SEC. 3. The Secretary shall apportion among, and certify payment to, the several States on the basis of need that part of such sums as may be appropriated by the Congress for carrying out this Act by the designated agencies in the several States. The sums so paid shall be available to such designated agencies for expenditure for personal services and other administrative expenses, including entering into agreements for payment to or reimbursement of other public or private agencies or individuals for furnishing services or facilities, deemed necessary by such designated agencies to carry out the activities authorized and provided for in their respective agreements with the Secretary. The Secretary shall certify to the Secretary of the Treasury, from time to time, the amount to be paid to each State under this section and the time or times such payments are to be paid; and the Secretary of the Treasury shall pay to the State at the time or times fixed by the Secretary, the amount so certified.

SEC. 4. The Secretary is authorized and directed, through the Federal Extension Service, to assist the States in carrying out their authorized activities under the Act by carrying out programs for (a) the collection, publication, and dissemination of information with respect to the supply and demand for agricultural workers in the United States, and other related information; (b) the facilitation of the orderly movement of interstate agricultural workers; and (c) the coordination of activities of the designated States agencies in carrying out the programs authorized to be carried out by such agencies in Section 2 of this Act.

SEC. 5. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated for each fiscal year, beginning with the fiscal year 1948, such sums as the Congress deems necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. The Congress shall specify in each appropriation of funds pursuant hereto the amount to be available to the Secretary for expenditure by him for administrative and other necessary expenses. No funds appropriated under this Act shall be expended directly or indirectly to fix, regulate, impose, or enforce collective-bargaining requirements, wage rates, housing standards, hours of work, or union membership with respect to agricultural workers.

SEC. 6. Subsection (a) of section 3 of the Act entitled "An Act to provide for the establishment of a national employinent system, and for other purposes", approved June 6, 1933 (U. S. C., title 29, sec. 49b), is hereby amended by striking out the following: "to maintain a farm-placement service" and inserting in lieu thereof the following: "The Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Agriculture shall take such action as may be necessary to assure maximum cooperation between them and between the State public employment agencies in the recruitment and placement of domestic farm labor and the keeping of such records and information with respect thereto as may be necessary for the proper and efficient administration of the State unemployment compensation laws and of Title 5 of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, as amended (58 Stat. 295)."

SEC. 7. (a) The Federal land banks and the banks for cooperatives are authorized to make loans to individual farmers, or associations of farmers, upon appropriate terms and rates for the lease, purchase, construction, and repair of farm labor supply centers, and the necessary facilities, equipment, and services pertaining thereto for the purpose of housing agricultural workers.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law or regulations, the disposition of temporary housing units for the housing of agricultural workers in rural areas, which have been declared surplus in accordance with the provisions of the Surplus Property Act of 1944, as amended, shall be made without requiring the demolition or depanelization of such units.

(c) Notwithstanding the provision of section 2 (d) of the Farmers' Home Administration Act of 1946, as amended and supplemented, (1) the labor supply centers, labor homes, labor camps, and facilities and equipment pertaining thereto, available for the farm labor supply program conducted pursuant to the Farm Labor Supply Appropriations Act, 1944 (Public Law 229, Seventy-eighth Congress), as amended and supplemented, shall, as determined by the Secretary, be available to the designated State agencies under this Act until liquidated, and such liquidation shall proceed as expeditiously as possible and be completed not later than December 31, 1948, and (2) in the liquidation of such properties pursuant to the Farmers' Home Administration Act of 1946, all sales or other dispositions thereof shall be made only to farmers and associations of farmers in the community for the purpose of housing agricultural workers. The designated State agencies are hereby authorized to operate the properties referred to in this section and the funds made available to them pursuant to this Act may be expended for such purposes.

SEC. 8. Property, supplies, equipment, and facilities acquired through purchase or otherwise with funds apportioned to the designated agencies in the several States under this Act and under Public Law 229, as amended and supplemented, notwithstanding the provisions of any law or outstanding agreement, shall become the property of the respective State agencies designated under this Act. SEC. 9. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, whenever the Secretary determines that the supply of domestic workers willing and able to perform agricultural work is inadequate, he shall so certify to the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization and such Commissioner shall, with the approval of the Attorney General, prescribe regulations permitting the admission of foreign workers into the United States to meet such shortage in such numbers and for such periods as the Secretary specifies in his certification. Workers so admitted shall be exempt from the payment of head tax required by section 2 of the Immigration Act of February 5, 1917, and from other admission charges, and shall be exempt from those excluding provisions of section 3 of such Act which relate to contract laborers, the requirements of literacy, and the payment of passage by corporations, foreign governments, or others. Each such worker shall be provided with an identification card (with his photograph and fingerprints) to be prescribed under the said regulations which shall be in lieu of all other documentary requirements, including the registration at time of entry or after entry required by the Alien Registration Act of 1940. Any such worker admitted under the foregoing provisions who fails to maintain the status for which he was admitted or to depart from the United States in accordance with the terms of his admission, shall be taken into custody under a warrant issued by the Attorney General at any time after entry and deported in accordance with section 20 of the Immigration Act of February 5, 1917. Sections 5 and 6 of such Act shall not apply to the importation of workers under this Act. None of the funds appropriated pursuant to the provisions of this Act shall be available for the payment of recruitment, transportation, and similar expenses with respect to foreign workers.

SEC. 10. When used in this Act, the term (a) "State" includes Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, (b) "agricultural work" includes any services or activities included within the provisions of section 3 (f) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 or section-1426 (h) of the Internal Revenue Code as amended, and (c) "agricultural worker" includes nationals of the United States and aliens. SEC. 11. This Act shall be effective January 1, 1948.

The CHAIRMAN. This is a bill to provide for a permanent farm labor program.

Let the Chair say in the beginning that there are some details of this legislation which have not been worked out fully yet. I want to make that explanation before we start in on the hearings, because while the Chair introduced the bill, there are some details which I think everyone understands are subject to further consideration. Some of those points will be brought out as the hearings progress. The first witness who will appear this morning is William H. Tolbert.

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM H. TOLBERT, THE NATIONAL FARM LABOR CONFERENCE

Mr. TOLBERT. My name is William H. Tolbert, of Portland, Oreg. I have the honor of representing the National Farm Labor Conference, an unincorporated group of farm organizations and farmers representing more than two-thirds of the producers of crops which require large numbers of seasonal workers for production and harvesting. The men who make up this conference are farmers, speaking for groups of farmers, or representatives of farm organizations. These organizations reach into practically every agricultural producing area in the United States.

The association which I represent is more or less typical of these groups. I am executive secretary of the Oregon State Farmers' Association, made up of nine local farmer groups that produce a majority of the peas, canning crops, apples, pears, cherries, plums, hops, and fresh vegetables in the State of Oregon.

There is similar representation from 38 of the 48 States in this National Farm Labor Conference. In addition to myself, Messrs. Gardner, Bunje, Seabrook, and Pearce will also speak for this group. The three major farm organizations, the Farm Bureau Federation, the National Grange, and the National Council for Cooperatives, and the National Cotton Council of America have advised with us constantly and I understand will present their views to the committee later on.

The bill being considered by the committee is to establish a permanent farm labor program in the Department of Agriculture. It is to provide a method of helping farmers to help themselves. In the middle thirties a program was started to construct farm labor camps to house farm laborers in the areas of greatest concentration. Since the construction of these camps they have been maintained at the expense of the Federal Government. We believe these camps should be maintained as housing for farm labor but at the expense of the farmers. This is one reason for supporting this bill, since it provides for the orderly disposal of these camps to farm organizations and farmers to continue them as farm labor housing but not at the expense of the Federal Government.

At the outset of the war it was found necessary to augment the supply of farm labor. Congress in its wisdom preferred to transfer the placement duties of the United States Employment Service to the Department of Agriculture, which was in much closer contact with the problems and needs of agriculture, thereby able to serve agriculture more efficiently. This principal as set forth in this bill we believe should be continued and the farm placement work remain in the Department of Agriculture.

At the same time this transfer of responsibilities to the Department of Agriculture was made it was realized that the farm labor force of America must be augmented. Provisions were made by the Congress to recruit, import, and supervise foreign nationals at the expense of the Federal Government. This was done only as an emergency measure. The unprecedented demand for the production of food and fiber has outlived the war and carried the emergency of farm labor shortage far beyond the cessation of hostilities. We believe that the authority for the importation of foreign nationals to do agricultural work in times of emergency should be continued but not at public expense. Therefore we support the provision in this bill which grants such authority at the expense of the farmers who will use the workers.

There are two periods in connection with farm labor which are very vivid in the memories of all farmers. The first period was during the early thirties, when literally millions of people were unemployed and there was more than one man for every farm job. The second period was the months immediately preceding the passage of the first emergency farm labor supply bill in 1943-Public Law 45-when there were more jobs than men. This situation continued and was relieved only through the emergency farm labor program. We believe that

a simple system of supplying information to workers as to where work is available and to farmers as to the sources of surplus labor supply is an answer to the problems presented to farmers in both of these periods.

Under the present provisions of law, if no legislation is passed or devised, the farm placement activities and program are to return to the United States Employment Service and the State employment services at the end of the extension of the present Emergency Farm Labor Act. Should this program return to the United States Employment Service it would be an additional activity for an already existing organization. If it remains in the Department of Agriculture, as provided in this bill, it will be an added activity to the Federal Extension Service and to State extension services.

In both cases the lines of authority are very similar. The Federal Extension Service and the USES are both Federal organizations. The State extension services and the State employment services are both State administrations. There is one big difference. The USES and the State employment services were created and are staffed to serve industry and industrial workers. The Department of Agriculture was created and is staffed to serve farmers.

We believe that the functions of farm labor should remain in the Department of Agriculture. I would like to submit to the committee the proposition that any organization that has complete knowledge and is fully aware of the problems of the people for whom they serve can do a much more efficient job for less money than one not familiar with the problems and with knowledge and information obtained second-handedly.

H. R. 3367 and S. 1334 afford the basis of considerable assistance to both employee and employer. Agricultural production and harvesting, of necessity, is a seasonal operation having very heavy peak loads. The varying seasons over the United States and the different crops not only require peak loads of labor but at the same time permit longer employment than would be possible if workers were employed only in one area or by a single agricultural crop. It is generally estimated that.agriculture in this country requires from one and a half to two million nonlocal workers. In order to avoid unemployment and having a surplus of workers in one area while at the same time there is a shortage in other areas, accurate information is required. The Department of Agriculture, with its knowledge of agricultural production, which varies even from season to season and day to day, is best equipped to have this information and to transmit it to both workers and farm operators.

This proposed legislation very properly provides no authority for governmental agencies to direct workers as to where they must work, for whom they must work, or to direct wages or other terms of employment. Employers and employees are left with complete freedom to negotiate all of these essential matters on a fair and equitable basis. The legislation would permit factual information to be given to farm people and farm workers which will enable them to perform better service and improve their efficiency and working conditions. The Agricultural Extension Service, which has handled this program for some years, has already done substantial work in this field as a part of its general adult educational program.

The representatives here from Agriculture fully recognize the importance of reducing governmental expenditures to a minimum. It is our opinion that the provision of this bill would be administered at an expense of not to exceed $500,000 by the Department of Agriculture and that the State agencies could carry out their functions with an annual expense of not to exceed $5,000,000. There can be no question that agriculture, including agricultural workers, are entitled to this service, just as industry is at the present time, and if the functions of this bill were carried out by any other governmental agency, the cost would be equally as great, if not greater than if the functions are performed within the Department of Agriculture. That Department is now equipped to assemble much of the information and is constantly aware of changing conditions which require more labor in any given area. A frost may substantially reduce labor requirements overnight for harvesting a given crop. Immediately the Department of Agriculture is alerted to this fact and can find employment for such workers in other areas and in other crops where they are needed. Such information is not readily available to other governmental agencies.

In the transfer of farm laborers from one crop to another, the skills and temperaments of workers can be correlated by those who have an intimate knowledge of agriculture. Government officials who work primarily with industrial groups cannot have this detailed information.

The recognition of the problems ahead in the production of foods and fibers and the recognition of the fine services which have been performed by the Department of Agriculture during the past 4 years in aiding both agricultural workers and employers leads us to urge the early enactment of legislation involving the basic principles in H. R. 3367 and S. 1334. It is our firm opinion that the enactment of such legislation will have the full support of all agriculture interests-both employee and employer.

Mr. POAGE. I wish you would elaborate a little further on a feature on which you did not touch but which I think is vital in this legislation. We discussed it here the last time we had this up, and this is the problem: Just how do you propose to coordinate the activities of employment in industry with those in agriculture? How are you going to see to it that we will not be paying a large number of people for doing nothing? How will we prevent paying unemployment compensation to people who could and should accept employment but who simply don't want to work?

Mr. TOLBERT. Congressman Poage, I submit that your committee very wisely answered that in the amendment that they made to the last bill, the last extension bill, and we include the same provisions in this bill that you had in that extension bill, which required the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Agriculture to cooperate and make joint records available for the transmission of these people, as we understood it, from the unemployment rolls to agriculture.

Mr. POAGE. You have just about convinced me that there cannot be any transfer of information from one agency to another. I have listened to your argument. It has been very persuasive, and if what you say is true in regard to the lack of cooperation in other lines, this transfer of information that you are talking about is not going to mean anything, either.