Arizona republican., 1921-12-23

thrown a large number of men out of work Those who were in a po- sition financially so to do, naturally sought new fields of endeavor. thus materially reducing the populations of the mining centers, but others not so fortunately situated, were com pelled to remain and await a turn for the better.
 Pinal county, for it's size, seems to be in the worst shape, from an un- employment standpoint, than any of the counties. Cochise comes next and Gila is a close third. In fact there apparently are more people in Gila suffering from the depression than any other section of the state but the number of men without work is in the order stated. The reason is that there are more dependents af- fected in Gila than in the other coun- ties. Yavapai, on the other hand, although a mining county, has evil dently been but little adversely af- fected. Prescott. particularly has maintained the even tenor of its way, doubtless due to the construction program in progress at b. $. General Hospital No. 20 at Fort Whipple where extensive building operations are in progress, to be followed later on by an additional building program.
 In Jerome the unemployed aggre- gate 100, which is less than could be expected with the two big copper companies, the United Verde and the United Verde Extension. and their smelters non productive and non operative for several months. The mines and smelters there, I am re- iably advised, will resume during next February. The great majority of the unemployed in Jerome are Mexicans. Work was offered to them by this office and the Arizona Cotton Growers association picking cotton in the Salt River valley as early as last July. Several hundred signi- fled their willingness to accept this class of employment and signed to come here when the season opened. At that time, however, all except less than a dozen refused, when a repre- sentative of the Cotton Growers as- sociation went to Jerome for the pur- pose, later in the year, of shipping them to this valley.
 The same reluctance to work in the cotton fields at the rate of com pensation offered was manifested by the Mexicans in all parts of the state, notably at Douglas, where sufficient of that class of labor was available  | for cotton picking labor from this valley. By dint of hard work the cot | ton association. aided by the cooper ation of this office. secured enough labor with which to ''get by this sea- son, thus avoiding, consonant with your strongly expressed request, the necessity, as in years past, of i'm porting labor from Mexico. In this way feel this office has alone justi- fled its existence by keeping down the state of unemployment to its lowest possible minimum in a partic- ularly trying economic period.
 For your information I am here with including in this report a table showing the approximate number ot unemployed by counties, the public improvements in progress and con- templated, and for your further in formation there is herewith attached copies of correspondence bearing or the same subject and giving in -am- plitude the information on which thi: report is based:
 Report by Counties
 Apache County
 Unemployed, 150; contemplate road work when weather conditions per. init.