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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 1960)
Recruitment Drive Results Reviewed bv Fruit Growers M Medford Tribune SECTION B MEDFORD, OREGON, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1960 PAGES 1 to H Ediior'i notet Thi ii the last installment of a staie ment from Charles E. Hen ry, pretidtnt of the Fruif Growari League, which hai taken issue with material appearing in the Mail Tri bune's farm page Nov. 1 concerning the problem of obtaining suffielont season 1 workeri to help harvest fruit.) The result of this (all-out recruitment) program is best summarized by quoting from a letter written by the man ager of the Medford office of the Oregon state employment service: "Before the season started, it was evident, from the state of the labor market, that we would have difficulty recruit ing sufficient domestic work ers to fill the anticipated needs. As early as May (1959) a search was begun for pos sible sources of harvest help. This resulted on July 29, 1959, in the recruitment pro gram in the state of Texas for 300 domestic workers. Due to the local shortage of help in Texas we were only able to secure 192 men in re sponse to this recruitment. "On Aug. 17, we activated a clearance request for pick ers in the state of Idaho, Or egon and Washington. Due to the local shortages, Idaho was unable to supply any help. Over a period of several weeks, this recruitment pro duced a total of 100 men, 27 from the state of Washington, and the rest from other parts of Oregon. Supply 2,363 Pickers "We were requested to sup ply a total of 2,363 pickers and other harvest labor. We were able to supply a total of 1,423. I believe these figures point up vividly the severe shortage of harvest help which existed during the 1959 season." Of the 192 men recruited in Texas, 58 stayed through the harvest. Of 116 men recruit ed the week of Aug 8, 24 left at the end of one week, of wlinm eieht never went to work. Of the 76 men recruit ed the week of Aug. 15, 55 had terminated at the end of a week, of whom four never went to work. At the end of s the third week, 36 additional men had left the area. In addition to this program by the state employment service, the Fruit Growers League on July 15 engaged A. J. Barccna of Sacramento, who has had long experience in labor recruitment and management, to start recruit ing in California; since this state had not been covered by the Oregon state employment service program. Hand Bills Printed Barcena worked the Sacra mento, Stockton, San Joa quin, Fresno, San Jose, Los Angeles and El Cenlro areas. Hand bills were printed and posted, radio spot announce ments and interviews were run. By Aug. 20, he had 118 men lined up for which the League provided bus tickets to Medford. Of these 118 men, 21 never reported for work, 33 men had left the area at the end of the iirst week, of whom 22 had never gone to work, 48 more men had left Medford at the end of the second week, of whom seven had never worked. Six more left during the third week, and of the en tire 118, four stayed until the end of harvest. The cost of the California and Texas recruitment (310 men): salaries of recruiters. $2,225.45; expenses, $1,141.41; transportation, $6,198.27; meals furnished, $480.27; to tal, $10,045.20. The average cost per man was $324. This does not in clude picking wages. Quote from Report Again, quoting from report of manager of the local em ployment office. "During the season just past, the states of California and Idaho refused to accept requests of recruitment be cause of the very high labor demand and short labor sup- Hospital Patients Can Vote on Nov. 8 Preliminary arrangements have been completed to in sure that any residents of Jackson county who are pa tients at Rogue Valley Memo rial hospital on election day, Nov. 8, may vote by absentee ballot, according to the hos pital auxiliary president, Mrs. V. Ward Hammond. Auxiliary volunteers will offer the service to all regis tered voters from any pre cinct in the county. i Through the cooperation of the elections department of the county clerk's office, printed forms have been pre pared to comply with Oregon state election laws. These forms require the patient's signature to authorize the auxiliary to procure each in dividual voter's ballot from the courthouse. Each application must also be accompanied by a state ment from a "licensed prac titioner of the healing arts," in this case a medical doctor, certifying that the voter is physically disabled and there fore unable to get to the polls. High School Poll Supports Nixon, Charles Porter Salem, Ore. - IUPD - A state wide poll of high school stu dents conducted by the Salem Capital Journal showed Rich ard M. Nixon continuing his lead over Sen. John F. Ken nedy, 8,151 to 7,936. Initially, Kennedy lead in the poll but in every spot check since the vice president has remained ahead. The newspaper said today's figures were 85 to 90 per cent complete. In the U.S. Senate contest, Democrat Maurine Neuberg cr leads Republican Elmo Smith 9.116 to 6,490. Twenty-eight schools in the first district give GOP Con gressman Walter Norblad 5, 211 to 2,574 for Democrat Marv Owens. Ullman Favored Five schools in the second district give Democratic Con gressman Al Ullman 941 to 376 for Republican Ronald Phair. In the fourth district, with eight schools reporting, Dem ocrat Charles Porter had a lead of 3,403-1.979 over Re publican Edwin Durno. The poll does not include the third district congression al race because the Portland school system declined to participate. For secretary of state, the students gave Republican Howell Appling Jr. 8,509 ver sus 6,491 for Democrat Mon roe Sweetland. In the state treasurer's race Republican Howard C. Belton held an edge over Democrat Ward Cook, 7,424 to 7,392. ply which existed in both states at that time. Recruit ment was undertaken throughout all of the 26 local offices in Oregon and also in the state of Washington. "Well before the season started, representatives of the Fruit Growers League and the Washington state employ ment service conducted a re cruitment campain in the Day ton and Walla Walla farm area in Washington in an ef fort to induce migrant veg etable workers in that area to come to Medford to work in the pear harvest. "This recruitment effort produced very few workers because most of the people contacted had other commit ments in other parts of the country, which promised work of a longer duration. Total Harvest Force "It is interesting to note that in spite of this competi tion for workers among the western states it has never been necessary to bring in Mexican National workers in excess of 15 to 20 per cent of the total harvest force. This number has made up the dif ference between the number of available domestic workers and the total number of hands required to complete the har vest of the pear crop." With decreasing production and increasing unit costs, there is a distinct limit beyond which the grower cannot go. The 1959 crop was 70 per cent of the five year average: the 1960 crop is 65 per cent. Pear decline is taking its toll, not only from the grower, but from the community income as well. One shipping organization reports 2,300 trees pulled this year from 1,000 acres. The former annual payroll of the local pear industry was $5 million. This year it will be less than $3Vi million. Unfortunately, the industry has not been able to mecha nize its harvest as is rapidly being done in cotton, sugar beets, nuts, peas and beans where growers willingly take a 15 per cent loss from ma chine harvesting rather than fight the losing battle with in adequate labor. It is for these reasons thai the Fruit Growers League cannot agree with the pro posals of the growers quoted by the farm editor; even though their orchards com prise one-third of one per cent of the fruit industry involved. jpj Small Worlds zM Around Us By Whatever Name The Nutria is Still A Rat It doesn't sound like it but the nutria is a rodent. And he can spell near disaster for crops, wild life and even buildings in many parts of America. The nutria Is a much larger rodent than ever lived in the states. It is a huge, oddly shaped, rat like animal whose home always had been in South America. Down there the animal causes very little trouble as there are the nat ural checks and balances to keep it within reasonable bounds. But someone had an idea, suggesting the animal would be valuable to clean out the undesirable weeds and water plants from swamps and lakes. So in some sections of the south a few of the ani mals were liberated. Then someone else had another not-so-brilliant idea; why not sell pairs of the animals to fur farms? As it turned out, the mar ket of nutria fur was "pretty safe." But the ball was roll ing, and more and more of the animals were sold. Hun dreds of pairs were shipped to eager buyers in various parts of the states. Meanwhile, back in the swamps the liberated nutrias were eating everything in sight and at the same time raising large families. A reg it 1 a r population explosion took place, an explosion that has become almost a menace. The nutria is a rodent that closely resembles a huge rat; a full-grown adult may weigh as much as 30 pounds and be about the size of a Spaniel VOTE 123-X PAUL B. RYNNING County Commissioner He's Experienced! Pd. Pol. Ad by ' L. C. Taylor, Chmn., P.O. Box 624, Medford dog. The rodent has a pecu liarly shaped head with a sloped forehead and a body that is shaped like a beaver's. The back feet are webbed; it has a tail like a rat, and teeth capable of chewing up sizable timbers'. The animal has a voracious appetite and can clean all the vegetation from a pond or lake in a rel atively short time. As the number of nutrias increases, the young forage out to populate other areas. The animal Is plentiful around the Gulf coast and as far north as Oregon and Wash ington, Ohio, Maryland and several other states. Very abundant in Louisiana, Mis sisippi, Alabama and Texas. Some observers claim there are as many as 10 million of the animals loose In the United Stales. In some sections where nu trias have become plentiful, efforts have been made to use the flesh of the animal as human food under the mis leading name of "ragondin." Whatever name it Is sold un der, It still looks and tastes like rat. There is now a problem in nutria management and an other shining, but unpleasant example of what happens when man tries to Introduce a new species into an unnat ural but favorable environ, ment. (Released by The Register and Tribune Syndicate, 1960) It is estimated that 8 per cent of the 1,200,000 hunters In the United States are color blind. VfUIj l.l!ll!lliJL,'H Elect The EXPERIENCED MAN SCANNELL for DISTRICT ATTORNEY Scannel for Dist. Ally. Comm., Margoret Mullen, Sec, Campbell Rd., Medford, Or. TO Til EE UMCIyiP VOTER DURNO SAYS: e Foreign relations transcend political party. I will help not hinder the next president whether Nixon or Kennedy. We must try to lower taxes and approach a balanced budget. . e The aged must be kept healthy and useful. Present pro posals would exclude 5 million needy and make workers help pay medicare of the rich. e Our natural resources must he fully utilized. e Full time must be devoted to legislation in the best inter ests of this district. e World peace is not a plaything. It is of vital concern to every family in Oregon. I do not believe that ill-advised and premature blessing of Castro's Communistic Cuba by my opponent will do anything but hurt our chances for world peace. We must act with wisdom and strength. This is a conflict between a man who has common sense and PORTER who said: 40. Adv., Durno lor Cuntcit Comm., Howtud S. Mciftain, Exec. Sec. Ru 4, Box M7, iiurtne, Oregon. 74 sr. 13 . j Rebublican, Independent or Democrat Whatever Your Political Affiliation... VT! WU: INTEGRITY ABILITY XPERIEN0ED LEADERSHIP i lit, Ji&5s S O x$&2 j eitVitV AnaMi TLf . , , vi . 1 far i wnfj 115 E ruin IruuxJ fo) FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE VETERAN CHURCH ELDER MASON ELK LAWYER MEDFORD'S JUNIOR FIRST CITIZEN UMC President-KIWANIS President YMCA Director-CANCER SOC. President Pd. Pol. Adv. by Citizens for Good Government Committee, Thomas Teutsch, 521 So. Riverside
