March, 1943, 1943

The union's plans for establishing a migratory workers' union came to an abrupt end with the introduction of House Joint Resolution No. 96, also known as the Cannon Bill, which placed the recruitment of agricultural labor under the Agricultural Extension Service of the Department of Agriculture. A copy of the bill, which contained explicit anti-union provisions, appears in the papers (11). Mitchell sent letters to a number of prominent labor leaders, asking their help in fighting the bill (15 to 17). Mitchell went to Washington on Jan. 22 to work against the bill; his report to the GEC summarizes his activities (30). There are copies of three statements by Mitchell presumably made during this trip, one to the House Appropriations Committee, one to the Senate to Committee on Agriculture, and a third to the WMC Labor-Management Committee, as well as a statement by F.R. Betton to the Appropriations Committee. All four statements are undated and appear at the end of the month. See also Mitchell's letter to W. Alexander, suggesting strategy for the forthcoming battle to save FSA (25).