10 WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION

Mr. Yarss. No, sir. You will understand that in Texas the great
burden of school cost is paid out of the permanent school fund from
the sale of the public lands of Texas. Everybody participates.
The CuarrMAN. Are there any old people among the Mexicans in
those four counties?
Mr. Yares. Yes, sir; there are some of very advanced years.
The Cuaarrman. Who takes care of them?
Mr. Yarms. Well, mostly, they take care of each other, You
mean indigent persons? There is not a great percentage of them.
They are remarkable in this respect, that any orphan that happens to
come along will have half a dozen homes offered him by the natives of
his own character of people.
The CuarrmaN. Now, Judge, you have made a very frank and fair
statement. I am a little surprised at the number of population that
you think can be supported in those four counties.
Mr. Yarms. It is surprising, but, if you go there on the ground,
I think you would agree with me.
The Crairman. I am very glad to know that you can take care of
that number, because the population of the United States is increasing
rapidly with a restricted immigration. I have just sent to the Census
Office for the figures for this day, and at 10.45 a. m. the population
was estimated at 121,951,856.
The Census Office estimates on an average one birth in continental
United States every 13 seconds, one death every 23 seconds, one immigrant
 arriving here every 1% minutes, one emigrant departing every
5% minutes.
Net gain in population, one every 33 seconds.
Mr. Yares. We can certainly take care of our share of them down
there, and are doing it.
The Cuairman. These figures now with proper subtractions show
that births over deaths in the United States to-day are more than
900,000. You can take care of all that are born per year. Nine
hundred thousand plus is the net excess of births over deaths in the
United States per year. So there is still hope for all of our people
who get out of work in the next several years to find space to live,
eat, and do well in those four counties? Is that it?
Mr. Dickstein. Mr. Chairman, may I clear something up here?
These are not all in one county.
The Cuairman. The witness has stated that four counties in the
lower Rio Grande can take care of a population of a million and a half.
Mr. Yares. Yes; I think that is true.
The Caamman. How soon?
Mr. Yates. We will have to clear our land, for example, a thing
that American laborers will hardly do for some reason, and it costs
from $25 to’ $40 an acre to do that. There is not a fourth of it cleared
and in cultivation yet.
Mr. Scuneiper. You have very small farms?
Mz. Yares. It has to be farmed in small farms; yes, sir. They
are getting more and more away from the large farms and reducing
them in area, and, with corresponding productivity, higher productivity.

The Cuarman. You say these people are inclined to be illiterate?
Mr. Yates. Those that come in are: ves, sir.