204 “WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION

when we were picking lettuce I would go right along with them and
see that they picked it right.
Mr. Box. On the question of their not going back, the figures
submitted to this commistee a few days ago by our State Department,
which they quoted from the Mexican Government—not their own
figures, but quoted from the Government of Mexico—showed that
for every. 100 that come from Mexico to the United States 148 go
hack. That is what the Mexican figures show.
Mr. Harr. You mean there are more going back than come?
Mr. Box. One hundred and forty-eight go back.. One and a half
Mexicans go back for every Mexican that comes in.
Mr. Harr... That may be due to conditions that have changed in
Mexico. Mexico is a little nicer place to live in than it used to be.
Mr. Box. Of course, as a matter of fact, there was a divergence in
the figures.
Mr. Harr, I do believe, however, just as a farmer who thinks
about these things, that with your educational restrictions being
enforced, as they were not during the war-—you know we had a deal
during the war where they could bring in so many and take them back,
or notify of desertions, and things were easier when we needed them
and brought them in. That was patriotism, bringing them in then.
Now then, when you shut down and say, ‘‘you have got to pay head
tax and pass a literacy test,” and all these other taxes, it is human
nature for the man who is here not to go back, for fear he can’t come
back again. In other words, the harder you make it for him to get
in, the harder it is going to be to get him to go back to the place he
loves to go to, because he may not be able to get back, to come in
here and make money and enjoy a real standard of living.
Mr. Box. Now let me suggest this: Suppose this committee and
Congress would conclude that you ought to try to stabilize your labor
and make it fit the needs of the country and carry the policy that you
have just outlined further, so that instead of bringing new thousands
in every year, you keep those you have and don’t look for a new throng
out of Mexico, why would it not work just as you have stated there?
Mr. Harr, What would you ask me to do on my ranch? Ihave 135
acres. In the summertime I can produce a crop in 60 days; in the
wintertime it takes 90 days to 4 months. What would you ask
me to do on my ranch with those 75 people?
Mr. Box. 1 was just asking you to help this committee to do the
sery thing you said helped.
Mr. Harr. If I knew how to stabilize that thing, there isn’t anything
 I would like to do any better, because if I could stabilize my
labor where I could pick the very best and keep them snd stabilize
my crop and know that it would have an even flow to market, and
gnow that if I paid my men 50 cents an hour 1 could do like the
manufacturer, tack it on to the selling price, there isn’t anything in
agriculture that I would like any better. If I knew that I could make
7 per cent interest on my money after I paid my taxes, and get paid
for my labor, there isn’t anything that would suit me any better.
But we are not able to do that and we are asking you folks to solve it,
and you have started out with the Farm Relief Board, which we
think is a wonderful step, and we folks in California believe in cooperative
 marketing, and we think we have a wonderful board. We