72

WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION

Mr. ScenempEr. Under the immigration law at present they could
not be brought in in any other way except as contract laborers, unless
they were brought in for permanent domicile.
Mr. CaanpLer. In self-defense, on our part of the border, if anybody
 came down there and undertook to take our labor away from us
on the American side on contract, we would send for the officers.
The CuairMaN. The officers?
Mr. CaanpLer. The border officers; because we would not permit
them to come in and rob us of our labor. The labor comes because,
as a rule, it is paid better wages on the American side. 1 do not know
of a single case of a farmer or anybody coming down and actually
hiring labor below the line. In the first place, the Mexican authorities
would not have it; and, in the next place, they get their labor, because
they know there is. a better demand on the American side. and they
volunteer to go over to get jobs.
The Cuairman. How do they get there in “droves,” using your
own words ‘“in droves’?
Mr. Caaxpier. It is a long border and the Mexicans know when
our orange-picking season is coming on we will need a good many
thousand pickers, and when no grower, even with only 10 acres, can
get enough to help at home to pick his oranges; and so the Mexicans
come up on flivvers, the train, or some walk—any way to get up into
the orange-growing section.
The CuatrmaN. Is there no question by the employees as where
they come from, whether they drive across, walk over, or sneak in
from other States?
Mr. Cuanorer. There used to be a lot of what they term “sneaked
in,” but I think that is pretty well controlled now.
The CuairMan. You said a while ago when you wanted labor you
sent out somewhere to get it across the line.
Mr. Caanprer. We have sent steamships down the Gulf of California
 to bring them up from Sinaloa and Sonora, the excess labor
they have there, to our cotton fields during the picking season; and
then they go back.
The Cuairman. Into Mexico itself?
Mr. CranpLeR. From one part of Mexico to another.
The Cuairman. That is not our affair. Do any of your companies
 put up advertisements in Mexico itself stating laborers are
wanted in the Southwestern part of the United States?
Mr. CuanpLer. I have never known of it. I can not answer that
of my own knowledge. _
Mr. Gieson. Mr. Chandler, you have referred to seasonal labor
along the Mexican border. We have the same problem along the
Canadian border. I have in mind the lumbering industry. There
are hundreds of Canadians who come down to our Vermont border.
The Labor Department required bond of $500 for each laborer returned
 to Canada at the termination of their employment. Is there
any such plan followed along the Mexican border?
Mr. Caanpuer. We never have done that, that I know of.
Mr. GissoN. You referred to the fact that there was no social
problem involved in the Mexican influx.
Mr. CaanpLER. No more than our own.
Mr. Gisson. Do you have in mind that there is quite a: different
mode as to color test in that area where if one has any white blood