Ja SIPING (Ole 
 
 Social and Economic Factors 
 
 RELATING TO 
 Spanish-Speaking People 
 IN THE 
 
 United States 
 
 HOME MISSIONS COUNCIL 
 
 Commission on Social and Economic Factors 
 JOHN McDOWELL, Chairman 
 
 
 
\4 
 
 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Spanish-speaking people in the United States are divided roughly into two groups. 
 Isolated in the mountains of New Mexico and southern Colorado, are the Spanish-speak- 
 ing Americans, the descendents of the early conquerors. These hardy explorers who 
 have left their blood and their names in this upland area, were the first Huropeans ever 
 to establish a foothold in America. Onate conquered Santa Fe in 1605—fifteen years 
 before the Mayflower landed. Retardation to a marked degree has characterized these 
 people. They have been isolated from their kinsfolk in Mexico, by long miles of desert, 
 and by mountain barriers. Just as truly have they been isolated from Anglo-Saxon civ- 
 ilization by barriers of blood and language. There are places in New Mexico, far re- 
 moved from the railroad, where farmers still plow with wooden plows, thresh with bulls 
 and goats, and winnow their grain by hand. No data whatsoever has been placed in the 
 hands of your Commission touching this group. 
 
 From the mass of material presented, it is evident to all, that the great burden of 
 the problem rests with the second group, representing the Mexican laborer. Interesting 
 material having to do with social and economic factors among these people has been 
 presented as far as Colorado and California are concerned; but the data has been both 
 meagre and sketchy in the cases of Arizona and Texas. There is an insistent demand 
 for Mexican labor in the middle west, and east, and rapidly growing colonies of Mexicans 
 are to be found now in all the industrial centers of these sections. Such material as has 
 been presented has been used, but your Commission feels that an adequate study of the 
 problem has not yet been made in the areas mentioned. 
 
 We have had to make large use of existing material, to supplement in many cases 
 the original data which has been furnished. In this connection we wish to express our 
 appreciation to the Sub-Department of Spanish-Speaking Work of the Department of 
 City, Immigrant and Industrial Work of The Presbyterian Board of National Missions, 
 for valuable assistance rendered in the study of the material and in the preparation of 
 this report; also for data furnished from its files. 
 
 No one can know better than the members of this Commission the inadequacy of 
 this paper; none can better realize its limitations. But it is presented with the hope 
 that it may furnish at least some light in’ the study of one of America’s most pressing 
 problems. 
 
 JOHN McDOWELL, Chairman. 
 
CHAPTER 1. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 IMMIGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION. Population by 
 states and cities—Immigration and Emigration—Causes of Immigration 
 —Illegal or “bootleg” entries—Problem of future immigration—Factors 
 
 tending toward decrease—Employers against restriction. 
 
 Piige 5 
 
 UNDER THE MEXICAN’S HAT. Racial Mixture—Autocratic organiza- 
 tion of society—Individualism—Lack of initiative—Improvidence—Cli- 
 mate and Character—Insecurity of property—Generosity—Love of 
 Beauty—Happy fatalism. 
 
 Page 7 
 
 THE MEXICAN AT WORK: MIGRATORY GROUPS. Diversified 
 agriculture demands casual labor—Seasonal “swirls” in California—Labor 
 needs of various crops—Enforced idleness of casuals—Salt River Valley 
 of Arizona—Mexican and Negro—Colorado beet sugar—Recruiting labor 
 —Texas cotton—Michigan and Ohio—Mexicans on the railroads—Re- 
 tardation of school children—Effect on Churches—Social results. 
 
 Page 9 
 
 THE MEXICAN AT WORK: SETTLED GROUPS. Why the migrant 
 settles down—From agricultural to industrial work—The stabilized agri- 
 cultural worker—Rising on the railroads—Numbers in city industries— 
 Difficulties impeding Mexican’s economic progress; in professions and 
 business—Mexican children in the movies—Wages for migratory and 
 settled workers—Our debt to the Mexican. 
 
 CHILD LABOR. State laws versus economic demands—Child labor in 
 California—In Colorado—Kinds of hand work in| the beet fields—Survey 
 of Child Labor Committee—Ages of working children—hours of work, 
 and rest periods—Non-enforcement of compulsory education law—Re- 
 tardation of working children—Opinions of sugar officials—Chamber of 
 Commerce secretary—Teachers—Public officials—Is child labor justi- 
 fiable? 
 
 Page 17 
 
 THE MEXICAN AT HOMH. HIS HOUSE. Living in tents and box- 
 cars—A camp in the Imperial Valley in California—The movement for 
 better quarters—The desire for permanent homes—Adobe houses of the 
 beet companies—Bad conditions due to over-crowding—Shacks—The 
 menace of a bad house—The economic demand for better housing—The 
 tenement—Deplorable city conditions—in Chicago—in St. Louis—in Hl 
 Paso—in Los Angeles—The hope of the future—Better class homes. 
 
 Page 20 
 
 THE MEXICAN AT HOME; HIS FAMILY. The Mexican’s love for 
 his home—Courtesy—Hospitality—The patriarchal system—Love for chil- 
 dren—Ambition for their progress—Charity toward old ‘and dependents. 
 
 Page 24 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. THE MEXICAN IN THE COMMUNITY. Health—Diseases common 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 to Mexicans—Comparison with Caucasians—Infant mortality—Causes of 
 disease—Poverty and dependency—in Los Angeles County—in Colorado 
 —Whose the responsibility ?—Unscientific charity—Problem phases, Los 
 Angeles county—Delinquency and crime—California prisons—Recreation 
 —Typical Mexican amusements—Baseball—Handball—The influence of 
 the school—*‘Catching on.”’ 
 
 Is the Mexican immigrant becoming homogeneous? Is Mexican labor 
 really “cheap” labor? What about the migrant laborer? What shall 
 be the future American policy toward Mexican Immigration? 
 
 Page 30 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Page 31 
 
CHAPTER Il. 
 Immigration and Distribution of Population. 
 
 The exact figures on the Mexican and other Spanish-speaking peoples as well as 
 their distribution throughout the country are not available. Some estimate the total at 
 2,000,000. The Mexicans are most numerous in the Southwest, where in many commun- 
 ities they constitute half of the population. As one travels northward and eastward, 
 their number grows proportionately fewer. In no case have we anything but rough 
 estimates to submit, and even such estimates are not available for many cities where 
 fair sized populations of Mexicans are known to exist. We submit the following data, 
 which in comparison with other estimates will be seen to be quite conservative: 
 
 Table 1. Mexican and Spanish-American population. 
 
 THESES. gudiotehs caeereuskaoro eo 1d Dee 550,000 MICH ISAT ccpeute tye inacestntarossuoreketete gery: 4,000 
 COTOnMIA Ee se ake ee so 2s ces 05000 INebras Kas as a2 aiaccuesosreeus peters ors 5,000 
 IN GiWatlVEOX COirra sts cute nclsieicrecs scart "sl ei 180,000 IWICSER VALEIN IAN cuctmca cone «ane ore caer. 5,000 
 WOLOLAC Ome Mere SRE eicners Seve sue e's 70,000 PennsylVamia. ci srs. teres «. «success 5,000 
 JNIEUATINEY. hc Od chew eSle Cone 60,000 HDi WON ESW tet cnet een oe oye Senas ac coor 15,000 
 CAM Sa ater erate Coeerodea a Gieisrs Sas dees 40,000 
 
 In addition there are unestimated numbers in such states as Minnesota, the Dakotas, 
 Iowa, Wyoming, Montana, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, and other neighboring states. A 
 number of our leading cities have large Mexican colonies: 
 
 IDOE! ANMEENGER ologabcococaovcbcooas 125,000 SRIEO ILS: ein chats ahr eR Se eee 2,000 
 Sin. JATa Woy eBG) Go an ole Oe I eee 65,000 INGWwalkee. (oh. wee aiecae so chebaentels 2,000 
 1D TERE) A ership ope ae Cee eee io eee 50,000 Detroit) cinerea cos enol 8,000 
 GICAS Ober erccocckohe ene tis eters abens. 6 8,000 GAR VAR tyson Crete Heo Rote ce aici et ane 2,000 
 SaTiMLrall CLs COmremaseteteie is .cee cree sie 7,000 “indiana Harbor <2... 1.2 .e esse. 8,000 
 IRDICtSDUT OMe | eee one sa eons 3,000 we Se eee 1,000 
 IN(@SWEL Ke renee Set here reic oi sheet anetale Gs 2,000 PNMGORO SHE | Cras niteeO inane. choo ci. cickcid’s lst 1,400 
 
 Los Angeles, El Paso and San Antonio are the three great centers from which the 
 Mexican immigrants radiate to the rest of the country, while San Francisco, Denver, 
 St. Louis, and Chicago may be taken as subsidiary centers. 
 
 The Tide of Immigration 
 
 Before 1909, the immigration from Mexico was not large. The records over the 
 preceding period of ten years show that less than 9000 crossed the border. From that 
 period on there is evident a constant increase until 1925, with an increase again for the 
 dehemeer over the one immediately preceding. 
 
 Table Il. Mexican Immigration and Emigration. 
 
 Year Immigration Emigration 
 LOL Oe erete are ots Risiera lols eae avs ares Mapenetete 17,760 
 
 OL. SESE OAC 18,784 
 
 OL 2 Rrarmecpctctc rene teve tous, sce ayi0: 0:'o.f evens ker chetehs 22,001 
 
 OL Se fer tcrace nies 6 cso dora als: s-ouete elon 10,954 
 
 OD Ae te crBemets etree p lites bore arare anette 13,089 
 
 HL OL Dyeeerstepe ter secce ctciace o nssie sso vcetavaree are 10,993 
 
 LOD Gaerretercte rec retetcvase coy vee extis fee ererene 17,198 
 
 LD EY 5s sscecout SRO IRONIC ERROR 0.6.00 16,438 
 
 LOL Sreemeter cree ase erecaies. <ociles a eee acetone 17,602 25,048 
 GL Spares Aeleitc fate sis Dieke sapere wy sireronete 28,844 17,793 
 IRAs caooe Rete So aes ee e Oe eee 51,042 6,412 
 G2 Peeves te Seine Ae siaucasnale dos heeavevenelons 29,603 5,519 
 1g 2 eters 6:5 aycishe 0. Mare cal Rupee tells ae 18,246 5,770 
 1923. Oo esc ee os + TROT | 62,709 2,479 
 VO D4 ire. Sekar sia rctofexer eee Os .5s PPG Sieh A 87,648 1,878 
 AG 2 Bipervctve'e sre ce Saneu ICID OR ey Sue 32,378 2,875 
 PASS oA Coto D Oc Rlertcsisis sie sle orien to, 099 2,158 
 
 Over the same period of 14 years from 1910 to 1924 there was an increase in immi- 
 gration of 393%. During the last nine years, it is worth noting that there was a de- 
 crease in emigration of 87.3%. 
 
 5 
 
The cause of this great exodus from Mexico is undoubtedly due to aj combination of 
 contemporary events on both sides of the border. With the opening of hostilities in 
 Europe, a sudden and enormous impetus was given to industry. Factories, mines, trans- 
 portation, and agriculture were speeded up. Thousands were pressed into military 
 service thereby depleting the States in man power. 
 
 Coupled with the great and ever increasing need for labor was the virtual cessation 
 of emigration from Europe. To meet this crisis, the government let down, the immigra- 
 tion bars in the matter of contract labor, the literacy test, and the head tax. After the 
 war, there followed a brilliant industrial period in building, industry, transportation’ and 
 agriculture. The government development of irrigation projects has made wide areas 
 available for agriculture involving vast quantities of casual labor. The quota law which 
 went into effect July 1, 1924, was not made applicable to the Mexicans or other nationals 
 on the Western hemisphere. But it did contain a provision placing a $10 visa fee on 
 the Mexican immigrant. However, increase in beet, cotton, and fruit acreage and the 
 widespread custom of diversified farming has caused Mexican labor to be more in de- 
 mand than ever, especially in view of restricted immigration from Europe. This ac- 
 counts for the enormously increased immigration in 1923 and 1924, as well as the con- 
 tinual increase shown in 1926 over 1925. 
 
 On the other side of the border, the immediate cause for emigration is to be found 
 in the period of unrest preceding the fall of President Diaz in 1911. As noted above, 
 mass emigration from Mexico began about 1910. For nearly 15 years Mexico was in a 
 chronic state of revolution. Agriculture and industry were almost completely destroyed; 
 property, and life itself were not secure with contending armies sweeping across the 
 country. One Mexican declares that after the visit of the revolutionists which resulted 
 in the confiscation of all he had, there seemed nothing else for him to do but come to 
 the States. In view of the strongly idealistic temperament of the people fhiemselves— 
 mystical, impractical, beauty-loving, improvident, peace-loving—it is not difficult to un- 
 derstand why the Mexican turned his face and his footsteps northward. A home, plenty 
 of work, good pay, peace and security, good schools and an open door—all formed an 
 
 appeal not easily resisted. 
 Tegel 
 Immigration 
 
 But the report of Mexican immigration into the States does not end by any means 
 with the statistics of the immigration officials. Dr. George P. Clements, Manager of the 
 Department of Agriculture of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, makes the state- 
 ment that 80% of our entire Mexican working population has entered this country il- 
 legally. An immigrant official remarks that he has to shut his eyes to keep from “kick- 
 ing the Mexicans off the street’ when he goes to his office in the morning. I. F. Wixon, 
 Chief Inspector of Immigration Service, spent three or four weeks in the Imperial Valley 
 in January, 1926, visiting camps and talking personally with the Mexican workers rela- 
 tive to this matter. Upon the basis of his investigation, he stated that 70% to 75% of 
 those in that particular section have entered illegally. The most conservative estimate 
 secured was that of an immigration official in El Paso. He placed the number of Qgyp 
 SB Mexicans at 50%. 121@$ 
 
 417 €Zd) 
 
 The task of rounding up ae Mexican and deporting him is seen at once 
 to be an insuperable one, both from their apparent numbers and the expense entailed. 
 Furthermore, the hue raised by the employer of labor is a factor to be reckoned with. In 
 view of the complication of the situation, a plan has been put into execution in the Im- 
 perial Valley, but the agreement is purely verbal; no written document exists. The plan 
 is to register all Mexicans who can read Spanish or English, to arrange for them to 
 secure evidence of their Mexican -birth, and to allow them to pay the visa tax and the 
 head tax, a total of $18 on the installment plan. Those who have been in this country 
 five years or more, even though they have entered illegally, are not liable to deportation. 
 These are given a statement as to their residence in the United States, which will ex- 
 empt them from any further interference. The result is interesting. The plan is still 
 in the stage of an experiment, but in the first three months, 3300 Mexicans’ illegal en- 
 
 a) 
 
 tries had registered, of whom 58 had paid up in full. An additional 900 here illegally five 
 
 years or more received their pass-books. 
 
 ee: AIICZAN Mp he / PANT 
 All the blame for the presence of the Mexicarfmust not rest upon his own 
 
 shoulders. He is encouraged to enter through a combination of circumstances including 
 conditions in Mexico, glowing promises on the part of many who seek his labor, and, 
 on the part of some as a pretext for sending: him back across when: they: wish to “jump 
 a contract” or agreement. The latter is illustrated by an incident near Brownsville 
 Where a cotton grower “quarreled” with a Mexican laborer just before cotton harvest 
 and later had the man deported thus depriving him of his promised wages—consisting 
 
 623 
 
INSERT 
 
 Summed up, therefore, thefactors which might seem to 
 indicate that immigration in the future may be stimulated, 
 are the following: 
 
 {1) The quota upon inmigretion from countries of the old 
 worlde 
 
 (2) The insistent demand upon the part of various organiza- 
 tions of the southwest thet present restrictions be 
 lessenéd. 
 
 (3) The developrent of new areas, calling Por 4n increased 
 labor supply. 
 
 (49 The labor shortege which is already producing a cai- 
 pe titive demand for the casual laborere 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 In 2022 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 httos://archive.org/details/studyofsocialecoOOnati 
 
of the cotton crop on ten acres. The consul took the case to court and won for the 
 Mexican. Other Mexican consuls interviewed complained of similar instances and one 
 remarked that he rather doubted if there were any honest cotton-growers.; 
 
 Will He Continue to Come? 
 
 The problem of future immigration is one of the burning questions of the Southwest. 
 So far the matter is in the balance. The pendulum of public opinion swings all the way 
 from unlimited immigration through varying degrees of limitation to the other extreme 
 of absolute exclusion. There are several factors which tend toward the lessening of even 
 the present limited immigration: 
 
 (1) The Mexican government does not look with favor upon the wholesale emigra- 
 tion of its nationals, for it does not approve the idea of ten per cent of its people living 
 under a foreign flag. The government therefore is constantly encouraging their return 
 by active colonization programs. 
 
 (2) Conditions in Mexico are upon the upward trend, and more and more the dom- 
 inant incentives for emigration are lessening. Increasingly Mexico will need her labor- 
 ers. More work, more wages, better conditions for the workman, better schools, better 
 political conditions spelling peace and safety—all these will tend to keep. Mexicans at 
 home. 
 
 . (3) In this country, organized labor is bringing great pressure to bear upon the 
 problem. The American Federation of Labor and the Mexican Federation of Labor 
 have united upon a program of study looking toward limited emigration and immigra- 
 tion. The theory is advanced that heretofore all efforts have been repressive, to control 
 immigration. Now the principle of self-control is to be dominant, and an effort is to be 
 made to keep people at hime. 
 
 (4) Social problems incident to the presence of so many Mexicans, have given rise 
 to the alarm expressed in the statement that “the Southwest is being Mexicanized.” How 
 far this will retard immigration is problematical. 
 
 (5) The Committee on Immigration and Naturalization of the - seems to favor 
 limited immigration from MexicoG@_y cutie wt Onrveuntk 4 Aree GA Cop 
 
 Judging from the protest made by industrial leaders in the southwest at the very 4 
 idea of placing a quota upon Mexican immigration, causes one to realize that there is 
 another side to the question. The hearing before the Committee on Immigration wrichely 
 Naturalization of the House, covers 308 pages, and contains the testimonies of 35 men, 
 each representing numerous groups of associations and organizations of the North, 
 Central and Southwest portions of the country. These men are a unit in their protest 
 against any action by Congress which shall in any way curtail the supply of labor. Los 
 Angeles, which has more Mexicans than any other city of the world, except Mexico City, 
 is keenly alive to the social problems of dependency and delinquency, and yet the 
 Chamber of Commerce of that city is on record as opposed to placing the quota law on 
 Mexico, and in favor of removing the visa tax as well as the head tax. “Californians 
 Incorporated” this year has raised $400,000 for its development program; whence the 
 necessary labor, if not from Mexico? S. Parker Frisselle, Chairman of the Fresno 
 Chamber of Commerce, backed by’ the California Federation of Farm Bureaus, and the 
 California Development Association, stated before the House Committee that the immi- 
 gration act of 1924 had cut down Mexican immigration 65%, making a shortage of labor 
 for 1925. Only 75% of the needs of the San Joaquin Valley were supplied last year. 
 The prospects of the future he paints as very dark. WS elr 
 
 It seems quite clear that it is the popular conviction in this country that the Mexi- 
 can immigrant is a necessary evil to do our “dirty work.” When asked, “Is it true that 
 the white race will not do its own menial labor?” Prof. Samuel J. Holmes, of the Uni- 
 versity of California answered, “Yes, it seems to be true; and I feel that it is a sign that 
 our race, or any race with such an attitude is going out of existence. A race which does 
 not do its own menial labor is doomed.” 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Under the Mexican Hat. 
 
 “Not Spanish, please, Mexican!” 
 
 The speaker was a light-complexioned, blue-eyed young man who was quietly insist- 
 ing upon his Mexican traditions, and his Mexican loyalty. And his American friend knew 
 L,. Well..that.he.was.a.Mexican, but thought that he would compliment him, by 
 
 refexming..to him.as Spanish! i + se gE ARERR RENE 
 se dndthis.isethe -generaksimpression - among~Agnericans aise ers alseeeeitae southwest. 
 d-and mendedy~by some - SND mee EI he 
 
 ceases:toxbe-what he has-been, and=becomes» Spanish!.. Sepmongen ioe ee Cor 
 
 7 
 
When Cortes and his band of buccaneers conquered Mexico, they left their women 
 behind them. The racial pride which kept pure the blood of the pilgrims, was not a 
 potent factor with the Spanish, and as a result, there was a great infusion of blood. The 
 Mexican of today is a mixture of Indian and Spanish strains, with the former largely 
 predominating. And the point which must be kept in mind by every student of Mexican 
 affairs either north or south of the line, is the fact that the Mexican is far more proud 
 of his Indian than he is of his Spanish blood. His eye lights with fire, and his pulses 
 tingle to recall the lofty heroism of Cuartemoc in the last wild defense of Tenochtitlan; 
 he is not proud of the race that soaked the stoie chieftan’s feet in oil, and then roasted 
 them over a slow fire, to extort from him the hiding: place of the Aztec’s gold. It is no 
 compliment to a Mexican to call him ‘‘Spanish.” 
 
 But it is necessary to understand this infusion of blood, as a preliminary to a fair 
 critique of the social and economic problems presented by the Mexican immigrant in the 
 United States. Is Mexico in turmoil? Are there revolutions? Indeed, the very corpus- 
 cles, Spanish and Indian, fight together as they surge through his veins! 
 
 The Indian of Mexico passed rapidly from a paternalistic, tribal form of government, 
 to one in which a small aristocracy ruled in an autocratic manner. Because no good 
 Spanish, catholic soldier would run the risk of dying upon the battle-field unshriven, the 
 priests from the very first accompanied the army of conquest, and the church claimed 
 its share of the spoils. Thus the autocratic form of government which was organized, 
 __was dual—state and church linked-together for the exploitation of the people. — bate 
 
 Vit 
 
 Going It Alone. va 
 
 This autocratic government and the system of virtual 
 slavery under which he lived for three hundred years, 
 robbed the Mexican of 211 opportunity for personal respon- 
 ‘Sibility and the cultivation of orgenizang, ebility.,. Othe rs 
 have always been charged with dime tional -agtivit tesy°andg 
 “thea pit df his lite, tharerore, ha: been reduced to @ very 
 smal] circle, of which he himself is the center. He has had 
 to look out for himself, and has never learned that spirit 
 of team play which is the child of democracy. ‘henhe’ sings 
 he often sings solos. When he plays on a temm, he wants to 
 be the star performmr. , 5 / 
 
 Only of late has he hed the chance to organize and to work 
 cooperatively, hence he often finds it difficult to shire with 
 others the profits or the honors gained through cooperation. 
 It is said that he is naturally suspicious, which is inevitabl 
 because he has had to ddfend the citadel of his individualis 
 against all comers, This autocratic system, moreover, has yet 
 the father on the family throne, so that Ross cites "mseulnis 
 as one of the ills from which Mexico suffers. / 
 
 j 
 WY AER fy CULE UC Uy EPR VY WI NIUY ULE hE ULE Ue aaa RE RS ee pe ee yee OOO Es a2uUuic as uv DLL 
 
 ter winter season for which provision must be made, and so the Mexican has learned the 
 habit of living from hand to mouth. 
 
 A third reason for his lack of initiative, has been the ifistability of property in 
 Mexico, due to revolutions and banditry. In the early days of the viceroys vast treasures 
 of gold and silver were brought overland to Vera Cruz, and shipped to Madrid, and to 
 Rome. This movement of treasure inspired piracy on the sea, and banditry on the 
 land. Acquisitiveness suffers a severe set-back, when what has been saved is lost in a 
 night. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Love of Beauty 
 
 Back in the old Indian days before the conquest, the Toltecs offered as sacrifices 
 upon their altars to their gods, the choicest blossoms gathered from their gardens. The 
 lofty mountains, the purple! sunsets, the graceful witchery of the trees, the beauty of 
 river and lake, made their indelible impression upon the Mexican soul, and have created 
 a sense of beauty, both appreciative and expressional, of which we too seldom take ac- 
 count. Teachers of Mexican children are often both surprised and delighted to note the 
 signs of real artistic talent upon the part of their pupils. An artist of repute was visit- 
 ing a school in California, which was fifty per cent. Mexican. She was interested in some 
 landscape work which the children were doing, and asked to be allowed to take home the 
 work of the entire class. The next day she brought back five which she had selected 
 as being the best in design and appreciation of color. It was interesting to note that 
 four out of the five sketches were the work of Mexican children. This artistic sense 
 has manifested itself as well in music, as in art. It will be remembered that the orches- 
 tra from Mexico City won all honors at the Panama Exposition at San Francisco, while 
 the Mexican “Orquesta Tipica”’ which occasionally comes up from the capital is heard 
 with real delight by all music lovers. 
 
 Beauty? It sanctifies the drab life of the Mexican, surrounds with a halo the dull 
 work with pick and shovel, and glorifies even the lowly huts of trade and barter. Who 
 in a Mexican district has not seen little stores with their blue-lettered signs—‘The Light- 
 house,” “The Future,” “The Dream’? 
 
 His Philosopiiy is Good, and the World is Large.” 
 
 _ POY a Pight wrderstanding “or the Bdeial she Sébnonic 
 factors..as. they relate to wages, work, housing, indigency: 
 and delinquency, "it! might be “well for us also to’know |. 
 sam thing. of the. sexigsn's.philogophy of lifes This imayis <b 
 bé' Gesdribed ‘as amixture of contradictory elements iq joo. 
 woah we hineelgine’ his .profound,..imnate. religious sensay:? 
 with ‘a lpene rel ;obut indefinite faith 1A Cd ead eT ao 
 edb mage AE ckhe. Rude rf, the aneeecke ele esd Whaidthe Mexican 
 aisthedin of) optimism! in dois 'ou'tl ook whieh Streipely enous 
 id° OftGH*tiligd with fatalism. ‘Thus he resigns himself to 
 the difficult and m@t bitter sxperiences of life. Speak- 
 ing generally, he is an optimist and possesses a great, 
 capagity for happiness, Often he Gal1a his shop "El 
 Contentoe™ caicnd rmine h ‘dress. If i hol 
 
 6) now WHET ‘boss on under the Mexigon's hat, is absolute 
 ly essential toy a proper understanding of ‘his reactions to 
 American “institutions and American idesls.. But does not 
 sugh sn andernstanding also awaken us to a realization of 
 the faot, thatthe iexicam igmigrant may have sone other 
 contribution to make to American life besides that of 
 muscle and brawn? noug 
 
 proficient at practically every crop. Aside ‘pale mining industries in Arizona and 
 
 Colorado, the Southwest where the Mexican foyym@ie most part lives is distinctively an 
 agricultural region. Much of the wealth and prosperity of this area has been due to the 
 magic touch of water, and the no less magic touch of the hand of the seasonal laborer. 
 
 In spite of her boasted climate, her tourists, her blue seas, and her purple mountains, 
 California owes most of her wealth and her prosperity to her agriculture. No where in 
 the world is the agriculture so highly diversified, or so highly specialized. There are 
 many states where the grip of winter deadens the fields; but there is no month of the 
 year when some crop is not being harvested in California. 
 
The Mexican Casual. 
 
 In a recent address given at Pomona College, Dr. George P. Clements, manager of 
 the Agricultural Department of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, called attention 
 to the fact that the more highly specialized our agriculture becomes, the greater is the 
 demand for seasonal or casual labor. He stated that the Mexican laborer, if he only 
 realized it, has California agricultura and industry in the hollow of his hand. Most of 
 the casual labor on the farms of the State is done by the Mexicans, and all of the indus- 
 tries realize their absolute dependence upon him. 
 
 Miss Georgiana Carden, State Supervisor of Attendance, Department of Public In- 
 struction, Sacramento, has worked out a schedule for migrant Mexican labor in the 
 State. She calls attention to the fact that this type of labor follows two great swirls— 
 in the north the San Francisco swirl about 50% Mexican and in the south the Los 
 Angeles swirl 100% Mexican. 
 
 That you may know at any time just where to find Mr. Martinez, let us have before 
 us the table which pictures these two great movements of crop followers: 
 
 TABLE Ill. MOVEMENTS OF CALIFORNIA CASUALS. 
 
 Los Angeles Swirl San Francisco Swirl 
 Marcela. .ceitmitiee js. =< seein Beans and beet thinning..... March 15—May 1—Asparagus 
 May 20—June 30. .....000... Apricots and fruits in in delta. 
 
 lower San Joaquin....... May 15—Cherries. 
 Grapes: «ala gee sere eee May 20—June 3—Apricots. 
 Septem ber are csterce encwer etek. Cotton—Walnuts ~....- se. 6. July-August—Peaches, Grapes. 
 NOVI: DET. sire. . tel remabetenens «tres Navels® . . . cope ceuetereits cenpenes September-October—Prunes. 
 JADUWATY Saeeee: «sos seeks sree Malen cias | J). suerets ce aneiter ars Sept. 20—Oct.—Tomatoes. 
 
 In California the grape harvest takes place from July to November, and requires 
 73,000 cars to transport the crop to market. It is estimated that it takes the work of 
 15 men for a day to produce a carload of grapes, or a total of 1,095,000 man days to bring 
 the California grape crop to market. Estimating the season as of 180 days, this would 
 represent an army of more than 6000 grape workers. 
 
 Canteloupes come from May to July, and melons from June to November requiring 
 20,000 cars. Brawley at the head of the Imperial Valley in California, ships from 10,000 
 to 12,000 car loads of canteloupes to eastern markets every year. Deciduous. fruits run 
 from April 15th to November 15th and fill 25,000 cars. Oranges and lemons which are 
 handled all the year and represent 55,000 to 60,000 cars, with four workers to a car per 
 day. Lettuce demands 10,000 cars in Imperial Valley, and 21,000 cars in the whole 
 Southwest, with all-year production. All perishables represent 240,000 cars, with an 
 average of 10 men per day to a car. These crops must be gotten to market, each at its 
 own time, and the demand for casual labor is, therefore, sharp and insistent during the 
 harvest and entirely disappears when the crop has been gathered. This great range in 
 season and diversity of crops results in the following monthly demands on casual labor 
 in California according to estimates made by Dr. Clements: 
 
 TABLE IV. EMPLOYMENT AND IDLENESS—CALIFORNIA CASUALS. 
 
 Year representing 100% -Idle 
 Januaryand Hebruarye. asec 10.9% 11.8% 
 Marehgand April: jaime 15.8% 6.9% 
 May and. JUNG 5.2. <<. ce oe ene 20.8% 1.9% 
 Julysand=eAugust=.... sae cei 22.7% 
 september, and October. jeer. 18.2% 4.5% 
 November and December...... 11.6% 11.1% 
 
 Taking July and August as representing the peak for seasonal labor at 22.7, there is 
 not only no idle casual labor, but the demand is even greater than the supply. In Janu- 
 ary the demand is 10.9, leaving the remaining 11.8 idle. The idle proportion diminishes 
 until it disappears the middle of the summer, and then gradually increases until the 
 idle proportion is at its maximum about Christmas time. 
 
 A brief study of these figures immediately brings us to the conclusion that our casual 
 labor in California is idle 34.70 of its possible working time. This would present an ime 
 possible situation were it not for the fact that actually from 20 to 30% of the laborer’s 
 time is now spent in moving from district to district in search of employment. While 
 this mitigates the problem of delinquency which idleness would inevitably bring, it is at 
 the same time economically wasteful, if not disastrous to the casual laborer. It is true 
 that he moves from place to place in a secondhand Ford car, but it is true also that he 
 spends most of the little that he has been able to save in moving to the next job, or in 
 looking for it, when it cannot be found. 
 
 102 
 
 
 
Cattle, copper and cotton sum up the most important of the industries in Arizona. 
 Copper, of course, furnishes more or less continuous work for the Mexican) all the year 
 round, and his migrancy in the mining districts is due more to the disposition of the 
 Mexican than to the irregularity of the work. The same problems attending the cotton 
 situation in California are prevalent in the Salt River Valley around Phoenix. Thousands 
 of acres of desert land were brot under cultivation thru the building of the Roosevelt 
 Dam, and cotton has been the principal crop. The cotton is mostly picked by family 
 labor. The different Mexican groups camp by the side of the field, either in tents or 
 shacks provided by the grower. The work is all piece work, and it is necessary that the 
 whole family should work in order to provide a living wage. Various experiments have 
 been made, by the cotton growers of the Salt River Valley of Arizona in the matter of a 
 labor supply. Once negroes were introduced from Oklahoma, but the attitude of the 
 growers toward this type of labor is well illustrated by a remark of one of the officials 
 of Growers Association who said “If the Lord will ever forgive us for bringing in these 
 coons, we never will do it again.” This past year between 2000 and 3000 Porto Rican 
 negroes were imported. Reports would indicate that they have done fairly satisfactory 
 work, but the book is not finished when we conclude the economic chapter. The Porto 
 Rican is an American citizen. His standards of living and his educational qualifications 
 for citizenship are not superior to those of the Mexican, and his presense as an American 
 citizen, sub-normal in his customs and mental fitness, and his attitude toward American 
 ideals is one which might well make us pause. It is a question whether in the importa- 
 tion of this large group of Porto Ricans, we are not paying too much for our cotton. 
 
 Mr. C. M. Achauer, Secretary-Treasurer of the Arizona Cotton Growers Association 
 of Phoenix, Arizona, states?’ “The Mexican is far superior to the negro as an agricultural 
 worker in Arizona. He will do as he is told, while the negro always wants to do it his 
 way. The Mexican is more responsive to supervision than the negro.. 
 
 The Mexican is happy and satisfied with a living wage or better, and the negro is 
 not. The negro is more of a trouble maker. Authority, as a rule, does not go to the 
 head of the Mexican as it does to the negro. A Mexican can be made foreman over 
 other Mexicans and will have his entire crew satisfied and working steadily, while a 
 negro foreman, drunk with authority, causes immediate dissatisfaction even among his 
 own people and causes them to seek employment elsewhere. A comparitive test of 
 negro and Mexican workers, was made by the Arizona Cotton Growers Assn. in the fall 
 of 1920 during the cotton picking season. The experiment was made with 3194 Mexicans, 
 130 Indians, and 210 Negroes. (The Negroes were brot from Oklahoma). The Negroes 
 caused the officers in the valley to make more arrests than the Mexicans and Indians 
 together. They also caused the Association more trouble than the others.” 
 
 The low price of cotton during the past two years has caused the agricultural inter- 
 ests of Arizona to make an effort to limit the total output of acreage. As a result much 
 land which had gone into cotton has been converted to lettuce. This has been a most 
 helpful move, for it has furnished employment to Mexican laborers after the cotton crop 
 was harvested, and has also tended to relieve the glutted condition of the market. 
 
 In the Beet Fields. 
 
 Three hundred and twenty freight trains, 50 box cars, are each all loaded with beet 
 sugar! The total in 190 pound bags would be 3,000,000, and in pounds 8,000,000. This 
 huge bulk of sweetness noeee han” thedeek eer, of sugar turned out by the Great Western 
 Sugar Co. in 1924. Not less than acres are in beets in Colorado, and this huge 
 industry employs thousands of Mexican casual laborers. A great deal of work is done 
 by Spanish-Americans from Colorado and New Mexico, but an increasing demand is 
 being made on the labor markets of Texas for Mexican immigrants. Formerly most of 
 the hand work in the beets of Colorado was done by Russian-Germans, but very largely 
 this type of labor is being displaced by the Mexican immigrant. As an American farmer 
 stated recently “After one of these Russian-Germans has been in the beet fields two 
 years, he tells the farmer to go to hell and buys himself a farm.” The farmer does not 
 go where he is told, but he does stay in Colorado and employs a Mexican family in the 
 place of-the Russian-German. 
 
 Most of the Mexican laborers for Colorado are recruited in the large cities of Texas. 
 Transportation by railroad is furnished by the sugar company. The Mexicans are taken 
 to a point of embarkation, where they are met by the labor agent. They are then loaded 
 into the cars, a certain amount of personal belongings, and even furniture being taken 
 for each family. These personal belongings are segregated according to districts to 
 which the family goes, and are switched off the trains at sidings at convenient places. 
 The growers who have contracted for the labor, meet their hands at the railroad stations 
 and haul them and their belongings to the shacks or houses which have been prepared 
 for them. When the season, which iasts from late in April or early in May until No- 
 
 ial 
 
vember, is over, the migratory laborers drift into the large cities of Colorada in search 
 cf employment which will tide them over the cold months, or stay in the shacks and 
 cribs which they have occupied. There is an increasing tendency on the part of the 
 Great Western Sugar Co., to stabilize this type of labor, and some really worth while 
 work has been done by this Company in persuading the people to construct two-room 
 adobe houses. Some effort also has been made to provide companion industries for the 
 beets, so that there will be sufficient employment to keep the Mexican hands busy during 
 the months when there is no work in the beet fields. An effort to do the same thing 
 has also been cited in the introduction of lettuce in the Salt River Valley. Cotton also 
 is taking the place of thousands of acres of grapes in the San Joaquin Valley in California, 
 in order that the employers of labor may hold the Mexicans after the grape harvest is 
 over. There thus results in California a vigorous competition between the cotton grower 
 of the San Joaquin Valley and the citrus industry in the south for Mexican labor. 
 
 Down in Dixie. 
 
 While the beet worker journeys to the fields of Colorado on the train, he finds his 
 way to the cotton fields of Texas in a broken down Ford. As one secondhand dealer in 
 a large city of Texas remarked: “If it were not for these damn Mexicans, we couldn’t 
 sell our junk”. Anything that has four wheels, and); can cough and spit along the road 
 is loaded to the guards with mattresses, bedding, pails and clothing, and is then piled 
 high with Méxican children. One passes them along the road fixing a tire which has 
 long outlived its usefulness, or trying to coax life back into an ignition system which 
 leaks at a dozen places. Sometimes they park on the main street of a town enroute, 
 while the Mexican mother provides luncheon for a dozen hungry mouths. She can be 
 seen using the running board for a bread board, cutting bread into huge slices, smearing 
 it over with delectable jam and passing it up to the eagerly outstretched ‘hands of the 
 Mexican children atop the mattresses and the bedding. 
 
 The destination of these cotton pickers, as they journey northward from San An- 
 tonio, is often determined definitely by the longevity of the Ford car. Where the Ford 
 breaks down, there the family works; frequently earning enough money either to make 
 it possible for them to buy another car to get back to San Antonio, or to provide the 
 first payment of rent on a little house where they plan to spend the winter. 
 
 In Michigan and Ohio. 
 
 The beet industry has provided also a casual labor problem for Michigan and Ohio. 
 Labor agencies recruit the workers in Texas exactly as they are recruited for the fields 
 of Colorado. Many of these workers, and all of those who go for the first season do not 
 understand the rigors of the northern climate to which they journey, and this often 
 results in much real suffering after the beet harvest; is over. 
 
 One of our surveyors in Detroit writes: 
 
 “Those coming to Michigan are from the farm laboring class, known in Mexico as 
 “peons” and known among the Detroit workmen as ‘“‘spicks”. They come here seeking 
 a better livelihood and a few as political exiles. Most of them come directly from 
 Mexico but some have lived in Texas some time. The beet fields of Northern Michigan 
 draw them. Often their railroad fare is paid and their jobs are secured in advance, 
 companies having sent their agents to Mexico to recruit the necessary help. This is, 
 of course, contract labor and tho it is a matter of common knowledge, the writer could 
 not discover a trace of an attempted prosecution. In the late fall the beet season is 
 ended and the Mexican comes to Detroit, Flint, and Pontiac, for the winter. Many 
 remaining, others going back home, but few back to the beet fields.” 
 
 On the Railroads 
 
 It might be thought that the railroads would provide stabilized labor for Mexican 
 workmen; but the Santa Fe while employing a total of 14,300 Mexicans on all of its 
 lines reports a turnover of 300% each year among its track laborers. Part of this turn- 
 over is due to the fact that there is more activity in railroad repair and. construction 
 work in the summer than during the winter, and part of it is due to the fact: that the 
 Mexican with a desire to better himself, works with one eye on the job he has and the 
 other eye on the job he hopes to have. Most of the railroad companies have the habit 
 of housing the migrant laborer in boxcars set upon a siding. No packing is necessary, 
 and the faces of the children do not even need to be washed when it is time to move 
 the family to a new location. 
 
 Practically all of the railroads of the country are experimenting in the use of the 
 Mexican laborer. The Rock Island states, “Of course, the preponderance of Mexicans 
 are employed in the maintenance department, on the right-of-way and in the mechanical 
 department, but we have men of this nationality in a great many other branches of our 
 service.” 
 
 12 
 
 eae © ip 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Insert. 
 @rievous social losses are suffered by the 
 (failure to follow up family case work. Here 
 better housing end more favorably surround- 
 ings ought to be furnished, One worker re- 
 ports encouraging progress in placing 
 ‘Smilies in better homesand better neighbor- 
 oods, when such families seem to be in the 
 jood to appreciate or demand better houses 
 
 ia community privileges. 
 iIn a family so placed a little girl of nine 
 fears of age personally dusted all the walls 
 
 like the other houses about them.” ‘The boy 
 
 and paste, so that he might look clean like 
 pther children. 
 
 8 we ll as the furniture, giving as her reason, 
 » ~ 8aid they must keep the new house clean 
 
 ! ; ano the r family asked for 4 comb, tooth brush 
 

 
SS mS ECC eee eee 
 
 The Denver & Rio Grande reports 3000 Mexicans employed, 1000 of whom are con- 
 sidered as seasonal labor, which means that the railroad employs a minimum of 2000 
 during the winter season. WHighty-three per cent of these are roadway labor, 244'% road- 
 way foremen, 7% station and transfer labor, 7% mechanical department. One-half of 
 this latter group are semi-skilled. 
 
 The Great Northern Railway Co., and the Pennsylvania Railroad both report the 
 employment of Mexicans in varying numbers, while the Southern Pacific System reports 
 16,528 Mexicans employed upon its various lines. 
 
 Some of the large railroad systems have associated with them, “supply companies”, 
 which are not only responsible for recruiting the necessary Mexican labor, but also 
 have the privilege of catering to that labor after it is employed. These supply companies 
 run stores near the railroad shops, and along the company’s lines, selling everything 
 from a pound of sugar to a pair of boots. Arrangements are made with the company 
 pay office so that the supply company\ can keep books for the laborer, paying him the 
 balance of the amount due him after deducting the cost of his supplies during the 
 month. 
 
 The evils of this system can be readily understood. It is claimed by some of the 
 Mexican laborers that the supplies are poor in quality and high in price, and complaints 
 are made that unless a laborer trades at the supply company store, his tenure of his 
 job becomes very insecure. 
 
 Social Losses 
 
 Practically all of the agricultural industries which are employing Mexican labor are 
 agreed in their conviction that this type of labor must be fluid, and that it must move 
 rapidly from one location to another as the demands of the maturing crops dictate. 
 Economically this is gainful, socially it is disastrously wasteful in its effect upon educa- 
 tion, religious life, the work of social agencies, and indeed upon any effort which is made 
 toward the assimilation of the foreigner. Attention will be called later on to the retarda- 
 tion which is caused among Mexican children due to their work in the beet harvest of 
 Colorado. In spite of compulsory educational laws of all of the states where Mexicans 
 live, there are literally thousands of Mexican children who do not go to school. This is 
 notably true in Texas where racial prejudice is strongest, and it is true in Arizona and 
 California, both of which commonwealths boast of their progressive school systems. 
 There seems to be a feeling prevalent in most mixed communities of the Southwest that 
 the Mexican is a laborer, here today and somewhere else tomorrow, and the responsi- 
 bility for him rests in no degree whatsoever upon the community where he may chance 
 to be working for the moment. As one school superintendent of a Colorado city is 
 quoted as saying “these Mexicans are here only for the beet season anyway, sO we can- 
 not be expected to waste any effort in getting them into school.” In a city in the San 
 Joaquin Valley of 12,000 population a teacher in a school where there are Mexican chil- 
 dren, reports a Mexican turnover of 40% every month of the school year. Figures have 
 been compiled to show that retardation is very much greater among the children of sea- 
 sonal laborers than among other groups. In a study made in Colorado, it was found that 
 60% contract labor as against 29% of the farm children were retarded. It has also been 
 found that the retardation with any child increases as the family continues in seasonal 
 labor. 
 
 In fact it is impossible to expect that the public schools would make any progress 
 with Mr. Martinez’s children when he moves so constantly from place to place. In many 
 towns when the truant officer catches up with the family, it is only to be told that they 
 are moving the next day or the next week: to a new locality. 
 
 Hqually as disastrous are the effects upon the work of the churches. A Mexican boy 
 no sooner makes a beginning in Sunday School, or has become a member of a club, when 
 his father has finished the work in that particular locality and’ is moving on to another 
 crop. One of our churches discovered that in a Sunday School which averaged an at- 
 tendance of 75 each Sunday for the year, there were 642 different names upon the roll 
 during the entire year. Most of our denominational superintendents realize that if a 
 church is left without a pastor, or without active work for a period, of six months that 
 practically all of the members will have evaporated, and the work will have to be begun 
 anew. Just to hold its own, a church must receive about 20% of its Seer each 
 
 & 
 
 calendar year. 
 
 The impression which school, church, and social agencies mfake upon these little 
 children of migratory laborers is fieeting and temporary at bestf It is natural that the 
 parents of these children should feel there is very little use in interesting them in any 
 community enterprise, when they realize their abode in the locality is so indefinite. 
 
 In making a final evaluation of Mexican labor, the social as well as the economic fac- 
 tors must be considered. Our civilization is established upon our homes, and if we are 
 promoting any economic system which tends to destroy the home, we are drawing too 
 heavily upon our bank account. We cannot afford to sweeten our coffee or clothe our 
 
 13 
 
backs at the expense of those spiritual values, without which a nation cannot endure. 
 The Mexican casual makes a real contribution to the wealth of the Southwest, and he 
 has a right to demand that industry work out some plan whereby his residence shall be 
 stabilized, and the permanency of his home shall be assured. 
 
 This is not an insurmountable difficulty, but it will demand cooperation of a higher 
 order than has been seen up to the present time. 
 
 There is a question also as to the economic value involved in this mobility of casual 
 labor. The industries using this type of labor all want the Mexicans plentiful and hungry 
 when the demand begins; plentiful in order that the wage scale may be low, and hungry 
 that they may be more docile upon the job. Due to the improvident nature of the Mexi- 
 cans themselves, there is little thought as to how the family is to live after the industry 
 has stopped issuing pay checks. One of the reasons why Mexicans are preferred over 
 other nationals is the fact that they spend their money as fast as they get it, and thus 
 keep it in circulation. 
 
 After the season is over, these Mexicans are pretty largely dependent on funds of 
 the social agencies, such as those supported by the Community Chests and the Associated 
 Charities. The time is coming when some economist who can see farther than the 
 season in question will begin to inquire how large a subsidy is paid each year by the 
 various social agencies to the producers of walnuts, beet sugar, oranges, grapes and 
 cotton. 
 
 The Lure of the Lights 
 
 All employers of casual labor indicate that there is a tendency to move to the city 
 after the season’s work is done. There are five reasons for this: first, when the Mexican 
 father is out of work his mind turns to the city where he can pick up odd jobs, and his 
 children having been out of school he is anxious that they should have the best advan- 
 tages which are available. Second, the Mexican is naturally gregarious, and he loves 
 companionship. This is evidenced by the fact that where his job may be he naturally 
 gathers with his fellows and fondly speaks of his group as the “colony.” Third, there is 
 more adequate housing in the city than in the country districts, especially when the 
 chilly nights and mornings of the California winter come on. Fourth, the Mexican while 
 he is an agriculturist, does not seem particularly to love the out of doors. The lure of 
 the lights has a compelling power upon him, and he naturally moves to the city where 
 he can satisfy this longing. And the fifth, is the fact.that the Mexican realizes that if 
 he gets in desperate circumstances because of lack of funds there are far more agencies 
 in the city which are organized to look out for him, than in the country. In the country 
 he is known by name and his needs are fairly well tabulated; in the city he is lost in 
 the crowd and his story of hungry or barefoot children can quickly bring a tug to the 
 heart strings and tears to the eyes of some big hearted American. Furthermore, the 
 complexity and diversity of the social agencies in the city make it possible for him to go 
 from. one to another and support himself, if necessity arises, without work. This dupli- 
 cation of relief would be impossible in the country. 
 
 The desire to go to the city, however, after the season’s work is over has resulted 
 in a well developed movement from the agricultural to the industrial rank. 
 
 When Mr. Martinez gets to the city, it will not be long before he will get some sort 
 of a job. This may be upon a street construction gang, or as a helper in concrete work. 
 He may find employment working on the street railroad line with pick and shovel. This 
 work may not pay as much as he and his family have been able to make in the beets and 
 walnuts, but it’ is stationary, it offers compensations in that it does not require him to 
 move from place to place, and so when the next fruit season rolls around he is loath to 
 leave his steady job for the uncertain existence in the open fields. Consequently he 
 stays on in the city and swells the industrial ranks, while the agricultural interests must 
 go to Mexico to round up new workers. It has been noted, therefore, that the most re- 
 cent immigrants are found in the agricultural pursuits, and that the city workers are 
 those who have passed up through the agricultural groups and have become in- 
 dustrialized. 
 
 There is a tendency also for workers to make themselves proficient in one crop and 
 to establish a permanent home in some small town or city near such a crop. After such 
 a worker settles in a place like Uplands in California to work in the oranges, his family 
 may for the first) few seasons make tent migrations to Beaumont and Banning for the 
 apricots, to Santa Ana for the walnuts, and may even go so far as Fresno for the grapes 
 and cotton, and to the Imperial Valley for the cantaloupes. Gradually, however, as the 
 members of the family grow, the children find temporary employment in the towns and 
 villages, and every such tie makes it harder for the family to tumble itself into the Ford 
 car, spin the crank, and whirl a couple of hundred miles away. So, the family tends to 
 become stabilized and so colonies of agricultural workers have been built up in such 
 places as Anaheim, Azusa, Santa Ana, Glendora, Uplands, and Redlands in Southern 
 California, upon the ranches of Texas, in certain Colorado towns, and in the towns of the 
 Salt River Valley of Arizona. Always it must be borne in mind that the groups of a 
 more migratory nature are largely made up of new recruits from Mexico. 
 
 14 
 
Semi-Skilled and Skilled Laborers 
 
 Practically the same movement takes place among the workers on the railroads. 
 First they are employed as casual laborers doing extra track work, repairing and build- 
 ing bridges, tamping ties, etc. Gradually as they learn English and become proficient 
 they graduate from the moving box-car to the cement section house, from the moving 
 track gang to the section gang. They thus become stabilized and a permanent factor 
 in the railroad organization. 
 
 The Southern Pacific System on its Western Division reports the employment of 
 12,252. These are divided as follows: 
 
 Table V. Occupation) of Mexican Employees of the Southern Pacific 
 
 Western System. 
 
 
 
 (STIGTARS). s oncveun Sarena tho cet pucareie ee aca 14 IBOATS ooo oacvcaseconvoopeoe 65 
 Shiminiéin, dehiblien” ehones ono eon ote 1 Carmen, «atone «ae eee aac t 261 
 mee ae MORCINCN ys akties send si sien 6 17 WACHIN ISTH tice cle ngel Sete es ree teeeees iss 
 EECCA D CNLCTrS! cqsenctmaens oeoscc-e 3 i 12 sheet Metals Workers swine 23 
 INNES Clabes stares «roa oteetone atietMaeie 6 cs. « 1 MeotoHs, Elelpersaeacvermiae toa 744 
 NOUBVWenETCIDCrSs. suet ds cc. cs c+. 27 MeO feb eA Dien tl Ce Smear siercrioenrs 195 
 Portable Steam HEqpt. Operators... 8 CoachF. Cleaners” = aac weer ener: 86 
 Portable Steam Eqpt. Helper....... il ShopelabOrers7 vc. whence mets ci erae 886 
 inp mpi ODCLALOTS ea. ..05 sass - al IMEOEMAY AMANO! oo oounmoopace ial 
 BixtyamGranca OreMenNs 6 +... sss 33 Statiomea Sent. were ste ee i 
 SO COMMON CINENE s geden, 6 ox. «o's 6 oes 90 SLEVECOTESiee eos ieee neater ner 36 
 CCHOMMMADOLECES: cltincics cee s e056 6 9416 Crossin=e sVWiauchnieneer eee 6 
 OMNIS SCEORG ests rieieche is ets «see es 2 Station Lruckersi mci eects 143 
 HHOpEeGaneseHOreMen Yl... . cies ee i EOSienrs and SEel persmassye cect 25 
 THIS) RESCUES ieia cucas 6 banro Oe eee 16 
 
 To talvacasehe Qater + eee Ce rene 12,252 
 
 Segregating these into skilled and semi-skilled groups we have a total of 1070 of 
 the whole number who might be so classified, a total of 8 7/8%. 
 
 The Mexican also is beginning to enter the field of semi-skilled workers in the 
 foundries and factories of the middle west and east. There are approximately 2000 in 
 the city of St. Louis, out of a population of 800,000, working in these industries and in 
 shoe and hat factories; as waiters and waitresses and kitchen help in the hotels. Their 
 opportunities are limited by lack of skill and language handicap, and to some degree 
 by racial prejudice. 
 
 Probably recruited from the backway of the beet industry there are now about 8000 
 Mexicans employed in various industries in Detroit. There are many in the automobile 
 industry employed as unskilled laborers chiefly in the Ford Rouge plant and the Briggs 
 Mfg. Co., where parts are made forall cars. They work also in the railroad yards and 
 in municipal work, the latter jobs being secured by the Mexican Consul, and by the De- 
 partment of Public Welfare. 
 
 In Milwaukee there are about 2000 Mexicans working on street work and in fac- 
 tories and tanneries. 
 
 There are not less than 10,000 in Lake County, Indiana, a great many of them coming 
 from the sugar beet labor. In Indianapolis there are some employed in the steel foun- 
 dries. The bulk of this population, however, is found in Indiana Harbor where there 
 are about 8000, with about 2000 in Gary and vicinity. 
 
 There are large numbers, also working in the Pittsburg Steel Mills. It seems that 
 the treatment in Pittsburg has been eminently fair and as a result there are many lab- 
 orers who now want to go to this area to work. Originally the common work in this 
 district was done by the negro, but this is being largely displaced by the Mexican. 
 
 It is reported that there are 1400 Mexicans in Aurora, Illinois, out of a total popu- 
 lation of 42,000. They are mostly working as common and semi-skilled labor on the 
 railroads and as factory laborers. 
 
 Joliet, Illinois, reports about 1000 Mexicans out of a total population of 48,000. They 
 are employed in the steel mills, on the railroads, in the brickyards and in the foundries, 
 a few having become molders. 
 
 The Illinois Steel Company of South Chicago reported on October 1st, 1926, that it 
 employed 1000 Mexicans, which constituted about 121%4% of all its employees. 
 
 There are about 8000 Mexicans in Chicago, and they are employed in such establish- 
 ments as the McCormick Works, International Harvester Co., and the Crane Co. There 
 is a very larga number in other factories. Many are employed in piece work. 
 
 J. B. Gwinn, American Red Cross, Washington, D. C., states: “A recent study made 
 
 15 
 
by the Department of Public Welfare of Chicago showed that 1042 were in the steel 
 mills, 606 in foundries, and many are employed by the railroads and stockyards. Some 
 positions in the skilled trades are now open to these men of Mexico who have never 
 previously done anything but the most common kind of labor. A large lead company 
 of Chicago introduced; Mexicans as laborers, but now most positions are open to them. 
 They are found as machine operators: in some plants; they are fillers and pressmen in 
 paint manufacturing plants; coal tar products companies use them as packers and on 
 all kinds of machines. They have shown ability to develop as skilled workmen if given 
 time and patient instruction. Nowhere has the race question been raised where Mexicans 
 work side by side with other people.” 
 
 It must be noted, however, that it is extremely hard for the Mexican to rise out 
 of the unskilled labor’ class. First, there is his language disability which does not per- 
 mit the degree of intimacy with those who might dictate his promotion, that an Amer 
 ican has. Second, there is the lack of initiative which has been mentioned above, but 
 third, and most important of all, is the common impression in the mind of Americans 
 that “Mexican is an unskilled laborer.” The Mexican is not supposed to be found outside 
 of this class, and it disturbs the American’s idea of the fiitness of things, if he is found 
 doing anything that requires brain work. In spite of these handicaps, it must be noted 
 
 that the Mexican is rising in the industrial scale. 
 
 School teachers in the Southwest find that his mentality is as good, if not better, 
 than that of other racial groups. A survey recently made among beet workers of Colo- 
 rado reveals the fact that in spite of the language handicap the retardation among the 
 Spanish beet child; is on the whole less than that of other groups of beet families em- 
 ployed. Given an equal chance they will rise into the semi-skilled and the skilled class. 
 
 In the three largest border cities: Los Angeles, El Paso and San Antonio, there are 
 numbers of Mexican lawyers, doctors, ministers, dentists, teachers, and musicians. They 
 are employed in large numbers as clerks in stores, and in many establishments as book- 
 keepers, stenographers and tellers in banks. One of the most noted title writers in the 
 moving picture industry in’ Los Angeles is a Mexican. The Department of Compulsory 
 Education and Bureau of Child Welfare in Department of Education in the same city, 
 reports that there is a larger number of Mexican children, in proportion, to the total 
 population, working before the camera in the moving picture industry than that of any 
 other racial group. 
 
 Wages 
 
 The whole question of wages as it concerns the Mexican labor both in migratory 
 and settled groups is a particularly disturbing one. The Mexican in this country has not 
 organized, and although the seasonal agricultural industries are absolutely dependent on 
 his contribution, he has not been paid in kind. It seems to be the ambition of these 
 various industries to keep him as hungry as possible, so that he will remain docile. 
 Consequently the wages are minimized. The railroads on an average pay about $2.60 
 per day for common track labor, and furnish shelter, wood and water. 
 
 Cotton pickers get from 114c to 2c a pound. 
 
 In Texas the wages for common labor run as low as $1.50 per day, and as high as 
 $3.00 per day. For semi-skilled the scale is from $2.50 to $3.00 and for skilled from $3.00 
 to $5.00 a day. 
 
 Work on the railroads in St. Louis seems to average more, running from $3.00 to 
 $4.00 a day. The factories pay from $10.00 to $40.00 a week. The hotels from $30.00 to 
 $40.00 a month, including meals, and sometimes room. 
 
 In Detroit, Michigan workers in the Ford Rouge plant receive $6.00 a day, in the 
 Briggs Mfg. Co. $3.50: to $5.50 per day. In the railroad yards $4.00 a day, and for Mu- 
 nicipal work on the streets from $3.50 to $4.50 per day. 
 
 In Joliet, Illinois, the wages average from 44¢ to 50c per hour; in Milwaukee, Wis- 
 consin, from 88c to 50c¢ per hour; in Lake County, Indiana, from $3.00 to $4.00 per day; 
 and in Aurora, Illinois, from 35c to 55¢ per hour. 
 
 Los Angeles Gas & Hlectric Co. employs 1200 Mexicans out of a total of 4000 em- 
 ployees, paying an average of $4.50 per day. 
 
 The Los Angeles Railway Co. pays its section labor 33c per hour, its, reconstruction 
 labor 34c per hour, and a few of its Mexican laborers are paid 41c and 46c per hour. 
 Incidentally this company states that “the Mexican is the best labor we can get; sticks 
 to it, plugs along, best return on the dollar.” 
 
 A survey of 315 homes in the Belvedere Park and Maravilla Park Mexican districts 
 
 of Los Angeles, revealed the fact that the average income per family was around $800. 
 : This imperfect and casual survey of the important part which the Mexican plays 
 in American industry, reveals how dependent we are upon this type of labor. Indeed the 
 Mexican is the Atlas who sustains upon his broad shoulders the whole industrial world 
 in the Southwest. - 
 
 16 
 
Dr. Clements, whose study has been mentioned above, works out the theory that all 
 industries in California are dependent upon agriculture. If this is true, most certainly 
 it is true also that agriculture depends upon the Mexican. Into our coffers flow streams 
 of silver and gold, and all of these streams flow through the brown hands of the Mexicans. 
 
 If we Owe so much to the Mexican, how are we paying the debt? 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Child Labor. 
 
 The problem of seasonal labor discussed above, inevitably presents the added prob- 
 lem of child labor. The work in seasonal crops for the most part is unskilled, much of 
 it can be done by children, and the Mexican farmer with many mouths to feed, cannot 
 understand why his children should not go into the fields and work with him. Most 
 states where the Mexicans live and work have laws against child labor, and all of them 
 have laws requiring attendance at school. Hconomic demands, both of the industry 
 which wants the work done, and the family which needs the money, have made it ex- 
 tremely difficult to enforce the law. In the cotton fields of California, it used to be the 
 custom for a lookout to blow a whistle when the school attendance officer came in sight, 
 the sound of which was a signal for the children picking cotton to duck down between 
 the rows, until the danger was passed. A serious effort, however, is now being made to 
 enforce the law in California. Not unmindful of the demands of the various seasonal 
 industries, however, the school authorities have made every effort to cooperate with the 
 growers, and the picker families in the case of the cotton industry in the Imperial and 
 in the San Joaquin valleys. In the latter valley, school sessions begin very early in the 
 morning, making it possible for the children over twelve years of age to go into the fields 
 shortly after the noon hour. Constant vigilance, however, is necessary to prevent the 
 employment of children under twelve, as a Mexican family can make money in the cot- 
 ton, only when the entire family works. The California state law prohibits the employ- 
 ment of children under twelve years in gainful occupations. 
 
 As has been stated above, California is preeminently an agricultural state, and there 
 is no place in the country where agriculture is so highly specialized. Some crop is being 
 harvested somewhere in the state during every month of the year. Most of these crops 
 have heavy demands for labor during a brief period of the year, and all of them are 
 dependent more or less upon family labor. Cotton, grapes, peaches, apricots, cante- 
 loupes, prunes, all use a certain amount of child labor in California, and there is the 
 usual amount of retardation resulting therefrom. A teacher in a school in a city of the 
 San Joaquin Valley in the heart of the grape district has declared that she had a Mexican 
 turnover of 40% per month in her room. The effect of this constant moving on the 
 part of the Mexican children can easily be estimated, and the demoralizing influence 
 upon the whole school, is also worthy of consideration. Asked whether the American 
 parents objected to the presence of the Mexican children in the school, the same teacher 
 remarked that they did not, but that she felt sure that they would if they knew how 
 much their presence was holding back their own children. 
 
 Colorado Beets 
 
 When it comes to child labor, Colorado seems to be the chief sinner among all the 
 states where Mexicans live and work. Not less than 150,000 acres in Colorado are de- 
 voted to the cultivation of sugar beets, and the peculiar character of the work not only 
 makes it easy to employ many children, but there are some who go so far as to say that 
 the very life of the industry is built upon the toil of these little ones. 
 
 There are three classes of workers in the beet fields. First, there are the owners, 
 who till their soil, and sell their beets to the Sugar Company, having contracted for the 
 sale of their crop before the seed is put into the ground. Second, there are the tenants, 
 who rent land, and produce a crop which they contract and sell in the same way to the 
 Sugar Company. Third, there are the contract families, who agree to do all the hand 
 work upon a certain number of acres of beets, in return for a certain fixed sum. All 
 three of these groups employ children, and what makes the problem more difficult, is 
 the fact that in practically every instance, the fathers and mothers are responsible for 
 the employment of their own children. 
 
 That the problem may be adequately understood, it is necessary to know something 
 of the character of the work in which the children are engaged. The seed is sown in 
 the spring, and the first hand work.in the fields begins late in May and early in June. 
 The farmers are not sparing of their seed, for they have found that it pays to sow plenty, 
 and then to thin out the weaker plants. The seed itself, indeed, is in the shape of a ball, 
 containing a multitude of seeds. These balis, or groups of seeds are drilled in rows far 
 enough apart to allow a horse-drawn cultivator to go between them. The plants come 
 up very close together, and form a solid mass. 
 
 17 
 
First comes the blocking, which is done with a hoe. The worker goes down the row, 
 cutting out all plants, except a few growing in blocks or bunches about a, foot apart. A 
 worker has his choice as to whether he shall use a short-handled hoe, with a shorter 
 stroke, or a long-handled hoe, which will require less stooping, but more movement. Usu- 
 ally only the adults and the older children do the work of blocking. 
 
 This operation finished, there comes the work of thinning, which provides work for 
 every member of the beet worker’s family. Only one plant is allowed to grow in each 
 block, and the thinner must select the strongest plant, pulling out and discarding all the 
 rest. The child selects the plant that is to survive, grasps it carefully so as to protect 
 it with one hand, while with the other he pulls out all the other plants about it. Some 
 children become very proficient, and many of the parents think they are peculiarly fitted 
 for this type of work. Said one father who was interviewed, “Easy for keeds to bend 
 over; hurta me back too much like dees.” 
 
 This work of thinning is all done under pressure, for the last row of beets in an acre 
 needs thinning just as soon as the first row, and it has been found that a delay in doing 
 the work seriously cuts down the total yield per acre. 
 
 After the thinning, comes the first hoeing. This process consists in cutting out any 
 weeds, or stray plants which have been overlooked, and in drawing the soil around the 
 surviving plant. Always there is a second hoeing, and sometimes there are three or 
 more, the contract families being required to go over the field as many times as may be 
 necessary to keep the weeds out. 
 
 The next work in which the children are engaged in the beet fields is that of pulling 
 and topping. The grower goes through the field, when the sugar chemists have indi- 
 cated that the crop is ready for harvest, and with a special plow, loosens the beets in 
 the row. They are then pulled by hand, and thrown together in bunches. Later the 
 topper comes down the row with a sharp knife, and cuts the top from the beet at the 
 sun line. The beet is struck with the knife in the head, is lifted to the knee, and then 
 with a sharp blow of the knife, the top is severed. The work becomes quite mechanical, 
 and is recognized by the beet workers as hard. 
 
 In 1925 the National Child Labor Committee made a detailed study of child workers 
 in the beet industry of Colorado, and your Commission is greatly indebted to the report 
 of this committee. The study covered a total of 434 families in Logan, Morgan and Weld 
 counties in the northeast part of the state. About one-half of these families were Mex- 
 ican, or Spanish-speaking families from Colorado and New Mexico. The outstanding 
 fact discovered by this committee, was that of all the workers required to do the work on 
 26,161 acres of beets, 49% were children under sixteen years of age. In the 434 families 
 studied, there were 1081 children who were working in the fields. Of these 957 children 
 worked with the hoe, 912 topped, while 845 worked in all three hand processes. 
 
 Just how young are the children that are thus employed, and how continuously do 
 they work? 
 
 The survey showed that forty-five per cent of the 1081 children studied did their 
 first work in the beets before they were ten years old. Children as young as eight years 
 were found working, and there were 43 who were under eight. Seven were only six 
 years old. One child ten years old was found to be working his sixth season in the 
 beets. Another fourteen years old was working his ninth season. Provided the seasons 
 followed each other in regular succession, which is quite probable, forty-five per cent of 
 all the children studied did their first hand work on the beets before they were ten years 
 old. This forty-five per cent included 18 children less than seven years old, 97 who were 
 seven and less than eight years, 166 who were eight and less than nine years, and 205 
 who were nine and less than ten years. 
 
 It has been argued that the work is not in confining factories, that it} is in the open 
 air, and that the children are working with, and under the supervision of their parents. 
 As one sugar official has said, “It is impossible for a parent to abuse his own children.” 
 
 The survey, however, made by the National Child Labor Committee brought to light 
 some interesting and striking facts about the time spent in the fields by these little 
 children of the foreigners. One tenant family, with working children 12, 10, and seven 
 years of age, worked seven days of the week. During the summer, upon their own state- 
 ment, they were in the field before four o’clock, took one hour at noon, then worked until 
 eight o’clock. Another family during thinning told of being at work in the field at five 
 o’clock, carried their dinner and luncheon, and worked until seven or seven-thirty. 
 
 One contract labor mother telling of the working hours fo her family said, “Thin 
 long day, in field half after four, stop for dinner twelve o’clock just one hour, in field till 
 seven, rest only when take a drink.” 
 
 One boy seven years old, thinned beets for twénty-six days of 10 hours each with 
 one hour of rest each day. An eight year old girl thinned 16 days of eleven hours each, 
 with half an hour of rest, hoed eight days of eleven hours with halfan hour of rest, and 
 topped 28 days of ten hours, with half an hour of rest. Among the seven-year-olds, 36 
 thinned an average of 20.2 days of 11.3 hours. Eleven of these children had no rest 
 period outside of meal time, and 25 rested an average of 36 minutes. 
 
 18 
 
Insert. 
 The Sugar Companies also are making laudable efforts 
 to mitigate the evils of the situation. Many of the 
 contracts specifically provide that parents shall 
 not work their children under ten yeurs of age, while 
 the efforts of the campanies to provide adequate housing 
 @re also helping to better the cmdition of the children. 
 

 
What About the Law? 
 
 Inasmuch as most of the harvest period comes after school begins in the fall, one 
 may well ask what of the compulsory school law in that state? 
 
 The frankest answer to make, is that it is not being enforced. The beets have to 
 be harvested, the parents need the money which the children can earn, and the American 
 people do not seem to be very much concerned whether the Mexican children go to school 
 or not. As one school superintendent said, “These Mexicans are here today, and some- 
 where else tomorrow, and we cannot expect to keep the children in school.” Some of 
 the districts have tried to cooperate with the beet interests, by starting the school ses- 
 sion very early in the morning during the pulling and topping season, thus permitting 
 the children to get into the fields with/their parents in the afternoon. But this has met 
 with the opposition of the non-beet farmers, and in many places, the custom has been 
 abandoned after a trial. In many districts all the holidays in the fall are bunched to- 
 gether at the peak of the season, so that the schools can be closed for practically a week, 
 when the labor need is the greatest. In some sections, notably at Greeley, summer 
 schools are run during the six weeks between the last hoeing and the harvest, and this 
 plan seems to work admirably. 
 
 i i In one section of 
 the state it has been found that there were 1341 children of compulsory school age be- 
 longing to contract labor families who lost an average of 33 out of 58.7 school days. Of 
 children of contract labor families, 1.5% were accelerated, 38.1% were at age, while 
 60.4% were retarded. Retardation increased with each succeeding year, with one excep- 
 tion, until the largest percentage was reached by contract labor children in the fourth 
 season. 
 
 In any discussion of child labor among the Mexican and other Spanish-speaking peo- 
 ple of the southwest, it must be borne in mind that the problem is not as definite and 
 clearcut as that of child labor among industrial city groups. Every discussion of the 
 subject in the textile industry of the south has much to say about health and disease, 
 and about physical retardation. Your Commission has had brought to its attention no 
 claims even by the most pronounced antagonists of the system that child labor among 
 the agricultural groups in the southwest increases the tuberculosis hazzard, or results in 
 physical retardation. Doubtless this is due in large measure to the fact that the work 
 is all Ny e 2 BY open air, and that the children are directed in their work by their own 
 paren HS, alizing that it would be difficult to get the work of thinning done by other 
 than juvenile hands, the representatives of the sugar company all seem to justify the 
 system. Following are some of the comments: 
 
 “Children do just as good work as adults.” 
 
 “Work is good for the children.” 
 
 “RHamilies must have work, or cannot make a living.” 
 
 “No children working in the field with their mother could possibly be abused.” 
 
 “America must have laborers. If every child has a high school education, who will 
 labor?” 
 
 Dr. George P. Clements of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce has this to say 
 upon the subject of child labor as it concerns California: 
 
 “California has one great economic labor reservoir which has been permitted to be- 
 come stagnant. I mean the children of the state. Of all the countries in the world, 
 only we in America fail to utilize this resource, and this has only been in late years. 
 Are the youth of today any better off for the latitude we have given them—tjie idleness 
 which has been accepted as their divine right? Would it not be far better that the 
 youth of the state were employed in healthy occupation in saving the basic industry of 
 the state? Would it not be better that they be permitted to earn some of their pleasures 
 than to be as at present—surfeited both in appetite and excitement to a point where real 
 pleasure has become an unknown quantity?” 
 
 Not so encouraging are the remarks made by those who are in charge of the educa- 
 tion of the children of the beet workers: 
 
 “Poor little things—they have to work pretty hard. They are so tired when they 
 first come to school they just fall asleep in their seats.” 
 
 “Tf any one had told me little children like these had to stay out of school to work 
 beets, I wouldn’t have believed him.” 
 
 “I think this is terrible; children just stay out and nobody does anything.” 
 
 Public officials, however, are inclined to be thoughtful for public funds of the tax- 
 payers... Onexstated. épawmaghdyercamenintonediice four or-fivesy.cars-beforedaaemas hor- 
 
 j i j cing in-the-dields,.and being: Kepmemt-efwelmalsterds it. 
 Now,. how.ey.eryhe-has.g@ne -40- ry i Aigitsds the.onlyway-to Keep these fam- 
 ilies from being public charges, and so a drain upon-public funds. .. ae nag oe 
 
 19 
 
Perhaps the whole subject can best be summed up by a statement, and a question. 
 The statement is this: Colorado’s compulsory education law is not being enforced. And 
 the question is whether the American public of Colorado—public officials and officials of 
 the sugar companies—would view with the same complacency an economic system which 
 required that their own children should work in the fields as do the children of the 
 Mexicans. 
 
 We conclude with a quotation from a subsidiary report presented by a member of 
 this commission in the state of Colorado: ‘Jesus, when he took a little child, and set 
 him in the midst, did not set him in the midst of a beet field. . . . Sugar costs too 
 much in human life. Stir up in your coffee two spoonsfull of sugar made from sugar 
 beets. When the sweetness has disappeared, the residue will be something like this. 
 
 sixty-six per cent. retardation of beetfield children, stunted growth, families of 
 nine in corn cribs for six months, racial discrimination, an average of one dollar and 
 sixty-five cents profit per acre to the beet farmer, women grown old at thirty, and a bitter 
 three-cornered war between forces making sugar,—farmer, handworker, be factory.” 
 
 Whr'ic rie ,ithardiy Presen7$ 3 cross-SecriomM ot true Trad UusTRY 
 
 deems a : ne CHAPTER VI. 
 The MexTéntrat-Monier=Mrie*nrouseccTents and Box-Cars. 
 
 The Mexicans are struggling through the tent and shack stage in this country. On 
 the ranch, in beet fields, in cotton fields, many employers house the Mexican laborers in 
 tents. Conditions in these camps at times are deplorable. One camp visited in the Im- 
 perial Valley in California is thus described: 
 
 “The conditions are bad. The camp stretches along the road under eucalyptus 
 trees. There are twenty or thirty shelters, and they are said to house between one hun- 
 dred and fifty people. Shelters were made of almost every conceivable thing—canvas, 
 burlap, palm branches. Not a single wooden floor was seen, although there was at least 
 one family which had heen there for six years not even leaving in summer. Chicken 
 yards were mixed in with the human shelters; calves and horses wandered at will about 
 them. There were flies everywhere. In front of each human shelter was the inevitable 
 laundry tub, and many of the women as usual were busy with their washings. The only 
 drinking water was taken from the irrigation ditch, brown with mud, but we were as- 
 sured that after it had been allowed to settle it would be clear and pure. There were 
 no baths. . . . The beds in one of the tents, where the family had lived for six years, 
 were made of lettuce crates, the slats forming the springs, over which a few quilts had 
 been placed.” p 
 
 Conditions similar to these described are common in the fields and ranches where 
 we find the Mexican immigrants who are still agricultural workers. The need for better 
 housing is obvious, but the remedy is unfortunately not so obvious. With seasonal crops, 
 the demand for labor increases and decreases with great rapidity, and consequently 
 capital invested in adequate housing for the peak of the season would lie idle and inac- 
 tive for most of the time. 
 
 However, the value of good housing is being increasingly recognized by many of the 
 employers. They are realizing that a man must have a decent place to live if he is to 
 be a good employee, and that he must be more settled if he is to give good service. Not 
 only the matter of health, but also grave social dangers enter into the present conditions 
 as found in many of the camps. On some of the large ranches, as in the San Joaquin 
 
 ; 
 
 : 
 
 Valley, and in Orange County, California, small frame houses have been built to give *' 
 
 permanent homes to the migrant laborers and the management testifies to the worth of 
 this action. An observer states: “The Limonera Ranch, near Santa Paula, California, 
 prides itself on the welfare work among the Mexicans employed there. They sess et It 
 houses for them, but they are simply shells put up in the very slimsiest way.” Lise 
 
 A member of your Commission writing from Colorado reports that “about half of the 
 workers stay on the farms and in the Mexican quarters near the town. Near each beet 
 center, usually the beet sugar factory town, the Mexicans stay during the winter months. 
 The sugar companies encourage this, for, on their own testimony, it is cheaper to have 
 them stay than to hunt up a new crowd. To encourage this practice, the companies in 
 some places furnish straw, mud, lime, and other building materials at cost. 
 
 This is done on credit resulting in debts which tends to bind the worker to the soil. 
 Sometimes mud houses so constructed are comfortable, and sometimes they are not. The 
 farmers often provide quarters for the workers during the beet season. Even cribs, out- 
 houses and sheds are converted into temporary living quarters, but these shacks ill 
 withstand the piercing winds of late autumn, and if the weather fails to eject the tenant, 
 the farmer may adopt more energetic methods for reasons all his own. 
 
 
 
 emer rDNA Ne Nt an aie as 
 ~ 
 

 

 

 
 In a survey Spgafish-Americans and Mexicans in Colorado, we read: “The Holly 
 and American Qompénies are building the colonies at their own expense, and giving the 
 houses rent free te’the Mexicans. The houses are of adobe, either in single huts, or built 
 together in “long houses.” The rooms are about 12x12, and, as a rule, two are allotted 
 to a family. Floors are sometimes of dirt, sometimies of cement, sometimes of boards. 
 Ground is furnished for a garden if desired, with sufficient water for irrigation. A woman 
 in the colony at Rocky Ford was asked how she liked the cement floor in the house, “Oh, 
 Senor, not as well as dirt. It is cold, and then every time you drop a dish, SMASH!!! 
 it is gone.” 
 
 Some of the Mexicans working on the section and extra gangs of the railroads are 
 housed in box-cars, a type of home a little above the tent of the seasonal laborer. Not 
 only do the migrants accept this shelter, but in Detroit where housing is poor the rail- 
 road hands establish their permanent residence in box-cars. These imposing dwellings 
 are to be discovered on the banks of, the Detroit river, parallel with the regular freight 
 lines of the railroad. About one hundred men make their homes here. Most of them 
 bachelors or ‘‘solos.” Inside of the car is filthy beyond description. The timekeeper of 
 the railroad declared they like the Mexicans because they are willing to live in such 
 quarters and hence are always on hand when workers are needed. In St. Louis and also 
 in Chicago large numbers of Mexicans make their homes ‘in box-cars. 
 
 In such temporary shelters conditions are bound to be bad. Overcrowding adds to 
 the problem; social and moral conditions are impossible; sickness and contagion, inevita- 
 ble. Furthermore, the transient nature of the man and his residence does not contribute 
 to his social betterment. ; 
 
 Shacks 
 
 “Across the tracks” or “down the wash” is the characteristic description which is 
 oiten applied to shack town in hundreds of communities of the Southwest. This eupho- 
 nious description of the locality describes the settlement occupied by the Mexican colony. 
 The railroad tracks or the dry river bed themselves are: strong lines of demarcation, 
 but even stronger is that invisible boundary line marked by the racial prejudice which 
 separates the American people from the Mexicans who perform the menial tasks in 
 their industries. 
 
 A minister’s wife exclaimed with regard to Mexican town “isn’t it terrible down 
 there?” but further conversation revealed the fact that never in her life had she been 
 “across the tracks.” 
 
 These small shacks which are more permanent dwellings than tents or box-cars are 
 built of whatever material can be had most cheaply. Sometimes second hand lumber 
 has been secured; frequently drygoods boxes have been pressed into service, and most 
 of these houses have grown just like Topsy. The Mexican custom to furnish shelter for 
 aunts, uncles and cousins unto the third and fourth generation develops overcrowding 
 in the house; the desire to avoid the purchase of new land) produces overcrowding upon 
 the land itself. Three, four and sometimes even six shacks are crowded upon a Single 
 lot. The streets are generally unpaved; there are no sidewalks and usually no street 
 lights. The entire district frequently is in darkness save for the light shining from a 
 poolroom, a cheap movie, or a store. But the people who build these houses and live in 
 them are progressing from the migratory stage to that of the industrial worker. In 
 many instances in the small towns they have located themselves for at least half of the 
 year and are giad toicall the shack their home. 
 
 Surveys which have been made recently in various places, many of them in prep- 
 aration for this report, indicate that while conditions are improving they are far from 
 satisfactory. 
 
 Say the Health Records in Los Angeles County: 
 
 “It will take at least a generation for the Mexicans to rise through the present stage 
 of poor housing. Atithe present time many of the homes on the side-hills are so placed 
 that only goats and the Mexican residents can get up and down. In one shack of one 
 room lived a family of seven. At one time they were all sick with pneumonia; now two 
 of them have acquired tuberculosis and are county cases.” 
 
 The Los Angeles County Charities commenting upon the same district give us this 
 beautiful picture of teeming life: 
 
 “Two hundred eighty-nine families out of a total of 1572 cases investigated live in 
 one room and these families range from two to eight; 575 in two room, shacks; 685 in 
 three rooms; 429 in four rooms; 168 in five rooms.” 
 
 Such pictures are not beautiful, but the moral and social implications are even worse. 
 Says Bromley Oxnam, pastor of the Church of All Nations of Los Angeles: 
 
 “The housing background and its deadly toll is little known because bad housing 
 kills slowly. It destroys health, morals, self-respect, and ideals. . . . The fact that 
 it takes more time to kill, in no sense lessens its deadliness. . . . Housing conditions 
 in the Mexican districts in Los Angeles are exceedingly serious.” 
 
 21 
 
But deplorable housing conditions are not confined merely to the cities. A survey in 
 the town of El Monte in California thus describes Mexican town ‘down the wash”: 
 
 “Two sections on the outskirts of E] Monte are known as Hick’s Camp and Wiggins’. 
 Their location is on the west bank of the San Gabriel river, on ground belonging to pri- 
 vate individuals, but leased to Mexicans. The Mexicans themselves build any kind of 
 shack they wish or can afford. The lessee furnishes the running water in the yard. 
 There is no sewer, but, in spite of sanitary arrangements, conditions are fair. The 
 houses are very close together and very small. It would be difficult to find a Mexican 
 section with worse housing conditions and resulting potent menace.” 
 
 The first thought of the cotton growers of the Salt River Valley in Arizona and the 
 beet companies in Colorado was to provide any sort of a shelter which would house the 
 Mexicans during the crop season. A survey made by a member of your Commission in 
 the Salt River Valley of Arizona has this to say about the housing: 
 
 “The housing conditions offered the Mexicans may be classified as fair, bad and 
 very bad; very seldom good. The Southwest Cotton Company present probably as fay- 
 orable conditions as can be found. . . . Mexican town consists of a small plaza, with 
 adobe huts on all four sides, and, at some little distance, two long, low buildings each 
 perhaps 150 feet long and consisting of a double row of rooms set back to back. The 
 rooms are about ten feet by twelve. They have dirt floors; electric lights, but the water 
 hydrants and the toilets are found outside. The adobe building, the thatched arbors 
 which shade the doorways, the bare floors, the simple furniture give the people fairly 
 comfortable homes.” 
 
 ' These temporary expedients, however, are fortunately giving place to a more per- 
 manent type of dwelling. The companies are beginning to realize that it is easier to 
 hold their labor, than to recruit it, and it has been found that adequate housing is one of 
 the strongest and heaviest anchors which can be tied to a Mexican family. This move 
 for better housing on the part of the great industrial companies, is, at first blush purely 
 economical, but it is already paying dividends not only in added returns through greater 
 contentment, but in higher standards and in lower mortality rates. 
 
 ‘here is in the heart of the Mexican a true home instinct and if his dwelling is only 
 a shack, he likes to think of it as the place from which he wanders and the place to 
 which he returns. There are families in California which spend half the year in the San 
 Joaquin Valley and the remaining six months in the Imperial Valley. Some of these fam- 
 ilies have their “home” in one valley and some in the other, but the fact that there is 
 such a place as home is a governing influence in their lives. 
 
 The Tenement. 
 
 The Mexican is rising; he is climbing into the semi-skilled and skilled labor class; 
 he is mounting from the groups of the agriculturists to that of the industrial laborer. And 
 with these fundamental changes in his employment, he is seeking also a more permanent 
 place of abode. 
 
 Reports from some of the larger cities in the middle west and east indicate that the 
 Mexican laborer is displacing the Poles, the Hungarians, the Bohemians, the Slavs and 
 the Italians who formerly occupied the tenement, districts. Mexican labor is inereas- 
 ingly demanded, and as these men from the Southland displace the laborers from Europe 
 in the factories and foundries, they displace them also in the quarters in which they 
 have lived. 
 
 In many other places in our large cities the Mexican laborer has secured a foothold 
 only in the most dilapidated of the tenement districts. 
 
 A survey made recently in Chicago shows that the Mexican population lives in the 
 most used and wornout tenements. Most of these buildings have been abandoned by 
 people of prosperous state, and are in sections where tenements of this class have been 
 coudemned, and hence are not kept in repair. There are in Chicago what are known as 
 “old law” tenements and “new law” ones. Mexicans are found living in the older houses, 
 many of them occupying basement flats. There are no sanitary provisions, there is no 
 privacy. Light and air are poor. Among all the families the apartment most frequently 
 found was one of four rooms. Many have rooms without outside windows. As the 
 families average six or seven children, and many of the families keep boarders as well, 
 the crowded condition is extremely bad. 
 
 Studies made in St. Louis reveal practically the same conditions. The Mexicans are 
 living in crowded districts, where the buildings are old and dilapidated, and where plumb- 
 ing facilities usually amount to one spigot for an entire bulding. One large group of 
 from 25 to 50 individuals occupy an abandoned commission house in close proximity to 
 the tracks, factories and stockyards. Mexicans in St. Louis have not yet colonized in 
 distinct districts as have other nationals. They are scattered throughout the tenement 
 districts of the city. 
 
 22 
 
In the Southern part of El Paso tenement conditions have been poor for years. One 
 can count as many as twenty different dwellings on a single side of a block. These build- 
 ings are only of two stories, but there is great overcrowding and in some places the back 
 alleys are filthy beyond, description. 
 
 Says Dr. Parrish, Health Officer of Los Angeles: 
 
 “It is generally known that the Mexican is unable to rent or buy houses that contain 
 modern improvement. The result is that they live in the old wornout houses in the 
 older sections of the city, crowded into tenements. The city inspectors have done con- 
 siderable work in assisting them to make the most of their means toward getting their 
 living quarters built so that they can get the maximum housing conditions. ° 
 Building regulations have been printed in Spanish and are being distributed among them 
 for their information and guidance. The sanitation of premises, plumbing where it is 
 possible for them to have it . . . requires considerable time and everlasting per- 
 sistence on the part of the inspectors.” 3 
 
 But there are two rays of light in the whole situation. The one is found in the fact 
 that the rise to the tenement class indicates that the Mexican is finding a permanent 
 home. The other is the fact that in many places the housing conditions of the settled 
 industrialized Mexicans are rapidly becoming better. In spite of the deplorable condi- 
 tions cited in Belvedere Park in Los Angeles, great improvement in the housing has been 
 made during the past two years. The homes are gradually growing larger, there is more 
 paint upon them, and the yards are better kept. The longer the Mexican stays in any 
 one place and the more stabilized his employment, the better his housing condition 
 becomes. 
 
 Better Class Homes. 
 
 In any study such as this, there is a great temptation to center the thought upon the 
 place where the problems focus, and to forget more wholesome conditions. In all of the 
 larger cities of the Southwest there is a considerable group of Mexican people that dwell 
 in what may be called better class homes. Very many of these are extremely comforta- 
 ble; others are luxurious and some are even palatial. Our study has little to do with 
 that group of well-to-do Mexican refugees who came into the United States at the begin- 
 ning of the revolutionary period. However, it is well to remember that in Los Angeles, 
 in El Paso, and in San Antonio there is a high degree of culture manifest in the dwellings 
 of the better class people. But far more heartening in our study of the problem is that 
 growing class of modest five-rroom houses in which live the Mexicans who are semi- 
 skilled laborers. 
 
 For years the housing conditions among the Mexicans in Fullerton, California, were 
 deplorable. Finally came an Americanization teacher who knew how to build upon the 
 Mexican’s artistic ability. She called the leaders of the little colony together, made ar- 
 rangements for plants and seeds to be furnished them gratis or at small expense, and 
 inspired them to beautify the grounds about their homes. Unsightly piles’ of rubbish 
 and debris vanished as if by magic. Grass was planted between the houses and flowers 
 and shrubbery added to the beauty of the same. Today the little cottages are laid out 
 upon a rolling lawn, and the whole settlement is a credit to the city. But the interesting 
 thing is that the pride which the Mexicans were taught to take in the grounds was 
 quickly communicated to the women in the homes and the inside of the houses soon 
 showed the same improvement which was manifest upon the outside. One Mexican col- 
 ony in this city consists of twelve frame houses of four rooms each with toilet and sink 
 in each house. It is located in a walnut grove not far from the business section of the 
 city. There are showers for both men and women, with a wash house in the center of 
 the colony. 
 
 Even in El Monte, California, to which reference has been made above and where 
 Hick’s Camp presents such deplorable housing conditions, there is a district on Granada 
 street where the Mexicans live in comfortable homes and where the houses and yards are 
 well kept. Some time ago the city fathers ordered the paving of the street, with the 
 hope that the Mexicans would move out. They were, however, happy to have this im- 
 provement and have met all payments cheerfully. One of the leading citizens of El 
 Monte has declared publicly: “We are proud of that street with its clean yards, neat 
 homes and flowers everywhere.” 
 
 Some of these homes of the better class are humble dwellings of four and five rooms, 
 but they are so infinitely better than the tent, the shack, or the tenement, that they give 
 promise of better things in the housing of our Mexican population. 
 
 D% 
 
 ao 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 The Mexican at Home: His Family. 
 
 To the casual observer the Mexican life may seem drab, but one might go a long way 
 to find more color than that furnished by his human side. 
 
 First, and above all else, he loves his home. It may be only a shack; he may have 
 just paid his $5.00 down, and promised $5.00 a month for the rest of his life. But it is 
 his home, and you can see that his heart is in it from the very way in which he most 
 graciously tells you, ‘‘aqui tiene usted su casa,’ and his pride in his home is evidenced 
 by his attempts to beautify it both inside and out. If he has but two square yards of soil, 
 one of them is sure to contain flowers. His vegetable garden may be overgrown with 
 weeds, but never his flowers. 5 
 
 Nor can one come into contact with the Mexican home and fail to be impressed with 
 the courtesy of its inmates. Regardless of social level, courtesy is a precious asset of 
 the Mexican. To be sure, courtesy is no substitute for character or good-will. But it 
 goes far toward avoiding friction, and refreshing it is after association with the blunt, 
 outspoken American. You say he is insincere when he assures you, “my house is yours,” 
 or “I am your servant,” or “I am at your orders.” George Washington never showed any 
 intention of shining anyone’s shoes, and yet he signed his correspondence, “‘Your obedient 
 servant.” And regardless of what the Mexican is doing, he never manifests impatience 
 at your call. Mexicans have been known to buy goods from peddlers, simply to avoid 
 the discourtesy of refusing. No visit ever terminates without an exchange of solicitous in- 
 quiries concerning the health and well-being of all known relatives. One does not know 
 Mexicans who does not feel their sincerity in these oft-repeated courtesies. 
 
 And where is there one who has been in the Mexican home without having experi- 
 enced its hospitality. Nothing is too good for the guest. The best chair, the best bed 
 (or the only one, as the case may be) the head of the table—deference always is shown 
 the guest. This goes even to the extent of the actual discomfort of! the family. One 
 Mexican family invited a visitor to be their guest for dinner. The invitatoin was ex- 
 tended to him to stay all night with them, and this lengthened into two weeks. Mean- 
 while, the host and hostess had to make their bed on the floor, although the wife was 
 under the doctor’s care. Further, the guest was on a special diet, hence the host was 
 put to extra expense, although at the time he was financially embarrassed. Instances 
 such as this could be multiplied indefinitely. 
 
 In the home life, the patriarchal system is very much in evidence. The father is 
 head of the house in fact. His word is law. This authority, in case of the father’s 
 death, passes on to the eldest son. One young man explained that he had this inherited 
 authority over his brother, only a year or two younger, but that it seemed best for him 
 not to exercise it. 
 
 Paternal love and care for children is worthy of note. In no better way is it seen 
 than on the street and|in the stores. Who has not seen a Mexican with his wife and 
 several children on Main street Saturday night? He is invariably carrying the smallest, 
 while the next two are hanging to his trouser leg. The wife seems to be left free to 
 window shop at her leisure. And these same typical groups will be seen making pur- 
 chases together for the family. What the father earns seems to disappear rapidly 
 enough, but it must be acknowledged that it goes for the general good of the family. And 
 his love is manifested in his kindness toward the children in and about the home. His 
 gentleness toward them in their illnesses is noteworthy. 
 
 Further, the parents are generally ambitious for their children. They are concerned 
 for their education to a surprising degree. They are keen to note inefficiency in our 
 schools and lack of progress in their children; they are willing to make sacrifices that 
 a son or a daughter may attend some private institution. The one lamentable fact is 
 that this ambition does not make them desirous of seeing their son or daughter finish 
 their education. Too often size and age of the son lessen the parents’ ambitions for his 
 education; aS a wage earner he seems more desirable. The daughter, too, is faced with 
 the extreme necessity of marrying before she gets too old—18 seems to be the dead-line. 
 
 But by far the deepest insight into the real heart of our Mexican friend may be se- 
 cured by noting his kindliness in gathering unto his household and to the inner circle 
 of the family’s affection the dependent relative, the orphan child, or the friendless 
 stranger. It is the common thing to find aged relatives in the family circle. A Mexican 
 family never seems to have too many children but that room can be made for others 
 that fortune has deprived of a home. A neighbor, a widow with two children, with no 
 means of financial support, is a daily guest at his table. When asked why he does not 
 seek county aid for her, he remarks that he hates to do anything like that. In another 
 family, a girl in her teens sits on the floor day after day, and with ceaseless repetition 
 wets her thumb in her mouth, and makes marks upon the bare floor. When asked why 
 they do not place her in an asylum, the answer comes true to form, “We are sorry for 
 her; and besides in her home, we are sure she will get good treatment. 
 
 24 
 

 

 
It is a constant source of wonderment to note the marvelous way in which the Mex- 
 ican’s love reaches out in all directions at the least mute appeal for human sympathy. 
 The warm heart of your Mexican neighbor contains a wealth of love and friendship. 
 Perhaps that is why he can hate equally well. 
 
 After all, how human he really is! 
 
 The Mexican in the Community.ChadPT er 5 7 
 
 Some of the most interesting questions which face us are concerned with the Mex- 
 ican in his relation to the American community in which he lives. How is he fitting n? 
 Does he lower or raise the standards of the community? What of his health? To what 
 extent is he the victim of poverty and dependency? For how much crime and juvenile 
 delinquency is he responsible? What of his recreations and the facilities available for 
 satisfying his play needs? Is he, after all, a social liability or a social asset? To what 
 extent are his standards homogeneous with those existing in the United States today? 
 
 Health. 
 
 The reports of hospitals and other social agencies would indicate that the Mexican 
 suffers from more than his share of illness and disease. In the spring of 1925 the Cali- 
 fornia Conference of Social Work instituted a study of the Mexican. At that time the 
 Mexican population of Los Angeles was estimated to be not more than 10% of the total. 
 But in the Los Angeles General Hospital 43% of the cases were Mexicans. The City 
 Maternity Service of the Health Department reported 621-3% of its cases Mexican and 
 
 - 73% of its budget spent for them. The Bureau of Municipal Nursing and Division of 
 Child Welfare both announced that 40% of their cases were Mexicans. Said the Director 
 of the Division of Child Welfare, City Health Department: “The Mexican infant mor- 
 
 » tality under one year of age is three times that of the white, although it is a fraction 
 over 21% less than it was a year ago.” 
 
 | In Orange County, California, where 10% of the population was estimated to be Mex- 
 
 } ican, one-third of the cases in the General Hospital were Mexican. , In ips San Diego 
 County Hospital one-half of the clinic patients were Mexicans. — hser7r 
 
 In San Bernardino County, California, on the other hand, where the Mexicans are 
 stated to comprise 30% of the population, only 25% of the cases in the County Hospital 
 are from their group. 
 
 The cases quoted above are too limited in number and in area covered to warrant a 
 generalization which would relate to the whole Southwest. They do indicate, however, 
 that in certain sections at least, the Mexican’s standards of health are lower than those 
 of the American Community. 
 
 Says Stuart R. Ward in a report of the Commonwealth Club of California (March 
 23, 1926): “In order of prevalence, the diseases most common among Mexicans are 
 venereal disease, tuberculosis and intestinal troubles. Forty-four per cent of the cases 
 of tuberculosis treated by the charity department (of Los Angeles County) clinic were 
 Mexicans, as were 57% of the venereal clinic cases. . . . Reports also show that im- 
 migrants from south of the Rio Grande are peculiarly subject to such intestinal troubles 
 as amoebic dysentery and hook worm.” 
 
 Another investigator reports: “One study made by the Los Angeles County Out- 
 door Relief Department reports Mexican tuberculosis cases to be 24% of all Mexican 
 cases, that these are 39% of all the charity cases where tuberculosis is a problem, that 
 a monthly budget of $12,900 is being expended on these Mexican cases where tubercu- 
 losis is a factor, and that a total of over $292,000 has been spent so far on these cases.” 
 
 A study of the death rates by racial groups in the city of Los Angeles for the three 
 years July 1, 1922 to June 30, 1925, made by R. R. Peters of Devore, California, provides 
 some suggestive data. He says: “The high death rate among Mexicans fromytuber- 
 culosis, 21-22% of all the deaths in their group, as against 68% of the Caucasian is 
 outstanding in the report. The condition is reversed in the caseyof cancer where the 
 Mexican has a low death rate of 3-4% as against 11% in the Cauéasian. The Mexican 
 eae a good heart and circulatory system with the low rate of 45% whereas the 
 Caucasians have the very high rate of 20% to 25% of all their deaths from this cause. 
 In the case of the respiratory system again the Mexican is high 15-18%, with the Cau- 
 casiat®low 7%.y, From the general diet of the Mexican it is not strange they are higher 
 than the Caucasians with the ratio of 11% to 17% of the deaths due to diseases of the 
 digestive system. In the genito-urinary diseases the Mexican is very low 3-4% while 
 the Caucasiarkis from 7-8%. With a reasonable amount of sanitation, most of these 
 diseases that run high among the Mexicans can be materially reduced. Hspecially tuber- 
 culosis, diseases of the digestive system, and diseases of infancy. While those diseases 
 that are hard to combat, e.g. cancer, diseases of the circulatory system, and the genito- 
 urinary system are already much lower in the Mexican than in the Caucasian.” 
 
 Infant mortality is ever considered a sensitive indicator of health conditions. In 
 Los Angeles County in 1925 the general infant mortality rate for the whole population 
 
 25 
 
 Rotel vtihalew ° hry tien an ot vos fi te yp rae 
 
was 91-98; the rate for the Mexican population was 166. This seems high, and yet it 
 represents a distinct improvement over previous conditions, for in 1918 the rate for 
 Mexican infants was 348.06. The accompanying table shows the results of the unending 
 battle for better health conditions: 
 
 TABLE VI—Infant Mortality Rate, Unincorporated Sections of Los Angeles 
 County, Mexican Population. 
 
 LOL Ge aecmanseete ont 284.97 UPA hate @ ole o.Saig ac orp 0 179.04 
 IA Carson 6 3.5 oleaGacs 6 255.10 IM VaPhe Ie Sein thors odo De 243.35 
 IWR ce ods ob ooo cu tos 348.06 IMPs oSlole tlesc Sous oR 250.62 
 US acess cou a Gao S 170.02 IS PALES oriaichor ora h BBO 5 0 163.16 
 INVA es co Ado b cmo Dec 186.66 IIS PAG rele A deena AteranS isos oc 166.12 
 
 What child welfare work can accomplish in creating better health, is shown by the 
 figures from the Belvedere district to the east of Los Angeles. In 1923, when the health 
 campaign was begun, the infant mortality rate was 170; in 1924 it dropped to 114; and 
 in 1925 to 102.8. In Maravilla Park, a Mexican district adjacent to Belvedere, a pre-natal 
 clinic with a complete obstetrical service is maintained. The latter is either free or a 
 nominal charge of $10.00 is made. The infant mortality rate for cases here is 81. This 
 lowered rate is partially accounted for by the pre-natal service, but also by the post-natal 
 care given the babies at the Center. The greatest single cause of infant deaths at Bel- 
 vedere is still from gastro-intestinal diseases, which are ten times more frequent among 
 Mexicans than among whites. Other diseases are often three times as frequent. 
 
 That the high infant rate among the Mexicans of Los Angeles is not unique is hinted 
 by the fact that of the families of 104 Mexican beet workers in Colorado, 57 had lost 152 
 children by death. This averaged 2.7 children for the families who lost and 1.5 per 
 family for the group. (Survey of National Child Labor Committee, Children working in 
 the Sugar Beet Fields of Certain Districts of the South Platte Valley, Colorado, p. 70.) 
 
 What are the causes for this wide-spread ill-health? Part of them are within and 
 part without the Mexican. His ignorance of hygiene and of proper diet levies heavy toll. 
 But his position as an unskilled worker; that “cheap labor’ which is a victim of seasonal 
 unemployment and alow wage—explains much. He is a poor man and his poverty makes 
 him hesitate to call in medical attention. A doctor costs too much. That same poverty 
 locates his home in a shack or a tenement, often with inadequate light and air. A bath- 
 room is a legendary American institution of which he may sometimes hear, but which 
 he rarely finds in his own dwelling. Poverty leads also to overcrowding; Mexican chil- 
 dren are accomplished artists at sleeping three, four and five in a bed. A new climate, 
 even though it be the far-famed one of California, may contribute also to disease totals. 
 
 Many American communities are intelligently and courageously attacking the prob- 
 lem. Health education, as has been suggested above, is bringing, in many cases, almost 
 miraculous results. ‘lasses in home-making, cooking, child-care, nutrition, are demon- 
 strating large value. Better housing, where provided, quickly shows its presence in the 
 vital statistics of the community. ; 
 
 The Mexican is by no means hopelessly handicapped in his struggle for either health 
 or wealth. If he can acquire some of the latter, it will assist him in the attainment of 
 the former. He possesses a sturdy physique. He is without doubt a present problem. 
 But with permanent employment, a living wage which will put comfort in his home and 
 adequate food on his dinner table, with a continuance of instruction of hygiene and sani- 
 tation, we may yet see him become a walking demonstration of what perfect health in 
 America should be. ] 
 
 Poverty and Dependency. 
 
 Poverty has been an inseparable companion of the Mexican for centuries, a compan- 
 ion who by no means abandons him when he crosses the line into the United States. 
 Doing our cheap and casual labor as he does, the Mexican continues to be a poor man. 
 When unemployment, illness, marital difficulties, accident or some other cause strike 
 him or his family, he is likely to be found so close to the dependency line, that he soon 
 is a candidate for aid from some charitable organization. 
 
 On this point also considerable testimony from various of our social agencies is 
 available. In Los Angeles County, the Outdoor Relief Division of the Department of 
 Charities reported in 1925 that 27.44% of their cases were Mexican. The Bureau of 
 Catholic Charities stated that 55 2/3% of its cases were Mexican. In Orange County, 
 California, 30% of the budget went to Mexicans; in Riverside County 33%; in San Ber- 
 nardino County 30% again. 
 
 In Colorado, the county commissioner of Weld County reported that $15,000 a year 
 was spent for the relief of Mexican sugar beet workers, principally during the winter. 
 In Austin, Texas, for the year 1923-1924, the United Charities reported that the Mexicans 
 who made up 5.7% of the city population, supplied 17% of the family cases cared for. 
 In Detroit, Michigan, over a period of three years, one Mexican out of every eight has 
 been given relief through the Public Welfare Bureau. 
 
 26 
 
Here again we find that part of the responsibility for the Mexican’s low rating lies 
 at his door, but part of it also rests within sight of our American door-step. His oft- 
 quoted lack of thrift leaves him with no fund to fall back upon in case of an emergency. 
 His ill-health is of course intimately linked with his dependency. The fact that he is 
 a stranger in a strange land may also explain a part of the difficulty. 
 
 But if all the truth be told, it is probable that those who hire and fire him are largely 
 responsible for the Mexican’s dependency. Industries which call for the Mexican in 
 great numbers during certain months and then leave him without any work for the rest 
 of the year are trusting the community to provide his support when out of a job. A 
 study of 133 farm labor families who wintered in Denver after the beet season of 1924 
 showed that 64 of the fathers secured work during the slack season, and 69 (or more 
 than half) did not. 
 
 It must also be remembered that “cheap labor” of whatever race or nationality ever 
 provides the heaviest part of the dependency load of our social agencies. Burdened with 
 irregular employment, and with a low wage when at work, ignorant usually, housed in 
 unfavorable conditions which make sickness common, it is not surprising that this group 
 habitually seeks aid from the community. The man who registers with the Associated 
 Charities has a hand which has learned to curve around a pick and shovel. 
 
 Ill-advised and sentimental giving have at times pauperized the Mexican. The ease 
 of getting help has confirmed him in the habit of seeking it. But more careful and in- 
 telligent consideration is being granted to his needs. An Elks lodge which for several 
 years has expended $1000 annually on a Christmas for the Mexican children, is now send- 
 ing a monthly check to the settlement-house, where these same youngsters swarm for 
 fifty-two weeks of the year. A study of and an attack on the Mexican’s indigency is 
 under way and help is given him that he may help himself. But the problem is complex 
 and difficult and no easy or immediate solution can be anticipated. 
 
 Says Dr. E. 8S: Bogardus, after a study of the situation in Southern California: “The 
 charity rate for Mexicans remains high even when the Mexican has been here ten years 
 or even longer. Of the first 558 Mexican cases closed by the Outdoor Relief Department 
 of the Los Angeles County Charities after July 1, 1926, 26 Mexicans had been in the 
 United States one year or less; 36 others about two years; 28 more than three years; 22 
 additional, four years; 34 more, five years; and 47 fifteen to twenty years. These figures 
 may be interpreted in a number of ways: (1) that the opportunities of economic ad- 
 vancement for Mexicans are few; (2) that the charity aid keeps him from assuming full 
 economic initiative; and (3) that he is inherently lazy and shiftless. All three factors 
 doubtless operate. 
 
 Table VII below gives the “problem” phases of the cases open in the Outdoor Relief 
 Department (Los Angeles County Charities) on July 1, 1926. Of a total of 4948 Amer- 
 cian and Mexican cases, the Mexicans contributed 1464 or nearly thirty per cent. AI- 
 though the Mexicans furnish about three-eighths as many cases as Americans, juvenile 
 problems entered into one and one-half as many Mexican cases as in American. Tuber- 
 culosis and other forms of illness also exceeded the American rate greatly. The parallel 
 columns throw considerable light on the problems of Mexicans and merit a careful study.” 
 
 TABLE VII. Problems Involved in 3484 American Cases and 1464 Mexican Cases, 
 July 1, 1926, Outdoor Relief Department, Los Angeles County Charities. 
 
 PROBLEMS MET AMERICAN MEXICAN 
 3484 1464 
 JUVenIesPropleMmsmeeet. «sikccs oe wane tee eee. 158 231 
 INON-RESTOMENIGE @ © eemePeens ote oe a's c chee scoveleue ch siete sremmeaitess 42 ~. 52 
 VEEL Old OC tiers eeeteeMe et here ace. wore, ch sith entans re: cvaun Sr eemels 815 386 
 WiITEM PLO VIM tases crevel ss. +s < ss «A erake este cee Fk erene 553 503 
 HAT SUL CLOM Gs IN COMLGmeeinetetcls, scr. a6 cence Racin. eescesiorese 448 295 
 IBITMGINGSS eran ees teyaereciey AM ivelc o-s o ies. corietenece Mente ecm 128 46 
 INNIS rea RRS Were Cuties Seae Sola Co eee Ray Ain, er Oke oreo naerere 20 34 
 LAMP PASOMINI SIM, .«,. s seems eis. « misiov ales ators of euawemtvexcher cas 13 Oe 
 IDYVSTRONY 5 oR REEEDIS 06 0 5D RR eee a oc cee 283 203 
 INON-SUDD OLUEEders. .-srefeeteieas bts b> ore oie a ) sha oot ls.'s oasis y 155 64 
 CHG AEE c.g SIIB: 6. co CONMERE DlOrin See ete: 5 Sar wala 74 
 Mental Troubles ...... 5 OY OEE 6 REDS. «oo Sees 224 ae 
 
 a BU OT. CULO Siege vate...» «0 AMMMERS poe) 0,» + sre gee dnt +» omer rep es 408 31. -- 
 Ben VicThOreal, DISCASC. . ..<ceeiercclsn +0 + 0 CRpeleye o's « mEBMele ores 102 126 
 SAIC O)Gher silitmetloaltliserercicedc so. otic + «+ UMass ts 1909 1801 
 AD CBiED tiny Terie 5 poate se oonoerdon coco coudOoe 447 185 
 ey ANU (OVSTYST eM ETGY SITS. GRRE ae ee a ee a 361 286 
 
 Suggestion of the value of Mexican. cooperation in solving the problem comes from 
 the Imperial Valley. In- Brawley all Mexican cases of dependency are turned over to 
 
 QT + 
 
the Mexican Blue Cross. In two years this organization distributed $800 for relief and 
 cared for the funerals of four indigents, also assisting some to return to Mexico. The 
 Hidalgo Mutualist Society has also rendered valuable service in meeting the problem. 
 
 Deiinquency and Crime. 
 
 How often does the Mexican collide with the laws and social customs of the Amer- 
 ican community? Is he able to adjust his life and living to these new standards, of many 
 of which he is quite ignorant, of others of which le does not understand the reason? 
 Does he help to maintain those standards, or does he tend to tear them down? Is his 
 own character built up or torn down by the new influences in which he finds himself? 
 
 It should be frankly confessed at once that adequate data is unfortunately not avail- 
 able to answer these questions. Hearsay often gives the Mexican a black eye. In one 
 California county, he was proclaimed to comprise 80% of the jail population. A check 
 of that institution on two separate dates could discover only one Mexican in every three 
 inmates, the same proportion that governed in the general population. 
 
 For the state of California, the following statistics are available for the two state 
 prisons—San Quentin and Folsom. ‘ 
 
 
 
 TABLE VIII. Mexican Delinquency. 
 Total Mexican Percentage 
 1925 Population Population of Mexicans 
 Sane Quen thames Ollesteas: . sins ercne a sre cio un crete te sicher 8358 438 13.04 
 TEMGHCoad SIBAMIS(ONE), occu Grose Sedeokoin chara Chea cinwarora a GoomnOT 1626 154 95 
 LOCALE AAO Cre cio sie hioheia ea hts teleeee 4984 592 nye 
 
 The Mexican population of California, estimated at 350,000, comprises nine or ten 
 per cent of the total population. But with 12% of the state prison population, we see 
 that the Mexican sends more than his share to the state’s two penal institutions. 
 
 Two factors, however, must be kept in mind for an adequate understanding of the 
 figures above. In the first place, the Mexican is a foreigner; he is unacquainted with 
 American laws; he is also unacquainted with American court procedure; in his arrest 
 and imprisonment prejudice may play a part at times. He is ignorant of the English 
 language. Because he is a stranger, the road to prison is sometimes easier for the Mex- 
 ican than for the American. 
 
 Second, the Mexican group in the United States is not a true population. It contains 
 few old people; on the other hand, it includes a disproportionately large number of young 
 men. And the greater part of serious crime is committed by young men. With this 
 factor in mind, it may not be surprising that the figures for Mexican delinquency and 
 crime are higher than normal. 
 
 Says Dr. E. S. Bogardus: 
 
 “Petty thieving, bootlegging, personal violence, and sex violations are the offenses 
 in which the lower type (socially speaking) of Mexicans rank highest. Personalty studies 
 and studies of environmental influence need to be made; and building of constructive 
 Mexican character is the ultimate goal. But the latter is difficult to attain-and maintain 
 when environmental conditions are alive with destructive stimuli. The need for improve- 
 ment in personal character and social conditions cannot be separated... . 
 
 “Mexcan boys arrested for and convicted of delinquency rank far beyond their popu- 
 lation-rate. Moreover, they often constitute knotty behavior problems. Probation of- 
 ficers are handicapped, however, when the boys must usually be released into a social 
 environment that is filled with many disorganizing factors and few organizing factors, 
 especially for the older boys and the young men.” 
 
 Recreation... 
 
 The reerestional fecilities available for the 
 Mexican people are, largely, inadequate... Some o8 has Said 
 thet if it micht be possible to texch basevall to ali 
 the youth of Kexieo it would be the salvation of the 
 country. The type of social and economic development 
 ofthe Mexican immigrant is contingent, in @ meesure, on 
 the, ding 8mt, SEORE OF ee ee ee ae. 
 
 nd clos@ ons kthted » wergation, agong Lecmbglhethinatn res 
 
 3 soebatl Gey eB enone themsé Ives imp rivatesewhi pupli¢ play 
 
 4 PS in the hands of comitercial exploiters. “Every Mexiean 
 
 community has its two or three pool rooms,which are 
 generally centers for liquor distribution,and with 
 gambling tables in connection. Dance halls are common, 
 and of very low type, centers of immorality md social 
 disease, Chesp movics are everywhere, and the type of 
 picture shown is usually subversive of decent moral ad 
 social standards. 
 
 In a number of communities, notably in Hl Paso, Texas 
 and in Souther California, there are public plagrounds 
 for Mexican children,sdequately supervised, but this 
 number is pitiably small in comparison to the number 
 which have neither playgrounds nor supervision. 
 
 ad a 
 Y 
 
. 
 
 re BAS ae 
 ri 
 ‘ 
 
 . in afew: stalk ‘base pa li end: basketball teaisohave. been in: 
 “oFgetiized, often by the ieHidan youths themselves, with’ '” ” 
 generally satisfactory results. ‘herve is Little, if 
 
 anything, orgenized Snywhére to cere for sdnit “ye epee tional, 
 interest in any @onstructive way. ys 40 a good work, thougt 
 Tee'ET Paso » ATbuguerjud, Tucson, gymnasiums are avai labid 
 for use. ‘unde rrsupervis ion, and in Tueson there is a 
 swimming pool ims use for Mexicans exelusively, which is open 
 during the months of June, July, August and September. Pley 
 is.of the greatest educational importance during childhood 
 and youth, but, never huving learned organized play in his 
 héme énvironuent, the iexican child must heve direction in 
 his pley life until such time as he can exre for his ow 
 recreational needs. 
 Few if a1y people in the world have more inherent 
 drematic power then have the Mexicans, ‘there should be an 
 Organized movensnt to provide eclean,constructive dramitic 
 material in the Spanish language by which it shall be 
 possibk for the Mexican peGple to enter imaginatively into 
 those attitudes of mind and habits of life which shall make 
 for higher standards of living, both materially and ethically. 
 
 American; at others a separate Senool is opened on ‘their side of town. Occasionally the 
 children may meet on the playground; but their parents do not meet in the lodge, the 
 labor hall, or the theater. It is not easy for the Mexican to become a member of the 
 American community. 
 
 A girls club was being organized in a town on the Mexican border. It was a group 
 of Mexican girls who asked for the club. They were asked if they wanted to have 
 American girls in with them; and the answer was: “It will be alright when it comes 
 to the club meeting, but when it comes to parties and programs, they won’t want us; we 
 are not welcome.” 
 
 Another club was composed of fourteen American girls; a new member sought ad- 
 mittance; her father was an American, but her mother a Mexican. The girls were fav- 
 orable; but then they went home to talk it over with their parents. When they came 
 back they voted not to admit the candidate. 
 
 It is also worth noting that the American community first becomes aware of the 
 Mexican because of his deficiencies. It is a Mexican epidemic across the tracks, or a 
 large number of Mexican cases, who are a burden to the Associated Charities; or some 
 Mexican boy who pilfers an apple, or breaks a window, or goes pot-hunting w ith an air- 
 rifle. Then the American community wakes up to the lower standards of its Mexican 
 neighbors. But its alertness may have profitable consequences. If it remains awake, 
 it becomes intelligently interested not only in the problems of the Mexicans, but also in 
 their potentialities, it may make some illuminating discoveries. Some American com- 
 munities haye become proud of their Mexican colonies; some Americans have become 
 proud of their Mexican neighbors. 
 
 One town in the Southwest has long had its share of Mexicans. It did not like 
 them; they were not admitted to its moving picture theaters. But a Protestant church 
 was founded among the Mexicans and with it a friendly home of service, whose purpose 
 was to teach English, to give good times to the boys and girls, to help the Mexican 
 mother, to give a lift to anyone in need. Little by little the American community be- 
 came interested in this home which was interpreting some of the best things in America 
 to the Mexicans. All the Protestant churches came to look upon it as their represen- 
 tative. The time arrived when the work required a larger building, and the whole com- 
 munity contributed the funds necessary. The Americans did their share; but the Mex- 
 icans were not backward in providing their own. Except the wiring and the plumbing, 
 which were contracted, they did all the work on the building. The concrete of the foun- 
 dation, the carpentry inside and out, the plaster on walls and ceiling—all was the work 
 of their hands. The climax came with the decorating. To look upon the vivid tiles in 
 the roof, to see the gay colors of the interior is a becoming introduction to the happy 
 
 29° 
 
side of the man from Mexico. The building is one of the most distinctive structures of 
 the city. The Americans are proud of it; what is more, they are proud of their newly 
 recognized neighbors. Here at least the Mexican has taken a step forward on his way 
 to his due place in the American community. 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 The data presented in this report comes to focus on a relatively small group of 
 outstanding questions; and with their statement it will close. 
 
 A. Is the Mexican immigrant a homogeneous element in our American life? If 
 not so now, is he likely to become so? How is he fitting in? How does he measure 
 up to American standards—economic, social, racial? What sort of an American is he 
 now? Will he be in the future? What values does the Mexican bring with him, 
 which can be contributed to American life? How are the following factors to be 
 evaluated as helping or hindering his adjustment to American life? 
 
 a. A steady and living wage; 
 b. Home ownership; 
 c. The attitude of the American community. 
 
 What light do the following generalizations shed on the above questions: ‘‘First, in 
 matters of physical and mental defect. Mexican immigrants appear to be a community 
 burden no greater than their population proportions would warrant. Second, Mexican 
 immigrant cases of poverty, dependency and crime seem to be more frequent than 
 among other groups in proportion to population percentages. On the whole, because 
 of the economic and social costs involved in the contributions of Mexican immigrants 
 to these community problems, it would appear that Mexican immigrants tend to be- 
 come community liabilities. This does not mean, however, that it is impossible for 
 them to become community assets, both economic and social.’’— (Bamford. ) 
 
 “While the economic process involved in this problem (of the Mexican) is a proc- 
 ess of organization, the corresponding social process which has taken place is a process 
 of disorganization. This disorganization is represented in the separation of the Mex- 
 ican worker from his home community in Mexico. It is manifested in the unemploy- 
 ment, sickness and disease, vice and crime, poverty and dependency, bad housing and 
 broken homes, deserted wives and neglected children, of Mexican workers in the United 
 States. The methods used in promoting the process of economic organization, and 
 the lack of methods represented in the process of social disorganization, are the two 
 general and fundamental causes of the Mexican casual problem.’’ (Bamford.) 
 
 B. Is the Mexican ‘‘cheap labor’’? He works for lower wages than other groups, 
 perhaps. Yet in one year Los Angeles County General Hospital spent $328,075 on 
 Mexican patients; the County Charities expended $430,000, or one-third of their 
 budget on their Mexican cases. What also of the cost of delinquency and crime? of 
 the expenditures of other social agencies? and of churches? of the unlisted contribu- 
 tions of private individuals? Is it true that the community is making up in this way 
 what the employer does not pay in wages? 
 
 C. What of the problem of migrancy, with its lowering of home standards, im- 
 pairment of earning power, interference with the children’s education, increased 
 menace to health, and slowing-up of the assimilative process? Do our industries 
 need as many seasonal workers as they announce? Is a more economical routing of 
 migratory labor, reducing the area of migration, possible? Can the migratory labor 
 supply! be best organized by state or federal agencies, farm bureaus or cooperative 
 marketing associations? What employments can be developed for the Mexicans dur- 
 ing the slack season, November to March? : 
 
 D. What shall be the American policy toward future Mexican immigration? 
 Shall the existing restrictions—literacy test, physical examination, $10 visa fee, $8 
 head tax—-be abolished? Shall the policy of bringing laborers over ‘‘in bond’’ utilized 
 during the war be revived? Shall our existing restrictions be temporarily waived dur- 
 ing periods of agricultural or industrial need? Or, on the other hand, shall the pres- 
 ent restrictive measures be made more stringent. Shall we apply the same quota to 
 Mexican as to European immigration, which would reduce the annual entries to ap- 
 proximately 1500? Shall we make our restrictive measures qualitative rather than 
 quantitative? Finally, with a border 1800 miles long, entirely artificial save for a 
 shallow river, with an active demand for cheap labor on one side and a surplus on the 
 other, is it possible to enforce a restrictive immigration policy? In view of the large 
 number of illegal entries, is an attempt at further restriction worth-while? Is it pos- 
 sible and wise to enlist the cooperation of the Mexican government in developing a new 
 immigration policy? 
 
 30 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 This report is based in large measure on local and regional studies made in prepara- 
 tion for the Congress, to whose authors (many of them, anonymous) sincere appreciation 
 is voiced. Valuable data has also been obtained from studies carried on by the Sub- 
 Department of Spanish Work of the Presbyterian Board of National Missions. 
 
 In addition to the above, the following pamphlets have been used as source material: 
 A Statistical Study of Sickness Among the Mexicans—In the Los Angeles County Hos- 
 
 pital—Bureau of Tuberculosis,—California State Board of Health—July 1, 1922 
 to June 30, 1924. 
 
 Annual Report of Department of Health of the City of Los Angeles, California—For the 
 Year Ended June 30, 1925, June 30, 1926. 
 
 Bamford—Industrialization and the Mexican Casual, from Proceedings of Fifth Annual 
 Convention of Southwestern Political and Social Science Association. 
 
 Britton and Constable—Our Mexican Patients at Central Free Dispensary (Chicago). 
 
 Brown, Sarah A.—Children Working in the Sugar Beet Fields of Certain Districts of the 
 South Platte Valley, Colorado—National Child Labor Committee, 215 Fourth 
 Ave., New York City. 
 
 Davis—A Report on Illiteracy in Texas, University of Texas Bulletin, No. 2328. 
 
 Handman—Social Problems in Texas, from The Southwestern Political and Social Science 
 Quarterly, Vol. V, No. 3, Dec. 1924. 
 
 Hearing before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representa- 
 tives, Sixty-Ninth Congress, First Session, Jan. 28, 29, Feb. 2, 9, 11, 23, 1926: 
 “Seasonal Agricultural Laborers from Mexico.” 
 
 Hughes—Living Conditions for Small-Wage Earners in Chicago, Department of Public 
 Welfare, Chicago, 1925. 
 
 Lofstedt—Mexican Population of Pasadena, California, in Journal of Applied Sociology, 
 Vol. VII, No. 5, May-June, 1923. 
 
 McLean and Thomson—Spanish and Mexican in Colorado, Presbyterian Board of Na- 
 tional Missions. 
 
 Ward, Kirkbride and Holmes—Mexican Immigration, Transactions of the Commonwealth 
 Club of California, Vol. XXI, No. 1, March, 1926. 
 
 31 
 
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