352 WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION

Mr. Stour. The New York Central pays the highest wage, namely,
44 cents an hour. The average is about 40 cents. The Pennsylvania
 pays 43 cents, and other roads that are organized pay 40 cents,
and some not organized pay less than that east of Chicago. In a
few large terminals, such as the Grand Trunk, the Michigan Central,
and the Pere Marquette, they pay 45 cents an hour.
The CuairmaN. The Santa Fe claims that- in the Southwest
the best pay is 27 cents an hour.
Mr. Stour. Yes, sir. That company has a piece of road running
from a few miles outside of Chicago into Chicago where they pay
40 cents an hour.
Mr. Jenkins. What are the facts in the Southwest as to whether
or not Mexican labor is more efficient than white labor in any respect?
Mr. Stour. In the hearings of 1928 on this subject a question
was asked by some member of the committee and a good answer was
given to it. I can not quote the exact words, but the substance of
it was follows: “I offer myself as Exhibit No. 1 to prove that Americans
 can work any place on the tracks.” That witness, like me,
was a maintenance-of-way man and he worked for the Louisville &amp;
Nashville, which road runs pretty well throughout the whole South.
The main reason the white man and Americans are not doing this
work 1s that the wage is so low. If the standard was right, the
Americans would be running the jobs and doing the work.
Mr. Jenkins. On a trip I made into that country recently I
noticed many places along the railroad where the railroad companies
had houses built especially for section hands. That is not the case
with the eastern roads, is it?
Mr. Stout. There are not so many section houses in the East.
Those houses on a good many roads are box cars taken off their
wheels and placed upon the ground. A good many men in the
maintenance-of-way department have houses of that kind—old box
ars.
Mr. Jenkins. Is there anything in the contour of the land or the
climate that makes it imperative that the railroad companies have
these tenement houses for the section men?
Mr. Stour. The companies have the houses so that the men may
be immediately available in the event of an emergency. Those
employees are subject to call at a minute’s notice.
Mr. Jenkins. Could it be on account of the long distance between
the big cities that it is imperative that the companies provide these
camp places?
Mr. Stout. The track is divided into what we call sections, the
average section being about 6 miles long. However, the railroad
companies are now lengthening those sections. On some railroads
they are cutting out every other foreman and doubling up the sections.
The standard section before they began to lengthen them out was
about 6 miles long and had a foreman overit. That foreman had from
four to six men in the wintertime or in the summer when ballasting
they have larger section crews, and in addition to those, they have
what we call extra gangs. In the wintertime the track forces are
cut down very materially. In many places throughout the country
there are no section houses at all. In those communities the boys who
do that work come from the farm and the small towns and they own
their own homes. That is true in the North, but in the South they