Douglas daily dispatch., 1928-02-26
ASK CONGRESS
FOR LABOR #
BAR MEX|CANS
General Manager of Arizona
Cotton Growers States
Position
WEST PROTESTS
California Joins in Fight
Against Application of
Quota Law
WEST PROTESTS

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 H9--An app.
peal to congress to point the way to
a new labor supply before shutting
off the influx of Mexican farm labor
ers through enactment of the Box bill
to place all western hemisphere ma
tions on a quota basis was made by
opponents of the measure today be-
lore the house Immigration commit
tee. .
They presented a picture of deaor-
alized agricultural conditions which.
they said would result in western and
southwestern states if Mexican lab
orers were barred
Representative Box, democrat, Tex
as, author of the measure, prepared
to introduce new witnesses to testify
concerning the undesirability of the
Mexicans.
E. j. Walker of Phoenix, Ariz
general manager of the Arizona cot
ton growers association, told the COM
mittee the experiences of his Or
ganization in procuring farm labor,
declared that his section was not
welded to Mexican labor, but to
labor, and urged it to discover an
efficient substitute before cutting off
the present supply.
The needs of the California citrus
farmers for Mexican labor were
stressed by A. G. Hardison of Santa
Paula, California. The Mexican he
contended, was adapted to te season
al movement from place to place
necessary in the harvesting jof Cali
fornia crops. s$
Representative Smith, republican,
Idaho, chairman of the house irriga-
ton committee, appeared to present
kilograms from numerous citizens OF
his state protesting against the en-
actment of the measure
Pointing to reports of unemploy-
ment in many sections of the coun-
try, Chairman johnson suggested that
| it might be possible to set up a gov
ernment agency to distribute the un-
| employed where there was a need for
| labor.
] Representative Rutherford, demo-
crat, Georgia, said that many laborers
were unemployed in Georgia because
the farmers had been unable to mar
ket their crops and were forced tc
leave large areas uncultivated. This
had resulted, he said, in the de-
parture of many negroes to northern
industrial centers.
Walker said that the peak labor
demand in Arizona extended over q
four month period during which let
tuce, cotton and cantaloupes were be-
ing harvested. The cotton produced
1 he described as long staple, saying
| that there was no surplus of this
commodity.
A three month immigration period
/ Walker believed would help to meet
the Arizona labor needs, but he Gle.
clared it would be difficult to assure
the return of the laborers to Mexico
at the expiration of the period
Hardison described the Mexican a!
better adapted to the tedious task
of fruit gathering than any Other
type of labor Americans would avoic
orange picking whenever possible, III
said, and would turn to other job
which paid less money in preference
OIllGIl SdlQ GIldG CIlCIC IlOW WCA'
100000 acres of irrigated land il
his state which must be cultivated
intensively if it produces profitably
This intensive cultivation, he added
could not be carried on without tn
Mexican laborer The citizens of hi
state, he said, also were protesting
against the exclusion of Canadians ol
the ground that it would be dis
courtesy to Canada.
The Idaho representative describe,
the Mexican as better adapted Il
work in the sugar beet fields thai
any other type of laborer.