Arizona republican., 1921-09-04
HOW UNEMPLOYED MEXICAN PROBLEM
 WAS SOLVED HERE

.rnoenix may consider the local eieSacan situation solved in effect. ii ls announced from the Associated cnarities- Work in the cotton fields or elsewhere is now offered to every man and woman able to work. There are lew individuals, however. who prefer idleness and the chance em- rloyment to the permanent job These. fortunately. the comparatiyelv few in number.
 However. there are still a number or families of fatherless children too Soung to be taken to the cotton fields ana there are also several cases of severe illness which must be cared Tor. With the closing of this cam paign a glance back may be bene- ficial.
 In June a large number of Mexi- cans were awaiting transportation to Mexico For. excellent reasons this plan was abandoned. number, pos slbly half dozen families, came in Tor help from other counties.
 The Associated Charities has a rec ord of each applicant, including his name. residence before application former employer, pfesent address etc The name of the wife. given and maiden name, age, and birthplace ot each child, as well as of father and mother. and any other relatives mak- ing his home with the family.
 The man and his wife were botf interviewed. Food was issued in the name of the husband. In no case was food given to children without theil parents unless the home was visited A number of families were placed ir tents owned by the Arizona Cottor Growers associations; food was sent to each of these camps three times per week. The remaining applicants made a bread line" of length, which was served from the porch at the Associated Charities office.
 New applicants were referred tc the bread line until their residence was trasferred to one of the camps In each camp a roster of the names was kept and each distribution cafe fully checked off.
 At the office of the Charities z similar list was kept, and tickets fol food or milk were issued. No tickei was given until the investigation wa: completed There could thus be nc duplication in the distribution, either at the camps or at the porch.
 When employment was offered. tit family asked to work was considered provided for and needing no further aid. So they were placed on the re tired list. The <acquaintance witt both husband and wife and childrer made any return to the food distribu ton impossible. Only twice was an, such attempt made. and of course was at once detected.
 A further precaution was the em- ployment card of the United State. employment agency. A file of these cards is kept by the Charities.
 Finding temporary work for thu Mexicans has been somewhat unsa- tisfactory. The Mexican man of this group is a field man and knows nc tools other than pick and shovel The Mexican woman of this group knows nothing whatever of American house keeping, cleaning, etc. Hence, she # not usually a success if left to herself and with no knowledge of English sht misinterprets the wishes of her em- ployer. and the result is not happy.
 One of the camps was discontinued by offers of employment and othel good reasons, so it was thought bes 10 discontinue the camps entirely ane establish three distribution stations in their place. For these stations ration tickets were issued bearing th' name of the recipient and the mum Der of the station. The ration wa: punched from the ticket. The bread
 
 served nom the porch.
 Then came the opening of the cot. ton season and also work on watel projects and on ranches. Every mar in the distributing stations and manl from the porch was given the oppor' tunity to work. consequently. the sta tions are closed and only the sick anC the babies are left to the care of th' Charities.
 Fourteen tons of food and mill have been distributed.
 With the exception of those turnet over at once to the Arizona Cottol Growers association, there were n contract laborers in the group de pendent on the Charities. Of thes dependents which were at one tim or another returned to Mexico. thre returned to Phoenix, but never to tn Charities One-third of the appii cants to the Charities were original. Sonora Mexicans, the other two thirds having come from Jallsco Coahuila. Sinaloa and Zacatecas, ant from the mountains of Chihuahua. { second careful investigation made Il the case of all Sonoranses, lest the. had been once returned to MeX1c and had slipped back over the border All however, gave verified account of themselves for at least one year and in several cases, from 10 to wears. The natives of Jalisco and ad iacent states could hardly have re turned. as that would involve tn long railroad journey via Fl Paso.
 Phoenix has happily met an solved this heavy question to tn welfare of both American and Mexi can