Louie Tagaban ,
Calexico, Calif.,
Feb. 19, 1958
It’s impossible for me to talk about the r,typical2 bracero
because there is no one tyoe. There °re several types. There's
the fellow from Oaxaca. He's more or 'ess a peasant. He comes
in wearing huaraches, and a shirt and oants,and a. wide hat, and
that'sit. That's all be brings with him. He is ant to be very
timid. You won j t him to talk much.
Then there s the fellow from Guadalajara, and the region
around there. He is just the opoosite. He's always willing to
joke with you. HeTs very friendly, andwill helo you out
if you askhim tof
Then there s the guy from right here at the border --
He xi call . They are oretty wise. ihev know al the answers.
They often go down to Snips lme and give an address in the
interior somewhere, and get contracted that way. You may
have trouble interviewing them because they aren’t on this level.
Then there are all different kinds. I remember one time
I got talking with a fellow at the Reception Center and he told
me he had bedn in the war as a pilot and had flown with a
squadron that went over to luam and the Philippines and all
around there. I didn't believe him, but he puiled out his
identification and showed me. When he <?ot out, he held been
a policeman in Mexico City, but had been busted for one reason
or a not er. So herelpe was, trying to make a, living.
Cosh, I rememberone timeseeing midgets -- dwarfs --get
contra, ted right here. One was about three feet high. He wasn*
deformed . Perfectly prooortioned . He got contracted rlgh
nway. The other was about three feethigh, too. He .wasn't
buil t auite right, but he was strong. You could see that.
So he got contracted right away too. Then we had a sailor from
Veracruz who was oven six feet tall come through. So it tak^s
all kinds.
l4y personal ooinion of the program? Wei , it is a problem
aroundhere, particu arly at the oresent time. There are lots of
people who have lived here for ve^rs, and have worked in
agricu ure all th$i*r lives. Rut the brace ros have taken their
jobs. T know what the International -Agreement «nd all that says
about locals having first choice. The thing is, locals don't
want to work for seventy cents an hour. Braceros are happy to
work for that. They come into Penney's to have their checks
cashed. They run §15, $20, m30, maybe evenmore if they are
lucky. They are always happy. They never complain «bout the
pay. Of course, rigljit now they ve got it rough, because of all
the rain. They *ren t able to put in the hours.
xhe growers f may claim that locals aren t willing to work
because they don t want to do stoop labor. 'That isn't true.
the growers offered §1.00 an hour, they could get all the
locals they could ever use. And they could afford to pay §1.00