CHAPTER VIII. IMMIGRANT LABOR AND FARMING IN THE IMPERIAL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA. An agent of the Commission investigated farming and immigrant labor in the Imperial Valley in the spring of 1909. This valley embraces some 500,000 acres of land in southern California, in what was formerly known as the Colorado Desert. About 250,000 acres have been recently reclaimed by the California Development Company, water for irrigation being brought from the Colorado River. The land has been available for settlement only since 1901. Because of this fact and the uncertainties connected with reclamation work and with conflicting land surveys, the settlers have engaged chiefly in agricultural industries involving the investment of little labor and capital and bringing quick returns. The report of the California State Agricultural Society for 1908 reported 125,000 acres as devoted to barley and alfalfa. In connection with this crop many farmers are engaged in the raising of live stock and in dairying, and there are several creameries in the valley. Some wheat and kaffir corn are also grown, and a few vegetables by Japanese gardeners. More recently several new crops have been tried experimentally. Some vineyards and orchards have been set out. Cantaloupes have been raised extensively since 1906, and in 1909 2,000 acres were planted to cotton. As yet cantaloupes are the only crop giving rise to any problem of the labor supply. In the other lines of farming little hand work is required, and the work not done by the farmers is done by their regular ranch hands. It is in the cantaloupe industry alone that immigrant labor, chiefly Japanese and Mexican, is used. Most of the land of the valley is held and cultivated by American settlers who have filed claims for these lands with the Government; but since 1904 the Japanese have been leasing land for cultivation, until in 1909 they controlled about 2,500 acres in this district. The Mexicans have no land under their control. The 'white settlers prefer white ranch hands for all labor where they can be secured. The Japanese employ only their own countrymen for all their ranch work. It is only in the raising of cantaloupes, where much labor is required during the picking season, that Japanese labor has been largely employed by all classes of farmers. Cantaloupes were first raised on a small scale in 1906. In 1907, 1,200 acres were planted, and this resulted in so profitable a crop that in 1908 10,000 acres were planted. The marketing system used by the ranchers proved inadequate for so large a crop, and in consequence many lost money in the cantaloupe industry. This discouraged the majority of the growers, so that in 1909 only 3,000 acres were planted. It was notably the white ranchers who abandoned the industry, for in 1909 approximately one-half of the acreage devoted to cantaloupe growing was land leased by the Japanese. The regular work involved in raising cantaloupes consists in the preparation of the soil, planting, cultivating, irrigating, thinning, and treating for pests, and all this is usually done by the grower himself. Twenty acres is considered the amount of cantaloupe land which one man alone can properly care for till picking time. But the picking, grading, and packing during June and July require a great many laborers. In gathering cantaloupes the picker must bend over to pick the melon from the ground and place it in a sack suspended from his shoulder. This is very tiresome work, especially for a beginner, but white men do not particularly object to the character of the work. It requires some skill, as the cantaloupes have to be picked at a particular stage in their growth in order to reach the distant markets in a ripe and marketable condition five or six days later. A field of cantaloupes must be picked over twice each day. The melons when picked are carried to the packing sheds, where they are graded, wrapped in paper, and packed in crates for shipment. The wrapping and packing must be done with great care immediately after the fruit is picked. Any injury to the rind of the melons or too long exposure to the air after picking damages them. It is essential, therefore, to have enough laborers to handle each day's crop. As soon as packed the crates are hauled to the packing sheds along the railroad to be loaded upon the cars. One picker is required for about every 2 acres. In 1906 and 1907 nearly all the pickers were white men and few Japanese were employed. For the season of 1908 there were between 2,000 and 3,000 pickers and packers employed in the valley. Of these, the majority were white men, 500 or 600 were Japanese, and there were some Mexicans. The crop of 1909 was late in maturing, and this investigation was made just before the picking began, so that more accurate details and personal data could not be secured, for the pickers had not yet arrived. On a 20-acre cantaloupe patch in 1908 one white grower employed the following men: One white irrigator, $2.25 per day, including board and lodging. This instance is cited merely as an illustration to show the number of men required for a cantaloupe field of a given acreage and the rate of wages prevailing at that time. Most of the white growers did not employ any Japanese labor, but hired only white men. As on the ranch noted above, where Japanese were employed by white growers they were confined to picking, the grading, packing, and teaming being done by white men. As a rule white pickers are paid the same money wage as Japanese, but they receive board in addition. Where Mexicans are employed they also receive the same wages as Japanese and board themselves. White packers receive $3.50 per day with board, and graders are often paid $3 per day with board. Ten hours is given as the average day for all races on white growers' farms, but the day is complete only when the patch has been picked for the second time. During the picking season the work is continuous seven days in the week. On ranches leased by Japanese all of the work connected with the raising of cantaloupes is done by Japanese. Japanese growers can get their countrymen to work for them cheaper than white growers can secure them. By working longer hours the Japanese growers also usually employ fewer men for a given acreage than do white men. Japanese tenants paid their countrymen 20 cents per hour in 1908 while white growers paid Japanese $2.25 for a ten-hour day, but the Japanese growers near Heber stated that they had agreed among themselves to pay their countrymen 22 cents per hour for the season of 1909. This necessary increase they attributed to the fact that Japanese are hard to secure. The Japanese growers pay one-half of the transportation of their pickers, who come from Los Angeles or Riverside when the orange picking is finished. The prevailing system of wages is on a time basis, but some of the packers and less often the pickers also, are paid piece rates. Packers in 1908 usually received 5 cents per crate packed and averaged nearly 100 crates per day. Some picking and packing groups took contracts to do the picking, grading, and packing for 25 cents per crate. A Japanese grower made a contract for 1909 with Japanese to pick, grade, and pack his melons for 20 cents per crate, and another contract giving 5 cents per crate for hauling them to the railroad. shed. Most of the picking, however, is paid by the day, as this is the most satisfactory method of securing careful work. In each of the 10 loading sheds along the railroad the distributing companies employed from six to ten white men. The distributing companies also employed several inspectors in each district to oversee the picking and packing on the ranches and examine the quality of the fruit. The white ranchers in this new district employ white men in preference to Mexicans or Japanese. The only objection to white pickers is that they are somewhat uncertain. During June and July, when cantaloupes are picked, the temperature sometimes reaches 120° in the shade, and in the sunshine where the pickers work it is much hotter. The atmosphere is dry, so that there are no prostrations, but the discomfort is great. A new picker is likely to quit before he becomes accustomed to the work and the heat, thus leaving the grower short of help during the busy season. The Japanese endure the heat better than white men and hence are more regular at work, but the work of the white pickers is generally more satisfactory than that of the Japanese. They are more intelligent workers and are better judges as to the proper time to pick the melons. White men are usually faster pickers than Japanese, but as an offset against this fact, where necessary, Japanese will work longer hours. However, ten hours is given as the average day for both races. As graders and packers white men are preferred, and are always employed on all ranches except those controlled by Japanese tenants. Nor can the grading and packing done by the Japanese growers always be depended upon. One of the shippers says it takes twice as many field inspectors to oversee the packing of Japanese growers as for the same number of white growers. The Japanese, it is said, often grade and mark their packed crates incorrectly where it is to their advantage to do so. It is said that such mistakes are not due to ignorance, but are intentionally made to secure a better price. This is given as one reason why white growers do not like to ship their product in cooperation with the Japanese. Mexicans are employed to some extent as cantaloupe pickers, but their number varies from time to time. They have not as yet been a very important element in the labor supply. They stand the heat well, but are lazy, irregular, lack ambition, are of a roving class, and are generally considered the least efficient laborers. The loss in 1908 already mentioned, was attributed to poor marketing facilities, which could not handle such a large crop. In 1909 the outlook for the smaller acreage was bright, but there was no change in the system of marketing. Every cantaloupe center has one or two cantaloupe growers' associations, but there is no general organization of all growers which controls the marketing of the crop. The membership of these various associations is of growers who ship through one commission merchant and organize an association to oversee the marketing. A growers' association contracts with some one of the various competing distributors for the sale of the cantaloupes of its members. The dis-tributors furnish the crates, nails, and paper wrappers for packing and deduct from the proceeds of each grower's melons the price of these articles and also of advances made to growers to assist in carrying on the harvest. For marketing the crop the distributors receive 15 per cent commission on the gross sales. As a shed fee the cantaloupe growers pay 4 cents per crate to the association, and any surplus at the end of the season is distributed among the members. In two associations of white growers there are a few Japanese members, but it is said that generally white growers do not like to ship with Japanese. At Heber the Japanese have an association of their own controlling the cantaloupes grown on about 350 acres. At Keystone there are two Japanese cantaloupe growers' associations, each controlling about 500 acres. One of these was incorporated with a capital stock of $5,000. The by-laws provide that when the shed fees of members at 4 cents per crate equal the sum of one or more shares of stock at the par value of $1, such stock subscribed for shall be issued to such members. There are two white growers who ship with the Japanese, although they are not members of the association. The first three Japanese came into the Imperial Valley in May, 1904. In the other agricultural communities of California the Japanese first came as laborers and after working two or three years began to lease land. The first Japanese to arrive in the Imperial Valley came for the express purpose of leasing land, and the seasonal laborers came later. One of these first three Japanese states that they heard of this new district as a good place for Japanese to lease land for raising barley and garden truck. They all succeeded in leasing land soon after their arrival. A few months later more of their countrymen came to rent land. Since 1904 the number of Japanese has been continually increasing, until in 1909 there were about 200 in the valley, permanently located on leased land. During the cantaloupe harvest in June and July these Japanese tenants require about 400 more Japanese to pick their crop. Some of the early Japanese lessees were among those growers who set out cantaloupes in 1906 when that crop was first grown. In 1909 several Japanese were also among those planting cotton. The Japanese in 1909 leased about 2,500 acres in this district. The approximate acreage by localities was as follows: Heber, 850 acres; El Centro, 110 acres; Mellowland, 130 acres; Keystone, 1,100 acres; and Brawley, 300 acres. The following table shows the size of holdings in some of these localities, but it is not complete, the data having been secured in most cases from the secretaries of two of the Japanese cantaloupe growers' associations: TABLE 84.-Japanese cantaloupe growers in certain localities in California, 1909. Practically all the Japanese pay a cash rent, the usual terms being for three years. At Heber the most common rent paid was $7 per acre for the first year, $10 for the second, and $12 for the third. A few Japanese leased some hay land" for as little as $4 per acre. |