80 WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION

harvest the various crops in California alone, seventy-odd thousand
seasonal laborers are required each year in addition to the workers
regularly employed. A large proportion of the Mexicans now employed
 as seasonal workers in California are in this country temporarily,
 and return to Mexico when they finish their work in harvesting
our crops. I am confident it would necessitate a very much larger
permanent Mexican population than we now have, if we were obliged
to depend upon the natural increase of that population to supply
the great number of seasonal laborers we require annually.
Mr. ScuNEIDER. You appreciate in this great country of ours that
the development of modern machinery, together with the increase of
population, has brought about a condition where there is a lot of
unemployment, do you not?
Mr. Bent. Yes, sir.
Mr. ScuaNepER. And that is in the north and in the south and in
all industries. Now, do you not really think that the same condition
would apply down there in your country if you would make an effort
to bring up and make more efficient this Mexican labor, that eventually,
 if you followed a program of more efficiency and better standards,
that you would,get better Mexican labor and get them competent to
use modern machinery and produce just as much with a less number
of people?
Mr. Bent. We have used modern machinery to the extent it is
developed and available, and the Mexicans have learned to use it.
They are pretty good mechanics.
The CrsarmaN. That is an important point. Develop that a little.
Mr. SceNEIDER. You know from your general information that in
the wheat fields of the country in the last few years, modern machinery
has displaced hundreds of men formerly employed in harvesting and
handling the wheat crops.
Mr. Bent. Yes, sir.
Mr. Scunemper. What is your honest opinion—as far as I am
concerned, I am trying to strike a golden medium between a lot of
conflicting people—do you not think, in the natural course of events,
that this will take care of itself without this great horde of Mexicans
that some one testified came across the Mexican border every year?
Mr. Bent. I think that might involve a restriction of agrienltural
activities.
Mr. Scuneiper. How much of a restriction?
Mr. Bent. We use the year round—taking an average for the 12
months of the year, and of course there is a peak and a depression—
but we use in Southern California about 45,000 casual laborers the
year around, a large part of which is in agriculture, and a large part
of them are Mexicans.
The CrairMAN. You mean 45,000 in different places? ‘
Mr. Bent. Yes; taking the average of Southern California. It runs
a8 high as 70,000 in the busy season, but enough to make an average
of 45,000. .
The CrairMaN. Does that include children and citizens?
Mr. Bent. It is an attempt to designate casual, itinerant labor.
The CrairMaN. Probably not many of them voters, or the children
of voters, of California.
Mr. Bent. No. sir.