WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION 63

The Cuarrman. Let me give the picture for those who do not know
the Pacific coast. Mr. Chandler has shown in geography large holdings
 in lower California. What is the exact name?
Mr. CraNDLER. Mexicali.
The CrmarrMan. Beginning just below the international line. As
[understand it, his manager of that great property there, where they
are raising very fine cotton, thinks it would be better to try and hold
Mexicans in Mexico for the economic benefit of the company.
Mr. Cuanprer. Of course, as manager of the property he wants
to make a good showing, and he says when we hire laborers up there
across the line it is to his very great disadvantage.
Wi CratrMaN. How many acres are there in your tracts of cotton
and?
Mr. CaanprLer. We have altogether eight hundred and thirty
odd thousand acres, but we have about two hundred thousand acres
under cultivation.
The Crarrman. How many employees, as an average do you have
engaged in the picking and growing season?
Mr. Craxprer. In the picking season we have some Chinese we
brought in years ago and some Japanese. eight hundred or so, and
the balance are Mexicans.
The Crairman. Do they work under American supervisors or
overseers?
Mr. CaanpLER. Yes, all of our management is American.
The CuatrmaN. Your management is American?
Mr. CuanpLer. We have some Mexican foremen and some
Chinese foremen.
The Crarrman. I would like to say I have been over the tract, and
[ never saw finer fields of cotton. What do you pay the laborers?
Mr. Cranprer. Well, in the picking season, we pay by the pound.
The CuatrMan. About what?
Mr. CranprER. About an average of a cent a pound.
The CratrMaN. How does that compare with the prices paid in
the old South in the cotton-producing States?
Mr. CuanpLER. It is a little higher.
The Crarrman. You raise along staple cotton?
Mr. CuanpLER. A little longer than southern cotton.
Mr. Ruraerrorp. It is more difficult to pick, is it not?
Myr. Cuanprer. No; we do not raise Egyptian cotton. Egyptian
totton is difficult to pick.
The Cuarrman. The American managers on the cotton ranches or
plantations in California and Mexico are pretty well paid?
Mr. Cuanprer. We have to pay good men well to keep them.
The Cuairman. You spoke of these Mexicans who come into
California as peons. Is that the word you use out there generally?
Mr. CuanpLEr. Well. no. But the labor that comes in is of the
Peon type.
... The Cuairman. Does it remain a peon type in California, United
States of America?
Mr. Cuanprer. Well, in the 30 years I have heen operating in
Mexico, the Mexican peon has come up from living almost like an
aborigine or like an Indian, to a condition which 1s improved very
uch. They live better, and right there is an important point.
We are letting in the peon and making him more valuable to his own