Daily Arizona silver belt., 1907-08-13
MEXICO FACES
 LABOR PROBLEM
Scarcity of Labor for Railroad Con- struction Causes Operators to Lay
 Awake Nights-Japanese Have Pro
 ven Unsatisfactory for This Purpose.

Mexico and the northern portion of the republic in particular, is confronted with labor problem that is rapidly assuming serious aspect.
 Will Mexico be compelled eventually to depend upon the development of it's vast mineral resources and the con stuction of it's railroads by working Chinese coolies under the same condi- tions that now exist in some districts in South Africa, or will conditions so adjust themselves that the exodus of natives to the United States will cease and native labor will be worked satis- factorily.
 That is the question prospectors and operators of big industrial, mining and construction enterprises in the repub' lie are asking one another.
 Labor in Mexico is today far short of the demand and Mexicans are leav' ing the republic in large numbers under the inducement of high wages in the United States. Some go as far north as Chicago, but in that direction mostly to Missouri river points. The Santa Fe now employs Mexicans as section hands and surfaeers along almost the entire system between Kansas City and Fort Worth.
 Other roads all over the southwest are now employing the Mexicans or this class of work
 Labor agencies in Fl Paso are ship ping out Mexicans by the hundreds tC the Pacific coast.
 To meet the growing deficiency il the supply of native labor the big con struction operators on the west coas of Mexico and mining companies il the coal fields of Coahuila have begun the importation of Japanese and Chi nese and it is estimated that 6000 Jap anese have been brought into Mexico in the past year. Probably a thousand Chinese have been imported. The i'm portation of the Japanese laborer fo railroad construction has proven an un satisfactory experiment so far. Dowl on the Manzanillo extension they worl just long enough to accumulate a fev dollars and then desert their jobs heading for the northern boundary Under the Mexican laws, they are al lowed the same rights as citizens an' are free to leave when they please.
 It seems that the ultimate destinat ion of all the Japs who get into Mex leo is the United States. For month swarms of them have been coming t, the border, many of them on foot. Large numbers of Chinese have beel introduced into Mexico in the past feV months for work on railroad construct ion and so far there has been no con siderable number of them decampini from the work to which they were talk en. At Guaymas a ship llad of eoolie ?. which arrived in that port some thre months ago mutinied and attempte' to jump into the sea, but they wer disembarked by an armed force am made to proceed to the construction camps. Through an agreement with tn Chinese agents who supply coolie labo way has been devised to compel then to agree to carry out their contract. Whether the Chinese will prove al , important factor in the solution of tn labor problem in Mexico remains to b seen and the result is awaited with in terest. The Japanese have proven un satisfactory, according to the declara tion of some of the biggest employers O that class of labor.
 , The native laborers have awakene
 to the fact that the performance O more labor means higher wages to then but the higher wages they obtain tn more they want, and they are in a con tinual state of unrest. This fact what is causing the employers of larg bodies of laborers to lay awake a nights and wonder what the end vii . be.
 President Diaz has in the past solve problems as difficult as the present on of labor. It is possible that he or hi
 administration may be able to brin about a satisfactory condition of affair in this instance.
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