U.S. EXPLOITATION IN MEXICO Spurred by the Introduction of sugar beet production, however, the growers soon turned to another source of labor: the Japanese. As a result of the growers' active recrultment, the number of Japanese res,ldents ln California grew from only 86 in 1882 to more than 72,000 by 1910 (10). Many of the Japanese farm workers had been small farmers themselves before lmmigratlng, and in large numbers they slowly moved out of wage labor and lnto farming their own lands. And as a tightly-knit ethnie group, they began to organize effectively for higher wages. These two factors led to the active recruitment of East lndian, Armenian, and other nationalities as farms workers. LOS MEXICANOS Of all the forelgn workers who were brought into the southwestern United States, however, none came in such numbers as the Mexlcans. Though Mexican workers had been used for years in both the fields and the construction of the railroads, particularly ln Texas, Arizona and the southern parts of Californla, it was not until World War I that the major influx of MeX1lcansinto the fields began (11). The Mexican population in California increased from 121,000 in 1920 to 368,000 in 1930 (12), but these figures do not begin to reflect the magnitude of the Mexican workforce that was used in the Southwest. Unlike the other immigrant groups, the large majority of the Mexicans never became citizens and did not remain in the United States. ln the Mexicans, the agribusiness empire of the Southwest had found the " ideal " supply of labor, one which could be turned on and off at will. Reports from the 1930s estimate that an average of 58,000 Mexican workers a year were brought into California alone during the decade between 1920 and 1930 (13), and the figures were probably ·even higher for Texas. What pleased the growers most about the MeX1icanswas that, unlike the Asians, Europeans, and Fllippinos, they could easily be deported during times of economic crises or labor organizing. ln other situations, deportations had been difficult because 1O. Ibid. pp. 105-106. 11. Ibid. p. 124. 12. Fisher, op. clt. p. 5. 13. McWllliams, op. clt. p. 125. 14. Marx, op. clt. p. 634. 85
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTExMDY2NQ==