WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION 149

efficient service we have distributing offices in every county in our
district, the central office in Fresno being used as a clearing house.
The idea is to prevent gluts in one district and scarcity in another,
thereby insuring the rapid movement of labor where it is needed at
the opportune time if possible.
The season just about to end has been one where the labor shortage
has been more pronounced than at any time since and during the war.
The Federal Government through its Federal Farm Board has given
timely and material aid to the grape growers of my district. And
it would seem unthinkable that our Government would now ruin
Bes same vineyardists by depriving them of an adequate supply of
abor.
In so far as white labor is concerned, the same offer is made to them
of employment, but very small percentages accepted. The common
remark is: ‘This is no job for a white man.”
In some localities where white labor has been sent, especially
what we call in California the “itinerant workers’ who comes from
other States, accepts the job for two or three days, and rarely for a
week, just to earn enough money to buy gasoline to continue on his
journey to other sections where they take a chance in obtaining employment
 in industrial enterprises.
Oftentimes the growers have complained that they forget to leave
the tent that has been provided for their comfort. They have even
been provided with camps away from those of foreign labor. In
the grapes as well as in the cotton, they select the best picking in
the field and refuse to complete the job where picking is not so good.
This refers to the same fields.
Our grape harvest usually commences between the 10th and the
15th day of August and continues until practically the 1st day of
November. The cotton harvest commences between the 15th of
September and the 1st of October, and should be completed by the
1st of December. You will notice rather that the grapes and the
cotton overlap, create a serious problem in so far as labor requirements
 are concerned. This coming season, if we have a normal
fruit crop, and with the same acreage in cotton, our labor needs will
be acute, and serious losses to our growers will result.
In conclusion, may I not refer to our late World War? Our Government
 waived the educational tests for citizens of Mexico, and the
payment of the head tax, and permitted persons or corporations to
bring in labor from Mexico for a period of six months. Wages were
paid at the current rates which were in effect in the places where
they were to be employed. Thousands of Mexicans were brought
into the State of California, and other States as well, and those
bringing them had to return them and report desertions to the Federal
 Government and use all diligence in apprehending and returning
them to the port of entry through which they were admitted.
Our boys were fighting, our girls were in the fruit fields helping
with the harvest, taking the places in so far as possible of those who
had gone across. The Mexicans came, harvested our crops, and
saved our agriculture when it was most needed. They helped us
then; why not now? a .
In my capacity as an employee of the State of California during
the World War it was my duty to explain to the foreigners of Latin
origin, and in California the Mexicans predominated. their duties and