SOME PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL LABOR 845 



called "bull pens," while many were compelled to sleep in the open 

 on piles of vines or straw. 



There was a great lack of toilets, and even those furnished were 

 but crude makeshifts. These unspeakable toilets were used indis- 

 criminately by both sexes. There was a scarcity of drinking water, 

 some of the wells were pumped dry, while others became infected from 

 the surface water that drained back from stagnant pools, which formed 

 in close proximity to the toilets and garbage piles. Under such shock- 

 ingly insanitary conditions sickness followed as a matter of course. 

 There were cases of typhoid and malaria, caused probably by these 

 germ laden waters. 



While the wage scale and other factors contributed to the feeling 

 of discontent, the real cause of the protest of the pickers seemed to 

 come from the inadequate housing and the insanitary conditions 

 under which the hop pickers were compelled to live. 



The Commission of Immigration and Housing decided that these 

 conditions constituted an aggravation of industrial warfare, and that 

 they could and should be changed. It was ascertained that the Durst 

 camp was no exception; similar conditions existed hi other labor 

 camps throughout California and it was evident that a state-wide 

 "clean-up" campaign was necessary. This task really came under 

 the jurisdiction of the State Board of Health, but that body was 

 without funds to do the work of inspection and of correction. 

 Consequently, the Commission of Immigration and Housing, with 

 the consent of the State Board of Health, decided to enter upon 

 the undertaking itself, particularly because over one-half of the 

 population of the labor camps of the state is made up of immi- 

 grants. 



The existing state law pertaining to the housing and sanitation of 

 labor camps was found to be indefinite and inadequate. It merely 

 states in general terms that tents, sleeping quarters, and the ground 

 about the camp must be kept clean. No way is provided for ascer- 

 taining the conditions of the camps, except through the occasional 

 complaint of a laborer fearless enough to risk incurring the displeasure 

 of his employer. Nor does the statute attempt to set forth a minimum 

 standard of housing and sanitation. Owing to these weaknesses in 

 the existing law, the Commission had first to work out a minimum 

 standard of living conditions in labor camps. This minimum standard 

 must be sufficiently high to insure results, but not so expensive and 

 so impracticable as to deter employers of labor from adopting it, since 



