I acknowledge this reference to section 36 of the immigration act of February 5, 1917, printed on the reverse side of this sheet, imposing a fine of $10 for each change in crew not reported by me. I certify on honor that the foregoing is a complete and accurate report, and that, should any additional changes in crew occur before my vessel sails from this port, I will report such changes to the immigration authorities.

EXTRACT FROM IMMIGRATION ACT OF FEBRUARY 5, 1917

Master.

SEC. 36. That upon arrival of any vessel in the United States from any foreign port or place it shall be the duty of the owner, agent, consignee, or master thereof to deliver to the principal immigration officer in charge of the port of arrival lists containing the names of all aliens employed on such vessel, stating the positions they respectively hold in the ship's company, when and where they were respectively shipped or engaged, and specifying those to be paid off and discharged in the port of arrival; or lists containing so much of such information as the Secretary of Labor shall by regulation prescribe; and after the arrival of any such vessel it shall be the duty of such owner, agent, consignee, or master to report to such immigration officer, in writing, as soon as discovered, all cases in which any such alien has illegally landed from the vessel, giving a description of such alien, together with any information likely to lead to his apprehension; and before the departure of any such yessel it shall be the duty of such owner, agent, consignee, or master to deliver to such immigration officer a further list containing the names of all alien employees who were not employed thereon at the time of the arrival but who

will leave port thereon at the time of her departure, and also the names of those, if any, who have been paid off and discharged, and of those, if any, who have deserted or landed; and in case of the failure of such owner, agent, consignee, or master so to deliver either of the said lists of such aliens arriving and departing, respectively, or so to report such cases of desertion or landing, such owner, agent, consignee, or master shall, if required by the Secretary of Labor, pay to the collector of customs of the customs district in which the port of arrivals is located the sum of $10 for each alien concerning whom correct lists are not delivered or a true report is not made as above required; and no such vessel shall be granted clearance pending the determination of the question of the liability to the payment of such fine, and in the event such fine is imposed, while it remains unpaid; nor shall such fine be remitted or refunded: Provided, That clearance may be granted prior to the determination of such question upon deposit of a sum sufficient to cover such fine.

(After informal discussion as to further procedure:)

Senator HARRISON. Mr. Chairman, will you hear Mr. Dever now? The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

STATEMENT OF MR. S. H. DEVER.

Mr. DEVER. Mr. Chairman, your committee to a very large extent, as I understand it, has to do with ways and means. My interest here is not to tell you how to do things, but merely to call your attention to what this all means to the cotton-producing section of the South.

The gentleman from the Carolinas gave you some information this morning. He dealt very largely with the cotton situation as a whole. I come from the center of the Mississippi Delta, which produces half of the long-staple cotton grown in America. In the past five years we have lost about 19 per cent of our labor by migration to northern centers. We have had practically no replacements, other than by robbing other sections of the South.

In other words, the agricultural sections of the South as a whole have had no replenishment of their labor. We are 53 per cent developed as far as tillable lands are concerned, and we find that in three years we have lost 19 per cent of our labor. We still have our investments. We still have our bond issues to meet.

There is no way in the world that we can conceive to check the migration of the negro. To my way of thinking, personally, I have no desire to check it. I think it is a natural movement. So I have come to ask that in the consideration of this measure you will not lose sight of the fact that we must have more and betterand especially more intelligent-labor in the South, in this cotton. area, to protect that which we now have as an investment.

Senator REED of Pennsylvania. Will Mexican labor suffice?

Mr. DEVER. I am a native of Texas, Senator. The States that border on Mexico will absorb all of the labor that Mexico can possibly send out.

Senator COPELAND. What is your suggestion, Mr. Dever?

Mr. DEVER. We must do something to produce agricultural labor, Senator; labor that will come into the agricultural sections. Just what it is, I will not undertake to say.

Senator COPELAND. Were you here this morning?

Mr. DEVER. Yes, sir.

Senator COPELAND. I have tried for a long time to get the Depart ment of Labor to recognize farming as skilled labor, so that when

you have a problem like this and you make a demand for persons who are skilled in the soil you can get them. But they have taken the view up to now that farming is not skilled labor. You want to have a way of requisitioning the labor that you need to carry on your cotton industry?

Mr. DEVER. Senator, in requisitioning labor from the cities of the North, I will say that 10 laborers picked out from the city of New York, for instance, and sent to me to grow cotton in the South would do me no good. It is a profession, so to speak. They must learn it, just as a competent wheat farmer learns to grow his wheat. As an illustration, with 84 negro families and 22 Italian families, my 22 Italian families have concentrated their land and their efforts on producing cotton

Senator HARRIS. How much more do they cultivate than the negro labor?

Mr. DEVER. A negro man and his wife with an average of 15 acres of tillable soil will produce a maximum of 10 bales of cotton. Senator HARRIS. What about the Italian family?

Mr. DEVER. An Italian man and his wife will work 21 acres and produce from 14 to 15 bales.

The CHAIRMAN. I did not understand your answer to Senator Reed's question. Do the Mexicans supply this labor want at all? Mr. DEVER. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Why not?

Mr. DEVER. The States that border on Mexico will absorb all of the labor that Mexico can possibly furnish.

Senator KING. Before coming to the Senate I often visited Arizona and New Mexico in a professional way. I discovered that the Mexicans who came to work in the mines returned to Mexico. It was hard to retain them and no matter what wages were paid, they preferred after obtaining a few dollars to go back to Mexico. There seems to be no disposition on the part of the Mexicans to migrate to the United States, notwithstanding the high wages paid here.

Senator WILLIS. How do you explain the fact that there are 2,000 of them in Gary right now?

Senator KING. As to what has occurred in the last five or six years I do not express any opinion.

The CHAIRMAN. The testimony before the committee at our hearings two or three years ago was just what Senator King has said. It was estimated that between 80 and 90 per cent of them returned. That may have been a high estimate.

Mr. DEVER. I will say, Senator that in the month of December when I was making a trip to learn the agricultural conditions in the Central and Southern States I encountered the immigration and labor agents of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. They moved some 400 Mexicans about that time from southwest Texas to Ohio and Pennsylvania points, and they only work six or seven months on an average and then return south. They will not remain.

Senator KING. Is it you idea that there should be a provision in the law that the skilled agriculturist might be permitted to come in? Mr. DEVER. Yes, sir.

Senator KING. The preference given to them?

Mr. DEVER. Absolutely. A great many people take the view that there is a surplus of production of agricultural products. I do not agree with them. A 10,000,000-bale crop is only a surplus of less than 1,000,000 bales. Less than 10 per cent to carry over for a business of that magnitude is too small.

Senator KING. Is it not a fact that with the increasing population, if you could produce cheaper cotton goods, there would be a larger consumption of cotton?

Mr. DEVER. I presume there would be. The condition that we have now is that we have sufficient labor to work 50 per cent of our tillable soil. We have our investment there of the entire 100 per cent, but we have lost 19 per cent of our labor in the last three years. At the present rate of migration from the South, with no replenishment, in another five years we will still have our 100 per cent investment, but we will have lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 per cent of our labor.

The CHAIRMAN. What proportion of your labor comes from southern and eastern Europe, or is Italian or Pole?

Mr. DEVER. We could not differentiate it, because within the State of Missisippi there are only some 30,000 or 40,000 farmers out of the total population. In my county, Bolivar County, we have a population of 56,000, with a population of 8,000 aliens.

Senator COPELAND. How many Italians have you in your employ? Mr. DEVER. I have 20 families.

Senator COPELAND. Have they been with you for a long time? Mr. DEVER. Some of them have been in America 17 years; they have all been in that community all of the time they have been in America.

Senator COPELAND. Do you have any trouble in keeping them there?

Mr. DEVER. None whatever.

Senator COPELAND. Is it your belief that if there was a provision made by law so that a person skilled in the soil could be brought in, you could locate them and keep them?

Mr. DEVER. It is.

Senator COPELAND. You do not think they would float off?

Mr. DEVER. No. I base that on this fact. In my individual case I share the crop with the farmer. I charge him one-fourth of his crops for his rental. If he has a bad year I share the loss with him; if he has a prosperous year I share the prosperity with him. If he is extra ambitious and extra active I earn just that much more.

Senator WILLIS. Are these Italian families that you employ originally from the same vicinity?

Mr. DEVER. A great many of these Italians were originally brought from Italy by Colonel Crawford, who settled in that community 17 years ago. Colonel Scott brought a great many and settled there in the other side of the county. But as these men reduced their farms these Italians scattered, and I got a number of them.

Senator WILLIS. Have you made an effort to get other Italians from outside?

Mr. DEVER. Only from Louisiana. But in doing that you have to be very careful. You can not mix the northern Italian and the

southern Italian. You can not mix the central Italian with the southern Italian.

Senator WILLIS. You are speaking now with reference to the geography of Italy and not of the United States?

Mr. DEVER. Absolutely.

Senator COPELAND. Are they still Italians? I mean to say, do they speak Italian?

Mr. DEVER. Yes; they speak a large per cent of Italian among themselves. Their business is transacted in English. Their children are in our schools. Their sons-out of this colony of 34 families the only six that were available went into the American Army. Three were left in France, and three came back.

Senator WILLIS. From what part of Italy do these Italians come? Mr. DEVER. From Ancona, in central Italy. That is, the agricultural class.

Senator COPELAND. Suppose you were free to do it, how would you go about getting 100 Italian families? Would you go to Italy and select them?

Mr. DEVER. Yes, sir.

Senator KING. Have they sought to bring others to America from the region from which they came?

Mr. DEVER. Yes, sir.

Senator KING. With what success?

Mr. DEVER. Only one family during the year 1923.

Senator KING. What assurance have you that any others from Italy want to come?

Mr. DEVER. I have had from these Italians applications from some 40 families for homes, if they can come within the immigration requirements.

Mr. REED of Pennsylvania. They want to come as entire families? Mr. DEVER. Yes.

Senator REED of Pennsylvania. Will their Government give them passports?

Mr. DEVER. They will.

Senator REED of Pennsylvania. Is not that the sticking point, that the Italian Government wants to give passports only to the wage earner?

Mr. DEVER. Yes, sir.

Senator REED of Pennsylvania. And wants him to leave his family at home?

Mr. DEVER. Yes, sir.

Senator KING. Do you think the Italians in the south of Italy are desirable citizens?

Mr. DEVER. I think so. My experience is that they are. Senator KING. Are they law abiding? Do the young children assimilate themselves readily? Do they learn the language? Mr. DEVER. Very well, indeed.

Senator KING. They take on American ideas and American culture?

Mr. DEVER. They do.

Senator WILLIS. You have had no experience on your plantation there with other than these Italians and Mexicans?

Mr. DEVER. As a young man in Texas, 20 years ago, I had a good Ideal to do with Polish and German labor.

f