Marion Progress

Gypsies Give
Roving, Go to Work

Hundreds Are Employed in
California Fields.

FRESNO, CALIF.-Migrants are nothing new to California, but the migrants haven't always been real gypsies.

Now, however, more than 200 gypsies of the non-fortune-telling variety are settled in the San Joaquin valley. All of them are too busy working in the production of war crops for the food-for-freedom program to have their palms crossed with silver.

More gypsies are expected to arrive soon, ordered to this area by Louis Mort, farm labor co-ordinator for the Romany clans throughout the United States. One of the tribesmen pointed out that gypsies long since have given up horse-trading for nomad agricultural labor, touring the entire West from Southern California to Idaho, depending on where Mort feels they are needed.

The police chief of Mendota, where the Romany camp is established, reported that they are well-behaved citizens. Managers for whom they are harvesting crops say they are excellent workers. Most of them work in carrot and broccoli fields, but younger ones are in the armed forces or nearby war industries.

To be on good terms with a gypsy, it's best to refer to him as a Romany. The name "gypsy," they feel, has unpleasant connotations of sharp dealings in horse tradings. They also scoff at the theory that every Romany clan has its own king.

"The President of the United States is our king," one said.

Widely scattered as they are throughout the country, the Romanies remain closely knit. When Mort wires to one area for farm hands for another, the response always is prompt.