Imperial Valley press., 1917-06-30
SEEK ORGANIZATION AS
LABOR SHORTAGE SOLUTION
PACKARD PLAN OF ORGANIZATION PLANS FOR
A LABOR AGENT IN THE FIELD.
Chinese Labor if introduced Into Mexico Would Throw
Mexican Labor Into This County, Is Belief of ThOs
S. Daley Big Lower California Rancher.

age at the time of the fall harvests
was urged at a meeting of the vari-
Gus ranching, business and civic or
ganizations Of the county at the Farm
Bureau this morning.
Several plans for meeting the labor
shortage were presented and each
were considered, although no general
action will be taken until late this
afternoon at the union meeting of all
ranchmen at the high school.
Teh plan of w. E. Packard to place
labor agent in the labor field, and
TO represent the interests of the coun-
ty by active solicitation for help, met
with favorable response.
The plan provides for a revolving
fund to be met by the grower members
Of the organization who will pay an
assessment of SIS. Of this amount So
is to be used for expenses and for a
revolving fund to bring labor in. How
ever, the member contributing Sl5
will not be assured that the remain
ing $40 will be returned to him, since
the additional amounts may be drawn
upon to bring the labor in. 1t is es-
timated that if 1000 members are Sc
cured, the plan will provide enough
money to finance the operations of
the organization.
The following plan of operation Is
suggested:
Members will be solicited at $15
each at once from now on. Assistant
farm adviser will work for the first
two months helping in the matter of
distribution and getting new mem-
iLers, while the labor agent devotes
most of his time to outside work. As
sistant farm adviser shall not devote
more than two months to this work.
Growers, upon receiving labor from
the outside-San Diego, Los Angeles.
ietc-shall pay down the amount OF
transportation before receiving labor.
The $1,000 fund shall be used for bring
ing in labor from outside points. We
plan to return as much of this money
as may be left in the treasury at the
end of the year.
Thomas S. Daley, president of the
Lower California Agricultural Asso-
citation, in suggesting plan for inn
mediate relief, urged that pressure
he brought to bear on the United
States Departments of Agriculture
and Labor to permit Chinese to be
transported through California to
Mexico, under bond, thus relieving the
labor shortage in Mexico, and forcing
Mexican labor back into the county.
Chinese labor, because of the short
age, is costin gthe Mexican ranch"r
$500 day-an amonnt without pre-
eedent. With the former abundance
of labor in Mexico it was possible for
the ranchman to name his price and
employ labor at the same, but this
year, according to Mr.. Daley, the
: Chinese laborer, together with the
Mexicans, have been able to name
their own wages.
If permission is granted by the gov
ernment to transport 500 Chinese into
Mexico at once, and this concession
will be granted soon, it is believed
that 500 Mexicans will Immediately
be available to the county.
A plan suggested by Fred Place,
crowded that the County Council of
Defense, in case of an emergency
could tax the cotton gins and grain
buyers certain amounts, and that they,
in turn, could place an increased
charge upon the produce brought ID
them. These amounts would be small,
, and would serve to bring every ranch
t er into an organization which would
! provide labor for the entire county
5 Previous efforts to secure funds, it
, was shown, resulted in only one sub
) scription out of 35 ranchers, placing
: the burden on a few, while the intro
duction of labor into the county bene-
fitted everyone.
Spanish labor from Cuba as a So
luton was suggested by 0. F. Sparks,
: commercial agent for the Southern
: Pacific railroad, who announced that
S the railroads representatives in New
Orleans have notified the various COM
{ munities along the line of the rail-
: road that large numbers Of Spaniards
could be introduced into this country
: very soon.
l, All of the plans presented VIII bs
: discussed and acted upon by the union
d meeting in the high school late this