WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION 97

Doctor Pererson. I do not know to what extent they go into that
employment.
Mr. Scuneiper. Is your sugar-beet industry under Federal irriga-Aon
 projects?
Doctor Pererson. To some extent.
Mr. Scuneiper. Federally built?
Mr. Peterson. Most of them cooperatively built.
Mr. ScuNeipER. You know that sugar beets are grown in Minesota,
 Michigan, Towa, etc., that are in direct competition and they
need Mexican labor the same as you need it.
Doctor Pererson. I presume so.
~ Mr. Scuanuipzr. Do you think it is practicable to bring Mexicans
nto the United States and have them return each year after the sugardeet
 crop is harvested—have them go back to Mexico?
Doctor Pererson. As I understand the situation they more or less
rotate from crop peak to crop peak.
The Cuairman. Will you kindly take away from here the extended
hearings of the committee on seasonal labor and read the contracts
that are made with Mexican laborers to work in Iowa, Michigan,
and other States, under which contracts they practically revise the
‘company plan,” in a way, and get the Mexicans in, but leave him
n such shape that he has nothing to get out of the country with?
He has not made enough in the field to get out after the season has
ended. I would like to have you take a set of those hearings.
Doctor Pererson. Thank you; I shall be glad to.
Mr. EsterLy. Is your college an agricultural college?
Doctor PETERSON. Yes, sir.
Mr. EsterLy. What is the progress made in this mulch paper that
will take care of weeds, etc., and thus permit the growth of the
ndividual plant?
Doctor PereErson. There is no reliance placed on anything except
the old method of weeding and planting.
Mr. Estervy. I notice that kind of paper very extensively
advertised, and having a farm myself, IT was very much interested.
What are the possibilities?
Doctor PeTersoN. There are possibilities along that line, but none
of them proven yet.
Mr. EsterLy. Do you think that the development of that kind of
paper will help solve your labor problem?
Doctor Peterson. If it was successful undoubtedly the farmers
would look upon it with great delight.
Mr. EsterLy. Is the Department of Agriculture of the United
States helping to solve that problem?
“Doctor Pererson. Yes, sir; remarkable work along that and
similar lines has been done.
Mr. EsterLy. It seems to me, with a development of that sort,
your labor problems will be largely curtailed.
Doctor Pererson. Yes, sir; although agriculture is still primitive.
While machinery helps a lot, the processes are still, you might say,
the old Biblical processes.
Mr. GissonN. On January 16, Senator Blaine, talking about sugar
Deets, said that women and children, employed in the beet fields,
crawling on their hands and knees to perform the labor, literally
craw] {for miles, and the soil is so damp as to give off moisture, so that