WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION 207

wllegiance to the United States or to retain allegiance to the then
king of Spain. Nearly all the families did that, so that now in Porto
Rico they are all American citizens except about 200 families. They
an come and go as they please.
Mr. Harr. Let me ask you this question: Do you think that I
should take this attitude from your statement, take back to my wife
and family and my relatives that you say we are going to shut the
Mexicans out because the Porto Rican is a citizen, and therefore he
must come in, and knowing the Porto Rican as we know him, and
knowing that class, that you are going to shut the Mexican out, so
that if we are going to exist we must bring the Porto Rican in and
nut him alongside of our families, the thin lipped Porto Rican, an
agitator, a trouble-maker, and a man that I don’t want my family
to have to associate with continuously?
The CrairMan. What IT want vou to understand is this: You are
here in Washington, D. C., observing the action of Congress and its
committees, and I am glad to be able to give you information as to
the status. Whether we like it or not, we have got a million and a
half American citizens in Porto Rico.
Mr. Hart. But the attitude or the decision of this committee is
going to determine whether that fellow who has a right to come in
has to be brought in or we perish as an industry. Now you say,
“Oh well, I know you are not going to perish. You will get along.”
But I say to you that I have suffered and gone without while we were
remedying these things where you said we would get along in adjusting
 ourselves and finding a new source of labor, and I say to you that
[ am convinced from experience that the farmers who use this help—
not the fellow who lives in the city or the fellow who has got 2 acres
over here and works in town, but the fellow who uses the help,
believes that the Mexican is the best solution to the problem, and
without him we must bring the Porto Rican in or go out of business.
[ want to show you what a lucky man you are.
The CuairMaN. 1 would like to be shown.
; Mr. Hart. I feel that I am lucky. I have a good wife and
amily——
The CHAIRMAN (interposing). In the first place, without regard to
your personal arrangements—I know they are good—you have got
your experience in the county in the State of Washington where you
say it is hard living——
Mr. Box (interposing). That was his first lucky start. He was
sorn in Washington.
Mr. Hart. That was a good start. .
The CrairmaN. Now, you have got an opportunity to get down to
Salinas Valley and make some money and get going both in farming
and in real estate in the city, and if Congress had listened to some of
the Senators that represented the new State of California, the Chinese
exclusion act would not have been passed and the very country where
you are making your living would swarm now with Chinese. You
never would have been in there at all. That is what the United
States has done for you. We want to do that for your grandchildren.
Mr. Hart. Well, there is one thing about a Chinaman that I will
say—there are a few there yet—that you never sign a contract with
a Chinaman and vou never have to be afraid that he will break his
word.