WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION 437

From my study of the problem 1 am led to believe that the following statement
s an accurate and honest description of the sentiments of at least the majority
of those who favor the restriction or exclusion of Mexicans.
One among many Americans expressed himself thus: “J have no private
grievance against Mexicans. They come to me with their troubles and they
wring my heart with their true tales of suffering and I give them largely of my
substance, such as I have. I have often been shamelessly betrayed by them.
But I bear them no grudge. I know that I am dealing with primitive man. 1
am really interested in them, as in a study of man in the formative period.
They bave so many human qualities (and vices) mixed with the animal. that
they are indeed a study.”
Tet us look at the other side of the picture and see how the Mexicans appear
to the organized element whose finacial interests will be “ruined” if the unlimited
Bow of such immigration is checked.
The manager of the chamber of commerce of a border city in Texas informed
me that, “Those of us who live on the border and are really acquainted with the
Mexican people know them as honest, industrious, law abiding, home loving,
and peaceful. Of course, as in all races, occasionally a few of them run amuck,
but, generally speaking, they make good citizens. They are ready and willing
fo learn. They educate their children and rapidly assimilate as good American
nitizens.”
A prominent physician of Pasadena stated, * The Mexican is a quiet, inoffensive
necessity in that he performs the big majority of our rough work, agricultural,
building, and street labor. They have no effect upon the American standard of
ing Boise thev are not much more than a group of fairly intelligent collie
0gs.
The manager of the agricultural department of the Los Angeles Chamber of
Commerce puts the Mexican’s case thus:
“T know the Mexican peon and the motives which bring him to our country.
[ do not consider him imbued with immigrant intention. He comes to America
primarily to sell his labor for American money, that he may return to Mexico
and be a landed citizen. He only becomes an immigrant in any sense of the
word when he is forced to stay on our side of the line or is enticed to stay on
our side of the line. To-day the Mexican comes in as an immigrant. He is
ignorant of values; he knows nothing of time; he knows nothing of our laws;
he is as primitive as we were 2,500 years ago. He does not know our language,
the result being that he becomes a petty criminal through ignorant violations and
a prey for every unscrupulous scoundrel in the country. He rarely if ever takes
sut his citizenship, mixes in politics, or labor squabbles unless directed by some
American group. He is the most tractable individual that ever came to serve
as. He is the most grateful where common decency is shown him.
“These poor ignorant people are preyed upon by every unscrupulous salesman
in the country. They are enticed into installment purchase of automobiles,
graphophones, radios, musical instruments, and every catchy device that comes
fo mind. They have no knowledge of contracts or responsibility, and the
neglect to meet these installments immediately brings them into court. If we
pauperize them as at present, through enticing thew to waste their savings on
baubles to such an extent that thev can not care for themselves or return home,
we must take care of them.
“Their point of honor is totally different from that of Americans. It is
naturally so, since they are tribal in their relationships in their own country.
To a peon, if he needs something and finds it not in use, it is right for him to
appropriate it. He has never heen restricted in regard to satisfying his hunger
oy the native fruits. He knows no sanitary laws which restrict him from taking
a bath in an irrigation ditch or water main. He knows no English, and is not
familiar with our code of ethics. In petty violations. therefore. he is a thorn
in the police department.”
While these statements present the case of the Mexican in such a manner as
0 explain his status and activities in this country, yet it would seem to follow
that for these very reasons he constitutes a perplexing problem that can be
solved only by drastic limitation or exclusion. Indeed, is not the fact that it is
deemed necessary continually to make excuses for the Mexicans in this country
an admission of their undesirability? Unquestionably the picture presented by
the Texas Chamber of Commerce is idealistic. Here is the Mexican in his
Sunday clothes—which he seldoin or never seems to wear. Anyone familiar
with the problem knows that the latter two statements, which obviously contradi
 the first. are more representative. Granting this. for the sake of argu-