6—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 30,1971
WASHINGTON REPORT At
Congressman Edwin D. Eshleman
IMi DlftrlcMPmiuylmuita
Some of you probably recall
that I am the ranking Republican
on the Agricultural Labor Sub
committee. That subcommittee
deals with legislation pertaining
to farm workers and their
problems
Over the past several months,
we have listened to a great deal of
testimony about farm labor.
What has struck me is the ten
dency to become more concerned
with the emotional nature of the
problems rather than the
realities which must be faced if
any meaningful legislation is to
be developed
In other words, the chairman of
this committee has tended to
concentrate on the emotionally
charged issue of migratory labor
even though migrancy is a dying
Bia Putdiman.
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feature in the agricultural pic
ture. Just last year, for instance,
the number of migrant workers
dropped by 24 per cent.
Therefore, any legislative
decisions that are reached based
upon the plight of migrant
laborers will not deal with the
problems faced by the majority
of farm workers in this country.
We are likely to end up with
another example of Congress
complicating a situation by
responding to the wrong symp
toms.
The real problems facing farm
workers, where there are large
concentrations of them such as in
the Midwest and South, are low
pay, poor working conditions,
and, most important, the steady
decline of available employment
in agriculture. These are things
on which Congress should center
its interest.
There is little doubt but what
much of the agricultural labor
force deserves higher wages and
improved living standards.
However, that does not imply
necessarily the need for
unionization of farm workers.
There may be some advantage to
unions where large corporate
farms are involved, but the small
farmer should not be forced to
deal with organized labor to get a
work crew.
The best solution may be to
establish realistic government
standards for farm pay and living
standards which will improve the
lot of the agricultural laborer
without forcing him to turn to a
union.
Any standards which are
created, however, must
recognize some other facts of life
in the agricultural labor market.
First, we must be aware that
our agricultural products have to
compete with those, grown in
foreign countries wnere labor
prices are far lower.
For instance, Mexico, where
farm workers make 25 cents an
hour, shipped more than one
billion pounds of fruits and
vegetables to this country last
year, an increase of 350 million
pounds since 1964. An increasing
amount of this Mexican
production is financed by U.S.
capital driven across the border
by farm union agitation m
California and Texas where the
bulk of our vegetables and fruits
are grown.
We also must recognize that
new machines have been
developed to harvest grapes,
tomatoes, cherries, sugar beets,
asparagus, carrots, parsley and
other crops that formerly were
harvested by hand. That means
that thousands of jobs are no
longer available on farms at any
wage.
Therefore, some attention must
be directed toward retraining
farm workers for other types of
employment when laborsaving
technology eliminates their jobs.
Otherwise, the decrease in farm
employment may end up in
creasing our welfare rolls, and
this country cannot afford that
price for the unwillingness of
Congress to face the real facts of
the farm work problem.
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West Chester 696-2990 New Holland 354-4191 The Buck 284r41<
ANCASTER FARMING ADS P
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offers the following items of current
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Water and Waste Water: Bacteriological,
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2425 New Holland Pike
Lancaster, Pa. 17601
656-9043 or 656-9868
A
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