WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION 233

edt desired the exclusion of the Japanese apply equally to the exclusion of the
Mexican.
That, however, is not the case, for the Japanese presented an entirely different
problem than does the Mexican.
In the first place, under the then existing conditions, it was fully recognized
that with the exclusion of the Japanese there would still remain other sources of
common labor to fall back on; viz, the Mexican, and that the Mexican did not
possess the characteristics which made the Jepanese objectionable. For example,
it is generally understood and believed that the Japanese, while he may come
over here as a common laborer to begin with, sooner or later, and usually sooner,
becomes ambitious to go into the farming business for himself, and, therefore,
purchases land, if a citizen, himself, or if not, in the name of his American-born
son. That not only takes him out of the field as a common laborer, but makes
him very definitely a competitor of the American farmer, where his standards of
living make it impossible for an American producer to compete with him. The
Mexican, on the other hand, does not have this ambition, and, consequently, is
a far more desirable person to have around, for he will work for other people.
He is not ambitious, either to own land, to control local, State, or national
policies, or to displace Americans in those spheres of life where they want to
work.

MEXICAN CHARACTERISTICS

We fully recognize that to such a statement as this there will be exceptions,
but as a general rule, and very largely so, the Mexican immigrant fills the requirements
 for farm labor and has fewer objectionable features than any other available
 type of laborer of which we have knowledge.
His fitness has been most accurately described by W. R. Goodspeed, superintendent
 of the California Orchard Co., in the Salinas Valley:
“The California farmer must have labor that is agriculturally trained, capable
of strenuous exertion, fitted to work under unusual climatie conditions, and, in
addition, favorable to seasonal migration. The answer appears to lie in the
Mexican itinerant laborer. The answer will continue to lie in that direction
until Thomas Edison or Henry Ford develops machinery which will take the
drudgery out of the harvest or until the idealist becomes amenable to developing
calluses on his hands.
“On the property of the California Orchard Co. our peak harvest demands
run from 400 to 500 employees, as against a normal labor demand of some 75
to 100. This surplus labor must be brought in from the outside. To date we
have tried out every form of transient labor except the negro, with the result
that we have found it necessary to confine our surplus as nearly as possible to
the Mexican.
‘The Mexican comes closer to returning value received in wages than any
other type of labor available to the California farmer. He is well versed in
agricultural pursuits, is fitted by natural environment to withstand our climatic
conditions, is loyal if given reasonable treatment, and able to perform work
which demands hard physical exertion.
“This company has followed the policy of many other large agricultural companies
 in California—that of providing good living quarters and sanitary conditions
 for its transient help. It is our opinion that the Mexican who works for
the average California farmer is taken out of the class of ‘peon’ and placed upon
the same plane as other forms of farm labor. While the Mexican creates certain
social problems, it is our opinion that he is much easier to handle in this respect
than anv other foreign laborer.”

MEXICAN IS MUCH MISUNDERSTOOD

We grant that the Mexican is not as ambitious as the American, is not as welleducated
 as are our people, and in some respects is a petty lawbreaker; but we
believe the great mass of evidence goes to show that his lawbreaking characteristics
 are due to a lack of understanding of our American eivilization and its
attendant principles of property rights. In his own country the Mexican has
always been free to pick up what was loose, to help himself to such food as he
needed, and to bathe where he pleased. When he comes here he has no knowledge
of our laws, and with his peace-loving, docile, and obedient nature he resigns
himself to the inevitable and permits himself to be made the ‘‘Ishmaelite.” or.
as we sometimes more vulearly say, the “goat.”