The New York Times of January 29, 1948 reported the wreck of a "charter plane carrying 28 Mexican farm workers from Oakland to the El Centro, CA, Deportation Center...The crash occurred 20 miles west of Coalinga, 75 miles from Fresno..."

During World War II there was a shortage of farm workers in California so the federal government set up the bracero program which allowed Mexican immigrants to legally come to California and relieve the shortage. After the war, the California growers liked the cheap labor so much that they encouraged (bribed) congress to keep it in place. It wasn't ended until 1964. However, Mexican farm workers, both legal and illegal, are still used in great numbers. Many of them commute between Mexico and California annualy as work comes and goes.

The use of foreign (cheap) labor in California dates from 1869 when the trans-continental railroad was completed. This event greatly enlarged the market for California fruits and vegetables and, at the same time, produced a huge surplus of Chinese workers formerly employed in building the railroad. This surplus abruptly ended in 1882 with the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act. After that, workers were imported from Japan, the Philippines, Hawaii, the Caribbean and other places. During the Great Depression workers from Arkansas, Oklahoma and other states were used (and we do mean used). Then, with the start of the war it became Mexicans.

This material will be on the exam!

Bev and Jerry