of the reasons a number of Members of Congress have suggested that some program of adult education would be important to develop a higher motivation on the part of the parents.

Mr. WIER. Let me ask one final question: If your Department were allocated $5 million tomorrow to attempt to solve this problem, how would you tackle it? Just by research, I suppose, and planning? What would you do with $5 million tomorrow in this field?

Mr. FLYNT. Well, of course, the Office of Education is not accustomed to being handed $5 million.

Mr. WIER. Well, this bill provides for that.

Mr. FLYNT. Right off, Mr. Wier

Mr. WIER. Neither one of the bills provides appropriations, and I use the round figure of $5 million because you could not do anything with $1 million except officework.

Mr. FLYNT. Well, I should venture to suggest there are probably three aspects of any approach that would have to be taken, and I hope my colleagues will correct me if I am not entirely right in this:

In the first place, the sociological characteristics of these people have to be known better and some means has to be found to bring about a desire to give their children the kind of opportunity that other children have who remain in place.

We do not really have all those answers because these are people who have normally been thrown out of other types of employment and have been unable to compete and many of them are attracted by this nomadic form of life. Some of those elements simply do not include sufficient motivation and it is obvious that we do need, as we do in the case of juvenile delinquency, some more information about the special characteristics of these people. It is very clear, sir, that some additional research information needs to be obtained.

Mr. WIER. Then, it is not money that you need?

Mr. FLYNT. Well, we have money for this already and I think we are going along on it. We could use more, but I dare say, we can get some very important answers with the funds available to us, and that is why I indicated the research projects that we have is to find out what the problem is.

The next most important problem is to solve the administrative problem involved in maintaining some sort of continuous educational contact with these people. I referred in the testimony to a number of interstate agreements and to a conference we have recently called at Phoenix, Ariz., largely because in time it was adjacent to a conference on migratory labor. But, as a whole, we have to get some kind of joint interstate action by the States who have these people throughout the area. Let us say, for example, sir, the group of States starting with Florida and moving on to New England and back. These people trek northward and trek back. It is these States who are concerned with several problems. First, is the immediate identification of the children in the community and machinery to go into the labor camps and interview the parents and the children and get them into school almost the next day, because if 1 day is lost, then you have lost a very important increment in the stay of that child. The other, of course, is some form of State planning. One of the research projects I refer to is wholly devoted to the problem of statewide planning. In the State of Wisconsin it has been both largely

because the State department of education in the State of Wisconsin is interested in this problem and has come forward and asked us for help. Obviously, that is very important because they are motivated to do something and they would like to develop a scheme through which they can identify the children quickly, have some knowledge of their characteristics and have a teaching staff and specialized educational people, ready to receive the child in the community and to work with the parents and the child and to plan a program that will keep them in school continuously while they are within the State of Wisconsin. Granted that they may be in several communities while they are there, as Dr. Blackwood indicated, one of the most difficult problems is that these labor groups form and reform and scatter. One hundred families will appear in an area let us say a peach-picking area of Georgia and a half dozen of them will become discontented and leave the next day. They will not find the proper employment and move on. They break up and rebreak up, and these States have to know something of the pattern.

Those things need to be done before we can develop any sort of educational program. In my judgment it is absolutely essential that we develop some kind of record system, and if a child in the seventh grade, or alleged to be in the seventh grade, appears in Minnesota or Wisconsin without any records whatsoever, it takes some days to test them and find out what their reading ability is and mathematics ability and where to place them. This is the kind of thing I refer to-ability to be in a state of readiness when they arrive within the State or the locality.

Of course, much help can be gotten from large employers. Many of the larger employers are stressing this very greatly. When we refer in our testimony to private groups, we refer to those.

But, if there had to be $5 million spent, I think those are the three problems that will have to be solved, Mr. Wier, and up to now, many of the best efforts of educators break down simply because the elements, before and after, are not there. No one local community can solve it by itself.

Mr. WIER. It does not stay with them long enough?

Mr. FLYNT. No, sir; it does not stay with them long enough, but a whole statewide program, say, in South Carolina, Wisconsin, or New Jersey which seemed to take the whole body of migrant labor into the communities of those States and there was a state of readiness for them, much might be done.

Dr. BLACKWOOD. Could I make one brief statement to this point? Mr. WIER. Go ahead.

Dr. BLACKWOOD. One thing we have found overwhelmingly is that when children are in school and have a successful experience, they want to go back, by and large, and there are many examples that indicate, for example, in Colorado where they have had five summer school sessions of 6 weeks each over the last several years that children, perhaps, put a little pressure on their parents to return to these communities. So, there is evidence that when children have a good school experience and want to go back, parents in some instances bend an ear to that plea. So, it does motivate us to try to get them into school and give them a good experience.

Mr. WIER. That is all.

Mr. BAILEY. Thank you, Mr. Wier, for your contribution.

I have some points that will be of interest in a further discussion of this matter.

Mr. WIER. It is not only education that I am concerned with, but the whole Mexican problem and many more sections of our society are concerned with it.

Mr. BAILEY. This, I take it, and I think probably is the understanding of the Department, that this applies largely to our native migrant workers rather than to the legislation that comes out of the Agriculture Committee affecting Mexican workers?

Mr. FLYNT. That is right. Generally speaking, Mr. Bailey, the group you refer to comprise contract workers without children. They do not come as families. They are individual laborers who have contracted to come and work. The group that we are thinking of here are of old stock that have been here for centuries and have simply taken to the road to work. To use a sociological term, they are "displaced people." They are really displaced from any community ties. The character of this has changed a great deal. In earlier times I understand that most of these were single, individual workers-individual men-and only with the development of the trailer and good roads—and many of them have their trailers behind them and others live in their sedans-the whole family now moves. We are concerned that here is a body of old population that have as family groups simply taken to the road.

Mr. BAILEY. I was opposed to the migrant legislation as it concerned Mexican workers. They are exempt from the payment of social security taxes and they are exempt from the payment of income taxes, and a great trouble with those contract workers is that they come over and are farmed out to some farmer under contract. To them that contract does not mean a thing and they leave the farmer and disappear and go into other types of work other than farmwork and roam around all over the country.

I remember that we let a contract for relocation of 13 miles of railroad track which was displaced when we built a huge reservoir in my congressional district, and the C. A. Smith Co., of Kansas City, Mo., had the contract. Who should show up along with our other workers but 16 Mexicans. I sent an inspector down from the Labor Department and 9 out of the 16 of them were wetbacks and they turned them over to the immigration authorities to send them back. Only 6 of them had progressed to the point where they had applications in for American citizenship. But, you will find that going on by the thousands. There are estimated to be over a half million wetbacks roaming around all over the country getting into industrial work and, especially, your railroads and things of that kind. Off the record.

(Discussion off the record.)

Mr. BAILEY. We appreciate very much your presence here, Doctor, this morning. I had not taken the trouble to inquire about what your position would be. So, at least, that part of the proceedings are clarified.

Mr. FLYNT. Thank you, Mr. Bailey. We are always happy to appear before you.

We would like to offer for the record our publication entitled "Program Directions in Migrant Labor."

(The publication referred to follows:)

PROGRAM DIRECTIONS IN MIGRANT LABOR OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE, FISCAL YEAR 1960

BACKGROUND STATEMENT

The programs for which the Department has specific legal authority and responsibility apply to programs for the entire population including agricultural migrants. Programs in the field of migratory labor are provided through the consultation, technical services, research, social security benefits, and financial assistance authorized under the regular programs of the majority of its operating units. These units are the Public Health Service, the Social Security Administration (the Children's Bureau, the Bureau of Public Assistance, and the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance), the Office of Education, and the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. The Food and Drug Administration as a regulatory agency has only limited activities or services which relate directly to migrants.

In addition to the services provided to States, localities, and voluntary organizations directly from headquarters staff, regional office personnel also actively participate in providing the consultation and technical services related to operating programs as needed by the States in each region. They cooperate in activities designed to provide continuity of service as migrants move and in various special projects, make information available to the States and to the central office concerning the status of agricultural migrants and steps being taken to improve conditions, and assist in stimulating State and interstate activities. As a recent example of the role of regional office personnel, on October 9-10, 1958, a conference in Washington, D.C., was held of State health and welfare personnel from the eastern seaboard States which involved the joint planning of four of the Department's regional offices.

The

Internally, the Departmental Committee serves as a means of exchanging information, coordination of program planning, and cooperative formulation of policy recommendations by the operating units. As examples, the Departmental Committee serves as the mechanism for providing information, consultation, and technical assistance from the several agencies to numerous groups. Council of State Governments, national and regional religious and professional organizations concerned specifically with health, education, or welfare including the American Public Health Association, the National Education Association, the American Public Welfare Association, and the National Council on Agricultural Life and Labor are examples of groups served.

In order to assist migrants in becoming accepted members of the communities in which they live and work and to avoid isolating them, the Department holds the view that services and programs should be extended to them within the framework of existing or developing programs and services for the general population, rather than through special programs. It is recognized that, whereas special services may be required on a temporary basis to relieve emergency conditions arising from their transient status or other circumstances growing out of their unique situation in the economy, it is desirable that longterm objectives of helping the group become absorbed within the general population guide the development of the program.

Some significant program accomplishments are being achieved through the coordinated efforts of the Department and other Federal governmental agencies working in cooperation with the States, local communities and voluntary organizations. As examples, the Office of Education is promoting improved educational opportunities for migrants as part of its consultation and technical services to State departments of education and other interested groups. The Public Health Service, in a similar manner, encourages the extension of health services to migrants. The Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance works with migrants and their employers to gain increased acceptance of social security coverage for migrant agricultural workers. The Children's Bureau and the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation are providing financial assistance under special project grants designed to extend child health and welfare services and vocational rehabilitation services, respectively, to the migrant population. These special projects are in addition to the ongoing efforts of these two operating units to improve services for migrants as part of the general population.

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A major activity of the Department is its continuous cooperation with the President's Committee on Migratory Labor. Since its inception in 1954, the Secretary of the Department has served on the Committee, and staff assistance has been provided by the Department through membership of staff on the working group of the President's Committee. In this connection, through delegation from the President's Committee, the Department has assumed responsibility for exercising leadership in recommending approaches in the fields of its competence. In addition, it has participated with the other Federal agencies in the development of suggested housing codes, transportation regulations, and other Committee projects requiring cooperation within the Department and with outside agencies.

The continuing activities of the Department for migrants are in recognition of the fact that the group continues to present very serious national problems. Among the major hurdles still to be overcome are those associated with low income, insecure employment, lack of protection of certain labor laws, and inadequate health protection and care, inclusive of acceptable housing and environmental sanitation. Other problems relate to the lack of provision, in the average case, of adequate welfare services and the dearth of education or the undereducation of migrant children and adults through inadequate and infrequent schooling. In many instances, the inability of migrants to receive the necessary services is a results of the maintenance of State residence requirements.

In the context of the foregoing problem areas, the Department adheres to the principle that domestic agricultural migrants are entitled to the same protection and provisions for security, health, education, and welfare as are enjoyed by the population at large and that the primary responsibility for the provision of necessary services to migrants rests with States and local communities, i.e., communities have responsibility for accepting them as contributors to and members of the community wherever they work and live temporarily.

In the following pages there are presented statements of the operating agencies of the Department in the field of migratory labor-efforts which are designed to help stimulate and develop solutions to the problems involved within the framework of the Department's respnosibilities and concern with the health, education, and welfare of the population as a whole.

OFFICE OF EDUCATION

I. General statement of purposes

The Office of Education's program for migrant children is focused on supplying information to educational leaders in the field and stimulating leadership programs among individuals who are more directly in contact with migrant agricultural workers.

II. Continuing accomplishments

The Office cooperates with State departments of education in assessing the educational problems and current programs. The programs for migrant children in Colorado, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania especially, are being studied for the suggestions they have developed that will be useful to other States.

(2) Distribution of exchange packets of materials on the education of migrant children.

(3) Cooperation with nongovernmental agencies through the departmental Committee on Migratory Labor and the President's Committee on Migratory Labor in stimulating attention to all factors related to the educational opportunities of migrant children.

(4) Three research studies in connection with the Office of Education cooperative research program are underway. The first is a study by Western Michigan University dealing with migrant education in Van Buren County, Mich., and the second is a study by the Colorado State Department of Education to determine how a State can organize its resources to deal effectively with the educational problems of large numbers of migrant families in the States. The Federal contribution to this study is $10,000 per year for 3 years, a total of $30,000. The third research project is on migrant education in southern Illinois being carried on by Southern Illinois University.

III. New program emphases

Tentative plans are being made for a national conference on the education of migrants to be held in the Northwest for the Western and Northwestern States. This will be held during 1959.