112 WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION

If you can not enforce the law as it now stands on the statute
books, you can not enforce the law which we are now talking about
putting on the statute books.
The Cuarrman. What about the literacy of those people.
Mr. McInnis. Let me refer to the annual report of the Commissioner
 of Immigration for 1929.
In Table 13, page 51, in this report, are figures showing the literacy
of Mexicans of 16 years of age, and literacy in these figures is defined
as ability to both read and write. If one can read but can not write,
he is illiterate; if he can write but can not read, he is illiterate.
In the figures as to Mexicans in 1920 literacy is made there to refer
to those who are over 10 years instead of 16 years of age, and of course
those figures are not quite so comparable; the definition is not so
narrow, as the definition which seems to be adopted here by the Commissioner
 of Immigration. I merely call attention to that table. Of
course that is before the committee, and I call attention to the conclusion.
 This is merely a matter of lead-pencil work, but I think it
is correct. Is shows that the total of Mexicans admitted into the
country during the year ending June 30, 1929, exclusive of nonimmigrants,
 of course, is 35,005. Of those, 3,408 were under 16 and therefore
 are not covered in the literacy figures, leaving a total of 31,500 to
whom the literacy figures should be applied. Those that both read
and write are 29,846, making 94.7 per cent of the Mexicans who lawfully
 came into the United States last year who were literate—they
had to be to come in.
The CHairMAN. Is there a class that get to be station agents?
Mr. Mclnnis. Some of them get to be station agents: some of
them are in mechanical occupations.
The CARMAN. Some are telegraph operators?
Mr. McInnis. 1 do not know whether any of them are telegraph
operators. I presume we have some who are.
The CuairmManN. And some of them will be firemen on the road?
Mr. McInnis. Itis pretty hard for a Mexican to get to be &amp; fireman
or a train service man.
The Cuairman. How «do you manage it?
Mr. McInnis. How do we manage it?
The CuairMaNn. Yes.
Mr. McInnis. I do not know. We have to exercise some control
aver the men who run railroad trains.
The Cuairman. These are prospective citizens, and they ought to
have some jobs. Will they not develop into firemen and trainmen?
Mr. McInnis. The train service man must speak fluently the language
 of the country in which he lives.
Mr. Dickstein. How many do you employ?
Mr. McInnis. The rate of our employment varies.
Mr. Dickstein. What kind of work do vou give them to do?
Mr. Mcinnis. Track work.
Mr. DickstrIN. Could vou not get any other kind of men to do that
kind of work?
Mr. IcInnis. No; we have 2,300 miles of main line located in territory
 which is arid or desert. We have 700 miles of road located in
desert territory where, if you did not take water with you, you would
die for lack of water. A white man will not go into that country for
work, and vou can not blame him. Neither will a negro. There are