Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-03-07
Enormous Migration Of Mexicans
to the Southwest.
laborers Are Needed and There 10 No
"1rown Pern"-talf-Starved lmml.
grant Speedily Becomes Well

According to the last census tneTo
we're In Texas then $4,000 Mexicans.
In Arizona. New Mexico and California
there are many more Thousands.
They are mostly OF the peon class.
How many thousands have come du-
ring the two years since the census
was taken cannot be accurately known.
1t ID stated. however. that for nearly
4 year every passenger train depart
ing for the north Is filled with them.
And there are some people who talk
Of . brown peril" ...-.r
Only few years ago 1t was rare
to see u Mexican in central or north
ern Texas. Now they are to be seen
in great numbers In every part OF the
state, all through Oklahoma, and even
up in Kansas and rs far north rs
Nebraska. Railroad section gangs IN
the southwest are made up Of Mexi'
cans, all but the foreman. who lords
1t over the lowly greaser," and shouts
his orders in a mixed patois Of Span
ish and English
Here, you hombre! Pick up that
rail. muy pronto and underly along
with it."
On the cotton plantations OF Texas
Mexicans are rapidly taking the place
Of negroes; this is particularly true OF
the more southern parts. And only a
small percentage who come into Tex
as for the cotton picking season ever
go back. Between seasons they find
employment in the towns or on the
farms. Complaint Is made that the
younger negroes are unreliable.
There is hardly a town in Texas
that does not have its Mexican colony.
in San Antonio, which was originally
occupied almost exclusively by Mexi-
cans, there is a very large Mexican
settlement. In Ell Paso, Austin and
nearly all the other larger cities the
Mexicans live in colonies to them
selves. In the border territory all the
smaller towns are divided into Amer1-
can and Mexican residential districts.
The Mexican settlements are usually
known as Little Mexico" Little Chi
huahua" or by some other Mexican
designation. =,
There are in Mexico approximately
l2,000,0 900 Of the lower peon class. Du'
ring the last two years war and con-
sequent business depression have COM
PEELED thousands to seek employment
in the United States. So great has be-
come this exodus that the Mexican
government has been studying how
to stop 1t.
The Mexican peon Is devoted to his
family. In practically every instance
where a married man of the lower
class comes here he brings with him
his entire family. Their wants are
comparatively few. 1t Is surprising
to see how rapidly they emerge from
poverty and shabbiness when they get
established in homes on this side OF
the Rio Grande. With their hrst
wages they buy shoes all around and
throw aside their ill-fitting sandals.
Then comes the discarding Of the
blanket, and in place Of the white cot
ton trousers andsthin shirt OF the same
material there are donned warm suits
of American clothing In very short
time the Transformation from a sham
bling, half starved. poverty-stricken
Mexican to that of we'll fed, pros
porous appearing man Of the laboring
class of the American type is COM
pleted. The former peon has found
himself. He begins to take pride IN
his own so-called Americanism.
In Texas and the southwest gener-
ally there is no antagonism toward
the Mexicans who come in. AS gen.
eral thing they are as well treated as
any other workingman.
Never in the history Of Texas, Ari-
IONA and New Mexico was the demand
Tor common laborers greater. So long
Rs this demand exists the Mexican
peon will be warmly welcomed. From
the standpoint of the men who need
laborers there is no brown peril.