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Show Send Help for U. S. Farmers Men With Farm Experience From Jamaica, Bahamas To Help Save Crops. PHILADELPHIA, PA. The car swung in through a hedge to a rolling roll-ing field dotted with small, neat, bunk houses. We heard a queer sound from a long building which looked like an army mess hall. "Click, clack, clack, click." "Dominoes," explained McDonald, the FSA man who was driving. "They play dominoes with a fine fury." We looked through the mess hall door. Negroes in sweaters and work pants hunched over tables slapping down dominoes as though their lives depended on it. "Dominoes are the only recreation recrea-tion they have so far," said McDonald. Mc-Donald. "It's one of the problems." ; These men were some of the 6,000 Jamaican and Bahaman Negro farm hands who have been brought into , the United States in the last month , to help save crops in the face of labor la-bor shortage. They're housed mostly in farm security camps for migrant labor. This camp was near Bridgeton, N. J., where the men are working on tomatoes, asparagus, peas, beans and, later, on peaches and apples. To Bring 15,000. Other such groups are spotted now in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Mary-land, New York, Connecticut, Michi-. Michi-. gan and Idaho. There are 3,000 in the Philadelphia area. It's planned to bring in a total of 15,000. But New York, aione, ' has just requested 5,000. So the figure fig-ure may be revised upward. However, the supply is therein the Bahamas. 4,000, and at Jamaica, 50,000 men available for American farms. i The Jamaicans seem to be the preferred group. They drink very i little. At home, they say, they drink a little rum. But here, it's too expensive. ex-pensive. The Jamaicans have been a little slow to learn. But once trained, they work carefully, for 10 hours a ' day. The Jamaicans come from a Negro Ne-gro country. It's a British colony, a fact which lends to amusing situations situa-tions when the Jersey farmer runs into his first Jamaican. Both groups have come into the country und,er contracts between our government and the governments of Jamaica and the Bahamas. First, all Rands were given physi- ' cal examinations to prevent importation impor-tation of disease. To keep them healthy here, each camp has an army mobile clinic. So far the ills have been mostly colds and sniffles. The cold, wet spring made them quite unhappy. Work Only on Farms. Second, the labor is here only on temporary immigration visas, and they may work only on farms. Third, our government had to guarantee minimum wages, 75 cents a day from the date of entry until they go to work; $3 a day minimum for three-quarters of the time they're here. That should look good to them. They're accustomed to 50 and 60 cents a day at home. They pay $1 a day for food at the FSA camps; 50 cents a week to sleep in an FSA bunk house, or 25 cents a week to sleep in an army tent. I The Jamaicans must send home $1 a day, the Bahamans 75 cents. It's deducted from theirpay by the farmer who employs them. The farmer turns over the deductions to FSA which transfers the money and records to the home governments. |