Telegraph Herald Dubuque, Iowa
LABOR REPUK IS DP PROBLEM
,Screening Proposed to Fit Persons to Jobs
Des Moines - (P) - If the resettlement/ in Iowa of displaced persons of Europe is to become a success, present misunderstandings must be cleared up, labor leaders said Saturday.
"There i3 a distinct misunderstanding among Iowa workers as to the physical condition and intelligence of the displaced persons (DP's)," said a report of a labor sub-committee to the voluntary Iowa Committee on Resettlement of the Displaced Persons of Europe earlier last week.
"The problem of housing is uppermost in the minds of most urban workers and some slight fear exists that admission of displaced persons will aggravate this condition," the report said, adding: Good Will Urgent
"As public good will is important to the success of our efforts, this committee recommends to the Iowa committee that we clear up these points as much as possible in our future publicity."
The labor group was headed by Kenneth Everhart, Des Moines, representing the CIO, and A. A. Couch, Des Moines, representing the AFL.
Members of the state committee said they have information that there are considerable numbers of high class persons in DP camps, and that a thorough screening is planned for all DP applicants who want to come to the United States.
Another sub-committee, which had surveyed more than 3,400 Iowa ministers, reported that there was housing available for 875 DP families.
Secretary of State Rollo H. Ber-geson, chairman of the state committee, is preparing a summary based on sub-committee reports, showing Iowa could absorb up wards of 4,000 DP's.
There now are before congressional committees measures which would permit the entrance into the United States of 400,000 DP's at the rate of 100,000 a year. Iowa's share would be 2,000 a year for four years.
On the basis of three persons per family, this would mean only six or eight families would be brought to each Iowa county per year, Bergeson said.
The Iowa committee summary will be sent to each member of the state's delegation in congress.
Iowa's Senator George A. Wilson has favored the importation of DP's but has said 400,000 is too many.
The state committee's labor subcommittee said plastering and bricklaying trades face a permanent shortage of workers and that DP's who are skilled along those lines could expect employment in those trades.
Building Retarded However, the report gave little encouragement other wise. It said heavy and light building construe ;ion is being retarded because of material shortages, particularly in Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Sioux City, Waterloo and Des Moines. The report said further: There are too many unskilled persons now for building jobs in Des Moines, Centerville, Ottumwa, Burlington, Fort Dodge, Marshall own and Council Bluffs.
In Des Moines, Marshalltown
and Davenport, material short
I ages such as steel have caused
temporary layoffs.
But several hundreds of DP's could be placed in heavy manufacturing, especially in plants at Waterloo, Dubuque, Ottumwa, Des Moines, Davenport and Burlington Comments of members of the state committee:
Howard * Hill, Minburn, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau federation: "If displaced persons are brought into Iowa, local county communities should be appointed to direct the welfare of these people. If these people fit it, it is going to be a popular program.”
