142 WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION
Mr. Brair. As far as the contract rate is concerned I should say
they make about double.
Mr. ScaneIDER. And you work these children?
Mr. Brag. We do not allow children of school age to work.
The CuairMaN. What is the school age there?
Mr. Brag. Sixteen, I think it is, in California.
The CrairmaN. You do not employ any under 16?
Mr. Brair. No, sir; and our managers are instructed not to let
them on the ranch. Furthermore, we see that a school truck comes by
every morning to take the younger children to school. :
The CuaairMaN. Is there any segregation in your valley?
Mr. Brair. Yes, sir.
A The Crarrman. There is some trouble about that—hasn’t there
een?
Mr. Brair. No, sir; none to my knowledge.
Mr. Dickstein. This man who was drunk, had he been indulging
in grape juice?
Mr. Brair. No grape juice there. It was something with a powerful
 alcoholic kick in it; 16 is used for heating stoves. }
Mr. DicksTEIN. Do the Mexicans drink any of that?
Mr. Brair. No, sir.
Mr. DicksTeIN. They do not drink anything?
Mr. Bratz. Well, once in a while we have one that drinks; but we
have generally had no trouble from the Mexicans drinking.
The CuairMaN. Proceed, Mr. Blair.
Mr. Brair. Our early crops require that a worker crawl across
fields, acres in area, on his knees, putting oiled-paper caps over a
wired frame to protect melons and tender vegetable plants.
Only these early-season crops can be sold ahead of similar crops
grown in other States a few weeks later, nearer to markets. So our
survival depends on plenty of helpers to get these crops planted,
tended, and picked in time to grade, ice, and ship at seasons when
we have no competition.
Now, to take our Mexican away at one stroke of the pen is to write
off for us our means of livelihood. And to deprive workers and others
in Eastern cities of the fresh winter vegetables they now depend on
for their balanced diet. You are aware, I presume, that health specialists
 have made lettuce, containing vitamines from the sun’s rays, our
most popular national vegetable.
This crop requires another hard labor task which pays from seven
to nine dollars per day for lettuce thinning—on an acre basis. It
requires stooping steadily, with a short-handled hoe. Go out and
find the white man who will stick that out steadily, day in and week
out, as our Mexicans do, and will do again if we can continue to secure
an adequate supply.
We, for one—and we are simply typical of several other growers—
have been forced by the shortage of Mexicans already existing, to
cut 600 acres out of production for the coming season. So you can
readily see that we are not exaggerating the value of the Mexican to
the southwestern agriculture as a big American industry, for which
other work types have not proven adapted. We would use others if
we could. In no way does Mexican labor interfere with organized
labor. If it were not for Mexican labor, organized labor in our
industry could not exist.