sales, however, showed a decided increase
during the period 1929-37. The number of employees increased only slightly,
while the total pay roll decreased.
It is obvious that such changes in the system of distribution as indicated by
the distribution of an increased volume of goods through wholesale rather than
retail channels and with a fewer number of workers employed that another aspect
of the migration problem has presented itself.
As in many other fields so also in that of distribution the inexorable laws of
economics and business continue to work. It becomes the task of the State to
know the evolution of its industry, business, and people. Economies in distri-
bution are wholesale and desirable. They should be encouraged, but at the
same time the displacement of workers presents a problem which has not been
much studied. It is one which commands attention and planning for the pro-
vision of opportunity for displaced workers. Without question, developments
in the distributive field have in Utah contributed to the migration problem.
|f,MEETING^THE']PROBLEM
There is no single cause for the heavy migration from Utah. Those factors
which can be observed are complex and interwoven in very delicate relationships.
Agriculture is dependent upon mining; trade and services are dependent upon
mining; they depend upon manufacturing, and so on. All are, more or less,
dependent upon each other in the structure of the State's economy. The one
most positive solution to the problem is genera] economic recovery in all industry.
It must be borne in mind, however, that trends in Utah's economic structure, its
business and industrial organization and production have so radically changed,
since before the "new era" of 1929, that to bring about a fully fledged period of
prosperity is no simple task. Many things have gone under the bridge; their
influences now are felt in stressed economic conditions.
The years of the recent depression brought us face to face with dwindling
income, drought, loss of markets, low prices, diminished production, plant obso-
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2945
lescence, and a long list of other adversities and abnormal conditions. Their
impact has been terrific, but much less servere than would have been the case
had not many agencies been at work in the State to modify their forces.
It would be beyond the scope of this paper to describe the activities of these
agencies and their programs for meeting our problem. It will only be possible to
mention them. There are a number of Federal and State agencies to be compli-
mented upon their work in dealing with these innumerable problems. The first
steps toward the objective of providing for those who are forced under economic
pressures to migrate from their homes have been taken and are being continued by
the following agencies:
Federal agencies — Farm Security Administration, Rural Electrification Ad-
ministration, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Soil Conservation Service,
Federal Lank Banks, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Mines, Reconstruction
Finance Corporation, Home Owners Loan Corporation, Federal Housing Ad-
ministration.
State agencies. — State Planning Board, State Soil Conservation Committee,
Department of Public Welfare, State Employment Service, State Extension
Service, Office of the State Engineer, State Board of Health, State Land Board,
State Farm Debt Adjustment Board, State Board of Agriculture, State Road
Commission, Utah Water Storage Commission.
Private agency. — Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (welfare program).
COORDINATION OP EFFORT
There is a rich background of cooperative effort in Utah. The settlement of
LTtah by its pioneers, the hardships they were obliged to undergo in the building
of a great commonwealth, is a history replete with unity of purpose and coordina-
tion of effort. The most essential requirement in meeting Utah's present problems
is the cultivation of that spirit.
The fundamental needs in arresting the migration of the State's population are
being met principally by the agencies aforementioned. The development of a
new water supply through conservation measures and construction of small
reservoirs provides for the basic need of water. Economic aspects of this program
need be related both from the standpoint of agriculture and the development of
local industries. In this connection the national-defense program presents unusual
possibilities of great importance. The opportunity for effective coordination
between water development and the encouragement of new local industry is
without parallel in this State. The agencies now functioning in the interest of
conserving and development the State's human, natural, and economic resources
are fulfilling Utah's needs.
Utah State Planning Board,
By Thornton W. Petersen.
The Chairman. I also have a statement prepared by Dwain
Pearson, farm management speciaUst of the Farm Security Admin-
istration at Logan, Utah, which was to be presented by the Hon.
Henry H. Blood, Governor of the State of Utah, at this hearing, which
I would also like to have incorporated in the record.
(The statement referred to is as follows:)
Los Angeles, Calif.,
September 28, 1940.
FARM SECURITY ADMINISTRATION IN UTAH
The Farm Security Administration, a Federal agency within the Department
of Agriculture, carries on a broad program of rural rehabilitation in which the
State of Utah has taken full part, and in some ways may be said to have taken a
leading part.
Utah is, of course, a predominantly agricultural State, even though only a small
percentage of its soil is under cultivation. We have more than 30,000 farmers,
and their farms cover some 3.2 percent of the land within our boundaries; moreover
there is no great surplus of arable soil remaining which might be brought under
cultivation. This in itself is one of our problems. It has already caused the
splitting up of our farm land into smaller and smaller parcels, as our farm boys
and girls grow up to strike out for themselves in agriculture, for it has meant that
2946 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
less opportunity or none at all could be found in agriculture for countless other
farm youths. This trend is in a direction opposite to that in many other States,
where a distinct movement toward larger farms is going on.
The great majority of farms in Utah are still what I should call the traditional
type of American farming enterprise; that is to say, they are either owned or
rented by the farmer, and they are cultivated through the seasons by his own
labor, with willing family hands to help wherever help is needed.
Willing hands and fertile soil were once a combination that almost certainly
spelled lasting economic security, health, and happiness for the American farm
family. To our common sorrow, there seems to be no such certainty today.
The 30,000 farm families of my State have met their full share of the problems
which beset modern agriculture. Drought, low prices, insect pests, unequal
competition, population pressure, and all the rest — I think none of them has
passed us by. To use a simple, graphic phrase, Utah farmers have found the
going tough.
Perhaps the security of a small farmer is not ultimately endangered until he
begins to fear foreclosure on his land or possessions for debt. But on this score
again, we are probably no better off in Utah than most other States. More
than 30 percent of the value of all our farm property is under mortgage. Drought
alone, which forced farmers to borrow heavily for feed, livestock, equipment, and
even their own food, can be listed as the cause for much of this indebtedness.
The worst of our drought was short-lived but while it lasted the harm done was
severe and will not easily be repaired.
FAKM DEBT ADJUSTMENT SERVICE
For reasons such as these, the work of the Farm Security Administration has
meant a lot to Utah farm communities. I say communities advisedly, because
the benefits of this program have clearly extended beyond the individuals immedi-
ately assisted. In the present connection, the farm debt adjustment service
made available by Farm Security Administration comes immediately to mind.
Here is a program carried on in cooperation with pubhc-spirited citizens of the
State, who serve without remuneration in our agricultural counties on local debt-
adjustment committees. Their job is to bring farm debtors and creditors to-
gether, on a voluntary and friendly basis and at no expense to either party, to
discuss the possibilities of ameliorating debt burdens through cash settlement,
refinancing, extension of time, amortization of old obligations, consolidation of
debts, and similar methods. Meetings of county committees are attended by
Farm Security Administration debt adjustment specialists, and proceedings are
kept in strict confidence. The negotiations carried on are desired to result in
arbitrated decisions which wiU be fully satisfactory to the creditor as well as
beneficial to the debtor.
As of June 30, 1940, I am informed that debt adjustment cases handled by
county committees in my State numbered 940, and that actual debt reductions
brought about totaled $555,286. The lightened obligations obtained made it
possible for farmers assisted to pay a total of $75,799 in back taxes into State,
county, and municipal treasuries.
In reference to the drought conditions which, as I have said, have been a major
cause of farm indebtedness in Utah, I should like to mention also the emergency
financial grants which the Farm Security Administration is empowered to make
under conditions of extreme need. Immediate help was forthcoming from this
source in our drought-stricken areas, and in all I know that the Farm Security
Administration has made more than 2,000 outright emergency grants in Utah
to farm families other than those already participating in the agency's rural
rehabilitation program.
RURAL REHABILITATION PROGRAM
This program of standard rehabilitation loans is, as we know, the principal
activity undertaken by the Farm Security Administration throughout the Nation.
Under it, in my o^vn State, approximately 5,000 farm families have received badly
needed loans for operating goods such as seed, feed, tools, and supplies since the
then Resettlement Administration was set up in 1934. With these standard
rehabilitation loans, also in the case of Farm Security Administration lending,
has come valuable advice and guidance in farm and home management. I am
pleased to give mention at this time to some of the concrete improvements in
living standards and income brought about through Rural Rehabilitation activ-
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2947
ities in my State, as they are demonstrated in a survey made by Farm Security
Administration in the early part of this year.
As of March 1940 there were 4,266 active rehabilitation cases in the State.
Thus about 1 in every 7 of our farmers was operating under a rehabilitation loan.
The average net income of the farm families surveyed was figured at $862.81 for
the year. This compared with net earnings of $749.74 in the year before they
came to Farm Security Administration for help, and thus represented an increase
of 15 percent. Furthermore, the average increase in net worth, over and above
all debts, including obligations to the Government, stood at 32 percent.
These 4,266 families were not considered good credit risks by regular business
standards, or they could not have been appioved for Farm Security Administra-
tion aid. Yet this same survey demonstrated that the typical Utah rehabilitation
family had borrowed $1,214 from the Farm Security Administration and had
already paid back $425.26, even though much of the money loaned does not fall
due for 4 or 5 years hence.
On the side of better living and health, with which the Farm Security Adminis-
tration farm and home management program is mainly concerned as a funda-
mental part of true rehabilitation, progress made has been equally favorable.
For home consumption, our rehabilitation farmers produced last year an average
of 538 quarts of milk per family, and 321 quarts of fruits and vegetables; and for
their livestock they had raised an average of 27.47 tons of forage crops.
COMMUNITY AND COOPERATIVE SERVICES
I said in beginning that the State of Utah has in some respects taken a leading
part in the general program of the Farm Security Administration. I had in mind
particularly the community and cooperative service section of this agency's
activities.
One of our farmers, in speaking of this Farm Security Administration program,
made a statement which I, as a citizen of Utah, can sincerely approve. He said,
when asked whether the cooperative tractor service he had joined was novel, and
hard to get used to, "Why no; there's nothing new about it. It's just what we
have always called being good neighbors."
As your committee may know, we in Utah take pride in being "good neighbors."
Cooperation is truly no novelty to us. Those who first settled and laid the founda-
tions for our State preached cooperation, and they daily practiced it. In the great,
fierce wilderness, working together for the common good was a necessity for sur-
vival; but in the minds of the Mormon pioneers cooperation was also a spiritual
and ethical and social creed. It has been said today in Utah, "We all think and
act and pray together on Sundays, and we believe this is the way to do things on
the other 6 days as well."
Perhaps then this background, this traditional ethical attitude of our people,
has made the type of cooperative enterprise sponsored by the Farm Security
Administration quite readily acceptable in Utah. But we are up-to-date realists
too, and the economic realities of today's agriculture have also reminded our
farmers of the lesson of cooperation.
A small, low-income farm in our day must face stiff competition for its products
all the way from field to market. Perhaps I am stating the most pressing problem
of all when I ask : How is the small operator to compete with those who have the
most efficient of machinery, large tracts of land, fine livestock, and all the capital
and credit resources they require? If competition is to be anything but over-
whelmingly unequal, certainly the little family farmer must somehow gain access
to some of these resources. This is one of the economic realities which Utah
farmers, with their typically small land holdings and restricted finances, well
know. Doubtless no one of us can offer any final or complete answer to this
question, or, I suppose, to any of the other questions under consideration by this
committee, but likewise any answer or solution which holds genuine possibilities
of amelioration and improvement should be given its fair hearing and chance, as
I am sure we all agree.
On the present question, and speaking of my own State, the answer submitted
by the Farm Security Administration through its community and cooperative
services, even though admittedly not ultimate, is a meaningful and valuable
one. Through these services, which I am told Farm Security Administration
now considers essential to the achievement of lasting rural rehabilitation, small
neighborhood groups of farmers are enabled to purchase for their common use
expensive farm machinery such as tractors and combines, and purebred breeding
sires for their livestock projects.
2948 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
The average Utah farmer has a herd of 5 cows. If they are poor cows of mixed
breeds or bad strains he is often better off without them. A rise in butterfat
production from 200 to 300 pounds has been shown to multiply milk profits
5 times, and such increases are largely the result of good breeding. Yet a pure-
bred sire and an adequate pen to house him will cost some $200, with feed and
caretaking expenses averaging $60 a year. When the bull can service 50 cows at
the same cost, it becomes economically absurd for a low-income farmer to lay out
this much money for service to his 5 animals, even though the need for pure breed-
ing is undoubted. Why not let 10 farmers with a total of 50 cows in their herds
get together to purchase and care for their sire? Thus dairy-herd improvement
will be available to all of them, at a fraction of the cost to any one of them individ-
ually. In the same way it is uneconomical for a 50-acre farmer to pay the pur-
chase price and overhead of an expensive tractor that can handle 500 acres, and
equally sensible for a number of small operators to get together on the deal.
What was needed to make real the obvious possibilities of cooperation was, in
many cases, adequate credit.
Since 1934 this credit has been made available to over 6,000 farmers in Utah
through direct loans made under the community and cooperative service program.
More than that, the neighborhood groups set up have made their services available
to another 4,000 farmers who do not require loans for participation but who pay
reasonable fees as users. In short, 1 farmer in every 3, in my State, now shares
the benefits of modern, efficient machines and fine stock breeding, and I am in-
formed that cooperative services have cut operating costs of their members and
users as much as 75 percent.
COOPERATIVE HEALTH PROGRAM
A word must also be given to the cooperative health plans set up through this
program. In San Juan County, group loans were made to Farm Security Admin-
istration rehabilitation borrowers which brought the medical services of a physician
and nurse to this isolated farm area for the first time. The plan has since extended
to hospital care, and to many nonborrowers of the Farm Security Administration.
In cooperation with the Utah Medical Association and other State and local
health agencies. Farm Security Administration has now helped organize medical
cooperatives in Grand, Box Elder, Wayne, Utah, Wasatch, and Juab Counties.
Cooperative groups meet often to discuss and solve their problems in free
democratic discussion and by joint action, with counsel from trained local repre-
sentatives of the Farm Security Administration always available. Educational
opportunities of such groups are as striking as the benefits which show themselves
in practical farm rehabilitation and higher standards of living and health. The
long-range effects of this program must inevitably contribute to the welfare of
entire rural communities. I am glad to know that Utah leads the Nation in
the number of these groups established.
WATER-FACILITIES PROGRAM
Lastly, there is another department of Farm Security Administration activity
which may be said to have rendered service not only to individuals but to sizeable
communities. This is the water-facilities program administered jointly by
Farm Security Administration, Soil Conservation Service, and the Bureau of
Agricultural Economics of the Federal Government. Under this cooperative
arrangement, Farm Security serves as lending agency to make possible the
carrying out of plans worked out by the two other agencies.
On August 28, 1937, Congress approved the Water Facilities Act. The act was
designed to promote conservation in the arid and semiarid regions of the United
States through the development of facilities for water storage and utilization, and
for similar purposes. Facilities recommended for construction include ponds,
reservoirs, wells; detention, retention, and diversion dams; pumping installations,
spring developments, water spreaders, stock water tanks; facilities for flood
irrigation; facilities for recharging underground reservoirs; and small irrigation
projects, either for individual families or groups of families, including rehabilita-
tion of such facilities.
The projects undertaken in this program are especially aimed at improving the
water resources of small enterprises and communities, and may cost up to $50,000.
Actual field work in Utah commenced early in 1939. and has expanded considerably
since that time. Work is planned on a watershed basis, and the Bureau of Agricul-
tural Economics prepares a detailed plan for each area before construction of
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2949
projects is undertaken by the Farm Seciirit}'' Administration and Soil Conserva-
tion Service. In addition to facilities for these principal areas, a number of
individual and group projects have been approved for certain counties.
At the present time water-facilities operations are being carried out in the
upper Virgin River drainage area and in the Sanpitch River drainage area of
Utah. Studies and plans are being completed for two watershed areas in Iron
County, one in Millard County, one in Jaub and Utah Counties, one in Tooele,
one in Emery, and two in the Uintah Basin. We expect projects will actually be
started in all these watershed areas as soon as the Water Facilities Board at
Washington approves the plans and opens the areas for construction.
A total of 87 applications for water-facilities developments and loans to make
them possible have been submitted from Utah. The projects when finished will
serve about 700 farm families throughout the State, many of whom will contribute
their own labor in local construction. They will require loans in the amount of
$168,916.93 together with a Federal subsidy of $46,174.
As of August 30, 1940, 32 water-facilities projects have already been completed
in the State; 20 are now under construction ; and 29 have been approved for con-
struction. Only 6 of the 87 applications submitted have been rejected after review
by the Farm Security Administration regional office. More than 100 additional
applications have been filed with county supervisors of the Farm Security Ad-
ministration in Utah, and we confidently look forward to equally favorable action
and swift construction once new water facilities area plans and proposals are
drafted by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics and approved by the Water
Facilities Board.
We have noted earlier that a definite correlation exists between population loss
in Utah and the lack of adequate water supplies. The benefits to be expected
from this Federal water facilities program in reducing out-State migration in our
rural counties seem clear. We have also found previously that those Utah coun-
ties which generally have sustained population losses each decade since 1910 have
been rural and basically agricultural counties. The rate of loss has decreased
iinmensely since 1930.
I feel that the decrease in the latter half of this decade has come from the
increased security and stability of our small farm enterprises; and surely much of
this security and stability has been brought about by the Farm Security Admin-
istration. Thousands of Utah farm families, I am confident, will bear this state-
ment out.
The Chairman. I also regret the inabiUty of Representative Harry
R. Sheppard, of Cahfornia, to be present at the hearing today, but he
was unavoidably detained due to the fact that Congress was still in
session.
At this time I would like to incorporate Representative Sheppard's
statement which was to be given before the committee.
(The statement referred to is as follows:)
I greatly appreciate the kind invitation of your chairman to appear before the
Committee Investigating the Interstate Migration of Destitute Citizens. The
problems of the hundreds of thousands of families who have come to this State
in the last 10 years is particularly close to my heart for a number of reasons. The
great majority of those who have entered California have entered at points along
the eastern border of the district which I have the honor to represent in Congress,
or have entered at Yuma to the south. Those coming in through Yuma cus-
tomarily pass through my district en route to Los Angeles, or the to San Joaquin
Valley to the north. Many of them have sought seasonal employment in the
citrus groves, the vineyards, and the vegetable fields for which my district is
famous. Many thousands of these families have settled in the past 10 years in my
district, principally in northern Orange County and in the area in and around San
Bernardino and Riverside.
MIGRATION FOR ECONOMIC OPPOETUNITY
These families have come to California in search of economic opportunity.
A variety of reasons has led them to come to our State. California's reputation
as a land of golden opportunity, rumors of high earnings which could be made
in harvesting our crops, the recruiting activities of farmers' employment agencies
in Arizona which lies just to the east of us, and other forces have served to attract
2950 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
the sons and daughters of the pioneers who came into Oklahoma, west Texas,
and the Great Plains only two generations ago. Dust storms, mechanization, and
contraction of economic opportunities in other kinds of work have made it neces-
sary for them to take to the road in search of a livelihood.
It is a tragedy that California has not been able to offer jobs to them. From
1920 to 1930 the population of California increased by nearly two-thirds. From
1930 to 1940, the rate of increase was much smaller, both in total additions to our
population and as a percent of our population at the beginning of this decade.
But even though fewer people came to California after 1930 than in the 10 years
previous, employment opportunities in the State have not expanded so that the
newcomers could find a place in our economy.
Many thousands of them have come to California with little in the way of
resources except a determination to find work. Instead, they have found an
overcrowded labor market, inadequate housing, and a lack of understanding
on the part of many of our citizens as to their needs and aspirations. These peo-
ple have not come to California for the purpose of going on relief. They have
been forced to accept relief because jobs have not been sufficiently plentiful to
go around.
I am sure that the facts which this committee is bringing to light will bear out
the truth of what I have to say. There is little that I can say from my own per-
sonal knowledge and experience which would add to the store of information
which this committee is bringing together.
One thing is clear — the investigation of your committee in the past 2 months
in other sections of the country, and the very size of the migration of destitute
citizens to California show that the problem is one which is Nation-wide in scope,
and which the Federal Government must help the States and local governments
to solve.
NEED OF ADEQUATE HOUSING
In California the need for adequate housing for these newcomers is a pressing
one. The program of the Farm Security Administration in providing sanitary
camps for seasonal agricultural workers has shown how it will some day no longer
be necessary for people to live along ditch banks, in the jungles, and squatter
camps. This program should be extended, and in areas where seasonal workers
come for only a few weeks' of employment, the establishment of temporary,
mobile camps should be pushed. One of the successful permanent camps of the
Farm Security Administration is located in my district, at Indio. You gentlemen
have seen similar camps on your way here from San Francisco, and I do not need
to tell you what they mean to the migrant family on the road.
Permanent housing is needed, too, for workers who are able to secure full- or
part-time employment. Where land can be provided for subsistence gardening,
this can provide supplemental income at seasons when employment is slack.
Some beginning in this direction has been made by the Farm Security Adminis-
tration. More of this type of housing should be provided by the Farm Security
Administration and by the United States Housing Authority.
INTRASTATE EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES RECOMMENDED
One of the most important steps which can be taken by the Federal and State
Governments acting together is the establishment of an adequate, workable
system of employment exchanges throughout California which will make possible
the efficient utilization of our seasonal agricultural workers. Our State depart-
ment of agriculture is constantly improving its system of crop reporting so that it
is becoming more and more possible to accurately forecast the demand for seasonal
labor in different crops and different sections of the State. What is needed is a
method whereby this information can be applied so as to avoid the purposeless,
unguided wandering of agricultural workers in search of jobs which they have
heard about by way of the grapevine. Such a system would be a boon to em-
ployers and workers alike in assuring a dependable supply of labor, on the one
hand, the disappointment which naturally comes when two or three or four
thousand workers flock to some point where employment for only a few hundred
is available.
The thousands of unemployed agricultural workers in California, and the
farmers who have been unable to market all that they can produce, both stand to
gain heavily by measures which the Federal Government is taking to increase the
consumption of fruit, vegetables, dairy and poultry products among low-income
consumers who have not been able to buy enough of such products. According to
INTERSTAO.'E MIGRATION 2951
a study of the United States Department of Agriculture, the 14 percent of our
families with the lowest incomes are spending only a little more than $1 per person
per week for food. It is broadly this group of consumers who are being helped to
expand their purchases of food through the operation of the food-stamp plan of
the Federal Surphis Commodities Corporation. This not only means better diets
for these people; it also means increased farm income, and more employment for
farm workers, railroad workers, and persons in the merchandising business. It is
a program which deserves our thoroughgoing support.
INCLUDE FARM LABOR UNDER SOCIAL SECURITY
Farmers and farm workers, who form an important part of the migrant stream
of recent years to California, are not now entitled to unemployment or old-age
retirement benefits under our national social security law. I have long advocated
an adequate system of old-age pensions and have supported every forward-looking
piece of legislation designed to improve upon our present system. I feel strongly
that our present system of old-age pensions should be put upon a basis which
would more adequately meet the just needs of our senior citizens. I feel strongly
also that farmers and farm workers should not be excluded, as at present, under
this legislation. The hardships which migrants have encountered in California
would have been lightened if they had been covered under both the old-age and
unemployment phases of our social security law.
In conclusion I would like to say that I feel this committee is making a real and
much-needed contribution to the practical application of democracy.
And it is my earnest hope that our Congress wiU act with all speed in the
adoption of such legislation as you gentlemen wiU recommend.
Mr. John W. Abbott. At this time I have several documents that
I would like to offer in evidence.
I would like to offer a statement by M. V. Hartranft, a member of
the California State Board of Forestry.
(The statement referred to as received and marked as an exhibit
and is held in committee files.)
Mr. Abbott. I would like to offer a book, Grapes of Gladness, by
M. V. Hartranft, a member of the California State Board of Forestry.
(The book referred to was received and marked as "Exhibit No. 9."
This exhibit, a bound volume entitled "Grapes of Gladness," is held
in committee files.)
Mr. Abbott. I would like to offer a pamplilet regarding aviation
training schools and employment in aircraft factories in Los Angeles
by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
(The pamphlet referred to was received and marked as an exhibit
and is printed on p. 2808.)
Mr. Abbott. I offer a letter giving data on increase to schools of
Pinal County, Ariz., by John J. Bugg, county school supervisor.
(The pamphlet referred to was received and marked as an exhibit
and appears below.)
Department of Education,
Pinal County, Florence, Ariz., September 23, 1940.
Mr. John W. Abbott,
Assistant Field Investigator,
Los Angeles, Calif.
Dear Mr. Abbott: At the request of our county supervisor, Walter C. Smith,
I am giving you the following information relative to the increase in cost to the
schools of Pinal County, Ariz., incurred by the attendance of children from
migratory families.
During the last school term there was an average of approximately 840 children
from these families attending 11 of the elementary schools in the agricultural
2952 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
area of this county. The average maintenance per capita cost was $63 or a
total cost of $5,920 for these children.
For this year the attendance in these schools will be approximately the same
as that of last year, and added to this load we have organized a school for 200
pupils concentrated in the migratory labor camp at the Eleven Mile Corner.
The total maintenance cost of this school falls entirely upon the county.
The added cost to our schools resulting from the migratory situation has been
met by an increase in county property tax, and at the same time the valuation
of our property has not increased.
If you should desire further information relative to this matter please request it.
Very truly yours,
John J. Bugg,
County School Superintendent.
Mr. Abbott. I offer a letter and a statement by Walter C. Smith,
county supervisor, Pinal County, Ariz.
(The letter and statement referred to were received and marked
as an exhibit and appear below.)
September 24, 1940.
Mr. John W. Abbott,
Assistant Field Investigator, Special Committee on Interstate Migration,
Los Angeles, Calif.
Dear Mr. Abbott: This will acknowledge your letters of the 18th and 23d
and assure you that your message to Mr. Floyd Brown has been delivered. He
told me that he would sit down at once this morning and write his bit.
I am enclosing a rough statement with not as much detail or fact as I had
hoped to be able to present. I am more familiar with the medical situation and
the general relief problems than I am with the costs though I am somewhat
familiar with the latter through the activities of the board of supervisors. I
have asked Mr. J. J. Bugg to write the committee and I have asked Mr. Frank
W. Shedd, of Toltec and Los Angeles, to contact you on a recent trip to Los
Angeles. Mr. Shedd is probably as well posted on the State land situation as
any man in the State and is the person I brought in to aid Mr. Darnton in prepa-
ration of his New York Times article on this county situation.
I am sorry I could not do better by you but our staff at the Inn is short at this
season of the year and T could not get away to gather any more detailed infor-
mation.
If you need any further help I shall be glad to have you call upon me. I wiU
do anything I can to help.
Sincerely yours,
Walter C. Smith.
CooLiDGE, Ariz., September 24, 1940.
To the Special Committee on Interstate Migration, House of Representatives.
Sirs: My observations lead me to believe interstate migration of destitute
citizens has created a national emergency. I cannot speak for the entire State,
but I fear no good will come from this shift to the winter playgrounds of Cali-
fornia and Arizona.
As county supervisor of Pinal County, I have literally been besieged lately
with the borderline cases, those for whom no provision has been made or who do
not come within the statutory regulations pertaining to county aid.
Only a few years ago the cotton growers of Arizona imported cotton pickers for
the season and returned them to their homes when the crop was harvested.
Then something happened and the small tenant farmers from Texas and Okla-
homa started westward. Just what actuated the trek, I do not know, nor have
I given it much study. Suffice to say that they came and came in droves. The
pioneers came and found the promised land substantially as painted by those
who recruited them with promises of "free water, free camps, no cold weather,
eternal sunshine" along with good picking. Then followed the "in-laws" and
the "outlaws" and whole families descended upon us until the little town of
Coolidge has become known as the new capital of Oklahoma.
Case No. !.■ — Just this morning I talked with one of the Farm Security Admin-
istration relief clients, 41 years of age. He could not make a living in Oklahoma
because he was disabled. He, with wife and four little children, moved first to
Texas, then to New Mexico, and then on to Arizona, and here he has been for
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2953
almost 2 years. He says his wife and children can pick cotton in season and earn
sufficient to keep the family in clothes and the Farm Security Administration can
furnish the food and possibly tent shelter. Because he is unemployable, the
Farm Security Administration grant office cannot support the family, so he must
be referred to the county office of the State board of social security and public
welfare. They in turn refuse help for one reason and another, and in November
when this man completes a 3-year residence, he will expect some agency to take
up the burden.
He did not come, he says, as others did, to bask in our winter climate secure in
the thought of a living dole but because he was in search of health. He brought
his family where they could enjoy picking in a region known for its two-bale-per-
acre production. He hopes that he will get aid for his dependent children. When
November comes and he receives no aid from the security office, who will feed the
youngsters?
If the Federal Government cannot provide nor the State social security and
welfare board, what will become of him and his brood? The county cannot par-
ticipate. The supervisors are limited to medical relief. Sometimes, in cases of
dire need, we do grant an emergency grocery order to keep the destitute from starv-
ing, but to do that much we must shut our eyes and act in violation of the law.
Case No. 2. — And what about the old folks who come out to sing their swan
song? I have in mind an elderly couple who came out to this Utopia from Texas.
Had they stayed on there, they would now be receiving old-age assistance. I
worked on that case for months trying to keep their bodies and souls together and
finally succeeded in getting the State board to accept them. They had fulfilled
their residence requirements but because they had accepted groceries from the
Farm Security Administration during their 3-year residence, the State board re-
fused at first "to acknowledge their eligibility for assistance. According to their
interpretation, no one was entitled to assistance unless he had lived for 3 years in
Arizona without accepting aid from any relief agency. Pending a decision on
that case, the county helped with medical relief and a few grocery orders while
the young son was unable to secure employment.
Case No. 3. — Consider the plight of this young couple. The husband fell from
a tractor and injured his back. He was carried on the Farm Security Adminis-
tration rolls as long as rules would permit. The wife is not well, and the county
buried their two small children within the past year. After much effort I suc-
ceeded in getting them an allowance of approximately $12 a month from the State
board.
Case No. 4. — An Indian, with no dependents, with inflammatory rheumatism,
43 years of age, returned to Arizona from New Mexico about a year and a half
ago where he had been employed as a farm laborer. He cannot work, but because
he is single, he cannot secure aid from the Farm Security Administration grant
office. He has not been a resident of Arizona long enough to secure even medical
aid from the county, though I have granted it as an emergency case. The man
has attempted to pick cotton, but the joints of his hands are so badly swollen that
he cannot earn a living and his knees and ankles so bad he walks with difficulty.
So far this month he has earned $1.75. Is a human being who tries to work
entitled to more than pity?
Of the four migratory cases cited —
No. 1 with dependent family is denied assistance because of poor health which
makes him unemployable. • . u
No. 2 with dependents is too old to work and is discriminated against because
he accepted aid from the Farm Security Administration while perfecting his
rGsidGDCG
No. 3 with ailing dependent wife is unemployable because of injury.
No. 4 unable to do a day's work is denied assistance because he has no dependents.
And I could go on almost indefinitely relating specific cases. The files of the
Agricultural Workers Medical Association could yield many more. May these
few cases serve to outline the relief problems in different phases.
The Agricultural Workers Medical Association cares for all but communicable
diseases. That throws an extra burden upon the county for all epidemics arising
among the migrants. With no pest house and limited hospital facilities, the
county is again up against a serious problem and, if history repeats itself, this
winter the county will be forced to call upon some agency of the Federal Govern-
ment for help, as we consider this more than a local problem and one that we
cannot cope with by ourselves. A smallpox epidemic among the migrants cost
Pinal County approximately $10,000 in the winter of 1938 and 1939.
2954 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
It is certain that with our shortage of water and power this past season and the
subsequent crop failures we cannot meet additional tax levies to take care of the
increasing burden arising among the destitute. The situation is becoming more
and more acute in spite of all the help given by the Farm Security Administration.
Sanitary conditions in this county have long been the subject ot unfavorable
criticism and such criticism has been justifiable. With an additional 26,000
acres of desert land in cultivation this past season for the first time and the increas-
ing influx of destitute pickers, who will be unable to find employment, we face a
serious situation.
Housing of destitute pickers has been partially provided by the Farm Security
Administration, but we still find hundreds in improvised shelter on the outskirts of
our little towns. This past summer hundreds were driven from their habitations
by the flood waters of the Santa Cruz in the vicinity of the town of Eloy.
I have requested Mr. Frank W. Shedd, a grower, of Toltec, Ariz., and Los An-
geles, to viTite you or submit to you information on the development of the thou-
sands of acres of new cotton land, especially that land which is owned and leased
by the State of Arizona, and from which no considerable tax revenue is available
to the county to offset the social burdens imposed by the influx of the destitute.
This matter was touched upon at some length in articles by the New York Times
under the signature of Mr. Byron Darnton.
I have also requested Mr. John J. Bugg, our county school superintendent, to
write your committee in detail relative to increased costs of education directly
traceable to this influx of farm labor.
I cannot, in the limited time at my disposal, give the actual figures which
represent the increased cost to the taxpayers of Pinal County which have arisen
from this influx of destitute citizens. No exhaustive study has been made by any
of our county officials. Off'hand, I would venture an estimate of $15,000 in
medical relief borne by the county in 1939-40 and approximately $55,000 in costs
of education borne jointly by county and State. I cannot offer an estimate of
increased cost of direct relief absoriaed by county and State in Pinal County.
Such figures must be obtained from the State board of social security and public
welfare. (Refer to statement prepared and submitted by Mr. Floyd Brown, of
Florence, Ariz., State board of social security, Pinal County office.)
It is unfortunate that your committee cannot find an opportunity to study the
migratory problem on the ground here in Arizona.
May I suggest that some study be given by your committee to the necessity of
providing relief of some form for the destitute who seek relief in this climate and
who do not qualify for aid under existing programs and for those destitute citizens
who become unemployable by reason of injury and health?
Also may I suggest the possibility of taking the entire migratory relief under
Federal control or else that the Federal Government grant each community such
funds as may be necessary to offset the increased cost to the taxpayers caused by
this influx of outsiders.
Respectfully submitted.
Walter C. Smith,
County Supervisor, Pinal County, Ariz.
Mr. Abbott. I offer a letter by Floyd G. Brown, secretary of Pinal
County Board of Social Security and Public Welfare.
(The statement referred to was received and marked as an exhibit
and appears below:)
Pinal County Board of
Social Security and Public Welfare,
Florence, Ariz., September 25, 1940.
John W. Abbott,
Assistant Field Investigator,
Special Committee on Interstate Migration,
No. 1639 Federal Building, Los Angeles, Calif.
Dear Mr. Abbott: In compliance with the recent invitation of your com-
mittee, the following is a brief presentation of factual material which may pertain
to your present study.
The major crop in this part of Arizona is cotton, and with the processing of that
crop comes most of the social and economic problems of the large number of
people who help produce it. Even drought has its effects in spite of the fact that
we are under the Coolidge Dam irrigation system. In growing cotton quite
different skills are needed among the men who raise the crop. Planting is mechan-
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2955
ized, and it provides employment only for the younger men who are capable of
driving tractors to plow, level land, harrow, etc. During the spring of the year,
therefore, only relatively few farm hands are required for cotton.
In early summer, when the time comes to hoe the weeds and grasses from be-
tween the cotton plants, larger numbers of employees are needed. Apparently
these include the tractor operators, but the prevailing pay is very small, and it is
practically impossible for the head of the family to support a family group chop-
ping cotton alone. So many farm hands are employed that the chopping is soon
done, and there is usually a period of about 2 months between the end of chopping
and the beginning of cotton picking. Only the very large families seem to be
able to earn enough at hoeing cotton to tide them over financially until picking
begins. Cotton picking usually begins late in August, but there is never enough
mature cotton to pick to employ all of the available pickers until the middle of
September. Pickers do very well from about September 15 to about January 15,
but it is a rare father who can support an average size farm family picking alone.
We find that even during picking season many experienced cotton pickers ask us
to let them work on Work Projects Administration projects so they will have
enough money to support their families. They claim about one-fourth of their
working time is taken up with searching for new fields to pick after they finish
other fields, moving their families from place to place, and waiting for bad weather
conditions to clear.
A few years ago, I believe, migrant cotton families were not so faithful at sending
their working children to school, and this resulted in a large family income during
picking season. Many of them earned enough and were frugal enough to save
sufficient funds to support thenr-selves for the 4 or 5 months of very little available
work in the cotton industry. That habit is becoming more rare, because parents
and children alike seem to have an increased interest in full attendance at school.
Not only do parents seem more determined to provide an education for their
children' but school-attendance laws are more rigidly enforced in recent years.
In the business of interviewing large numbers of farm workers we seem to feel a
trend against saving money for their months of idleness. Some families buy more
permanent goods with their picking earnings, and others decide not to save for
other reasons. An unfortunately large number of adult pickers spend their extra
money at drinking heavily, and others complain that there is no reward for them
to save because the spenders can obtain relief of one kind or another as soon as
their monev is gone, anyway.
Death, disease, and divorce take a heavy toll among people who have left their
traditional homes in other States to follow crop harvests in the Southwest. Some
workers are victims of unavoidable accidents, and some experience the common,
disabling, more or less permanent illnesses such as tuberculosis, rheumatism,
strokes of paralysis, etc. When accident or serious illness attacks a family, it is
usually a very short time until they are destitute and in need of public assistance.
As you know, nearly all forms of regular public aid are State-sponsored, and for
that reason States must have restrictions that require relief applicants to have lived
in the State for a period of time in order to be eligible.
On a temporary basis the aid which Farm Security Administration gives to
unemployed migratory farm workers is a wonderful help to them. For several
reasons, however, that service is limited to able-bodied workers. Except in slack
seasons the most unfortunate families are those whose family head is disabled for
one reason or another. After some study of the problem we would recommend
grants-in-aid to States for assistance to such nonresidents.
There is one other very serious objection to direct relief for employable farm
workers. Our years of experience in this line of work have convinced us that there
is no eflficient substitute for work relief to unemployed destitute able-bodied people.
We find that more migrants than we like to admit are not honest about reporting
their financial conditions. We are sure that social and financial investigation
should precede the granting of public relief. Even then the most eflficient in-
vestigational staff cannot possibly learn about all of the temporary jobs that em-
ployable workers are able to find. It is our duty to report to you that many farm
workers do not report their earnings from temporary farm-hand jobs when they
are asking for public aid. It is true that this group does not represent a majority
of them, for most folks are strictly honest in their dealings with welfare organiza-
tions. It is also true that farm wages are so low that a certain amount of ration-
alization is understandable. It seems to us, however, that the easiest solution for
that problem would be to offer Federal relief employment to farm-labor families
during slack-farm-work seasons. Obviously the work-relief wage should not
exceed the best wage that a private employer could honestly afford to pay.
260370— 41— pt. 7 11
2956 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
If you need specific life situations, more details, or further information on our
part, we will be glad to do all we can to help in the solution of this national problem.
Very truly j'ours,
Pinal County Board of Social
Security and Public Welfare,
Floyd G. Brown, County Secretary.
Mr. Abbott. I offer a letter and a statement by Dr. Bertram P.
Brown, director, California State Department of Public Health.
(The letter and statement referred to were received and marked as
exhibits and appear below.)
State of California,
Department of Public Health,
San Francisco, September 21 , 1940.
Hon. John H. Tolan, Chairman,
Special Committee of the House of Representatives
Investigating the Interstate Migration of Destitute Citizens,
Los Angeles, Calif.
Dear Sir: At the telegraphic request of Mr. Kramer, submitted herewith, is a
survey of tuberculosis among transients for inclusion in the record of your com-
mittee.
It is hoped the study will be of value to the committee in its consideration of the
problem.
As I wired Mr. Kramer, I regret that this department did not have an oppor-
tunity to present a report at either the San Francisco or Los Angeles meeting.
Upon request, we will be pleased to give the committee any further information
desired.
Very truly yours,
Bertram P. Brown,
Director of Public Health.
SURVEY OF TUBERCULOSIS AMONG TRANSIENTS
Presented to Special Committee of the House of Representatives Investigating the
Interstate Migration of Destitute Citizens, meeting in Los Angeles, Septem-
ber 28, 1940
Bertram P. Brown, M. D., Director, California State Department of Public
Health
Survey of Tuberculosis Among Transients, California State Department
of Public Health, July 31, 1940
To determine, if possible, the incidence of tuberculosis among the transient
population of the State of California a precursory survey was done in several of
the coimties in the San Joaquin Valley in which the migratory population was the
heaviest.
Four counties with full-time health departments and adequate record systems
were selected for the survey. These are Tulare County, Madera County, Kern
County, and San Joaquin County. The records of the cases of tuberculosis
reported in these counties during the year 1939 and up to July 1, 1940, were
analyzed. A tabulation of these cases as to sex, length of residence in the county
and State, and race was made.
A residence segregation was made from information available on the record
cards and nursing records. Tabulations were made as to whether the residence
was 3 months or less, 6 months or less, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years and over. A great
variation was found in the counties as to the legal requirements for residence.
Kern County requires 3 years' residence in the county and 3 years' residence in
the State for acceptance in the county hospital or county tuberculosis sanitarium.
Tulare County requires 2 years' State residence and 2 years' county residence,
while San Joaquin County requires 3 years' State residence and 1 year's county
residence. Talaulation charts showing the information derived from the four
coimties studied are included.
The following chart has been prepared for Kern County and shows that out of a
total of 254 tuberculosis cases reported during this period for Kern County, 59
had less than 3 years' residence in the State at the time of reporting. Of this
number, 11 were Mexican or colored and 48 were white. It also shows that the
majority of active cases of tuberculosis are found among those people having lived
in the county between 2 and 3 years. A further analysis of the active tuberculosis
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2957
cases for Kern County shows that 14.1 percent of the total of 1 ,078 cases have less
than 3 years' residence in the county.
Chart No. 1. —
Tuberculosis cases, Kern County
Race
Male
Female
Residence
Age
3 months
or less
6 months 1 year
or less or less
2 years
3 years
and over
1939
/Mexican
\White
3
2
3
2
6
7
6
6
8
13
6
7
8
14
4
3
5
6
2
9
3
14
5
21
3
7
3
3
7
Oto 14 years...
5
/Mexican
\White
1
3
7
15 to 19 years..
1
4
/Me-xican......
\White
1
20 to 24 years..
1
3
2
5
12
/Mexican
\White
7
25 to 29 years..
1
1
3
1
13
/Mexican
(White
1
1
11
30 to 39 years..
6
1
2
24
/Mexican
\White
g
40 to 49 years..
12
60 years and
/Mexican
\White
1
1
10
3
2
11
91
88
6
6
5
25
IBS
Total
179
41
/Mexican
iWhite
Jan. 1 TO July
1, 1940
3
2
1
4
0 to 14 years . . .
/Mejcican
IWhite
3
1
2
2
2
3
1
2
2
7
5
15 to 19 years..
i
1
2
i
20 to 24 years..
\White
2
3
4
1
8
4
6
2
5
5
/Mexican
\While
1
a
25 to 29 years..
1
2
1
2
/Mexican
\While
3
30 to 39 years.-
1
2
3
9
/Mexican
\ White
4
40 to 49 years..
6
1
3
2
10
50 yeai-s and
over.
/Mexican
\White
3
1
1
6
42
33
3
1
4
10
57
Total
75
IH
The following chart for Tulare County shows that out of a total of 120 cases,
21 had less than 3 years' residence in the county. Of these 21 cases, 1 was a
Mexican.
Chart No. 2. — Tuberculosis cases, Tulare County, 1939 to July 15, 1940
Race
Male
Female
Residence
Age
3 months
or less
6 months
or less
1 year
or less
2 years
3 years
and over
/Mexican
2
3
2
2
2
5
0
5
2
15
0
9
4
12
3
4
3
7
2
5
2
4
2
8
1
9
0
7
5
Oto 14 years. . -
7
/Mexican
IWhite
/Mexican
\White
/Mexican
IWhite
/Mexican
\White
/Mexican
5
15 to 19 years..
1
1
7
4
20 to 24 years..
1
1
2
6
2
25 to 29 years..
9
1
3
3
30 to 39 years..
1
1
2
16
1
40 to49 vears..
1
2
2
13
.59 years and f Mexican
4
2
17
63
57.
3
2
5
11
Total
120
21
99
2958 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
In Madera County, with a total of 67 cases, 13 had less than 3 years' residence
in the county, 1 of these cases being Mexican. This information is shown in the
chart which follows:
Chart No. 3. — Tuberculosis cases, Madera County, Jan. 1, 1939, to July 15, 1940
Race
Male
Female
Residence
Age
3 months
or less
6 months
or less
1 year
or less
2 years
3 years
and over
/Mexican
\White
4
3
1
1
4
2
0
3
0
6
1
4
1
6
5
1
4
2
2
0
0
6
2
3
0
6
1
0
1
8
0 to 14 years.. -
4
/Mexican
IWhite
6
15 to 19 years..
1
2
/Mexican
\White
/Mexican
(Wliite
6
20 to 24 years..
1
1
25 to 29 years - -
1
1
3
3
/Mexican
iWhite
2
30 to 39 years. -
1
2
6
/Mexican
IVvhite
1
40 to 49 years --
10
60 years and
/Mexican
IWhite
2
1
1
4
36
31
1
4
8
Total
67
13
54
San Joaquin County figures could not be obtained for the year 1939. There
were 131 cases reported in 1940, 14 of which had less than 3 years' residence in
the county. Of these cases, 6 were white and 8 were Mexican or Filipino. This
information is shown in the chart which follows:
Chart No. 4. — Tuberculosis cases, San Joaquin County, Jan. 1, to July 15, 1940
Race
Male
Female
Residence
Age
3 months
or less
6 months
or less
1 year
or less
2 years
3 years
and over
/Mexican
\White
1
12
3
6
1
1
6
3
5
5
3
7
15
23
2
15
3
4
3
Oto 14 years...
1
1
25
/Mexican
\White
6
15 to 19 years..
9
/Mexican
\White
1
0
20 to 24 years..
1
2
2
1
5
0
3
2
2
2
/Mexican _
\White
1
1
2
1
6
25 to 29 years..
1
3
/Mexican
\White
4
30 to 39 years..
1
8
/Mexican
\White
3
40 to 49 years..
10
/Mexican
nVhite
2
15
60 and over
2
23
89 42
3 12 8
117
Total
131
14
The situation in San Joaquin County is different than it is in the rest of the
valley counties. An understanding between the county hospital, the courts, and
the county health department has been reached, whereby, on order from the
county health officer, any case of active tuberculosis can be quarantined in the
county hospital regardless of residence. The Filipino population in San Joaquin
County causes the greatest difficulty as far as tuberculosis is concerned. Both
the case rate and death rate of tuberculosis are high among this group. However,
the trend over the past 10 years is decidedly downward. The Filipino population
is not increasing, and the incidence of tuberculosis among them is steadily decreas-
ing. It is interesting to note that in the tuberculosis deaths for San Joaquin
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2959
County, the relation of nonresidents to residents has remained practically constant
during the past 3 years. These are as follows:
Tuberculosis deaths, San Joaquin County
Year
Residents
Nonresidents
1937
72
78
78
13
1938 -- -.-
18
1939 ---
11
A compilation of all the information obtained in the four counties is shown
in chart No. 5, which follows:
Chart No. 5. — Tuberculosis cases, 4 counties '
Race
Male
Female
Residence
Age
3 months
or less
6 months 1 year
or less or less
2 years
3 years
and over
/Mexican
\White....
/Mexican
IWhite
/Mexican
tWhite
/Mexican
\White
13
20
12
11
13
17
14
21
16
47
14
33
30
60
16
23
17
21
8
18
8
27
12
44
4
31
7
15
2
1
1
5
1
5
3
10
3
15
1
6
2
6
27
0 to 14 years...
1
41
23
15 to 19 years..
2
25
2
1
IS
20 to 24 years --
1
1
1
2
26
18
25 to 29 years. -
4
1
6
3
1
6
30
(Mexican
\White
23
30 to 39 years..
1
63
/Mexican
tWhite
17
40 to 49 years..
1
2
1
4
55
50 years and
/Mexican
(.White
34
1
3
61
321
251
16
10
19
61
466
Total
572
106
1 San Joaquin County, 1940; Madera County, 1939 and 1940; Tulare County, 1939 and 1940; Kern County
1939 and 1940.
This shows that out of a total of 572 cases reviewed, 106 cases have had less
than 3 years' residence in the county at the time of reporting. This represents
18.56 percent of all cases reported. Of the 106 cases, 19 were Mexicans or
Filipinos and 87 were white. On a percentage basis, 15.23 percent of the total
cases reviewed were white, with less than 3 years' residence in the county, and
3.32 percent of all cases were Mexican or Filipino with less than 3 years' residence
in the county.
Chart No. 6 shows the total number of cases reported during 1939 and until
July 1, 1940, for the 11 counties of the State having the highest migratory or
transient populations.
Chart No. 6. — Tuberculosis cases reported, all forms
County
Kern
Tulare
Kings
Fresno
Madera
Stanislaus- _
San Joaquin
1939
189
83
54
244
39
59
213
1940 (to
July 1)
92
52
13
96
27
43
112
County
Yolo--
Sutter.
Yuba
Sacramento
Total
56
13
21
276
1,247
l«0(to
July 1)
26
4
16
135
6ia
T863
2960
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
These total 1,863 cases for this 18-month period. If the percentages obtained
from the specific study of the 4 counties are appUed to this figure, 18.56 percent
of the 1,863 equals 345.77. and 15.23 percent of 1,863 equals 273.63. These
figures would lead us to believe that over the 18-month period approximately
346 cases of tuberculosis could be expected in all age groups and all races in the
population of the State having less than 3 years' residence in any one county,
and that 284 cases could be expected during this 18-month period among the
white population having less than 3 years' residence. On a year's basis, approxi-
mately 189 white cases of tuberculosis in persons having less than 3 years' resi-
dence could be expected.
Estimates have been made by the Farm Security Administration during the
past 2 months as to the number of migrants in the State. They feel that at
present the total migratory and transient population of the State is approximately
69,260. A further study was made of the number of migrants between the ages
of 18 and 22 of both sexes. This estimate varied between 17,000 and 18,000 as
of July 1, 1940.
CONCLUSIONS
(1) According to these figures, approximately 18.56 percent of all cases of
tuberculosis reported by the San Joaquin Valley counties have less than 3 years'
residence in the county reporting.
(2) From reports obtained, approximately 15.23 percent of all eases reported
by the San Joaquin Valley counties are white transients having less than 3 years'
residence in the county reporting.
Mr. Abbott. I offer a letter and statement by Los Angeles Chamber
of Commerce, submitted by F. L. S. Harman, secretary.
(The statement referred to was received and marked as an exhibit
and appears below:)
Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce,
Sepfewher ?7, 1940.
Hon. John H. Tolan,
Chairman, Special Committee of Congress of United States on
Interstate Migration, 1641 Federal Building,
Los Angeles, Calif.
My Dear Congressman: The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce has for a
considerable length of time given careful thought and study to the problem of
migration of famihes and/or individuals from other States of the United States
into the State of California where it has been necessary to support such people on
relief.
We understand that the California State Chamber of Commerce has submitted
to your committee its findings of fact and recommendation and report covering
this subject of migrants.
This chamber of commerce is familiar with the report and recommendation
of the California State Chamber of Commerce and in the main supports those
contentions as submitted. However, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce
desires to file with your honrable committee at this time three suggestions which
have been approved by our board of directors, and encloses herewith those sug-
gestions which it would like to have inaugurated in your findings of fact during
your committee's investigation of the migrant problem in California.
Respectfully submitted.
F. L. S. Harman, Secretaru.
SUGGESTIONS OF LOS ANGELES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
(1) In attempting to help meet the Nation's migrant problem the Federal
Government should not increase its total relief -expenditures. Relief payments
in many instances have been out of line with the incomes of a great many of our
families not on relief. The liberal relief policies have permitted many so-called
clients on relief which they were not entitled to. Adjustments of present expend-
itures, we believe, can increase Federal assistance in those States where the migrant
problem is troublesome without adding to the total Federal cost; indeed, with a
reduction in costs.
(2) We heartily support the idea of attempting to reestablish migrant families
in their own home State localities to the greatest practical extent. These farnilies
can more quickly adjust themselves under conditions with which they are familiar.
Thev will fit into the local social and economic life in their home .States more
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2961
satisfactorily than trying to adjust themselves to entirely new conditions. Their
purchasing power will be retained in their local community and the local economic
structure will not be disrupted. On the other hand, if it is attempted to reestab-
lish them in other State areas, there will be a troublesome economic adjustment
during the period they are getting established.
(3) We believe that the Farm Security Administration migratory labor camp
program should be regarded strictly as an experimental and demonstration activ-
ity. The camps already established are sufficient in number and diversity of
character to afford adequate experimental data. They should be studied in con-
junction with local communities and representative groups throughout the State
for the purpose of obtaining all possible information that will serve as a guide.
Local communities and farm employers should be encouraged to make use of these
findings and to develop such improved facilities as will afford reasonable accom-
modations to farm labor.
Mr. Abbott. I offer copies of newspaper articles covering the ques-
tion of border patrol of California State lines, 1935-37.
(The press clipping referred to was received and marked as an exhibit
and is reprinted below :")
Following are copies of articles from the files of the Los Angeles Herald-Express
relating to the question of border patrols at the California State line during
1936-37:
[Herald-Express, May 17, 1935]
Assembly Body Backs Bill to Bar Indigents
Sacramento, May 17 (by United Press).— A bill which would make California
a "closed corporation" to indigents as a means of relieving the unemployment
situation was given a favorable recommendation today by the Assembly com-
mittee on unemployment. .
Providing for the possible use of armed guards to prevent entrance into Cali-
fornia of persons likely to become public changes, the measure represents one of
the most drastic proposals vet submitted to the legislature.
Introduced by Assemblymen Kent Redwine, Hollywood, and William Moseley
.lones, Montebello, the bill provides that "all paupers, vagabonds, indigent per-
sons and persons likely to become public charges and all persons affected with con-
tagious or infectious 'disease are hereby prohibited from entering the State of
California." , .. i,*
Full powers would be granted the Governor to take whatever steps he thought
necessary to enforce the proposed law during an emergency period ending July
1, 1939. , .,.._, ,x
Under provisions of the measure it would be necessary for an individual to prove
he was not subject to the restrictions before he would be permitted to enter
the State. ,
Pointing to the steady arrival of persons without employment or resources, the
authors said that "if this influx continues social and economic rehabilitation may
be impossible." . ,■ ^, . j
The effort to isolate California in this respect grows out of the tremendous
influx of population which occurred during the gubernatorial campaign of 1934.
Thousands of people, attracted by the promises of relief made in the bitter cam-
paign, flocked to California, making its relief problem one of the severest in the
nation.
[Editorial, Herald-Express, May 21, 1935]
Extremely im}Jortant to the welfare of this State and its citizens is a measure
that will come up in the California Legislature for action during the present week.
It is known as the Jones-Redwiue bill, and it is intended to keep outside our
borders the horde of indigent persons constantly invading this State, and becoming
public charges on our already heavily overloaded ability to extend charity.
Naturally our people are extremely sympathetic with those who are unable
to gain a livelihood, wherever thev may be. At the same time, it is a bounden
duty for each State to care for its own needy, and everybody knows we have more
than our proportionate share of such unfortunates now.
This is one measure that contains no politics. The authors ot the bill are as
far apart in political thought as the poles— one a conservative Republican and the
other a leader of the epic Democrats.
2962 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Both these men realize the importance of relieving the citizens of this State
from any further load, and hence in their measure they seek to bar entry to
paupers, vagabonds, indigents, persons afflicted with contagious and infectious
diseases, and those likely to become public charges.
In a ruling by the United States Supreme Court, as cited by Maj. Walter
Tuller, it remarked: "It may be admitted that the police power of a State justifies
the adoption of precautionary measures against social evils. Under it a State
* * * may exclude from its limits convicts, paupers, idiots, and lunatics,
and persons likely to become a public charge * * * ^ right founded * * *
in the sacred law of self-defense."
California cannot afford to become known as the "poorhouse of the Nation."
It cannot afford it financially, because our extreme resources are now being taxed
to support the great number of unemployed and needy citizens we already possess.
Nor can California afford it merely as a matter of reputation nor because of the
lowering of standards of living which would inevitably follow such a condition.
Yet such a fate lies ahead of the Golden State unless the legislature acts promptly
and decisively to keep out the multitudes of indigent whose eyes may now be
turned in this direction.
The bill with a tentative enforcement limit of July 1, 1939, requires all persons
seeking to enter California to establish affirmatively their ability to support them-
selves and makes it the duty of government to establish regulations for enforcing
the law.
This proposed act is dist'nctly emergency legislation, and it should be put
through all the necessary stages of passage as quickly as possible.
[Herald-Express, August 24, 1935]
Stay Away From California Warning to Transient Hordes
San Francisco, August 24.— Indigent transients heading for California today
were warned by H. A. Carleton, director of the Federal Transient Service, "to
stay away from California."
Carleton declared they would be sent back to their home States on arrival here
due to closing of transient relief shelters and barring of Works Progress Adminis-
tration work relief in the State to all transients registered after August 1.
"California is carrying approximately 7 percent of the entire national relief
load, one of the heaviest of any State in the Union," said Carleton. "A large
part of this load was occasioned by thousands of penniless families from other
States who have literally overrun California."
Carleton estimated the transient influx at 1,000 a day.
■.[Herald-Express, December 11, 1935]
Urge Prison Camp Hard Labor for "Box Car Tourists"
As a means of keeping indigent transients out of Los Angeles, prison camps,
at which convicted vagrants would be put to hard labor, might solve much of the
city's problem with this type of "tourists," the Los Angeles Chamber of Com-
merce today declared in a communication to the city council.
The chamber declared that the question of caring for indigent transients is
becoming increasingly more difficult and that establishment of the hard labor
camps might have the effect of slowing up "this invasion." The council referred
the matter to the police commission for recommendation and report.
[Herald-Express, February 4, 1936]
Indigents Barred at Arizona Line
While a tumultuous row was raging in city council over Police Chief James E.
Davis' "expeditionary force" of policemen to halt the indigents over California's
far-flung borders, the lid was successfully clamped on the Arizona-California line
today.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2963
The spectacular row in the council broke out when Councilman P. P. Christensen,
consistent critic of Davis, introduced a resolution demanding by whose authority
the police chief was sending 136 of his "coppers" to the State line "trenches.''
At the same time Deputy Chief Homer Cross said the entry ports on the Arizona
boundary had been blocked against transients in an effort to halt the "flood of
criminals" and divert the stream of penniless transients.
Within 3 more days, Cross estimated, the blockade would be similarly eflfective
on the Oregon and Nevada lines, abutting California territory.
The skirmish began right after Councilman Evan Lewis took the floor to argue
in favor of Christensen's resolution.
Meantime from Sacramento to Phoenix, Ariz., the reverberations resounded.
At the California capital Deputy Attorney General Jess Hession declared he
beUeved Davis' methods illegal. Governor Frank F. Merriam withheld comment
but State Senator Thomas Scollan, who had brought about defeat of an indigent-
barring law at the last session of the legislature, characterized the "expeditionary
forces" as "damnable, absurd, and asinine."
At Phoenix, Attorney General John L. Sullivan caustically declared if California
tried to "dump" indigents back on his State, he would take swift action in reprisal.
In Los Angeles, Councilman Earl C. Gay, also took the floor and hotly opposed
Lewis and Christensen. "As usual," Mr. Gay said, "Mr. Lewis is talking about
something he knows nothing about." His face flushed and making no effort to
hide his indignation. Councilman Lewis leaped to his feet. His first remarks were
drowned bv the gavel of Council President Robert L. Burns, who tried to leave the
floor to Gay. Lewis remained on his feet and continued to shout as Burns
loudly pounded for order. Half a dozen other councilmen tried to gain the floor.
Gay then resumed his argument, insisting that the action of the police chief
probably was dictated by the police commission.
ASKS LEGAL OPINION
The Christensen resolution was amended and sent to the city attorney's office
requesting that official's legal opinion on the following points: ^^
L Legality of the action taken by the police commission in sending the ex-
peditionary force" to the border.
2. Jurisdiction of the council over the matter.
3. Has the city the legal right to expend city funds for salaries and expense
accounts of police officers assigned to police duties outside the city boundaries.
4. Are the pension rights of police officers assigned to such duties, valid in
event any such officers are killed or injured on duty?
5 Has the police commission legal authority to detail policemen to police duty
on the various State border lines, as contemplated in their recent assignments r .
ORDERS OUTLINED
"Tactical orders" under which the city police were seeking to dam the tide
of trouble at the border were outlined bv S. L. Harman, assistant secretary of the
Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. He said police and civic authorities were
seeking to stop at the State line, persons riding trains without paying fares;
give these persons the option of leaving the State or serving jail terms and fanally,
to discourage from entering California all auto parties without apparent sources
of support. , , ^ ,11 • i-
In the sieve of the ^\idespread border patrol, the officers by fingerprinting
methods, expected to catch or at least keep out of Cahfornia a considerable
number of wanted criminals, Harman said.
[Los Angeles Herald-Express, February 6, 1936]
Rule Guard at Border Legal
Flaying critics of Los Angeles' swift war on jobless, penniless winter nomads,
Mayor Frank L. Shaw today revealed a legal opinion by City Attorney Kay L.
Chesebro stating that the police reinforcements of the border patrol, was author-
ized by the city's charter. -x- r ^
Meantime, against hesitant cooperation and even outspoken opposition trom
Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon, Police Chief James E. Davis' flying squadrons of
136 city police officers, succeeded in turning back hundreds of indigents and has
caused at one border port, Blythe, a 50 percent drop in incommg hordes.
2964 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
NO DUMPING GROUND
Mayor Shaw declared Los Angeles would not be the dumping ground of charity-
seekers, fleeing from the more rigorous winters in practically every other State in
the Union. He declared that on January 31, when the police commission showed
him the gravity of the winter indigent problem with its trail of crime and added
relief burdens, he asked City Attorney Chesebro for the legal opinion and received
authority for Davis to set up the police "foreign legion."
"It is important to note," Mayor Shaw said, "that Los Angeles is facing a
desperate situation if we permit every incoming freight train to bring us a new
shipment of unemployed, penniless vagrants, to consume the relief so seriously
needed by our needy people and to create a crime menace almost beyond con-
ceivable control.
"Officials of cities and States en route will not permit these transients to leave the
trains, preferring for their own safety that the problem should be dumped in Los
Angeles.
"Our own recourse is to reinforce the sheriffs of the border counties with men
loaned from the Los Angeles Police Department who can turn back the front
ranks of these oncoming hordes promptly and in such munbers that the invasion
can be halted at its sources as soon as the news reaches the east.
"We are simply trying to apply an ounce of sensible prevention to save a pound
of costly cure later on. Critics of the plan have either not taken pains to examine
facts or for mysterious reasons of their own are content to see Los Angeles filled
with a homeless indigent army of thousands, recruited from every State in the
LTnion and threatening every security and hope of our own working people.
"It is noteworthy that the critics have no constructive proposals of their own
to offer with reference to this very real problem."
SLAP AT FACTION
The mayor's tart remarks were interpreted in city hall circles as a slap at the
council faction which yesterday maneuvered a unanimous request from the coun-
cil to City Attorney Chesebro for an opinion on specific points not covered by the
opinion Chesebro gave the mayor.
A possible major development today was the suggestion of Governor Frank F.
Merriam at Sacramento for a meeting of western States Governors to seek means
of halting the westward tide of jobless.
"There are stations in Arizona," Governor Merriam said, "where chambers of
commerce furnish gasoline to itinerants to help them along to California."
Speaking on the much-questioned legality of Los Angeles' far-flung expedi-
tionary force, the Governor said, "I guess Los Angeles can do it; its city boun-
daries go almost that far."
Governor B. B. Moeur, of Arizona, declared, according to Phoenix dispatches,
that Los Angeles was bluffing.
CHARGES "scare"
"What the Los Angeles police are trying to do is unconstitutional," he said.
"They are simply trying to scare travelers away by threats of fingerprinting.
I am investigating."
On the Oregon front, Governor Charles H. Martin said at Salem that the
situation was alarming and that he was investigating through his State police
force whether California's border could be closed to transients.
At Carson City, Nevada's Governor, Richard Kirman, said he was "not e.x-
cited" by the transients' ban, but was watching a possible high tide of border-
halted indigents, hurled back onto Nevada relief agencies. As the "war" went
into its second day, wires hummed with communiques from the local front:
Yuma, Ariz.: Sgt. D. A. McCoole turned back six transients.
Blythe, Calif.: Sgt. B. B. Eubanks' detail turned back 200 indigents and
reported the flow diminished to less than half during second 24 hours; 8 finger-
printed, 6 found with guns.
Needles, Calif.: Influx slowed down to a single alleged hobo. At nearby
Cadiz, Sheriff Emmett Shay investigated set-up to report to San Bernardino
County supervisors on advisability cooperating by deputizing Los Angeles
"reinforcements."
Truckee, Calif.: Subzero cold had halted vagrant influx but Sheriff Carl
Tobiason of Nevada County deputized Los Angeles police who showed up in
arctic boots and mackinaws.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2965
Alturas, Calif.: Fourteen officers denied commissions by Sheriff John C.
Sharp of Modoc County' till he hears from attorney general whether it's legal.
Crescent City: Del Norte County's sheriff, Austin Huffman, refused commis-
sions pending inquiry.
Plumas County: Sheriff L. A. Braden cooperating but not deputizing officers
from Los Angeles.
Siskiyou County: Sheriff W. G. Chandler deputized 14 officers from Los
Angeles; 7 stationed at Hornbrook and 7 at Dorris on great Pacific highway travel
artery.
Sergeant D. Douglas, in charge of the "expeditionary force," reported to Davis
that his men were halting tramps riding the "blind baggage" of railway trains
and hitch-hiking into the State in autos. Of 16 men stopped at one port, Douglas
reported 8 were found to have police records.
Sworn in as local deputies in the counties in which they are stationed, the officers
of the scjuadron were taking hoboes off freight cars, tenders, and blind baggage
compartments and holding thein on two charges, vagrancy and evading railroad
fares. Railroads are cooperating with the police. Chief Davis said. He explained
the only reason the railroads had not succeeded earlier in halting the westward
influx of tramps was lack of special officers. Some freights carry 50 or 60 hoboes,
Davis said, and the men on the train crew are helpless to throw them off.
The chief, meantime, defended his plan on the ground that in sending 136 of
his men to the State's outposts he has taken a "humane and legal course and the
only one that will work."
"For years various plans have been advanced for discouraging these people
from coming to Cahfornia but nothing very efficient ever developed," the chief
said. "Now with Government relief being gradually withdrawn, the situation
is becoming alarming, if not desperate to the residents of this community."
"If we wait until these thousands of indigents scatter over the 460 square
miles of incorporated Los Angeles, the police department will have little control
over them, but if we stop them at the arteries now being guarded, the situation
is considerably simplified. If this is done, we confidently expect a 20-percent
decrease in the crime total in the next 12 months. Records show that 65 to 85
percent of migratory indigents come to southern California. Fingerprinting of
vagrants and street' beggars recently showed that approximately 60 percent of
these have criminal records. If we remember that to obtain Government work
one must have been a resident in the State at least a year, it can readily be seen
that the hordes of indigents are not coming to California for work. They are
coming to get on relief rolls, to beg and to steal."
The chief said he expected hoboland's grapevine would promptly pass the word
to jungle camps. ,
"Our work will be all the more effective and easier when the bums learn that
California authorities are actively hostile to them," Chief Davis said.
[Los Angeles Herald-Express, February 6, 1936]
Report All Beggars Is Plea
Along California's hundreds of miles of land frontier and on the home front in
this city, Los Angeles police battled today to turn back hordes of jobless, penniless
transients, who are said to have been pouring into this sunny clime from the
wintery east at the rate of 6,000 to 7,000 a month.
Developments in the police campaign included:
1 Police Chief James E. Davis, after a conference with Sheriff E. W. Biscailuz,
called on Los Angeles housewives to report immediately all beggars who come^to
the doors of the city's residential districts. , ^ -d- u ^
2 Governor Frank F. Merriam was requested today by Governor Richard
Kirman of Nevada to "intervene" and prevent Los Angeles pohce expeditions
on the border throwing indigents back into Nevada. Governor Merriam was
expected to ask Kirman to join in asking the Federal Government to take a hand
in halting the migrant work fleeing hordes. . /-.■■, t -i, a-
3. Ernest Besig, of San Francisco, director of the American Civil Liberties
Union, a radical organization, demanded criminal and civil actions to halt Los
Angeles police activities against the annual midwinter transient movement.
4 Sheriff Biscailuz broadcast to all sheriff's substations orders to enforce the
State antivagrancv laws in unincorporated territory, with due care on the part
of deputies not to"^hinder any lawful personal rights.
2966 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
5. On three State "fronts" sharp declines in the number of "gentlemen of the
road" were recorded by vigilant police patrols.
6. Chief Davis was refused permission by A. C. Fleury, chief of the State
bureau of plant quarantine, to use State quarantine stations on the highway
entering California, as police outposts. Fleury said he could not grant the chief's
request until assured the police expeditionary forces were legal.
[Los Angeles Herald-Express, February 12, 1936]
Seek to Balk Los Angeles Police Border Guard
Arizona, which has been gently shooing indigents westward into California for
years, rose in wrath yesterday and threatened to call out the State's National
Guard troops because Los Angeles, with its police blockade, has started the tide
of jobless roamers back toward the East. The threat was caused by the side-
tracking in Tucson of a boxcar in which some 50 eastern transients had been
started homeward by the police along the border.
TUCSON CHIEF ACTS
Police Chief C. A. Woolard at Tucson acted when his men arrested 22 of the
homeless men. He asked Gov. B. B. Moeur to call out troops "to stop California
from dumping hoboes in Arizona."
Whether the Tempe physician, who rose to the office of Governor of the neigh-
boring State, would take this militaristic step was a question. But caUing out the
guard is no new experience for Governor Moeur. 'The last time he did it was to
stop the Government Reclamation Service from constructing the Parker Dam, a
part of the Los Angeles aqueduct system. The troops responded nobly, rushing
to the river bank and then creating an "Arizona navy" with a couple of scows
to patrol the water front. Today the dam is rapidly proceeding toward com-
pletition with the Arizona warriors back in their homes and possibly waiting for
the new call to arms.
DAVIS IN APPEAL
Police Chief James E. Davis considers California is not "dumping its bums"
but merely moving transients back whence they came. Chief Davis pointed
to the rapidly dwindling westward trickle of transients and called on all California
to purge itself of hoboes.
Chief Davis appealed to police chiefs in other California cities to join him in
the drive. The response from some places was immediate. Officials at Santa
Ana, for instance, said they had established a rock pile not only for hoboes but
for drunk drivers and other offenders.
[Los Angeles Herald-Express February 19, 1936]
Group Demands Los Angeles Police be Recalled From California Bordeb
A formal demand that Police Chief James E. Davis' "foreign legion" be with-
drawn from California's borders was filed with the police commission today by
the American Civil Liberties Union, which asked that the police squads be
returned to the city. Clinton J. Taft, California director of the union, said his
organization was prepared to seek a court injunction if necessary to stop the
police patrol. At the same time written protests against the "bum blockade"
program were filed with the police board by the Hollenbeck Borough Voluntary
Board and the Hollywood Open Forum. While the protests were being received,
the police commission approved the allocation of an additional $1,000 to the
border patrol of 166 policemen, effective today; another $1,000 for February 20,
and a third $1,000 effective February 21.
Mr. Abbott. I offer a copy of the opinion by U. S. "Webb, former
attoniev general of California, covering the legality of border patrol,
dated February 18, 1936.
(The document referred to was received and marked as an exhibit
and is prmted below :)
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2967
San Fkancisco, February 18, 1936.
Hon. Arthur G. Arnoll,
Secretary and General Manager, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce,
Los Angeles, Calif.
My Dear Mr. Arnoll: I have considered with care your recent letter, in
which you refer to and in a measure describe tlie plan, having the approval of
the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and which "has been worked out by
the police department of the city of Los Angeles," having for its object the pre-
vention, insofar as possible, of the coming to this State of indigent persons who
will become a charge upon this State, and will to some degree, as you say, increase
the probability of crime. Insofar as this object may be lawfully accomplished,
it is worthy of unqualified approval, but organized government, neither State,
county, nor municipal, should attempt the achievement of a laudible purpose
by unlawful means.
The constitutiom of this State authorizes the creation of local governments,
county and municipal, and those governments and their officers function within
their respective territorial limits. The operation of one municipal government
within the territorial limits of another is not countenanced or authorized. The
operation of the government of one county within the territorial limits of another
is not countenanced or authorized, nor can the efforts of one of such governments
to discharge the duties which belong to another be defended.
The police of the city of Los Angeles have no jurisdiction beyond the city's
territorial limits, and the police department of the city of Los Angeles is not
authorized to interfere with or discharge the duties devolving upon police author-
ities of another government, municipal or county.
The independence of these several governments, each of the other, has long
been recognized, and the instances where one of such has sought to invade the
territorial limits of another have been fortunately of infrequent occurrence.
If the invasion by one of such governments of the domain of another and the
effort there to discharge the duties of the local officers of such other government
were permitted, it can readily be apprehended that the evils which might result
in given instances M'ould far outweigh any good that might be accomplished in
other instances.
May I at this point quote a paragraph of your letter:
"The plan which has the approval of this chamber of commerce has been
worked out by the police department of the city of Los Angeles, in cooperation
with the sheriffs, not only of Los Angeles County, but of all border counties of
the State; and this plan provides for the deputizing of officers of the Los Angeles
Police Department in connection with border counties of the State by the sheriffs
of such counties, with the consent of the boards of supervisors of these counties."
Passing the question of the incompatible character of the duties of a member
of the police force of the city of Los Angeles and a sheriff of one of the counties
of this State, we come at once to the question of the eligibility of a police officer
of the city of Los Angeles to act as a deputy sheriff of any county in the State
other than the county of Los Angeles.
Under provisions of the political code of this State no person is eligible to the
position of a deputy sheriff in one of the counties of this State, except he be an
elector of such county. Obviously the members of the police department of the
city of Los Angeles are not electors of any county in the State save the county of
Los Angeles.
The police officers of the city of Los Angeles not being eligible for appointment
as deputy sheriffs in other counties, the sheriffs of such other counties may not
legally so appoint them, with or without "the consent of the boards of super-
visors of these counties."
No question is here made as to the powers that may be exerted within the
municipality of Los Angeles by its police department, and no question is made as
to what may be done elsewhere in aid of or in cooperation with the local officers
of other municipalities or other counties of the State, so long as the law is not
thereby violated.
Government, State, county, and municipal, should protect and preserve and
defend general welfare, but this ultimate object should be accomplished through
lawful methods. Government no more than the individual can justify the
reaching of even proper ends through unlawful means.
Whatever may be lawfully done by the officers of one governement in aid and
support of the officers of another, in law enforcement and the preservation of
general welfare may be approved.
296§ INTERSTATE MIGRATION
The apprehension of any and every person falling within the scope of section
647 of the Penal Code by the local officers of the local government in which such
persons are found, may be lawfully accomplished. If by arrangement between
officers of the different governments such action can be aided, encouraged, and
supported, such arrangements as do not violate the law are of course entirely
justified and defensible, but beyond that which is lawful neither government nor
its officers should go.
On November 24, 1931, at the instance of a committee of Los Angeles officials
and citizens, a meeting was called by the Governor of this State to consider
identically these same questions, and as a result of that meeting the officers of all
border counties were communicated with, urged to the greatest activity, within
lawful limits, in an effort to check the immigration to this State of those who
would here become a public charge. One or more employment camps, as result
of that determination, were established, and for some months maintained, and the
evil was for a long period greatly checked, but the effort was not continued through
the years, and I understand largely because of the cost which resulted, and per-
haps in some degree as result of tlie false security felt because temporarily this
invasion had been checked. That effort was entirely within the law, and in my
judgment should have been continued, for the good accomplished greatly out-
weighed the cost of the effort. I sat in that meeting and this office advised much
that was then and thereafter done.
I note your statement "that an official of your office in Los Angeles has raised
the question as to the legality or constitutionality of this procedure."
You are there referring to the procedure as your letter outlines it.
This office has advised, as I have indicated in this letter, that members of the
police department of the city of Los Angeles may not legally be appointed
deputy sheriffs in other counties of this State. Further than that I think no
member of this office force has gone.
For a long period this office has keenly appreciated the existence of the evils
■which your letter describes, and during all of that time has aided every proper
effort to check this invasion, and our attitude in this regard has in no manner
changed.
I note your closing paragraph, in which you state:
"I trust that we may have your cooperation in connection with this burden
upon the taxpayers of the State," etc.
In reply to this suggestion, I state again, we have during the years that have
passed given the cooperation of this office to every lawful effort to relieve the
State and its people of this unjust burden, and such efforts will continue so long
as the evil exists.
The plan which your letter describes presents still other and different questions.
The outstanding question so presented is: How far may one State go in preventing
the entry into such State of citizens of the United States resident of other States?
As between the States, the right of citizens to ingress and egress has very
generally been recognized and upheld. Full recognition of this right was given and
guaranteed to the residents of the colonies by the Articles of Confederation.
Those rights were carried and continued by section 2 of article IV of the Constitu-
tion in the declaration that —
"The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of
Citizens in the several States."
Almost 100 years ago Chief Justice Taney said:
"We are all' citizens of the United States, and as members of the same com-
munity must have the right to pass and repass through every part of it without
interruption, as freely as in our own States."
This language was quoted approvingly by Chief Justice Miller in Crandall v.
State of Nevada (73 U. S. 49), and we fi'nd no conflicting utterances in any sub-
sequent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States.
In Paul V. Virginia (75 U. S. 180), Justice Field said:
"It was undoubtedly the object of the clause in question to place citizens of
each State upon the same footing with citizens of other States, so far as the
advantages resulting from citizenship in those States are concerned. It relieves
them from the disabilities of alienage in other States; it inhibits discriminating
legislation against them by other States; it gives them the right of free ingress
into other States, and egress from them; it insures to them in other States the
j^ame freedom possessed by the citizens of those States in the acquisition and
enjoyment of property and in the pursuit of happiness."
Some exceptions, however, have been repeatedly indicated. A State may
undoubtedly protect itself from the incoming of persons afflicted with contagious
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2969
diseases, of fugitives from justice, of persons convicted of crime, and of persons
whom the State may deem dangerous to its peace or who would, upon their entry
into the State, be subject to arrest and imprisoimient by virtue of some existing
statute of tlie State.
This power to prohibit, however, the entry of such persons rests in the govern-
ment and is to be exercised through the legislative branch of the government.
It is for the legislature to determine the classes who may be so prohibited. The
power to so determine and to exclude without legislative action does not rest in
the officers of the State. It is generally recognized that the officers of a govern-
ment may exercise those powers only which have been by proper authority
expresslv delegated to them.
Section 647 of the Penal Code, to which we have referred, and other provisions
of our statutes may subject persons coming across our borders to arrest immediately
upon their entry into this State, but none of these statutes confer upon peace
officers the right to forcibly prevent such entry.
I have gone somewhat at length into these matters in order to point out to you
some of the difficulties which confront us. So far as we may rightly go in this
matter the conditions warrant our going. In so dealing with the question, how-
ever, we should always keep in mind the relative rights, obligations, and duties of
our sister States and' of the citizens of the United States. Other States will not
be expected to complain of that which we rightly do, but they may be expected
to complain, and their right to complain must be admitted, of those things which
we wTongly do.
In this as in other matters we should steadily keep in mind that we are one of
the sisterhood of States, and while asserting our own rights we should recognize
fully the rights of other States. As other States must do unto California, so must
California do unto them, for such is the mandate of the Federal Constitution.
Very trulv vours,
U. S. Webb, Attorney General.
Mr. Abbott. I offer general data covering migrant problem in
Los Angeles County, offered by Stephen A. Eross, staff member,
Department of Budget and Research, Los Angeles County.
(The data referred to were received and marked as an exhibit and
appear below:)
Bureau of Ad.mixistr.\tive Research,
County of Los Angeles,
October 2, 1939.
Order No. 3399, Report No. 2.
To: Colonel Wayne Allen, Chief Administrative Officer.
Subject: Cost of relief to transients in California.
Almost simultaneouslv with our report of June 27 i on the cost of relief to tran-
sients in California, there was released by Col. F. C. Harrington, Work Projects
Administrator, a research report entitled "Migrant Families." . . ,
The Work Projects Administration report is thorough, and leads convmcmgly
to the deductions which are expressed. Therefore, it will undoubtedly be taken
at face value by Federal and other governmental officials. But failure to stress
the extraordinarv effect of California receiving 46 percent of the net displacement
of population leaves an erroneous impression of this State's crucial problem.
Also due to manv great changes which have taken place since 1935 some of the
conclusions in tlie Work Projects Administration report, which were vahdly
reached, must be revised in the light of more recent experience and data.
Therefore, we have prepared and attach hereto, for your convenience and use, a
summary account of some of the significant highlights of this report, with com-
ments upon certain points which should be qualified or brought out in relation
to California's problem. Tables and charts supporting our statements are also
Certain statistics provided bv this Work Projects Administration report, which
were not available from anv source at the time of our study, enable us to supple-
ment our original findings. ' The following three points sum up the situation from
California's economic viewpoint, in the new data obtained from the Work Projects
Administration survey: ,
(1) California received 46 percent of the net displacement of population result-
ing from depression migration.
1 Copy of this report is held in committee flies.
2970 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
(2) California's migrant intake was five times as great as the outgo to other
States from California.
(3) If these same percentages are applied to the estimations in our report of
June 27, 1939, the extreme seriousness of the problem in California is strikingly-
apparent, and it is ample justification for California's apprehension as to the future
problems to follow from the continued influx of distressed peoples.
If anything, the estimate in our June 27 report of the numbers of migrants to
come in the future understated rather than overstated the possibilities. This is
indicated by the fact that the actual numbers of out-of-state migrants which ar-
rived in May, June, July, and August, 1939 (25,583) exceeded our estimation
(21,272) by 4,311. If the increase in immigration of the last 4 months continues
at the same rate for the balance of the calendar year, the total number of migrants
for 1939 will nearly reach the 1938 figure, although entrants in the first 4 months of
this year numbered 50 percent less than for the first 4 months of 1938.
The conclusions reached as a result of this supplementary study appear on
pages 5 and 6.
In addition to the regular number for your office, two copies are enclosed for
Congressman Leland Ford.
Respectfully submitted.
H. F. ScoviLLE, Director.
ORBER NO. 3399, OCTOBER 2, 1939
Subject: Comments on some of the principal points in the Work Projects Adminis-
tration report Migrant Families.
(1) This is a social treatise of the characteristics and behavior of migrant families
which received relief from the transient program of the Federal Emergency Relief
Administration during the earlier depression period July 1934 to September 1935.
In the main, the information presented is based upon a representative sample of
5,489 migrant families selected from the total number receiving care in transient
bureaus during September 1935 — approximately 30,000 families.
The cited observations draw the conclusions that the migrant families were not
adventurous or irresponsible in undertaking migration, but were in general, dis-
tressed groups who saw a reasonable solution to their problems through migration
to another community; that few of the families were habitual wanderers; that
unemployment, the most important cause of distress and as a reason for leaving
settled residence, "outweighed the combined effects of business and farm failures,
inadequate earnings and inadequate relief; and that ill health was second to employ-
ment as a displacing force."
As developed by our study, subsequent experience proves that farm failure has
been and will continue to be a more important reason for leaving settled residence.
See comments under (6).
(2) The last sentence in the Work Projects Administration report's "conclusions"
reads: "The probl-^m is national, and the need of the moment is Federal leadership
in achieving a solution which would take account both of the needs of the migrant
and the interests of the States."
This coincides with the observations of our study.
(3) The Work Projects Administration report states that direct evidence is
provided on the normality of the migrant families, and it is suggested that if
anything, they are somewhat "above" the average families on relief; that the
majority of the families studied were young, experienced, and free from handicaps
that would retard their reemployment by private industry; and that the origins
and destinations of these migrant families were both predominantly urban.
Our investigation established that most of the migrants who are already in
California, or on the way, are agricultural workers whose opportunities for re-
employment in agriculture are constantly dwindling.
(4) The Work Projects Administration report justifies the relief program of the
Federal Transient Service on the basis that "it did not encourage wandering. On
the contrary, it prevented aimless wandering by relieving the needs which were
its cause." Therefore, the report criticizes the attitude taken by States where
migration is a serious problem, stating that "Such States are prone to insist that
by giving relief to nonresidents they only increase the flow. Yet no one has
demonstrated that the hardships and uncertainties of migration are undertaken
for the sake of transient relief."
The data revealed by the Work Projects Administration report indicated an
inordinate movement of migrants to California — but special comment could have
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2971
qualified the criticism as pertaining to California. Such comment would have
brought a keener reaUzation of the social and economic chaos which threatens
California more than any other State by the uncontrolled immigration of large
numbers of destitute families.
(5) Based upon the findings related under (3) and (4), the Work Projects
Administration report argues against the need for a separate program of transient
relief. It further questions "whether or not severe residence requirements do
protect a State from an influx of needy nonresidents," and argues for "broadening
the concept that people do 'belong' in a particular place even though the place
may not be able to provide them with the opportunity to make a living."
Our study has not been concerned with the techniques of giving assistance, but
rather with responsibility for the financing of aid to migrant groups.
(6) The report states that "it is significant that the drought dominated the
movement from the Dakotas alone." Also, "other States which contain agri-
cultural subregions lost an insignificant number of families because of farming
failure."
Subsequent data compel an altogether difi'erent conclusion now. Table A,
appended hereto, lists by States the numbers of migrants (mostly agricultural
workers) immigrating to California by automobile from July 1935 to December
31, 1938. Chart I provides a visualization of the flow.
It will be noted that the combined influx from the States classified as "drought"
States constitutes 84.4 percent of the total immigration as tabulated. Therefore,
it can be inferred reasonably that drought and farm failure have been principal
influences in compelling migration. Currently, the movement of migrants into
California is again gaining momentum, after a decided decrease in the first
quarter of 1939. (See table A-I.)
In addition to reasons submitted in our previous study, further explanation of
the persistence of immigration is aptly provided in the following excerpt from
Refugee Labor Migration to California (by Paul S. Taylor and Edward J. Rowell,
published in Monthly Labor Review — August 1938) :
"Certain revisions are required with respect to earlier observations as to the
causes of the migrations. The coincidence that most of the migrants came from
the so-called drought States led to the tentative conclusion that the drought itself
was chiefly responsible. The unabated persistence of the influx throughout the
year 1937, a year during which the drought areas were greatly restricted, leads to
the conclusion that, important though it was, drought was but a final straw added
to fundamental changes that have been transpiring during the last decade and a
half. The more plausible explanation of the movement now seems to be that it is
the cumulative result of low cotton prices in the immediate post-war period and
in 1932, the droughts of 1934 and 1936, and a growing use of mechanical apparatus,
particularly the all-purpose tractor, in the areas of greatest emigration. These
factors, in combination, reasonably account for a decline in economic status lead-
ing eventually to complete severance of all ties and to migration as a means of
escape from a permanently constricted sphere of economic activity."
N. B.: Results of a Gallup survey (June 24, 1939) conducted to ascertain the
reasons ascribed by persons on relief for their condition of destitution revealed
that the largest group (23 percent) gave as the cause, the increasing use of
machinery.
(8) The Work Projects Administration report states that, based upon the re-
ports of the Division of Transient Activities, only 8 percent of the 198,039 family
cases closed between July 1934 and September 1935 (in all of the States) were
transferred to resident relief. Also, "specific evidence has been presented to show
that (migrant) families' * * * efforts at relocation, by and large, were
successful, and therefore made only temporary demands upon the transient relief
program." And again, "Transient relief provided necessary but interim assist-
ance to migrants who in most instances had definite objectives and who were
frequently only temporarily in need."
Our study ascertained that impelling economic and other forces will influence a
continuance of relocation migration, and that the large numbers of agricultural
workers, migrating to California, where there is an inadequate opportunity for
agricultural laborers, will in all probability be earning such small sums as to compel
them not only to go on relief, but to remain on relief for protracted periods.
(9) The Work Projects Administration report states that the migrant families
studied were preponderantly native-born white families, the average consisting of
3.1 persons.
260370—41 — pt. 7 12
2972 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Our study revealed also that the migrant families arriving in California are
native-born white, but that the family groups average 4.2 persons.
(10) The Work Projects Administration report determined that California is
the chief destination for homeless families, and the general trend of their migration
is westward.
Confirms our study on these points.
(11) The Work Projects Administration report concludes that of the 29,885
migrant families studied, only one-third of the transient movement has resulted in
an actual displacement of population with most of the moving resulting in a bal-
anced interchange among States.
The one-third net displacement equals 10,524 families. Table B, attached,
shows that 4,803, or 46 percent of the net displacement, accrued to California.
The remaining 54 percent divided among 16 other States gaining migrants over
losses, with Colorado second, gaining 1,009 families, or 9.6 percent of the net dis-
placement. See chart No. 2. As also will be seen from table C, California's
migrant intake was five times as great as the outgo of migrants from California
to other States.
Our study suggested the possibility that Federal aid at the source would con-
tribute to slowing migration. A recent news article in the Los Angeles Times
quotes the Farm Security Administration as reporting that its program was
"beginning to make a dent in the California situation," and that there will be
available by the end of this year, permanent labor homes, tin shelters, and tent
platforms for approximately "7,000 families. Tables and additional data devel-
oped in our studies tend to show that by the end of 1940 upwards of 100,000 needy
migrant families will have reached California by automobile. The very bad
situation which existed in 1935 has since been aggravated by subsequent heavy
influx of such families seeking relocation or manual employment, and distress
migration into California is continuing at an alarming rate. Therefore, the Fed-
eral program, unless greatly accelerated in the immediate future, will not be very
effective in promptly relieving California's difficulties.
The figures on the" heavy influx of migrants into California are supported also
bv the recent statistics relating to population growth in California. According
to an estimate made by the California Taxpayers' Association (Tax Digest,
December 1938) California's gain in population from migration, during the period
1934 to January 1939 (722,586) increased 54 percent over the period 1930-34
(467,283). While all are not distress migrants, there is seen in this increased
gain at least partial confirmation of the fact that large numbers of migrants in
need have arrived and continue to remain in the State.
Conclusions. — -From the foregoing it can be concluded:
(1) That the Federal Government's responsibility to shoulder the problems of
relief and rehabilitation of destitute families seeking betterment of their economic
status by migration to other commmiities is recognized by both the Work Projects
Administration and the Farm Seciu-ity Administration.
(2) That since California receives a number of displaced destitute migrants
almost equal to that number accruing to all of the other States, the Federal^ Gov-
ernment's program of assisting such peoples should be based upon distribution of
Federal assistance to the States on a similar proportionate basis.
(3) That the influx of destitute migrant families into California has been steady
over the last 4-year period and continues and promises to continue at a heavy,
steady pace. This places a severe strain on California institutions, a devastating
drain on its resources, and creates an unhealthy social and economic condition
due to the presence of a large dependent class. " Any Federal program aimed at
ameliorating this condition should be launched promptly, and on such a scale as
to quickly and definitely stop the flow of needy families into California.
(4) That any such Federal program should comjirehend a far-sighted economic
expansion to attract a majority of these groujjs away from California to other
areas in which their improved social and economic status could be assured by oc-
cupations suitable either to their present skills or to skills in which they could be
developed for j^rofitable production.
(5) That anv such Federal program should also include provisions to assist
California to c"are for adequately and to rehabilitate the large numbers of such
people who are already within its" borders and who cannot or will not be withdrawn
bv movements to other States or to return to their States of origin.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2973
Table A. — ■Migranis in need of manual employment enieiing California by motor
vehicle, by States, July 1, 1935-Dec. 31, 1938 '
State of origin
1935, last
6 months
1936
1937
1938
Total 42 months
Number
Percent
All States excluding California:
Number
32. 559
14.9
84, 833
29.7
90, 761
31.7
67, 664
23.7
285, 817
Percent
100.0
Drought States
32, 185
73, 187
78, 332
57, 307
241,011
84.4
Oklahoma
7,561
3,631
3,097
2,866
2.426
2.238
1,584
1,578
1,258
1,193
834
678
703
502
532
487
468
337
212
29. 989
8.304
7.329
6.890
5.873
3,900
2,249
2,440
3,019
1,733
969
1,069
1,474
614
912
825
1,067
738
793
21, 709
8,723
10.613
7.232
6,316
4,484
3,702
2,680
3,024
2,012
1.102
1,063
1,024
923
834
707
1,164
659
361
13,212
8,684
10, 668
5,180
4,077
2,209
2,428
2,457
1,403
1,514
8,58
623
770
923
387
422
526
491
275
65, 471
29, 342
31, 907
22, 168
18.692
12, 831
9,963
9,155
8,704
6,452
3,763
3. 433
3, 971
2,962
2,665
2.441
3.225
2,225
1,641
22.9
Texas . . _ -.
10.4
Arizona
11.3
Arkansas.. .
7.7
Missouri .. ._.
6.5
Kansas
4.5
Colorado _ ...
3.5
New Mexico
3.2
Nebraska. .
3.0
Idaho ... __- . ._
2.3
Montana
1.3
Utah..
1.2
Iowa .
1.4
Nevada
1.0
North Dakota
.9
Minnesota. _ .. . ... .. ... _. . . .
.8
South Dakota
1.1
Wyoming _ _ _
.8
Wisconsin _ . .
.6
Pacific States _
5,822
6.685
8,831
6,656
27, 994
9.8
Oregon
3,629
2,193
4,384
2,301
5. .592
3,239
4,3.50
2,306
17,955
10.039
6.3
Washington
3.5
3.106
3,261
2.091
2,058
10.516
3.7
Illinois
818
658
486
436
319
278
111
1,066
827
274
468
444
106
76
605
456
186
259
331
188
66
693
398
222
350
229
107
59
3.182
2,339
1,168
1.513
1,323
679
312
1.1
Michigan.. . . . ...
.8
New York ..
.4
Ohio
.6
Indiana .
.5
Pennsylvania . ....... ...
.2
New Jersey
.1
Southern States
1,205
1,516
1,346
1,530
5,597
1.9
Tennessee
298
207
145
95
120
101
71
57
32
29
15
19
16
371
140
190
176
153
152
143
23
29
50
58
16
12
3
294
96
258
98
137
137
101
23
19
24
109
14
34
2
317
105
276
168
150
133
153
31
34
37
67
10
49
1,280
548
869
537
560
523
468
134
114
140
249
59
111
5
.5
Georgia . . ... ... _._
.2
Louisiana
.3
Florida
.2
Alabama
2
Kentucky ...
.2
Mississippi
.2
Virginia
(2)
(2)
Maryland
W
North Carolina ...
.1
District of Columbia
(2)
South Carolina
i?)
m
New England States
241
184
161
113
699
.2
Massachusetts . ...
113
31
40
36
13
8
79
10
86
17
3
40
8
7
44
9
11
21
14
14
322
67
54
164
50
42
.1
Rhode Island .
(')
Maine
C)
Connecticut..
67
15
13
(')
Vermont .
(2)
New Hampshire
m
9,901
12, 839
14,215
17, 487
54, 442
1 Data collected by border inspectors of Bureau of Plant Quarantine, California Department of Agriculture.
2 Les.s than one-tenth of 1 percent.
2974
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Table A-1. — Comparison, by months, for 1938 and 1939, of numbers of migrants
"in need of manual employment" entering California by motor vehicle
1938
1939
Month
Return-
ing Cali-
fornia
Outstate
migra-
tion
Total
Return-
ing Cali-
fornia
Outstate
migra-
tion
Total
January
2,903
1,494
1,460
952
8,724
7,583
7,470
6,510
11,627
9,077
8, 930
7,462
1,288
742
575
748
3,792
2,840
3,790
4,848
5,080
3 582
February
March . .
4,365
5,596
April
Total 4 months
6,809
30,287
37, 096
3,353
15, 270
18 623
May . . . ..
1,094
1,081
1,401
1,213
6,987
4,512
3,897
4,164
7,081
5,593
5,298
5,377
846
1,064
1,503
1,193
5,777
6,261
6,473
70, 072
6,623
7,325
7,976
8 265
June
July.
August
4,789
18,560
23,349
4,606
25, 583
30, 189
Total 8 months
11, 598
48, 847
60,445
7,959
40,853
48, 812
September
1,651
1,330
1,738
1,150
4,130
5,343
6,055
3,289
5, 781
6,693
7.793
4,439
October
November...
December
5,889
18, 817
24, 706
Year's total
17, 487
67, 664
85, 151
Source: Data collected from Bureau of Plant Quarantine, California Department of Agriculture.
Table B. — Net population displacement and reciprocated moveynent through
migrant family emigration and immigration, June 1935
Migrant
families
Net displacement
Recipro-
cated
movement
State
Emigrat-
ing
from —
Immi-
grating
to—
Increase
Loss
Alabama
596
466
1,161
1,193
838
207
53
119
534
690
327
1,264
685
622
1,091
657
504
78
209
284
799
334
609
1,818
264
809
120
19
592
369
1,074
409
318
843
417
225
693
5,996
1,847
27
48
379
709
393
966
1,515
315
391
1,368
54
816
12
272
72
676
358
128
1,026
97
288
42
126
537
714
1,472
48
11
1.479
179
241
468
417
Arizona
225
Arkansas
693
California
4,803
1,009
1,193
Colorado
838
Connecticut
180
5
27
Delaware
48
District of Columbia
260
175
119
Florida.
534
Georgia.
297
393
Idaho
639
251
327
Illinois.
1,264
Indiana
370
131
315
Iowa
391
Kansas
277
1,091
64
Kentucky
603
Louisiana
312
504
Maine
66
12
Maryland
63
209
Massachusetts
212
123
72
Michigan
676
Minnesota
24
334
Mississippi
481
792
167
521
78
128
Missouri...
1,026
Montana..
97
Nebraska
288
Nevada.
42
New Hampshire
107
19
New Jersey
55
537
New Mexico
345
398
369
New York..
1,074
North Carolina...
361
307
48
North Dakota
u
Ohio
636
843
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2975
Table B.— A^e( population displacement and reciprocated
migrant family emigration and immigration, June 1935-
movement through
-Continued
Migrant
families
Net displacement
Recipro-
cated
movement
State
Emigrat-
ing
from—
Immi-
grating
to—
Increase
Loss
Oklahoma ...
2,633
503
1,140
69
299
521
687
1,971
239
86
375
631
341
318
227
606
755
594
48
193
5
918
1,070
145
2,027
606
252
503
546
11
106
516
594
Rhode Island . .. - . ..
48
193
South Dakota
5
231
687
Texas - -
901
94
86
142
1,070
Utah -
145
Virginia .
233
1,373
41
207
180
233
742
631
300
111
47
41
Wisconsin .
207
180
Total
29,885
29,885
10, 524
10, 524
19,361
Source: Works Progress Administration— Division of Social Research "Migrant Families," p. 150.
Table C. — Interchange of migrants between California and the other States *
Alabama
Arizona.
Arkansas
California.
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia.
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
I-ouisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts.
Michigan.
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri..
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
California
Accrued
from —
29
239
188
279
22
1
18
34
25
86
281
119
126
193
40
64
8
13
34
127
69
61
381
40
160
57
2
Lost to —
103
2
2
8
18
7
43
81
13
26
66
2
23
New Jersey.
New Mexico...
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio.
Oklahoma.
Oregon
Pennsylvania..
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota...
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin...
Wyoming
Total..-.
Net accrual to Call
fornia
California
Accrued
from—
52
136
255
18
30
196
916
233
138
6
6
65
68
624
140
4
17
300
15
45
36
5,996
1,193
4,803
Lost to —
31
30
141
13
1
166
1
10
15
1,193
1 Source: Table 5— State of Origin and State of Transient Bureau registration of migrant families, June
30, 1935. Works Progress Administration Division of Social Research, migrant families, p. 140. 29,885
families.
2976
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2977
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^1
2978 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Mr. Abbott. I offer a report of indigent alien transients compiled
by James E. Davis, former chief of police, Los Angeles, dated March
11, 1936. (The report referred to was received and marked as an
exhibit and appears below. Attention is called to a later document
by^Mr. Davis, appearing on p. 3012, on related subjects.)
REPORT BY JAMES E. DAVIS, CHIEF OF POLICE, LOS ANGELES
POLICE DEPARTMENT, MARCH 11, 1936'
Report of Indigent Alien Transients
i. causes for action
1. Annual winter increase of approximately 20 percent in crime in Los Angeles
can be attributed to transients. (See exhibit No. IV and IV-A.)
2. Check at Colton and Victorville in January 1936 for 60 hours indicated 561
entering on trains at these two points. (See exhibit No. II.)
3. Check of vagrants arrested in Los Angeles showed 48 percent had prior
criminal records. (See exhibit No. III.)
4. Liquidation of Federal transient camps in October 1935, without due notice
being given the jurisdictions concerned:
a. 306,064 in these camps.
b. 40,530, or approximately one-seventh of this number in California. (See
exhibits Nos. I and I-A.)
5. Of the persons arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department, who were
convicted and sentenced on the offense charged, in the month of January 1936,
26 percent had been in the county less than 1 year and 22 percent in the State less
than 1 year. (See exhibit No. VI.)
6. Of the persons arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department and com-
mitted to the State's prison, 26 percent were in the county less than 1 year (see
exhibit No. V), and 20 percent in the State less than 1 year (see exhibit No. V-A),
7. Twenty-eight percent of subjects committed to San Quentin and Folsom
during the fiscal year 1934-35 had resided in Los Angeles County less than 1
year. The study also indicated that over a 5-year period 26 to 30 percent had
resided less than 1 year in the State. (See exhibit No. VII.)
II. PLAN OF ACTION
Conferences of interested parties were conducted, including representatives of
the police department, sheriff's office, city attorney's office, chamber of com-
merce, railroads, county department of charities, and county and State relief
agencies. The following plan of action was adopted, to wit:
1. To prevent the ingress of criminal type of transient by placing patrols at
the border:
a. All sheriffs in counties containing points of ingress by highway or rail
were contacted. They promised to support the plan and deputize
officers. These counties included Del Norte, Siskiyou, and Modoc;
Lassen, Plumas, Nevada, and Inyo; San Bernardino, Riverside, and
Imperial.
b. Headquarters division of the Los Angeles Police Department was formed,
consisting of 126 officers. The State was divided into areas — northern
area included the first three counties named; central area included the
next five counties named; and southern area included the last three
counties named.
c. Squads were placed near the border on each highway and railway entering
the State.
(1) Working under the authority of the statutes of California, to
wit:
(a) Section 836, paragraph 1, and section 837, paragraph 1
of the Penal Code, defining authority of arrest. (See
exhibit No. VIII.)
« See also report by Mr. Davis on p. 3012.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2979
(b) Section 587C of the Penal Code, defining evading pay-
ment of railroad fare. (See exhibit No. IX.)
(c) Section 647, paragraph 3 of the Penal Code, defining
vagrancy. (See exhibit No. X.)
(d) The statutes of 1901, page 2005, section 12, defining the
care of indigents. (See exhibit No. XL)
Note. — Certain persons investigated were given their choice of returning to
the place from whence they came or appearing before the local magistrate. Very
few expressed the desire of appearing before the local magistrate.
III. RESULTS OF ACTION
1. From border activities:
A. Many migratory criminals were kept out of the State. (See exhibit XII.)
B. Forty-eight percent of the subjects fingerprinted were found to have
previous records. (See exhibit No. XII-A.)
C. Nation-wide publicity was secured as a result of the Department's action,
which served as a great deterrent to the migration of criminals and
indigents. It is difficult to estimate the number so deterred.
D. It is proper to estimate that millions of dollars have been saved the
taxpayers of the State of California and its political subdivisions in
the prevention of the immigration of thousands of indigents.
2. From local activities:
A. Vagrancy detail was increased.
B. Thousands of arrests were made of vagrants, beggars, panhandlers, rail-
road-fare evaders within the city.
C. The usual winter increase in crime has been prevented.
3. Contacts made in furtherance of the plan:
A. Police departments in Los Angeles County.
B. Sheriff's department of Los Angeles County.
C. Major cities of the State.
D. Police departments of the major cities of other Western States.
E. Automobile clubs throughout the Nation,
4. Other results and conditions:
A. Perfect harmony exists between our officers and the local law-enforcement
agencies of the localities where our patrols are operating.
B. The success of the entire plan has exceeded expectations.
C. The plan is now openly supported by authorities throughout this State
and in other States who were, at first, skeptical of the plan.
IV. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STATE ACTION
1. By State agencies or departments:
A. Department of motor vehicles:
(1) By use of checking stations now in operation, at points of ingres 8
on highways.
(2) Could be handled by personnel now on duty at checking stations,
(3) Nine points of ingress of railways to be covered by other personnel.
Some of these points could be covdred in conjunction with
the highway detail.
B. Board of equalization: (1) One of the duties of this board is the collection
of taxes from caravans of cars entering the State. Checks on these
caravans could best be made at the border and the men used in making
these checks could be utilized in this plan.
C. Agricultural department: (1) By use of plant-quarantine checking sta-
tions now in operation at the points of ingress of highways.
D. Health department: (1) The establishment of State border quarantine
stations for the examination of those having communicable diseases or
coming from areas where epidemics are prevalent. The plant-quaran-
tine stations could be utilized for this purpose.
E. State relief administration: (1) Action in accordance with the police of
this agency. . , ,
F. Authorities of other States: (1) Could enter into compacts and agree-
ments with the authorities of other Western States, and in this manner
lighten the burden of each individual State.
2980
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2. By county agencies or departments:
A. Appropriation of funds by the board of supervisors of the concerned
counties for additional deputy sheriffs.
B. Grants to the counties by the State of funds for additional sheriff person-
nel.
C. Sponsoring of Work Projects Administration projects for additional per-
sonnel, as in the instance of school-crossing guards.
3. By the railroads:
A. Utilization of available special agents.
B. Provision for additional special agents.
C. Maintenance of close cooperation with law-enforcement agencies.
Table IA. — Total individuals under care as shown in 1 day census reports, 15th of
each month
1934
February
March
April
May
June -
July..-.
August
September
October.
Total United
States less
California
111,5S2
129, 309
146, 671
169, 055
170, 684
191, 489
205, 130
212. 890
223, 012
California
16, 998
18, 771
19, 908
21, 139
21, 604
22, 523
21, 974
23, 321
27, 108
;9S4— Continued
November
December
1935
January
February
March
April...
Total United
States less
California
251, 388
271, 469
276, 479
274, 527
274, 267
265, 534
California
30, 858
34, 761
37, 977
41, 441
41, 474
40, 530
Survey of transients coming into Los Angeles via various railroads Dec. 20, 1935,
8 a. m., to Dec. 22, 1935, 8 p. m.
Adults
Juveniles
Total
Victorville . .
72
270
91
14
62
7
86
Colton
332
Lios Angeles City Yards.. ...
98
Total
433
83
516
Table II. — Vagrancy arrest bookings with previous records, Jan. S, 1936, to Feb. 2,
1936, inclusive
[Los Angeles Police Department, office of statistician]
Number
of
arrest
bookings
Number
with
previous
felony
records
Percent
with
felony
records
Number
with
misde-
meanor
records
Total
with
previous
records
Percent
with
previous
records
Total vagrancy... .
1,270
308
24
295
603
48
Local makes . ... .
240
363
Washington makes
Total
603
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2981
«*T '"'«
JuMt. JtlLI
/534-
Vo<^ otx J*M rca MMK '•"*/
»«»/fi} y i»»m cB '49i^ ■!»•■ '
lull. U>«»/.ibmit. ICrel- II i« li. lock.
2982
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Chart Show.ns
CUCVES OF- "*
SEASONAL TREIID OF 3KCIFIED OIMES
OF-
C6U8GLARY- ROBBERY-AlTOTHtfT)
TOTAL Of ALL CRIMES
1~ Tmi
ClTV OF LOS AM6E1K
ttOM JULY »5J TO JAHUARf !»> IMCU
i400
5200
1
N
300O
/
\
i
V
2BOO
S
/
-
/
\
-
/
\
^
/
roT
AL
DFi
kucei
pE4
'
/
\
ZiOO
\i
>
\
1 /
\
2A0O
—
--
\
...
1
/
\
/
\
/
\
ZZOO
'\U
1
— -J
V
\
^
/
2000
1
1
1
1
1
p
'v
/
\
/
1
leoo
i
._
y
1600
•
—
1
1
1400
\
"^N,
''
^tl
SPKlF
lED CRI
ME^
UTOTHI
")
/'
\
1200
\
\
-i
,■
»,
.^
\
X
*
>
—
lOOO
\
...
x
>
^^
_< ^ a. ►- > o =
1933 I93A
^ •£ a.
3 3 MJ
a. >- > vj c rf>
1935
So r
-^ •" ■<
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2983
Table III. — Seasonal trend of specified crimes committed in Los Angeles City July
1935 to February 1936, inclusive
[Los Angeles Police Department, office of statistician, Mar. 2. 1936]
July
August
September.
October
November.
December..
Burglary
Robberv
Auto
theft
19SJ!,
January
February...
March
April
May
June
July
August
September.
October
November.
December..
January
February...
March
April
May
June
July
August
September.
October
November.
December..
1BS6
January.
754
759
703
720
761
828
775
715
747
654
551
643
662
699
660
C23
727
791
670
684
749
050
582
504
533
576
538
561
571
751
070
168
167
176
171
175
199
187
150
160
124
96
90
100
115
109
97
90
658
532
516
57S
558
634
577
525
582
462
529
496
517
473
498
511
586
700
559
486
522
495
463
449
442
470
440
513
552
690
559
Total,
major
crimes
1, 580
1,458
1,395
1,469
1,494
1, 661
1,539
1,390
1,489
1,240
1,176
1,229
1,279
1,287
1,267
1,231
1,409
1,580
1,319
1,237
1,343
1,240
1,113
1,028
1, 060
1,133
1,037
1, 137
1,206
1,530
1,319
Total, all
crimes
2,797
2,738
2,688
2,870
2,888
3,258
3,183
2,893
2,911
2,516
2,420
2,311
2, 370
2,410
2, 359
2,379
2,634
3,082
2,825
2.334
2.474
2,257
2,106
1,870
2,005
2,133
2,015
2,155
2,347
2,758
2,533
Table IV .—Persons arrested by Los Angeles Police Department who were
sentenced to state prison; also showing the number in Los Angeles County less
than 1 year, Fiscal years 1930-31 to 1934-35, inclusive.
1930-31
Homicide
Rape
Robbery
.A.ssault
Burglary
Forgery
Theft
Weapon act
Sex
State poison
Liquor
Drunk driving
Motor vehicle act.
Others
1931-32
a ^1
Total 547 168
31 730
1932-33
29 733 189
1933-34
1934-35
24 808 205
110
129
64
848
82
715
400
744
33
117
151
15
12
6
117
21 3,433 880
22
a ®
15
13
30
11
33
28
22
24
19
13
7
0
0
19
26
2984
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Table V. — Persons arrested by Los Angeles Police Department who were sentenced
to State prison; also showing the number in California less than 1 7jear, fiscal years
1930-31 to 1934-35, inclusive
1930-31
1931-32
1932-33
1933-34
1934-35
0
® i2
a %
»>>
a-o
C. a
a> 0
as
— , IS
0
_2
C3 g
to >>
.as
l»
a^
— X3
0
c-i
i
o
O O
(CM
O p,
tn a>
0^ -^
•Si
a
3
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p-(
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l'&
CD *^
a
3
C C
it
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Ph
o
is
a o
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go.
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a
3
z
a «i
3 S,
— 33
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i|
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o
•a
£S
a o
(B w
JDCO
a
3
1
a =3
n a
•- ce
XI ■^
a
3
■z
a
a"
0
T3
Sa
a 0
|.S
S.'S
<» -^
a
3
2
_2
S »
a a
— C3
i
>>
l«
0 >>
.So
ca
ac*-
03 t/3
1
» 03
- <B
*^ 1^
afe
la
§1
1
20
9
204
17
90
68
90
8
6
13
8
3
1
10
2
1
62
2
27
19
15
2
2
....
10
11
30
12
30
28
17
25
33
0
0
0
0
10
23
5
184
6
174
98
146
7
20
21
4
4
5
33
52"
2
47
16
30
1
2
2
1
3
30
0
28
33
27
16
21
14
10
10
25
0
0
9
25
11
178
18
186
68
180
2
11
33
3
1
1
2
42
2
47
14
25
1
1
2
4
18
24
11
25
21
14
50
9
6
0
0
0
29
33
19
199
24
175
106
195
12
44
49
2
"33"
1
48
16
34
2
3
6
6
0
17
4
27
15
17
17
7
12
0
0
0
0
28
20
83
17
90
60
133
36
35
3
1
22
"22'
15
23
1
2
4
11
5
27
0
24
25
17
25
6
11
0
0
0
12
129
64
848
82
715
400
744
33
117
151
15
12
6
117
15
4
211
7
191
80
127
7
10
14
1
ii"
12
Rape -
6
Robbery
2,5
fl
Burglary
?7
Forgery - -.
20
Theft ---
17
Weapon act
21
Sex
9
State poison.
9
7
Drunk driving
2
40"
2
0
n
Others
17
5
17
2
9
Total
547
133
24
730
163
22
733
142
19
898
145
16
525
95
18
3,433
678
20
Table VI. — Arrests by Los Angeles Police Department in which the courts convicted
and sentenced on the offense charged for the month of January 1936
[Los Angeles Police Department, oflSce of statistician]
Offense
Homicide
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Burglary
Forgery. _.
Theft
Concealed weapons
Sex
Nonsupport
State poison
State Liquor Control Act
Drunk driving
Drunk
Disorderly conduct
Vasrancy (except sex)
Motor Vehicle Act
Municipal ordinance
Others
Total
Number
Percent in
Number
Percent in
Number
in county
county
in State
State
convicted
less than
less than
less than
less than
1 year
1 year
1 year
1 year
3
0
0
33
0
4
0
6
2
2
33
32
4
0
25
0
16
2
13
27
5
19
5
19
157
.36
23
30
19
8
3
38
3
38
153
30
20
25
16
2
0
0
33
5
15
4
12
13
1
8
1
8
189
6
3
3
2
4,684
347
7
272
6
11
2
18
0
18
1,656
1,411
85
1,215
73
10
0
0
121
17
14
15
12
233
21
9
18
8
7,358
1,890
26
1,597
22
Subjects committed to State prison the past 5 fiscal years, Los Angeles County,
March 2, 1936
Fiscal year
San
Quentin
Folsom
Total
1930-31
698
831
772
831
566
182
233
214
247
195
880
1931-32
1,064
1932-.33 .
986
1933-34
1,07S
1934-35
761
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
2985
The records indicate that during the fiscal year 1934-35, 761 subjects were
committed from Los Angeles County and of this number 213 had resided less than
1 year in the county of Los Angeles, denoting a percentage of 28.
Penal Code section 836, paragraph 1 :
Arrests by peace officers. — A peace officer may make an arrest in obedience to
a warrant delivered to him, or maj', without a warrant, arrest a person: 1. For a
public offense committed or attempted in his presence.
Penal Code, section 837, paragraph 1:
Arrests by private citizens. — A private person may arrest another: 1. For a
public offense committed or attempted in his presence.
Penal Code, section 587c:
Evading payment of railroad fares. — Every person who fraudulently evades, or
attempts to evade, the payment of his fare while traveling upon any railroad shall
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished
by a fine of not more than $500, or imprisonment not exceeding 6 months, or by
both such fine and imprisonment (1909:575).
Penal Code, section 647, paragraph 3:
Every person who roams about from place to place without any lawful business
is a vagrant and is punishable by a fine of not exceeding $500 or by imprisonment
in the countv jail not exceeding 6 months or bv both such fine and imprisonment
(1931:696). '
The statutes 1901, page 630, section 3, provides as follows:
"Every person, firm, or corporation, or the officers, agents, servants, or em-
ployees of any person, charitable organization, firm, or corporation, bringing into or
leaving within, or procuring the bringing into or the leaving within, or aiding in
the bringing into or leaving within, of any pauper, or poor, or indigent, or incapaci-
tated, or incompetent person as hereinbefore mentioned, in any county or city
and county in the State of California, wherein such person is not lawfully settled
or not lawfully residing as herein defined, knowing him to be such pauper, poor,
indigent, or incapacitated, or incompetent person, shall be guilty of a misde-
meanor."
The 1933 Statute provides as follows:
"Ever}^ person, firm, or corporation, or officer or agent thereof, bringing into
or assisting in bringing into the State of California any indigent person as described
in this act, who is not a resident of the State of CaUfornia, knowing him to be
an indigent person, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."
Foreign transient activities — Technical arrests made by Los Angeles
Police Department
[Los Angeles Police Department, office of statistician, Mar. 9, 1936]
Evading
railroad
fare
Vagabond
roamer
Others i
Total
Previous
records
Percent-
age with
previous
records
Southern area:
Winterhaven, Imperial Company
6
186
119
1
6
9
3
195
119
38
6
12
104
26
28
4
4
Cadiz, San Bernardino Company
37
Kelso, San Bernardino Company
3
Total southern area
46
321
3
370
166
45
Central area:
48
48
15
33
11
14
1
6
2
8
4
Total central area
20
50
1
71
48
68
Northern area:
2
4
15
2
4
40
59
7
14
2
20
26
5
5
23
59
2
7
7
Tule Lake
7
Total northern area
89
35
2
126
58
46
Grand total - .
i 155 1 406 1 6 1 567
272
48
!
1
1
Others include actual arrests such as burglary, murder, and auto theft
2986
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Foreign transient activities, Los Angeles Police Department
FLos Angeles Police Department, office of statistician, Mar. 9, 1936]
Entered
via rail-
road
Entered
via high-
way
Southern area:
Winterhaven, Imperial County
Blythe, Riverside County
Cadiz, San Bernardino County
Wheaton, San Bernardino County.
Kelso, San Bernardino County
Total southern area_
Central area:
Portola, Plumas County...
Truckee, Nevada County..
Bridgeport, Mono County.
Bishop, Inyo County
Total central area.
Northern area:
Highway 199, Del Norte County --
Highway 101, Del Norte County -
Hornbrook, Siskiyou County.. ---
Dorris, Siskivou County
Stronghold, Modoc County, and Tule Lake.
Total northern area
Total foreign transient activities.
187
"75"
"~4l
.715
171
4
Total
sent
back
902
171
79
6
41
108
1,373
Leaving
. State
volun-
tarily
3,601
89
116
49
3,855
113
121
17
39
261
50
215
582
4,671
Total
leaving
State
4,503
260
195
6
90
5,054
157
135
17
40
295
100
238
690
6,044
Note— Transients picked up locally by Los Angeles Police Department and deported out of State, 742
Foreign transient activities, Apr. 17, 1936
[Los Angeles Police Department, office of statistician]
Southern area:
Winterhaven, Imperial County
Blythe, Riverside County
Cadiz, San Bernardino County
Wheaton, San Bernardino County.
Kelso, San Bernardino County
Total, southern area.
Central area:
Portola, Plumas County..
Keddie, Plumas County...
Truckee, Nevada County..
Bridgeport, Mono County.
Bishop, Inyo County
Total, central area.
Northern area :
State Highway 199, Del Norte County
State Highway 101, Del Norte County
Hornbrook, Siskiyou County
Dorris, Siskivou County
Stronghold and Tule Lake, Modoc County.
Total, northern area
Total, foreign transient activities.
Entered
via rail-
road
448
6
162
68
684
7
102
Entered
via high-
way
1,239
192
4
1,485
Total
sent
back
1,687
198
166
2,127
238
2,479
Leaving
State
volun-
tarily
6,828
282
206
69
7,385
343
15
381
36
51
779
363
508
1,737
9,861
Total
leaving
State
,515
480
372
400
33
412
430
599
1,975
12, 340
NOTE.-Transients picked up locally by Los Angeles Police Department and deported out of State, 1,194
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Foreign transient activities — technical arrests made, Apr. 17, 1936
[Los Angeles Police Department, office of statistician]
2987
Evading
railroad
fare
Vagabond
roamcr
Others '
Total
Previous
records
Percent-
age with
previous
records
Southern area:
Winterhaven, Imperial County
Blythe, Riverside Countv-- .-
244
277
150
1
8
15
6
2
527
152
83
8
41
242
30
56
6
20
46
20
Cadiz, San Bernardino County
82
67
Wheaton, San Bernardino Countv
75
Kelso, San Bernardino County
26
49
Total southern area. -.
352
451
8
811
354
44
Central area:
Keddie, Plumas County. ... ..
25
59
2
25
59
33
16
42
21
64
Portola, Plumas County..
71
Trufkfifi, Kevnda, County
30
1
64
Bridgeport, Mono County
0
Bishop, Invo County
6
2
8
4
50
Total central area
36
88
1
125
83
66
Northern area:
Highway 101. Del Norte County
2
8
27
1
16
71
2
8
89
120
16
78
0
Highway 199, Del Norte County
6
44
55
9
41
75
Hornbrcok, Siskiyou County
Dorris, Siskiyou County. .
60
119
2
49
46
Stronghold, Modoc County
56
Tule Lake, Modoc Countv
7
53
Total northern area
186
125
2
313
155
49
Grand total
575
663
11
1,249
592
47
1 others includes actual arrests such as bur.glary, murder, auto theft, and theft of mail.
Mr. Abbott. I wish to introduce a communication sent to Col.
Wayne Allen, chief administrative officer by H. F. Scovill of the Bureau
of Administrative Research of the County of Los Angeles, Calif., and
attaching a letter by Fred R. Ranch, Assistant Commissioner of the
Work Projects Administration addressed to Hon. Leland M. Ford,
Member of Congress from the Sixteenth District of California.
(Tliis material appears below:)
Bureau of Administrative Research,
County of Los Angeles,
• February 16, 1940.
Order No. 3475.
To: Col. Wayne Allen.
Chief Administrative Officer.
Subject: Migrant Study — W. P. A. Comments.
The attached memorandum, recjuested in your letter of November 16, 1939»
summarizes our analysis of the comments on the migrant situation contained in a
letter from the assistant commissioner of the Works Progress Administration to
Congressman Leland Ford. Two additional copies are enclosed for Congressman
Ford, and his file is herewith returned.
Besides explaining the points particularly referred to by the Assistant Com-
missioner, this memorandum reports further findings and conclusions which are
briefly summed up as follows:
(1)"^ The influx of destitute migrants to California is continuing at an accelerated
pace.
(2) Large numbers of irresponsible migrants are now coming to take advantage
of California's liberal public relief.
(3) To some extent the efforts of governmental agencies to relieve the situation
are tending to aggravate and ])erpetuate the problem.
(4) The migrations since 1933 are only forerunners of mass migrations on a
larger scale as the result of Nation-wide land problems.
260370— 41— pt. 7-
-13
29gg INTERSTATE MIGRATION
(5) None of the proposals so far advanced nor all of them in combination, will
provide a permanent remedy.
Respectfully submitted.
H. F. ScoviLL, Director.
Order No. 3475, February 16, 1940
The following comments pertain to the problem of interstate migration as
discussed in a letter, dated November 3, 1939, from Fred R. Rauch, assistant
commissioner. Works Progress Administration, to Congressman Leland Ford.
For convenient reference the remarks below follow the same context as the assist-
ant commissioner's letter.
(1) THE NATIONAL PROBLEM WITH RESPECT TO URBAN INDUSTRIAL MIGRATION
The first four paragraphs assert certain principles relative to the national prob-
lem of transiency with which there can be no disagreement. It recognizes that
the Pacific Southwest's migratory agricultural worker question, while an impor-
tant part of the grave national transiency problem, is distinct from the urban
industrial migrant issue. Attention is called to the danger of minimizing the
greater part of the problem by concentrating consideration on the transient
difficulties of the coast. However, to avoid the opposite danger of minimizing
the serious consequences to the Pacific coast, and to California particularly, from
the continued uncontrolled influx of distressed peoples, the following explanations
and discussion are submitted.
(2) THE CALIFORNIA SITUATION
The letter suggests the possibility of duplication in the count of migrants
coming to California.
Careful consideration of the circumstances impelling the vast migration to
California, and of the economic status of the migrants after arrival, tends to dis-
pel anj^ feeling that great numbers would return to their previous States of resi-
dence and thence emigrate once again to California; or that the number of migrants
remaining in California might be substantially exaggerated.
(a) Therefore, there could be little duplication in the count between out-of-
State migrants and the "returning Californians," as suggested in the letter. The
65,471 migrants reported from Oklahoma (see table A of report No. 2, Oct. 2,
1939) constitute a portion of the 285,817 "out-of-State" migrants counted, exclu-
sive of 54,442 "returning Californians" listed separately (p. 2 of table A).
(6) Most of the refugee agricultural migrants arriving in California are "relo-
cation" migrants who have abandoned thought of returning to their home States.
Their condition of destitution upon arrival evidences an imperative need for
relief. Their earnings in a glutted agricultural labor market cannot provide
more than bare subsistence. (See our report No. 1, June 27, 1939.) It is, there-
fore, difficult to conceive that any appreciable nuii^ber could frequently make
the arduous trip from California to and from the drought States from which they
originate.
(c) As to the number of migrants remaining in California, a survey of the case
load of the State relief administration, taken on February 11, 1939, revealed that
2.6 percent of the cases receiving aid had State residence of less than 1 year.
Seven and seven-tenths percent had State residence between 1 and 2 years, and
6.9 percent between 2 and 3 years. Hence, 17.2 })ercent of the 108,636 cases
aided in that month, or 18,707 employable cases, were without 3-year residence.
To this figure should be added the number who are in Works Progress Adminis-
tration employment or who obtain limited seasonal employment, as well as those
who are unemployable. It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that the number
remaining in California is large, particularly when certain other factors pre-
sented in the previous two studies are also considered.
(d) The large number of "returning Californians" can be explained as the
result of the seasonal interstate migration of agricultural workers between Cali-
fornia and adjoining States. The conclusions reached from the separate find-
ings of various authorities who have studied this matter can be summarized as
follows :
Some migrants to the Pacific Northwest have relocated successfully on farms.
The majority of the refugees come to California and most of these become con-
stant seasonal migrants. Many California migrants, and regular migratory casual
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2989
workers, cross and recross to Arizona, Oregon, and Washington, which represent
important areas of employment for migrant workers originating in California.
As to Arizona, by which route nearly 60 percent of the migrants reach California,
the migrant interplay is between the winter lettuce season in Imperial Vallev,
Calif.— later the spring lettuce harvest of the Salt River Vallev of Arizona-
then back to the early summer cantaloup harvest in Imperial Valley, and back
once again to the fall cotton harvest of Salt River Valley, Casa Grande, and other
parts of Arizona.
(e) Instead of the number of "returning Californians" tending to duplicate the
count of "out-of-State" migrants, the contrary may be true. The tally of
"returning Californians" may tend toward an underestimation of the number of
migrants remaining in California from time to time.
Migrants arriving in California must acquire California license plates for their
cars upon accepting gainful employment. (California Motor Vehicle Code,
sec. 216;. Also those who are in the State over 1 j-ear but less than 3 years must
carry California licenses.
A news article in the Los Angeles Daily Journal on January 31, 1940, quotes a
statement of the local manager of the California Department of Motor Vehicles
that registration of out-of-State cars is going on in Los Angeles at the rate of
"600 per day and that there will be 30,000 out-of-State applicants handled. '^
While all of these are not migrants in search of manual emploj-ment, it is reason-
able to expect that a very large proportion of this large number are changing
registration in accordance with law in order to accept employment. To the e.xtent
that these nonresident workers participate in the interstate seasonal migration,
they are counted on each recrossing into California, as "returning Californians."'
Being thus counted contributes substantial!}^ to the "very large number of manual
workers classified as 'returning Californians' " referred' to in the letter. Their
actual status, however, is that of "out of State" migrants.
(3) "what may be done to help CALIFORNIA?"
In answer to the above querj' the assistant commissioner refers to, and partially
quotes, a letter from Col. F. S. Harrington, administrator of the Work Projects
Administration, addressed to the President, dated March 15, 1939. The letter
summarizes the California problem and the proposals offered for its solution.
The President concurred in the recommendations made by Administrator Har-
rington.
The summary is based upon a detailed report which was prepared by the Work
Projects administrator in northern California after discussion with officials of the
various governmental agencies most directlj^ concerned with the problem. This
detailed report explores the subject in all its phases. It offers constructive plans,
the adoption of which holds hope for relieving the situation to a limited degree in
both its immediate and long-range aspects. However, even the partial better-
ment to be expected from the suggested plans is dependent upon special legislation
to be enacted bj' the Congress so as to broaden the powers of the group of Federal
agencies which can cooperate in alleviating the conditions which prevail.
A careful reading of the detailed report above mentioned is necessary for a full
comprehension of the scope and complications of the problem, and of the far-
reaching measures that must be considered in attempting solution. For ready
reference we have prepared and attached hereto a memo (exhibit A), giving some
of the highlights on the more important points.
Despite the able analysis of the problem and the constructive approach to its
solution, the dismal conclusion just be reached that no solution, or combination of
proposed solutions so far offered is comprehensive enough. Far more intensive
research is necessary if remedial treatments adequate for the serious social and
economic malignancy which has been created and continues to aggravate the prob-
lem are to be developed.
(4) RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CALIFORNIA SITUATION
(a) The decrease in the number of "out of State" migrants arriving in Cali-
fornia during the first quarter of 1939 was offset b}- later arrivals in increasing
numbers. By the end of November the number arriving in 1939 had reached
62,311; the figure for the 11 months exceeding that for the whole year of 1938 by
6,473 persons.
(6) From articles appearing in the press in recent weeks, it is apparent that the
anxiety over the migrant situation in California is increasing. The anxiety extends
2990 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
not only to the need for immediate action, but also to the pessimistic outlook for
the future. For example:
1. The changing economic status of the cotton States brings a prediction made
to the La FoUette civil liberties committee recently by Prof. John B. Canning, of
Stanford University, of a migration of Negroes from the eastern cotton States
"much more terrible than that from the dust bowl."
2. Before the same committee, R. V. Jensen, vice president of Western Cotton
Products Co., blamed the Nation-wide Federal crop acreage reduction for scatter-
ing agricultural workers; and creating huge agricultural surpluses in California
and Arizona; also, the National Emergency Council and the Federal Farm Security
Administration for the Federal Government's maintaining "throngs of cotton
pickers in the State (California) from season to season on public relief."
3. Before the same committee W. V. Allen, Federal farm placement supervisor
in Los Angeles County, testified: "All cotton pickers are prospective relief clients
10 days after the picking season is over."
4. in an Associated Press dispatch on February 11 the Russell Sage Foundation
predicted "substantial mass migrations from four large areas in the United States
(the cut-over region of the Great Lakes, the southern Appalachian coal plateau,
the submarginal farm lands in the Great Plains and the old Cotton Belt) as a
result of land problems. Estimates suggest a migration of from 1,500,000 to
6,000,000 from the old Cotton Belt alone."
5. In discussion of the Federal migration camps, ex-President Holmes Bishop,
of the Associated Farmers (California) told the La Follette committee that "it is
a problem to make decent provision for migrants without thereby attracting others
on that very account * * * surplus of labor causes the work to be spread so
thinly among the seasonal workers that many of them can no longer earn enough
to carry them through the unemployment season."
6. In an address in San Francisco on October 27, 1939, the chief of the division
of immigration and housing, asserted that migratory farm labor in California
^'creates a crushing relief load, with as much as 80 percent of the relief loads of
rural counties being made up of agricultural workers."
7. The California State Chamber of Commerce considers the assimilation of
migrants from the Dust Bowl States as "California's most pressing problem."
Its State-wide agricultural committee observes that "only through the coordinat-
ing activities of the Federal Government can any permanently constructive steps
be taken looking toward checking the migrant stream and what we need is action,
now. The migrants are pouring in on us by the thousands."
8. The California State director of finance, and chairman of the Governor's
commission on reemployment, stated, "They (relief costs) already have caused
taxes to swell alarmingly. Under the present trend there is acute danger that
taxes will skyrocket to a point where they will bleed the community white and
endanger its very foundations."
9. Curtailment of the Work Projects Administration program (which in Cali-
fornia resulted in reducing the Work Projects Administration case load from
123,631 cases in October 1938 to 74,254 cases in October 1939), has contributed
directly to the acuteness by increasing the vState relief burden, and by increasing
competition for the little farm and other work that is available.
10. With the migrants taking the place of residents in seasonal agriculture the
State relief burden is increased by forcing residents to go on State relief and
preventing those who are on relief from obtaining employment which would result
in removing them from the relief rolls.
In Orange County, for instance. State relief administration officials disclosed,
on January 9, 1940, that 400 to 600 migrant workers and their families have
located on one large ranch mainly to pick the pea crop, while recipients of State
relief are unable to obtain work.
11. Numerous ardent books, articles, and pamphlets depicting the hard fortune
of the migrants who have poured into California, have gained large circulation.
They have incited a wide public consciousness of the problem, and created a great
concern in the public mind, not only as to the economic ills in prospect for this
State, but also as to the social implications of an overrun of families with lower
standards and habits. Authoritative writers variously estimate the number of
honest, M^ork-loving folks of character at 60 to 85 percent of the migrants. How-
ever, they are almost unanimous in pointing out that an unusually large number
are of the lower fringe — irresponsible, shiftless, and immune to bettering influence.
12. Reliable authorities in the past have been led to the opinion that the liberal
relief policy of California was not a great factor in attracting migration. Current
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2991
opinion seems to place greater blame on this factor. Numerous recent articles
tend to confirm the oft-repeated charge that hordes are coming to California to
enjoy the benefits of liberal relief. While generous sympathy is expressed for the
larger number genuinely seeking rehabilitation, the general trend of the findings
is that the continuance of the trek is now largely influenced by the publicity which
has been given to this State's liberality in relief matters.
13. Concern is becoming manifest also that "relief," intended to ameliorate
the condition of the minor group in distress, is insidiously rolling up catastrophe
for the whole State. Accusations are being made, some of them undoubtedly
well-founded, that transients who are already in California, and on relief, are
encouraging relatives in other States to come to Cahfornia; that most of the
irresponsible element among the migrants, dissipate the relief money_ in new
automobiles, drink and non-essentials; that the convenience in obtaining cash
dole, clothing and surplus commodities is encouraging indolence and improvident
habits; that even the better class of workers who start out willing and eager to
work, become spoiled and soft soon after going on rehef, and cease to seek work;
that idleness, enforced or voluntary is breeding inversive traits of character
which can only result in increasing the menace to society from crime, epidemics,
subversive acts, and other social dangers.
FINDINGS
The findings of this third analysis of the effect on California of the influx of
distressed migrants can be summed up as follows:
(1) That the continued inpouring is bringing large numbers of people of the
lower fringe of humanity whose presence greatly increases the already grave
menace to California's institutions and society.
(2) The governmental relief measures intended to improve the condition of
these peoples are tending to some extent, to perpetuate and aggravate the problem.
(3) That the national problem of interstate migration, related chiefly to urban
industrial migration, holds promise of at least partial solution upon return of
better times generally in industry. The continued influx of destitute agricultural
workers however, offers only a discouraging prospect for the migrants themselves
and an ominous outlook for the State of California and its citizens.
(4) That what can be done in California about interstate migration depends
largely upon direct assistance from the Federal Government and indirect help
from the States of origin. . , . , . u
(5) That any of the meritorious plans, or all in combination, which have been
proposed up to the present time, evidence only superficial treatment of deep-
rooted unhealthy social and economic conditions.
(6) The time-consuming legislation is involved in any actions to expand tne
powers of existing agencies to partially cope with either the immediate phase or
the long-range aspect of the problem. During this delay the problem grows in
intensity and difficulty of solution. • , j
(7) That California faces aggravation of an already perilous social and economic
problem unless practical means can be taken that will stem successfully the tide
of immigration of disadvantaged farming peoples from other States.
Exhibit A
(1) "The problem * * * is the result of extremely complex social and
economic factors." ^ a. ,. • r i „,-..
(2) "Much of the interstate migration * * * results in successful economic
adjustment, but the unsuccessful portion creates a particularly acute prob-
1 pTYl * ^ ♦ ' '
(3) "All States contribute and all States receive interstate migrants, but some
few 'destination' States, such as California, receive many more than they
give * * * 'origin' States, such as Oklahoma, give many more than they
(4) "Among governmental agencies there is unanimous agreement that the
problem is national in nature and therefore requires consideration on a Nation-
/g) »* ■* * it is difficult to see how an attempted solution in a particular
State can be effective unless there is coordination of effort in all States— particu-
larlv in States with excessive out-migration— an attempt to deal solely with local
conditions in California would greatly complicate the problem and in the long
run do more injury than good."
2992 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
(6) "There is also general agreement that the problem has both an immediate
and a long-range aspect. The immediate problem is one of relieving the pressure
on local relief rolls. * * * The long-range aspect is concerned both with the
conditions in the States of origin which cause the uprooting * * * a^nd with
the most effective means of stabilizing and rehabilitating those who are already
uprooted."
(7) "In both the immediate and the long-range aspect joint effort between the
several governmental agencies * * * jg essential. No agency, as now con-
stituted, can solve so large a problem."
(8) The United States Employment Service is "in the best position to dissemi-
nate information on employment opportunities. * * * Immediate benefits
would result from a systematic spreading of information among potential migrants
in the States of origin as well as among migrants en route for the purpose of check-
ing the continual oversupply of workers to California. * * * All regular
channels of publicity should be used * * * hand bills, signs along the road,
radio announcements and word-of-mouth advertising. * * * -pj^g United
States Employment Service offers its full cooperation with State and Federal
agencies in further improving the distribution of workers in accordance with job
opportunities."
(9) The Farm Security Administration has been making efforts to settle rural
migrants "on small plots of land in areas where seasonal farm labor is in demand
* * * but because they lack authority to purchase land, any expansion of
this type of activity is limited. * * * Were it possible for the Farm Security
Administration to acquire lands * * * cooperation with the United States
Employment Service and Works Progress Administration might provide a useful
combination of part-time private of project employment with subsistence farming."
(10) "The Works Progress Administration is well aware of the fact that people
are continuing to leave States where conditions are unfavorable * * * long-
range planning is required. It is not believed that a satisfactory program of this
nature can be formulated in time to help the immediate need for assistance in
California."
(11) "An increase of 10,000 in California's Works Progress Administration
quota would provide the most effective immediate action. This additional
quota would help to relieve the State of some of the relief burden. * * *
(12) "The health problem created by migrants is closely related to their
economic status. * * * The Social Security Board has suggested that since
the United States Health Service and the Children's Bureau now make Federal
grants to States for financing health activities, these services might be extended
on a temporary basis in California for the assistance of migrants. * * * The
Public Health Service officials feel that additional funds for public-health work
among migrants could be used to good advantage."
(13) Under the general heading of relief discussion is had:
(a) Of the need of more adequate diet, particularly for the children of migrants;
(b) Of assisting migrants to return to their States of former residence; and
(c) A system of Federal grants-in-aid to States * * * to defray the cost
of relief extended to nonresidents.
As to balanced diet, it is suggested that "beneficial results would certainly
follow from close cooperation between Federal Surplus Commodities Corpora-
tion, Farm Security Administration and California State Relief Administration"
for achieving a "better balance of commodity distribution * * * by one
agency supplementing the distribution made by the other."
As to returning migrants to their States of former residence, it is pointed out
that "No Federal agency has the authority to compel migrants to return against
their will."
As to Federal grants-in-aid, the comments of the Social Security Board are
summarized as follows:
" (1) If assistance to nonresidents is granted to California it would have to be
granted to all States.
" (2) Resentment would be aroused by grants to nonresident aid unless pro-
visions were also made for assistance to needy residents not cared for under
existing programs.
" (3) Assistance for nonresidents without a general relief program would tend
to encourage transiency.
" (4) For the reasons noted above the Social Security Board's statement con-
cludes that ' It would seem desirable to establish a Federal program of assistance
to nonresidents and other needy individuals and families for whom employment
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2993
on public works projects financed in whole or in part by the Federal Government
is not suitable or available.'
"(5) If such a program were established the following questions would require
decision:
(o) The establishment of a fourth category of assistance administered by the
Board.
(6) Funds for this purpose.
(c) Conditions for approval of State plans.
(d) Modification or elimination of State legal settlement requirements for
assistance.
"(6) Any program for aid to nonresidents would involve cooperation on the
part of a number of State and Federal agencies. As a result there is need for a
continuing committee under the auspices of some agency to formulate plans for
nonresident aid."
(14) "Bad housing facilities * * * ^j-g -^hg j-uig where migrants congre-
gate. * * * Low income and short stays make the migrant an unprofitable
or undesirable tenant. * * * 'pj^g United States Housing Authority calls
attention to the fact that they do not, on their own account, undertake the
construction and administration of low-rent housing. Local housing authorities
* * * own and operate the housing projects with the United States Housing
Authority making loans."
The Housing Authority "officials question whether dwellings constructed with
their aid can be built to rent for the very small amounts which the migrant worker
can afford from his low earnings * * *_ 'pj^g improvement of housing condi-
tions through the cooperation of local communities and the United States Housing
Authority would more probably come under the heading of long-range planning
than under that of emergency action."
"The Farm Security Administration has (to date) 10 Farm Security Admin-
istration camps with permanent structures in California, capable of accommodat-
ing 1,720 families * * * There is proposed for completion in California
accommodations for 1,200 additional families. The small-home construction
program of the Farm Security Administration has provided for 100 families in
California so far and 200 additional homes are planned for the current year."
(15) "In general the housing program of the Federal Security Administration
has been pushed as rapidly as funds and planning would permit but at the present
time it is drastically limited by lack of authorization to expend funds for the pur-
chase of land."
(16) "The possibility of participation by the Works Progress Administration
in low-cost housing is restricted at the present time * * * gxcept when the
occupants are to be relief recipients * * * ^-grg the provision removed, co-
operation with local. State, and Federal agencies in low cost housing construction
might well provide a desirable field of activity * * * restricted to properties
owned and operated by agencies of the Government."
(17) "Proper educational advantages for the children of migrant families is a
-serious problem in California * * * many children of migrant families are
growing up without the advantages of an American education * * * the
California delegation then expressed the hope that if a bill for Federal aid to educa-
tion is passed special provisions will be included for grants in proportion to the
number of nonresident children being educated at local expense.
(18) The Office of Education recognized that the problem of migrant school
children is one of increasing seriousness but points out
(a) That the problem is not peculiar to California;
(h) That at the present time the Office of Education does not have any funds
that can be allocated to the State for this purpose.
(19) "Long-range planning: What the various agencies concerned with the
problem of interstate migration can do in California and elsewhere at the present
time is limited by the fact that an effective solution requires planned action on a
wider basis than one state or region. Agency officials agreed on the need for
long range planning in order to make the best use of their several authorities * * *
(and) that a continuing committee on this problem should be set up under the
auspices of one of the participating agencies * * * (to) formulate the
long-range planning that is so badly needed."
(20) Conclusion: "Agencv officials are all aware that the present situation is
not unique; that it is merelv the current aspect of last year's and next year's
problem. Existing agencv activities cover parts of the problem and in continuing
and coordinating these activities lies the most hopeful prospect of the solution.'
2994 ITSTTERSTATE MIGRATION
Federal Works Agency,
Work Projects Administration,
Washington, D. C, November 3, 1939.
Hon. Leland M. Ford,
House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.
My Dear Mr. Ford: This will acknowledge the receipt of your letter of Octo-
ber 27, 1939, addressed to Col. F. C. Harrington, enclosing a copy of the analysis
of the transient relief problem in Los Angeles County and California generally,
made by Mr. H. F. Scoville.
It is generally recognized that the transient relief problem is more severe on
the Pacific coast than elsewhere in the United States. Nevertheless, it is the
opinion of this office that it is a mistake to underemphasize the national scope of
the problem. Reference to the Work Projects Administration research mono-
graph on Migrant Families cited by Mr. Scoville will show, for example, that
nearly three-fourths of the depression migrant families at Federal Emergency
Relief Administration transient bureaus (families having largely an urban-indus-
trial background) had never touched the Pacific Coast States in their travels.
In concentrating attention upon the transient problem on the coast, there is
danger that the greater part of the problem will be minimized.
As a practical administrative consideration, it is further believed that this
problem cannot be attacked on the basis of the distinction between migration
that balances and migration that results in net population displacement. In
practice it has been found that there is no relationship between a State's willing-
ness to give assistance to transients and the number of needy nonresidents that it
contributes to other States. In practical application, it appears that raising the
question of the State of origin as a basis for determining responsibility for transient
relief results in tabling the entire discussion of where responsibility can and
should be placed.
The foregoing applies to the problem of transiency as considered in connection
with the urban-industrial migrants in need of public assistance. Migratory
agricultural workers, it is believed, present a different problem, and one that is
confined primarily to California, Texas, the Southwest, and Pacific coast generally.
In making provision through the Farm Security Administration for the needs of
this group. Congress has, in elfect, already recognized that California and South-
western agriculture cannot operate without this supply of mobile workers, nor can
it protect the workers against recurrent privation and want.
Incidentally, it would seem that Mr. Scoville's analysis of border-count figures
over the past four years tends to exaggerate the number of migrants remaining in
California at any given time. The 65,000 figure recorded for Oklahoma, for ex-
ample, doubtless contains many workers who crossed the California border two or
more times and were duplicated in the total count. That the number of duplica-
tions must have been large is suggested by the very large number of manual
workers classified as "returning Californians."
In answer to your question, "What may be done to help California," may I
quote from Colonel Harrington's letter to President Roosevelt on this subject,
dated March 15, 1939:
"* * * If the responsibility for solving the problem of interstate migration
is to be accepted by the Federal Government, it is my opinion that special legisla-
tion to this end would have to be enacted by the Congress. Such legislation should
provide for Nation-wide planning and might take the form of authorizing action
along the three following lines:
"(a) The resettlement of the migrants who are now in California and other
destination States and who can become self-supporting there.
"(h) The return of those migrants who are willing to resume residence in their
State of origin and giving assistance in establishing them there.
"(c) The resettlement of other migrants in those areas where employment suited
to their abilities is most likely to be found.
"I believe that a decision as to whether such legislation should be enacted rests
with the Congress.
"Passing to the action which can be taken by the Federal agencies under their
present powers the representatives of all of them are in agreement that according
special treatment to nonresidents that is not available to residents is bad practice
and tends only to aggravate the problem of migration. This is certainly true
so far as the Work Projects Administration is concerned. It would be possible
for the Work Projects Administration to set up an earmarked quota for the em-
ployment of migrants in California and to develop a work program particularly
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2995
for those migrants. I believe, however, that this is highly undesirable and rec-
ommend against it. On the other hand, a general increase in the Work Projects
Administration quota for the State of California will not do anything constructive
to solve the problem, and the extent to which such an increase can be made under
present limitations as to funds would not in my judgment have any marked effect
in alleviating the conditions wliich prevail."
Also of interest in this connection is the report on the general problem of inter-
state migration, prepared at the President's request in March of this year. This
report was printed imder extension of remarks by Congressman Alfred J. Elliott
in the Congressional Record of March 30, 1939, beginning on page 5007.
Sincerely yours,
Fred R. Rauch,
Assistant Commissioner.
Mr. Abbott: I offer a report, The Fifth Migration, by Dr. George
Gleason, dated December 1, 1937.
(The report referred to was received and marked as an exhibit and
is reprinted below):
The Fifth Migration
Report on the California migratory agricultural workers prepared by Dr. George
Gleason, executive secretary, county committee for church and community
cooperation, Los Angeles, Calif.
On March 2, 1939, the Los Angeles County Committee for Church and Com-
munity Cooperation, which was appointed by the Board of Supervisors in January
1937, asked its executive secretary to make a study of conditions among Migratory
Agricultural Workers in California. The first report was presented to the com-
mittee on April 25, 1939. With the approval of the committee, 500 copies were
published in June. The bulletin met with such an instant demand, that a new
edition, entirely revised, has been prepared. This is now offered as study material
for churches, schools, and other organizations in Los Angeles County.
Foreword: I have just returned from a five-day visit to the San Joaquin Valley.
Compared with six months ago, the conditions of the Migrants are much better.
On the farms, in the towns, and in primitive suburban subdivisions many families
are establishing permanent homes. Churches, schools, employment bureaus,
boards of health, and the large farm employers are improving their services to
these needy people.
The problem, however, is by no means solved. The Governor's Commission on
Re-employment estimates that there are still in the State 50,000 living in shack
towns or roaming about in their jallopies. — George Gleason (October 2, 1939).
I. THE SERIOUS SITUATION AMONG THE WHITE MIGRANT AGRICULTURAL WORKERS
IN CALIFORNIA
1. The fifth migratio7i. — California, since early in 1935, has received an influx
of more than 250,000 migrant agricultural workers from the "dried out," "blown
out," and "mechanized" farms of the "Dust Bowl" of Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas,
Oklahoma, Missouri, Mississippi, and Texas, and from the Cotton States farther
east and south. These wretched people are a part of more than 1,000,000 migrant
workers, not including nonworking members of their families, traveling America's
highways in search of work in the harvest fields. As the average family contains
4.65 persons, the newcomers in California represent an addition of between 50,000
and 60,000 households to the population of the State. Labor camps in California,
where five or more are employed, and where the employer provides camp facilities,
are said to number 4,500, of which 1,000 are for loggers, miners, etc., and 3,500
for agricultural workers. All of these labor camps are under the supervision of
the State Division of Immigration and Housing. There are also 3,500 auto
camps, many of which shelter migratory families. A total of 145,000 live in these
camps the year round. A vast Migrant Problem! (California Journal of Ele-
mentary Education, February 1939, p. 183).
The migrants in the United States are divided into two classes; the Habitual
Migrants, who from choice or habit have been following the harvest of hops,
onions, peas, potatoes, cotton, wheat, berries, fruit, beets, lettuce, and grapes;
and the Removal Migrants, who have been forced by low prices, drought, and
mechanization to seek a better life in another State. The latter are truly the
2996 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
dispossessed. They form the large part of the 250,000 to 300,000 people who
desperately need help in California.
2. Four previous migrations. — In California these white Anglo-Americans are
the fifth group of migratory laborers to create a problem in our communities.
The Chinese, in large numbers, were brought in following the Gold Rush of 1849.
They built the railroads and provided the cheap labor for mines and farms. Their
immigration was cut off by law in 1888. Then followed three successive waves
of cheap foreign labor. First the Japanese, whose immigration was checked in
1907 by the Gentlemen's Agreement, and finally stopped in 1924. Japanese
were followed by the Mexicans. By 1920 there were 70,000 Japanese and 80,000
foreign-born Mexicans in California. Filipinos to the number of 31,000 were
brought in between 1920-29. In the early I930's, 80% of the migrant workers
were Mexicans and Filipinos. Since 1934, due to the repatriation of many Mexi-
cans and the cutting off of Filipino immigration, the complexion of the agricultural
migrants has literally changed, so that 80-90% are now native white Americans.
A few of these are single men, "hoboes," "fruit tramps," "transients," as they are
sometimes called, a permanent group of wanderers; but most of them are new-
comers of the fan\ily type with whom this study is concerned.
Orientals and Mexicans, accustomed at home to a lower standard of living,
usually bettered their condition even in the rough, unsanitary camp life of the
intermittent farm work. But now, with the presence in the State of a quarter of
a million of migrant people whose culture is similar to our own, this Fifth Migration
is presenting a problem which must be promptly faced and wisely solved.
3. Who are the migrants in California? — Are these people Rifif-Raff? Prof.
Taylor of Berkely replies: "After having seen hundreds of them all the way from
Yuma to Marysville, I cannot subscribe to this view. These people are victims of
dust storms, of drought which preceded the dust, of protracted depression which
preceded the drought. ' It seems like God has forsaken us back there in Arkansas,'
said a former farm owner at a San Luis Obispo pea-picker's camp. 'The cotton
burned up,' is their common story. They are largely farmers who have been
carrying on agriculture on the family pattern which has been so long regarded as
the great source of stability in our nation. One of them, recently picking fruit
with his family in the Sacramento Valley, told succinctly this story of his decline
from a farmer to farm laborer: 1927 — rnade $7,000 as a cotton farmer in Texas;
1928— broke even; 1929 —went in the hole; 1930— deeper; 1931 — lost everything;
1932— hit the road; 1935 — serving the farmers of California as a 'fruit tramp' "
(Dr. Paul S. Taylor in Synopsis of Migratory Labor Problems in California).
In a study of 6,655 case histories, the heads of the migrant households were
found to be men in their best working years. Only 7% were fifty-five years of
age or over. About one-half had lived for twenty years or longer in the states
from which they came (release to morning papers of Thursday, April 20, 1939).
Mechanization of agriculture is also driving labor out of the midwest and
south. In 1920 there were only nine thousand farm tractors in Texas. But in
1937 there were ninety-nine thousand — and each tractor displaced from one to
five tenant families. There is one Alabama county that had eight farm tractors
a few years ago. Last year there were two hundred sixty tractors in that county
and each was estimated to have forced one and one-half to two families off the
land (Migrant Farm Labor; The Problem and Ways of Meeting It, p. 3).
One Mississippi planter bought twenty-two tractors and thirteen cultivators.
He then evicted one hundred thirty of his one hundred sixty sharecropper families
(Fortune Magazine, p. 112). Some think that this fate will come to the majority
of the South's 1,800,000 tenants.
Other influences have encouraged the trek to this state: In June 1939, I found
cotton choppers in the Mississippi Delta receiving an average of seventy-five cents
for a ten-hour day. Another observer writes: "W. P. A.'s California wage scale
was forty to forty-five dollars a month; Oklahoma's thirty-two to forty-five dollars.
Also, the Dust-Bowl victims were told, California's farm wages were twice those
of the rest of *he Southwest. And the Farm Security Administration would see
that you got a start by housing you in one of its migratory-labor camps. The
State Relief was liberal and old-age benefits high" (Saturday Evening Post, No-
vember 12, 1938, p. 40). After one year of residence the migrant may receive
rehef up to $16 per month (Fortune Magazine, p. 119).
In a camp where Anglo-Americans predominated, there were five former farm
owners, ten farm renters, forty-eight farm laborers, one electrician, one carpenter,
one mechanic, one drug clerk, one miner, one photo finisher, and two common
laborers (They Starve That We May Eat, p. 13).
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2997
There is a group of "Okies" (Oklahomans), as they call themselves, in Sawtelle,
near Los Angeles. A man who lives near them is "appalled at their lack of educa-
tion" regards them as "morally upright" and as "potentially good citizens." Few
are on relief. They have a monopoly of the dump-truck business. There is "a
good bit of pride among them." "What they want is jobs."
The statement of Rex Thomson, Superintendent of charities in Los Angeles
County, who has had wide experience with these migrants throughout the state,
suggests one of the problems they create: "These people arrive in California in
desperate need of manual employment and being ineligible to relief due to the
lack of residence, are willing, in order to acquire the necessities of life, to accept
employment on almost any terms and under almost any condition. As a result
occupational vacancies are often filled with such newcomers instead of by resident
able-bodied Californians who are on the relief rolls. This partly explains why the
number of able-bodied indigents does not show any perceptible decrease."
The vastness of the nation-wide farm problem was stated by Dr. Will Alexander,
Administrator of the Farm Security Administration, on May 24, 1939: Approxi-
mately 3,000,000 farm families are existing today at unwholesomely low standards
of living. Almost 2,000,000 rural families were on relief in 1935. It is also esti-
mated that the normal requirements in farm production need 1,600,000 fewer
workers than in 1929 while the annual increase in the working farm population
is now about 445,000 persons.
Dr. Alexander adds that while this problem has existed in America for more
than a century, rural relief for many decades was provided under the guise of
free land. Any farmer could move to a new homestead in the west. This solu-
tion of their problem is no longer possible.
People who find living conditions bad in the farm colonies of California might
remind themselves as Dr. Alexander states, that "in the South nearly one-fifth
of the farm homes in 193^ did not even have an outdoor privy" (How the Farnx
Security Administration is Helping Needy Farm Families, pp. 1, 3, 4).
4. Typical families. — (1) A Family near Poplar: By a rural road near Poplar,
on March 30th, 1939, I saw members of the Crowell family packing their belongings
into a trailer. All winter the father, mother and six children had been living on
the ground in a tent by the river. The father's aching teeth were preventing
him from working. The State Relief Administration was now providing a house
and dental treatment in the hope that this worker might be rehabilitated. The
family had come from Oklahoma, driven out by the drought. "It just seems as
if the climate back East has changed so that everything we had was blown away,"
said the tall, lank head of the family.
The Poplar area covers 600 square miles, thirty miles long by twenty miles
wide. During the cotton harvest it was formerly full of squatters, many of them
living like this family by the side of the road and without sanitary provisions.
Drinking water often had to be bought and carried some distance. There are a
few private camps where people may hire a tent lot, and where forty to one
hundred families live under better conditions but with a minimum of sanitary
provisions.
(2) A Family at Nipomo: Mrs. Webber, Director of the State Relief Adminis-
tration at San Luis Obispo, said that between 2,000 and 3,000 families come to
that area for the pea picking which lasts for six or eight weeks following April 10.
Some of them live in contractors' camps. I visited one on the Nipomo Mesa.
This is typical of a slightly improved method of treating these migrant fam-
ilies. The contractor, Mr. Brock, who operates this camp, told me that the State
requires him to provide sanitary privies and adequate water supply, and to super-
vise the arrangement of tents, trailers, and living quarters. The workers bring
their own tent, bedding, etc. The West family with which I talked came from
Oklahoma. The mother, if dressed a little better and if a little cleaner, might
have been a Los Angeles woman serving a church dinner. The father was an
honest looking laborer. "What we want is work. When do you think the pea
picking will begin?" he anxiously inquired. "I am afraid the crop won't be ready
for ten days. We are nearly out of money." The older boy of eighteen was a
fine looking, clear-eyed, strong fellow. He said he had finished the seventh grade
at school. There were also a boy of sixteen and a httle girl of preschool age.
A son of twenty had recently died of pneumonia.
In their tent, which was pitched on the dusty ground without a floor, were
two double beds, an oil stove for cooking, and a table with some food on it. They
possessed a baggage trailer on which they carried their goods from place to place.
They had recently come from the pea harvest at Calipatria in the Imperial Valley.
2998
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
The man was previously a tenant farmer in Oklahoma. Later he worked for
the Shell Oil Refinery which closed down. The dust storm had spoiled the har-
vest. There was no work to be obtained. They fled to California. They be-
lieve that they are better off here than in their home state but they see no way
of getting a start up the ladder. "We spend," the mother said, "all the income
we make working on one crop in getting to the next job. It often is a week or
ten days after arrival before work begins. The month and sometimes two
months between jobs eats up all we make. How can we get ahead?"
(3) Families in distress, as described by John Steinbeck: "About the fifteenth
of January the dead time steps in. There is no work. First the gasoline gives
out, and without gasoline a man cannot go to a job even if he could get one.
Then the food goes. And then the rains. With insufficient food, the children
develop colds because the ground in the tents is wet. I talked to a man last
week who lost two children in ten days with pneumonia. His face was hard
and fierce and he didn't talk much. I talked to a girl with a baby and offered
her a cigarette. She took two puffs and vomited in the street. She was
ashamed. She shouldn't have tried to smoke, she said, for she hadn't eaten for
two days. I heard a man whimpering that the baby was sucking but nothing
came out of the breast. I heard a man explain very shyly that his little girl
couldn't go to school because she was too weak to walk to the school and, besides,
the school lunches of the other children made her unhappy. I heard a man
tell in a monotone how he couldn't get a doctor while his oldest boy died of pneu-
monia but that a doctor came right away after he was dead. It is easier to get
a doctor to look at a corpse than it is to get one for a live person. It is easy to
get a body buried. A truck comes right out to take it away. The state is much
more interested in how you die than in how you live. The man who was telling
about it had just found that out. He didn't want to believe it" {Their Blood is
Strong, p. 33).
Five years ago another family had fifty acres of land and a thousand dollars in
the bank. The wife belonged to a sewing circle and the man was a member of
the Grange. They raised chickens, pigs, pigeons and vegetables and fruit for
their own use; and their land produced the tall corn of the Middle West. Now
they have nothing (Their Blood is Strong, p. 6).
5. A local situation. — At Salinas I called on Fred S. McCargar, efficient secre-
tary of the Chamber of Commerce. In thirty minutes he assembled twelve
interested people with whom I had an hour's conference. They included several
committee members of the Chamber, the County Welfare Director, a representa-
tive of the State Employment Bureau, the Director of the State Relief Adminis-
tration, the Sheriff and the Chief of Police. These twelve men and women
illustrated the three attitudes toward the migrants: (1) These people are unde-
sirables with slovenly habits of living: let's get rid of them as quickly as possible.
{2) They are a good class of farm laborers; let's turn them into a California asset.
<3) They are here to stay; let us treat them as best we can, but do everything
possible to stop their further influx. The general sentiment of this group seemed
to be that there is a large surplus of laborers in the Salinas district. The health
situation in that area has been improved by an ordinance prohibiting camping
by the side of the road. It was stated that "ranchers have done a swell job of
housing their workers."
6. Economic conditions. — One migrant worker who had been following the pea
harvest and had earned $65 between February 15th and June 1st, remarked:
"You can't make a living anymore; all you can do is live on what you make."
"The ordinary pea or lettuce picker is fortunate if he earns two dollars for a
full day's work. He is indeed fortunate if he earns two hundred dollars a year,
out of which he must take the cost of gasoline and upkeep of his car" (Msgr.
O'Grady).
A well-filled year might include picking peas in Imperial Valley in February
and March, at Nipomo on the central coast in April, and in Alameda County or
Yolo County in June, and in Santa Clara County in July; scattered fruit jobs
during the summer; grapes in Fresno County in August and September; cotton
in Kern County in October, November and December; peas in Imperial Valley
in November and December, and awaiting the maturity of the next crop in
February. Then begins the 1,200 to 1,500 mile trek over again (from Patters of
Agricultural Labor Migration irithin California) .
Many more circulate in a smaller area, with Bakersfield, Fresno, or Stockton
as a center. A few go to Washington for the short apple picking season. When
sickness, floods or crop curtailment upset the schedule, families at once require
relief. A family maximum income of $450 provides nothing for emergencies.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 2999
The State Agricultural Department allows the contractors to bring to a district
one harvester for each acre of peas. In this way, an effort is made to keep up
wages and prevent a great over-supply of workers in any one area. Mr. Brook,
the contractor, said he planned "to take this whole group to a similar camp in
Sacramento when the harvest in the Nipomo section had been finished." He
collaborates with the State Employment Bureau. He makes his profit by re-
ceiving from the growers a commission on each hamper of peas picked. He pays
the laborers thirty cents a hamper, the price having been raised from twenty-five
cents as a result of a strike some time ago.
"Over a valley which is a man-made paradise spreads an army of destitution,.
with an abundant life just beyond its reach" (Saturday livening Post).
"It is a disgrace to any civilization to find so many families with children of
aU ages living in roadside camps" (Msgr. O'Grady).
"On the Pacific Coast more than forty rural strikes have occurred since Decem-
ber, 1932; sometimes two or three have been in progress simultaneouslv" (They
Starve That We May Eat, p. 29).
"Of thirty-seven agricultural strikes which took place in California in 1933, at
least twenty-nine resulted in pay increases for the workers" (Survey Graphic,
September, 1939).
This study of the Migrants does not attempt to analyze the perennial problem
of the employer-employee conflicts on California farms. Literature on this subject
is listed in the Bibliography. Note especially articles in Fortune Magazine and
in the Survey Graphic and the Report of the Simon J. Lubin Society.
7. Educational conditions. — It is estimated that there are more than thirty
thousand children of school age in the families of these migrants (California
Journal of Elementary Education, February 1939). Their intellectual capacity
seems to be quite up to the average. In two instances I learned of children who
were at the top in their school work. In one very poor family which I visited
near Poplar there was a girl of about fourteen years of age. Although living in
wretched conditions this girl was the leading student in the school in that section.
She was obviously ashamed of her home conditions and tried to hide when Mr.
Hovey and I visited the family. There was only one chair in the cabin.
Due to constant moving about, however, the children on the average are re-
tarded from one to one and a half years in their school grades. In the city of
Bakersfield with an enrollment of 4,800 there were records of 1,000 transient
children during the j'ear 1937-1938, who enrolled, left and did not return.
A comparative study of 1,500 permanent and 500 nonpermanent pupils made
by B. H. Apperson, of the Bakersfield City Schools, showed that in intelligence
there was no marked difference, but that in classroom achievement the non-
permanent group was retarded an average of a little over a year. Another study
revealed that in age, the nonpermanent group averaged only about one year older
than others of the same grade. Similar studies by the Kern County Schools
substantiated in general the above findings.
Lawrence E. Chenoweth, Superintendent of the Bakersfield City Schools, finds
that although parents are on the whole cooperative "a spirit of defeatism is being
built up among these children who move from school to school. They do not
remain long enough to complete any project. This has a baneful influence upon
stability of work in later life."
After seeing the school busses drive up to one of the camps and learning of the
special school opened at another camp, and from correspondence, I gathered the
impression that the school systems are making a heroic effort to meet the educa-
tional needs of the children. Education is not the chief problem.
8. Moral conditions. — As might be expected reports on moral conditions are
conflicting. "I am convinced that these children have as many innate good
qualities and potential possibilities as are to be found in the children of permanent
community residents. They are sinned against rather than sinning" (L. E.
Chenoweth, Bakersfield, for 'twenty-five years in the County and City Schools).
"The law enforcement officers in another district estimated that 95% of juvenile
delinquency comes from the migrants." "Our records indicate that about 60%
of the children who come before the Probation Officers and Juvenile Court of this
County have been in the State less than two years" (C. M. Johnson, Chief Pro-
bation Officer, Kern County).
"Young people seem to rebel against this Gypsy style of life. They run away
and sooner or later drift into trouble. Some sad cases of young people who have
no desire to go wrong have been brought to my attention. The problems of
migrancy are real ones" (L. C. McDonald, Y. M. C. A. Secretary, Stanislaus
County) .
3000 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
There is more or less gambling and drinking among the men, partly due to
lack of law enforcement. A relief worker stated that among these people there
are many who back East were regarded as poor white trash. The tendency now
is for those who come in to be of a lower and lower type. About one-tenth of
them are on relief, was the estimate. Occasionally a slacker will bring his family
to a harvest section some weeks in advance of the ripening crop. He then obtains
relief and as soon as the work is ready he starts off to another field and arrives in
time for a few weeks of relief there. This seems to be one of the problems the
Relief Workers must cope with.
Many of the adult offenses and much of the sickness seem to be the result of
conditions existing before these immigrants entered the State.
The general sentiment, however, seems to be that the children of these migrants
on the whole have developed less delinquency than would be expected. If they
can be settled and attend school regularly, they will probably not add to the
crime of the State. Rev. Grover Ralston of Bakersfield and Rev. Byron P. Hovey
of Poplar both spoke in high terms of the general good behavior, orderliness, and
appreciation of the children they have known. At school and at meetings, "they
seldom do anything out of the way." When helped "they are more appreciative
than our natives." "They are courteous," and "their parents, as far as able,
wish to pay as they go."
9. Religious conditions. — ^"They are highly emotional in religion, although they
are not in other ways. We do not talk their language" (Rev. Grover Ralston,
Bakersfield) .
"Emotional type and then some! They do NOT fit into our present California
churches other than those of their type. Consequently our churches are not able
to give them very much religious guidance. When clothes, food, and other
material aids stop, then these people stop, as far as our churches are concerned.
Have had personal experiences of this sort" (Rev. E. M. Keller, Fresno.)
Rev. Byron P. Hovey and some of the camp managers reported that the Pente-
costal Church and other conservative, emotional sects are rapidly developing their
activities and meeting with considerable success. In some sections, however, a
reaction against the more emotional leaders has set in, and they have been forced
by the migrants themselves to leave the community.
At Shafter I visited on Sunday morning a church over which was the sign
"Pentecostal Gospel Mission Old Time Revival." The Pastor, Mrs. Edwards,
I had seen preaching on the street the night before. She was neatly dressed,
played a guitar on the street, and at the church was playing a xylophone. Mrs.
Edwards reminded me a little of Mrs. McPherson of Los Angeles.
At the Sunday morning service, besides the two instruments mentioned, there
was a piano, a snare drum, a guitar, and a tambourine. The singing was with
great zest and seemed to bring great satisfaction to the members present.
On the wall was the motto: "Trust in God, Magnify the Blood and Honor the
Holy Ghost." In the song book used was a title "There is no Depression in
Heaven." As the singing started the invitation was given: "Come up on the
platform, help us sing and help us shout: Glory to God." The man presiding,
who also played the tambourine, constantly remarked "Amen to God. Halle-
lujah."
The children had a special song:
"The best way to have a revival
Is to pray and to study your Bible.
Put your feelings on the shelf.
Treat your neighbor as yourself;
That's the best way to have a revival."
The Church runs a "Gospel Bus" to pick up people for the meetings.
Mrs. Edwards told me that she and her husband started the church eight years
ago. They built up eight branches in California. As he died last June she is
planning to move her group into the "Assembly of God" Sect of the Pentecostal
group. She thinks there are one hundred different denominations or groups of
Pentecostal Churches.
The visiting Evangelists, who help in the revivals, receive the collection on
Saturday nights. "They give me" said Mrs. Edwards, "a very nice collection on
Sunday nights." This is the only salary Mr. and Mrs. Edwards have received.
She added that their theology is the same as that of Mrs. McPherson in Los
Angeles.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3001
On another street in Shafter, I found the "Pentecostal Church of God," which
had split off from the Edwards Church through the influence of a visiting Evange-
list. "They wanted to run things in their own way was the cause."
10. The situation suvimarized. — (1) The State needs Migrant Workers:
"California produces nearly one-half of the nation's fresh fruit, nearly all of its
dried fruit and 70% of its canned food. We now harvest one-third of the nation's
truck crop" (Erich H. Thompson, Regional Sociologist, United States Department
of Agriculture.) One-third of the large-scale farms in the United States are in
California (Fortune Magazine April 1939, p. 114). There are two hundred and
thirteen commercial crops in California. To raise and harvest these crops about
fifty thousand workers are needed all the time, and an extra 150,000 at the peak
of the harvest.
(2) Is there an Excess of Migrant Workers in the State? There is considerable
confusion of opinion regarding the excess of laborers. Rev. Wendell Kramer of
Sanger, in the center of the grape district, says that in the fall of 1938, he was
unable to find a woman to take care of his motherless children. Every available
person was out in the fields. Women unable to work in the vineyards were caring
for children in the home. For two months Mr. Kramer had to do his own
housework.
Mr. Hardy, Superintendent of the Federal Camp at Farmersville, said that as
far as his experience indicates, all the migrants are employed at the peak of
harvesting in the summer.
The facts seem to show that the 250,000 recent arrivals in the State find abun-
dant work and are a distinct asset to agriculture during the summer and early fall,
but that many of them are a burden to themselves and to the State, during several
months of the year. Public Welfare is said to require 50% of the taxes of the
Counties of California (Charles I. Schottland).
(3) Is the immigration continuing? From mid-1935 to January 1, 1939 the
plant-quarantine stations at the State's borders counted 285,000 refugees "in
need of manual employment," besides 59,000 returning to California.
The Farm Security Administration, however, indicates that the "individuals
entering California in automobiles in search of manual employment" are decreasing
in numbers. Such Out-State entrants were 84,833 in 1936; 90,761 in 1937; and
67,560 in 1938. The January entrants decreased frona 8,724 in 1938 to 3,792 in
1939. In the same years the February decrease was from 7,583 to 2,840. Also
in the four months of greatest flow, July to October, the totals were respectively:
1936—40,000; 1937—32,000; 1938—18,000.
Ray Mork, Director of the Federal Camps at Shafter and Arvin, and others
consulted in October, 1939, believe that the number of new entrants to the State
is comparatively few. Some migrants, however, report that they have come to
California recently because they were discharged from W. P. A. work in other
States.
(4) The problem California must solve: These white workers from the mid-
west are here to stay. Immigrants interviewed, nearly all believe there is more
opportunity in California than in their home states. Those who are repatriated
frequently return to the coast as soon as they can fill their gasoline tanks.
"There ain't any crops to harvest back in Oklahoma," was the usual remark.
The problem, then, is: The present organization of agriculture in California
requires at the harvest peak, a large body of mobile workers. These workers are
now largely our own American white fellow countrymen. What are we going to
do to assimilate them, to relieve their present wretched economic condition, and
at the same time, to continue to develop the resources of the State?
II. MEASURES BEING TAKEN TO RELIEVE THE SITUATION
Up to the spring of 1939, opportunities for these white migrant families to
establish themselves decently and constructively in the life of the State, had been
woefully inadequate. Progress, however, has been made.
1. Federal migratory labor camps. — Two migratory labor camps were established
in California, in heavy work areas, by the Resettlement Administration in 1936.
In 1937 the extension of the work was halted. In 1938 it was again taken up,
and new camps were opened. There are now ten Federal Camps for employable
farm workers, operated by the Farm Security Administration, at Brawley, Indio,
Gridley, Arvin, Shafter, Farmersville, Santa Rosa, Wesley, and Winters. A new
camp is' being built at Firebaugh. There are also a few county, private and con-
tractor's camps supervised by the Immigration and Housing Commission.
3002 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
I visited three of the ten Federal Camps in California — Arvin, Shafter and
Farmersville (near Visalia). These camps are well supervised and accommodate
from 200 to 300 families each. Those that I visited have been built within two
years and are gradually enlarging. They provide board or cement floors for tents
or shacks furnished by the migrants. At Farmersville there are permanent one
room metal cabins. The Government has been criticized for building one room
cabins for families in which there may be even adolescent children. There is a
central building where incinerators, toilets, showers, and washing machines are
available. People can live in comparative self-respect in these camps. They
meet primarily the needs of the first year immigrants who are ineligible for State
Relief. The residents form a camp council where camp life is regulated on a more
or less democratic basis. A meeting and recreation hall, a library, and a small
clinic with a nurse are provided. A nursery is available for the small children.
There is a camp school to which teachers are sent by the district, or school children
are taken in busses to the nearest school. Each family pays ten cents a day into a
fund which is used by the Council for camp activities.
Each of the camps visited and three other camps are experimenting with a
"Farm Security Home Settlement Project," where a family is given a cabin and
three-fifths of an acre with water for a private little farm. The monthly rent is
$8.20 per family. There is a sanitary center for baths, laundry, etc. Accommo-
dations for 172 families are available. Those who can pay for this privilege are
able to better their conditions by having a home base from which they can go out
to seek employment. After residence in the State for a year or more the people
are encouraged to go out to private camps or subdivisions.
The capacity of the Federal Camps is 2,892 families, with plans for expansion
up to 4,500. An experiment has also been made with a mobile camp moving
about in Beaumont, Hemet, and Imperial Valley.
There is a primitive county migrants camp two miles south of Shafter, accom-
modating two hundred fifty "families. During the winter months when there is
little harvesting work, this place is crowded. Ground for trailers or tent space
without flooring is provided. There are privies and meager bathing and laundry
facilities. In the summer of 1939 ten college age young people, representing the
Friends Service Committee, shared the heat, flies and discomforts of this camp and
built a 30 by 60 community hall. A recreation program in this building, with
W. P. A. leadership is being sponsored by the Ministerial Association of Kern
County. A Thursday evening religious program is also being carried on by this
Ministerial Group.
The W. P. A. is establishing a recreation unit to work among migrants. There
are eighteen of these workers in the Federal Camp at Farmersville and four at the
Poplar Community Center. They also do work at Porterville, Exeter, Visalia,
Dinuba and Hanford. There is a training school for these recreation leaders.
Mr. Loop, in charge of the work at the Farmersville camp, seems to be doing an
excellent job.
The weekly schedule at the Shafter Federal Camp is as follows:
Sunda}', Church and Sunday School.
Monday, Church and Camp Council.
Tuesday, Young People's Meeting Night — Social and Business.
Wednesday, Dancing.
Thursday, Amateur Night.
Friday, Boxing.
Saturday, Talking Pictures.
There are facilities in the camp for baseball, volley ball, horseshoes, croquet, and
other games.
The inhabitants of the Federal Camp are no picked group. They are typical
of the new migrants. They come from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and the
other drought states. Eighty-five percent of them are former farm owners,
farm renters, or farm laborers. The remaining fifteen percent includes painters,
mechanics, electricians, and even professional men {Their Blood is Strong, p. 17).
2. The national program of the Farm Security Administration. — Since its origin
as the Resettlement Administration in July 1935, the Farm Security Administra-
tion, as it is now called, has made rehabilitation loans to 650,000 farm families
in the several states, and during this fiscal year plans to add 150,000 more to its
rolls. As a measure of its success, it estimates that the average increase in net
worth among the 650,000 families has been $252 and that the rehabilitation loans
made will be at least 80 percent self-liquidating. The part of FSA's rehabilita-
tion program that is directed toward a real solution of the migrant problem is not,
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3003
hoR-ever, to be seen among the migrants in California. It is to be seen at the
sources of migration.
According to the 1930 census 1,700,000 United States farm families have
gross farm incomes of $600 or less a year. On the border line of survival, they
could be overturned readily by an act of God or the market. They are therefore
potential migrants. Dr. Will Alexander, the FSA's Administrator, estimates,
however, that a million of these families can be successfully rehabilitated either
on new land or by using their own land to better advantage. As an example of
"better advantage" he offers the case of the 7,000 farm families included in
FSA's program for South Carolina. When work began, these people were mostly
tenants and croppers engaged in one-crop agriculture. Their average net worth
was about $33. But what is to happen to the remaining 700,000 families?
3. The Farm Security Administration's low-cost medical program. — The Agri-
cultural Workers' Health and Medical Association was organized in the spring
of 1938, through cooperation of the Farm Security Administration, the California
Medical Association, the State Board of Health and the State Relief Administra-
tion.
The Farm Security Administration provided capital of $100,000 to set the
Agricultural Workers' Health and Medical Association in motion. To be at
all effective in answering the needs of California's agricultural workers a medical
organization must be designed to migrate with the migrants — that is, to move
its services throughout the state to points where harvest workers are concentrated
at any particular time. Since April 1938, district headquarters have been organ-
ized (and some subsequently closed as need for them waned) in the counties of
Fresno, Merced, San Joaquin, Tulare, Imperial, Yolo, Yuba, Madera, Santa
Clara, Sonoma and Kern. The association has had from the beginning several
hundred physicians and numerous hospitals and drugstores at its service. _
Every recipient of medical aid, according to the terms of his contract with the
Association, is expected to pay for all treatment received "If so requested." It
is unlikely that existing economic disabilities of the migratory laborers will permit
repayment in many cases, at least at the present time. Consequently requests
for payment will doubtless be few. Yet it is a fact that some members of the
health"^ cooperative have already m.ade payments for its services immediately
after having earned a few extra dollars. Increase of health service is greatly
needed, because the state law prevents counties from giving health rehabilitation
to those who have not had three years independent self-supporting residence in
the state, except in cases of emergency or of prospective motherhood.
4. Other health measures. — During the five years prior to 1938, the population of
Kern Countv increased 44% to 130,000. Cotton acreage increased 250% during
this same period. The County Health workers and other public officials have
made a heroic fight to improve living conditions among the migrants. While
in 1937 it was estimated that 3,881 families were living in "Squatter Camps"
by the side of highways, irrigation ditches, and in unused plots, in 1938 most of
the migrants were in' somewhat improved ranchers' shacks, or in supervised,
though primitive, auto camps.
At the Kern county General Hospital I interviewed C. F. Baughman, County
Health officer, Henry Beye, Statistician; and Richard Foraker, Director of Public
Health Education. .
The amount of service given by the County to the migrants is amazing. In
the past year the number of nonresident out-patients treated at the Clinic was
4,872, while the number of nonresidents admitted to the Hospital was 2,499, all
for free service. ^ _ „„„ ,
In the year ending June 1939, of 3,000 births in Kern County 727 were from
the Dust 'Bowl group of "physical farm laborers." Of these 727 babies, 544 or
75% were born in the County Hospital. Only forty-three births were delivered
without benefit of physicians, of which more than thirty are beUeved to be in
Mexican families. Only 25% of native California mothers avail themselves at
child birth of the General Hospital, while 75% of mothers from the Dust Bowl
region made use of the Hospital for child delivery. ., ^ x- 4.
In the first six months of 1937 the cost of treatment of nonresident patients,
borne by the County was $55,000. . • • j- x ^ k
The improvement in sanitation and housing in Kern County is indicated Dy
the reduction in the infantry motrahty rate from one hundred eight per thousand
live births in 1937 to sixty-seven in 1938. In 1939 there is indication of a further
improvement.
260370 — 41 — pt. 7 14
3004 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
5. Housing on the ranches. — (1) The Tagiis Ranch: Six miles north of Tulare
on Route 99 is the famous Tagus Ranch owned and operated by H. C. Merritt Jr.
I met Mr. Merritt, his manager, L. O. Basteen, and Ray Edwards, of the
personnel department. I was courteously driven about the Ranch by E. P.
Haupt, assistant superintendent.
The Ranch, starting in 1916, now controls seven thousand acres, of which 4,500
are under cultivation. The chief products are apricots, peaches, and other fruits,
alfalfa and cotton.
At the peak of employment 1,030 laborers were employed this year. Of these
two hundred fifty are transients, who live in a tent village for about a month and
half twice a year. The remaining workers come from 345 families who live in
fairly comfortable cabins in eleven settlements scattered about the Ranch, or com-
mute from their permanent homes in nearby towns.
Most of the cabins contain two or three rooms. One dollar per month rent is
charged for each room. Light is purchased by each family from the Edison
Company. Many families use Coleman lamps.
Mr. Merritt occasionally offers a prize of $2.50 for the best vegetable garden
in each of the eleven camps and a similar prize for the best flower garden. One
of his Mexican families has been on the Ranch for more than twenty years. His
comfortable cabin is surrounded by a lawn and a flower and vegetable garden.
Men are continuously employed to keep the cabins in repair and to supervise
the sanitation of the camps.
The system of giving out brass checks and of conducting the company store
has been frequently criticized. While the prices in the store seemed higher than
in Los Angeles, the system of brass checks has been adopted as the most convenient
way for advancing groceries and other supplies to the men who could not wait
for pay day. Wages are paid by check at one window and cashed in regular money
at an adjoining window. Brass checks, if any remain, can be exchanged on pay
days for regular cash. Wages may be spent at the Company store or at Tulare
six miles away.
(2) California Cotton Oil Co.: I visited the Cantua Creek Ranch of this
Company, located forty-two miles southwest of Fresno. Ray Yearout, camp
foreman, and his enthusiastic young wife took me over this interesting new ranch,
which has been developed from the dry plains during the last two years.
This ranch, which is far from any other settlement, provides one hundred
cabins for the six hundred fifty persons who live there during the harvest peak.
Twenty-five permanent families divided equally between whites and Mexicans
are employed for driving of tractors, for irrigation, and other regular work. A
tractor driver receives $3.50 a day and an irrigator $2.75. They work seven
days a week and are laid off for rain or other causes only about two weeks per
year. There is no rent for the cabins, water is free, but each family pays 75 cents
per month for light.
Gardens and water are available for the people who want them. I was told
that some of the people from Texas and Oklahoma are saving money, hoping to
return to their own homes.
The cabins are all of two rooms, with water outside. There are crude central
showerbaths and plenty of privy toilets. There is a Company grocery store where
the prices are said to be about the same as those in a small town. The ranch
raises barley, flax, corn, sudan grass, and cotton.
The expense of starting such a ranch is indicated by the fact that a single well
costs $12,000. There are seven wells on the place and the electric bill is $2,500
a month. The ranch contains seven thousand acres, of which 5,600 are under
cultivation.
(3) Earl Fruit Corporation: With Rev. Clarence R. Wagner, of Delano, I
visited the Sierra Vista Ranch, operated by the above-mentioned nation-wide
corporation, of which the Di Giorgio Fruit Corporation is a subsidiary. Mr.
Di Giorgio has a reputation of paying good wages and treating his employees
well. I met Roy Boone, manager, and R. L. Meyer, General Foreman. This
ranch contains six thousand acres and employs at the peak 2,200, and four
hundred in the slack season.
The permanent employees live in seventy-five homes, many of which are made
of old solid boxcars with lean-to kitchens and sometimes other additions. The
number of permanent cabins is gradually increasing. A charge of $3.00 per
month is made for rent. Each resident also pays for his electricity. A large
number of Filipinos live in a very crude dormitory and employ a member of their
.own group to feed them for 65 cents a day. Single white men live in a large up-
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3005
stairs dormitory, below which is their dining hall and playroom where they are
fed by the company for 85 cents a day. Many of the women and other workers
in the grape packing plant come from neighboring towns. Thirty cents an hour
is paid for grape pickers, who average nine or ten hours' work per day.
The ranch raises grapes, lettuce, and asparagus. Work on the last two crops
comes when grape pruning and harvesting are inactive.
(4) Rose and Crome Ranch: With Mr. Foraker, of the Bakersfield Central
Hospital, I visited the above ranch at Edison, east of Bakersfield. The Company
has many ranches on the Pacific Coast. At Edison they have built about twenty
very comfortable three-room homes for their permanent employees, such as
irrigators and tractor drivers. In slack times these are allowed to go out for work
on other ranches. The cabins are fitted with inside toilets and showers.
For temporary harvest help there are wood floor tents, with electric light, hot
and cold water for showers, and semisanitary toilets. The improved housing on
this ranch has largely been provided since the "Anti-Squatter Campaign" of 1937.
(5) A Small Shafter Farm: Peter Ohanneson, City Attorney of Shafter, has a
farm of 120 acres. He raises cotton, grain, potatoes, and onions. A year ago he
employed Bill Evans, a recent arrival from Oklahoma. Bill had a tent, a wife,
and four boys. A fifth boy recently joined the other four. Mr. Ohanneson pro-
vided this family with a roofed tent near one of the ranch wells. I found the
family now living in three floored, roofed, and partially boarded tent cabins.
They are rapidly improving their home. Bill and wife have purchased a radio,
electric cook stove, and electric refrigerator. He has a car, a cow and heifer
calf, and a flower and vegetable garden. Bill calls his employer Peter. They
chaff each other like old friends. Bill receives $3.00 per day, besides a rent-free
home and free water and electricity. Mr. Ohanneson suggests that any farmer
with forty or more acres of land might help at least one migrant family establish
a permanent home, even if he could not give full time employment.
6. Other reports. — More than $3,000,000 has been spent in the State to improve
housing in the private camps. But this averages only about $10 per each white
migrant.
Mr. Harold Pomeroy, Executive Secretary for the Associated Farmers, says
that Madera County farmers have built 2,800 cabins and houses during the last
five years. In another county one farmer alone, he says, has spent $300,000 in
additional housing. Mai:iy farmers allow migrant families to remain throughout
the year, even though their services may be needed only during the harvest
season (Pro America, September, 1939).
The Associated Farmers of Kern County on September 16th, 1939, sent a
message to the member farmers urging them to keep their camps for the cotton
harvest workers clean, sanitary, and up to the specifications of the Division of
Immigration and Housing. There were eight detailed points in these instructions.
7. Private real estate projects. — (1) One mile north of Visalia, I visited "the
Home Project Tract" opened by Mr. D. Moorsalian. Mr. Moorsalian, an
elderly Armenian, has owned this land, which was formerly a vineyard, since 1918.
He has sold lots averaging 50 x 155 to about 70 families, of whom 40% are recent
immigrants. Some of them pay $1 .00 down and $1.00 per month for each $100.00
which they owe. I could not learn the price of the lots. The lot owners are
gradually building permanent homes. Gas, electricity and water are installed.
While some of the homes were still very crude, all seventy families seemed to be
on the way to a permanent home. Some of them had vegetable and flower
gardens and one a cow.
(2) Two miles north of Shafter, across from the Santa Fe tracks, Mrs. Emma
Mayer began to subdivide 25 acres in January, 1936. Lots 50 x 116 to 50 x 150
ft. were sold for $110 to $250. There have been 55 purchasers. Sixteen cabins
she rents for $4 to $5 per week. She asks $10 down and $10 per month for her
lots, but she adjusts to the capacity of her clients. Of 49 purchases only two have
not paid in full. Some have purchased several lots and built cabins to rent to
others. Water, gas and electricity are available. Living c}uarters vary from
tents to neat plaster cabins with vegetable and flower gardens. Sanitary arrange-
ments are of all types. Mrs. Mayer plans to open another twenty-acre subdivision
with a little higher grade of residential requirements. But her poorest clients
are on the way up in the living scale.
(3) At Farmersville, families are purchasing $150 lots at $2.00 per month,
and building their own cabins. This town is a center from which workers go
out for fruit and orange picking, for smudging, for grape, beet and cotton har-
vesting and for work in the packing houses and driers. They travel easily from
3006
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
fifteen to twenty miles. A contractor often collects his crew in the town and takes
the workers out in his own trucks.
(4) I also visited the McNew Addition on Cottonwood Road west of Bakers-
field. The price of the lots here on very poor land is said to be $130 up. Public
utilities are not yet available. Wells, about 30 feet deep, have been sunk. Sever-
al families may use one well. Houses are of all types from the poorest shacks
to a neat four-room building, which probably later will be plastered and become a
comfortable home.
The obvious value of such subdivisions, however crude they may be, is that
they are withm the financial reach of a migrant family. They make possible a
step-up from a roving life to a gradually improving permanent liome.
(5) Fourteen miles east of Los Angeles, near El Monte, is a 100-family project,
started in 1936 by what is now the Federal Farm Security Administration. The
"El Monte Community Association," a California corporation, borrowed $286,080
from the Federal Government, with 40 years to make the final payment. By
September, 1939, $31,360 had been repaid. Most of the residential units are
being purchased by the members. Delinquencies on August 31 were only $667.19.
Each home is on a one-acre plot.
This project has stimulated a great "back to a suburban farm" movement.
Early in October, when I visited this community, I found along Garvie Avenue
a score or more real estate agents who for $750 to $1,000 payable by the month,
have sold hundreds, if not thousands, of one acre or smaller farm plots. On these
the owners have built homes, ranging from temporary shacks to beautiful flower-
surrounded, painted bungalows. While I was lunching at a sandwich counter
one of the "farmers," earning $100 a month in flood prevention work, told me
with pride that he was going home to a 4:00 o'clock dinner of chicken and vege-
tables, "all raised on my place."
(6) In Bell Gardens, ten miles southeast of Los Angeles, a community of
25,000 persons has sprung up since 1933. This started as a shack town. Many
from the Dust Bowl bought acre lots, $10 down, $5 per month, put up their tents
and went out "to rustle a job." Nearby were an increasing number of industrial
plants, employing cheap labor. Willing to work for a small wage, the newcomers
doubtless depressed the wage level. But they found jobs, brought in lumber, and
with the help of neighbors put up their little homes, planted their gardens, and
organized their own churches, schools, library, and a Chamber of Commerce.
It is said that 99.5% of the residents already own or are purchasing their homes.
On October 8, 1939, 1 found in the center of the community, painted bungalows
with flower-ornamented lawns. On the fringes there were still tents, shacks, and
goat pastures. But in the midst even of these was a concrete mixer helping to lav
the solid foundation for a permanent home. "At a Fiesta in Bell Gardens,
writes William Burk, "I watched a parade as it passed in front of the neat stores,
with its well-dressed people cheering. Here is a strong community spirit with
crime and serious delinquency practically unknown." Although, due to lack of
adequate vouth clubs and recreation facilities, there is some petty thieving.
Bell Gardens has demonstrated how mid-west rural character, if homes and
jobs are available, does not break down even when people are transplanted to
crowded urban life. The Coordinating Council which sprang up spontaneously
as a sort of town meeting seems to have had large influence in the wholesome
development of this community. Beginning January 1, 1940, Rev. Graydon
McClellan, representing the Presbyterian Church, plans to work in this area.
The fortuitous opening of real estate subdivisions should not be stopped, but
we need in California more of the type of home building carried on by the Hoess
Brothers in Hammond, Indiana, as reported in the Readers Digest of October,
1939. These brothers, wage earners themselves, estimate that "few families can
safely pay more than two vears' income for a home. The average American
workman earns $1,300 a year in good years." The Hoess Brothers therefore sell
their houses for an average of $2,600. .
Cannot the Division of Immigration and Housing encourage the openings ot
subdivisions where employment is available, and thus prevent the probable
development of new slums due to absence of work opportunities?
8 California Employment Service.— The State Department of Employment,
affiliated with the United States Employment Service, through the 82 offices m
the State, keeps in touch with the need for laborers.
On July loth, 1939, an experimental information booth was set up on Highway
99 twelve miles south of Bakersfield. Farm laborers are advised as to the pos-
sibilitv of work in the neighborhood and in the entire State. Daily reports are^
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3007
received from Employment Service officers in various agricultural areas, giving
cropping conditions, wages, housing and an estimate of the local labor supply.
9. The Simon J. Luhin Society of California, Inc. — Simon J. Lubin, late Com-
missioner of Immigration and Housing, was chief among champions of California's
rural working population. To provide aid for both wage earners and working
farmers, and to protect their interests, the Simon J. Lubin Society is organized.
The Society strives to educate public opinion regarding the problems of the
working farmer, the condition of agricultural laborers, and the need of both for
progressive organization to better their conditions. Reference to the Society's
publications is made in the appendix.
10. Church activities. — The Council of Women for Home Missions, under the
leadership of Mrs. F. E. Shotwell, 83 McAllister St., San Francisco, represents 18
denominations and 23 National Home Mission Boards. This Society is rendering
a social service through nursing and religious education. Two nurses and ten
part time workers are employed in California. These workers move from crop to
crop with the migrants. They conduct story hours, Sundaj' Schools, mothers'
groups and recreation for young people. Dr. Mark Dawber, General Secretary
of the Home Missions Council, and Miss Edith Lowry of the Council of Women
for Home Missions, under which Mrs. Shotwell and these nurses work, have
formed a joint committee of denominational boards to place ministers and their
wives in the fields. The first to be located in California are Rev. and Mrs.
Addison Moore, Presbyterians, formerly working at Pleasanton, California.
They will enlist and train church groups and help them serve migrants in local
communities as these harvesters come in.
The United Church Women of Los Angeles have raised $150.00 to help support
one of the day nurseries. They also collect and forward clothing and religious
literature.
The Glendale Council of Church Women has provided half the salary of a
religious education director at the Hemet Community Center.
The Southern California Council of Church Women, of which Mrs. R. L.
Bowen is president, takes responsibility for the promotion and support of work
for migrants throughout Southern California.
The Rosenberg Foundation in San Francisco has made a grant to the Council
■of Women for Home Missions for the support of four day nurseries for pre-school
children of migrant families in Fresno and Merced Counties during the cotton
season.
"Methodist Men" of California are working with the Home Missions Council.
The men in the south have raised $1,800, and the men in the north are planning
to raise a similar amount. By November 1st they hope to place a minister and
his wife in the area east and south of Fresno, especially in the cotton belt. The
plan seems to be to try by personal contact to discover the needs and the interests
of these people and develop ways to meet their special religious tastes.
Under the direction of Rev. Mr. Edwards, of the Buttonwillow Baptist Church,
northwest of Bakersfield, Rev. Mr. Peach has organized three weekday religious
schools in ranch camps. Mr. Edwards is following up this work, and Mr. Peach
has gone to Shafter to cooperate with the Mennonite and Baptist churches in a
similar undertaking.
Rev. Byron P. Hovev, at the Methodist church in the little village of Poplar
in Tulare County, is doing an outstanding piece of community work for the
migrants. Back of the church building is an open air playground. Next to the
church is a large hall owned bv the church and used as a community center. In
the "Community Council," which Hovcy has formed, are representatives of the
Grange, Farm Bureau, the Schools, the Merchants, and other individuals.
The church and the Community Council, with the aid of a women s club, a
nurse provided by the Council of Women for Home Missions, the churches of
Porterville and other centers, the Red Cross, the County Health Department, and
four W. P. A. recreational workers, are conducting the following program:
A Baby Clinic. , , , . . , u
A Nursery for children of cotton pickers. In some cases breakfasts and hinches
for all are served.
Outdoor games for children and adults.
Indoor games and crafts for all.
Social gatherings.
Educational lectures and discussions. . ., . +•
Children and parents are gradually finding their church home in this active
religious center.
3008 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
The Turlock Ministerial Union is planning work for the fruit pickers next spring.
A Southern California "Migrant Cooperating Committee" has been formed, com-
posed of representatives of the Los Angeles United Church Women, Methodist
Men, Epworth Leagues, Friends Service Committee, John Steinbeck Committee,
and Save the Children Fund. Mrs. Thomas M. Buley, 800 Rome Drive, Los
Angeles, is chairman and Mrs. C. C. Douglas, 5722 Buena Vista Terrace, is Secre-
tary. Mrs. Buley and Mrs. Douglas are carrying on an aggressive campaign
of education among the churches, using this bulletin and other publication.?.
11. Legislation. — Bills passed the recent State Assembly (1) strengthening the
law regarding farm labor contractors and (2) providing more aid for schools for
migratory workers' children.
There is a bill before the National Congress proposing to set up a Federal
Board to investigate and form a plan for the nation-wide employment of migrants.
There is a proposal that as many as possible of these people be turned back to
their original homes with sufficient gas and food to carry them to their destina-
tion, and that help be given to reinstate them at home.
Another suggestion is that wherever, as in the Pacific Northwest, new irrigation
projects are opened, these needy migrants be given opportunity to settle.
A member of the Salinas group remarked: "It is very important to correlate
the activities of the Federal, State, and County organizations. Theie must be
some form of united treatment."
12. Mineral King Farm AssociatiGn. — Fifteen families have been settled by
the Farm Security Administration on an experimental cooperative farm of 530
acres near Visalia. This was started in March 1938. All the men 'are either
farmers or farm laborers, married, and with a family.
Each family pays $1.00 a month membership dues and $1.00 per month for
water.
The Association is incorporated under the California State law. The members
elect a President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. The Association leases the
property from the Farm Security Administration, paying $3,900.00 in 1939. A
new lease will be made for 1940. Other similar farms are being started at Thorn-
ton, near Lodi, at Firebaugh in Fresno County, at Yuba City, and in Indio.
The farm conducts a dairy and raises cotton, alfalfa and hogs. They borrow
money from the Farm Security Administration and pay 30^ per hour for labor.
When the crops are sold this is repaid and the profits go to the members. Some
of the profits have been put into a herd of cattle and used to purchase hogs.
Frank E. Nagel, the manager, says that the steps up in the social and economic
scale for migrants are:
(1) The Federal Labor Camps;
(2) Labor homes in connection with the camps;
(3) The cooperative farms;
(4) The establishment of their own homes where the families can be perma-
nently housed.
III. RECOMMENDATIONS
The well-supported proposed short cuts to security and the many rural strikes
in recent years should be a warning to California. Suffering people are realizing
their power in numbers and in the vote. If the misery of these American migrant
residents is not relieved, further violence and trouble may arise. To save the
great agricultural industry of California from a forced division of its holdings and
a drastic change in organization, it may be necessary for the industry itself to
discover and apply a prompt cure for the painful condition of these migrants.
AH possible measures of alleviation must be taken. No one plan will be adequate.
Every common sense device to meet the need should be adopted. City, County,
State, and Federal Governments, Chambers of Commerce, Farm Organizations,
Educational and Religious Groups, Service Clubs, and other organizations through-
out the State should contribute to the solution of this great problem. Passing
the buck from group to group will never alleviate a situation so complicated as
this. Each section of the community must do its part.
The following suggestions have grown out of this study:
1. All branches of Government, especially the Federal, must recognize that a
considerable number of immigrant families now in California, because of sickness,
poverty, and thwarted effort, have lost their morale. One-tenth or more are now
on relief. Many will probably never be out of the pauper class. Rehabilitation
of those who are down and out will be very difficult. Many families, therefore,
will probably require permanent aid.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3009
2. The Federal Government and the States and Counties of the midwest and
south should be urged to keep their own people busy and secure in their present
places of residence. Unlimited immigration to California is bringing an unfair
and impossible load upon the State.
3. California should assist the return to their homes in other states of those who
can be reinstated in this way. However, the fact must be accepted that most
of those now in California will remain. In one camp I met a man who had been
sent back to Oklahoma. He told the typical story. "There were no crops to
harvest there," he said, "so I returned to California."
4. We should encourage the Federal Government to continue to provide an
increasing number of camps for the new, poorer transients. The group which met
at the Salinas Chamber of Commerce agreed: "If we don't have more come we
can absorb those now here." These camps are one step in the absorption of those
now in the State.
5. The State Employment Bureau, the U. S. Employment Service and other
government and business agencies should accumulate more accurate statistical
information. Estimates of the number of migrant workers needed in each com-
munity at each season and of the length of employment should be prepared. The
Employment Agencies should attempt to move the available workers to these
areas as needed, and not to create an over supply. The labor information activi-
ties carried on by the State Employment Service in the Bakersfield roadside booth
should be extended to the Arizona border. Imperial Valley, the Oregon border,
both coast and central highway, and to such other localities as experience may
suggest.
6. Dr. Paul S. Taylor, of the University of California, suggests that these
migrants be "placed on small garden plots adjacent to as much employment as
possible where they can raise a portion of their subsistence, live in a decent house,
and keep the children in one school as long as possible." From this base the father
and older sons can migrate when necessary. The typical migratory family in
California earns between $350 and $450 a year. If the family could occupy a
home similar to one of the $8.20 per month cabins provided in small numbers in
the Federal Camps, and raise a crop on the irrigated three-fifths of an acre, then
the $400 cash which might be earned in the harvest fields, with what could be
raised on the little home plot, might gradually reinstate the group.
7. Some types of large cooperative farms will probably have to be undertaken
for many of the better-class migrant farmers. Just what form these will take there
seems to be no definite indication. Little agricultural patches, privately culti-
vated, centering around a cooperative dairy, a cooperative store, a cooperative
waetr supply, a community church, and other joint activities may be one experi-
ment which should be tried. Some cooperative home industries, such as making
furniture, sewing, shoe repairing, preserving and canning of food, might be carried
on at a center built in a cooperative farm area. The experience of Berea College,
Kentucky, has shown the possibilities in forestry, the breeding of swine, sheep, beef
cattle, horses, and poultry; in all sorts of gardening, baking, printing, weaving,
woodwork, laundry work, storekeeping, and in art work. The migrants need
special help in homemaking, diet, cooking, sewing, and local farm technique.
8. In February 1939, President Roosevelt ordered an investigation of the
migrant labor situation throughout the country by W. P. A. Administrator Har-
rington. This report should be made public.
9. A few ranchers as I have described, have already demonstrated what can be
done to provide permanent homes for the better class of migratory farmers. To
extend this movement an earnest campaign of education and encouragement should
be carried on among the employing ranchers, large and small. Each employer
should be asked, urged, and, if necessary, helped financially to provide permanent
homes on his ranch for the families who could be of some help to him the year
round and provide a part of the labor needed in the rush season. During the slack
season on the home ranch, the men and older boys of these families could be
encouraged and guided, as Dr. Taylor suggests, to go out to other agricultural
sections where harvesters are in demand. Thus by the older members of the fam-
ily earning an extra cash income within a radius of 50 and 100 miles of their per-
manent home, and living, if necessary, during this migrant period in somewhat
primitive workers' camps, the mother and school-age children could have a perma-
nent residence and the familv could be rehabilitated. If Chambers of Commerce,
Agricultural Organizations, Church, Educational and other groups should take up
this campaign, and the banks even offer to lend to ranchers a little money to
3010 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
modernize their cabins, the misery of thousands of the better-class families could
be relieved in a very few months.
10. Diversified agriculture should be practiced increasingly. Large farmers
should aim to raise such crops as will keep the major part of their workers occupied
the year round. On the Sierra Vista Ranch Mr. Di Georgio is raising asparagus
and lettuce to occupy his workers when grape pruning and harvesting are out of
season.
11. Educational films showing actual conditions and problems should be taken
and shown in churches, clubs, and schools. The contrast between shack towns
and government camps, the better class of the farm cabins, and the new subdivi-
sions should be pictured so that the actual conditions may be made known.
IVlr. Floyd J. Feaver, of Whittier College, whose father has a large cotton ranch
near Farmersville, has already taken a few movie films in color.
12. The recommendations of the California Governor's Commission on Re-
employment should receive serious consideration. This Commission finds that
there are still (October 1, 1939) 50,000 people living in jungle camps and jallopies.
The Commission recommends two prmiary programs:
(1) That the Sta,te constitute a housing authority and build in appropriate
districts on the basis of the average farm need permanent homes for agricultural
workers. Five zones should be established with at least 1,000 houses in each zone.
In each section of a zone there should be between 50 and 300 houses located where
they will be near farm work. In each section there is planned a cooperative farm
to be managed bv the Farm Security Administration, similar to the farm at Mineral
King. For the above, .$15,000,000' is needed. The State must provide $1,500,000
to secure the balance from the Federal Govermiient. The razing of tents and
jungle towns will meet the slum-clearance conditions of the Federal Housing
Administration.
(2) That the State, through the Housing and Immigration Commission,
appropriate money for additional migratory camps, sinailar to the Federal camps.
It is estimated that $500,000 would provide for 21 more camps, with about
300 families in each camp.
13. Churches in California near migrant camps or other settlements should
extend all possible material, social, and spiritual aid to these newcomers. The
stronger churches in cities, as some are already doing, should offer their aid to
rural churches. The cooperation of the Federal Recreation Project might be
secured for community undertakings.
14. There is a rumor that in some counties the right to vote has been refused
to residents of migratory labor camps, although they fulfill all the legal require-
ments of voters. Public-spirited persons should see to it that the constitutional
rights of these people are not infringed.
15. Final conclusions. — The potential buying and consuming power of these
250,000 new white residents seems to have been overlooked. Shallow-minded
observers appear to think that in a community there are a certain number of
jobs. Each newcoiner, they say, can only add to the number of the jobless.
But these quarter of a million immigrants are a great potential market for
California products of all sorts, from food and shoes to frigidaires and the movies.
As soon as each family is established on a solid economic foundation it will con-
tribute a real part to the material business of the State and to the increase of
employment.
The brilliant school record of some of their children and the deep religious
interest of many of the adults suggest also a possible real contribution which
thej may make to both education and religion.
These people must be changed from a liability into an asset. Our primary
responsibility, therefore, is to help them establish permanent homes and to secure
work, which will integrate them constructively in the economic, social, and religious
life of the State. The task should be well under way by the summer of 1940.
The tendency, all too evident six months ago, to pass the responsibilitj' from
one organization to another, and from one governmental body to another, seems
to have died down. Each section of the State and each section of the Nation
seems to be accepting more responsibility. Congressman Jerry Voorhis said
in June at the Buffalo National Conference of Social Work: "This is one of the
two or three major American problems." Every American citizen, therefore,
should feel a responsibility for raising the standards of li\'ing of those who provide
our meals three tinies a day. "They starve that we may eat," it has been said.
Would not we starve but for their work?
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3011
IV. APPENDIX
A. Reference Materials.
(References which proved most valuable to the writer have been set in italic
type.)
1. Materials from the Farm Security Administration, 85 Second St., Sau
Francisco.
(1) What Shall We Do With Them? Dr. Paul S. Taylor, associate professor
of economics, Universitv of California. Address before the Commonwealth
Club, April 15, 1939. Mimeographed, 9 pp.
(2) Stjnopsis of Survey of Migratory Labor Problems in California. Dr. Paul
S. Taylor. Mimeographed, 9 pp.
(3) Migrant Farm Labor: The Problem and Ways of Meeting It. Mimeo-
graphed, 15 pp.
(4) The Child in the Migratory Camp — Education. Mimeographed, 7 pp.
(5) The Child in the Migratory Camp — Health. Mimeographed, 4 pp.
(6) Why Plan Security for the Migratory Laborer? Mimeographed, 9 pp.
(7) Health Problems Among the Migratory Workers. Mimeographed, 9 pp.
(8) The Farm Security Administration in Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Cali-
fornia. Mimeographed, 4 pp.
(9) The Farm Security Administration's Low-Cost Medical Program. Mimeo-
graphed, 9 pp.
(10) Refugee Labor Migration to California. 1937. Printed, 11 pp.
(11) Patterns of Agricultural Labor Migration Within California. Printed,
11 pp.
(12) The Nation's Soil and Human Resources. Mimeographed, 19 pp.
(13) Release to Morning Papers of April 20, 1939. Careful analysis of 6,655
case histories.
(14) Agriculture and Industr}^ L. I. Hewes, Jr. Talk given at Ames, Iowa,
May 10, 1939. Mimeographed, 7 pp.
(15) How the Farm Security' Administration is Helping Needy Farm Families.
Dr. Will Alexander, May 24, 1939. Mimeographed, 8 pp.
(16) Two Trends of Great Agricultural Significance. O. E. Baker, agricultural
economist, June 1939. Mimeographed, 19 pp. and charts.
(17) The Place of Agricultural Labor in Society. Dr. Paul S. Taylor, June 15,
1939. Mimeographed, 11 pp.
(18) Internal Migration — An Asset or Liability? John N. Webb, Works
Projects Administration, Buffalo Conference of Social Work, June 19, 1939.
Mimeographed, 13 pp.
(19) The Migration of Farm Labor. M. G. Evans, Farm Security Administra-
tion, June 21, 1939. Mimeographed, 8 pp.
(20) Housing for Migratory Agricultural Workers. From Public Welfare
News, July 1939. Mimeographed, 8 pp.
(21) The Work of the Farm Security Administration in Region IX. September
1939. Mimeographed, 8 pp.
(22) How the European Countries Have Solved Their Housing Problems.
Doris M. Porter. Mimeographed, 4 pp.
2. From the Simon J. Lubin Society of California, 25 California Street, San
Francisco, Calif.:
(1) Their Blood is Strong. John Steinbeck. Printed, 36 pp. April 1938.
Illustrated, 25 cents.
(2) Report of the Simon J. Lubin Society submitted to the President's Com-
mittee on Farm Tenancy. San Francisco, January 12, 1937.
This is a study of strikes, vigilantes' activities and of both labor and employer
organizations anriong agriculturists in California. Mimeographed, 12 pp.
3. From the Council of Women for Home Missions, 83 McAUister Street, San
Francisco, Calif.:
(1) They Starve That We May Eat. Edith E. Lowry. Printed, 72 pp.
Illustrated. Price 35 cents.
(2) Report of Migrant Work, 1938. Western Area. Mimeographed, 4 pp.
(3) A Volume of Service. Printed in Colors. 12 pp.
(4) Our Migrant Brother. Printed, 4 pp.
4. Miscellaneous:
(1) The Church and the Last American Migration. E. E. Wilson for the
Social Action Fellowship, California Conference, Methodist Church. Printed,
20 pp. Illustrated. No address given.
3Q12 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
(2) As a Woman Sees It. Mrs. Jesse M. Bader. Save the Children Fund.
Printed folder, 6 pp.
(3) Survey of Kern County Migratory Labor Problem. Kern County Health
Department, Bakersfield, 1937. Mimeographed, 15 pp.
(4) Supplementary Report (to the above) as of July 1, 1938. Mimeographed,
9 pp.
(5) Supplementarv Report (to the above) as of July 1, 1939. Mimeographed,
10 pp.
(6) Role of the General Hospital in Kern County. July 1, 1938, to June 30,
1939. Mimeographed, 18 pp.
(7) Report of Division of Immigration and Housing, State of California.
January 1 to July 1, 1939. Carey McWilliams, State Building, Los Angeles.
Mimeographed, 21 pp.
(8) The Merritt System. Frank J. Taylor. Reader's Digest, February 1939.
(9) Migratory Labor — A Social Problem. Fortune Magazine, April 1939.
Price $1. (Out of print.)
(10) No Jobs in California. Saturday Evening Post, November 12, 1938.
(11) Article by Miss Helen Hefferman, California Journal of Elementary
Education. February 1939, published by California State Department of Educa-
tion.
(12) The End of the Trail. Editorial by Rt. Rev. Msgr. John O'Grady, PhD.,
Catholic Charity Review, March 1939.
(13) Glimpses of Berea College: The Contrast House, Berea, Ky.
(14) A Summer in the Country. National Child Labor Committee, 419
Fourth Avenue, N. Y. City. 39 pp. 25 cents. March 1939.
(15) Grapes of Wrath. John Steinbeck. The Viking Press. $2.75. April
1939.
(16) Pick for Your Supper, A Study of Child Labor Among Migrants on the
Pacific Coast. James E. Sidel. National Child Labor Committee. 67 pp.
35 cents. June 1939.
(17) Factories in the Field. Carey McWilliams. Boston, Little, Brown and
Co. $2.50. July 1939.
(18) America's Own Refugees. Look Magazine, August 29, 1939.
(19) Who Are the Associated Farmers? R. L. Neuberger (of Oregon). Survey
Graphic, September 1939.
(20) Report of the Governor's Commission on Re-employment. John R.
Richards, Chairman. October 1939. Any State Office in California.
(21) An American Exodus. Dorothea Lange and Paul S. Taylor. New York.
Reynal and Hitchcock. $2.75. 1939.
B. Members of Los Angeles County Committee for Church and Community
Cooperation: Dr. Willsie Martin, Chairman; Dr. James W. Fifield, Jr.; Dr. Frank
Fagersburg; Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin; Dr. Glenn W. Moore, Rt. Rev. Msgr. Thos.
J. O'Dwyer; Rt. Rev. W. Betrand Stevens; Rev. Charance H. Parlour, Recording
Secretary; Dr. George Gleason, Executive Secretary, Room 1109, 139 No. Broad-
way, Los Angeles, Calif.
C. Final Word, May 1, 1940.
During her recent visit to California, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested that
efforts should be made to settle the wandering migrants on vacant California land.
Almost the same day Herbert Hoover urged that each family be provided with a
five-acre farm.
On April 20, 1940, as reported in the Los Angeles Times, the State Chamber of
Commerce advocated:
1. Rehabilitation and reestablishment of migrants in the States of their origin.
2. Increase of the Federal Labor Camps.
3. Development of permanent private housing by farmers on their own farms.
4. More adequate service by the State Employment Service.
With all of the above, the findings of this Report agree.
Mr. Abbott. I offer a report, Transiency in Southern California,
offered by former chief of poUce, James E. Davis. ^
(The report referred to was received and marked as an exhibit and
is reprinted below:)
' See also roport by Mr. Davis on p. 2978.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3013
TRANSIENCY IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Police Department, James E. Davis, Chief of Police, December 1, 1937
Foreword: Prior to 1930, the transient situation in the United States was
based to a large extent on the theory of either completely neglecting to recognize
the problem of the migratory transient, or to recognize it as a constant irritant
calling for deterrents. Every community made an effort to provide as little
relief as possible for rionresidents in order not to attract transients, or to encourage
them to move on. During the depression, ihowever, certain modifications were
necessary. Investigation shows that the Federal Transient Service was aiding
77,118 individuals in April 1935, who had been in California less than 1 year, this
total including approximately 1,0000 single women and 28,000 persons in family
cases. 1
NUMBER OP TR.\NSIEXTS
It has been conservatively estimated by welfare and other groups interested in
the activity of transients, that anywhere from 300,000 to 600,000 city. State and
interstate transients are roaming the United States, bringing a transient problem
to every major city.
The flight across the country of drought refugees and migrants in need of manual
employment which was evident in 1935, contiiuied during the first half of 1936.
Those entering California still came in significant numbers but at a slower rate
than in the fall and winter of 1935, according to recordings made by the border
inspectors of the Bureau of Plant Quarantine, California Department of Agri-
culture. The movement during the last half of 1935 involved 43,180 persons in
out-of-State cars, whereas it dropped 36 percent to 27,867 persons in the first 6
months of 1936. For the year from June 16, 1935, to June 15, 1936, a total of
71,047 such migrants entered the State. In addition, 16,315 Californians who
had left the State in search of employment reentered its borders during the year.
Thus, for the entire period, 87,362 drought refugees and other migrants in need
of manual employment arrived in or returned to Calif ornia.^ (See exhibit 1.)
These figures do not include entrants by train or auto stage.
The Department of Agriculture, State of California, which maintains State
border quarantine stations along the entire border of the State of California,
reported 2,324,095 passengers entering the State via automobile during the year
1936. This figure does not include trucks, local and stage passengers. (See
exhibit II.) Of this amount, 1,138,526 entered the southern part of the State.
During the period of July 1, 1935 to June 30, 1937, 169,233 migrants in need of
employment entered California by motor vehicle, according to the Linited States
Department of Agriculture, Farm Security Administration statistics. (See
exhibit III.) It should be noted that this count includes only migrants entering
by automobile, who are stopped by the plant quarantine inspectors at the State's
border stations. It cannot be taken as the net migration since there was no
measurement of the outflow.
Although the records of incoming cars is kept at the border by the State agri-
culture department, no accurate records of the incoming transients arriving by
freight train are kept. During the period from May 1937 to October 1937,
inclusive, it is estimated that approximately 28,925 transients came into Los
Angeles County by riding the freight trains. (See exhibit IV.)
ORIGINAL, PLACES OF RESIDENCE
The drought, affecting large areas of the United States from 1933 to 1935, and
which continued to burn many parts of the Great Plains area in 1936, resulted in
a great volume of refugees migrating from the drought and Dust Bowl areas to
the Western States of the Nation. i
Eightv-four and fortv-four one-hundredths percent of the migrants flowing into
this State during the 2-vear period from July 1, 1935, to June 30, 1937, came from
the drought States; 9.1 percent from Pacific States; 4.2 percent from the industrial
States; 2.0 percent from the Southern States; and 0.3 percent from the New
England States. (See exhibit III.)
A recent 16-day survev covering the period from August 16 to August 31, 1937,
shows that 4,975 passengers crossed the borders and were checked by the border
1 P. 32, Transients in California. , ^ , ,,. ,. . ^ ,-,
2 P. 1355, Monthly Labor Review, December 1936, Drought Refugee and Labor Migration to California
in 1936, by Edward'j. Rowell.
3014 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
stations. The largest number, 3,643, came from the drought States. (See
exhibit V.)
Exhibit III also indicates that the peak was reached during the July 1 to
December 31, 1936, period, and declined sharply during the succeeding 6 months
period.
The largest exodus was from the State of Oklahoma, the center of the Dust
Bowl. Arizona, Arkansas and Texas contributed respectively to the number of
out-of-State migrants flocking to our borders. These figures alone are sufficient
to estimate the terrific social and economic disruptions occurring in the Dust
Bowl area of the Middle West, resulting in a great deal of human suffering and
financial loss.
The Pacific States, comprising Oregon and Washington (the State of California
is not included in this study of the immigration of transients) contributed the
next largest number of transients, to wit: 2,940 in the 2-year period. As noted
by Mr. Edward J. Rowell in The Monthly Labor Review for December 1936,
* * * "it is probably that these migrants are persons who normally follow
the harvests as a source of livelihood, in contrast to the people from the Dust
Bowl who have been deprived of their customary economic pursuits." ^
No significant part was played by the industrial, Southern, and New England
States in contributing to the migratory problem of the State of California.
In further studying the great influx, particularly this year, of persons from the
drought States, the United States Farm Placement Service has compiled a series
of charts, showing month by month invasion of these people, who, deprived of
their homes ^nd jobs, bring with them a great economic and social burden. (See
exhibits X, XI, XII, XII, XIV, XV, and XVI.)
MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION
The majority of transients come by automobile, traveling in run-down, dilapi-
dated cars. A large number come by freight train (see exhibit IV) and by hitch-
hiking.
It was learned by Taylor and Vasey in reporting on Drought Refugees and
Labor Migration to California in 1936 that there was an average of four persons
in each of 13,000 cars crossing the State line. They also determined that 55.7
percent of all arriving in out-of-State cars came through Arizona, and 24.3 percent
came through Nevada — the balance coming from Oregon.
PERIOD OF MIGRATION
Mr. Rowell in his report Drought Refugees and Labor Migration to California
in 1936 says:
"The importance of occupational opportunities in California agriculture as a
factor in these migrations is emphasized in the flow of returning Californians
during the same period. Although the peak of returning Californians was reached
in July, the months of July, August, and September were the months of heaviest
immigration for this group. In the months of January and February, California
migrants again showed a slight variation in comparison with those from other
States. Returning Californians in January actually exceeded those for February.
These variations from the tendencies indicated for out-of-State migrants are
undoubtedly due to the greater responsiveness of Californians to the State's
agricultural operations. They are concerned almost exclusively with harvest
opportunities, whereas migrants from others States are also motivated by eco-
nomic distress in the areas from which they come.
"Another characteristic of the migrations of returning Californians is that, fol-
lowing the general decline from July to March, with the exceptions of January
and February, the increase in migrations during the succeeding 3 months was not
proportionateh" so great as in the case of persons from other areas."
Quoting further from Mr. Powell's report: "Migrations may normally be
expected to decline in the spring of the year, owing to absence of harvest oppor-
tunities in California. However, the border blockade established by the Lo*
Angeles police somewhat accentuates this expectancy in the case at hand and thus
illustrates the possible influence of accidental factors. Since no norm is available,
part of the sharp decline from February to March of 1936 must be imputed to the
border blockade. The March migrations (2,522 persons) were considerably
below those of anv other month."
2 P. 1355. Monthly Labor Review, December 1936, Drought Refugee and Labor Migration to California
in 1936, by Edward J. Rowell.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3015
CAUSES OF MIGRATION
The southern California chmate is an important factor in the migration of
transients to the southern j^art of the State. They enter by way of Arizona,
which has favorable weather during the winter months.
Opportunities for employment in the agricultural districts in Imperial Valley
are also a factor which should be taken into consideration when studying the
transient movement to this portion of the State during the winter months, 'i here
are only two sources of employment in this State, to wit: First, private industry
and agriculture; second, Public Works projects. We know that private industry
and agriculture can readily recruit sufficient workers who are permanent residents
of the State. The Federal Government requires that those working upon public
works projects be residents of the political subdivision sponsoring the project.
Therefore, it may be readily concluded that the indigent transients invading
California does no do so for the sole purpose of seeking employment, but also
to forage his way, through criminal operations or otherwise, to sustain himself.
The great drought, floods, and other calamities in various sections of the country
are responsible for the recent very large influx of indigent transients. In compiling
statistics showing the inflow of migrants from the drought States for the first
half of the year 1937, the United States Farm Placement services, in a series of
reports, shows that from January 1 to June 30, 1937 (inclusive), 37,534 persons
entered the State from the drought areas. (See exhibits VII and VIII.)
NATIONALITIES AND TYPES OF TRANSIENTS
Reports indicate that the number of white Americans entering the Ptate of
California, from all States of the Nation and checked through border checking
stations for the year 1936, are far greater than other races and nationalities.
The United States Department of Labor, Employment Service, reports that of
21,379 cars entering the State, carrying 97,642 passengers, 89,929 were white
persons, 1,441 w^ere colored, 3,816 were Mexican, 1,793 were Filipino, and 663
were others. (See exhibit VI.)
In checking the nationalities of persons entering the State from the drought
area, a predominating number of white Americans entered the line. Negroes,
Mexicans, and Filipinos were apparent, but in minor groups. A later report for
the month of July 1937, shows the same predominance. (See exhibit IX, p. 23.)
Although there are no exact figures available, there seems to be no doubt, from
the records and experience of social workers, that single men contribute most
heavily to the problem of transiency. Single destitute transients move over the
country, from city to city, in larger numbers than family groups, or women.
These homeless men provide the largest problem for the relief, health, and police
authorities dealing with interstate transients.
RELIEF AND WELFARE POSSIBILITIES FOR TRANSIENTS
The problem of the transient is an old one. Particularly in California have we
been faced for many years with the question of what to do with these migratory
wanderers. Many persons blame the great increase in the influx of itinerants
upon the recent depression, the drought, floods, and the Dust Bowl, but members
of the welfare agencies and the law-enforcement agencies of the country and
State, while aware of the importance of these factors in increasing the transient
load, know that we have been coping with this situation for many years. Certain
localities, of course, are more troubled than others with the problem of destitute
transients. The States of California and Florida feel it most acutely.
Not all of the State of California has been concerned, however. Studies made
at California boundaries indicate that the majority of transients, arriving in
dilapidated automobiles or by freight trains, come to the southern part ot the
State. Climatic and other factors undoubtedly attract many unfit and destitute
persons. , . , ■ ■,■ n ^-e
It is absolutely necessary that this great horde of transients invading CalUornia
be provided with welfare services, unemployment relief, and relief for unem-
plovables. „ ^ ,., • •. j *
While there is some exodus of the destitute group from California, it does not
nearly balance the influx, and California is faced with a serious i)roblem of provid-
ing relief, health, and welfare services for persons who are not residents within Her
■boundaries, and are, therefore, not rightfully entitled to care and assistance.
3016 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
At present, State relief makes no provision for single transient men, who con-
stitute the largest group of migratory individuals, who are not residents of the
State. The State relief administration has established camps in the larger
counties for homeless destitute men who have established 1 year's residence in
California. These camps, for which sites have been provided by the respective
counties, were ready for occupancy October 1, 1937, and will continue in operation
until March 1, 1938. Food and shelter are provided by the State, and in return
recipients are required to work on county, State, and P^ederal work projects.
Transients trekking to California, especially southern California, without
means of subsistence are facing serious consequences due to present overburdened
relief conditions and new State laws limiting protection to California residents.
The State relief administration of California extends relief only to employable
transients. Either single men or families are assisted until the agency has had
an opportunity to ascertain their legal residences, at which time they contact the
relief agencies in their home city. These destitute transients are then sent back
to their own State. The California agency gives them gas for their cars, or
railroad fare back home. Most of these migrants, upon learning from the authori-
ties that the provisions for relief are very small, are glad to return to their own
homes. It has been the experience of case workers who interview these individuals,
that California has had a reputation for providing a larger share of relief to desti-
tute persons than any other State.
Most States of the Union have laws that automatically cancel "legal residence"
after their inhabitants have been absent from the State for a full year. Therefore,
it is impossible to return transients to their home States when this year has
elapsed. Accordinglj', the transient becomes known as a California "nonresident"
to relief agencies, but as such is able to receive only slightly more than when he
was a "transient." For those who meet the requirements of the California
Indigent Act by residing in the State 3 years without financial assistance from
others than legally responsible relatives, the allowances are based upon minimum
requirements for subsistence.
COST OF RELIEF AND WELFARE SERVICES
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration division of research and statistics
shows that the cost of 1 day's care for one transient in New York State varied
from 56 cents a day in shelters operated by transient divisions to 75 cents a day
in contract shelters (private agencies, etc.). The national average varied from
69 to 72 cents, according to Federal reports. (See exhibit XXIII.)
Over a recent 5-week period, an average of 225 persons came under the care of
the State relief administration, Los Angeles office. The average budget per family
amounts from $30 to $35 per month. The State relief administration has no
ruling which forbids the extending of relief to aliens, and they are helped until
employment is found for them, or they obtain jobs themselves. Many eventually
find employment in agricultural work.
TREATMENT OF TRANSIENTS
Quoting from Public Relief for Transients Report:
"The phenomena of transiency and of destitution among persons not possessing
a legal settlement at the place where need overtakes them are not new. A sizable
problem of caring for needy nonsettled persons existed before the depression.
The mobility of our population and the development of seasonable employment
caused considerable shifting about, which was partially reflected in the necessity
for relief. To this natural and normal movement of population must be added
the chronic wanderer or hobo who made his way back and forth across the country.
The problem of relief, health, and welfare services for interstate transients is
urgent."
The economic maladjustment of the past few years has inevitably increased the
movement of people from one section of the country to another. The lack of job
opportunities in the local community, the development of intolerable home
conditions due to poverty and unemployment, and the fact that distant pastures
always look more green, have caused many persons to leave their place of residence
in the hope of bettering their condition elsewhere.
Whatever may be the cause of the social dislocation of the individual homeless
person, the agency to which he applies should either be prepared to give adequate
service directly or to refer to some other agency so equipped.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3017
EFFECT OF TRANSIENT RELIEF PROGRAM UPON TRANSIENCY
Obviously, the State transient program did not stop transiency. It did not stop
transiency any more than the unemployment relief program stopped unemploy-
ment. It offered merely another form of relief, which held little permanent
attraction for either the job shirker or the genuine job seeker. While it drew out
of the stream of moving unattachable people a large number of men who remained
long enough to become rehabilitated and built up physically and socially, their
numbers were replaced by others.
EFFECT OF TRANSIENCY ON CRIME FIGURES
Police experience indicates that a large percentage, over 50 percent in fact, of
the incoming transients have previously been convicted of one or more criminal
offenses. The remaining 50 percent present another large group of potential
offenders.
The extent of the criminal element among transients is illustrated by records of
persons who have been arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department. The
annual winter increase of approximately 20 percent in crime in Los Angeles can be
attributed to transients.
The winter increase in crime in the city of Los Angeles, as indicated in exhibit
XVII, can be attributed to transients.
The border blockade which continued until April 1936, can be credited with the
great decrease in major crimes indicated for that period. (See exhibit XVII.)
Major crime has increased tremendously for the following winter months.
(The border blockade was discontinued in April 1936, and was not reestablished
during the following year.) (See exhibit XVII.)
Twenty-nine percent of those arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department
and later convicted and sentenced to State's prison during the fiscal year 1935-36
were in the county less than 1 vear. (See exhibit XVIII.)
1 wenty-eight percent of those arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department
and later convicted and sentenced to State's prison during the fiscal year 1936-37
were in the countv less than 1 year. (See exhibit XVIII.)
Of the persons arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department and committed
to State's prison during the'fiscal year 1935-36, 23 percent were in the State less
than 1 vear. (See exhibit XIX.)
Of the persons arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department and committed
to the State's prison during the fiscal year 1936-37 23 percent were in the State
less than 1 vear. (See exhibit XIX.) ^ j ■ xi
Total vagrancy arrests made by the Los Angeles Police Department during the
months of January 1937, amounted to 1,326. Of this number 17 percent had
previous felony records; 43 percent had previous misdemeanor records, and a
total of 60 percent of those arrested for vagrancy had some previous record. (See
exhibit XX.) , , , xv, «• u a
Of 5 788 cases in which the courts convicted and sentenced on the offense charged
for the month of January 1937, 1,642 or 28 percent of those convicted were m the
countv less than 1 vear; and 1,225 or 23 percent were in the State less than 1 year.
(See exhibit XXI.) ^ ^ ^ x ^ x a
Of persons convicted, sentenced in Los Angeles County and transported to ban
Quentin and Folsom Penitentiaries during the fiscal year 1935-36^ 18 percent had
resided in Los Angeles Countv for less than 1 year. (See exhibit XXll.)
Of persons convicted, sentenced in Los Angeles County and transported to ban
Quentin and Folsom Penitentiaries during the fiscal year 1936-37, 18 percent had
resided in Los Angeles County for less than 1 year. (See exhibit XXll.)
EFFECT OF TRANSIENCY ON JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
The effect of entire families of transients migrating to our State has shown that
approximatelv 5 percent of the schools' population are children of transients.
These children are two to three grades behind in their school work and they must,
therefore, associate with children younger than themselves. Their attendance is
not steady, and because of the entire nature of their environment, their attitude
toward their school work is one of indifference. Because they are idle for the most
part, and witness the same behavior among their fellow travelers and because
thev oftentimes must go hungry and improperly clothed, juvenile delinquency is
common, and these children often present a serious problem to the juvenile
authorities.
3018 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
EFFECT OF TRANSIENCY ON PUBLIC HEALTH
The effects of the wanderings of these nomadic transients on public health have
been many and widespread. A large percentage of tlie transients seeking relief
have been found to be afflicted with disease. Tuberculosis, scarlet fever, typhoid
fever, mumps, sore eyes, and many other sicknesses are prevalent among the
camps provided for these people. In addition to the danger of Statewide epi-
demics originating in jungle camps inhabited by transients, the camjiaign of public-
health agencies to control the spread of social disease has been seriously aflfected
by the constant migration of transients. The utter lack of sanitation in many of
the jungle camps causes much suffering among the transient group. The lack of
funds in California for relief of transients not only imposes hardship upon them in
their search for the necessities of life, but makes it virtually impossible for them to
receive medical aid. State laws prevent public institutions from giving other than
emergency care to persons who have resided in the State less than 3 years. Also,
while transients find it virtually impossible to gain admission to public hospitals
because of legal restrictions, they have almost the same difficulty in obtaining
medical care at private clinics because the funds contributed to these clinics are
provided for the bona fide residents of the State.
ATTEMPTED SOLUTIONS OF THE PROBI.EM
With the tremendous increase in transiency following the economic crash of
1929, private agencies attempted to handle the situation, but found themselves
unable to do so. In caring for the transients who enter the State, i)rivate agencies
are conceded to be a failure. It is difficult to secure funds to meet the needs of
those who are definitely legal residents of a given community, and it is much harder
to raise money privately for the nonresident than for the resident. Also, the spe-
cial services of this group would overlap the public services of the State.
The Federal Government attempted to assume, in a large measure, the respon-
sibility for this group, and in 1933 the Federal Emergency Relief Administration
of the United States Government established a special transient service throughout
the country. By January 1934 there were 261 treatment centers and 27 transient
camps throughout the I'nited States providing care for almost 225,000 transients
during that month. However, this made necessary the operation of a special
service by the Government for a selected group. If the Government sets up spe-
cial relief agencies for transients, it would result in a du])lication of existing State
nmchinery.
The Fe'deral Government experimented with a new solution of the i^roblem in
1935 and failed. In April 1935 the Federal Transient Service was aiding 77,000
individuals who had been in California less than 1 year, this total including approx-
imately 1,000 single women, and 28,000 persons in family cases. The total cost
of the transient service from July 1, 1934, to May 30, 1935, amounted to over
$4,000,000. The liquidation of the Federal transient camps in October 1935
without due notice being given to the jurisdictions concerned, made it necessary
for the relief agencies to assume this burden. There were approximately 306,064
persons being cared for in these camps all over the country (40,430 or approximately
one-seventh of this number in California), and the termination of these transient
camps has had the effect of increasing the transient load in the various States,
causing many individuals to move on and come to California.
In 1936 the Los Angeles Police Department made an effort to cope with this
situation, and inaugurated the border patrol, which operated from February 6,
1936, to April 17, 1936, and proved to be very effective. The following year the
department was not in a position to carry on such an operation. Instead, the
Los Angeles Police Department arranged to police the municipal boundaries of
the city of Los Angeles, particularly at the points of ingress of the railways, to
arrest all evaders of railroad fares and persons violating any of the sections of the
sections of the vagrancy statute. Men were stationed on 24-hour watch at the
points of ingress of the freight trains, who stopped and searched each train headed
toward Los Angeles. During the period from October 29, 1936, to January 23,
1937, this detail arrested 2,558 railroad evaders and vag roamers. Those arrested,
upon conviction and sentence, were placed at manual labor upon firebreaks,
roads, and other public works of a similar nature. This program was a great
deterrent to the influx of transients in the city of Los Angeles.
The majority of those that were booked as vag roamers were picked up on or
adjacent to the railroad right-of-way, and, no doubt, had just dropped off of freight
trains. However, in spite of the efforts of our officers to intercept these undesir-
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3019
able transients, many persons managed to evade being stopped and questioned, by-
hitchhiking their way into the city, or riding the bus across the boundaries. Many
of the transients have some money, and pay for train or bus transportation from
an adjoining State to the metropolitan area, where they immediately apply to a
relief agency. A large number of transients, being informed of the blockade at the
boundaries of the city of Los Angeles through publicity given this operation in the
newspapers, or word-of-mouth news received from their fellow transients, keep
clear of Los Angeles and follow the coast route into Ventura, and hitchhike south
on Roosevelt Highway to San Diego. Others, anxious to avoid our city, come down
through Bakersfield to Mojave and thence to Barstow, Victorville, San Ber-
nardino, Colton, and Imperial Valley. These transients, because of lack of ade-
quate means of support, and often needing hospitalization, impose an economic
burden upon the counties to which they migrate and both public and private
agencies are forced to care for them.
The problem in southern California is not alone keeping out the indigent
transient, for whom tl^.ere is prac'ti-^^ally no relief available, but in preventing the
migratory agricultural laborer from drifting into Los Angeles in off-season times.
These people, with their families, work in the fields during the harvesting seasons,
but inevitably congregate in big centers of pojoulation, principally this city.
This places a tremendous burden on city relief agencies.
Reciprocal agreement among various States has been suggested. Each State
would adopt uniform residence rules and give the same treatment in the way of
relief, health, and welfare services to nonresidents as to residents, coupled with a
humane and constructive policy of moving transients back to their home States
and communities.
THE LOS ANGELES PLAN FOR TRANSIENTS
In order to stop the influx of the transients, who yearly make California their
goal, particularl}' in the winter, and who expect housing, food, and medical care
upon their arrival, it is necessary that a definite program be provided for coopera-
tion between the various States, and within the States, between the various
counties, as each county furnishes separate ingress, unless all are working simul-
taneously. The cost to the counties and State would be greatly reduced if the
expenditure for policing the points of ingress were sufficient to do a good job.
A publicity campaign stressing a "cleaning up" process in all the counties, and
carried on simultaneously, would prevent thousands of itinerants from starting
for California. The efforts of the border patrol conducted by the Los Angeles
Police Department in 1936, were successful in keeping a large number of transients
out of the State of California. All Western States showed improved conditions
following the border patrol activities of this department.
State agencies or departments may be drafted for service in the transient plan.
The department of motor vehicles could be utilized by using the checking stations
now in operation, at points of ingress on highways. This service could be handled
by the personnel now on duty at checking stations. The points of ingress of rail-
ways could be covered by otlier personnel. Some of these points could be covered
in conjunction witli the liighway detail.
One of the duties of the State Ijoard of equalization is the collection of taxes
from caravans of cars entering the State. Checks on these caravans could best be
made at the border and the men used in making these checks could be iitih'zed
in this plan.
The agricultural department of the State could be utilized by using the plant
quarantine checking sta+ions now in operation at the points of ingress on highways.
The establishment by the health department of State border quarantine stations
for the examination of' those having communicable diseases or coming from areas
where epidemics are prevalent would eliminate the great hazard to bona fide
residents. Tlie plant quarantine stations could be utilized for this purpose.
The State relief administration could assist by acting in accordance with the
policy of this agencv.
The State of California could also enter into compacts and agreement with tlie
authorities of other Western States, and in this manner lighten the burden of each
individual State.
The counties of the State ot California could assist materially i)y appropriating
funds for additional deputv slierifTs. Grants could be iurnislied by the State to
the counties of funds for additional sheriff personual. The counties could also
s]ionsoi Work Projects Administration projects for additional personnei, as in the
instance of scliool crossing guards.
260370—41 — pt. 7 15
3020
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Tlie assistance of the railroads could be solicited. These companies could help
by making available their special agents; also, l)y providing for additional special
agents, and maintaining close cooperation with law-enforcement, agencies.
Over 400,000 persons of this State, wlio are bona fide residents, are dependent
upon relief or Federal works projects, and the increased burden of taxes and con-
tributing to the communit.y chest has created a terrific burden which must be
borne by those possessing property, or by persons who receive regular incomes.
Since the California Transient Service failed in its purpose, and was closed by the
halting of Federal funds, the permanent resident'; of the State of California liave
not been able to c(mipletely assume their share of the work that had been per-
formed. It has Ijeen found that many of the transients who received offers of
transportation back home or from whence they came, readily accepted. Wh.en
they became aware of the economic conditions of welfare agencies of thi.s State,
they were as a rule glad to staj' home.
LEGAL PROVISIONS
It should be borne in mind that persons taken from trains may be arrested for
violation of section 5S7-C California Penal Code, which i)rovides that evading
railway fare is a misdemeanor.
Also, those sul'jects hitchhiking or wandering from place to place without
visible means of support are in violation of section 647. subsection 3 of the Penal
Code of California.
In addition to the above offenses, the Pauper Act of the State of California
defines as a misdemeanor "an act of bringing into the State of California any
indigent or other person knowingly to l:)e or likel}' to be dependent upon public
charity, or the State tor support and maintenance."
In an opinion rendered by Attorney General U. S. Webb, addressed to the Hon-
orable Walter M. Dickie, director, department of public health, 813 State Build-
ins, San Francisco, Calif., it was stated that the State department of public health
has the right, under the law, with certain limitations, as set forth in his communi-
cation, to examine people entering the State who may be suspected of having an
infectious disease. Also, if they have not sufficient funds to provide proper insti-
tutional or hospital care, they can be denied permission to enter the State
Exhibit I. — Migrants in need of manual employment
Migrants in need of manual employment entering California by motor vehicle,
year ending June 15, 1936.'
Out-of-State cars: Number of migrants 71, 047
California cars: Number of migrants 16, 315
Total 87, 362
' Judgment of border station inspectors was relied upon in distinguishing migrants in need of manual
employment. Such persons are ordinarily easily identifiable since they travel in family groups, and are
loaded with poor equipment.
Exhibit II. — Traffic
summary, State border quarantine stations, year 1936
Total cars
less
trucks,
locals,
and
stages
Foreign
cars less
trucks,
locals,
and
stages
Total pas-
sengers
less
truck,
local, and
stage
passen-
gers
Commercial trucks
Number
of stages
stations
California
Foreign
Number
of stage
passen-
gers
Blythe .
118, 633
48,625
99, 822
130, 833
7,932
44. 267
88, 997
10, 167
59. 451
50. 965
73, 053
29, 152
60, 965
59, 709
4,883
21, 699
44,052
5,707
32, 702
27, 956
337, 225
148, 637
285, 365
367, 269
19, 063
114,079
230,423
24, 729
172, 992
141,033
14, 950
1,172
9,769
1,264
1,257
1,054
2,400
448
216
814
2,319
1,445
1,469
8,475
502
2,168
4,670
450
3.353
1,594
2,324
1,918
1,738
2,642
367
368
3.208
350
429
801
41,481
33, 945
Fort Yuma
31, 030
46, 146
Alturas-New Pine Creek
1,050
2,209
Hornbrook -
52,805
1,045
Redwood Highway -
4,108
Smith River
9,447
•INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3021
Exhibit II. — Traffic summary, State border quarantine stations, year 19S6 — Con.
Total cars
less
trucks,
locals,
and
stages
Foreign
cars less
trucks,
locals,
and
stages
Total pas-
sengers
less
truck,
local, and
stage
passen-
gers
Commercial trucks
California
Foreign
Number
of stages
Number
of stage
passen-
gers
Benton '
Bridgeport '
Brockway '
Cedarville i
Chilcooti
Coleville "
Dog Valley 1...
Eagleville '
Fort Bidwell '..
Ravendale '
Stateline '
Susanville ■
Truckee
Westgaard Pass
Woodfords '
Totals....
2,669
242
8,106
120
7,429
17,854
6,042
189
105
4,414
20, 734
12, 866
10, 852
283
1,578
1,202
137
3,562
65
2,250
4,099
510
98
55
1,546
5,869
3,142
51, 549
111
472
6,217
542
23,690
277
17, 288
45, 497
14, 908
465
242
10, 683
47, 761
31,806
179, 060
674
4,080
148
3
1,093
47
23
359
409
20
9
121
329
413
4,642
590
27
224
5
845
42
13
269
52
17
8
64
291
69
3,485
25
39
0
3
0
537
321
1
0
36
132
86
183
2,517
57
0
39
0
9
0
1.114
1,282
16
0
2
465
317
737
35,546
37
0
853, 175
434, 545
2, 324, 095 41, 577
31,941
18, 057
262, 830
' Seasonal stations — In operation during summer months only (for the approximate period May 15 to
Oct. 15).
Source: State of California Department of Agriculture, A. A. Brock, Director, Sacramento.
Exhibit III.^ — Migrants in need of manual eynployment entering California by
motor vehicle, July 1, 1935 to June SO, 1937 »
Total
July 1-Dec.
31, 1935
Jan. l-June
30, 1936
July 1-Dec.
31, 1936
Jan. 1-June
30, 1937
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Stateof origin— all States,
excluding California...
Percent-.
169. 233
100
100
42, 559
25.2
100
29, 120
17.2
100
55, 703
32.9
100
41,851
24.7
100
Drought States
142, 906
84.44
32, 185
75.6
25,005
85.9
48. 182
86.5
37, 534
89.7
Oklahoma
41, 246
15, 752
17,113
13, 739
9,925
7,852
5,316
5,273
5, 622
3,482
1,995
2,218
2,591
1,400
1,754
1,491
2,008
1,282
1,146
24.4
9.3
10.2
8.2
5.9
4.7
.3.2
3.2
3.4
2.1
1.2
1.4
1.6
.9
1.1
.9
1.2
.8
.7
7,561
3,631
3,097
2,866
2,426
2,238
1,584
1,578
1,258
1.193
834
678
703
502
532
487
468
337
212
17.8
8.5
7.3
6.7
5.7
5.2
3.7
3.7
2.9
2.8
2.0
1.6
1.7
1.2
1.3
1.1
1.1
.8
.5
6,654
3,185
4, 605
2,345
1,619
891
898
1,101
745
420
188
544
286
217
107
204
211
290
455
23.0
10.9
15.8
8.1
5.6
3.1
3.1
3.8
2.5
1.4
.6
1.9
1.0
.7
.4
.7
.7
1.0
1.6
16,295
5.119
2,724
4,545
4,254
3,009
1,351
1,.339
2,274
1,313
781
525
1,188
397
805
621
956
448
338
29.2
9.2
4.9
8.2
7.6
5.4
2.4
2.4
4.1
2.4
1.4
.9
2.1
.7
1.4
1.1
1.7
.8
.6
10,696
3,817
6,687
3,983
3,426
1,715
l,4a3
1,255
1,345
556
192
471
414
284
310
179
373
207
141
25.6
Texas
Arizona
9.1
16.0
.\rkansas
Missouri
Kansas.
Colorado
New Mexico
Nebraska
9.5
8.2
4.1
3.5
3.0
3.2
Idaho.......
Montana.
Utah
1.3
.5
1.1
Iowa
Nevada. _. ..
1.0
.7
North Dakota
Minnesota
South Dakota
Wyoming ...
.8
.4
.9
.5
Wisconsin
.3
Pacific States . .
15, 447
9.1
5.822
13.7
2,576
8.8
4,109
2,616
1,493
7.4
4.7
2.7
2,940
7.0
Oregon
10,013
5, 434
5.9
3.2
3,629
2,193
8.5
6.2
1,768
808
R. 1
2.7
2,000
940
4.8
Washington
2.2
» DatacoUectedbyborderinspectorsofBureauofPlantQuarantine, California Department of Agriculture.
3022
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Exhibit III. — Migrants in need of manual employment entering California by
motor vehicle, July 1, 1935 to June SO, i.9S7— Continued
Total
July 1-Dec.
31, 1935
Jan. 1-June
30, 1936
July 1-Dec.
31, 1936
Jan. 1-June
30, 1937
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Num-
ber
Per-
cent
Industrial States
7,072
4.2
3,106
7.3
922
3.1
2,339
4.2
705
1.7
2,109
1,610
811
991
881
453
217
1.2
1.0
.5
.6
.5
.3
.1
818
058
486
436
319
278
111
1.9
1.5
1.1
1.0
.8
.7
.3
306
230
74
149
108
31
24
1.0
.8
.3
.5
.4
.1
(2)
760
597
200
319
336
75
52
1.4
1.1
.4
.6
.6
.1
(2)
225
125
51
87
118
69
30
.5
Michigan
.3
.1
Ohio
.2
Indiana
.3
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
.2
(2)
Southern States
3,341
850
409
430
304
324
298
256
96
75
85
133
35
41
5
2.0
.5
.2
.3
.2
.2
.2
.1
C-)
{-)
(-)
(2)
(2)
1,205
298
207
145
95
120
101
71
57
32
29
15
19
16
2.8
.7
.5
.3
. 2
is
.2
.2
.1
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
572
132
78
36
87
64
38
88
10
6
17
8
4
4
2.0
.5
.3
.1
.3
.2
.1
.3
C-)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
934
1.6
630
1.5
239
62
144
89
89
114
55
13
23
33
50
12
8
3
.4
.1
.3
.2
.1
.2
(2)
n
(2)
(•-)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
181
62
105
33
51
45
42
16
14
6
60
.4
.1
.3
(2)
.1
Kentucky.
.1
.1
(.-)
West Virginia
(2)
(2)
North Carolina
District of Colum-
.1
South Carolina _
Delaware
13
2
m
(.')
New England States
467
.3
241
.6
45
.2
139
.2
42
.1
Massachusetts.
Rhode I«land
214
47
40
115
28
23
.1
P)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
113
31
40
36
13
8
.3
(2)
(2)
m
24
2
(2)
(2)
55
8
(2)
(2)
22
6
(2)
(2)
15
(.')
52
15
9
(2)
12
(2)
New Hampshire
4
C-)
2
{-)
2 Less than Ho of 1 percent.
Exhibit IV. — Railway companies' estimate of approximate number of transients
entering the State of California via trains during the period from May 1937 to
October 1937, inclusive
Santa Fe
Union Pacific —
Southern Pacific
Total
County
of Los
Angeles
10, 381
6,415
12, 129
28,925
Exhibit V — Total number of migrants entering California via border stations for
period Aug. 16-31, 1937
All States
Drought States
Industrial States
Pacific States
Southern S tates
New England States.
Source: U. S. Department of Agriculture, Farm Security Administration.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
3023
Exhibit VI. — U. S. Department of Labor Employment Service report on migrants
"in need of manual eviployment" (all States) who have entered the State of Cali-
fornia by motor vehicles, through border checking stations, for the year 1936
1-,
n
1
White
Colored
Mexican
Filipino
Other
All States
"Hi
a
M
1
a
2,848
4,291
2,140
843
1,463
1,654
2,046
2,258
1,915
2,270
2,296
3,168
2,878
3,714
3,907
4,560
5,721
6,198
4,470
5,657
3,447
3,613
2,816
3,027
_2
"bo
w
1
a
l-H
"Si
1
a
a
"bi
a
M
a
.2
a
"So
a
.•a
1
a
Jan. 1 to 15
902
1,282
518
239
548
547
507
677
600
722
641
927
765
1,000
1,021
1, 113
1, 351
1,573
1,159
1,880
997
920
725
765
3,989
5,448
2,612
1,188
1,912
2,240
2,485
2,850
2,554
2,970
2,895
4,000
3,594
4,824
4,971
5,643
6,711
7,418
5,353
7,936
4,548
4,344
3,435
3,722
562
613
210
119
260
278
304
343
380
487
345
492
432
697
719
649
597
884
651
1,660
656
453
451
487
8
6
10
78
2
46
7
3
3
11
13
5
6
4
13
""is"
14
6
126
11
6
18
49
23
""lb
25
13
26
14
35
86
38
37
69
119
79
77
89
36
47
58
47
45
39
25
13
5
11
""io"
23
6
12
5
21
58
41
8
16
12
39
40
47
83
19
203
244
133
44
88
94
60
195
164
145
170
207
158
238
143
142
90
117
72
124
177
107
74
94
276
187
65
59
27
30
28
2
44
7
6
5
11
59
20
56
150
43
25
237
122
83
40
60
7
17
28
Jan. 16 to 31 _
16
Feb. 1 to 15
18
Feb. 16 to 28
40
Mar. 1 to 15. ._.
18
1
42
Mar. 16 to 31
123
5
5
4
4
Apr. 16 to 30
8
May 1 to 15
VI
May 16 to 31
20
25
June 16 to 30
5
9
16
11
1
....
9
1
10
July 1 to 15
4
July 16 to 31
17
Aug. 1 to 15
83
Aug. 16 to 31
93
Sept. 1 to 15
33
Sept 16 to 30
46
Oct 1 to 15
Oct. 16 to 31-
17
5
5
7
9
- —
32
Nov 16 to 30
Dec 1 to 15
Dec 16 to 31
Total
21, 379
97,642
12, 729
77,200
396
1,045
533
3,283
1,642
151
13
650
Exhibit VII. — Summary of out-of-State people (classified as to race) who have entered
the State of California during the period Jan. 1 to Mar. 31, 1937, inclusive, from
drought States
Race
Singles
In families
Total
White
1,952
36
6
57
3
14,285
126
273
16,237
162
279
57
3
Other --
34
34
Total
2,054
14, 718
16.772
Exhibit VIII. — Summary of out-of-State people (classified as to race) who have
entered the State of California during the period Apr. 1 to June SO, 1937, inclusive,
from drought States
Race
White. . .
Colored..
Mexican -
Filipino..
Other.-.
Total.
Singles
2,059
21
90
12
2,182
In families
17, 629
172
768
11
18, 580
Total
19,688
193
858
12
11
20, 762
3Q24 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Summary for period Jan. 1 to June 30, 1937, inclusive — half-year -period
Race
Singles
In families
Total
Jan 1 to Mar 31
2.054
2,182
14, 718
18, 580
16, 772
20,762
Grand total half year 1937
4,236
33, 298
37, 534
Exhibit IX. — Summary, out-of-State people (classified as to race) who have entered
the State of California during the period July 1 to July 31, 1937, inclusive, from
drought States
July 1 to 15
July 16 to 31
Race
Singles
In families
Total
Singles
In families
Total
White --- --
309
10
9
5
2,772
80
102
4
14
3,081
90
111
9
14
491
9
2
50
2,957
79
274
5
3,448
Colored . .
88
276
55
Other—-
Total -
333
2,972
3,305
552
3,315
3,867
July 1 to 31, inclusive, 1937
Singles
In families
Total
333
552
2,972
3,315
3,305
3,867
885
6,287
7,172
Exhibit X. — Out-of-State people who have entered the State of California from
drought Stales during the period Jan. 1 to Jan. 91, inclusive, 1937
Jan. 1 to 15
Jan. 16 to 31
Cars
Singles
In families
Cars
Singles
In families
Arizona _
26
45
17
9
8
18
2
26
I
25
3
16
2
133
3
61
17
2
5
18
11
17
10
13
14
2
18
I
52
101
289
68
35
15
73
8
98
40
31
27
13
4
11
I
27
5
27
1
18
2
150
2
76
13
2
4
23
3
23
16
5
7
2
14
9
45
206
178
Colorado
114
Idaho - - - -
28
12
Kansas - - -
43
102
8
Nebraska . . . - - --
51
12
85
10
701
10
286
21
9
9
67
4
7
82
8
45
3
29
41
46
4
19
12
4
4
776
Texas
390
Utah
27
6
Wyoming-
3
6
Total
419
277
1,881
454
243
2,057
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
3025
Exhibit XI. — Otii-of-State people who have entered the State of California from
drought States during the period Feb. 1 to 28, inclusive, 1937
Feb. 1 to 15
Feb. 16 to 28
Cars
Singles
In
families
Cars
Singles
In
families
Arizona
73
36
330
97
39
513
Arkansas - , -
36
36
15
50
197
141
45
17
39
34
233
Colorado .
46
Idaho
7
10
13
10
2
36
Iowa
7
10
14
8
8
39
Kansas , . _
22
27
68
23
13
73
Minnesota,--
5
3
12
5
10
5
Missouri
24
10
118
40
23
191
Montana __ _
6
5
20
3
14
Nebraska
33
37
99
35
42
90
Nevada ._,
4
16
1
139
4
13
27'
6
70
6
720
9
16
1
128
5
9
150"
27
New Mexico
68
North Dakota -......-..
13
Oklahoma
575
South Dakota
3
69
4
10
4
340
1
69
5
Texas
24
395
Utah
6
4
22
9
14
12
Wisconsin
2
5
6
6
16
Wyoming
7
7
24
Total
494
271
2,202
523
419
2,359
Exhibit XII.^ — Out-of-State people who have entered the State of California from
drought States during the period Mar. 1 to 31, 1937, inclusive
Mar. 1 to 15
Mar. 16 to 31
Cars
Singles
In fami-
lies
Cars
Singles
In fami-
lies
Arizona - -. - -
80
70
38
19
19
44
3
72
5
39
5
22
6
171
12
65
20
3
6
86
25
44
31
10
37
11
31
399
417
120
55
63
147
62
58
37
15
10
41
8
84
3
29
2
25
5
199
19
66
18
3
3
30
23
21
7
10
29
14
52
6
41
2
19
6
72
18
16
6
4
2
292
326
Colorado .
126
Idaho -
49
Iowa -. . . -
40
158
15
Missouri
392
16
127
6
117
22
813
19
315
44
8
14
444
2
29
6
13
3
91
19
46
25
5
4
84
New Mexico
97
15
Oklahoma .
1,022
South Dakota - -. .
68
Texas ..
312
Utah
62
Wisconsin
4
Wyoming . .
9
Total ...
699
466
3,094
687
378
3,125
3026
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Exhibit XIII. — Out-of-State people who have entered the State of California from
drought States during the period Apr. 1 to SO, 1937, inclusive
Apr. 1 to 15
Cars
Singles
In fami-
lies
Apr. 16 to 30
Cars
Singles
In fami-
lies
Arizona
Arkansas
Colorado
Idaho
Iowa
Kansas
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Mexico. -
North Dakota
Oklahoma
South Dakota.
Texas_ -..
Utah
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Total.. -
62
99
27
14
7
30
2
68
2
33
7
18
8
151
5
42
6
1
6
583
328
334
527
85
50
35
126
13
295
8
78
30
98
35
752
16
216
21
127
63
21
8
4
31
3
66
5
32
7
18
2
177
8
32
5
2
5
616
310
835
352
79
33
8
124
16
323
17
84
20
59
3
958
26
164
3,110
Exhibit XIV. — Out-of-State people who have entered the State of California from
drought States during the period May 1 to 31, 1937, inclusive
May 1 to 15
May 16 to 31
Cars
Singles
In fam-
ilies
Cars
Singles
In fam-
ilies
156
70
26
12
9
45
11
76
4
24
7
28
11
185
6
59
8
4
1
53
44
20
11
768
370
101
28
45
202
30
327
12
70
27
146
31
824
26
264
17
10
158
46
19
15
4
39
4
64
6
31
14
19
13
186
14
57
6
10
3
34
32
15
22
8
29
7
39
6
23
12
9
8
75
2
18
9
8
2
880
235
Colorado . . - .
72
30
10
9
7
51
2
15
4
6
8
135
1
41
11
4
4
144
5
298
10
74
31
90
35
992
South Dakota . . .
53
Texas . .
279
Utah
13
23
Wyoming .
9
Total
742
426
3,298
708
358
3,283
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
3027
Exhibit XV. — Ovt-of-State people rvho have entered the State of California from
drought States during the period June 1 to SO, 19S7, inclusive
June 1 to 15
June 16 to 30
Cars
Singles
In fam-
ilies
Cars
Singles
In fam-
ilies
176
41
35
11
10
50
1
58
8
19
18
28
12
196
14
54
12
6
6
143
9
23
8
21
10
3
22
1
20
21
24
9
79
12
27
6
7
4
894
215
136
32
18
214
121
54
26
15
6
34
4
39
4
19
9
20
8
125
7
49
10
4
6
75
41
8
15
5
17
4
17
1
15
5
8
576
Arkansas - ..--- -..
298
Colorado - . - - - -
92
30
18
Kansas - - - - - - -
134
11
298
38
55
22
129
60
1,033
47
312
36
8
25
186
12
65
38
89
28
45
9
16
15
3
14
647
South Dakota
21
Texas . - . -
271
Utah -
30
22
5
Total - ---
755
449
3,572
560
311
2,576
Exhibit XVI. — Out-of -State people who have entered the State of California from
drought States during the period July 1 to 31, inclusive, 1937
Arizona
Arkansas
Colorado
Idaho
Iowa
Kansas.--
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada. --
New Mexico.- -
North Dakota.
Oklahoma
South Dakota -
Texas—-
Utah
Wisconsin
Wyoming-
Total.
July 1 to 15
Cars
102
62
33
20
7
44
3
52
4
22
9
24
9
152
11
83
13
333
Singles
10
10
3
96
5
15
17
-.
2,972
In fam-
ilies
537
334
130
55
23
164
13
268
10
81
21
117
39
723
34
386
23
.......
3,305
July 16 to 31
Cars
80
66
35
21
7
60
2
48
22
20
8
36
7
215
7
66
15
552
Singles
97
81
37
18
7
20
3
38
25
14
9
7
2
112
5
32
28
13
4
3,315
In fam-
ilies
348
347
129
68
26
266
"'i97
79
76
9
182
32
1,078
25
409
19
17
3,867
3Q28 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Exhibit XVII. — Seasonal trend of specified crimes commiiied in city of Los Angeles
February 1936 to August 1937, inclusive
Burglary
Robbery
Auto
theft
total speci-
fied crimes
Total all
crimes
1936
154
671
602
522
488
446
45t
565
589
624
717
622
595
634
528
594
644
595
640
106
91
80
53
43
27
44
88
106
99
126
104
144
120
118
100
99
102
94
608
536
567
526
580
533
599
603
665
719
708
853
874
828
794
763
773
689
740
868
1,298
1,249
1,101
1,111
1,006
1,097
1,256
1,360
1,442
1,551
1,579
1,613
1,582
1,440
1,457
1,516
1,386
1,474
2,471
2,355
2,161
Mav
2,030
2,002
julv
1,843
. 1,979
2,331
2,544
2,670
2,928
1937
2,938
2,999
2,922
April - ---
2,638
2,618
2,607
2,514
2,825
Persons arrested by Los Angeles Police Departinent who were sentenced to State
prison, also shou-^ing the number in Los Angeles County less than 1 year, fiscal years
1935-36 to 1936-37, inclusive
1935-36
Homicide
Rape -.
Robbery
Assault
Burglary
Forgery
Theft
Weapon Act
Sex
State poison
Liquor
Drunk driving
Motor Vehicle Act-
Others
Total
Number
sentenced
to State
prison
29
22
126
19
105
56
102
5
20
23
0
2
0
31
Number
in county
less than
1 year
154
Percent-
age in
county
loss than
1 year
29
1936-37
Number
sentenced
to State
prison
356
Number
in county
less than
1 year
Percent-
age in
county
less than
1 year
28
INTERSTATE INITGRATION
3029
Persons arrested by Los Angeles Police Department who were sentenced to State
prison, also showing the number in the State of California less than 1 year, fiscal
years 1935-36 to 1936-37, inclusive
1935-36
1936-37
Number
sentenced
to State
prison
Xumber
in Mate
less than
1 year
Percent-
age in
State
less than
1 year
Number
sentenced
to State
prison
Xumber
in State
less than
1 year
Percent-
age in
State
less than
1 year
29
22
126
19
105
56
102
5
20
23
0
2
0
31
2
4
39
2
33
12
21
1
1
2
0
7
18
31
11
31
21
12
?0
5
9
0
0
0
19
19
9
61
11
77
53
S2
2
11
10
0
2
0
19
6
1
21
1
16
8
17
0
2
4
0
1
0
4
32
11
Robbery
34
9
21
15
Theft
21
0
Ses
18
40
0
50
0
6
0
Others ---
21
Total -
540
123
23
356 SI
23
Exhibit XX.— Vagrancy-arrest bookings, vrith previous records, January 1937
Total vagrancy:
Xumber of arrest bookings 1, 326
Xumber with previous felony records 222
Percentage with felony records _17
Xumber with misdemeanor records 575
Percentage with misdemeanor records ^43
Total with previous records 797
Percentage with previous records 60
Exhibit XXI. — Arrests by Los Arigeles Police Department in which the courts
convicted and sentenced on the offense charged, for the month of January 1937
Offense
Xumber in
Number i county less
convicted I than 1
year
Percent i Xumber in
in county State less
than 1
year
less than
1 year
Percent
in State
less than
year
Homicide
Rape
R obbery
Assault
Burglary
Forgery..
Theft
Concealed weapons
Sex
Xonsupport
State narcotic...
State Liquor Control Act
Drunk driving..
Drunk
Disorderly conduct
Vagrancy (except sex)
Motor Vehicle .\ct
Municipal ordinance
Others
Total
2
5
8
18
34
27
115
7
158
8
11
1
136
,612
11
,283
3
135
214
10
384
1
1,122
1
14
23
10
287
1
827
5,7J
1,642
28
1,225
23
3030
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Exhibit XXII
The following table indicates the length of residence in Los Angeles County of
persons transported from the Los Angeles County Jail to San Quentin and Folsom
Penitentiaries during the fiscal years of 1935-36 and 1936-37:
1935-36
1936-37
Length of residence in Los Angeles
County
San
Quentin
Folsom
Total
San
Quentin
Folsom
Total
69
20
19
18
17
15
14
11
12
13
201
44
8
8
9
7
10
5
3
4
7
83
113
28
27
27
24
25
19
14
16
20
284
78
26
21
18
10
18
12
16
10
18
210
36
13
5
8
4
9
6
1
3
5
88
114
39
26
26
14
27
18
17
13
23
298
Total
409
188
597
437
178
615
Exhibit XXIII.-— Average per-day costs of transient relief
Average costs of transient relief per individual, per day's care, 1935:
Entire United States, all transient care:
January ^0- J2
February • "9
March 70
April -70
Mr. Abbott. I offer a letter from Mrs. Esther R. Elder, general
secretary, city of Pasadena Welfare Bureau, dated September 27,
1940. ^ , -u- J
(The report referred to was received and marked as an exhibit and
appears below:)
City of Pasadena,
Department op Relief and Social Service,
Pasadena, Calif. September 27, 1940.
Mr. J. W. Abbott.
Secretary, House of Representatives Special Committee
Investigating Interstate Migration,
1639 Federal Building, Los Angeles, Calif.
My Dear Mr. Abbott: I have been requested by the Council of Social Agencies
of Pasadena to contact the House of Representatives Special Committee Investi-
gating Interstate Migration and extend to it an expression of our sincere apprecia-
tion of its efforts to determine the extent of this problem and some method of
controlling it. I am sure we can only reiterate what must have been apparent
throughout the entire country; the problem is troublesome, expensive, and causes
great suffering.
In the area covered by the Pasadena Community Chest we have had applica-
tions from 52 transient families and 50 nonresident families during the past 6
months. This figure seems small compared with the great numbers represented
throughout the United States, but, when considered in connection with our very
limited funds for private reUef, means that it is practicaDy impossible for us to
either adequately care for these families or those who would more rightly be
considered our responsibility.
The greatest hardship seems to result from the differences in State laws govern-
ing the gaining and loss of residence for the purpose of obtaining rehef. Most
States refuse to extend aid to a citizen after he has been out of the State a year,
although it is often necessary for him to reside in a State anywhere from 3 to 9
years in order to gain residence for this purpose. Therefore, there are literally
thousands of families who have no residence and for whom no community will
assume responsibility. It appears to us from our limited knowledge of the subject
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3031
that the only adequate sohition to this problem would be a unification of all State
residence laws with Federal assistance extended to the nonresident individuals for
the comparatively short time necessary to put such laws into effect.
If this community can be of any service to the committee in any way please do
not hesitate to advise us.
Very truly yours,
Esther R. Elder,
(Mrs.) Esther R. Elder,
General Secretary, Pasadena Welfare Bureau.
Mr. Abbott. I offer a letter from Katherine M. Cobb, 739 Garland
Ave., Los Angeles, Calif.
(The letter referred to was received and marked as an exhibit and
appears below:)
Los Angeles, Calif.
The following facts about Los Angeles have been carefully checked. It has
been suggested that these be presented for your consideration before the com-
mittee hearing in Los Angeles.
Last spring I became interested in writing a personality sketch of Mrs. Arglee
Green, who unofficially operates three big charities on faith. She claims to be
the only resource for the immediate emergency of women and girls, and women
with little children, who might become stranded in Los Angeles. Christ Faith
Mission in Highland Park welcomes all women and girls who are in trouble. No
questions asked — no case number and no time limit.
In verifying her statement — which I find to be quite true — I have given a
careful study to the whole welfare situation, personally contacting the heads
of each department, who in turn have referred me to thinking people and civic
leaders.
In checking the functions of the various agencies, I find that each is so imbedded
in its own problems that no department seems to have any conception of the
situation as a whole. In consequence, for emergency cases, they give their
clients the runaround, each agency thinking the other can relieve the situation.
This runaround is made with distraught nerves, an empty stomach and tired
body, and if they have carfare, it is through the kindness of the clerk in charge of
the office.
The Community Chest has an appropriation of $3,500,000 to operate its 88
agencies — many of these are welfare, but are character building and have not been
planned to meet the necessities of this situation.
This method of charitv was outmoded years ago as extravagant and inhuman.
Since when has this code of "Women and children first" been abandoned?
What are we doing to this generation and the one to follow? The strength of a
country or a community depends not on its arms but the morale, and that can be
no stronger than the honor of its women and the protection of its children.
In a conference with the chief of police, whom I thought could solve this problem,
all his department had to offer, was a night in jail on request, at the city's expense,
He suggested however, the various agencies, which would normally function in
the relief for women and children. Among those listed— Volunteers of Amerida,
the Salvation Army, the Minnie Barton Home, Amy McPherson, and the various
missions. ^^ , , , , -i ui
Volunteers of America have the Brandon Home — a wonderful place— available
through the recommendation of some other agency. Here the guests are per-
mitted to remain indefinitely. Women who have children have to be separated
from them as thev are taken'to another agency. , ^ . -4.
Minnie Barton Home — this is primarily for offenders and one has to be cornmit-
ted through the probation officer. Occasionally they are admitted on
recommendation. ... • ii •
Salvation Army— which in other cities functions for housing women, in this
city, has only accommodations for those who can pay. ^ , , , t t a
Amy McPherson— who gives generously of clothing and baskets ot tood,
plans no housing or meals. , , , , «. i xu x- ^
I suggested to the chief that a plot of ground be fenced off where these tired,
disheartened souls could lie down in peace, unmolested, to starve and die, rather
than the alternative. ■ . .-, ^ i u • ™
By immediate relief for women and girls, I mean ]ust that— a meal, housing,
with no runabout from one agency to another— but action, some place where, if
3032 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
one should ask any citizen, he could tell them where to go and what to do for a
night's shelter and a warm meal. Each citizen, and especialh^ the police officers,
should have that answer.
When one considers that this city is the melting pot of humanity with the
largest transient population in the world — that the lure of Hollywood calls more
women than men — it would seem decent economy to provide against trouble, the
kind of trouble that makes hoboes of decent women and forms a scum for the
underworld.
The only solution which the city officially offers for this condition is an appeal
to the Travelers' Aid, which, under certain circumstances, is authorized to get
the client a reduction in a ticket back home — and often there is no home to go to.
No allowance can be made for a night's lodging or even a meal. This appeal, if
made at all, comes too late, as no one wants to return home on charity as a failure,
many are not even in a condition to return.
Among the 40 or more missions — some of which are supported by the Chest,
others operating independently- — nothing is done for women. The Chest houses
6,000 men nightly.
Inquiring into this strange civic complex, it seems the laws pertaining to the
housing of women are more complicated — in fact, the initial expense is greater —
they are more of a nuisance. So they let George do it, but he doesn't.
Men are far more able to care for themselves, they can sleep in the parks, crawl
under some stairway in a cheap hotel, or they can walk to keep warm. After
nightfall, a woman, no matter what she does, is under suspicion, and will be t^ken
up by the police. So it is jail or a brothel.
Just what does happen to the unsophisticated beauty who fails to get recognition,
the young business woman who cannot find a job, or the poor woman with little
children who has no place to Lay her head, all of whom, through no fault of theirs,
find themselves stranded in a big city — a friendly city — but one which has made no
provision for this emergency.
All these unfortunates have to eat and they have to sleep. Through fear and
loneliness, after starving themselves while they pound the pavements to make
their pittance hold out, they finally fall the easy victim to some smooth crook who
offers them a job which places them in his power. They become B-girls or dancers
and singers in the cheap dives, and chambermaids in the low hotels which are
merely brothels- — ^or they are lured by the white slaver — the end is inevitable.
A helping hand at some crucial moment to steady them over some rough spot
might save much of this misery and its accompanying expense. All this may seem
to be the other fellow's worry; however, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer are the unwitting
victims, for they foot the bills in costs. These costs are: The night courts for
the delinquent and prostitute, hospitalization for malnutrition and tuberculosis,
the psychopathic ward for those broken through the strain of fear and worry, and
the care of those who contract venereal disease.
Women are fundamentally decent but once their morale is broken, the trend is
down, and the end inevitable.
With the many women and girls who either have no job or have one which is
intermittent, there should be some place in the central area where they could be
housed and fed — bridged over until they can find themselves. There should also
be a clubroom, centrally located, where they could come and rest and not have to
"move on."
With the morale high the job is easier to find and of a better type. In the survey
I find that women can find jobs easier than men. If the city covild only see the
wisdom of helping these women and girls to keep their chins up — make them feel
some faith in life— the whole complexion of this situation would take a different
color. It would mean instead of making hoboes out of decent people they would
be able to fit into life and be a help to the community.
This survey is respectfully and prayerfully submitted for your consideration.
If you can deem me worthy of your time I should appreciate an interview with
your committee as a whole, or with your investigator.
Katharine M. Cobb.
Mr. Abbott. I offer a letter dated September 27, 1940, from Joseph
Willis, 1 25 Weller Street, Los Ans^eles.
(The letter referred to was received and marked as an exhibit and
appears below:)
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3033
Los Angeles, Calif., September 27, 1940.
Congressman Tolan.
Dear Sir: In regard to your investigation, may I caU to your attention a factor
responsible for the scattering of thousands of single men on the road as transients.
I refer to the relative needs amendment to the relief act. This amendment has
given district Work Projects Administration administrators arbitrary power. It
was passed with the sole intent to get rid of single men and has been used against
them exclusively. The amendment is vicious in intent and vicious in results.
The great engineer who preceded Mr. Roosevelt in office created over a million
transients and the policy of Hooverite and Garnerite county politicians has con-
demned them to a status of perpetual transiency.
In laying off men classified as single transients, local Work Projects Adminis-
tration district boards put false reasons on the pink slip such as curtailment of
activities. The writer has such a slip in his possession and was assured by his
Work Projects Administration supervisor this was a false reason and that his place
was refilled immediately by a county man recently laid off under the 18-months'
regulation.
Any honest person knowing conditions as they are will admit that transients
will never get a square deal from counties or States. Federal authorities should
handle transients with only Federal personnel in charge. I can furnish detailed
Information from my own case history that will convince any open-minded person
of the truth of the foregoing statements if you are sincerely desirous of remedying
existing conditions.
Hoping this epistle will receive your favorable consideration. I am
Respectfully yours,
Joseph Willis.
Mr. Abbott. I offer a letter from Eric H. Thomsen, Solvang, Calif.,
dated September 9, 1940.
(The letter referred to was received and marked as an exhibit and
appears below:)
Solvang, Calif., September 9, 1940.
Mr. John W. Abbott,
Assistant Field Investigator, Congressional Committee on Interstate Migration,
Room 1639, Federal Building, Los Angeles, Calif.
Dear Mr. Abbott: Thanks for your letter (undated) about the approaching
hearings, inviting me to submit in writing any points which seem to me important.
Assuming that, as a matter of course, men like Dr. Paul Taylor, of the Univer-
sity in Berkeley, Dr. Omer Mills, Mr. John Henderson, and Mr. Robert Hardie of
the Farm Security Administration will be present to testify, I shall confine myself
to points which they may not be apt to cover. I shall venture, furthermore, to
write as one who was acquainted with the piogram of the Resettlement Adminis-
tration as one of its assistant regional directors who has since kept in touch with
the migrant problem as a free lance. As such a one I see a few things which may
be worth pointing out:
1. Regardless of Federal and State efforts and in spite of the very real but very
limited service rendered by the increasingly useful Farm Security Administration
migratory labor camps, the migrants are still, by and large, homeless and jobless, a
dependable source of cheap labor.
2. Even the best-intentioned efforts have approached the problem one-sidedly
and to that extent failed, less because of what has been attempted than because of
what has been ignored.
3. The whole migrant situation has changed rapidly and radically. The tend-
ency is no longer to settle in squatter camps, but to attempt home ownership on
an inadequate basis. I am tempted to predict that no attempt will be wholly
effective which does not tackle the migrant problem as that of potential com-
munities with a multitude of facets which will need to be considered simultaneously.
4. Outside of the Federal camps, which cover at best 5 percent of the migrant
population of California, such a community approach has not been made. Even
within the camp program it cannot best be made as long as the problem is left
entirely with specialists, riding each his own hobby to the exclusion of everything
else, the whole background heavy with the clouds of partisan emotions.
5. That a desirable outcome requires the willingness, ability, and freedom of
individuals to aid the migrants to work out their own solutions. Such a program
would begin in recognition of the human factor as the key to proper solutions,
3034
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
and would then pass on toward desirable social goals by means of appropriate,
nonviolent means.
After having worked both within the Government program and outside of it
as an interested free lance, I have personally come to conclude that the migrant
problem will not be solved until the migrants are enabled to do for themselves
that which most needs to be done.
Attention has already been called to the fact that the migrants are trying to
settle down as fast as possible. On the outskirts of towns m major work areas
deficient communities keep shooting up like toadstools. If these inadequate,
overnight attempts at permanent residence are not to become rural slums, it is
vitally important that the migrants be enabled to function under leadership of
their "own toward a full and complete community life. To this end there should
be a considerable number of local training centers in the vicinity of such new
settlements for the purpose of trainmg local leadership and promoting community
participation and integration.
The following examples will indicate some of the areas of recognized needs: To
know sound principles and effective techniques of community organization; the
history, philosophy, and practice of cooperation; recent labor trends; the growth
and aims of labor unions together with methods of organization. A working
knowledge of State legislation concerning labor, public health, public welfare,
housing and immigration, together with practice m negotiation and arbitration,
public speaking and journalism. Civics in the sense of acquiring a practical
knowledge of parliamentary procedure, common law, the functions of govern-
ment, the history of American civilization, the fundamentals of citizenship, and
recent social trends.
Indispensable other means to sound community organization and home man-
agement are general competence in the planning, preparation, and preservation
of food; clothes making; household budgeting; consumers education; first aid;
the methods of preventing communicable and occupational disease; the principles
of personal, home, and community hygiene (including preparation for marriage,
home nursing, birth control, prenatal, infant, and child care), mental hygiene,
and the principles of heredity. Sound principles of recreation and the ability to
formulate and develop satisfactory community programs. Knowledge of the
history and function of religion in relation to personal needs and social problems.
Other vocational needs, say in relation to agriculture, construction, home in-
dustries, and mechanical skills would very likely be added in those community
centers where these needs became most pronounced and proved most capable of
fulfillment.
By the very nature of government enterprise, its ways are too slow and cum-
bersome to function in these fields as quickly as the needs arise. On the other
hand nothing short of the authority and capacity of the Federal Government
would have been allowed a chance to function, even in such a limited manner as
the Federal Security Administration camps now function. Though much of the
work which still needs to be done, could be accomplished as a matter of practical
coordination of the resources and efforts now operating within various govern-
mental agencies, it is doubtful, in the light of past experience, whether the in-
evitable red tape of governmental procedure and overlapping authority (not to
mention the conflicting personal ambitions or prejudices of individual Govern-
ment employees, high and low) will permit those things which most need to be
done to be done, as and when they should be done.
There is a wide field here for private enterprise. If nothing much is being done
about it, it has usually been because those who could see the need, had no access
to the indispensable minimum finances involved, and those who could command
the financial support, either could not see the need or, for reasons of their own,
did not intend that anything should be done about it. Which brings us back,
for all I know, to the question whether in this, as in other general aspects of the
whole problem of interstate migration and destitute citizens, anything short of
Federal efl'ort will avail.
I hope this statement will be found within the scope of your inquiry and not
too lengthy to be considered.
With personal greetings to your chief investigator, my former colleague in
Government service, Dr. E. J. Rowell, and thanks for the opportunity to submit
these personal reflections.
Sincerely yours,
Eric H. Thomsen.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3035
Mr. Abbott. I offer copies of six State legislative bills dealing with
relief.
(The documents referred to were received and marked as exhibits
and are reprinted below:)
Assembly Bill No. 980
Introduced by Mr. Redwine (by request), January 24, 1935; referred to com-
mittee on governmental efficiency and economy
An act to add sections 717, 718, 719, and 720 to the Political Code, relating to
State police.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section I. Section 717 is hereby added to the Political Code, to read as
follows:
"717. State police officers shall be stationed at all points where a highway
crosses the border of the State and in all unincorporated towns within the State
which are situated at or near the border of the State. If any State agency main-
tains an inspection force at any such point, the officer or officers comprising such
force may be sworn in as State police, at the discretion of the chief."
Sec. 2. Section 718 is hereby added to the Political Code, to read as follows:
"718. State police officers shall be detailed to, and shall police all State build-
ings and grounds, the University of California and its branches, all State parks,
and all places of public resorts not adequately policed by local officers."
Sec. 3. Section 719 is hereby added to the Political Code, to read as follows:
"719. A State detective bureau shall be formed and operated under the direction
of a chief. It shall consist of not more than fifteen officers, five to be stationed
at San Francisco, five at Los Angeles, and five at San Diego. The detective bureau
shall assist in the enforcement of all laws of a general nature and shall cooperate
with the Division of Criminal Identification and Investigation in the Department
of Penology."
Sec. 4. Section 720 is hereby added to the Political Code, to read as follows:
"720. The chief of the State police and all State police officers are hereby
designated as law enforcement officers within the meaning of section 21 of Article
V of the Constitution of the State of California, and as such are under the direct
supervision of the Attorney General."
(Amended in Senate June 6, 1935; amended in assembly May 30, 1935)
Assembly Bill No. 2459
Introduced by Messrs. Redwine and Jones, May 16, 1935; referred to committee
on unemployment
An act to prevent the entry into California of paupers, vagabonds, indigent persons,
persons likely to become public charges, providing means for enforcing the same
and prescribing penalties for the violation thereof, declaring the urgency thereof,
and providing it shall take effect immediately
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 1. Large numbers of paupers, vagabonds, indigent persons and persons
likely to become public charges have been, and are, coming into this State, bur-
dening the relief rolls, creating further unemployment in the State, and subjecting
our workers to competition with pauper labor. This influx of unemployed and
unemployables at the present time seriously threatens the safety and welfare
of the people of this State, and, if continued, will destroy the State. In order to
protect this State and the people thereof from pauper labor; also to save this
State and its people from impossible financial burdens in caring for vast numbers
of paupers and indigent persons; also to preserve the pubHc peace, health, and
safety; also to preserve the standard of living of the people of this State and to
maintain the general welfare and to protect and defend this State, it is impera-
tively necessary that hereafter no paupers, vagabonds, indigent persons or persons
likely to become public charges, shall be allowed to enter or shall enter this State.
260370— 41— pt. 7 16
3036
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Sec. 2. All paupers, vagabonds, indigent persons are hereby prohibited from
entering the State of California.
Sec. 3. It is hereby made the duty of the Governor of this State to enforce the
provisions and purposes of this act by the means herein provided and by any
other means that he may find necessary to enforce the same. He is hereby author-
ized and directed to use all means that may be necessary to enforce this act. He
is also authorized to cooperate with the United States of America in all ways
looking towards the effectuating of the purposes of this act.
Sec. 4. Every person whose right to enter the State of California is in question
must affirmatively establish that he is not one of the persons excluded from entry
under the terms of this act; the burden of proof shall be upon each such person.
Sec. 5. The Governor is hereby authorized and directed to use, in his discretion,
any present agency, officers or officials of the State, and, if he deems it necessary
or expedient, to create such new agency or agencies and employ such personnel
as may be necessary to adequately enforce this act. He may also use the officers
and officials of any county, city and county, city, or other municipal corporation
in the enforcement of this act.
Sec. SYz. The Governor is authorized and directed to in every practicable way carry
into effect all of the provisions of this act and to that end may set up and maintain at
State lines on major or other highways, binder the jurisdiction of any department of the
State designated by him, either temporary or permanent offices, stations, or bureaus,
for the identification of persons and the inspection of motor vehicle or vehicles and
to supervise and direct the use of the highway or highways by the person or persons,
vehicle or vehicles, entering the State.
Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of the Governor, either personally or through such
official as he may designate for that purpose, to make and enforce all rules and
regulations that may be necessary to carry out and enforce the purposes of this
act. All such rules and regulations shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of
State and shall be effective from the date of such filing. The Governor may
likewise alter such rules and regulations from time to time. Any person who
shall violate any of the provisions of this act or any of the rules and regulations
so promulgated shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof
shall be subject to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) or imprison-
ment in the county jail not exceeding one (1) year, or both such fine and imprison-
ment; in addition any person so convicted who fails to establish that he was a
bona fide resident of 'the State of California at the date of the approval of this
act shall be summarily deported from the State of California.
Sec. 7. If any section, subsection, clause or phrase of this act is for any reason
held to be unconstitutional, such decisions shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this act. The Legislature hereby declares that it would
have passed this act irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, sub-
sections, sentences or clauses or phrases thereof be declared unconstitutional.
If in any action, suit or proceeding it be adjudged that any provision of this
act is unconstitutional as applied to the particular facts involved in such action,
suit or proceeding, any judgment or decision rendered therein shall not affect the
application of the provisions of this act in any other action, case, suit or proceeding.
Sec. 8. This act is passed to meet the emergency herein recited and shall remain
in force only until February 1, 1937.
Sec. 9. Should any person enter the State of California in violation of the terms
of this act, then upon the discovery of such person at any place in this State he
shall be summarilv deported from this State.
Sec. 10. This act is hereby declared to be an urgency measure within the
meaning of section 1 of Article IV of the Constitution and necessary for the im-
mediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety and shall take effect
immediately.
The facts constituting such necessity are as follows:
There exists in the State of California, in the United States and throughout the
world a grave economic depression. Many persons have long wanted to live in
California and now finding themselves without employment and without means of
support in their fixed place of residence they have been and are moving to Cali-
fornia in large numbers. There are hundreds of thousands of employable persons
now within this State, most of whom are California citizens and who have no
employment and who, together with their families, are now being maintained at
public' expense. In addition, today there are also hundreds of thousands of
unemployed persons in this State who are not maintained by the public, but for
whom no emplovment is available. There are also tens of thousands of unem-
ployable persons in this State who are now being maintained at public expense.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3037
Vast numbers of paupers, vagabonds, indigent persons and persons likelv to
become public charges have been and are coming into this State, burdening' the
Telief rolls, creating further unemployment in the State, subjecting our workers to
competition with pauper labor, and threatening the continued prosperity, health,
safety and welfare of the people of this State. The entry into this State' of unem-
ployed persons who do not have sufficient means to supjjort themselves results in
large numbers of such persons being maintained at the expense of this State, or
in the cases in which such persons obtain employment they displace workers already
employed in California and the displaced workers and their families are forced
upon public relief. If the influx of destitute unemployed continu(;s it will be im-
possible to provide the sums necessary for relief or to provide employment for the
increased numbers of jobless persons. The coming of large numbers of persons of
the classes mentioned threatens the peace and safety of the State and it is impera-
tive that no more paupers, vagabonds, indigent persons or persons likely to
become public charges, shall enter or be permitted to enter this State.
(Amended in assembly March 31, 1939)
Assembly Bill No. 1356
Introduced by Mr. Houser, January 23, 1939; referred to Committee on Social
Service and Welfare
An act to prevent the entry into the State of California of paupers, vagabonds, and
fugitives from justice, providing for enforcement of this act and prescribing penalties
for the violation thereof
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 1. Large numbers of paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice
have, and unless restrained will continue to, come into this State, and have created
.a problem of relief and law enforcement. This influx of such persons is detri-
mental to the best interests of this State and this statute is enacted in the exercise
of the police power of this State as a matter of self-preservation, and to prevent
the overburdening of facilities of the State for the relief of destitution and for law
•enforcement.
The Legislature hereby declares that the enactment and enforcement of this act
is essential to the w'elfare of the people of this State.
Sec. 2. All paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice are hereby prohibited
from entering the State of California.
For the purposes of this act a paxiper is a person who is likely to become a public
■charge within three years.
Sec. 3. The GoAernor of this State shall enforce the provisions of this act in the
manner provided in this act or by any other means or methods available. In
•carrying out the provisions of this act the Governor is authorized to cooperate
with any agency of the United States of America or of any other State of the
United States.
Sec. 4. The Governor is hereby authorized to use, in his discretion, any depart-
ment, board, commission, officer, or other agency of the State to enforce this act;
•and he may create any additional agency which, in his discretion, he finds neces-
sary to carry out the provisions and to effectuate the purposes of this act.
Sec. 5. The Governor shall make and enforce all rules and regulations necessary
to enforce this act. Such rules and regulations shall be filed with the Secretary
•of State and shall be effective from and after date of such filing.
Sec. 6. The Governor shall provide for the establishment of inspection points
within this State and on each highway, road, or railroad entering this State; and
lie shall provide for inspection of all persons entering this State by boat, airplane,
or any other method.
Sec. 7. Any person authorized by the Governor to inspect prospective entrants
into this State is hereby authorized to examine under oath such prospective entrants
for the purpose of determining whether such prospective entrants are paupers,
vagabonds, or fugitives from justice. Any person may be restrained from entering
this State if the person so authorized reasonably determines that he is a pauper,
vagabond, or fugitive from justice.
Sec. 8. Every person whose right to enter this State is questioned must affirma-
tively establish tfiat he is not a person whose entry is prohibited under the pro-
visions of this acL
3Q38 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Any person who has been refused the right to enter the State of California as herein
provided shall have the right to bring a proceeding in the superior court of the county
which he was prohibited from entering to teat the validity of his exclusion. The
defendant in said siiit .shall be the Attorney General of the State of California, whose
duty it shall be to defend the same. Process shall be served upon said Attorney
General, who shall make answer within ten days after the sarne is served upon him.
Said suit shall be heard and determined as soon ad the convenience of the court will
permit. The burden of proof shall be upon the plaintiff to establish affirmatively
that he to not a person whose entry into this State is prohibited by the provisions of
this act.
Sec. 9. Any person who enters the State of California in violation of this act is
guilty of a misdemeanor.
Sec. 10. Should any person enter the State of California in violation of the
terms of this act, then upon the discovery of such person at any place in this
State he shall be summarily deported from this State.
Sec. 11. If any section, subsection, clause, or phrase of this act is for any reason
held to be unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this act. The Legislature hereby declares that it would
have passed this act irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, sub-
sections, sentences or clauses or phrases thereof be declared unconstitutional.
If in any action, suit, or proceeding it be adjudged that any provision of this
act is unconstitutional as applied to the particular facts involved in such action,
suit, or proceeding, any judgment or decision rendered therein shall not affect the
application of the provisions of this act in any other action, suit, or proceeding.
Assembly Bill No. 47
CHAPTER 47
An act to amend sections 124, 127, 3591, 3594, 3616, 3651, 3659, 3661, 3691, 3807,
4101, 4111, 4112, 4113, and 4147 of, to amend the title of Chapter 8 of Part 6 of
Division I of, to repeal sections 3614, 3707, and 4IO8 of, to add sections 3511.5,
3521, 3662, and 3663 to, to add Chapter 4.3, consisting of sections 3534 to 3562,
and Chapter 4.6, consisting of seriions 3571 to S57S, to Part 6 of Division I of the
Revenue and Taxation Code, and to amend sections 3833.3, 3857.2, and 3859.20
of, to repeal sections 3773.1, 3833, and 3859.18 of, and to add sections 3773.1,
3773.2, 3785.4, 3785.5, and 3785.6 to, and to add Chapter IXb, consisting of
sections 3860.01 to 3860.32, and Chapter IXc, consisting of sections 3861.1 to
3861.8, to Title IX of Part III of, the Political Code, relating to property taxation,
including the right of redemption and the classification and control of tax-deeded
property, and making an appropriation
[Approved by Governor June 1, 1940. Filed with Secretary of State June 4, 1940]
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 124 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended
to read as follows:
"124. 'Current taxes' means taxes which are a lien on property but which are
not included in 'amount of sold ta.xes' except that between a lien date and the
time in the same calendar year when property is sold to the State for taxes the
taxes becoming a lien on this lien date in such calendar year are not yet 'current
Sec. 1.5. Section 127 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended to
read as follows: , , , ,0 r
"127. 'Tax-deeded property' is property which has been deeded to the fctate for
taxes and which has not been sold to a private purchaser or a taxing agency and
has not been finallv classified as suitable for public use."
Sec. 2. Section 3511.5 is hereby added to the Revenue and Taxation Code, to
read as follows: ....
"3511.5. On execution of the deed to the State the right of redeption is
terminated." . /-, ,
Sec. 3. Section 3521 is hereby added to the Revenue and Taxation Code, to
read as follows:
"3521. A proceeding based on an alleged invalidity or irregularity of any deed
to the State for taxes or of any proceedings leading up to the deed can only be
commenced within one year after the date of recording of the deed to the State in
the county recorder's office or within one year after section 3785.4 of the PoHtical
Code takes effect, whichever is later."
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3039
Sections 351 to 358, inclusive, of the Code of Civil Procedure do not apply to the
time within which a proceeding may be brought under the provisions of this
section.
Sec. 4. Chapter 4.3, consisting of sections 3534 to 3562, is hereby added to Part
6 of Division I of the Revenue and Taxation Code, to read as follows:
"chapter 4.3. CLASSIFICATION OF TAX-DEEDED PROPERTY
"3534. The Land Classification Commission is continued in existence. There
shall be three commissioners, who shall be appointed by the Governor, to serve at
his pleasure, one of whom shall be learned in the subject of agricultural economics,
one of whom shall be learned in the subject of real property taxation, and one of
whom shall be learned in the subject of conservation and regional planning.
"3535. The chief of the redemption tax department in the Controller's office, or
anv other civil service employee of the classifying agency designated by the classi-
fying agency, shall act as secretary of the Land Classifieation Commission.
"3538. The chairman of the Land Classification Commission shall be elected by
and serve at the pleasure of the commission and shall be a member of the commis-
sion. The chairman and members of the commission shall each receive their
actual and necessarv expen.ses incurred in the course of their duties under this
chapter and shall each receive a sum to be fixed by the State Personnel Board and
which the State Personnel Board may from time to time change as compensation
for each and every day devoted to the actual performance of their duties under
this chapter.
"3539. The classifving agency shall, from its personnel, furnish any secretarial,
clerical, technical, or"other assistance as may be needed by the Land Classification
Commission. . , , , ,•£• j
"3540. Until the Land Classification Commission is appointed and qualified,
the classifying agency shall exercise the powers and duties conferred upon the
Land Classification Commission. • . j • •
"3541. 'Administering agency' means the State or local agency which adminis-
ters tax-deeded property which has been classified as suitable for a public use. The
administering agency may be any State department, commission, board, or other
State agencv, or may be a county, city, district, or other local agency.
"3542. 'Classifying agency' means the Controller, or such State agency as he
may designate. , . ,, ^ . „ , rr
"3543. After the deeds to the State are received in the Controllers office, or
after the right of redemption is terminated, whichever is later, the classifying
agency shall, as prescribed by the Land Classification Commission, tentatively
classify each parcel of tax-deeded property so as to indicate the best use for each
"3544. This tentative classification shall include, but is not limited to, the
following: , , , ,i. ut i, i^
"(a) Which property is suitable for public use, and what the public use should
be
"(b) Which property is suitable to go back to private ownership.
"(c) Which property appears to be essentially waste land not fat for either
public or private use wdth recommendations for its rehabilitation.
"3545 When the tentative classification is completed, the classifying agency
shall notify the various State or local agencies which in its judgment are best
fitted to administer the property classified for public use. As Prescnbed by the
Land Classification Commission, each State or local agency so notified shall notity
the classifying agency whether or not it desires to become the administering agency
° "3546^ As pri'cribed by the Land Classification Commission, any State or local
agency may apply to the classifying agency:
"(a) To have tax-deeded property classified for public use.
"(b) To be the administering agency for property classified for public use. _
"3547. As prescribed by the Land Classification Commission the classifying
agency shall transmit to the Land Classification Commission the tentative c assi-
fication, the responses of the State or local agencies to its notifications, any requests
of State or local agencies relating to classification, and its recommendations for
the final classification. . . u , i^„ „„ j+ mow
"3548. The Land Classification Commission, under such rules as it niay
prescribe, shall establish a final classification of property which has been deeded
to the St4te for taxes. This final classification shall include, but is not limited to,
the same subjects as the tentative classification.
3040
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
"3549. No property shall be finally classified for public use unless some State-
or local agency has indicated its willingness to become the administering agency
for the property. If no agency desires property otherwise suitable for public-
use, it shall be finally classified for private ownership or as waste land.
"3550. Until final classification is completed, tax-deeded property is subject
to rental but not to sale, except that it may be sold under Chapter 8 of Part 6 of
this division.
"3551. Not more than 5 percent of the assessed valuation of property in any
county shall be finally classified as suitable for public use, except by consent of
the board of supervisors. As used in this section, 'assessed valuation' means the
assessed valuation of all taxable property and the valuation which would be placed
on tax-deeded property, and on former tax-deeded property which has been classi-
fied for public use, if such property were assessed. On information furnished by
the county assessor, the assessed valuation shall be determined by the Land Classi-
fication Commission as of each time final classification is made.
"3552. After tax-deeded property has been finally classified as to use, the
property classified for private ownership is subject to sale and continues to be
subject to rental in the manner provided by law.
"3554. After tax-deeded property has been finally classified as to use, the-
propertj^ classified for public use and the waste land is not subject to sale to private-
owners.
"3555. The property finally classified for public use shall be administered by
the State or local agency which consents to administer the property and which,
in the judgment of the Land Classification Commission, is best fitted to administer
the property. The administering agency shall enter on administration of the-
property in the manner and at the time prescribed by the Land Classification
Commission.
"3556. Before taking over the property for purposes of administration, the
administering agency shall agree with the board of supervisors as to the purchase-
price to be paid for the property and any terms of sale. This purchase price shall
not exceed the amount which would have been necessary to redeem the property
at the time it was deeded to the State for taxes. This price shall be paid from any
funds appropriated or given to the administering agency. If the administering^
agency is the county, the board of supervisors shall agree with the governing
bodies of all revenue districts as to the amount to be paid to such revenue districts
by the county. On consummation of any agreement under this section, the
property classified for public use ceases to be subject to rental. The money
received under this section shall be distributed in the same manner as money-
received on sale of tax-deeded property to a private purchaser.
"3557. If agreement is not reached within a time set by the Land Classification
Commission as to the amount to be paid or the terms of sale for property finally
classified for public use, any property classified for public use may be immediately
reclassified as if it had not been previously classified.
"3558. The administering agency may also agree to purchase the rights of other
taxing agencies.
"3559. If the Controller has not authorized sale of property finally classified
for private ownership, or if no agreement has been consummated regarding the
purchase price and terms of sale for property finally classified for public use, such
property may be reclassified at any time in the manner and at the time prescribed
by the Land Classification Commission.
"3560. The property finally classified as waste land continues to be subject ta
rental and shall be administered by the classifying agency or such agency as it
may designate. When, in the judgment of the Land Classification Commission^
this waste land is rehabilitated, it shall be reclassified as to private or public use
in the same manner as tax-deeded property being classified for the first time. _
"3561. At any time, all State and local agencies shall supply all information'
requested by the classifying agency or the Land Classification Commission.
"3562. Any money necessary for carrying out the provisions of this chapter-
shall be appropriated only out of the tax deeded land rental fund. This section
is not an appropriation, but only prescribes the fund out of which appropriations
are to be made by other provisions of law for the purposes of this chapter."
Sec. 5. Chapter 4.6, consisting of sections 3571 to 3578, inclusive, is hereby
added to Part 6 of Division I of the Revenue and Taxation Code, to read as
follows:
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3041
"CHAPTER 4.6. TERMINATING RIGHT OF REDEMPTION
"3571. The right of redemption of property which was deeded to the State
before the effective date of section 3785.4 of the Political Code shall be terminated
under this chapter.
"3572. Within one year after the effective date of Chapter IXc of Title IX of
Part III of the Political Code, or within six months after default under any plan
for paj'ment of delinquent taxes in installments, whichever is later, the tax col-
lector shall send a notice of termination of right of redemption by registered mail
to the last assessee of every assessment of tax-deeded property which was deeded
to the State before the effective date of section 3785.4 of the Political Code. The
notice need not be mailed if the last assessee files with the tax collector a waiver
of the notice.
"3573. The notice of termination of right of redemption shall state:
"(a) The time of termination of the right of redemption;
"(b) A description of the property;
"(c) That if the property is not redeemed, or payment of delinquent taxes in
installments is not started, before the time set for termination of the right of
redemption, the right of redemption will cease.
"3574. The tax collector may also publish the notice of termination of right of
redemption once in a newspaper published in the county, or, if none, by posting
in three conspicuous places in the county.
"3575. The time set for the termination of the right of redemption shall be
four months after the notice of termination of the right of redemption is sent.
"3576. If any property is not redeemed, or payment of delinquent taxes in
installments is "not started, before the time set for termination of the right of
redemption, the right of redemption as to such property is terminated.
"3577. Failure of the tax collector to send the notice of termination of the
right of redemption within the time limited in this chapter does not affect the
validitv of the termination of the right of redemption within the proper time
after the notice is actually sent. The tax collector shall be liable for any dam-
ages suffered by the county or State because of his failure to send the notice
within the time limited in this chapter.
"3578. When the right of redemption of any property is terminated under this
chapter, and the property is classified for public use, the minimum price which
the administering agency shall pay to the county is the cost of mailing and
publishing the notice of termination of right of redemption."
Sec. 5.3. Section 3591 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended
to read as follows:
"3591. As used in this chapter "redemptioner" means any person entitled to
redeem real property from tax sale, or who would be so entitled if the right of
redemption were not terminated." , , x
Sec. 6. Section 3594 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended to
read as follows: ^ . ^ .^ ^.^, ^ ^ j j j
"3594. As prescribed in this chapter, the State may quiet its title to tax-deeded
property." „ . ^ , . , , i j
Sec 7 Section 3614 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby repealed.
Sec. 8. Section 3616 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended to
read as follows: , , . , . r. .u
"3616. This invalidity redemption shall be made withm one year after the
interlocutory decree establishing the invalidity becomes a final judgment.
Sec. 8.1. Section 3651 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended to
read as follows: ^ , c^ ^ , i •
"3651 After the recording of the deed to the State, the State has exclusive pow er
through the Controller to rent tax deeded property and to receive all proceeds
arising in any manner from the property except proceeds from a sale of a parcel ot
tax deeded property." ,^ ,. /-,,., ^_ a a a-^
Sec. 8.2. Section 3659 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended to
read as follows: ^ „ , ^i.- v i a ^^«+;^r.
"3659 All monevs received by the Controller under this chapter and section
3441 shall be placed in the tax deeded land rental fund in the State treasury, which
fund is continued in existence, and shall not be deducted from the amount neces-
sary to be paid in redemption of the property." ^,., , ^^^+^
Sec. 8.3 Section 3661 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended to
read as follows: ,...-,■. i- c j.u- a+„+^ +^ ,,co
"3661 The Legislature hereby declares that it is the policy of this State to use
any revenues received by the State from the administration of tax sold or tax
3042 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
deeded property for the primary purpose of restoring tax deeded property to the
rolls and for all other purposes incident to the administration and classification of
tax sold property and tax deeded property and such revenues are hereby appropri-
ated for the purposes specified in this section. No money shall be appropriated
from the tax deeded land rental fund except for the purposes specified in this
section. Any unencumbered balance in excess of $5,000 remaining in the tax
deeded land rental fund on June 30th of each fiscal year shall be transferred to the
general fund."
Sec. 8.4. Section 3662 is hereby added to the Revenue and Taxation Code, to
read as follows:
"3662. The advisory committee on tax deeded property is continued in existence.
The committee consists of six members, appointed by the Governor on the recom-
mendation of the Controller, and holding office at the pleasure of the Governor.
Three members of this committee shall represent the interests of the counties of
this State and three members shall represent the interests of the cities of this State.
The members of this committee serve without compensation, except that they
shall each receive the actual and necessary expenses incurred in the course of
their duties."
Sec. 8.5. Section 3663 is hereby added to the Revenue and Taxation Code,
to read as follows:
"3663. The advisory committee on tax deeded property shall meet on call of the
Controller for the purpose of conference and making recommendations in regard to:
"(a) Restoring tax deeded property to the rolls;
"(b) All other purposes relating to the administration of tax sold property and
tax deeded property."
Sec. 9. Section 3691 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended to
read as follows:
"3691. As provided in this chapter, after final classification of tax deeded
property has been completed, the tax collector may sell all or any portion of tax
deeded property for lawful money of the United States, except where the property
has been classified as waste land."
Sec. 10. Section 3707 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby repealed.
Sec. 11. The title of Chapter 8 of Part 6 of Division I of the Revenue and
Taxation Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
"CHAPTER 8. DEED TO STATE, COUNTY OR PUBLIC AGENCIES"
Sec. 12. Section 3807 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended to
read as follows:
"3807. The deed conveys to the purchaser all the State's interest in the
propertv."
Sec. 13. Section 4101 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended
to read as follows:
"4101. Until the right of redemption is terminated, tax sold property may be
redeemed by the redemptioner. The 'redemptioner' is the person whose estate
has been sold or his successor in interest."
Sec. 14. Section 4108 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby repealed.
Sec. 15. Section 4111 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended to
read as follows:
"4111. Without charge, the auditor shall note in the delinquent list the fact and
date of redemption."
Sec. 16. Section 4112 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended to
read as follows:
"4112. On redemption, any interest acquired by virtue of the sale to the State
ceases."
Sec. 17. Section 4113 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended
to read as follows:
"4113. Whenever tax sold property is redeemed, the redemptioner or any other
person claiming through him may bring suit against the State to quiet title to
all or any portion of the property and prosecute it to final judgment."
Sec. 18. Section 4147 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is hereby amended to
read as follows:
"4147. As provided in this chapter, any parcel of tax sold property contained in
an assessment and having a separate valuation on the roll for the year of sale to the
State and all subsequent rolls may be redeemed separately from the whole
assessment."
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3043
Sec. 19. Section 3785.4 is hereby added to the Political Code, to read as
follows:
"3785.4. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 3780, 3817 or 3818, or
any other section of this code, the right to redeem proj^erty which has been sold
to the State for taxes is terminated on execution of the deed to the State under
section 3785."
Sec. 20. Section 3785.5 is hereby added to the Political Code, to read as follows:
"3785.5. A proceeding based on an alleged invalidity or irregularity of any deed
to the State for taxes or of any proceedings leading up to the deed can only be
commenced within one year after the date of recording of the deed to the State
in the county recorder's office or within one year after this section takes effect,
whichever is later. Sections 351 to 358, inclusive, of the Code of Civil Procedure
do not apply to the time within which a proceeding may be brought under the
provisions of this section."
Sec. 21. Section 3785.6 is hereby added to the Political Code, to read as follows:
"3785.6. Tax deeded property is property which has been deeded to the State
for taxes and which has not been sold to a private purchaser or a taxing agency
and has not been finally classified as suitable for public use."
Sec. 22. Section 3833 of the Political Code is hereby repealed.
Sec. 23. Section 3833.3 of the Political Code is hereby amended to read as
follows:
"3833.3. After final classification of tax deeded property has been completed,
the tax collector shall, whenever directed by the board of supervisors of his
county, and upon the written authorization of the State Controller, sell all or
any portion of tax deeded property at public auction to the highest bidder for
cash in lawful money of the United States except where the tax deeded property
has been classified as waste land."
Sec 24. Chapter IXb, consisting of sections 3860.01 to 3860.32, mclusive, is
hereby added to Title IX of Part III of the Political Code, to read as follows:
"chapter IXB. CLASSIFICATION OF TAX DEEDED PROPERTY
"3860.01. A Land Classification Commission is hereby created. There shall
be three commissioners who shall be appointed by the Governor to serve at his
pleasure, one of whom shall be learned in the subject of agricultural economics,
one of whom shall be learned in the subject of real property taxation, and one of
whom shall be learned in the subject of conservation and regional planning. ^
"3860 05 The chief of the redemption tax department in the Controller s
office, or any other civil service employee of the classifying agency designated by
the classifying agency, shall act as secretary of the Land Classification Com-
mission. . , ...IT J /^l
"3860 07 The Governor shall make the first appointments to the Land l^lassi-
fication Commission within ninety days after this chapter takes effect. Failure
to make the appointments within the proper time does not invalidate the appoint-
ments when actually made. .. . ^^ u ^ 4- a
"3860 08 The chairman of the Land Classification Commission shall be elected
by and serve at the pleasure of the commission and shall be a member of the
commission. The chairman and members of the commission shall each receive
their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the course of their duties under
this chapter, and shall each receive a sum to be fixed by the State Personnel
Board, and which the State Personnel Board may from time to time change, as
compensation for each and every day devoted to the actual performance of their
duties under this chapter. ., , r • u
"3860.09. The classifying agency shall, from its personnel, furnish any secre-
tarial, clerical, technical, or other assistance as may be needed by the Land
Classification Commission. ... • x j ^ „i;«„^
"3860 10 Until the Land Classification Commission is appointed and qualined,
the classifying agency shall exercise the powers and duties conferred upon the
Land Classification Commission. ,, o,x .l it „ri.,-«v.
"3860.11. 'Administering agency' means the State or local agency which
administers tax deeded property which has been classified as suitable for a public
use. The administering agency may be any State department, commission
board, or other State agency, or may be a county, city, district, or other local
^^"3860.12. 'Classifying agency' means the Controller, or such State agency as
he may designate.
3044 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
"3860.13. After the deeds to the State are received in the Controller's office,
or after the right of redemption is terminated, whichever is later, the classifying
agency shall, as prescribed by the Land Classification Commission, tentatively
classify each parcel of tax deeded property so as to indicate the best use for each
parcel.
"3860.14. This tentative classification shall include, but is not limited to, the
following:
"(a) Which property is suitable for public use, and what the public use
should be;
"(b) Which property is suitable to go back to private ownership;
"(c) Which property appears to be essentially waste land not fit for either public
or private use with recommendations for its rehabilitation.
"3860.15. When the tentative classification is completed, she classifying agency
shall notify the various State or local agencies which in its judgment are best
fitted to administer the property classified for public use. As prescribed by tlie
Land Classification Commission, each State or local agency so notified shall notify
the classifying agency whether or not it desires to become the administering
agency for such property.
"3860 16. As prescribed by the Land Classification Commission, any State or
local agency may apply to the classifying agency:
"(a) To have tax-deeded property classified for public use;
"(b) To be the administering agency for property classified for public use.
"3860.17. As prescribed by the Land Classification Commission, the classifying
agency shall transmit to the Land Classification Commission the tentative classi-
fication, the responses of the State or local agencies to its notifications, any
requests of State or local agencies relating to classification, and its recommenda-
tions for the final classification.
"3860.18. The Land Classification Commission, under such rules as it may
prescribe, shall establish a final classification of property whirli has been deeded
to the State for taxes. This final classification shall include, but is not limited to,
the same subjects as the tentative classification.
"3860.19. No property shall be finally classified for public use unless some
State or local agency has indicated its willingness to become the administering
agency for the property. If no agency desires property otherwise suitable for
public use, it shall be finally classified for private ownership or as waste land.
"3860.20. Until final classification is completed, tax-deeded property is subject
to rental but not to sale, except that it may be sold under section 3897d.
"3860.21. Not more than 5 percent of the assessed valuation o: property in any
county shall be finallv classified as suitable for public use, except by consent of
the hoard of supervisors. As used in this section 'assesseil valuation' means the
assessed valuation of all taxable property and the valuation which would be
placed on tax-deeded property, and on former tax-deeded property which has
been classified for public use, if such property were assessed. On information
furnished by the county assessor, the assessed valuation shall be determined by
the Land Classification Commission as of each time final classification is made.
"3860.22. After tax-deeded propertv has been finally classified as to use, the
property classified for private ownership is subject to sale and continues to be
subject to rental in the manner provided by law.
"3860.24. After tax-deeded property has been finally classified as to use, the
property classified for public use and the waste land is not subject to sale to private
owners.
"3860 25 The property finally classified for public use shall be administered
by the State or local agency which consents to administer the property and
w'hich, in the judgment of the Land Classification Commission, is best fitted to
administer the property. The administering agency shall enter on administration
of the property in the manner and at the time prescribed by the Land Classification
Commission.
"3860.26. Before taking over the property for purposes of administration, the
administering agency shall agree with the board of supervisors as to the purchase
price to be paid for the property and any terms of sale. This purchase price shall
not exceed the amount which would have been necessary to redeem the property
at the time it was deeded to the State for taxes. This price shall be paid from
any funds appropriated or given to the administering agency. If the adminis-
tering agency is the county, the board of supervisors shall agree with the governing
bodies of all revenue districts as to the amount to be paid to such revenue districts
by the county. On consummation of any agreement under this section, the
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3045
■property classified for public use ceases to be subject to rental. The money
received under this section shall be distril)uted in the same manner as money
received on sale of tax-deeded projjerty to a private purchaser.
"3860.27. If agreement is not reached within a time set by the Land Classifica-
tion Commission as to the amount to be paid or the terms of sale for property
finally classified for public use, any property classified for {)ul)lic use may be
immediately reclassified as if it had not lieen previously classified.
"3S60.2S. The administering agency may also agree to purchase the rigiits of
other taxing agencies.
"3860 29. If the Controller has not autliorized sale of property finally classified
for private ownership, or if no agreement has been consummated regarding the
purchase price and terms of sale for property finally classified for public use, such
property may be reclassified at any time in the manner and at the time prescribed
by tlie Land Classification Commission.
"3860.30. The property finally classified as waste land continues to })e subject
to rental and shall be administered by the classifying agency or such agency as it
may designate. Wlien, in tiie judgment of the Land Classification Commission,
this waste land is rehabilitated, it shall be reclassified as to private or public use
in the same manner as tax-deeded property being classified for the first time.
"3860.31. At any time, all State and local agencies shall supply all inforination
requested by the classifying agency or the Land Classification Commission.
"3860.32, Any money necessary for carrying out the provisions of this chapter
shall be appropriated only out of the tax deeded land rental fund. This section
is not an appropriation, but only prescribes the fund out of which appropriations
are to be made by other provisions of law for the purposes of this chapter."
Sec. 25. Chapter IXc, consisting of sections 3861.1 to 3861.8, inclusive, is
hereby added to Title IX of Part III of the Political Code, to read as follows:
'"chapter IXC. TERMINATING RIGHT OF REDEMPTION
"3861.1. The right of redemption of property which was deeded to the State
before the effective date of section 3785.4 shall be terminated under this chapter.
"3861.2. Within one year after the effective date of this chapter, or within
six months after default under any plan for payment of delinquent taxes in install-
ments, whichever is later, the tax collector shall send a notice of termination of
Tight of redemption by registered mail to the last assessee of every assessment of
tax deeded property which was deeded to the State before the effective date of
section 3785.4. The notice need not be mailed if the last assessee files with the
tax tjollector a waiver of the notice.
"3861.3. The notice of termination of right of redemption shall state:
"(a) The time of termination of the right of redemption;
"(b) A description of the property;
"(c) That if the property is not redeemed, or payment of delinquent taxes in
installments is not started, before the time set for termination of the right of
redemption, the right of redemption will cease.
"3861.4. The tax collector may also publish the notice of termination of right
of redemption once in a newspaper published in the county, or, if none, by posting
in three conspicuous places in the county.
"3861.5. The time set for the termination of the right of redemption shall be
four months after the notice of termination of the right of redemption is sent.
"3861.6. If any property is not redeemed, or payment of delinquent taxes in
installments is not started, before the time set for termination of the right of
redemption, the right of redemption as to such property is terminated.
"3861.7. Failure of the tax collector to send the notice of termination of the
right of redemption within the time limited in this chapter does not affect the
validity of the termination of the right of redemption within the proper time after
the notice is actually sent. The tax collector shall be liable for any damages
suffered by the county or State because of his failure to send the notice within the
time limited in this chapter.
"3861.8. When the right of redemption of any property is terminated under
this chapter, and the property is classified for public use, the minimum price
which the administering agency shall pay to the county is the cost of mailing and
publishing the notice of termination of right of redemption."
Sec. 26. Section 3857.2 of the Political Code is hereby amended to read as
follows:
3046 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
"3857.2. 'Redemptioner' means any person entitled to redeem real property
from tax sale or who would be so entitled if the right of redemption were not
terminated."
Sec. 27. Section 3859.18 of the Political Code is hereby repealed.
Sec. 28. Section 3859.20 of the Political Code is hereby amended to read as
follows:
"3859.20. This invalidity redemption shall be made within one year after the
interlocutory decree establishing the invalidity becomes a final judgement."
Sec. 29. Section 3773.1 of the Political Code is hereby repealed.
Sec. 30. Section 3773.1 is hereby added to the Political Code, to read as follows:
"3773.1. The Legislature hereby declares that it is the policy of this State to
use any revenues received by the State from the administration of property which
has been sold or deeded to the State for taxes for the primary purpose of restoring
such tax deeded property to the assessment rolls and for all other purposes inci-
dent to the administration and classification of property which has been sold or
deeded to the State for taxes and such revenues are hereby appropriated for the
purposes specified in this section. No money shall be appropriated from the
tax deeded land rental fund except for the purposes specified in this section. Any
unencumbered balance in excess of $5,000 remaining in the tax deeded land rental
fund on June 30th of each fiscal year shall be transferred to the general fund."
Sec. 31. Section 3773.2 is hereby added to the Political Code, to read as follows:
"3773.2. An advisory committee on tax deeded property is hereby ccreated.
The committee shall consist of six members, appointed by the Governor on the
recommendation of the Controller, and holding office at the pleasure of the Gov-
ernor. Three members of this committee shall represent the interests of the
counties of this State and three members shall represent the interest of the cities of
this State. The members of this committee shall serve without compensation,
except that they shall each receive from the tax deeded land rental fund the actual
and necessary expenses incurred in the course of their duties.
"The advisory committee on tax deeded property shall meet on call of the
Controller for the purpose of conference and making recommendations in regard
to:
"(a) Restoring tax deeded property to the rolls;
"(b) All other purposes relating to the administration of tax sold property
and tax deeded property."
Sec. 32. Until the right of redemption of property heretofore deeded to the
State is terminated in accordance with this act, none of the provisions of this
act sliall affect the right to redeein such property or to commence or to continue
payment of delinquent taxes in installments in accordance with the provisions
of law in effect on the effective date of this act.
Sec. 33. The provisions of this act making amendments to the Revenue and
Taxation Code take effect at the same time the Revenue and Taxation Code
takes effect, at which time any section of the Political Code amended or added
by this act is hereby repealed.
Senate Bill No. 81
chapter 12
An act making an appropriation for the relief of hardship and destitution due to and
caused by unemplorjment, providing the conditions and terms upon which any
expenditure for such relief may he made and declaring that this act shall take effect
immediately
[Became a law on the twenty-fourth day of February 1940 under constitutional provision, Article IV,
section 16, having passed both houses by he constitutional majority, upon reconsideration, after its return
by the Governor without his approval.]
[Filed with Secretary of State February 24, 1940]
The people of the State of Calif orn ia do enact as follows:
Section 1. In addition to any other funds provided by law, the sum of twelve
million, two hundred thousand dollars ($12,200,000) or so much thereof as may be
necessarv, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the State treasury, not
otherwise appropriated, for the relief of hardship and destitution due to and
caused by unemplovment, and the administration thereof, until June 1, 1940, as
provided by the California Unemployment Relief Act of 1935 including not to
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 304-^
exceed two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) for the administrative expenses
of the State Controller in connection therewith.
This appropriation in its entirety is exempted from the provisions of the Relief
Expenditure Act of 1940.
Sec. 2. The sum appropriated by this act, except the monev available for the
admmist<-ative expenses of the Controller, sliall, upon order of the State Controller
be transferred to the unemployment-relief fund and shall he disbursed therefrom
for the purposes herein provided. Until such time as such transfer is made, or
when there is no money in said fund, the procedure for transfer of money from
other funds prescribed by section la of the California Unemployment Relief Act
of 1935 shall be applicable hereto.
Sec. 3. The money appropriated by this act, except the monev available for
the administrative expenses of the Controller, shall be available for all the expendi-
tures authorized in accordance with the amounts provided in the following
schedule:
(a) For February and March 1940, not more than $5,500,000.
(b) For April 1940, not more than $3,500,000.
(c) For May 1940, not more than $3,000,000.
If any reduction of relief allowances is necessary in order to abide by the appor-
tionments provided in this section for the expenditure of the appropriation, such
reduction shall be effected by reducing the amount of the allowance for each
relief case in lieu of dropping from the rolls relief cases otherwise eligible for relief
under this act.
Sec. 4. For the purpose of expending the amounts provided in this act, every
person, who, on the effective date of this act, was eligible for relief under the
Cahfornia Unemployment Rehef Act of 1935 and the rules and regulations of the
Relief Commission established in pursuance thereof, shall be entitled to rehef
from the appropriation provided in this act if his eligibility continues thereunder,
notwithstanding any action of the Relief Administrator or the Relief Commission
subsequent to the effective date of this act.
Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the Rehef Commission is hereby
authorized, for the purposes of administering this appropriation and safeguarding
its expenditure, to establish and enforce immediately rules of eligibility for relief
from the appropriation consistent with the provisions of this act relating to
eligibility for relief from the appropriation after April 1, 1940.
Sec. 5. (a) On and after April 1, 1940, not less than 82 percent of the money
appropriated by this act shall consist, when expended, of payments in cash,
wages, personal property, and services directly to persons eligible for relief, and
not more than 3 percent, in addition to money otherwise available, may be used,
when expended, for works projects directly sponsored by the Relief Administrator,
independent of and not in cooperation with the Work Projects Administration.
If any sponsorship contribution is made to the Work Projects Administration by
the Relief Administrator, the contribution may be charged, when expended, to
to the S2-percent classification provided in this section. All expenditures made
for (i) distribution of surplus commodities, (ii) the maintenance and operation of
relief camps under subdivisions (c) and (d) of section 3 of the California Unem-
ployment Relief Act of 1935, and (iii) the maintenance and operation of medical
and dental clinics, may be charged, when expended, to the 82-percent classification
provided in this section.
(b) Of the sum appropriated by this act, any amounts expended by the Relief
Administrator in accordance with the provisions of subdivisions (a) and (f), or
either, of section 3 of the California Unemployment Relief Act of 1935 for work
relief projects sponsored by the Federal Government and by any political sub-
division, district, or municipality of the State either alone or in conjunction with
the Relief Administrator, shall be exempt from section 669 of the Political Code
and the limitations, if any, of the Budget Act of 1939.
(c) P>om the effective date of this act, of the amount which may be expended
for work projects directly sponsored by the Relief Administrator, independent
of and not in cooperation with the Work Projects Administration, not more than
one-third (]i) thereof, as it the 3 percent limitation of subdivision (a) were in
effect, shall be expended for self-help cooperatives, for production for use projects,
or for other forms of production cooperatives, consumer cooperatives, or direct
production projects. No such cooperative or project shall produce, manufacture,
process or sell consumable goods for consumption or use by any person, firm,
association or corporation, other than a person directly participating in the work
of such cooperative or project and other than a relief client.
3Q48 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
(d) The monej'' available under the provisions, of this section for work projects
may be used for the administrative expenses incurred in connection therewith.
(e) If any money is not expended in the month for which it is available under
the provisions of section 3, the unexpended amount may be expended in any
subsequent month without regard to the apportionment provided for that sub-
sequent month.
Sec. 6. Of the governmental agencies through which section 3 of the California
Unemployment Relief Act of 1935 authorized the Relief Administrator to make
expenditures, the counties as such governmental agencies under the California
Unemployment Relief Act of 1935 shall, for the purposes of examination, have
access at all reasonable times to all records of the Relief Administrator and the
Relief Commission.
Sec. 6.5. In order to safeguard the money for the purposes for which it is
appropriated, the Relief Administrator and the Relief Commission may contract
with one or more credit associations, credit organizations, or financial investigating
agencies to ascertain the financial condition and credit rating of applicants for,
and recipients of, relief from the money appropriated by this act.
Sec. 7. On and after April 1, 1940, the appropriation made by section 1 of this
act shall be expended to and for the relief of all persons who are not totally
incapacitated for gainful employment and to and for the relief of all dependents
of such persons provided such persons and their dependents are, as to need, other-
wise eligible for relief under rules and regulations established by the Relief Com-
mission under section 8 of the California Unemployment Relief Act of 1935; pro-
vided, however, that none of said appropriation shall be expended to, or used for
the relief of, persons who on February 18, 1940, were receiving aid from any of
the several counties as indigents.
Sec. 8. The total relief allowance, whether in cash or kind, from the appropria-
tion made by this act shall not be more than fifty-eight dollars per month per
family. In determining the total relief allowance, the cash income from employ-
ment, from the Work Projects Administration or from any other source, of any
member of the family who is receiving relief from this appropriation shall be
deducted from the total allowance the family is permitted to receive from the
appropriation made by this act. Relief, in addition to the maximum of fifty-
eight dollars per month allowance, may, however, be granted, but (i) only in the
form of commodities, services, or other forms of relief in kind and (ii) only in
extraordinary cases, which term "extraordinary cases" shall include within its
scope families of extraordinary size.
Any surplus commodities distributed by the Federal Government or any agency
thereof shall not be deducted in determining the maximum relief allowance of any
family.
The restrictions contained in this section apply to all expenditures for relief
made from this appropriation on and after April 1, 1940.
Sec. 9. (a) None of the appropriatioft made by this act shall be expended, on-
and after April 1, 1940, for the relief of any person who:
(1) Has not resided continuously in this State for a period of at least three-
j'ears with intent to make it his home, or
(2) Has lost his residence by remaining away from this State for an uninter-
rupted period of one year.
Within the meaning of this subdivision (a), time spent in a public institution or
on parole therefrom is to be disregarded in determining the period of residence
in this State. Absence from the State for labor or other special or temporary
purposes does not occasion loss of residence.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a), the appropriation made
by this act may be expended for the relief of any person who:
(1) On February 1, 1940 (i) is receiving or has received relief from the Relief
Administrator and Relief Commission or (ii) is certified or has been certified to
the Work Projects Administration or its predecessor by the Relief Administrator
and the Relief Commission, and
(2) Has not left the State with intent to reside elsewhere, and
(3) Has not remained away from the State for a period of one year.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a), the appropriation shall
be available for the costs of transportation of a nonresident to any State in which
he resides. Every nonresident, who has once received relief under this subdivision:
(c), shall not again be granted relief from the appropriation made by this act.
Sec. 10. On and after April 1, 1940, none of the appropriation shall be expended'
for the relief of any alien who entered the United States illegally subsequent to-
July 1, 1924. In order to be eligible for relief from the appropriation, every
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3049
alien, unless he first proves entry prior to Julj- 1, 1924, shall prove his entry into
the United States was legal.
If relief from the appropriation is barred to any alien by the terms of this
section, the members of his family shall not be aflFected thereby and the familj',
exclusive of the alien, shall remain entitled to relief from the appropriation made
by this act notwithstanding this section and shall receive the same relief it would
have received if the alien were not a member thereof.
The presence of all alien a]iplicants for relief from this appropriation shall be
reported immediately to the United States immigration authorities.
Sec. 11. To secure relief from the appropriation made by this act, an applicant,
on and after April 1, 1940, for such relief shall prove, to the satisfaction of the
State Relief Administration, his eligibility therefor, including his eligibility as to
need, residence and citizenship.
All statements made by an applicant for such relief shall be verified by the oath
of the applicant, on and after April 1, 1940. Every employee of the Relief
Administrator receiving an application for such relief in the course of his official
duties may administer an oath to the applicant for such relief.
If the applicant for such relief wilfully makes any false statement in his applica-
tion for such relief from the appropriation made by this act, he shall be guilty of
a misdemeanor.
Sec. 12. None of the appropriation made by this act shall be expended for the
relief of any person who is, or any member of whose family is, making payments
upon any chattel mortgage or conditional sales contract for personal property,
other than payments for essential food and essential clothing, in excess of five
dollars per month, when the debt, secured by the chattel mortgage or conditional
sales contract, was incurred subsequent to his application for relief from the appro-
priation made by this act.
Sec. 12.3. If any county takes any recipients of relief resident of that county
from the State Relief Administration, furnishes all materials, equipment, tools,
supervision, and transportation, and sponsors and finances useful but nonessential
work relief projects, it may, but need not, reimburse the State for the value of the
labor supplied by the Relief Administration.
Sec. 12.5. All mohey received by any relief client from this appropriation for
himself or his dependents shall be used exclusively for food, rent, utilities and
any other necessities. The Relief Commission shall establish rules and regula-
tions, in accordance with this section, relating to the purposes for which relief
clients may not expend money received by them from this appropriation.
Any relief client who uses the money received by him for purposes other than
thosepermitted by this section and such rules and regulations may be disqualified
for any further relief from this appropriation.
Sec. 13. In determining the amount to be expended from the appropriation
for the relief of any person and his family consideration shall be given (i) to the
amounts of public assistance, if any, such person and his family are receiving
under any other provision of law and (ii) to the standards of living, wage rates,
and living conditions in the locality in which such person and his family reside.
Sec. 14. On and after April 1, 1940, none of the appropriation made by this
act may be expended for the relief of any person who possesses, or whose farnily
possesses, more than one automobile, unless such person or persons shall deliver
the license plates of all but one of the automobiles to the State Relief Adminis-
tration.
Sec. 15. (a) It is unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, to promise
any compensation, employment, relief or other benefit provided for or made
possible in whole or in part by the appropriation, to any individual as consider-
ation, favor or reward for any political activity or for the support of or opposition
to any candidate or any political party in any election.
(b) It is unlawful for any person to deprive, attempt to deprive or threaten
to deprive by any means any person of any relief or other public assistance pro-
vided for or made possible in whole or in part by the appropriation on account of
any political activity, support of or opposition to any candidate or to any political
party in anv election.
(c) It is unlawful for any person knowingly to solicit or receive, or be m any
manner concerned in soliciting or receiving, any assessment, subscription or con-
tribution of money for any political purpose whatever from any person receivmg
compensation, employment, relief or other benefit made available from the
appropriation. . .
(d) It is unlawful for any person to furnish or disclose or to aid or assist in
furnishing or disclosing any names of persons receiving compensation, employ-
3050 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
ment, relief or other benefits provided or made possible by the appropriation to
any political candidate, committee, campaign manager or to any person for
delivery to a political candidate, committee or campaign manager, and it is unlaw-
ful for any person to receive any such names for political purposes.
(e) No part of t^e appropriation shall be used for the purpose of directly or
indirectly influencing or attempting to influence or interfering with or restraining
or coercing any person in the exercise of his right to vote at any election.
(f) It is unlawful for anj^ person emploj-ed in anj^ capacity in connection with
the administration or disbursement of the appropriation to take an active part in
political management, or be an active member of political organizations or take
an active part in political campaigns which have as their purpose the election or
nomination of any person to any office or employment, or to be a candidate for
nomination or election to any office, whether partisan or nonpartisan.
(g) It is unlawful for any preson employed in any capacity in coimection with
the administration or disbursement of the appropriation to infiuence or attempt
to influence any individual known to be receiving compensation, employment,
relief or other benefits provided by the appropriation to support or oppose any
candidate or any political party in any election.
(h) Every person violating any provision of this section is guilty of a mis-
demeanor and in addition to the penalty imposed therefor shall not be entitled
to any further compensation or employment provided for or made possible in
whole or in part by the appropriation.
(i) As used in this section "appropriation" refers to the sum appropriated in
section I of this act.
Sec. 16. The Legislature hereby declares that the use of the monej^ appropriated
by this act for the support of a publicity department and the making of expendi-
tures for press releases, publicity statements, propaganda and other forms of
appeals to the public is contrary to its policy in providing this appropriation for
the relief of hardship and destitution due to and caused lay unemployment.
Sec. 16.5. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this act is
for any reason held to be unconstitutional, such decision shall not afi'ect the
validity of the remaining portions of this act. The Legislature hereby declares
that it would have passed this act, and each section, subsection, sentence, clause
or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections,
subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared unconstitutional.
Sec. 17. This act is hereby declared to be an urgency measure, necessary for
the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety within the
meaning of section I of Article IV of the Constitution and as such shall take
eff'ect immediately. The facts constituting such necessity are as follows:
The appropriation for unemployment relief for the ninety-first fiscal year is
inadequate and is about to be exhausted and it is necessary that additional funds
be made available immediately. Unless this act providing immediate funds and
the means for the expenditure thereof and safeguards against their waste takes
effect immediately relief operations will have to be suspended at a time when the
need is great, which will result in untold hardship and sufi"ering to a great number
of persons receiving relief in this State at this time, and will cause serious unrest
throughout the State.
Mr. Abbott. I offer a file offered by Dr. Lee A. Stone, health offi-
cer, Madera County, Calif.
(The file referred to was received and marked as an exhibit. The
following article is from this file. The balance of the material is
held in committee files.
THE MIGRANT SITUATION IN MADERA COUNTY, CALIF.
By Lee Alexander Stone, M. D., F. A. P. H. A. Health Officer
introduction
I am indebted to Mr. Neils Overgaard, agricultural commissioner, for his assist-
ance in preparing material under the heading "Economic data." To him,
I express my appreciation.
Mr. Howard Rowe, county superintendent of schools, gave me of his time that
I might speak with authority on "Education." Mr. Rowe yields to no man
when it comes to serving the school population of Madera County. The school
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3051
system in the county has made many improvements since he took office a few
years ago. Teachers in the county make no distinction between migrant children
and others. Educational standards have remained the same for both.
Mr. Harrison M. Scott, director of the welfare department of Madera County,
has prepared for our use a statement worth while your careful perusal. His
statement is included in this report.
Mr. Scott is classed as being one of the best qualified welfare directors in the
State of California. His work has been outstanding and has been followed and
copied in part or wholly by nearly every county welfare organization in the State.
His advice has been sought by two governors and by many groups both official
and otherwise in State and county governments. His careful management of
county, State, and Federal funds has made for him a most enviable reputation
in his field. He is not a professional trained social worker. He has come up
from the ranks. In 1928, he was a Madera Count}' farmer possessed of more
than usual administrative ability and common sense and because of this he was
named welfare director by the board of supervisors in 1929. He knows his
work from every angle and never is too busy to take on a new job. Time and
effort have meant nothing to him. His sole desire is to serve as best he can the
people of Madera County and of California. He is called at all hours of the day
and night and never have I known him to be too weary or too socially conscious
to allow anything to interfere with what he conceived to be his duty. When I
asked his aid to make this report complete, he gave it most willingly.
*******
Perhaps I should not attempt to answer all of the questions presented in the
questionnaire on the migrant situation in Madera County as submitted to me
by the San Joaquin Valley agricultural section of the State Chamber of Commerce
(questionnaire attached). I am answering them because as the county health
officer of Madera County, I have had much to do with housing, education, economic
data, health and welfare. My office has been for years more or less a place of
rendevoux where ideas on all phases of public welfare have been discussed by
individuals seeking a solution for their difficulties. It has been my privilege and
pleasure to serve agriculture in California for the past 10 years. During that time
I have studied many of the problems farmers must face; I have tried in my humble
way to assist in their solution. Housing, sanitation, and public health have been
but a part of my work. I have believed it my duty, if I was to make a success of
public-health work, to study the problems of those with whom I was in constant
association. If I have rendered even small assistance, I am happy.
Housing. — In 1932, I approached the growers of the county and asked their
support in a grower owned camp project which would place labor camps on agri-
cultural acreages owned by farmers. That I met with success and a fine cooper-
ative spirit is attested to by the fact that in Madera County there are 130 labor
camps with a cabin population approximating 3,000 cabins — all are grower owned.
There are no Federal Government camps in the county. For years I have
fought the establishment or building of such camps anywhere in the State of
California. At many meetings of the State chamber of commerce, and one in
particular, held in Los Angeles, I have spoken against such camps with the
result Mr. Roy Pike and I, at the Los Angeles meeting in 1935, were appointed as a
resolutions committee to protest their erection anywhere in the State. I am
still opposed to any tvpe of paternalism which lowers the morale of people who,
if left alone, might work out their own destiny. I do not believe that it is the
duty of either the Federal Government or the State to keep alive professional
indigency. There are thousands upon thousands of people in California and
elsewhere who have lost all moral and physical stamina and have dropped to
such a low level as now to be professional beggars. These persons have grown
accustomed to accepting a living at the hands of the government. State, or county.
They have lost all of their self-respect. Their morale is completely broken down.
To prove this statement correct all one has to do is to visit any welfare depart-
ment in California on certain days and watch the long lines of human beings
waiting to receive what manv with their indolent brains consider their just due.
The Farm Security Administration of the United States Department of Agri-
culture has spent millions of dollars to erect camps to house free (the small pay-
ments indigents pay to live in these camps is mere subterfuge), people that they
may pay homage to the founders of the New Deal. These people were in the
ma'in once self-respecting and humble. Their needs were small and they were
proud to work that monev might be earned to pay their meager expenses.
260370— 41— pt. 7 17
3Q52 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
I believe that if growers had been loaned the millions spent by the Farm
Security Administration with which to construct places to properly house labor,
on long time terms witli low interest rates, a professional indigent class would not
now be as numerous as they are. Growers, or farmers as you may choose to call
them, are going broke each year because of increase in taxation made necessary
to keep alive an obnoxious paternal system which if carried on for a few years
longer, will bankrupt the Nation and the State of California, and bring commu-
nism with its cruelties to our own doors.
There are no county camps in Madera County — its farmers are capable of and
are willing to house the labor they employ in livable cabins. These cabins may
not appeal to the sensitive minds of esthetes. They do keep camp inhabitants
protected from the elements, and if the tenant is of the right sort, each cabin
becomes a proper home. In the main, labor camps offer better places of habitation
than their occupants had ever occupied in their lives before. In many instances
because of grower liberality, migrants are allowed to remain in camps the year
around. They pay no rent, and yet a great number befoul the cabins in which
they live to an extent that no self-respecting hog would occupy one with them.
There have been no squatter camps in Madera County since January 1932.
The reason for this being that the health department of the county which I repre-
sent sees to it that those who might become squatters are kept on the move.
Every time a group of squatters or a single squatter is located, either the health
officer or his sanitary inspector orders them to move on. In keeping squatters
on the move, I have had the fine cooperation of the sheriff's office, the highway
patrol, and the local police in the cities of the county, Madera County boasts a
squatters ordinance passed in 1939.
There was no deficiency of housing in labor camps in Madera County in 1940,
nor has there been a deficiencj' in the last 8 years at any time during the peak
harvest periods.
There is definitely no shortage of housing for migrants in labor camps in the
county. There is a definite deficiency in the cities of the county of houses for
those able to pay a small rental charge. Hundreds of migrants who have attained
a year's residence are having their rent paid by State relief administration and if
for a shorter period money grants are supplied by the Farm Security Adminis-
tration.
Unquestionably farmers in my county would welcome long time low interest
loans for constructing housing for farm workers. As I have pointed out already
if some of the millions that have been spent on Federal Government camps had
been loaned growers the money eventually would be paid back and not lost as it
is now with no hope of repayment.
Madera County never has been interested in community camps for the reason
that growers do not believe them practical.
Eduration.—T!\\e school population of Madera County has increased by leaps
and bounds in recent years. Every school in Madera, Chowchilla, and in all
sections west and northwest of Madera has been hard put to properly care for the
increased load of attendance that has been put upon them by migrants. Elemen-
tary and higli schools have been compelled to add new buildings or extra rooms
to their schools to take care of the increased load.
School facilities are now adequate to handle all migrant children, with the
exception of the city of Chowchilla which needs for the present load eight addi-
tional schoolrooms. A recently passed school bond issue of $70,000 will take care
of this bad situation.
Overcrowding at first did affect in many places in the county the efficiency of
teaching. Today this has been overcome by new additions to present school
buildings.
Madera County has seven migratory schools employing 11 teachers. In all
instances these schools are of modern construction.
There never has been any discrimination against migrant children. All
attendants in the schools of the county are treated alike. No favoritism is ever
shown one pupil over another.
No discrimination against migrant adults ever has been shown.
The honorable hardworking migrant receives respect at the hands of every
good citizen of the county.
Economic data. — According to tax statements there were 3,225 farms in Madera
County in 1920 — 4,516 in 193""^. and 4,695 in 1935, according to tax bills mailed
by the tax collector. This statement may not be altogether correct for the reason
that tax bills may represent separate holdings of individual farmers located in
different sections of the county. A new mailing list I have had prepared in the
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3Q53
office of the health unit shows 1,650 names of farmers for 1940. This hst is
reasonably accurate and gives tlie names of all growers regardless of crops in the
county. It does not, however, give the names of tenant farmers who hold leases
for acreage belonging to another and in wiiose name the tax bill appears.
The average acreage in Madera County has decreased considerably since 1920
and also since 1930. Madera County farmers on the average do not own large
acreages. Since 1935 much farming territory has been opened up west of the
city of Madera. This statement also holds true of much of the region west of
Chowchilla.
There are always opportunities open for live, wideawake, willing-to-work
migrants to become both farm tenants and farm owners in Madera County.
There are many who have come from the Dust Bowl during the past few years who
have taken advantage of opportunities to become farm tenants and farm owners.
These people are good farmers and hold the respect of old timers. All of them
have started out in a small way, been thrifty and obtained new land as fast as
their finances would permit. Madera County offers every opportunity to pro-
gressive men and women willing to spend of their brawn and brains that success
may come to them. No farmer can make a success unless he puts into his farm
the work necessary to keep it going.
It stands to reason that Madera County during the next few years, because of
the many improvements going on in the county, will need more farm workers
than it has in the past. Requirements for labor on the farm rarely remain at a
standstill. As agricultural enterprises develop the greater is the need for farm
labor. The day must come when agricultural labor will be employed on the basis
of their ability to produce in exactly the same way as big business demands of
labor in their employ, whether as clerks, bookkeepers, salesmen, etc.; if employees
cannot aid those by whom they are employed to make money with which to
operate and show a profit, they are eliminated and others are hired to take their
places. Agriculture is one of the most important businesses in the world today
and must take its place alongside of public utility corporations, steel mills, the
automotive industry and many others too numerous to mention here.
*******
Attached will be found the 1939 report of "Acreage, production and value of
agricultural products" for Madera County as compiled by Neils Overgaard,
county agricultural commissioner. This report I hope will prove illuminating
to the committee.
Public health. — For 10 years I have fought the battle of public health in Madera
County. For 10 years I have been compelled to listen to complaints that the
county was spending too much money for the protection of the health of its people,
and especially its children. The 1939-40 budget of the Madera County health
unit was $5,280 appropriated from county funds. Out of this amount must come
the salary of the health officer, the salary of the secretary, gasoline, oil, and repairs
of the county-owned car, plus office supplies, vaccines and other immunizing
material. If I need extras or some necessities, I beg them from Government or
State agencies and sometimes from generous growers.
In 1930 Madera County's population was 17,164; during the depression the
population dropped to around 14,000 persons. From 1934 until December 31,
1940, approximately 18,000 new people have moved in, 98 percent of whom came
from the Dust Bowl States, southern Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma.
The population of the county has more than doubled in 5 years. During those
5 years the work of the health department has increased fiftyfold, and yet in that
time there has been no increase in money for its use.
Ten years is a long time if one has had to battle almost alone during that perio I
to prove that health protection is to be desired over pestilences and epidemics.
Probably the most trying years for those in public health in California have
occurred since the migration of Dust Bowl refugees began in 1934. These people
brought little with them in the way of contagious or infectious diseases What
they did bring was no immunity, thus when an outbreak of a contagious disease
occurred they immediately caught it and in manj' instances it went through their
ranks like a scourge. For example between January 1 and August 3U, 1939,
74,549 cases of measles occurred over the State of California. No such number
had ever occurred before; migrants were the greatest sufferers. To recount only
3Q54 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
a few of the major outbreaks since 1930, I quote from the records of the Cali-
fornia State Department of Public Health:
Disease
Year Cases
Diphtheria.
Malaria-
Measles.
Poliomyelitis .
1930
3,071
1935
2,112
1938
1,615
19391
917
1930
94
1935
173
1938
258
19391
169
1927
58, 963
1930
46, 968
1936
53, 838
1938
24, 558
19391
74, 549
1927
1,298
1930
1,9 3
1934
3,396
Disease
Poliomyelitis— Continued
Smallpox
Tuberculosis (pulmonary and
other active forms)
Typhoid
Year Cases
1938
19391
1930
1935
1938
1939 1
1930
1935
1938
1939 1
1930
1935
1938
19391
117
553
3,139
309
1,266
651
11,293
8,238
7,662
5.439
743
534
473
196
I To Sept. 1, 1939.
In November 1937 a health officer in a county in the lower San Joaquin Valley
visited a labor camp on the supposition that there was some scarlet fever in the
camp- instead he found smallpox; he announced that he would return in the
morning and vaccinate. During the night 50 famihes left under the cover of
darkness. They were afraid of vaccination, a fear born of superstition. These
50 families presented California with 1,917 cases of smallpox between the months
of January 1938 and August 30, 1939. In other words they apparently never had
been vaccinated— vaccination actually protects, thus they caught smallpox and
Miss H. Eva Barnes, county health nurse, reported to me on January 28, 1938,
at 4-30 p m that she had discovered smallpox in a labor camp on the San Joaquin
River near Firebaugh in Madera County. I found 27 cases in this camp the fol-
lowing morning. _ J, i 11 T
My department went into immediate action and between 11 a. m. on January
29 to Mav 1st, 1938, we vaccinated 9,000 persons. The immunity of those
vaccinated was so low that we got 98>^ percent "takes." One does not have to
have a very vivid imagination to understand the potentialities an outbreak
among unvaccinated or nonimmune groups entails. Had my department not
gone into action at once the chances are that a serious epidemic would undoubtedly
have occurred. At the time a person was vaccinated a dressing was applied. In
7 days that person was seen again to discover whether or not his vaccination was
successful If not, he was revaccinated. A new dressing was placed on every
arm seen In other words instead of seeing a vaccinated person once he or she was
seen twice, thus doubling our efforts to prevent a serious outbreak. Nine thou-
sand people had their arms dressed twice at an interval of 7 days; 18,000 dressings
were done. My entire staff worked every day including Sundays and for 3
months either in rain or in the mud. . , , ,• , i^u
Dr. Walter M. Dickie, then director of the State department of pubuc health,
generously furnished me with a doctor and an extra nurse to assist my nurse and
me He also gave me vaccine necessary to use in the immunization campaign.
The cost to the county of Madera for material in the way of cotton dressings and
acetone did not exceed $300. Forty-four cases of smallpox occurred between
Januarv 28 and May 1938 in Madera County. Those with the disease never had
been vaccinated previously and with no exception all of them had come from the
Dust Bowl. In order to protect citizens from infection, a guard was employed at
the camp where 27 cases of smallpox occurred. No one was allowed to leave the
camp, therefore the entire camp had to be fed by the welfare department at a
cost in excess of $5,000. ,.i,,j r^ . ■,-, ^
On March 5 at 2:30 a. m. 1938— near Firebaugh in Madera County 11 places
in the levee were broken through bv the San Joaquin River which was at flood
stage These breaks completely flooded the Miller Hotchkiss, the Paup, the
Burkhart Camp. The welfare director of Madera County notified me at once, and
he with 3 others, among whom was a Red Cross representative, headed for Fire-
baugh. On our arrival we found about 800 people crowded around the city hall,
many without anything except the extreme necessities in clothing. All flood
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3055
refugees with the possible exception of 50 had not lived in California 1 year. They
had come from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas. They were given their
breakfast and some clothing.
I telephoned Mr. Jonathan Garst then head of the Farm Security Administra-
tion with offices in San Francisco and asked his assistance after stating our prob-
lem. He telephoned Washington and afterward called me back at Firebaugh in
less than an hour. The Farm Security Administration at that time turned over
$10,000 emergency money to Madera County, for the care of refugees.
In the county just outside the city limits of the city of Madera was an abandoned
schoolhouse located on about 5 acres of ground. Every flood refugee was brought
to this school building and its surrounding acreage. The flood occurred on Satur-
day, March 5. The refugees arrived on the school grounds at about 3:30 p. m.
Our party arrived at 4 p. m. The fight to give them proper care in the way of
housing, food, and clothing began. A complete kitchen was set up in the school-
house; one large classroom was used that women and children might be fed; later
cots, mattresses, and blankets furnished by the Red Cross were moved in and the
women and children were bedded down for the night. The other schoolroom was
used as a temporary hospital. Extra water toilets were installed by a local
plumber, as well as a gas floor furnace for each large schoolroom, plus a gas circu-
lating water heater for dishwashing and bathing.
I ordered 55,000 feet of lumber 1 by 12 by 16 and 2 by 4 by 16 for tent floors.
Electricians were put to work installing a lighting system along tent streets and
elsewhere over the camp, which on completion looked like an army camp. Every
person in the camp was fed by the Red Cross with the assistance of the director of
the county welfare department, Mr. H. M. Scott. Eighty tent platforms were
constructed between 5:30 and 8:30 p. m., with the aid of the refugees themselves,
the American Legion, and Work Projects Administration. At 11:30 p. m. tents
were received from the Presidio at San Francisco and furnished by the Red Cross.
Before 2 a. m., 80 tents were set up and cots, mattresses, and blankets were placed
in them. By 2 :30 every male refugee plus a few women were bedded down for the
night. There was other work to do, therefore a few of us including Mr. Scott
and I remained until about 4 a. m.
At 7 a. m., Sundav, March 6, we were back on the job. All refugees were fed
cafeteria style by the Red Cross. I directed the sanitary inspector of the health
unit to remain on the camp grounds at all times to see that proper sanitary rules
were observed. I also ordered 12 Work Projects Administration privies, and
directed the further construction of tent platforms necessary for the needs of the
camp. During the afternoon over 600 persons were given a first dose of typhoid
vaccine. The setting up of an emergency hospital under control of Red Cross
nurses was completed.
On Monday, March 7, the 12 Work Projects Administration privies ordered on
Sunday, plus 2 bathhouses containing 6 showers each with a gas automatic heater
to insure hot water were installed. A delousing station was also put into the camp.
A real necessity, I assure you.
The entire camp was completely set up and in perfect operation in about 48
hours. AMI xi.
The refugee camp lasted 30 days. Every person occupying it lived well. Cloth-
ing, tobacco, and candy were plentiful. Many persons from the East Bay region
donated handsomelv of the above articles. Everything possible for the comfort
of the refugees was done, plus installation of play equipment for children and
Q r1 1 1 1 j- o o 1 1 K P
Not a single contagious disease occurred in the camp during the entire 30 days
of its existence. Sanitation was as nearly perfect as good inspection and equipment
could make it. , „ j n
I have purposely gone into detail on the subjects of smallpox and smallpox
vaccination and the flood refugee camp for the reason I have wanted to lay before
you facts to prove that migrants have not been badly treated by Madera County.
They have received every attention, when the need has arisen for it, at the hands
of authorities and also from the people of the county. x- « j- v^k •
On January 11, 1940, an immunizing campaign for the prevention of diphtheria
was started in the county schools. Over 3,800 immunizations were done to Febru-
ary 2, 1940, with more to come. The campaign ends early in Pebruary 1940.
Since April 1931 more than 8,000 children have been protected. Sixty percent
of the immunizing for diphtheria done in January 1940 was m children of migrants.
Immunizations are done free to all.
3056
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
I call your attention to a listing of the record of contagious diseases, by year,
since 1931. This list tells a very definite story. It shows that instead of con-
tagious disease rates decreasing as they should have under normal conditions,
they have either remained about equal from year to year or have risen to higher
incidence. This is because at no time since 1934 has there been a let-up on the
increasing number of migrants who have arrived in the county over a 6-year
period. I have already pointed out that the majority of these people have little
or no immunity to contagious or infectious diseases.
Thousands of migrants are constantly on the move, hence they may contract a
disease in one county and before the period of incubation is over, may be hundreds
of miles away from the original contact before they are taken ill.
Public-health officials are hard put in their attempts to control contagious and
bad sanitary practices.
Good sanitation is rarely observed by the average migrant for the good and
simple reason his previous method of living had no place in it for either cleanliness
or proper sanitary expression.
Health officers, public-health nurses, and sanitary inspectors can relate by the
hour true tales of insanitary practices as indulged in by migrants only to have
them doubted by esthetes. If the average doubter would take time off and spend
a few days with any health officer or sanitary inspector located in the San Joaquin
Valley, I feel sure he would no longer disbelieve the words of expert men and
women who spend most of their working days among refugees from the Dust Bowl.
The Madera County health unit, even with its limited budget, is doing as
much good public-health work, and in many instances more, than any county
in California.
Communicable diseases reported
Disease
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
Chicken pox
41
15
74
14
1
102
3
168
2
136
6
2
67
6
2
128
12
7
3
178
2
9
356
Diphtheria -. . ...
24
Dysentery . . .
1
Encephalitis:
1
446
4
602
7
1
7
450
2
295
17
1
20
15
3
14
61
1
"""i4'
35
30
26
2,675
1
12
1
4
216
111
1
2
79
4
4
65
197
51
Malaria -
1
Measles
198
335
1
2
158
10
2
2
16
14
2
2
42
22
284
17
205
Meningitis, epidemic
1
104
9
i
843
33
-.
59
44
1
3
6
52
197
Mumps
12
2
20
7
8
7
12
3
43
25
187
Pneumonia (all forms) .._
20
Poliomyelitis
9
Rabies, animal
31
9
16
Scarlet fever . . . . .
20
24
46
Smallpox.
Tetanus
1
5
1
Typhoid fever
13
19
1
29
8
6
10
Trachoma
3
Tuberculosis
26
60
17
102
1
15
224
21
7
45
Whooping cough...
2
Cocc. granuloma
1
1
7
2
1
2
23
69
2
2
1
Erysipelas. . . .
1
1
8
2
7
13
1
"io"
2
63
9
1
4
15
22
1
Food poisoning
20
Gonorrhea
49
Pellagra . ....
1
3
6
76
1
68
Syphilis
6
1
8
67
1
1
In our public health work we are proud to say that whenever information on
birth control is sought by migrants we give it gladly; also we supply birth-control
materials free. These materials cost the county nothing. Migrants are noted
for their fertihty as may be attested by any county hospital in the San Joaquin
Valley. I believe if birth-control methods were carefully explained to migrant
women, many would use them.
The above statement may excite some to protest. Maybe the statement I am
about to make will bring condemnation from the sobby. I have not been inter-
ested for years in a rising birth rate. I would much prefer to see it drop to lower
levels and know that the quality of the human race was being conserved. Quality
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
3057
not quantity in human beings is the crying need of a punch-drunk world, made so
by its imbeciles.
The comparative report from the Bureau of Employment Security on migrants
entering California from the Dust Bowl States makes interesting reading, par-
ticularly when yearly comparisons are made.
It will be startling I know to some who believe that the migrant wave has
retarded to discover that since May 1939 there has been a steady increase in the
number of migrants entering California as compared with the year 1938. Figures
are not yet ready for December 1939.
This increase means but one thing: migrants are still writing home and begging
their relatives and friends to come to California, the land where relief is easy to
obtain.
Month
January..
February
March...
April
May
June
July
Grand total
1938 1939
7,947
7,003
6,823
5,749
5,041
3,823
3,168
2,390
2,530
3,269
4,281
5,095
5,446
5,679
Month
August
September-
October
November.
December..
Total
Grand total
1938 1939
3, 453
3.299
3,939
4,322
{')
54, 565
6,212
5,049
6,104
5,774
(')
51. 829
' Incomplete.
There is no doubt in my mind after reading the masterly presentation made by
Mr. Harrison S. Robinson before the La Follette committee on January 25, that
he offers a means whereby a solution to the whole problem of the migratory may
be reached. The State chamber of commerce is to be congratulated on his graphic
and statesmanlike presentation.
Mr. Robinson heads the migrant committee of the State chamber. If his con-
freres on the migrant committee and the entire membership of the State chamber
will work as hard as he has, and pledge themselves to use all of the influence in
their power to find a means of solving California's most exciting and dangerous
problem, a problem greater than any State ever has faced, I believe it will not be
long before all of California's citizens will herald with paeans of praise the ac-
complishments of the California State Chamber of Commerce.
Unless the problems migrants have presented the State of CaUfornia are solved,
bankruptcy is ahead for many of its citizens. Tax burdens are already too heavy
to be borne with comfort. Overtaxation has wrecked nations; it may wreck
California. Overtaxation is the chief forerunner of revolution. Overtaxation
ruined Russia; out of its ruins rose communism. Communism already is a world
scourge — communism with its blighting breath and its sadistic cruelties leaves
only destruction in its wake.
CaUfornia's efforts to overcome the actions of those who seek to submerge the
people of the State into the mire of subversive activity must be strong enough to
bring about their entire defeat.
Ours is a golden State, golden in every sense of the word. Our people are
possessed of a generous spirit, a desire to help those whom they think cannot help
themselves; they are kind to the under dog and spend lavishly that his interests
may be protected. They are idealists and dream of days to come when every
person within the confines of California's borders may be freed from tortures of
poverty or want. They have gone without themselves that the stranger at their
gates might be served.
Let all of us as loyal Californians take stock of that sum which remains in the
larders of those in charge of the spending of our tax money. Let all of us pledge
ourselves to aid wiselv those who are deserving of our help. Let all of us remember
that charity begins at home and that unless we protect our loved ones that we are
failing in our obligations to ourselves and to the great Commonwealth of California.
There is serious trouble ahead for all citizens of the State. Our watchword
should be "Courage." Without courage we can get nowhere. Cowardice is the
most loathsome word in our language.
3058
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
GIRD YOUR LOINS, CALIFORNIANS
Pledge yourselves to battle, even though in the battle j-our own life might be
the forfeit, to encompass subversive and revolutionary-minded creatures who
are seeking to create chaos in our midst.
Carry with you everywhere you go the thought that California soil is worth
while fighting for. Keep forever in your hearts and memories a prayer that
California may alwaj^s remain the Golden State of your dreams.
Relief and Medical Carei
1 and 2. The State relief administration case load in Madera County is shown
on the attached graph. The present case load is composed of 15 percent long-
term residents and 85 percent persons who have aquired residence since 1935.
From this last group, about 90 percent have a residence of less than 3 years.
It does, however, seem to be the tendency of the people who have arrived in
the county of recent date to stay in the county, and not to follow the crops.
This indicates that they expect to become permanent residents. In very few
instances will any of these families consent to return to their place of legal
residence.
The indigent case load in Madera County is shown on the following chart. All
indigent cases are resident cases, as they are not eligible unless residence is first
established.
SEA CASE LOAD, MADERA COUNTY 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940
(Lowest line represents 1937; 2nd line, 1938; 3rd line, 1939; 4th line, 1940)
i 1
1 t
1
. ... .(.
j 1
! ' ' j
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Jam. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
Date
Cases
People
Date
Cases
People
Dec. 31, 1939
188
169
170
112
579
549
540
397
Dec. 31, 1937
76
243
June 30, 1939
January 1937
367
Dec. 31, 1938
Julv 1936
(?)
282
June 30, 1938
Attached is the report from the welfare department of Madera County for the
month of December 1939, for county indigent relief.
3. There has been no definite change or loosening up of the policy in this county
in regard to the handling of an application for relief.
4. I would say that as far as the local administration is concerned, we have
definitely established a policy that when private employment is available and
known to this department, we have requested the client to take the private
1 Compiled by H. M. Scott, welfare director.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
3059
employment. We have had very good cooperation from the employers in noti-
fjang us when the clients have been employed.
5. It is necessary for all applicants for relief to register with the California
State Employment Service before relief can be granted. The California State
Employment Service keeps the State relief administration informed at all times
when jobs are available. We are very thankful that we have 100 percent coop-
eration from the employment service.
*******
Following is a statement which we feel will show the general trend of relief not
only from Madera County, but for the entire San Joaquin Valley. We feel that
this is largely due to the influx of migrant labor from the Dust Bowl. These
figures are somewhat startling and show the general trend of relief.
In 1929 the total relief load in this county including relief of every kind for
the entire year was approximately $35,000. In December of 1939 relief frona the
various categorical aids; namely, State relief administration, Work Projects
Administration, Federal Security Administration, National Youth Administra-
tion, Civilian Conservation Corps, indigent aid, orphan aid, aged aid, blind aid,-
county hospital, and Ahwahnee amounted to $190,940.97 for 1 month.
This does not include administrative costs for State relief adzninistration, Work
Projects Administration, or Federal Security Administration. Neither does it
include the sponsor's contributions to various work projects. Of course, the State
and county derive a certain amount of benefit from these projects, which fact
should be taken into account.
These figures are merely given to show the increased responsibility that is put
on the taxpayers of the State so that people who are not legal residents of the
State can be cared for.
Monthly average case load, State relief administration, Madera County
January..
February
March-.-
April
May
June
-1
41
99
98
27
16
59
155
281
308
242
90
1939
287
603
844
863
738
550
1940
July
August
September
October- --
November
December.
1937
1938
1939
9
83
470
13
91
458
7
51
407
3
47
381
3
21
581
13
70
726
1940
Monthly indigent report, Madera County Welfare Department, December 1939
Cases
aided
Amount
Number of cases aided through surplus commodities...
Number of people aided through surplus commodities.
Number of cases aided through the commissary
Number of people aided through the commissary
Amount of groceries
Rent
325
706
173
560
Utilities
Wood (172).$ tier)
Kerosene (81 gallons).
Ambulance service. . .
Medical . .
Gasoline and oil
Transportation
Order for sundry supplies
Cash paid by county to individuals other than State and Federal aid (15 cases, 19
people)
Milk (fresh)
' Total in addition to surplus commodities, aged, blind, orphan, and hospitaliza-
tion
Hospitalization other than county hospital
Burials (7) -
Cash paid by county to boarding homes for care of other than State and Federal aid
(13 people)
Grand total
The following was paid for by labor through the Commissary for the month of Decem-
ber 1939:
Groceries
Number of families aided..
Number of people aided
$1, 065. 22
178. 25
21.36
343.00
12.15
25.00
98.01
71.49
27.40
120.34
280.00
12.40
2, 254. 62
25.00
177. 59
247. 50
2, 704. 71
207.88
3QgO INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Monthly indigent report, Madera County Welfare Department, December 1939 — Con.
Cases
aided
Summary:
Total aid other than hospitalization.
Number of cases aided
Average aid per case
Number of people aided,.
Average aid per person
$2, 912. 59
579
15.49
"5.03
Acreage, production, and value of agricultural products, Madera County, 1939
[Compiled by NielsIOvergaard, county agricultural commissioner, Court House, Madera, Calif.]
FRUIT AND NUT CROPS
Almonds..
Apples...
Apricots..
Figs
Grapes:
Wine.
Raisin.
Grapes, table..
Nectarines
Olives
Peaches:
Clingstone.
Freestone..
Pears
Plums
Prunes.
Walnuts .-
Total.
Bearing
acreage
338.
70.
877.
1618.
3, 078.
13, 516.
592.
169.
495.
219.
852.
2.
194.
32
11.
Nonbear-
ing acreage
76.7
"60." 4
23.8
675. 1
22.0
1.0
87.3
50.2
9.3
"6."6
Total'production
183 tons...
232 tons...
1,097 tons.
618 tons...
17,242 tons
fR— 19,359 tons.
IF— 11,888 tons..
3,794 tons
1,217 tons
495 tons
1,583 tons.
986 tons...
15 tons
1,049 tons.
64 tons
11 tons
Total f.o.b.
value
$43, 920
4,640
153, 580
9,270
258,630
880, 230
146, 380
41, 730
21,900
31,940
31,660
138,040
375
26, 225
4,480
2,200
1, 795, 200
TRUCK CROPS
$38,050
34,800
1,585
2,110
20,600
5, 625
9,145
4,500
12,780
10,600
6,410
4,320
3,570
570
1,470
103, 490
3,560
Asparagus.
Berries
Beets
Beans
Carrots
Corn
Cauliflower
Lettuce
Melons:
Watermelons
Other -.
Onions
Peas
Squash
Spinach
Tomatoes
Miscellaneous vegetables.
Total.
296.5
75.0
28.2
15.8
67.0
100.0
82.0
30.0
93.0
139.0
47.5
30.3
39.5
10.3
63.3
282.0
63.5
• Used M acreage as part of acreage is not cultivated.
F— Fresh.
R— Raisin.''.
25,200 crates.
11,600 crates-
127 tons
32 tons
16,350 crates.
450 tons
590 tons
9,000 crates..
10,230 crat«s.
100,000 crates.
7,125 crates...
360 crates
47 tons
46 tons
367 tons
2,820 tons
285 tons
263, 185
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
3061
Acreage, production, and value of agricultural products, Madera County, 1939 — Con.
FIELD CROPS
Acreage
Total production
Total f.o.b
value
Alfalfa
Barley
Beans.
Beets (sugar)-
Cotton
Com:
Indian
Grain sorghum.
Flax
Grain hay
Oats
Potatoes
Potatoes, sweet
Wheat..
11,322
57, 174
1,079
357
44, 900
560
3,281
2,720
4,027
1,599
949
136
22, 694
55,090 tons
38,116 tons.
540 tons
5,648 tons
/Lint, 56,845 bales.
\Seed, 25,300 tons..
2,520 tons..
2,460 tons..
1,210 tons..
4,027 tons.-
576 tons
7,118 tons..
339 tons
10,212 tons.
$413, 170
647, 970
42,660
28,805
2, 586, 000
693,000
31,500
63,960
68,970
35, 030
13, 830
142, 360
10,850
265, 510
Total.
5,043,615
MISCELLANEOUS
Nursery stock.
Bees (colonies)
United States adjustment and conservation
payments (mostly cotton).
Total.
4,000
419,250 fi-uit trees
680,000 vines
9,000 shade trees
1,200 ornamentals
1100,000 pounds honey.
\2,000 pounds wax
$54, 845
4,250
400
663, 955
723, 450
SUMMARY
Total value of—
Frait and nut crops $1,795,200
Trucli crops 263,185
Field crops.. 5,043,615
Miscellaneous 723,450
7, 825, 450
Source of information:
Own office records and personal contacts.
Agricultural Conservation Association through courtesy of the county secretary.
Reports of State Department of Agriculture Crop Reporting Service.
California State Chamber of Commerce Dat.\ To Be Obtained by Counties
IN THE San Joaquin Valley for Agricultural Committee Meeting on
February 2, 1940, Californian Hotel
A. Do you have in your county — •
1. Government camps?
2. County camps?
3. Camps constructed by farmer or shipper organizations?
4. Squatter camps?
B. Was there a deficiency of housing for migrants in your county during the
peak harvest periods?
C. Is there a deficiency of housing for migrants?
D. Would farmers in your county be interested in obtaining Government
loans at a low rate of interest for construction of housing for farm workers —
1. On farms?
2. In community camps?
3052 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
EDUCATION
A. Has school population in your county materially increased in recent years?
B. Are school facilities adequate for handling migrant children?
C. Has overcrowding by migrant children affected the efficiency of teaching?
D. Is there discrimination toward migrant children?
E. Is there discrimination toward migrant adults?
ECONOMIC DATA
A. How many farms were there in j^our county in 1920, 1930, 1935?
B. In 1935 had the average acreage of farms increased or decreased since
1930-40?
C. Are there opportunities in your county for migrants to become — •
1. Farm tenants?
2. Farm owners?
D. Is it likely that during the next few years more farm workers or less farm
workers will be required for your county?
RELIEF AND MEDICAL CARE
1. What is the State Relief Administration case load and what is the county
indigent case load at the present time, and for comparative purposes what was it
6 months ago, a year ago, and 2 years ago?
2. What proportion of the case load in each instance above is composed of what
might be termed long-time residents of the county as compared to those which
might be termed migrants?
3. From the viewpoint of administration, and its effect on the case load, have
there been any important major changes in administration policies in the last
6 months or year with regard to making relief available to applicants — both of
a migratory and more permanent group?
4. Have there been any policies established or carried out by local relief ad-
ministrators regarding any rules or regulations making those on rehef available
for private employment opportunities when thej' arise?
5. To what extent does private enterprise woik through the unemployment
service or relief administration people in attempting to secure workers when job
opportunities develop?
6. Had any qualitative analysis been made of the personnel on relief rolls to
determine their occupational classification or abilities from the viewpoint of
attempting to measure how many are fitted and able to meet the seasonal work
requirements of the district?
Mr. Abbott. I wish to introduce a statement by the Agricultural
Labor Bui-eau of San Joaquin Valley, Inc.
(The statement mentioned reads as follows:)
Statement of the Agriculttjral Labor Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley,
Incorporated
The committee has been questioning witnesses as to the methods used by the
farmers in determining wage levels in such commodities as the cotton industry
in the San Joaquin Valley. Dr. Howell, of the staff, directed such a question to
a farm organization, saying that the committee should have such information in
their records.
The Agricultural Labor Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley, Inc., is an organi-
zation formed for the mutual benefit of its members; to procure and distribute
agricultural and other labor in the San Joaquin Valley and in the State of Cali-
fornia. (Attached to this statement is a copy of the articles of incorporation of
the organization and we ask that same be made a part of the records of your
hearing.)
In connection with setting basic wage levels by the growers in the choppmg and
picking of cotton, the agricultural labor bureau has served for several years
past merely as an instrument to call the growers to a meeting at a designated
place when such a meeting has been requested by the growers themselves. We
do not in any way determine or recommend any wage for any commodity either
agricultural "or otherwise, as it is a meeting for growers only to determine what
wage they should pay.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3063
The growers use the facilities of our office to extend invitations to growers in
the vallev to attend a meeting to discuss a basic wage. One other service is per-
formed by the labor bureau at the request of the growers; that is, we send tele-
grams to the other cotton producing areas of the Nation, asking them to advise us
of the rate of pay for cotton picking in their respective localities. The answers
to these telegrams are then read to the growers when they meet here. (We here
append copies of telegrams received this season and ask that these telegrams be
made a part of the records.) That is the extent of our participation in the setting
of wages. J.- rru
Further, we can tell you this from our observations of these meetmgs: Ihe
growers at their meetings consider the cost of living, the price of the commodity^
and their ability to pay. Then they vote upcn a basic wage which is to be paid
if the crop is in good condition; and the pickers are furnished with housing accom-
modations gratis. The vote upon a basic wage is merely a recommended level.
The growers finallv instruct the agricultural labor bureau of this recommenda-
tion and the board of directors of the bureau in the past have always accepted
this recommendation and have so notified their members.
It is well to call specifically to the committee's attention that the word "basic
is used advisedly here because there is nothing in the recommendation which
requires a farmer to pay only that wage. In many instances where the cotton
is not clean, a poor crop, or accommodations are not furnished, higher levels are
maintained.
Agricultural Labor Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley, Inc.,
F. J. Palomares, Manager.
Fresno, Calif., September 26, 1940.
Oklahoma Cotton Growers Association, Inc.,
Oklahoma City, Okla., August 23, 1940.
Mr. F. J. Palomares,
Manager, Agricultural Labor Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley, Inc.,
Fresno, Calif.:
Dear Sir: Answering your wire of the 21st, the crop in Oklahoma is fully a
month late, and as yet there has been no report of the rate of wages to be paid
for the picking of cotton this season.
However, the rate probably will be 75 cents per hundredweight for pickmg and
60 cents for snapping.
Very truly yours,
P. E. Harrill, General Manager.
The Cotton and Cotton Oil Press,
August 22, 1940.
Mr. F. J. Palomares,
Manager, Agricultural Labor Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley,
Fresno, Calif.
Dear Mr. Palomares: I am very sorry that there was a delay in answering
your wire of the 21st, asking for information as to the cotton-picking rate in this
section. . .
I wired the secretary of the Rio Grande Valley Gmners' Association at ban
Benito, and he replied that the highest price being paid in that section at the
present time for picking cotton is 50 cents per hundred. They do not pull or sled
cotton in that section.
As yet cotton picking has not started in the central, north, or western portions
of the- State.
Trusting that this information will be of service to you, as 1 was very happy
indeed to furnish it, I am
Yours very trulv,
R. Haughton, President.
3064 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
[Telegrams]
Birmingham, Ala.
F. J. Palomares,
Manager, Agricultural Labor Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley, Inc.,
Fresno, Calif.:
Best information can get, picking rate ranges 60 to 75 cents hundredweight
according various conditions.
T. J. KiDD.
Forrest City, Ark.
F. J. Palomares,
Manager, Agricultural Labor Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley, Inc.,
Fresno, Calif.:
Please pardon delay answering your wire 21st but as no cotton will be picked
this section for 2 to 3 weeks have had to canvass the situation thoroughly. Con-
siderable labor agitation this section but general opinion is that cotton picking
will start at from 50 to 60 cents per hundredweight seed cotton and gradually work
up to 75 cents.
Philip Hickey.
Memphis, Tenn.
F. J. Palomares,
Manager, Agricultural Labor Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley, Inc.,
Fresno, Calif.:
Picking begins here probably September 10 or 15. No indication now of
picking charge
Chas. G. Henry.
New Orleans, La.
F. J. Palomares,
Manager, Agricultural Labor Bureau, San Joaquin Valley, Inc.,
Fresno, Calif.:
Picking r^te in Louisiana 50 cents per hundredweight.
N. C. Williamson,
President, American Cotton Cooperative Association.
Las Crxjces, N. Mex.
F. J. Palomares,
Manager, Agricultural Labor Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley,
Fresno, Calif.:
Re your wire cotton picking rate. Cotton picking hasn't started here. No
definite rate established but 50 cents per hundredweight indicated.
W. P. Thorpe,
Secretary, Dona Ana County Farm and Live Stock Bureau.
Jackson, Miss.
F. J. Palomares,
Manager, Agricultural Labor Bureau, San Joaquin Valley, Inc.,
Fresno, Calif.:
Answering; crop late, picking not started, probable rate 50 to 75 cents hundred-
weight Stop Low price for seed this territory will mean low price for picking.
Regards,
G. M. Lester.
Dallas, Tex.
F, J. Palomares,
Manager, Agricultural Labor Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley, Inc.,
Fresno, Calif.:
In Texas Rio Grande Valley section highest price paid for picking cotton at
present time is 50 cents hundred. Too early for central section of State. Delay
caused bj^ absence from city.
R. Haughton
Cotton and Cotton Oil Press.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3065
Macon, Ga.
F. J. Palomares,
Manager, Agricultural Labor Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley, Inc.,
Fresno, Calif.:
No direct information but understand 40 to 50 cents hundred weight general.
Buckeye Cotton Oil Co.
Columbia, S. C.
F. J. Palomares,
Manager, Agriculture Labor Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley, Inc.,
Fresno, Calif.:
Retel 50 cents per hundred.
C. E. Dukes,
South Carolina Cotton Cooperative Association.
College Station, Tex.
J. Palomares,
Manager, Agricultural Labor Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley, Inc.,
Fresno, Calif.:
Current rates cotton picking Texas 50 to 60 cents hundredweight.
W. E. Morgan.
Stillwater, Okla., August 23.
F. J. Palomares,
Manager, Agricultural Labor Bureau, San Joaquin Valley, Inc.,
Fresno, Calif.:
Best indicated rate per hundredweight for cotton picking 60 to 75 cents.
W. A. Conner, State agent.
ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION, AGRICULTURAL LABOR BUREAU
OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Know All Men by These Presents:
That we, the undersigned, a majority of whom are citizens and residents of the
State of Cahfornia, have this day vokmtarily associated ourselves together for the
purpose of forming, and do hereby form, a nonprofit cooperative corporation under
the laws of the State of California and we do hereby certify:
First. That the name of said corporation shall be Agricultural Labor
Bureau of the San Joaquin Valley.
Second. That the purposes for which said corporation is formed are:
(a) To operate for the mutual benefit of its members; to procure and distribute
agricultural and other labor within the San Joaquin Valley and in the State of
Cahfornia; to render any service and/or provide any facilities in any manner con-
nected with, or conducive to the foregoing.
(b) To buy, hold, operate, manage, sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of, or other-
wise obtain and exercise all privileges of ownership of such real and/or personal
property including but not restricted to trade-marks, copyrights, patents, and/or
shares of stock as may be consistent or convenient to conduct and/or carry out
any one or more of the' purposes or objects for which this corporation is formed, or
for anv of its business.
(c) To appoint such agents and officers as its business may require and such
appointed agents may be either persons or corporations; to admit persons to mem-
bership in the corporation and to expel any member pursuant to the provisions of
its bylaws; to forfeit the membership of any member for violation of any agree-
ment between him and the corporation or for his violation of its bylaws.
(d) To borrow money, and to make and issue notes, bonds, debentures, obHga-
tions, and other evidences of indebtedness of all kinds, whether secured or other-
wise, and to secure the same by mortgage, deed of trust, pledge, or otherwise and
generally to make and perform agreements and contracts of every kind and
nature; to loan money with or without security and to take mortgages, pledges,
and/or other securities of real and/or personal property to secure said loans.
3066 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
(e) To do any and everything necessary, suitable and proper for the accom-
plishment of any of the purposes, or attainment of any one or more of the objects
herein enumerated, or conducive to and expedient with the interests of this cor-
poration, and to contract accordingly, and in addition to excerise and possess all
powers, rights, and privileges necessary or incident to the powers for which the
corporation was organized, or to the activities to which it is engaged; and in
addition, any other rights, powers, and privileges granted by the laws of this
state to other corporations, except such as are inconsistent with the express
provisions of the laws under which this corporation is organized.
Third. That the place where the principal business of said corporation is to be
transacted is the City of , County of , State of
California.
FotiRTH. That the term for which said corporation shall exist is fifty years from
and after the date of its incorporation.
Fifth. That the number of directors of said corporation shall be nine (9) and
the names and address of those selected for the first year and until their successors
shall have been elected and shall have accepted office are as follows:
S. P. Frisselle, Fresno, California.
A. J. Sturtevant, Jr., Fresno, California.
Stanley R. Pratt, Bakersfield, California.
A. R. Linn, Merced, California.
E. W. Williams, Madera, California.
J. W. Guiberson, Corcoran, California.
J. A. Pauly, Bakersfield, California.
Guy Windrem, Madera, California.
Guy E. Leonard, Fresno, California.
Sixth. That the voting power and property rights and interests of each member
in the corporation shall be equal and the corporation shall have power to admit
new members who shall be entitled to vote and to share in the property of the
corporation in accordance with law and the bylaws of said corporation.
In witness whereof: we have hereunto set our hands and seal this 13 dav
of April 1926.
(Signed) S. P. Frisselle, A. J. Sturtevant, Jr., Stanley R. Pratt.
A. R. Linn, E. W. Williams, J. W. Guiberson, J. A. Pauly,
Guy Windrem, Guy E. Leonard.
State of California,
County of Fresno, ss:
On this 13th day of April in the year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-
six before me, Valberg M. Gulliksen, a Notary Public in and for the said County
and State, personally appeared S. P. Frisselle, A. J. Sturtevant, Jr., Stanley R.
Pratt, A. R. Linn, E. W. Williams, J. W. Guiberson, J. A. Pauly, Guy Windrem,
Guy E. Leonard, known to me to be the persons whose names are subscribed
to the within instrument and they duly acknowledged to me that they executed
the same.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my official seal
the day and year in this certificate first above written.
(Signed) Valberg M. Gulliksen,
Notary Public in and for said County and State.
(The following: statement was prepared by Edwin Bates, who
cooperated in the California investigation, at the request of the
committee and accepted for the record.)
Migration into California in the 1920's
(By Edwin Bates)'
So many fast-moving events were crowded into American life in the 1920*8
that we were not aware of the greatest migration of our history while we could
still take a look at it.
1 The author is an economist and former newspaperman who has made several studies of the economic
development of the Pacific Coast States. This analysis of migration to California in the 1920's, originally
made several years ago, has been revised and is published here for the first time.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3067
It didn't occur to us perhaps that 2,000,000 people moving to California within
a decade was a great migration because it lacked the dramatic values, the high
adventure, of earlier migrations. The traditional pattern is one of pioneers push-
ing on to new lands to build homes or of the feverish excitement that runs along
the trail to the new gold strilie.
We carry into a new age the historical patterns of the old; and the 1920's
in many respects were a new age. The tempo of life was stepped up tremen-
dously. Scientific advances, creating many new products, were changing our
habits of life. Most important was the automobile which provided the family
with its own means of migration, the facility to move quickly, comfortably, and
without following a timetable. The 1920's were the first decade in which a vast
number of people had their own means of moving quickly, comfortably, quietly,
from one end of the country to another; and they moved.
Actually, there were several migrations over the country in those years. There
were important movements from the South to northern industrial centers; from
the Middle West into Texas; a considerable movement into the Pacific North-
west, and, Nation-wide, a large migration from farms to cities.
The migration to California in the 1920's deserves special study as the greatest
migration of our history, the first migration of the automotive age and perhaps the
last migration stimulated to an important degree b}' cominunity promotion.
It also deserves special study because it has generally been neglected as an
important economic development. Much has been heard of the number of
migrants who converged on California in the 1930's and the difficulties of fitting
them into the State's economy. But what of the 1920's when twice as many
migrants came into the State? How well did the State absorb that migration?
And to what extent was the migration of the 1930's due to the momentum set up
in the 1920's?
A migrant usually is a person who is looking for a home to live in and a job to
live by.
Where did the more than 2,000,000 who moved to California in the 1920's
find their homes? And how did they make a living once they arrived? There
must have been hundreds of thousands of them with definite home or job assign-
ment when they crossed the State boundary.
An economic event, such as the migration to California, is measurable in
statistics of city and rural growth of the number of people living in a community
in 1930 as compared with 1920 or of the jobs at which they worked. But people
are not statistics. And in those drier areas of analysis where we measure the
results of the migration we should be aware that we are still dealing with people.
We deal here with probably three-quarters of a million American families;
with people who left their homes to find something better in California. We can
presum^e they would not have gone without some hope of a job, a more com-
fortable place to live, greater personal happiness, or some personal or material
gain.
They came into California from every part of the country; from the plateau
and desert areas of the Mountain States where there is little chance of population
growth; from the Great Plains and the Corn Belt where post-war deflation of land
values and reduced farm incomes created considerable unrest; from the farms, the
small towns, and cities of the Ohio Valley; from the southern Cotton Belt and
the great industrial centers of the East.
Among the migrants to California in the 1920's were farmers, professional men,
retailers, real-estate agents, oil-field workers, promoters in oil and real estate,
office workers, barbers, waiters, actors and actresses on their way to Hollywood,
carpenters, bricklayers and plasterers to build homes in fast-growing subdivisions,
and a complete cross-section of the highly varied pattern of American life.
SOME QUICK MEASUREMENTS
In 1930 California had about two-thirds more men, women, and children than
in 1920, an increase far beyond that of any other State during the decade. In
actual numbers California's residents increased by 2,250,390 during the 1920's.
In actual gain California also exceeded all other States; New York, in second
place, increased by 2,202,839.
A State gains population in two ways: By an excess of births over deaths and
by bringing more people in than leave. In the 1920's California's births exceeded
deaths by 230,895. If we set the natural increase against the total growth of
2,250,390, it is obvious that California gained more than 2,000,000 persons by the
in-migration.
260370 — 41— pt. 7 18
3068
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
Considering the number who moved away after taking up a contemplated per-
manent residence, it is obvious that the influx of migrants must have been well
above 2,000,000.
A COMPARISON WITH EARLY POPULATION GROWTH
The importance of this migration is shown by measuring it against the growth
of the State in earlier years. When the first census was taken in 1850, the year
California became a State, an incomplete coverage showed a population of 92,597.
The actual number may have been as large as 125,000. In 1920, 60 years later,
the population has grown to 2,377,549. The gain in the 60 years was therefore
about 2,2.50,000. ^ ,
In those years California emerged from a frontier country. Railroads were
built; rich resources in timber, metals, and farm lands were brought under de-
velopm(>nt; towns and cities grew; steamers and sailing ships using the old route
around the Horn — the Panama Canal wasn't opened until 1914 — were carrying
California products to many parts of the world.
One migration followed another in the 60 years from 1850 to 1910. But the
increase in those 60 years was no larger than from 1920 to 1930. Turning the
statement around, we can say that California absorbed as many people in the
boom era of the 1920's as in the first 60 years of its development from a frontier
State.
In 1920 California was eighth in population; by 1930 it had passed Massa-
chusetts and Michigan and was sixth. And by 1940 it had passed Texas and was
practically in a tie with Ohio for fourth place.
A quick glance at the census figures reveals that the migration into California
in the 192d's did not follow one important feature of all frontier migrations.
The frontier has been exploited by men; they have greatly outranked the number
of women. As late as 1910 California had one-fourth more males than females
in its population. ,..,,,,
During the 1920's the increase in California was almost evenly divided between
males and females. The male population increased by 1,129,004 and the female
by 1,121,386. The figures indicate that this must have been a migration of
families. Otherwise, there would not have been the close division between males
and females in the State's increase. _ .
There has also been a popular impression that the migration to Cahfornia in
the 1920's was mostly aged persons seeking retirement in a land of comfortable
living. The figures show no indication of this. Age distribution by major age
groups for California for 1920 and 1930 as compared with the national averages
of those years is shown in table I.
Table I.— Percentage distribution bp major age groups of California's population
as compared with the national average, 1920 and 19S0
Age group
Under age 19
20 to 34 years
35 to 54 years
55 to 64 years
65 years and over
Age unknown
California
30.4
25.6
29.2
8.2
6.4
.2
1920
30.9
25.9
29.1
7.9
5.9
.3
National averages
38.8
24.3
24.6
6.9
5.4
.1
1920
40.7
25.0
23.4
6.2
4.6
.1
California's population for many years has had less young people and a higher
percentage of aged persons than the national average. At the same time the
percentage of aged persons in the Nation's population has been increasing. The
above table indicates that the proportion of persons in various age groups in
California did not change appreciably between 1920 and 1930. The rate of change
in the upper age groups in California was actually less than in the national average.
Southern California cities in the 1920's showed either no gains in percentage
of aged or an actual decline at the end of the decade. Thus, Los Angeles with a
heavy population increase in the 1920's showed 6.2 percent of its population of
age 65 or over in 1930, the same figure as for 1920. In Long Beach 10.9 percent
of the population was 65 or more in 1920 and 9.2 percent in 1930. San Diego
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
3069
showed 9.2 percent of its population of age 65 or more in 1920 and 9.1 percent in
1930.
Some high lights, therefore, of this migration are already clear. It was by all
odds the largest internal migration of our history. That it was not a typical
migration for frontier expansion is shown by the almost even division between
males and females in the population increase of the State. Finally, it was not, as
has been popularly believed, a migration dominated by aged persons.
A FKAME FOR THE PICTURE
Every economic development must be studied within the framework of con-
temporary events. What were the factors that promoted this greatest internal
migration of our history? What were the appeals which drew more than 2,000,000
people to California?
Of some things in this picture we can be quite certain. The 1920-30 decade
was one of the most speculative of American history. Several important indus-
tries— automotive, electrical, and radio, for example — made rapid strides in those
years. It was really in the 1920's that the Nation felt the first full impact of the
automotive age with millions of families now owning a vehicle that would take
them across the country in less than a week. The mobility of the population
increased tremendously. States and communities saw new sources of income in
the tourist trade and began advertising their wares, thus stimulating mobility. ^
Although employment increased in some of the newer industries in the 1920's,
the general trend of employment in all basic industries was downward. Agricul-
ture, mining, forestry and fishing showed a smaller number of workers in 1930
than 10 years earlier although population in the meantime had increased more than
16 percent. These trends in employment throughout the country are shown in
table II.
Table II. — Persons gainfully employed in the 10 major occupation groups in 1920
and 1930 with actual increase and percentage of increase in each group in the
10-year period
Occupation group
Increase
Per-
centage
of in-
crease
in the
10 years
Occupation group
Increase
Per-
centage
of in-
crease
in the
10 years
Total 1920- 41,614,248
1 7, 215, 672
-193,814
-19,745
-105,900
1, 278, 773
746, 318
17.3
-1.8
-7.3
-9.7
10.0
24.1
Trade .. ---
1, 823, 783
117,680
1, 082, 633
1, 572, 456
913,488
42.8
Total 1930: 48,829,920..
Public service (not elsewhere
Agriculture -.__
15.9
Professional service
49.9
Extraction of minerals
Manufacturing and mechan-
Domestic and personal serv-
ice ... - . .
46.5
Clerical occupations.
29.4
Transportation and commu-
nication
Source: Bureau of the Census.
Sharp increases were shown in the 1920's in all lines of white-collar and service
employments. It was an era in which sales promotion and publicity increased
tremendously. To an important degree the upswing in white-collar and service
employments was stimulated by the rapid increase in urban population and by
decreasing opportunity for employment in basic industries.
There was an important cityward movement in the 1920's. Urban population
in the United States increased by 14,796,850 between 1920 and 1930, a gain of
27.3 percent, while rural population rose only 2,267,576, a gain of 4.4 percent.
Population on farms dechned by 3.8 percent.
Rich oil strikes in the 1920's'added greatly to speculative activity. Crude oil
production rose rapidly; the output in 1930 was a little more than twice that of
1920. Migrations followed the oil strikes as they had the gold and silver strikes
of other years. The southern California oil boom was a highly important factor
in promoting migration into that area. In 1921 Los Angeles County produced
12,396,000 barrels of crude oil; by 1923 the output had shot up to 158,665,000
barrels. Some of the rich strikes in the county were made on town lots, thus
spreading the benefits to thousands of people.
3Q70 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
While business indexes moved upward during the 1920's, there was considerable
unrest in the Farm Belt where many farmers were caught by the post-war defla-
tion of farm prices and sharp decline in land values.
All these developments are the framework within which the California migration
took place: Widespread speculative activity, real estate and oil booms, increased
mobility of population, rapid urbanization, decline in basic industry employment,
post-war deflation in agriculture and a sharp upturn in white-collar and service
jobs.
Many California communities also put on advertising campaigns to promote
population growth. Aside from the oil boom and growth of the motion-picture
industry, there had been no important industrial expansion to attract people
seekinfj' employment. Population promotion was based on a theory that as a
community expands it is certain to gain industries to supply the necessary pay-
rolls for its existence.
INCREASE IN POREIGN-BORN
Foreign-born residents in California's population increased by 316,339 during
the 1920's, more than one-third of which were Mexicans of foreign birth.
No estimate can be made from census reports of the increase in the State due
to direct migration to California from abroad. The number of foreign-born
whites in the State increased from 681,662 in 1920 to 810,034 in 1930, a gain of
128,372. At the same time the number of naturalized citizens in this group in-
creased by 133,513. A considerable part of the naturalized citizens had presum-
ably lived in other States and been naturalized before moving to California.
The number of aliens in the State's population decreased by 28,341 during the
decade while the number who had taken out first papers increased by 34,905.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GETS 72 PERCENT OF INCREASE
Los Angeles County absorbed 56.5 percent of the State's population gain of
the 1920's and the nine additional counties of southern California absorbed
15.5 percent.
The increase in Los Angeles County in the 1920's was 1,272,037. The signifi-
cance of this increase for one countv can best be understood by comparing it with
increases in important States. During the 1920's Michigan gained 1,173,913 or
about 100,000 less people than Los Angeles County. Furthermore, Michigan
stood third among the States, exceeded only by California and New York. Texas
was fourth with a gain of 1,161,487 and Illinois fifth with an increase of 1,145,374.
The other principal center of population in Caliiornia is the San Francisco Bay
district, comprising nine counties. The total increase in these counties in the
1920's was 395,098 or 17.6 percent of the State's increase.
Southern California and the San Francisco Bay district, therefore, absorbed
about 90 percent of the State's increase. While these two sections increased in
population, with Los Angeles County far in the lead, vast areas of the State,
particularly mountainous and desert areas, gained a mere handful of people or
lost population.
There are tremendous variations in California's natural resources and likewise
in population density. A large State, the second largest of the Nation, it has,
within its 155,000 square miles, vast stretches of mountainous and desert country
with one or two persons per square mile. Some of these lightly populated areas
are larger than many eastern States. While population was pouring into southern
California in the 1920's, six counties of the State were losing population; some of
the counties of declining population were in the Mother Lode country of the
Sierra Nevadas, scene of the gold rush of '49.
URBAN AND RURAL GAINS
Less than 4 percent of the people who came to California in the 1920's settled
on farms; the migration to the State was overwhelmingly to urban areas. The
total increase of 2,250,390 was distributed as follows: Urban gain, 1,828,867, 81.2
percent of total; rural farm gain, 85,837, 3.8 percent of total; rural nonfarm,
335,686, 15 percent of total.
The rural nonfarm group on inspection is found to be much more urban m
character than rural. This group includes: (1) Persons living in incorporated
places of less than 2,500 population and (2) persons living in unincorporated
places, but not on farms.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
3071
Out of a total rural nonfarm population of 937,305 in California in 1930 there
were 154,284 in incorporated places of less than 2,500 and 783,021 in unincorpo-
rated territory, but not on farms. An analysis of the latter group indicates that
most of them live in unincorporated suburban communities, are presumably de-
pendent on urban employment, and certainly more urban than rural in character.
In all the highly urbanized counties of the State there is a large rural nonfarm
group, very few of whom live in incorporated towns. Los Angeles County, a
highly urbanized area, had a rural nonfarm population in 1930 of 249,548 of which
only 8,137 lived in incorporated towns of less than 2,500. In Alameda County
there was a rural nonfarm population of 25,340, but only 3,573 of these lived
in incorporated places. Many similar instances show up in other populous
counties of the State.
Considering the suburban character of most of the rural nonfarm people and
their dependence on urban employment, it is obvious that the movement into
California's urban districts was actually much higher than 81.2 percent of the
total shown above. While no actual determination can be made of the extent to
which the State's gain was urban and suburban, it does appear that probably 90
percent of it was.
We find, therefore, that the migration to California in the 1920's was an impor-
tant part of the entire cityward movement of that decade.
BIG CITIES DOMINANT
In 1920 California was 68 percent urban; in 1930, 73.3 percent urban. Only
five States in 1930 — Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, and
Illinois — had a higher percentage of urban population than California. Con-
trary to the popular impression, California is more highly urbanized than Penn-
svlvania, Ohio, Connecticut, and Michigan.
" California's five largest cities gained almost 1,000,000 people in the 1920's.
Only New York City and Chicago have absorbed more people in a single decade
than Los Angeles.
The population increase of Los Angeles, including two other urban areas
annexed in the 1920's, was 661,375, a gain of 114.7 percent or approximately
the same rate of growth as Detroit between 1910 and 1920. Chicago increased
by 674,733 in the 1920's, exceeding Los Angeles by a small margin, but the rate
of growth was substantially less.
The populations of California's five largest cities in 1930 are shown in table III.
Table III.— Populations, 1920 and 1930, and 10-year increase of the 6 California
cities of more than 100,000 population in 1930
Population
Increase
City-
1930
1920
1,238,048
634, 394
284, 063
147, 995
142,032
591, 587
506, 676
216, 261
78, 831
55, 593
646, 461
127, 718
67, 802
69, 164
86, 439
2, 446, 532
1, 448, 948
997, 584
1 The population figure of Los Angeles for 1920 has been increased by 14,914 to take account of 2 urban
areas annexed to the city in the 1920's. These were Venice (10,385 in 1920), annexed in 1925, and V/atts
(4,529 in 1920), annexed in 1926.
2 San Diego's 1920 population is increased here by 4,148 to take account of the annexation of East San
Diego, an urban area, in 1923.
CITIES OF 25,000 TO 100,000
In 1930 Cahfornia had 15 cities of between 25,000 and 100,000 population.
Nine of these cities are in the 10 counties of southern California and 6 in the
northern part of the State. These 15 cities had an aggregate increase of 280,948
in the 1920's. Their growth is shown in table IV.
3072
Table IV.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
-Populations, 1920 and 1930, and 10-year gain of 15 California cities
between 25,000 and 100,000 in 1930
City
1930
1920
10-year gain
35,033
29, 472
26.015
82. 109
52, 513
62, 736
76, 086
29, 696
93, 750
37, 481
57. 651
30, 322
33.613
37, 146
47,963
28,806
9,096
18, 638
56, 036
45 0S6
13, 536
45, 354
19,341
65, 908
18, 721
39, 642
15, 485
19,441
15, 252
40.296
6.227
20,376
7,377
26. 073
7,427
49,200
30, 732
10, 355
27. 842
18. 760
18.009
14. 837
14. 172
21,894
7,667
Total -
731, 586
450. 638
280,948
The six northern California cities in the above group — Alameda, Berkeley,
Fresno, Sacramento, San Jose, and Stockton — showed an aggregate gain of 93,245
while the increase of the nine southern California cities was 187,703. The rates of
increase in Glendale, Alhambra, Santa Monica, San Bernardino, and Santa Ana
reflect the rapid urbanization in southern California in the I920's.
CITIES OF 10,000 TO 25,000
In the 10,000 to 25,000 population group there were 24 California cities in 1930
which had also been classified as urban in 1920. These cities showed an aggregate
gain of 156,259. The list of cities in table V does not include new incorporations
nor rural towns which jumped into this classifl!ication during the 1920's.
Table V. — Populations, 1920 and 1930, of 24 Cahfcrnia cities of between 10,000
and 25,000 in 1930 which were urban in 1920
City
Anaheim '
Brawley '. --.
Burbank2...
Burlingame
Eureka ---
Fullerton '
Huntington Park -
Ingle wood ■
Modesto -
Monrovia 2
Ontario '
Palo Alto
Pomona'
Population
10, 995
10, 439
16, 662
13, 270
15, 752
10, 860
24, 591
19,480
13, 842
10,890
13,583
13, 652
20,804
1920
5,526
5.389
2,913
4,107
12, 923
4,415
4,513
3,286
9,241
5,480
7,280
5,900
13,505
City
Redlands '
Richmond -
Salinas
Ventura '
San Leandro
San Mateo
Santa Cruz
Santa Rosa
South Pasadena '.
Vallejo — -
\Vhittier2_
Total - 343,914
Population
14, 177
20, 093
10, 263
11,603
11,455
13. 444
14, 395
10, 636
13, 730
14, 476
14,822
1920
9,571
16, 843
4,308
4,156
5,703
5,979
10,917
8,758
7,652
16, 845
7,997
187, 655
> In southern California outside Los Angeles County.
2 In Los Angeles County.
Note:— This list does not include Beverly Hills and Compton which advanced from rural to urban
classification during the 1920's: South Gate, incorporated between 1920 and 1930, and Gardena Township,
classified as urban in 19.30 under a special rule. These 4 urban centers, all between 10,000 and 25,000, are
shown in other tables.
SMALL cities ALSO GROW
Almost 100,000 persons were added to California's urban population in the
1920's by the growth of cities of between 5,000 and 10,000. Table VI includes 39
cities in this group which were also classified as urban in 1920. Three addi-
tional cities of between 5,000 and 10,000 which changed from rural to urban in
the 1920's are included in table VIII.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3073
Most of the cities shown in table VI are in northern Cahfornia. The aggregate
population gain in these cities was 99,869.
Table \I.— Populations, 1920 and 1930, of 39 California cities of between 5,000 and
10,000 in 1930 which were classified as urban in 1920
City
Calexico '--
Chico- --
Coltoni
Corona •
Coronado ■
Daly City -
ElCentro"
Haaford
Hayward
Lodi
Martinez
Marysville
Merced
Monterey.-
Monterey Park 2
Napa
National City >..
Orange '
Oxnard 1
Pacific Grove
Petaluma
Population
1930
1920
6,299
6,223
7,961
9, 339
8,014
4,282
7,018
4,129
5, 425
3,289
7,838
3,779
8,434
5,464
7,028
5,888
5,530
3,487
6,788
4,850
6,569
3,858
5,763
5,461
7,066
3,974
9,141
5,479
6,406
4,108
6,437
6,757
7,301
3,116
8,066
4,884
6,285
4,417
5,558
2,974
8,245
6,226
City
Piedmont
Pittsburg
Porterville
Redondo Beach 2
Redwood City
Roseville
San Fernando -
San Gabriel ■
San Luis Obispo '..-
San Rafael-- ---
Santa Clara- -..
Santa Maria '
Santa Paula '
South San Francisco
Tulare
Visalia
Watson ville
Woodland
Total
Population
1930
9,333
9,610
5,303
9,347
8,902
6,425
7,567
7,224
8,276
8,022
6,302
7,057
7,452
6,193
6,207
7,263
8,344
5,542
1920
4,282
4,715
4,097
4,913
4,020
4,477
3,204
2,640
5,895
5,512
5,220
3,943
3,967
4,411
3,539
5,753
5,013
4,147
181, 732
> In southern California outside Los Angeles County.
* In Los Angeles County.
While most of the large California cities grew rapidly in the 1920's several small
urban centers of between 2,500 and 5,000 grew much more slowly. In 1930 there
were 21 cities of between 2,500 and 5,000 which had been classified as urban in
the 1920 census. In the 10 years their aggregate populations increased from
62,756 to 74,806, a gain of 12,050 or a little more than 19 percent. These cities
represent a very small part of the State's urban growth and are not separately
shown.
NEW CITIES ARE BORN
Eight new cities were created in Los Angeles County during the 1920's. One
of these, South Gate, incorporated in 1923, had a population of 19,632 in 1930.
In addition to these eight incorporations Belvedere and Gardena Townships, also
in Los Angeles County, were added to urban areas of the State in 1930 under a
new census rule. The only other new incorporation in the urban group during
the decade was Willow Glen in Santa Clara County.
These new incorporations and the two townships classified as urban add 117,089
to the State's urban increase in the 1920's. The populations of these 11 cities
and urban areas in 1930 are shown in table VII.
Table VII, — Population of nine California cities incorporated during ike 1920's
and of two urban areas created by special census rule
1930
City of urban area — Con. population
Torrance 7,271
Willow Glen 4,167
Belvedere Township 33, 023
Gardena Township 15, 969
City of urban area:
Bell
Hawthorne
Lynwood
Maywood 6,794
Montebello 5, 498
Signal Hill 2,932
South Gate 19,632
1930
population
7,884
6,596
7,323
Total 117,089
3074
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
TOWNS BECOME CITIES
When an incorporated town goes beyond 2,500 it changes from rural to urban
classification. During the 1920's, 40 California cities jumped from the rural to
urban group and increased the State's urban population by 165,068.
Some of the cities showed very rapid rates of increase, particularlj^ those of
Los Angeles County, which mushroomed as a result of rich oil strikes and growth
of the motion-picture industry. Of the 40 towns under this heading 14 are in
Los Angeles County, 10 in southern California outside Los Angeles County, and
16 in northern California. Nine of the northern California cities are in the San
Francisco Bay district, the area of greatest population density in that section of
the State. Only seven of these towns, therefore, are outside the heavily populated
areas of the State.
In striking a balance of California's urban growth the 1930 population of these
cities — and not the 1920-30 gains — are taken into account. The 40 towns which
changed from rural to urban in the 1920's are shown in table VIII.
Table VIII. — Populations in 1930 and 1920 of 40 California cities which changed
from rural to urban classification in the 1920-30 decade
City
Albany
Antioch
Arcadia'
Auburn..
Azusa>
Banning 2
Beverly Hills "
Chino 2
ChulaVistaS..
Claremont 1
Compton I
Covina '
Culver City '..
Delano'
El Cerrito
El Monte i
El Sestundo K.
Escondido2_..
Exeter
Fillmore 2
Glendora '
1930 pop-
ulation
8,569
3, 563
5,216
2.661
4,808
2,752
17, 429
3,118
3,869
2,719
12, 516
2,774
5,669
2,632
3,870
3,479
3,503
3,421
2, 685
2,893
2,761
1920 pop-
ulation
2,462
1,936
2,239
2,289
2,460
1,810
674
2,132
1,718
1,728
1,478
1,999
503
805
\,K5
1,283
1, 563
1,789
1, 852
1,597
2,028
City
Hermosa Beach '
Huntington Beach '.
La Me.sa2
LaVerne '
Livermore
Lompoc2
Los Gatos -
Mountain View
Oceanside 2
Paso Robles
Reedley...
San Anselmo
San Bruno
San Marino '
Sierra Madre •
Sunnyvale
Tracy
Ukiah
Yuba City
Total 165,068
1930 pop-
ulation
1920 pop-
ulation
2,327
1,687
1.004
1, 698
1,916
1,876
2,317
1,888
1,161
1,919
2.447
2,475
1,562
584
2,026
1,675
2, 450
2,305
1,708
70, 875
' In Los Aneeles County.
« In southern California outside Los Angeles County.
CITIES ANNEXED TO OTHER CITIES
Three cities, classified as urban in 1920, were annexed to other cities previous
to 1930. These included East San Diego with 4,14*^ in 1920, annexed to San Diego;
Venice, with a population of 10,385 in 1920, annexed to Los Angeles; and Waits,
with 4,529 in 1920, also annexed to Los Angeles. In table III the 1920 popula-
tions of San Diego and Los Angeles were increased to offset these annexations.
This adjustment was necessary to set up the summary of urban increases shown
in table IX.
URBAN GROWTH SUMMARIZED
The total urban increase in California in the 1920's was 1,828,867. Well over
half of this increase was in the 5 largest cities of the State and about 70 percent
of it was in the 20 largest cities. Of these 20 cities, all of more than 25,000 in
1930, 6 are in Los Angeles County, 6 in southern California outside Los Angeles
County, and 8 in northern California.
These 20 cities added 1,278,532 persons to California urban population. Of this
increase the 12 southern California cities gained 989,767 and the 8 northern Cali-
fornia cities 288.765.
A summary of the State's urban gro^-th in the decade is shown in table IX.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
3075
Table IX. — Summary of urban population increase in California between 1920 and
1930
Groups of cities, etc.
Increase
Percent of
State's net
urban gain
5 cities of over 100,000
15 cities of 25,000 to 100,000__-.
24 cities of 10,000 to 25,000
39 cities of 5,000 to 10,000
21 cities of 2,500 to 5,000
11 cities and new urban areas created between 1920 and 1930
40 towns which changed from rural to urban classification- .
Total urban increase, 1920-30
997, 584
280, 948
156. 259
99, 869
12,050
117,089
165, 068
54.5
15.4
8.5
6.5
.7
6.4
9.0
1, 828, 867
100
Source: U. S. Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Decennial Census, Population Statistics of California,
Second Series, 1030.
California's metropolitan districts
So far we have indicated the urbanization of California in the 1920's by listing
the growth of cities. This gives an accurate picture of the trend, but it does not
reveal the extent to which people are massed in and around the principal cities of
the State.
The best measure of the massing around larger cities is found in the study of
metropolitan dis ricts of the United States prepared by the Bureau of the Census
from 1930 census returns.
A metropoUtan district comprises one or more central cities of 50,000 or more
inhabitants and all adjacent and contiguous civil divisions with 150 persons or
more per square mile and also, as a rule, the civil divisions of less population
density directly contiguous to the central cities or entirely or nearly surrounded
by civil divisions with the required density. Each metropoUtan district must
have at least 100,000 people.
California has 5 of the 96 metropolitan districts of the country. Los Angeles
was fourth among the metropolitan areas and the San Francisco-Oakland district
was ninth.
About 71 percent of the State's population lived in the 5 metropolitan districts
in 1930. This ratio was higher than in Pennsylvania, where there is a great
massing of people around that State's 10 metropolitan districts.
The population of California's metropolitan districts in 1930 was as follows:
District: Population
Los Angeles 2, 318, .526
San Francisco-Oakland 1, 290, 094
San Diego 181,020
Sacramento 126, 995
San Jose 103,428
Total 4,020,063
putting some facts together
It has been suggested here that a migrant is usually a person looking for a home
to live in and a job to live by.
The statistics indicate pretty clearly where the more than 2,000,000 migrants
who went to California in the i920's found their homes. The tables have shown
the growth of cities of various population groups and the gain in rural population.
Some of the outstanding facts may be summarized as follows:
1. The migration of the 1920's which swept more than 2,000,000 people into
California centered on Los Angeles County, which alone gained more people in the
decade than Michigan, Texas, or Illinois.
2. Southern Caliifornia counties absorbed 72 percent of the State's total in-
crease; and the San Francisco Bay area, nine counties, absorbed almost 18 ]jercent.
3. About 90 percent of the migrants to California in the 1920's settled in
urban and suburban areas. An exact measure of suburban people, dependent on
urban employment, cannot readily be computed, but the number is known to
be very large.
3076
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
4. Approximately 55 percent of the State's population growth was in the 5
largest cities of the State, and about 70 percent of it in the 20 largest cities.
5. Approximately 71 percent of all Californians lived in the five metropolitan
areas of the State in 1930. This percentage exceeds that of Pennsylvania, which
may be taken as a State that is fairly typical of population concentration along
the industrialized eastern seaboard.
6. Only 3.8 percent of California's population increase in the 1920's was
absorbed on farms.
7. While cities grow rapidly in southern California and around San Francisco
Bay, large areas of the State, in fact, the frontier areas which claimed the migra-
tions of other years, showed population losses or very slight increases.
MAKING A LIVING IN CALIFORNIA
How were 2,000,000 migrants fitted into the employment structure of California
during the 1920's? Were jobs created fast enough to absorb the influx of people
who were looking for work? How did the migration affect the employment
structure of the State?
With about 90 percent of the migration moving to urban and suburban centers,
we naturally expect to find most of the migrants absorbed in industry, trade,
professional service, and other typical "city" jobs.
California, as has been shown, is a highly urbanized State, more highly urban-
ized, in fact, than such States as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Michigan.
For a general picture of the California employment structure in 1930 we can
turn to the figures of the Bureau of the Census and compare the distribution of
workers in broad general groups of occupations with the national average. This
comparison is shown in table X.
Table X. — Distribution of gainful workers 10 years old and over, hy general
divisions of occupations, in California as compared with the national average,
1930
Percentage distri-
bution
Division of occupations
Agriculture
Forestry and fishing
Extraction of minerals
Manufacturing and mechanical industries
Transportation and communication
Trade
Public Service (not elsewhere classified) . .
Professional service
Domestic and personal service
Clerical occupations -
Total --
Source: Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Decennial Census, 1930.
Immediately obvious in table X is the much lower percentage of California
workers engaged in basic industries in 1930 as compared with the national average
and also the much greater proportion in California engaged in white-collar and
service occupations.
While the State's population jumped by 65.7 percent in the 1920's, the number
of factory wage earners increased only 19.4 percent. The comparisons are shown
in table "XI. A considerable part of the increases in wages and value added by
manufacture came from oil refining and motion-picture production, which pro-
duce a high value of product in proportion to workers employed.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3077
Table XI. — Indtistriul development and population increase in California, 1920-SO
Percent of
Factor: increage
Population 65. 7
Factory wage earners 19. 4
Wages 38. 6
Factory horsepower 105. 1
Value added by manufacture 77. 0
Source: United States Bureau of the Census.
The migrants who went to California in the 1920's were fiot attracted by
rapidly expanding factory pay rolls as had been the case in migrations to middle
western industrial centers after 1910. There was a very slow rise in factory wage
earners in California when thousands of people seeking employment were coming
into the State. In 1919 there were 243,692 factory wage earners in California;
in 1921, a depression year, the number dropped to 197,608; by 1923, the number
had increased to 245,416, or a little more than the 1919 level.
From 1923 to 1929 there were quite minor changes in some periods, particularly
between 1923 and 1925 when the number of factory workers in the State increased
only 4,136. At the peak of employment in 1929' California had 290,911 factory
wage earners. From 1923 to 1929 while the 2,000,000 migrants were attempting
to "settle down" and find some security of employment, the State's factory pay
rolls increased by about 45,000 which meant new jobs for less than 8,000 additional
factory workers each year.
LINES OF INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
In any city it can be observed that industrial development runs along two
lines: (1) Local industries which serve the day-to-day needs of the local popula-
tion and (2) industries which because of competitive advantages can produce for
outside markets. A city gets its rating as an industrial center from the latter
group of industries and not from the former.
In California during the 1920's there was the expected increase in local indus-
tries; these industries grew with the rapid urbanization of the State. It was not
necessary to "attract" them.
These local industries include bakeries, ice-cream plants, laundries, newspaper
plants, creameries, the smaller confectionery plants, and an important part of
the business of sheet-metal shops, small foundries, planing mills, brick plants, and
job printing shops. There must be some industry in every city to take care of
local needs; but a city cannot survive on industries which meet local needs,
any more than its people could make a living by taking in one another's washing.
Many of those who promoted the flow of migrants mto California in the 1920's
through real-estate speculation asserted industry would follow population growth.
"This approach reversed the usual pattern of city development; ordinarily, a city
has worked for industrial and commercial development first; for improvement
of its transportation facilities, banking structure, and other means of strengthen-
ing its industrial position; ordinarily there has been confidence that a city would
get all the people it needed if it had pay rolls to attract them.
SERVICE AND WHITE-COLLAR WORKERS INCREASE RAPIDLY
A clear indication of what happened to California's employment structure
by the 1920-30 migration is found in the census figures indicating that the major
increases in occupational groups were in white-collar and service occupations.
During the 1920's, while California's population jumped 65.7 percent, the
number of workers in professional service rose from 116,412 to 235,386 — a gain
of 102.2 percent; domestic and personal service workers increased from 154,841
to 294,075 — a gain of 90 i)ercent; employees in trade, mostly in selling, promoting,
advertising, and retailing, increased from 209,399 to 436,619 — a gain of 108.5
percent; workers in clerical occupations, bookkeepers, messengers, stenographers,
typists, and others, increased from 133,405 to 253,320 — a gain of 90 percent.
" In the field of "public service (not elsewhere classified)," which includes police-
men, firemen, soldiers, sailors, marines, and many city and county officials,
there was an increase in the 10 years of 33.3 percent.
3078
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
While white collar and service workers increased much faster than population
the number of workers in agriculture, forestry, mining, fishing, manufacturing,
building trades and transportation advanced only 43.1 percent. In 1920 there
were 853,124 in these basic emplojanents, according to the census figures, and
1,220,503 in 1930.
These figures give rather clear indications of the types of people who came to
California in the 1920's. They indicate rather conclusively that the migration
was not made up of wealthy, retired farmers from the Middle West nor of aged
persons seeking a pleasant climate in which to spend their deelhiing years. Most
of the migrants of the 1920's, the figures seem to shout, were people who wanted
jobs, mostly white collar and service jobs. A considerable number were profes-
sional people who could make their own jobs, or salesmen who could "promote"
themselves jobs on a commission basis. Lack of employment opportunities in
industry probably forced many of them to seek white collar jobs.
HOW CITIES LIVE
Graphic illustrations of the variations between the employment structure of
California cities and eastern cities of comparable size are shown in a series of
charts prepared in connection with this study.
Table XII shows the percentage of gainfully employed persons engaged in
trade (principally in selling and sales promotion) in 1930 in the 12 largest cities
of the country. In this case both Los Angeles and San Francisco show averages
higher than other comparable cities with Los Angeles far above the general aver-
age. Several cities, it will be noted, are pretty close together: St. Louis, Pitts-
burgh, Chicago, and New York, for example.
Table XII. — Percent of gainfully occupied persons employed in trade in the 12
largest cities of the United States in 1930
Percent of
gainfully employed
workers engaged
in trade
New York 17. 4
Chicago 17. 0
Philadelphia 15. 6
Detroit 13. 9
Los Angeles 21. 8
Cleveland 13. 8
Source: Bureau of the Census.
Percent of
gainfully employed
workers engaged
in trade
St. Louis 16.8
Baltimore 16. 0
Boston 16. 1
Pittsburgh 16. 9
San Francisco 18. 5
Milwaukee 14. 8
EXCESS OF PROFESSIONAL WORKERS
Another similar comparison, this one showing percentage of gainfully occupied
persons engaged in professional service, is shown by table XIII. In this instance
we find Los Angeles far ahead of all other cities in ratio of professional workers —
physicians and surgeons, dentists, nurses, lawyers, engineers, teachers, authors,
actors, artists, clergymen, musicians, and many others.
Table XIII. — Percent of gainfully occupied persons employed in professional service
in the 12 largest cities of the United States in 1930
Percent
New York 8.0
Chicago 6. 8
Philadelphia 6. 6
Detroit 6. 2
Los Angeles 12. 2
Cleveland 6. 4
Source: Bureau of the Census.
Percent
St. Louis 6. 3
Baltimore 6. 8
Boston 8. 4
Pittsburgh 7. 7
San Francisco 8. 3
Milwaukee 6. 7
In Los Angeles, in 1930. 12.2 percent of the gainfully employed were pro-
fessional service people whereas the average for most cities ranged between 6
and 8 percent. San Francisco showed a higher percentage of professional service
workers than most cities, although not quite so high as Boston.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
3079
The number of professional workers in the United States rose rapidly in the
1920's: Trained nurses increased 97 percent: professional engineers 6G percent;
lawyers 31 percent; architects 21 percent.
In 1920 professional workers were 5.2 percent of the Nation's gainfully employed;
in 1930 they were 6.7 percent. The increase has been shown in table II.
In California, professional workers in 1930 were 9.4 percent of the State's
gainfully employed, a ratio of 40 percent higher than the expanded national
average of that year.
In 1930 there were 125 physicians and surgeons for each 100.000 of population
in the United States; in California there were 172 per 100,000. The national
average was 240 trained nurses per 100,000 people; in California 410 per 100,000.
Individual city figures are also interesting; San Francisco had 156 dentists
per 100,000 people in 1930: Portland, Oreg., 148 per 100,000; Seattle 146; Los
Angeles 118; San Diego 96; Chicago 95; New York 90; Pittsburgh 89; St. Louis 84;
Boston 83; Philadelphia 80; Detroit 63, and Cleveland 59.
The national average for architects was 18 per 100,000 in 1930; California
showed 35 per 100,000.
No quick conclusions should be drawn from these figures although they do
indicate a heavy overload of professional workers in California as compared
with national averages. California, nowever, stands well above the national
average in her per capita purchasing power and per capita wealth and may
reasonably be expected to support a higher ratio of professional workers in its
population than many other States. A special study of the ratio of physicians,
surgeons, and dentists to population of the several States in 1930 showed a high
correlation with per capita retail sales.'
Restrictions against the free migration of professional workers did a great deal
to hold down the number who came into Cahfornia in the 1920's. In several pro-
fessions California refuses reciprocity with other States, does not admit profes-
sional service migrants to practice until they have cjualified under a State examina-
tion.
CLERICAL AND DOMESTIC AND PERSONAL SERVICE WORKERS
Two important occupations — -clerical workers and domestic and personal
service employees — increased by 90 percent in Cahfornia during the 1920's.
Here again the ratios to population in California as compared with the national
averages tell about the same story as in professional and trade pursuits.
In 1930 the national average was 661 stenographers and typists per 100,000 of
population; in California the average was 941 per 100,000. The national average
of barbers, hairdressers, and manicurists per 100,000 population was 305; in
California 443. Laundry operatives had a national average of 196 per 100,000
population; in California 346. At the same time California had 145 cleaniiig,
dyeing, and pressing shop operators per 100,000 population while the national
figure was 72.
Table XIV presents a graphic comparison of several of the ratios shown above.
Table XIV. — Number of persons employed in various professional, trade, and
domestic service pursuits in each 100,000 of population in California and the
United States, 1930
Occupation
Number per 100,000
of population
Occupation
Number per 100,000
of population
United
States
Cali-
fornia
United
States
Cali-
fornia
Physicians and surgeons
Nurses __...-
125
240
131
1,685
172
410
178
2,784
Stenographers and typists
Barbers, hairdressers, and
manicurists
Carpenters
661
305
757
941
Lawyers, judges, and justices.
443
1,139
Source: Bureau of the Censi
IS, 1930.
' See articles by the author in California and Western Medicine, San Francisco, February 1933, and in
the Dental Gazette, San Francisco, February 1933. These articles show the ratio of physicians, surgeons,
and dentists in the population of the States and major cities of the country and a comparison with per capita
retail sales as shown by the Census of Distribution for 1929.
3080 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
BUILDING TRADES WORKERS INCREASE
Building homes for an increase of 2,250,000 people in 10 years naturally attracted
a large number of building trades workers. In 1930 the ratio of workers in this
group to population in California was well above the national average. The
California ratio for plasterers and cement finishers was more than twice the national
average — -144 per 100,000 as compared with 70. There were also considerably
more carpenters in California in proportion to population — 1,139 per 100,000 in
California as compared with 750 nationally. Similar ratios hold for several other
related lines.
California's industrial growth in the i92o'8
California's industrial growth up to 1920 had been based almost entirely on the
processing of native raw materials. An important canning industry had grown
up with the expansion of the State's fruit and vegetable production; lumbering
had been an important industry for many years; sugar refining, flour milling, clay
products industries, fish canning, and many otliers using native products of the
State's farms, mines, fisheries, and forests had built important pay rolls. Ship
building and repairing have been important in some years.
With almost 2,000,000 persons migrating into the State in the I920's, and about
90 percent of them taking up homes in urban and suburban communities, the
need for broader industrial development soon became imperative. Chambers of
commerce and industrial organizations began a drive to induce eastern manufac-
turers to locate branch plants in California to serve Pacific coast and oriental
markets. In some lines these efforts were rather successful, particularly in the
rubber industry and the assembling of automobiles. Of most importance, in view
of recent developments in the present national defense program, was the develop-
ment of aircraft production. The increase in aircraft production in the Los
Angeles area is now doing a great deal to take up the lag in industrial pay rolls
during the I920's. There are several measures of California's lagging industrial
development in 1930 which provide comparisons with other States and cities of
the country. Because of its high urbanization it seems fair enough to make a
comparison of factory employees in California's population with those of several
other highly urbanized States.
The Census of Manufactures for 1929 showed 64 persons out of each 1,000 of
population in California were engaged in manufacturing. This figure included
factory workers, office employees, and salaried officials of manufacturing concerns.
In comparison with the California figure of 64 in each 1,000 of population. North
Carolina had 72; Wisconsin, 106; New York, 108; Illinois, 110; Pennsylvania, 121;
Michigan, 125; Ohio, 129; Massachusetts, 152; and Connecticut, 180.
Again, tliere is no rigid yardstick, no ultimate standard, by which one can say a
State with a certain degree of urbanization sliould have a certain share of its gain-
ful workers engaged in manufacturing. There are other basic industries, pro-
viding pay rolls, which may be just as important. Here, however, the figures, as
shown by table X, indicate that California is well below the national average in
percentage of workers in agriculture and mining. In forestry and fishing,
relatively small industries, the California figure corresponds closely with the
national average. Transportation and communication, ordinarily regarded as a
service industry although in many respects a basic industry, has approximately
the same percentage of workers in California as in the national average.
This means, broadly considered, that California nad no important basic in-
dustries in 1930 with a margin of employment beyond the national average to
offset the deficiency in industrial pay rolls. Again, this is obvious when we look
at the heavy excess of white collar and service employees in the California popu-
lation.
SOME city comparisons
Two sets of census data are available for comparing the industrial growth of
California cities with other cities of the country. One set, based on returns from
the population census, shows workers engaged in "manufacturing and mechanical
industries," which includes all lines of industry and also the building trades. The
second set of data is based on returns from the Census of Manufactures and
inc'udes workers engaged in manufacturing industries.
In table XV we have a comparison of the percentage of total workers engaged in
manufacturing and mechanical industries in 1930 in the 12 largest cities of the
country. Four cities out of the 12 — Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Phila-
delphia— show more than 40 percent of their gainfully employed in manufacturing
INTERSTATE MIGRATION
3081
and mechanical industries. Three cities — Baltimore, St. Louis, and Chicago — •
have between 35 and 40 percent of their workers in these occupations. Los Angeles
and San Francisco have the lowest percentages of the 12 cities, both cities being
appreciably below New York and Boston, which had 32 percent of their workers
in this group of occupations.
Table XV.- — Percent of gainfully occupied persons employed in manufo during,
and mechanical industries in the 12 largest cities of the United States in 1930
Per-
cent
New York 32. 0
Chicago 36. 2
Philadelphia 40. 2
Detroit 48. 5
Los Angeles 26. 2
Cleveland 44. 3
Soui'cc: Census of Population, 1930.
Per-
cent
St. Louis 36. 9
Baltimore 38. 3
Boston 32. 0
Pittsburgh 34. 4
San Francisco 27. 1
Milwaukee 46. 3
An accurate basis for comparing industrial development in and around the
major cities of the country is found in statistics of the Census of Manufactures
on an industrial area basis. Each industrial area has an important manufacturing
city as its nucleus and includes the county in which the city is located, together
with any adjoining county or counties with a great development of manufacturing
industries. The industrial area should not be confused with the metropolitan
districts to which reference has been made.
Statistics on number of establishments, wage-earner employment in manufac-
turing, wages paid, value of products, and value added by manufacturing are
shown by the Bureau of the Census for 33 industrial areas of the United States
for 1929. These figures give a good basis for comparing industrial employment
and population of California cities in that year with other industrial areas of the
country.
In ratio of wage earners to population the Los Angeles industrial area ranked
lowest of the 33 industrial areas; there were 5,184 factory workers in the Los
Angeles area in 1929 for each 100,000 of population, as compared with an average
of 11,250 per 100,000 for the 33 areas of the country. The San Francisco-Oakland
area in that year had 7,177 factory wage earners for each 100,000 of population,
which was well below the average of the 33 areas.
A comparison of the Los Angeles and San Francisco-Oakland industrial areas
with several other populous industrial areas of the country on the basis of wage
earners to population is shown in table XVI.
Table XVI. — Number oj factory icage earners per 100,000 of population in the 10
most populous industrial areas of the United States, 1929
Number of
factory
icage earn-
ers per
100,000 of
■population
Los Angeles, Calif 5, 184
San Francisco-Oakland, Calif-- 7, 177
New York, N. Y 9,036
Baltimore, Md 10,716
Boston, Mass 10,936
Pittsburgh, Pa 11,230
The Los Angeles area, however, rated much higher in a comparison of wages
paid, value of products, and value added by manufacture. In wages paid, the
Los Angeles area w^as twelfth, in value of products seventh, and in value added
by manufacture ninth.
Two of the major industries of the Los Angeles area — motion-picture produc-
tion and petroleum refining — have a high value of products and value added by
manufacture in proportion to wage earners employed. Wages in these two
industries are also high.
Number of
factory
wage earn-
ers per
100,000 of
population
St. Louis, Mo 11, 558
Chicago, 111 11, 782
Philadelphia, Pa 1 1, 986
Detroit, Mich 13,952
Average of 33 industrial areas.- 11, 250
3082 INTERSTATE MIGRATION
A note or two on this will illustrate the peculiarities of these industries: In
1929 petroleum refining in the United States employed 80,596 wage earners;
but in value of products it exceeded the electrical machinery, apparatus, and
supphes industries, which employed almost 329,000 workers; in value added by
manufacture petroleum refining was close to the cotton-goods industry, which
employed about 425,000 workers.
Motion-picture production in 1929 employed an average of 10,784 workers
throughout the country, but the value added by manufacture was almost as
great as in the hardware-manufacturing industry, which hired 52,306 workers.
CALIFORNIA EMPLOYMENT PICTURE SUMMARIZED
The picture of what 2,000,000 migrants did to the employment structure of
California in the 1920's is now pretty clear. The migration was distinctly a city-
ward movement; it was made up of people who want jobs; the number of wealthy
retired persons and aged people, presumably with some savings, who joined the
migration seem lost in any figures readily available.
Workers in basic industries — in agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, and
manufacturing — increased at a rate far below the State's population growth.
At the same time the increase in white-collar and service workers jumped from
about 90 to 110 percent in the 10 years.
Although we lack any ultimate standards by which we can say that the State
should have had a certain number of industrial workers to stabilize its urbaniza-
tion, w^e do get something tangible by comparing it with other States of similar
concentration.
Aside from the oil strike and growth of the motion-picture industry, there were
few economic developments in southern California to justifj- so large a migration.
Oil was by all means the most important factor in promoting the migration to
southern California. Other things mushroomed up around it — new subdivisions,
speculation in suburban farms, new plantings of citrus groves, a housing boom,
the extension of utilities to scores of new communities.
_ Los Angeles, it should be remembered, is the largest American city to have a
rich oil strike in its owti backyard. Important discoveries were made in sub-
divisions, on city lots recently bought by newcomers from the Middle West.
Back to the Great Plains and the Corn Belt, to relatives and old friends, went
the new^s: "We've hit it rich * * * we've got a gusher * * * ^ thou-
sand barrels * * * 5,000 barrels a day."
A new gold rush headed for California, a motorized migration, lacking the drama
of '49, but spurred on by the same hope of quick fortunes.
BLACK GOLD AND ITS PAY ROLLS
While the search for oil goes on, there is employment for thousands in hauling
supplies, building derricks, drilling, dressing tools;" after it's found, there are pipe
lines to be laid, tank farms to be built; later, refineries to convert the crude into
finished products. But somewhere along the line employment begins to fall off,
machinery takes over, there's now a handful of men where once there was a
thousand.
The "black gold" flows; you don't have to blast it out of the rock every day or
pan it from gravel. From a mile, almost 2 miles UTiderground, the pumps boost
it along its way through pipe lines to tank farms, to refineries, to tankers waiting
in the harbor.
An oil boom requires a migration of workers, and it ordinarily gets a bigger
migration than it needs. But after production has been established and refineries
have been built employment falls off rapidly. In 1930 the census recorded about
21,000 oil and gas well operatives in California; at the same time there were 7,075
gold and silver mine operatives, about one-third as many as employed in the oil
fields. Gold and silver, however, had a value of output far below that of petro-
leum. The comparison indicates the wide difference between oil production and
metal mining in the ratio between employment and value of output.
The end of the building boom in southern California also left thousands of build-
ing trades workers without employment. The housing boom, like the oil boom,
had required workers for whom there was little or no employment after the peak
had been reached. A lagging industrial development did not supply pay rolls to
take up the slack.
INTERSTATE MIGRATION 3083
SOME OBSERVATIONS
The migration to California in the 1920's might well be called "the second gold
rush." Actually, there was a new kind of gold in the 1920's: A "black gold"
which flowed in a rising stream from thousands of new wells in California, Texas,
Oklahoma, and a half dozen other States. California was not the only State
that had an important migration due to an nil boom. And we have reason to
suspect, it was not the only State which had a stranded population after the boom
was over.
A careful study of the California migration gives some clues as to the classes of
people who move to rapidly growing cities. The indications here are that pro-
fessional workers and service employees join the proce.ssion in great numbers.
We can be certain that the number of professional people who would have gone to
California in the 1920's would have been much larger if the State had been willing
to admit them to practice without an examination.
Through the depression years of the 1930's, California had a heavy load of
urban unemployment. A large p^rt of it was in the overcrowded professional
and service groups and the building trades. There were many indications in
those years that the State was burdened with an excess population from the 1920's
that had not been absorbed, people for the most part who could not be supported
in service employments when the general flow of income was reduced.
There is little doubt among those who have studied California's population
growth that the momentum of the 1920's carried over into the 1930's, that the
legend of a land of prosperity growing out of the boom period was a powerful
force in drawing another migration during the past decade. Drought and de-
pression in the Great Plains gave a tremendous "push" to the migration of the
1930's, uprooting thousands of people who sought new homes on the land. In
contrast with the previous decade the migration of the 1930's was directed more
to rural areas of the State.
To millions of Americans for almost a century California has been a sort of El
Dorado, a land where men mine gold. The story of the gold rush is more than a
chapter of California history. It is a symbol of the free, adventurous Ameri-
can's pursuit of fortune. A gold rush will follow a gold strike, today or tomorrow,
as in the days of '49. But boom areas, the record emphasizes, often create new
problems of population adjustment as serious as those which at first they may
appear to relieve.
The Chairman. The committee will stand adjourned.
(Whereupon, at 3:35 p. m., the hearing was adjourned.)
260370— 41— pt. 7 19
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