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WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMMIGRATION 453

The report on the agricultural situation by the special committee of the Association
 of Land Grant Colleges and Universities, submitted by the executive
sody of the association at the Forty-first annual convention held in Chicago,
November. 15 to 17, 1927, included the following statement relative to immigration.

“Qur immigration policy should be based definitely upon the best interests of
the United States and this means the Nation as a whole and not any particular
section of the country or any special group of the population. * #* * .
“It would seem inconsistent if the agricultural interests called for a relaxation
in the immigration restrictions to admit additional agricultural labor while the
samg intersts complained of excessive agricultural production.
“Many sections and many local communities in this country now find themsselves
 confronted with apparently unsolvable, or at least extremely difficult,
social problems as a result of having induced or permitted influxes of farm
laborers who belong to races that do not fuse with the locally dominant human
stocks. Whenever two races that do not intermarry freely attempt to live
together in the same community, acute social problems are likely to develop.
THe presence in the same community of two fundamentally dissimilar races
complicates the problems of the school, the church, and the home. Not infrequently
 the problems involve some degree of social ostracism for people who work
with their hands. This leads to a degradation of labor in communities where
‘ormerly it was dignified and respected and where the great benefits of labor were
socially available to everybody.
“National immigration policy should never be based solely upon economic
sonsiderations. Rather, it should be determined by. what is believed to be the
best procedure from the social standpoint. Economic considerations have great
social significance, but every sound social consideration demands that the welfare
of the people take precedence over supposed economic advantage. If modifications
 are to be made in the immigration policy, they should involve a tightening
of the present restrictions as the latter apply to races that are not readily
assimilated, rather than a relaxation of those restrictions.”
In forwarding this report to me the president of a leading western agricultural
sollege wrote that the statement quoted above, “expresses my opinion regarding
the admission of representatives of races comparable to Mexicans.”
I am in a position to supply you with hundreds of statements such as these 1
have referred to, all of which are from prominent American citizens who understand
 the problem of Mexican immigration. It is to the credit of many of them
that they favor the restriction of Mexican immigration even though they are at
present employers of such persons. I state this as I would not have you infer
‘rom what I have said that all employers of Mexicans are opposed to restriction.
Rather, I am sure it can be proved from existing data and investigations that
have been made that only a relatively small number of those who actually emloy
 Mexicans are interested in the efforts of the opposition to thwart restriction.
be many of those opposed to such a program really understood the problem, and
especially if they were aware of the tactics of their lobbying leaders, they too
would repudiate their present position and join with the majoritv in the efforts
to win the restriction which is so greatly needed.
One must also remember that where some persons gain through the exploitation,of
 these immigrants, other business men lose heavily. It is for this reason
that a national organization such as the Chamber of Commerce of the United
States should hesitate before being mislead by a few members crying for alleged
relief. The president of one of America’s largest mail-order houses informed me
bhus: “As a city, San Antonio has a much lower purchasing power than cities
with a much smaller population. The lower purchasing power of Mexicans does
tot add to the prosperity of the region. ]
“I have talked with a number of the: presidents of northern and middlewestern
 railroads. They all express themselves as being of the opinion that
Mexican labor ought to be restricted. These particular railroads, however,
employ few, if any, Mexicans and the presidents of these roads can view the
matter from the standpoint of citizens rather than employers.”
. A prominent official of a national chain of 5 and 10 cent stores informed me
that his company could very well do without the Mexican trade, although these
stores secured a large amount of it. . .
Only those stores that cater to the Mexican trade can hope to gain anything
from.guch immigration. Stores typical of the-average American city can not
prosper. In every phase of American business throughout the Southwest one is
able to find the evil marks resulting from Mexican immigration, cheap stores,