Farm Labor Notes

Excerpts: Northeast Region: Throughout the Northeast a number of experiments are being tried in the use sources of farm labor not ordinarily tapped, such as the unemployed, men displaced by wartime changes in production, conscientious objectors with farm experience (New York) and, in Maryland, inmates of penal institutions. [and] Dairy farmers are finding it difficult to obtain skilled farm hands. New Jersey: The three migratory labor camps are completed and open for habitation. Wisconsin: In the eastern and southern sections of the State, there has been a considerable loss of experienced year-round hired men to industry. Iowa: High school boys and village men are used frequently for jobs of which they are capable. Missouri: A trend back to sharecropping is occurring because of fear of labor shortage and transportation. problems. North Dakota: A Statewide registration of townspeople for farm labor was held on June 29. Maryland: The three labor camps on the Eastern Shore of Maryland are now reported to be filling up at a much faster rate than earlier in the season. West Virginia: The farmers are more worried about the Federal provision for a 75 percent back haul for their trucks since this will mean time lost that is needed for hauling fruit. Texas: The question of importing Mexican workers for farm labor in the United States is [s]till unsettled. Uncertainty and delay have characterized the situation from the beginning. Pacific Region: The prospect for the harvest of crops that call for heavy labor and skilled workers cannot be viewed with optimism because the War industries are draining all the sources of skilled labor. California: In Southern California the citrus labor stringency has been met success fully by the employment of students and women, and by the cooperative pooling of crews. Oregon: Skilled harvest and dairy hands continue to be scarce, also tractor drivers and machine operators.