The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1914-05-29
THE MEXICAN
SITUATION

San Antonio. Texa-. Mexican
Revolution which hs- Impoverished Mex
ico and resulted ina untold misery and
slaughter OF human being. not only now
presents problem Tor this country. hut
the influx OF Mexican refuAe~-s into this
country who have fied ami ara iering
from their country Ia e~raIr conscription.
presents Q very grave ami Wenacing prob
lem for the Nesroe- especially Of this
State, and even for those as lar West ~
Kansas.
These thousands Of MeNicans that have
arrived, and are arriving daily into Tex
as constitute a menace To Negro labor in
that they are driving the Negro out Of
employment on city work. public build
ings, railroad construction work. farm
work and other work uIon which the
Negro has heretofore almost exclusively
seen employed. In this city the Mex
lean population has increased % quite
ors-third of the total city population.
In nearly all the const uction work
here. and TO q large degree throughout
the state, the Mexican has driven the
Negro out because lac works cheaper, and
H. able to live cheaper than the Negro.
the Negro being unable a. adjust himself
10 the filth and squalor To- which the Mex
lean peon is indifferent Not only Is the
Mexican driving the Negro ont of con
struction work, but a. drivers "f delivery
wagons, autos, carts, he j. even found
serving ~ porters and cleaners around
railroad stations
Practically all the railroads running
through Texas, as we'll ~ city lines. arr
employing Mexicans on CONSUMPTION work
70 the exclnion of Negroes. In Houston.
Temple. Waco, Dallas. Fort Worth and
other Texan towns the Mexican Ieon
threatens 70 supplant Negro labor. Even
in Missouri and Kan-aS the Mexican ts-on
a. a railroad construction hand j. begln-
ming 20 present a menacing problem for
unskill~d Negro labor.
The Mexican peon lives cheaply in
shscks with scarcely no furniture. 80
scant j. the furniture in their homes that
when they decide To vacate one house t.
oocupy sncsf'sr, they can almost iusisss~
the legendary Arab. who in the silence
Of the night folded his tent and quietly
stole away. The moving of Mexican
from one house "a another is but amatter
OF lew moments. Many OF their hom,--
do not even contain chairs they squat
on the floor ~ the Red Men squat in their
tepee.
There Is nothing common betWeen the
Mexican peon, who has arrived. AMI l.
arriving in this state daily. and then
slowly but surely moving nOIthwari, and
the American Negro. The Negro down
here regards himself a. being superior g.
the grossly iliiterate and greasy Mexican
peon, and the Teon. taeiturn and -eelu.
sive, gives no Indication Of desire L.
affiliate with the Negro. lie indicat.-- De-
desire 70 affiliate with any race. They
are content to b. left alone with their
own.
TN all the railroads, no matter how i'll
thy or dark OF skin, and some Of them
are very, very dark, the Mexican g,,-on
rides in the same coach with the white.
and that too without complaint from ths
whites, while Negroes no matter how
eleanly and genteely 4ttired. or how cul-
ture,l, are forced into the small compart
ment tabled 'FOr Negroes"
Verify the Mexican Revolution. which
has emptie,i into America melting p,t
thousands upon thousands II Mexcan
poems, presents a most seriously menaring
problem b. the unskilled Negro lal,orer.
not alone in this state but in sister -tats.-
lying 10 the north whose railroad line
run into and through this. the one Star
state. And this .menace. fully realized
and appreciated by the race. sugge-t- o.
the Local Negro Business Leagues in thi-
section increased activity. and greater
race cooperation.
The Mexican. who for the pat three
year. has reveled in the murder and ou,
rare n Americans on Mexican soil. aud
eonhseation of American property locat.,i
IN the Astec county, arr nov frer o. cr,,--
the Rio GraDde. and once over the ,lisi.i...
southern municipalities. southern raH-
roads and corporations reward tl,e-e bri
gands II yesterday with employment IN
preferenoe O. Negro who l.eretnfore ha-
hem the -trong. willing and docile OK
This country will soon have. IL not 81
ready. Mexican problem on the north
-ide Of the Rio Grande more serious than
the one now confronting "a on the south
side.