68 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-THIRD FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



do that monotonous drudgery that is inseparable from an agricultural 

 or horticultural life. The problem is, Where and how can we get them? 

 It is not a question of wages. During the season that has just closed, 

 it was impossible to get a sufficient number of reliable white men, at any 

 price, to harvest the hay and cereal crops and to gather the products of 

 the orchards and vineyards. And it was not always easy to get a suffi- 

 cient number of Japanese at a time when the necessity for more labor 

 was imperative. As for the Chinese, they have practically disappeared 

 from the Pacific Coast and are no longer considered as factors in the 

 labor situation. 



Conditions have been gradually growing worse from year to year. 

 That this would be so was recognized by the twenty-seventh annual 

 Fruit-Growers' Convention, held in San Francisco in December, 1902. 

 The whole subject was exhaustively discussed at that time, and as a 

 result a committee of fifteen was appointed to devise methods that would 

 induce white immigration from the Eastern and Middle States sufficient 

 to meet the demand in California. Hon. H. P. Stabler was chairman 

 of that committee, and he and his associates worked indefatigably. As 

 a result of their efforts nearly one thousand agricultural laborers were 

 persuaded to come to this State. The situation was temporarily relieved, 

 but partial success only served to emphasize the fact that the relief was 

 not adequate, and that if any further is to be obtained it may be neces- 

 sary to look to another source. 



These Eastern and Middle States farm laborers in most instances 

 proved to be steady, industrious, and reliable men, but it would be 

 unreasonable to expect them to be satisfied to carry their blankets in 

 the wake of the harvesting as it moves from one district to another 

 with the ripening crop. Experience and observation soon taught them 

 that while this is a land of opportunity, and its possibilities can hardly 

 be overestimated, to prosper they must have steady employment. They 

 soon made the discovery that there are certain kinds of field work, 

 which are necessary on account of the character and wide range of pro- 

 ductions, which the white race will not endure with patience. Being 

 intelligent, they naturally sought to better their condition. Having 

 frugal habits, energy, and thrift they prospered and acquired the means, 

 or established a reputation for honesty and industry that enabled them 

 to buy or lease farms, orchards, or vineyards, and many of them are 

 now operating such properties on their own account. So, the labor 

 problem promises ever to be a vital question. 



Before the enactment of the exclusion law there were enough Chinese 

 in California to meet any exigency in the labor situation. They proved 

 themselves well adapted to that particular form of labor to which so 

 many white men object. They were patient, plodding, and uncom- 

 plaining in the performance of the most menial service. They were 



