128 WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION

ward as there used to be. They are afraid that if they go into Mexico
they can not get back. They used to come up and pick cotton
through the fall, and then go back home, and I think they rather
regarded it as an annual outing to make that trip; but now I think
there are many of them who are afraid to go back because they
think they can not come back in again.
Mr. GiBson. Can you state approximately the percentage of
Mexicans who come over to work on these projects who remain in
the country?
Mr. Wizey. I would not be able to give that to you very accurately;
 but one of the directors, as I said a while ago, of our labor
association down there is going to testify, and I think he would have
more accurate information on that than I.
Mr. Gisson. Is there any considerable number who stay here?
Mr. Winey. After this big demand is over I do not think there is
any considerable number who stay here.
Mr. GiBsoN. I am referring to those who come here yearly to
work on your project.
Mr. WiLeY. I could only guess at the percentage. There are some
who go back every year. There are some who come through and
work there in the season, and go on back into Mexico. that have heen
somewhere else.
Mr. Gieson. Is this a picture of it: When you demand labor you
send for it to Mexico and bring them in, enough to take care of your
needs; and then at the conclusion of their work, they go on to other
projects, and a large number of them are absorbed in the population
of the country; and then at the next season you get another lot of
Mexicans to come in to take care of the work? Is that about the
way you run?
Mr. Winey. Yes; but you must bear in mind that there is a population
 pouring back in the same time that these are coming ont:
Mr. GissoN. From your proiects?
Mr. WiLey. Yes.
Mz. GiesoN. But you have not given us the percentage.
Mr. Wirey. I do not have those figures. I can simply testify to
this, that on the road from Phoenix to Nogales you will find Mexicans
all along that road, at practically anv time of the vear, going back
to Nogales.
Mr. GissoN. How many do you employ at the peak-load time; how
many Mexicans do you employ then?
Mr. Wier. I would say in our district probably 20,000 at the peak
of the labor demand, the other labor having employment for all the
year around. It is not the same labor all the time. but it is generally
moved around in that Southwest country.
Mr. GiBsoN. What is the number you bring in?
Mr. WiLey. Mr. Meyer can give you that exactly. T do not have
those figures and the number.
Mr. Gieson. But there is a constant flow to your projects from
Mexico?
Mr. Wirey, Yes. I do not know just what ports of entry they
come in; nor do I know how long they have been in the country when
thev come to us, but I assume thev are from Mexico some time or other.