22 BULLETIN 665, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
LABOR. 
The laborers of the section are almost altogether Mexican. 
Scarcely any negroes are encountered (1915). This labor is em- 
ployed by the day. by the week, or by contract. Ordinarily laborers 
X m/ ml ml / m -. „ ^ 
are secured at from $0.75 to $1 per day without rations, and the rate 
is practically the same by the week. In some instances laborers and 
their families are proyided with houses (jacals) on the farms, and 
the labor is utilized as needed. This practice tends to secure sta- 
bility and also increases the efficiency of the labor. 
Practice has established that the employment of Mexican labor by 
contract is the cheapest and generally the most efficient. For such 
work as clearing land, transplanting and haryesting truck crops, I 
etc., contract labor is commonly utilized. This method is particu- 
larly satisfactory since men. women, and children of the Mexican 
families perform labor of this character. 
Mexican labor is comparatiyely inefficient, owing partly to lack of 
intelligence and lack of knowledge of good methods. While the 
ayerage cost of hired labor is about $0.80 per day the cost of super- 
yision as shown by records from 59 farms is $0.75 per day, so that the 
actual cost to the farmer is approximately $1.50 per day. A large 
percentage of the Mexican laborers can not speak English. 
TRANSPORTATION. 
The lower Eio Grande Valley is proyided with only one railroad 
to outside markets. The St. Louis. Brownsyille & Mexico lines (part 
of the St. Louis & San Francisco system) connect Brownsyille with 
Houston, a distance of 372 miles (see fig. 1). By means of the San 
Antonio & Aransas Pass lines connection is made at Sinton, Tex., 
for San Antonio. 
The St. Louis, Brownsyille & Mexico Railway operates a branch 
line from Harlingen west to Mercedes, Mission, San Fordyce. and 
other points. Since the shipment of perishable produce has reached 
a considerable magnitude some difficulty has been encountered in the 
past in securing cars for freight transportation. 
A local line, the San Benito & Rio Grande, known as the " Spider- 
web " (see fig. 1) operates northeast and southwest from San Benito. 
A branch line of the St. Louis. Brownsyille & Mexico Railway con- 
nects San Juan with Edinburg, the county seat of Hidalgo County. 
Another line extends north from Mission to Monte Christo. 
The Rio Grande Railway, one of the oldest railroads in Texas, con- 
nects Brownsyille with Point Isobel and Brazos Santiago Pass. 
Before the construction of the St. Louis, Brownsyille & Mexico Rail- 
way to Brownsyille, this line furnished the principal means of trans- 
portation. Formerly small freight and passenger boats from Gulf 
seaports entered Laguna Madre through Brazo Santiago Pass to 
