ARGENTINE, KANSAS: THE EVOLUTION OF A MEXICAN AMERICAN C O M M U N I T Y 9 1905-1940 by Judith Fincfeer Laird B • A * f hinihrop C o l l e g e , 196T M. A* t University of Manchester* 1972 Subnitted to the Department of History and the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Kansas in partial fulfiilnent of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy m< uH Dissertation C o M i t t e e I. . « r~ h i C> . &LU » . . r - ,,. a mit* Chairsnn KOOQIS 111*7 PREFACE This study grew out of a chance visit I made to the Argentine district of Kansas City, Kansas, in 1971. My initial contact with Mexican-Amerleans there sparked ay curiosity about the origins and history of the barrio* Casual inquiry gradually gave way to systematic research efforts* I soon discovered two pitfalls which threatened to spell the end to my inquiry: the apparent lack of writ* ten records generated by the Mexican-Anerican people and destruction of other local public and private records by a devastating flood which inundated low-lying portions of Argentine in 1951, Curiosity prevailed and the search for data continued* P A lucky break cane in the Fall of 1973 when 1 gained access to Santa Fe payroll records. These records permitted more critical analysis of state census data and enabled me to explore the work life and migration patterns of Argentine's Mexican railroad ^workers. In researching and writing this work 1 received help from many people. 1 wish to thank C . R. Lake, Secretary and Treasurer of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Com- pany, for granting me permission to use Santa Fe payroll records and company materials deposited at the Kansas State Historical Society. J* 0 . Ilinton, Jr., Assistant Secretary i i of the company, graciously assisted me in locating records within the Sant8 Fe system* I also would like to thank Pay Master Harold C . Miiliken and his staff (Wesley Taylor, Richard Wolfe, Gary Lsw and Ron Brown) for their patient and unfailing help in deciphering aged payroll records w and Jack W . Kelly, Assistant to Valuation Engineer» for his explanations of the Operating Departnent of the company and for sharing with me his interest in railroad history* Special thanks go to Joseph Snell, Assistant Archi- vist, of the Kansas State Historical Society for his assis- tance in this project, and to the staffs of the Kansas State Historical Society; the United Methodist Historical Library at Baker University, Baldwin, Kansas; the Missouri State Historical Society; the Kenneth Spencer Research Library Library, University of Kansas; Guadalupe Center, Kansas City, Missouri; the Chancery Office, Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas; and the Augustinian Recollect Fathers and Brothers of the Monastery of St* Augustine in Kansas City, Kansas* Public agencies also helped facilitate my research* David T . Isabell, Research Coordinator, of the City Planning Commission of Kansas City, Kansas, and the staff of the City Planning Department, provided me with copies of studies con* ducted by the city in the Argentine district* D» M . Fraier, Assistant Superintendant for Business Affairs, Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education, shared manuscript materials held by the Board of Education with me and permitted me to copy the Board's photographs of the Clara Barton (Mexican) school. i i i Other scholars also provided encourayccent and materials which aided in this project. Professor Paul 5* Taylor of the Department of Economics. University of Cali- fornia at Berkeley, permitted me to use manuscript materials from his personal papers, and Professor Abraham Hoffman, editor of Professor Taylor's field notes on Mexican immigra- tion (Taylor Papers, Bancroft Library), provided me with copies of relevant manuscripts from the Taylor Papers* Also, Professor Craig Miner, Department of History, Wichita * i® * # State University, made helpful suggestions on researching, the Santa Fe archives* 1 am greatly indebted to Professor John G. Clark, my dissertation director, for steering me through turbulent periods during my graduate career and for his critique and encouragement* I wish to acknowledge the Influence of Pro- fessors David M. Katzman, Lloyd Sponholtx and Norman letman in helping me to sharpen my perceptions of urban history, methodology and sociological theory, respectively* Pro- fessors William J* Griffith and Charles L* Stansifer, former Director and Director, respectively, of the Latin American Studies Center, helped prepare me to undertake this project by training me to research in Spanish-language sources* Dissertation Travel Funds from the Graduate School of the University of Kansas, and the efforts of the Graduate Chairmen of the Department of History, Robert L . Gilmore end Theodore Wilson, further facilitated my training and research. Finally, 1 wish to thank my husband, Larry, for his penetrating critique of my work and his loving support* TABLE OF C O M T E N T S Page PREFACE il TABLE OF CONTENTS * v LIST OF TABLES * vi LIST OF HAPS vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS * vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION * ! « II MEXICANS AND OTHER IMMIGRANTS IN KANSAS C I T Y , 1050 TO 1920 26 III MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS TO ARGENTINE 61 An Overview of Mexicans in Argentine Mexican Origins of the Migration Mexican Donor Communities Cone lus ion IV MEXICANS IN A SANTA FE TOWN 113 V THE ARGENTINE BARRIO AS AN URBAN VILLAGE . 159 VI CONCLUSION 219 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 234 v LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1* Mexican Businesses in Kansas C i t y , Kansas, and Missouri, 19J0-1940 » • * * • • » * • • # * 52 2, Date of Immigration of Mexicans Residing in Four Kansas Towns in 1925 « 64 3* Year of Immigration of 130 Mexican Males Resid« ing in Argentine on March 1, 1925 65 4• Population of Foreign-Born Whites, Born 1» Mexico, in Argentine, Kansas C i t y , Kansas, and Kansas C i t y , Missouri, 1900 to 1940 73 5* States of Origin of 112 Mexicans Employed by the Santa Fe in Kansas C i t y , 1905-1940 » * * « 84 6. States of Origin of Mexican Laborers in Kansas City, As Compared to Other Areas of the United States • • • • * * » • • • * • • * • # • 88 7 . Population and Population Oensity of Four States in the Central Plateau of Mexico, 1910 • * « * 89 8* Mexican Donor Communities of Immigrants to Argentine, Kansas * « 94 9, Mexican Donor Communities—By State, as Shown on the Proceeding Map 103 10* Mexican Track Laborers on the Santa Fe Railway, 1805-1927. 116 11. Mexican Track Laborers in Argentine (Kansas City Division), 1905 to 1927 (June Sample) 117 12. Wage Rates of Mexican Laborers in Argentine, 1921—1935 • * * # * # • » » * • « • * • • • • m 138 13. Wage Patterns of Mexican Shop Employes, Argen- tine, 1921-1935 142 14. Naturalization of Mexicans in Kansas C i t y , Kansas, From 1859 to 1947 190 vi LIST OF M A P S Map P&9* 1. Topographical Map of Kansas C i t y , Kansas, and Kansas C i t y , Missouri 33 2. Historic Boundaries of Kansas C i t y , Kansas « . 35 3» Map of the Metropolitan Street Railway System in Kansas C i t y , Kansas, and Missouri • • , . 45 4. Origins of Argentine's Immigrants 101 5. The Mesa Central—Mexican Oonor Communities . 102 6* Distribution of Mexican Housing in the Argen- tine Barrio, 1925» (Each dot represents a Mexican dwelling unit.) 180 7 . Distribution of Mexican Housing in the Argen- tine Barrio, 1936. (Each dot represents a Mexican dwelling unit.) 182 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Photographs of the Argentine B a r r i o , taken in 197 4 175 2. The Clara Barton Mexican Grade School, c. 1930 194 vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This study examines the development of a Mexican- American barrio, or neighborhood, in the Argentine section I of Kansas City, Kansas, in the pre-1940 period. The major characteristics of the Argentine barrio, like those of other Midwestern barrios, were clearly discernible by 1940. The barrio had its own parish church, boasted ownership of several local businesses and received citywide recognition as a respectable Mexican ethnic center. Credit for these accomplishments went to the barrio*s earliest immigrants, who came to Argentine after 1905 and began building a commun- ity similar to ones they had known in Mexico. This barrio, known to the immigrants as "Argentina,** reached its fullest expansion in the late 1920s and then began to contract as the depression deepened in the 1930s. After 1940 new waves of Mexican immigrants arrived in the barrio. Many came as braceros. or contracted manual laborers, during the 1943-64 period, although illegal aliens also made 2 their way to the barrio. These subsequent waves of Mexi- can immigrants benefited greatly from the experiences of the pre-1940 arrivals, for by 1940 the immigrants in Argen- tine had created a cohesive ethnic enclave. The Argentine barrio serves as a microcosm through 2 which to examine Mexican immigration and seulement in the Midwest from 1905 until 1940. Argentine lends itself to such an examination for a number of reasons. First, the Argentine Mexican barrio which originated about 1907, persisted through successive waves of migration and changing economic fortunes. It, therefore, provides a continuum for the study of migra- tion, settlement and assimilation. Secondly, Argentine is a geographically distinct area which, throughout its existence, remained somewhat isolated from other parts of Kansas City. founded in 1882 as a railroad and smelting center, Argentine maintained a separate political existence until Kansas City, Kansas, annexed it in 1910. Even formal annex- ation did not destroy the community, for its geographical isolation prevented it from being swallowed up by urban sprawl. It was, in effect, a natural enclave. Located on the winding Kaw (or Kansas) River, Argentine occupies the southern river bank, hemmed in between the river on the north and sharply rising river bluffs to the south. These bluffs cut Argentine off from the rest of Kansas City, Kansas, « lying to the east and south, and imposed a geographical barrier which limited the community's expansion, as well as encroachment from other areas. A third reason for the selection of Argentine as the site for this study is that Mexican relations with a major railroad can be easily examined. The numerical dimension of the Mexican community nay be explored without use of compli- cated and costly computer technology, for its Mexican popu- lation prior to 1940 probably never exceeded 1,000 at any 3 one lime. Mexicans in Argentine may also be studied as a relatively homogeneous work force. The Mexican enclave in Argentine, unlike other barrios in the greater Kansas City area, depended almost entirely upon the railroad industry for its livelihood. A small number of males, however, found Jobs in the meatpacking and construction industries, and others were self-employed craftsmen or small businessmen* The history of the Mexican enclave in Argentine is primarily one of the Mexicans* relationship to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa fe Railway, the industry which dominated the life of the community. Argentine was in essence a "company town** when Mexicans first entered the community to take up Jobs in the lower echelons of the railway industry. The town became dependent upon the railroad industry after the smeller shut down in 1901. E a r l i e r , the Santa Fe estab- lished Argentine as a division point, or administrative and 4 repair center, on its system. The company maintained rail- road car repair shops and other supply and service facilities there. Jobs provided by the railroad industry lured Mexicans to the town in increasing numbers after 1916. From that year onward, Mexicans found many Jobs in the Santa Fe repair shops open to them. The period of greatest employment for Mexicans in the Argentine shops was in the 1920s. In that de cade, too, the Mexican rolonia. or colony, in Argentine reached its fullest development in the pre-1940 period. The parameters of Mexican experience in Argentine have been largely defined by the needs of the railway industry and by successive waves of Mexican migration to the area. •1 Argentine provides an excellent environment in which to study both processes—immigration and employment. The role of the Santa Fe is emphasized as the centralizing experience for Mexicans migrating to and employed in Argentine. Few could escape its influence. A fourth reason for selecting Argentine is for its Midwestern location. As yet there has been little written 5 about Mexicans in the Midwest, especially is Kansas. Despite the fact that most Mexican barrios in Kansas date from the early 1900s, the Mexican communities have been largely ignored by professional historians. There are sev- eral master's theses which deal with Mexicans in K a n s a s I n addition, the unpublished manuscripts of J. Neale Carman, the late Emeritus Professor of French and Italian at the Univer- sity of Kansas, contain sketches of twenty-nine Kansas bar- rios. 7 These studies, however, provide only a fragmentary history of Mexicans in Kansas. Intensive research on barrios in Kansas and in the Kansas C i t y , Kansas, and Missouri, area is Just beginning. At least one oral history project is underway in the barrios of Kansas C i t y , but detailed mono- graphs describing aspects of the Mexican experience there A have not yet appeared. problems Inherent in Undertaking Lfrfl Thus far, all published studies of Mexican-American immigration and settlement suffer from several deficiencies which severely limit their scope. First and foremost among these faults is the failure to analyze in detail the labor recru it ment and distribution system which existed during the period of uncontrolled Mexican immigration to the United States. Most historical surveys of Mexicans in the United States provide a sketch of the migration in its broader outlines. In general, there is a dearth of histor- ical monographs dealing with local, regional and specific aspects of Mexican immigration. There are hundreds of con- temporary analyses, studies and reports on various aspects q of Mexican immigration and labor. As yet, no comprehensive history of Mexican immigration exists. The pioneering studies of the 1920s and 1930s, carried out by Paul S. Taylor, an economist with the University of California, and Manuel Gamio, a cultural anthropologist, stand alont as attempts to describe the migration process 10 and the origins of Mexican migrants. Historians of Mexi- can immigration agree that the bulk of immigrants prior to 1940 came from the northeastern border states (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Ourango, Nuevo Lco'n, and San Luis Potosf) and from the states of the mesa rent ral. or central plateau (Aguascalientes, Distrito Federal, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacdn, Zacatecas, Qucre'taro and Tlaxcala.)'* No attempt has been made, however, to trace migration from the village, town or city of origin to the place of settlement in the United Stales. Recently, urban geogra- phers, sociologists and anthropologists have begun to make contemporary analyses of the process of migration, but few historians have ventured into the field of migration 12 research. Historians began recently to examine the role 6 of labor employment agencies and the labor markets for Mexicans in U . S. c i t i e s . 1 3 The lack of readily available primary source materials on the history of Spanish-speaking groups in the United States was a primary reason for the paucity of research ia that field. Most historians of Mexican immigration history tended to rely upon easily available data such as news- papers, annual reports of government and private agencies and other such secondary data. Few utilized the techniques of oral history, and, for the most part, historians did not ferret out and fully utilize archival materials which shed light on topics in migration history. Recently private corporations have opened their archives to professional researchers. In the past there were few opportunities for researchers to utilize corporate records. This study makes use of railroad employment data of the Santa Fe Railway to trace geographical and social mobility among the Mexican railroad workers in Argentine. In the past the Santa Fe did not welcome researchers In its archives, but recently railroad executives opened some of their records for scholarly study. In addition, the company donated certain non-sens itive materials to the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka, K a n s a s . 1 4 The Prior Service files kept by the Paymaster of the Santa Fe system proved particularly useful in this project. These files contain vital statistics and employment his- tories of all employes in active service with the Santa Fe as of August 29, 1935. On that dale President Franklin 0 . 7 Roosevelt signed into law the United States Railroad Retirement Act, The act as amended in 1937 permitted all railroad employes to claim up to thirty years of service completed prior to January I, 1937, as credit towards retire- ment a n n u i t y . F e d e r a l legislation required all major railroads in the United States to compile Prior Service records upon the request of the e m p l o y e . Detailed records exist for all railroad employes who attempted to claim ser- vice in the industry prior to 1937. The Prior Service data from the Santa Fe are used here as a raw source for examining Mexican immigration and employment history. The data permit the researcher to obtain detailed information on each worker's migratory and employment history. The wage structure of the railroad Industry may be examined, for example, through analysis of Prior Service data. Moreover, since payroll data on the Santa Fe system are organized by division points, the migra- tion and employment patterns of Mexicans in particular communities, such as Argentine, can be analyzed. A further problem in undertaking this study arises from the domination of the field of Mexican laaigratioa history by the social sciences, and often, by non-proles* sional h i s t o r i a n s . This domination occurred because profes- sional historians neglected the topic, leaving the study of Mexican immigration and settlement history in the hands of persons outside the formal academic community. The first major survey of the historical process of Mexican migration northward into the United States was the work of a crusading 16 liberal journalist, Carey McWilliams. In 1949 Mctfil1 laws published the book, North from Mexico, in which he expounded 16 a framework for understanding Mexican-American history. The McWilliams approach, or McWl11iamismo, continues to exert so much influence that one historian, Arthur F . Corwin, recently referred to MeWi11iamismo as standing "like a mono- lith overshadowing the whole subject of Mexican-American h i si ory .** McKi11iams * focus on the Southwest influenced the approach of other scholars. More recent surveys of Mexican- American history have followed Mcttilliams in slighting the hisiory of Mexicans in the non-Southwestern area of the United States. McWilliams, for instance, devoted only one sentence to the history of Mexicans in Kansas. A recent updating of Mctiilliams by Matt S. Meier and Feliciano Rivera, The Chicanos. A Hjftffry 2l Mgaitflll A U l l & l l â t tinues the pattern. It too, describes the Kansas City situa- tion in one sentence.*® The traditional emphasis on Mexican-Americans in the Southwest is understandable, for the five states comprising the region contain the majority of Spanish-speaking persons of Mexican descent in the United States. In i960 these stales contained eighty-seven percent of the 3.5 million 1 9 Spanish-sur named persons in the United Stales. 4 Moreover, these stales, often referred to as the "Borderlands,** or "Spanish Borderlands," contained Spanish-speaking settlers long before either the United States or Mexico came into existence. The area of the Borderlands became pari of the 9 United States with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1040) and the Gadsden Purchase ( 1 0 5 3 ) . 2 0 Persons of Spanish-speaking descent whose ancestors settled in the Southwest prior to the acquisition of the area by the United States are referred 1 0 a s Hi spanos. The term does not refer to "pure Spanish" bloodlines, but is merely a designation of the time in which their forefathers settled the area. The militant Chicano movement in the Southwest in the 1960s and 1970s no doubt reinforced the orientation towards the Southwest by identifying the Southwest with Azt1dn, the mythical homeland of the Aztecs. The Chicano movement may * have hampered the funding of serious research efforts in Mexican-American history. At least one prominent Mexican- American historian, Joseph Navarro, complained that founda- tions and government agencies often appeared more eager to appease militant or vociferous groups than to finance sound historical research on Chicano h i s t o r y . 2 1 However, the National Endowment for the Humanities funded at least one research project on Mexican immigration in the United 22 St ates. The United States Bureau of the Census compounded the tendency of focusing on the Southwest by conducting a special enumeration of Spanish-surnamed peoples in these five southwestern states from 1950 onward. A vast body of literature appeared based on these census reports. The best-known works are those published by the Mexican-American Study Project at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Leo Grcbler of UCLA served as director of the Ford 10 Foundation-sponsored project throughout its existence, 1964 to 1968» The project issued eleven advance reports and then published a massive compilation of its findings in Leo Grebier , £t M * • The Hex içan-Amcr icijn People: The Nqt fion'f Scrond L a m e s t Minority. ** The study, despite its claim to comprehensive geographical coverage, deals only with the Southwest, its historical coverage is superficial and is based upon highly selective, often dated sources. It should be noted that no historians were included in the project* Library resources were another factor canting scholars to focus on the Southwest. The Mexicana and Western Americana archival collections of the famous Hubert Howe Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, attracted numerous scholars to study the Southwest and its Spanish- speaking population. Chief of these scholars was Herbert bugene Bolton, founder of the "Oord.rl . n d f ichool.2" I* its very nature this historiographical approach focused so heavily upon the Southwest that Spanish-speaking populations I in other areas of the United States were virtually ignored. The tradition established by the Borderlands school spread throughout the United Ststes. In particular, scholars noted the school's emphasis on the pre-nlneteenth century period. Students of the Borderlands described the exploits of Spanish explorers, soldiers of fortune and priests. They also examined remnants of Spanish culture such as missions and other architectural achievements. While the Borderlands school dominated study of the Southwest, the Trans-Mississippi West school of historians u also conducted studies in this region. These historians tended to emphasize the triumphs of Anglo culture such as the military conquest of the Indians, extension of territorial control, overland transportation and the cattle, mining and farming f r o n t i e r s . 2 5 T h u s , both major historiographical schools slighted the study of Spanish- speaking groups in the Midwestern and plains states, espe- cially in the twentieth century. Likewise, local, amateur historians ignored Spanish-speaking groups in their midst, for these untrained historians usually did not have the language skills to conduct such research. Moreover, many simply were not interested in these immigrants* The major works on Mexican Immigration, including those by Paul S. Taylor, Manuel Gamio, Carey McKllliams, Victor S. Clark, Leo Grebler and John Ramdn Mart i'nez, were not products of either the Borderlands or the Trans-Missis- sippi hest traditions. Although these writers persistently focused on the Southwest region, Taylor also included 4 studies of non-Southwestern Mexican labor centers such as 27 Chicago and the Calumet region and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania* Quite Justifiably, perhaps, most authors felt that those areas with the largest numbers of Spanish-speaking people merited the greatest amount of attention. Social scientists, however, did not Ignore Spanish- speaking immigrants, for the Mexican immigrants arrived during a period of intensive sociological interest in assi- milation. Consequently, sociologists included Spanish- speaking people in their studies of urban populations and 12 assimilation. Social science domination of the field of Mexican immigration and settlement in the United States began in the 1920s. Sociologists in that decade probed Mexican barrios in the fashion of the "Chicago School" of sociology of Robert E . Park and E. W . Burgess. Barrios became urban observatories. Many of these seminal con- temporary studies of Mexican life in the United States are noiv being reprinted to serve as "histories" of Mexican 28 immigration and settlement. No such studies of Mexicans in Kansas City appeared, however, possibly due to the absence of a strong city uni- versity with a social science orientation. Researchers from the University of Kansas, such as E . If. Burgess, occasionally penetrated the Kansas portion of the city from their base in Lawrence to conduct social surveys. Such studies, however, 29 seldom mentioned Mexicans. Hence, for many reasons, there are as yet few studies of Mexican immigration and settlement in the Midwest. Social scientists with little or no training in history continue to dominate the field outside the Southwest, and to some extent 30 also within the Southwest. Little is known of the actual * experiences and history of Mexican immigrants to Midwestern cities over the past seventy y e a r s . There are indications, I however, that ethnic studies programs being adopted in many colleges and universities may lead to basic historical research on Mexicans in scattered locations throughout the United States. 13 The neglect of Kansas City as a site for study may be attributed to several factors. Firstly, there is a gen- eral lack of knowledge even in academic circles of the role the twin cities played as a major labor distribution center for Mexican labor and as a refugee center during the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920. 3 1 Secondly, little historical tra- dition exists in the city apart from that of local historical societies and antiquarians. Most histories of Kansas City focus on the Missouri portion of the twin cities. The two best histories of Kansas City, Missouri, deal oaly with the 32 pre-1870 period. Historians and other writers who examined the cities in the twentieth century emphasized the divergent political traditions, rather than the economic, geographical and demographic unity of the twin c i t i e s . 3 3 Local historians in the twin cities devoted their energies to chronicling civic events and writing sketches of local "blue bloods,** buildings, bridges, monuments, streets and highways, real estate enterprises, newspapers, 34 industries, clubs and organizations. Although these his- torians sometimes noted the presence of European immigrants in the city, they paid little, if any, attention to dark- skinned groups such as Mexicans, Indians and Negroes. For example, the Chamber of Commerce's version of the city's history, released in 1938, devoted a paragraph to Mexican teamsters involved in the city's Santa Fe Trail commerce of # the 1850s, but did not mention the large barrios with popu- lations in the thousands which existed in the city in the 1920s. During that period as many as 10,000 Mexicans lived 14 in the city. 3 5 The historian of Mexican migration and settlement in Kansas City has few secondary studies upon which to build. There are no comprehensive studies of Mexicans in the city, although short sketches of Mexican life in Kansas City appeared from time to time. Writers employed by the Missouri Historical Records Survey under the Works Progress Adminis- tration produced two short essays on Mexicans in Kansas City, 36 Missouri, in the mid-l930s. Beginning in the 1950s stn- * dents from the University of Kansas went into the Kansas- side barrios to conduct linguistic studies. The supervisor of this research, J. N. Carman, later incorporated his stu- dents' reports on Mexicans in Kansas City into his manus- 37 cript history of Mexican barrios in Kansas. The best study of any of the twin cities* barrios is a master's thesis done 40 by Paul Lin at the University of Kansas. Although the the- sis, "Voluntary Kinship and Voluntary Association in a Mexi- can-American Community,** is primarily an anthropological analysis of voluntary associations and the comoadrasoo. or kinship system, among the Mexican population, it provides some historical background on the largest Missouri-side bar- rio, "We st s ide. ** Kansas City is not alone in its lack of historical studies of barrios. There are few such studies elsewhere in the United Stales. Barrio studies such as Arthur J. R e e l ' s Across the Tracks. Hex Icpn-Amyr tyayis in § I u | | L i U , and Julian Samora's Hex iran-Awcr if ens in a Midwest Meirooolis: A Study of East Chiraoo. provide some histori- 15 cal background, but they are primarily contemporary surveys from a sociological and anthropological perspective, rather than in-depth descriptions of barrio development and change over time. 3 9 Only recently have urban historians begun to explore Mexican-American communities* This is ironic, for many U . S. cities contained large barrios as early as 1920. More- over, the Mexican-American population became predominantly urban in the late 1940s. By 1960, between eighty and $inety percent of the Mexican-American population in the Southwest was " u r b a n / 4 0 Mexican-American historians have begun to apply the sophisticated quantitative techniques developed by the urban historians to the study of California barrios. At least two Mexican-American historians, Alberto M. Cama- rillo and Gilbert A. Gonzalez, recently conducted historical studies of barrio development.'** The techniques and approaches pioneered by quanti- tative urban historians lend themselves well to research on groups such as Mexican-Americans. This group had a high rate of illiteracy and consequently left behind few written records from the pre-1940 period. Urban historians look to * data such as birth and death certificates, parish records, the census, city directories, tax, employment, police and naturalization and immigration records, and marriage licenses to provide information on Mexican barrios and population. Many of these types of data are utilized in the study under- taken here. 16 Object i vos of the Study This study addresses itself to the problems and deficiencies in the general body of literature dealing with Mexican immigration and settlement. Its primary purpose is to describe the process of change in the Argentine barrio over four decades. Waves of immigration are discussed and * details of the immigration process are provided. In parti* cular f the Mexican origins of immigrants to Argentine are examined in light of overall migration streams to other parts of the United States. The workings of the employment system of the Santa Fe and of other private labor agencies are discussed. Throughout, comparisons are made between Argentine's Mexican population and that of other Mexican enclaves in Kansas City, as well as to Mexican-American bar- rios elsewhere in the United States. This study argues that w a v e s of immigration to Argen- tine varied in composition, largely because of economic conditions, but also because the immigrants* motives changed over the years. Migration to a community as small as Argen- tine was a complex, though orderly process. Groups of Mexi- cans who settled there often displayed a sophist icated ability to manipulate their environment to serve their needs. Examination of Argentine's Mexican enclave also includes discussion of the barrio's role in the assimilation of Mexicans to their Anglo environment. Mexican barrios often resemble Negro ghettos in that, rather than disap- pearing, they grow into huge urban conglomerations. The dynamics which encourage continued barrio existence are 17 explored in the Argentine barrio. Some of the factors examined in this discussion of barrio persistence are discrimination, socio-economic levels, and what one writer referred to as the "taste for discrimination," or the apparent proclivity of Mexicans to settle in close proximity to one another.42 It is hoped that historical studies of this nature which examine specific barrios will eventually lead to a new synthesis of Mexican immigration and settlement his- tory. If Argentine may be used as a model for Mexicaa immigrants* experience with the railway industry, then the conclusions reached here will have broader impact than might be the case, ordinarily, with local histories. Sam Bass Warner in his essay, ** If All the World Were Philadelphia: A Scaffolding for Urban History, 1774-1930,** argues per- suasively for viewing the study of urban U . S. society In a systematic manner, rather than emphasizing "uniqueness** in describing the p a s t . 4 3 Just as Philadelphia served as a microcosm of major transformations in the United States, the Argentine barrio provides the medium through which to view the impact of major economic changes on the relation- ship between Mexican immigrants and the railway industry. Furthermore, examination of Mexican immigration to one bar- rio permits the researcher to test theoretical models expounded by sociologists and anthropologlsi s which empha- size the importance of kinship networks and "community*" In immigration and assimilation. 4 4 Thus, Argentine serves as a microcosm of Mexican imml- 18 gration and adjustment to U . S . society. It is hoped that other researchers will test the findings of this study in other barrios throughout the nation. Only through such studies can a systematic study of the Mexican immi- grants* experience as migrants and settlers emerge. FOOTNOTES: CHAPTER I I Mexican-American is used in this study to refer to the ethnic group of Mexican origin now settled in the United States. "Chicano," as used here, refers to politically- oriented Mexican-Americans who identify with the Chicano movement. "Kansas City, as used in this study, refers to the twin cities, unless otherwise indicated* 2'ihr bracero program was a formal contract labor pro- gram guaranteed by both the Mexican and U. S. governments* It existed in different forms from 1942 until 1965. See Ernesto Galarza, Merchants of Labor: The Mexican Bracero Storv (San Jose, California: The Rosicrucian Press, 1964). 3 » r , . San Ray. "Argentine Once S.elting Center." Kansas City Star, April 19, 1971, Clipping, in the Kansas State Historical Society, "Wyandotte County Clippings, Vol. X, pp. 209-211 — Kansas State Historical Society* 4Ayqentlify SiftMfU* January 9, 1886, p . 2. Hereafter, the railroad is referred to as the Santa Fe* 5. The Chicago and Calumet region has been studied some- what. The Calumet region is the industrial district stretch- ing along the south shoreline of Lake Michigan from South Chicago, 111., to Gary, Indiana. There are several well- known works on Mexicans in this region. See Anita Edgar Jones, C h i l t o n ? Surrqm^Jflg M?)^ç f fnf \n C h i r a q 9 (San Fran- cisco: R G E Research Associates, 1971); Paul S* Taylor, Mexican Labor in the United States: Chicano and the Calamet Region (Berkeley: University of California Press,1932); and Julian Samora and Richard A. Lamanna, Mexlean-Amer leans In a Midwest Metropolis: A Study of East Chlcaoo. Mexican-Ar.eri- can Study Project, Advance Report 8 (Los Angeles: Oivlsion of Research, Graduate School of Business, University of California, 1967). ^Marian F . Braun, •A Survey of the American Mexicans in Topeka, Kansas'* (unpublished M. S. thesis, Emporia State Teachers College, 1970); Hector Franco, **The Mexican People in the State of Kansas** (unpublished M. S. thesis, Depart- ment of Religious Education, University of Wichita, 1950); Soccorro M. Rami*rez, "A Survey of the Mexican In Emporia, Kansas'* (unpublished M. S. thesis, Emporia State Teachers 20 College, 1942); and Larry G. Rutter, "Mexican-American* in Kansas: A Survey and Social Mobility Study, 1900-1970" (unpublished M. A. thesis, Kansas State University, 1972). 7The first volume of Carman's projected three-volume work appeared as Foreign-Lannuano Units of Kansas. I, His- torical Atlas and Statistics (Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 1962). Volumes II and III of the manuscript are to be produced in microfiche form by the University of Kansas Press. The Kansas Mexican-American communities sur- veyed are Arkansas City, Chanute, Dodge City, Emporia, Florence, Goodland, Herrington, Independence, Kansas City, Newton, Parsons, Salina, Topeka, Wellington, Wichita sod Winfield. A In 1974 Sister Carmen Rodrigues of Donnelly College, Kansas City, Kansas, began an oral history project of Mexican-Americans in Kansas City. q A recent historiographical article by Arthur F . Corwin, "Mexican Emigration History, 1900-1970: Literature and Research," L&UL.B Amçrjtçgn Research Ryylgff, VIII, No. 2 (Summer, 1973), describes the existing literature in the field and deplores the lack of monographs on migration his- tory. Also see Corwin's essay, "Causes of Mexican Emigra- tion to the United States: A Summary View," in Persoect ives in American History. VII, 1973, Disjoin ion and Emigration. The Social P.arkground of An»»r i«-an 1 an lor a: ion » e d . by Donald Fleming and Bernard Bailyn (Cambridge, Mass.: Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, Harvard Uni- versity, 1974), pp. 557-635. lOSee P. S. Taylor's multi-volume series, Mexican Labor in the United States (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1928-1934), reprinted as part of The American Imml- h r a ! i u n Coll'-ft ion (New York: Arno Press and New York Times, 1970). Also see Manuel Gamio, Mexican Immigration to the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930); ihe Mejclraft I m m l g r » ^ : Hjs Lify Stpry (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1931); and Quantitflt Ive Eyi|- M L £ - Sources ^nd Distribution pf %xi«;»n Immigration into the United States (Mexico, D. F.: Talleres Graïicos Editorial y 'Diario Oficial,' 1930). ^ S i n c e immigration to the United States from Mexico slowed to a trickle during the depression of the 1930s, the migration patterns of thr 1920s characterise the pre- 1940 period. Studies conducted in the 1920s and 1930s indi- cate that the immigrants had common regional origins. Robert F . Foerster, Thy Ra?t*H Problems Involve? in lmm|grf- t ion fron t,at In Ancrira and tho West indies to th.- i m t c d States (Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, Department of Labor, 1925), p. 51, Table 4; Manuel Gamio, 21 Quant itnt ivr F.st iroate. and Mexican Immigrât Ion, p p . 13-16; and Paul S. Taylor, Mexican Labor in the United States: Minrat ion Stat ist ics. IV (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1934), pp. 23-49. 1 2 T h e International Migration Review contains many articles on migration theory from a sociological perspec- tive. Historical studies are in their infancy. The Family in Historical Perspective (Spring, 1972), describes several historical research projects now underway. 1 3 A t least one student, Johnny McCain of San Antonio C o l l e g e , is engaged in a study of San Antonio as a Mexican labor recruitment and distribution center. His work is summarized in Arthur F . C o r w l n , "Mexican Emigration His- tory," p . 20. **The staff of the Kansas State Historical Society compiled two indexes to Santa Fe materials. For an inven- tory of materials housed at the Society, see Kansas State Historical Society, "Inventory, New York Executive Depart- ment Files, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company" (Typescript.) The Historical Society also made a partial inventory of archives retained by the Santa Fe in T o p e k a . See Kansas State Historical Society, "Inventory of Santa Fe Railroad Archives" (Typescript.) The latter source indexes the records of the railroad prior to Its reorganiza- tion in 1895. Most pre-1895 records are open to qualified researchers. 1 S Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Payroll Records, Prior Service F i l e s , Kansas City Division; and D . W . Herte1. History of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Knv Employees (Washington, D . C.: Ransdeli lac., Publishers, 1955), pp. 149, 158. 1 6 ( N e w York: Greenwood Press, 1968). l 7 C o r w i n , "Mexican Emigration History," p . 5 . l 0 M c h i l l i a m s , North from Mexico, p . 168; and The Chicano»- & H i ^ o r y of Mefljçgfl Aaçrfçgqf (New York: Hill f. Hang, 1972), p . 131. l 9 L e o Grebler, ej, • 1 M M e X f c a n - A m e y i c q n The Nation's Second Largest Minority (New York: The Free Press, 1970), p . 15. 2 0 R u t h S. Lamb, Mexican-Amerleans : Sons of the South- west (Claremont, California: Ocelot Press, 1970), des- cribes the major features of these treaties and discusses their impact on Mexican-United States relations. 22 01 ^'Joseph Navarro, "The Condition of Mexican-American History," Journal of Mexican American History. I, No. 1 (Fall, 1970), 44. 2 2Arthur F . Corwin of the University of Connecticut is currently heading a research project on Mexican immigration to the United States. He refers to his work in his article, "Mexican Emigration History," p . 24. 2 3 ( N e w York: The Free Press, 1970). 2 4 F o r a description of Bolton and the "Borderlands* school see John Francis Bannon, The Spanish Borderlands Frontier. 1513-1821 (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Wilson, 1970), and, ed., Bo]|ton and the SppnM*» BordprHrKlf (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964). 2 5"Anglo** is used throughout this work to refer to whites of non-Spanish speaking heritage. The periodical writings of representatives of these two schools appear in Oscar Oshurn K'inther, ed.. The Trans-Mississlool West: A Guide to Its Per iod jçfll Literature Q 1 5 5 5 S P T Indiana University Publications, Social Science Series No. 3 (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Publications, 1942). 2 6 T a y l o r , Mexican Labor in the United States; Gamio, Mexiran Immigration to the Lnitt-d M a t e s , and The MyxiCll Immigrant : Mcttil1iams, North From Mexico: Victor S. Clark, "Mexican Labor in the United States,** U . S., Department of Labor Bui let in. 78 (September, 1908); John Ramcfn Mart f- nez, Mexiran Emigration to the United Slates. 1910-1930 (San Francisco: N & E Research Associates, 1972); and Leo Grebler, M-xiean I m m ^ r y U o f 1° VJlULSâ SUltffs I M Record and Its Implications. Mexican-American Study Project, Advance Report 2 (Los Angeles: Division of Research, Grad- uate School of Business, University of California, December, 1965). 2 < P . S. Taylor, Mexlçar^ Lgfror in the United Sutfff (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1928-1934). **>f,Arthur F . Corwin discusses social science domination of the field in "Mexican Emigration History.** In 1972 the R ù E Research Associates reprinted many of these theses on Mexicans, notably those by Anita Fdgar Jones, Condit ions Surrounding Mexicans In Chicago: Earl M. Connell, The Mexi- can Population in Austin, Texas: Kathleen M # Gonzalez, The Mexican Family in San Antonio. Texas: and Evangeline Hymer, A Study of the Social Attitudes of Adult Mexican Immigrants In Los Angeles and Vicinity. A complete listing of the reprints is available from the publisher. 23 29 ** Armourda le . A City Within A City," Bui i et in of IhS. îhlll£IJLLïX "f AVISAI, XX, No, 12 (June 15, 1919). 30 I.yle and Magdaline Shannon, Minority Migrant* In the Urban Community. Mexican-American and Negro Adjustment to Industrial Society (Beverly Hills, California: SAGE Publications, 1973). Another well-known sociological analy- sis of a Mexican-American community Is Samora and Lamanna, Mexican-Americans in a Midwest Metropolis. A critical assessment of the failings of the sociological and anthro- pological studies on Mexican-Americans in Octavio I* Romano- V, "The Anthropology and Sociology of the Mexican-Americans: The Distortion of Mexican-American History,** El Grlto. XI, No. 1 (Fall, 1966), 13-26. 3 1 T h e dates used here for the Mexican Revolutioa ara arbitrary, for there is disagreement as to when the Revolution began and whether or not it has ended. The dates 1910-1920 are used to indicate the emergence of anti- Diaz forces in 1910 and the establishment of General Obregon*s system of law and order in 1920. 3 2 R . Richard Wohl and A. Theodore Brown, "The Usable Past: A Study of Historical Traditions in Kansas C!ty, M Huntington Ljbrqrv Qu?rter>y, XXIII (May, i960), 237-59. Pre-1070 studies of Kansas C i t y , Missouri, referred to in the text ore A. Theodore Brown, Frontier Community; £ History of Kansas City to 1870 (Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri, 1964); and Charles N. Glaab, Kansas City and the Railroads (Madison: State Historical Society of Wiscon- sin, 19b2). N. B., Kansas C i t y , Kansas, did not exist as a unified city until 1886. It emerged from the amalgamation of five separate towns. 33 Joseph H. McDowell, B u d d i n g ft ÇJJJL'. ft hlUMl fff Kansas C it y . Kansas (Kansas City, Kansas: Kansas City Ksnsan, 1970); Joseph A. McKenna, The Growth and Problems of Metro- politan Wyandotte County (Lawrence, Kansas: Governmental Research Center, University of Kansas, 1963); Boy Ellis, A Civic History of Kansas City. Missouri (Springfield, Mo.: Press of Elkins-Swyers, C o . , 1930); William Griffith, History of Kansas City. Illustrated in Three Decades (Kansas City, Mo.: Hudson-Kimberly Publishinq Company, 1900); Kansas C i t y , Missouri, Chamber of Commerce, Whor*» the Rocky Bluffs Meet (Kansas City, Mo.: Chamber of Commerce, 1938); Darrell Garwood, Crossroads of America (New York: W . W . Norton, 1948); Lyle M. Dorsett, The Pendergast Machine (New York: Oxford University Press, i960); Andrew Theodore Brown, The Polit les oj Reform: Kansas City's Uuniçipgl G o v ç r W n | , 1925-1950 (Kansas City, Mo.: Community Studies, 1958). 24 Typical histories of the counties (Jackson County, Mo », and Wyandotte County, Ks.) in which the two Kansas Citys are located are, Pearl Wilbur Morgan, History of Wyandotte County. Kansas, and its People (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1911); Grant W . Harrington, Historic Snots or Milestones in the Progress of Wyandotte County. Kansas (Mcrriam, Kansas: Mission Press, 1935); Carrie W . Whit ney, Kansas City. Missouri. Its History and Its People. 1000-1900. 2 vols. (Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing C o . , 1900). 3*r,This problem was not unknown at the national level, for both the Trans-Mississippi West and Borderlands schools suffered from racial biases. See Jack D. Forbes* dis- cussion of this problem in **The Historian and the Indian: Racial Bias in American History,** The Americas. XIX, No* 4 (1962-63), 349-62; Kansas City, Mo., Chamber of Commerce, Where the Ro<-ky Bjuffs Meet * P* 3 6 U . S., Works Projects Administration, Historical Records Survey, Missouri, Kansas City District, Donald P . Beard, "Foreign Colonies in Kansas City, Missouri,** April 22, 1936 (Typescript. )--Folder » 6032, Western His- torical Manuscripts Collection, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.; and Lee Hancy, "Mexican Colony—Annual Fiesta," April 24, 1936 (Typescr ipt.)--Folder « 6038, Western Historical Manuscripts Collection, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. 37 See Carman's manuscript, "Foreign-Language Units of Kansas," Vol. II, Part III, (No. 47.86)—University Archives, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. *ifl Paul Ming-Chang Lin, "Voluntary Kinship and Volun- tary Association in a Mexican-Amerlean Community" (unpub- lished M.A. thesis. University of Kansas, 1963). 39 Rube!, Across the Trflçks. Mexican-Americans in a Texas City (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1966); Samora and Lamanna, Mexican-Americans in a Midwest Metro- mJJLi* Paul S. Taylor's multi-volume series, Mexlfgq Ufrof in ihe United States, contains studies of several urban areas, laylor provided some historical background, but his work's thrust was contemporary, rather than historical. , 0Greblcr, ejL. ijJL. , The Mexican-Amer iran People, p . 113. According to the i960 census definition, "urban" included persons in urbanized areas and in places of 2,500 or more persons out side urban ized areas. An urbanized area con- sisted of at least one city of 50,000 or more inhabitants and the surrounding urbanized area, whether incorporated or not. 25 4 1 A l b e r t M» Camarillo, "Chicano Urban History: A Study of Compt on * s Barrio, 1936-1970/* Azt 1 a*n. II, No. 2 (Fall, 1971), 79-106; and Gilbert A. Gonzaflez, "Factors Relating to Property Ownership of Chicanos in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles/* Aztla'n, II, N o . 2 (Fall, 1971), 107-43. Joan W . Moore, Residential Segregation in the Urban Snut hwest. Mexican-American Study Project, Advance Report 4 (Los Angeles: Division of Research, Graduate School of Business, University of California, 1966), p . 39. l 3Awerican Historical Review. 74 (October, 1968), 26-43. 4 4 H a r v e y M. Choldin, "Kinship Networks in the Migra- tion Process," International Migration Review. VII, N o . 2 (Summer, 1973), 163-75; and Joseph P . Fitzpatrick, "The Importance of C o m m u n i t y * in the Process of Immigration Assimilation," International Migration Review. I (n.s.) N o . 1 (Fall, 1966J, 5 - 1 5 . CHAPTER II MEXICANS AND OTHER IMMIGRANTS IN KANSAS CITY, 1850 to 1920 The first sizeable migration of Mexicans to the twin cities of Kansas City, Kansas, and Missouri, occurred during the first decade of the twentieth century. 1 Between 1900 and 1910 Mexican railroad workers and packing house laborers appeared in scattered locations throughout the city. Their presence in Kansas City reflected a widespread movement of Mexicans Into the interior of the United States. The move- ment of Mexican laborers into the Midwest resulted in part from the policies of railroad companies operating in the Southwest. The Santa Fe, in particular, played a major role in the migration of Mexican peons, or day laborers, through- out the Southwest and, then, into the Kansas City area. The migration of Mexicans to the United States prior to 1910 stemmed from both "push" and "pull" factors. Two major pull factors were the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and the 1907 Gentlemen's Agreement with Japan.2 These measures led to the virtual exclusion of Chinese and Japanese laborers destined for railroad, construction and agricultural indus- tries. The railroads attempted to fill the void left in their work forces by shifting to Mexican laborers. This was a logical move since railroad construction was underway in 27 the Southwest and there were no restrictions on Mexican immigration to the United States. Both the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific began using Mexican laborers in the Southwest in the 1600s, but not until 1900 did they actively solicit Mexicans at El Paso for use throughout their sys- t e m s . 3 Contrary to popular belief, Mexican immigration to the United States did not begin in 1910 with the Mexican Revolution. Mexican laborers in the border states crossed into Texas in the 1070s to work on sheep and cattle ranches. A more dramatic migratory movement occurred in the 1890s and first decade of the twentieth century, as peons left the hac iendas. or large landed estates, of central and southern Mexico for urban areas such as Mexico C i t y . The northern Mexican states also gained in population as laborers moved to the northern regions of Mexico to serve as railroad con- struction workers and miners in developing mining enter- prises.'* In turn, many of these workers moved into the Lower Rio Grande Valley, where the increased cultivation of cotton during World War I created an ever-increas1ng demand for their labor. By the early 1900s Mexicans also began to work in the sugar-beet industry and as wheat harves ters in the Midwestern and Plains states.** Prior to 1917, however, the major employer of Mexicans in the United States was the railroad industry, which utilized more Mexicans than any other single industry. Expulsionary forces within Mexico contributed greatly to the emigration of laborers. In particular, overpopula- 28 tion, low wages, underemployment and lack of sufficient tillable land caused many Mexicans to seek a better live- lihood by engaging in seasonal migration to the United States* The major incentive for pre-1910 migrants was a chance for improvement of their economic situation. Many hoped to accumulate sufficient funds to purchase land, machinery, tools or animals back in Mexico.^ Beginning with the Mexican Revolution in 1910, however, Mexicans migrated in search of security, refuge and economic betterment. Many political refugees who feared prosecu- tion by the new revolutionary governments settled tem- porarily in the United Slates. Many settled in southwestern cities such as El Paso, San Antonio, Los Angeles and Laredo. Still other refugees sought asylum or chose to wait out the revolution in the environs of Kansas C i t y . A Mexican refu- gee community existed in the twin cities throughout the duration of the Revolution. During World War 1, the refugee community witnessed the arrival of still another wave of Mexican immigrants, lured by attractive jobs in industry. Many of the third-wave immigrants remained in the city. They constituted the first sizeable group of long-term Mexican immigrants to Kansas City. The Mexican presence in Kansas City, however, pre- dated the arrival of Mexican laborers and political refugees in the first two decades of the twentieth century. The ini- tial entry of Mexicans into Kansas City stemmed from the 8 city's role in the Santa Fe Trail commerce. The city itself 29 was largely a product of the Santa Fe trade. By 1Ô50 it was the principal steamboat landing for westbound traffic. A shift in the course of the Missouri River destroyed the rival steamboat landing at Independence, Missouri, to the east, making Kansas City the major point of departure for 9 participants in the Gold Rush. The Missouri River steamboat trade reached its apex in the 1850s. During that period overland caravan and steam- boat transportation formed the foundation of the city * s wealth. Mexican caravans joined others in the trek from the Southwest to the city during the 1850s. 1 0 During this colorful era conteraporary observers noted the presence of Mexican wagoneers and teamsters on the levee and along the city's streets. One newspaper reporter described the levee area in the 1850s as a confused picture of immense piles of freight, horse, ox, and roule teams receiving merchandise from the steamers, scores of immigrant wagons, and a busy crowd of whites, Indians, half-breeds, Negroes and Mexicans.** Kansas City's growth slowed during the incipient border conflict between anti-slavery and pro-slavery forces after 185-1. During the Civil fcar the city's population declined and commerce stagnated. After the war, however, the city entered a new period of prosperity based upon the railway industry. Mexicans again entered the city to work in river and wagon transport at ion. They also found jobs as railroad construction laborers when railroad companies built lines into the city in the late 1860s. Some of these laborers became squatters on land along the Kaw River bluffs 30 in the Westside area of Kansas City, Missouri. There they erected huts and occupied the land unchallenged until 1900. Fen Mexicans settled in the city prior to 1900, for the federal census reported only twenty-seven Mexicans in the twin cities in that year.* 2 It is not surprising that there were so few Mexicans living there before 1900. Despite the connections engen- dered by the Santa Fe Trail, Kansas City did not have a direct link to Mexico until the mid-l880s. During the 1870s and 1880s railroad building into Colorado and New Mexico opened the city's transportation avenues to the Southwest. The Santa Fe reached El Paso in 1884. During the 1880s the Mexican government also engaged in an extensive railroad construction program in northern Mexico. In 1884 the Mexi- t can Central Railroad reached El Paso where it connected 1 3 with the Santa Fe. This link provided a rail connection between Mexico City and Kansas City. During the 1880s other United States railroads reached the border and soon a complex network of spur lines existed. These routes pro- vided the means for Mexican immigration, not only into the adjoining border states, but also into the interior of the United Slates. Although Mexicans did not provide a significant portion of Kansas City's work force prior lo 1910, other immigrant groups helped shape the city's character during the 1860- 1910 period. Initially, "Old Stock" immigrants from Germany, Sweden, England, Ireland and Canada provided the unskilled labor force for the city's industries. These immigrants 31 settled near the railways which ran through the twin cities and adjacent to the city's developing meat packing industries. Topography determined the locations of these two industries, which emerged as two of the mainstays of the twin cities* » 14 economies. A * Kansas City emerged as an industrial and transporta- tion hub because of its strategic location at the junction of the Kaw (Kansas) and Missouri River valleys. Thus, It served as the gateway to the plains. Kansas City also, secured the first railway bridge across the Missouri River, thus ensuring her predominance as a railway center. By the time the bridge was completed in 1869, seven railroads uti- lized the structure. Railroads quickly erected their shops and warehouse facilities along the railway lines in the bot- toms. The rail facilities attracted other industries which 15 located in the vicinity of the railroads. The city's topography was ideal for the development of industries in the low-lying bottoms. The plains over- looking the converging Kaw and Missouri Rivers rolled gently to the east and west, rarely rising more than five hundred feet above sea level. Thus, the rivers cut wide, shallow paths as they converged at Kansas City and provided water for steamboat navigation and for industries along their banks. At Kansas City, the Missouri River swings northwest- ward from the point where it Intersects with the mouth of the Kaw River. The Kaw flows from the southwest between the two cities, creating a large alluvial bend. To the south 32 and cast of this horseshoe bend are steep river bluffs thrown up by the Kaw. Kansas City, Missouri, occupies the high eastern bluffs, overlooking the Kaw. Kansas City, Kansas, faces her sister city from the bottom lands and smaller 16 bluffs on the Kansas side of the state line. See Map 1. The plain created by this horseshoe bend, as well as a narrow alluvial strip between Kansas City, Missouri, and the Kaw, served as ideal locations for the twin cities* meat packing, railroad and ^txllliary industries. Included K among the latter were hog and cattle marketing and butchering, wheat marketing, flour milling, rendering, soap and glue makers, oil refineries, and agricultural implement dealers and manufacturers. Most of these industries were located in the bottoms between the two cities (the West Bottoms), and along the Kaw on the Kansas side. Meat packers built in this area as early as 1069, although most of these industries appeared during the 1080s and 1890s. Additional industries such as grain elevators, located in the East Bottoms, and along Turkey Creek in Rosedale, south of Kansas City, K a n s a s . 1 7 The industrial boom of the 1880s and 1890s which laid the foundation for many of the twin cities* industries, touched off an accompanying real estate boom. Suburban growth accelerated as the city's population soared, and udjoining areas in Kansas also experienced growth and con- solidation. 1 0 The establishment of Argentine, Kansas, as « a railroad and smelting center occurred during this boom. Both the industrial development and the real estate boom Jo 34 in Kansas City were triggered by the agricultural develop- ment of the hinterland. The modern city of Kansas City, Kansas, emerged during this period of real estate development. The city originated in 1006 from the consolidation of five towns (Kansas City, Wyandotte, Armstrong, Armourdale and Riverview). Prior to 1006 no unified city existed on the Kansas side. The oldest of the five towns was Wyandotte, founded in 18S9, Kansas City, Kansas, was not incorporated until 1672, although it had existed as a squatter settlement in the Kansas portion of the West Bottoms since the early 1650s. The towns of Armstrong and Armourdale were established in 1871, and the 19 hillside town of Riverview came into being in 1879.* The location of these towns is shown on Map 2, on the following 20 page.* In 1886 local entrepreneurs achieved the consolidation of the five existing towns in hopes of creating a Kansas-side 21 metropolis to rival Kansas City, Missouri. Consolidation of the five towns did not change the city's position vis-a- v1 s Kansas City, Missouri. Although the majority of the packing houses lay in the Kansas portion of the West Bottoms, Kansas City, Missouri, continued to control the lion's share of the trade, for wheat marketing and financial institu- tions were located there. Kansas City, Kansas, remained subordinate to her sister city. The creation of a Kansas side city was essentially due to the expansion of Kansas City, Missouri. The artificiality of political boundaries was nowhere more apparent than in the West Bottoms. Geo- 35 Historic Boundaries of Kansas Kansas, 36 graphically, the West Bottoms formed a topographical entity; politically, it belonged to different cities in different states. For Kansas City entrepreneurs the location of the packing houses in the West Bottoms was an ideal arrangement. Waters of the Kaw carried away the unused by-products of the industry, and the existence of the bluffs prevented the stench from overpowering the populace of the twin cities* Geography allowed the unsightly packing industry and odori- ferous livestock to be out of the sight and the minds of most city dwellers. Only those people who lived or worked in the West Bottoms endured daily contact with these basic industries. The segregated industrial area in the bottoms contained the city's poorest populace and afforded industrial employ- ment to incoming waves of immigrants. The West Bottoms functioned as the entrepot for immigrants to the city during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Like other immigrant entrepots in the United States, the West Bottoms provided a variety of services for the immigrants: jobs, housing, recreation and religion. By the 1880s the West Bottoms was a busy industrial area containing a variety of industries, warehouses, railroad yards, cattle pens, flop houses, hotels, boarding houses, missions, saloons and res- taurants. It also contained the city's major passenger and freight railroad station, known as the Union Depot. The West Bottoms and the adjoining North E n d , the old levee dis- 3? trict, also contained employment agencies which served itinerant job seekers. 2 2 The pattern of European immigration to Kansas City during the late nineteenth century resembled the process which occurred in other cities. Immigrants arrived in waves roughly corresponding to the well-known division of immi- grants into "Old Stock," or northern European immigrants, and the "new immigrant s t h o s e from southern and eastern Europe. Successive waves of immigrants passed through the portal area of the city over the years. With the passage of time, the older immigrant groups gradually moved out of the bottoms and into better residential areas. These settlement patterns of immigrants in Kansas City resulted largely from the demands of the city's industries. During the early phases of the packing house industry in Kansas City, natives of the United States, both black and while, and an assortment of Old Stock immigrants comprised the bulk of ihc work force. The major groups which entered the city's packing industry were Germans, Irish, English and Swedes. These groups also comprised the bulk of Euro- 23 pean immigration to the city prior to 1090. Mexicans were the last major immigrant group to arrive in the twin cities. Joining with other new immigrant groups « such as Croatians, Russians, Poles and Italians in the twin cities during the first decade of the twentieth century, the new groups displaced groups of immigrants from northern Europe in certain low-wage occupations. Many of the northern 45 Europeans moved to employment outside the packing industry. Indeed, some of the Old Stock immigrants never worked in that industry, but found Jobs as railroad workers and in other forms of industrial employment. Many Germans and Scandinavians, for instance, worked in the Kansas Pacific railroad yards south of the bluffs in Kansas City, Kansas. Others worked for the Santa Fe in the small railroad town of Argentine, to the s o u t h . 2 4 The newly-arrived Mexican immigrants gave little thought to Kansas City's or Argentine's socio-economic structure. Vet, they too found themselves thrust into the patterns of employment and residence characteristic of recent immi- grants to the city. They settled in the least desirable bottom lands where they endured the smells and sounds of the twin cities* heavy industries. They also suffered through floods which periodically engulfed these areas. And, due to their dark complexions, Mexicans often encoun- tered racial discrimination comparable to that experienced by Negroes in the twin cities. Early Mexican immigrants to Kansas City, thus, found that they were but one of many new immigrant groups in the city. They joined the other recent immigrants in trying to carve out a niche for themselves in a multi-national setting. They engaged in economic competition with other 25 ethnic groups, occasionally acting as strikebreakers. Unlike most other immigrant groups, though, Mexicans fought a dual battle in their effort to gain a foothold in the city. 39 Not only did they have to work their way into the city 1» industrial structure, but they also had to rid themselves of a negative, discriminatory stereotype. A major part of their struggle over the next forty years was to gain recognition as whites, and, in general, as first-class citi- zens. Try as they might, Mexicans initially had little success in displacing the more entrenched immigrant groups. They made only small Inroads into the meat packing and rail- road industries prior to the outbreak of World War I. Some Mexicans entered the packing industry in 1908, bat the major influx occurred after 1914. Many of these laborers entered the industry during the war, but lost their jobs during the post-war slump. By 1921 the packing industry in Kansas City, Kansas, employed between 200 and 300 Mexi- c a n s . 2 ^ World War I, rather than Mexican pressure on the job market, created the opportunities for employment which led to the establishment of permanent barrios in the Kansas City area. As long as immigration from Europe continued, how- ever, most Mcxican laborers remained transients. A large percentage of these immigrants were young males, or solos, unaccompanied by females or other family members. Some were single, but others left their families behind in Mexico These laborers engaged primarily in short-term employment, spending six months or so in the United States before return ing to Mexico with their earnings. Railroads depending upon seasonal employment of Mexican laborers encouraged this pJUc 40 policy. The Mexican Revolution of 1910 destroyed traditional loyalties which had bound many laborers to the land, and thereby, encouraged migration. The Revolution occurred at a time when the urban labor market in the United States could not absorb the migrants. Consequently, both the migra- t ion and the Mexican barrios in the United States reflected the unstable market situation. Since Kansas City's eco- nomic structure could not sustain large numbers of Mexicans in the work force as year-round laborers, industries in the area Imported Mexican laborers for short-term use. As a result, great fluctuations occurred in the numbers of Mexi- cans in the area at any one time prior to 1917. This was particularly true of Mexicans who worked for the railroads. The Mexican population in the boxcar encampments swelled and shrank as economic conditions dictated. Moreover, employment tended to be seasonal. The Mexican laborers had work only for seven months of the year, but the railroad companies permitted them to occupy the bunks throughout the 27 year. Some Mexicans used this time to make visits to Mexico. The census reports are unreliable indicators of the volume of Mexican immigration into Kansas City, for the seasonal migration and continual turnover are not reflected in the census. Mexican communities in Kansas have been characterized throughout their existence by a continual coming and going of Mexicans. Given such conditions of flux, it would seem unlikely 41 that permanent Mexican settlements could have emerged during this period. Yet, the roots of roost of Kansas City's barrios lie in the pre-1914 period. Several condi- tions helped mitigate the raw operations of the labor mar- ket. First, some Mexican agricultural workers did not return to Mexico after the growing season ended in the United States, but "wintered" in cities such as Kansas C i t y . This tendency Increased during the Mexican Revolution, 1910- 1920, because many laborers could not return to their 'native states due to military operations and fear of impressment into one of the rival revolutionary guerrilla bands. Also, some Mexican urban laborers held onto their jobs during the i winter. The presence of these Mexicans in the city during the winter months helped ensure the continuation of the barrio as a year-round fixture in Kansas C i t y . Secondly, the Mexican Revolution causod the flight of a higher-class Mexican group whose migration did not depend on the operations of the labor market in the United Stales* Included in this group were a large number of families, including children, women and the aged. The popu- lation composition of this wave of immigrants was not typi- cal of Mexican immigration as a whole in the twentieth cen- tury. A small colony of refugees settled in Kansas City during the Revolution, probably numbering in the hundreds. Members of this Mexican elitist group established a Spanish- language newspaper, El, Cosnopol i t a. to keep their compa- 29 triots in the city informed of events in Mexico. They 42 also co-operated actively with local politicians to achieve 30 improvement of conditions for the Mexicans in Kansas City. Although members of this group occasionally sought remuner- ative Jobs during their stay in Kansas City, they did not engage in agricultural labor. Consequently, Mexicans remained in the twin cities year-round. The barrios did not wither away during the winter months. Most of Kansas City*s barrios originated as railroad yard camps in the pre-1914 period. Many of the inhabi- tants of these boxcar encampments gradually moved into « nearby residential neighborhoods, forming a more permanent Mexican settlement. This was the predominant pattern ia Kansas City during the first two decades of substantial Mexican immigration, from 1900 until 1921, although some Mexican laborers also entered the city to take up jobs in other industries and never lived in boxcar camps. Not all of these boxcar camps persisted to form permanent barrios. Many disappeared as the railroad's labor needs changed. The labor needs of the railway industry to a large extent called the barrios into being. The two principal conduits of Mexicans in to Kansas City were the Santa Fe and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, known as the Rock Island. These two railways also played a role in the estab- lishment of barrios elsewhere in Kansas, notably in towns 31 where the railways located their repair shops. Of the two, the Santa Fe was most important. Stretching from Kansas City 43 in a southwesterly direction to California, the Santa Fe ran through the slates of Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico to the border city, El Paso, That city was one of the major points of labor distribution for Mexican immi- grants. The Rock Island line extended into eastern New Mexico, but did not connect directly with El Paso. Never- theless, it also had ample opportunity to draw upon the Mexi- can labor supply in the Southwest. T h u s , the two railroads were in a good position to obtain and transport Mexican laborers to Kansas City at little cost to themselves. Mexican laborers who entered Kansas City in the employ- ment of these two railways sometimes quit in search of higher paying jobs. Railroads were great feeders of Mexican labor to other industries. The packing industry siphoned off some of these laborers, as did other railroads such as the Burlington and the Kansas City Terminal Railway. Probably, though, a substantial number of Mexican laborers remained with the railroads, for the latter guaranteed free passage back to Mexico at the end of a specified period, ranging from six months to a y e a r . 3 2 In Kansas City the Santa Fe played the central role in importing Mexican laborers, for it maintained extensive repair shops there. The Santa Fe enters Kansas City from the southwest, along the Kaw Valley, and winds its way along the bottom land south of the Kaw River. The company began using Mexicans as track laborers in its Argentine yards south of the Kaw River in Kansas City, Kansas, as early as 1905. By 44 1907 Mexicans lived in boxcar camps in the Santa Fe y a r d s in A r g e n t i n e . One newspaper reporter e s t i m a t e d the popu- lation of Mexicans in Argentine in 190T at 6 0 0 . 3 3 T h r e e y e a r s later federal census takers reported only eighty Mexi- cans in A r g e n t i n e . Soon after the e s t a b l i s h m e n t of M e x i c a n s on the track gangs in A r g e n t i n e , boxcar settlements c o n t a i n i n g M e x i c a n railroad workers appeared in the railroad y a r d s at the bottom of the bluffs in the West Bottoms and East B o t t o n s . T h e next major influx of Mexican laborers into the city cane in 1909 w h e n construction companies and r a i l w a y s imported M e x i c a n s to work as construction laborers on the new U n i o n Station p r o j e c t . The relocation of the city's main terminal from the West Bottoms necessitated the laying of tracks into the new t e r m i n a l . This project alone e m p l o y e d hundreds of Mexi- cans between 1909 and 1914 when the station was c o m p l e t e d . By 1914 some 600 to 700 M e x i c a n s lived in the twin c i t i e s . The locations of the six m a j o r barrios are shown on Map 3 on the following p a g e . K a n s a s - s i d e barrios included the one in the Argentine railroad y a r d s ; a railroad camp in the West Bottoms; and another in the old m i l l i n g town of ' : X " ' «*» R o s e d a l e southeast of the Kaw River in the b o t t o m s along Turkey C r e e k . All of these barrios o r i g i n a t e d as railroad y a r d c a m p s . Mexicans in R o s e d a l e lived in an area known as "La Colonia," (The C o l o n y ) . They w o r k e d in the y a r d s of the S t . Louis and San F r a n c i s c o Railroad and the M i s s o u r i , Kansas and Texas Railroad t h e r e . T h e s e railroads are known res- pectively as the "Frisco" and "Katy 3 5 45 46 The barrio in the West Bottoms gradually spread into the adjacent section known as Armourdale, the broad flat plain formed by the horseshoe bend of the Kaw. Initially, Mexicans were confined to the bottoms industrial district of the West Bottoms and Armourdale. G r a d u a l l y , the barrio spilled over into the southeastern corner of Armourdale. By 1914 a Mexican business district existed just west of the bottoms industrial area along Kansas A v e n u e . As late as 1919 social survey investigators found that Anglo citi- zens of Armourdale pointed with pride to the fact that Mexicans and Negroes were not allowed to live in the dis- trict's better residential areas. During the 1920s the Armourdale barrio grew steadily westward and filled in the area east of Seventh Street, between Osage and Kansas Ave- nu e s . ^ 6 The bottoms district, including areas of the West Bottoms proper and low-lying areas in A r m o u r d a l e , was a crowded immigrant neighborhood when Mexicans first took up jobs there in the packing industry in 1908. A spokesman for the Bethel Mission, the only social settlement operating in this bottom lands district, described the area as it appeared in 1907: The west bottoms of Kansas C i t y , our district, contain 5000 or 6000 people--a large boarding-house population, 1000 family homes, overcrowded houses, mixed national- ities, fifty saloons, unusual poverty . . . . 3 * The West Bottoms comprised Ward I of Kansas C i t y , K a n s a s . # Trior to 1890 it was an Irish stronghold, but the incoming new immigrants pushed the Irish group o u t . " None of the other barrios in the twin cities existed in such a polygot a r e a . On the Missouri side of the stale line the Mexican barrios also hod close connections with the railroad indus- t r y . By 1914 barrios existed in three localities in Kansas C i t y , M i s s o u r i . These were an urban barrio in the Westside bluffs a r e a , overlooking the Kaw; a small railroad camp in the yards of the C h i c a g o , Burlington 6 Quincy R a i l r o a d company in North Kansas C i t y , across the M i s s o u r i River from the central business district; and in the Sheffield area 30 along the Blue River.** The barrio in the B u r l i n g t o n y a r d s originated around 1911 when the railroad built houses there for its M e x i c a n work f o r c e . The railroad was part owner of the North Kansas City Development C o m p a n y . This c o m p a n y , a subsidiary of the Armour and Swift packing i n t e r e s t s , d e v e l o p e d the adja- cent area of Northtown as a skilled w o r k i n g - c l a s s residential d i s t r i c t . The company did not permit M e x i c a n s , Negroes or southern Europeans (Italians) to live in N o r t h t o w n . T h i s policy continued as late as the 1 9 3 0 s . 4 0 Spanish-speaking laborers e n t e r e d the S h e f f i e l d , or C e n t r o p o l i s , region of the Blue R i v e r Valley as early as 1 9 0 3 , but these may have been New M e x i c a n s . Sheffield lay well to the east of Kansas C i t y , M i s s o u r i , p r o p e r , It e x t e n d e d southward from the East B o t t o m s , the flood plain m south of the Missouri R i v e r , to E i g h t e e n t h S t r e e t , and east- erly from Bennington to Anderson S t r e e t . The major infusion of Mexicans into the region appears to have occurred around 1 9 1 4 - 1 9 1 5 . 4 1 Mexicans in Sheffield were probably railroad laborers, for two railroads passed through the dis- t r i c t . By 1919 the size of the Mexican population there led to the establishment of a "Mision Mcxieana," or Mexican Mis- s i o n . The Mision Mexicans was a Protestant evangelical mis- sion which offered classes in English and sewing for Mexi- cans . 42 The largest barrio in Kansas C i t y , M i s s o u r i , was West- s i d e . This barrio once housed the city's elite and was known prior to 1890 as "Quality Hill." The neighborhood declined rapidly as industrialization transformed the Bottoms. Many Old Stock immigrants, notably S w e d i s h , Irish, E n g l i s h , Danish and German w o r k e r s , settled in the bluff-side community of Wcstside to be near their places of e m p l o y m e n t . As these immigrants moved in, the neighborhood rapidly became a working- class residential area. The various groups did not organize ethnic neighborhoods on a locality b a s i s , although Danes occupied the hill on Twenty-third S t r e e t . Westside remained a neighborhood of northern Europeans until Mexicans entered the area around 1909. By 1910 many of the Old Stock groups were again on the move, abandoning their homes and later their churches to the new immigrants from M e x i c o . 4 3 By 1909 Westside stretched south from Sixth Street to Thirtieth Street, and extended easterly from the bluff line to Pennsylvania Street. A barrio appeared in the south- ern port of Westside, along T w e n t y - t h i r d S t r e e t , in 1909- 1910. Mexicans who settled Westside were railroad construe- 4 9 lion laborers imported lo work on ihe Union Station p r o j e c t . Some of these workers lived in McClue flats at Nineteenth and M c G e e , but this settlement ceased to exist soon after the station was completed in 1 9 1 4 . 4 4 Mexican railroad workers continued to live in Westside after 1 9 1 4 . Some worked as track laborers for traction l i n e s , and others found Jobs with the Terminal company. At no time prior to 1940 did Mexicans occupy Westside to the exclusion of other g r o u p s . Nor did they exclusively occupy any single b l o c k . The largest con- c e n t r a t i o n of Mexicans was in the vicinity of T w e n t y - t h i r d S t r e e t , from the bluff line to Summit S t r e e t . 4 5 Throughout the pre-1940 period Westside was the rallying point for Kansas City's Mexican p o p u l a t i o n . The barrio's popularity among Mexicans in the city stemmed from its choice location yi s-a-v i s the city's railroad and street railway s y s t e m s . Mexicans also clustered in Westside because of its proximity to places of e m p l o y m e n t , notably the B o t t o m s , A r m o u r d a l e , and downtown Kansas C i t y , M i s s o u r i . W e s t s i d e occupied a strategic position vis-à-vis the new Union Sta- t i o n . It lay Just to the southwest of the new f a c i l i t y . Union station became the city's main passenger and freight railroad depot after 1914. Prior to 1914 Mexicans arriving by rail disembarked in the West Bottoms at the Union D e p o t . The first Mexican h o t e l s , boarding houses and employment agencies appeared in the vicinity of the old D e p o t , on 46 Union A v e n u e , between Mulberry and Santa Fe A v e n u e s . The decline of importance of the Depot after 1914 shifted the balance in favor of W e s t s i d e . It emerged as the primary 5 0 residential area for Mexicans in the c i t y . Mexican immigrants soon d i s c o v e r e d that a w e l l - i n t e - grated street railway s y s t e m , the M e t r o p o l i t a n Street Rail- way S y s t e m , criss-crossed both cities and effectively created 4 7 a unified urban c o m p l e x . The p h y s i c a l layout of the net- work made Westside a central location for all Mexicans in the twin c i t i e s . Barrios located in remote area of the twin cities w e r e , in e f f e c t , unified by the streetcar s y s t e m , for streetcars ran into all of the larger barrios and connected them with W e s t s i d e . A map of the M e t r o p o l i t a n system appears on page 4 5 . The one e x c e p t i o n was a small railroad y a r d camp in the Burlington y a r d s . T h i s b a r r i o , h o w e v e r , w a s w i t h i n walking distance from downtown Kansas C i t y . The main lines of the street railway system e x t e n d e d like radii into Kansas C i t y , K a n s a s . T h e r e was little verti- cal integration of the lines t h e r e , unlike in Kansas C i t y , M i s s o u r i . H e n c e , Mexicans in A r g e n t i n e could reach West- side and downtown Kansas C i t y , M i s s o u r i , far more easily than downtown Kansas C i t y , K a n s a s . T h e latter route was c i r c u i t o u s , rather than d i r e c t . No t h r o u g h lines connected A r g e n t i n e to downtown Kansas C i t y , K a n s a s . Through lines of the M e t r o p o l i t a n effectively linked the barrios in A r g e n t i n e , Armourdale and W e s t s i d e in a linear p a t t e r n , for the Metropolitan operated a through line from the westernmost part of A r g e n t i n e , through the heart of the A r m o u r d a l e b a r r i o , into the center of W e s t s i d e , along T w e n t y -49 fourth S t r e e t , and then into the c e n t r a l business d i s t r i c t . L i k e w i s e , Mexicans in Sheffield and R o s e d a l e also had easy 51 access via the streetcar s y s t e m . The growth of Mexican business e n t e r p r i s e s in Westside and the North End (old levee d i s t r i c t ) resulted largely from the existing pattern of the street railway n e t w o r k . T h e Mexican commercial enterprises which appeared in Westside serviced a far-flung Mexican coIo nI a. or c o l o n y , in the twin c i t i e s . M o r e o v e r , Mexicans living in the West Bottoms and in Armourdale could walk to W e s t s i d e . T h e centrally-located barrios of W e s t s i d e and Armour- d a l e , along with the North E n d , by 1919 contained the majority of c o m m e r c i a l , religious and service e s t a b l i s h m e n t s catering to M e x i c a n s . A cursory tabulation of M e x i c a n businesses in the files of Ej. Cosnopol It a for 1918-1919 reveals the exis- tence of at least thirty-four M e x i c a n - o p e r a t e d businesses which had primarily or exclusively Mexican c l i e n t e l e . T a b l e I enumerates and classifies the businesses which advertised in EJ. Cosmopol it a. or otherwise received mention in the paper. T h e types of Mexican establishments advertised in the paper closely resemble those found in other cities in the * late 1920s by contemporary observers such as Anita Edgar 50 Jones and Paul S . T a y l o r . The precise tabulations as given on the following page probably are not r e p r e s e n t a t i v e of Mexi- can business enterprise as a w h o l e . A d v e r t i s e m e n t s provide only a rough estimate of the total number of Mexican busi- nesses which e x i s t e d . L i k e l y , some firms could not afford to advertise and others, such as guest h o u s e s , neighborhood grocery stores and boarding h o u s e s , did not need to adver- tise. Word-of-mout h advert isement ot small signs in the win- 5 2 TABLE 1 MEXICAN BUSINESSES IN KANSAS C I T Y , KANSAS, AND MISSOURI, 1910-1919 Type of West- Armour- North Business side dale* End* Total Barber Shop 2 2 Drug Store 1 1 1 3 H i* si au rant 3 1 1 5 C i neam 1 1 2 Pool Hall 2 2 Tailor 2 2 T ruck i ng 2 2 Print ing* 1 1 Newspaper 1 1 Money Exchange 2 2 4 Phot ographer 1 1 Grocery Store 1 I Bible Salesman 1 I Guest House 1 I Sewing Machine Sales 1 I Fountain-fruit- tobacco 1 I Used Furniture Exchange 1 I General Merchandise 1 1 2 (•„ s m op o i j i n . 1 918-1919. 54 Notes; The lit-art of i he Wests ide barrio was Twenty-fourth Street. It contained a Catholic Church (Mexican Parish), two pool halls, a cinema, bakery, several restaurants, two barber shops, and two Protestant churches (Mexican). Mexi- can businesses in Armourdale were located along Kansas Ave- nue, from the 300 to 600 block. Mexican businesses in the North Knd were located on F i f t h , Sixth, Missouri and Main Streets in the old levee district. doks of such businesses probably served their needs. Noticeably missing from the list, for instance, are saloons. Y e t , Mexican saloons flourished prior to the beginning of Prohibition in the Fall of 1919. The most notorious Mexi- can saloon of the pre-1919 period operated with the coopera- tion of Kansas City's political boss, Tom Pender gast f at l h c Hot e1 P a r a i s o (Paradise Hotel). Pcndergast subleased the five-story brick building to a succession of Mexican 5 3 m a n a g e r s . The hotel finally closed in 1916 after a series of police raids revealed the existence of prostitution and disorderly conduct at the h o t e l . For a short time thereafter the hotel continued to operate as the "Hotel Mexicano" (Mexican H o t e l ) . 5 1 In addition to serving as the Mexican commercial cen- t e r , Westside also emerged as the major cultural and relig- ious copter for Mexicans in the Kansas City a r e a . It boasted the establishment of the city's first m u t u a l l s t a . or mutual aid society, the UnlAn Mi>xicana Benito J u â r e a . in O c t o b e r , 1914. Earlier that year the barrio also became the site of a Mexican national p a r i s h . In J u l y , 1914, the C a t h o l i c Bishop authorized Reverend Jose* Mulioz, a Spanish- born priest who fled Mexico in 1913, to establish the p a r i s h . F r o m 1914 to 1919 the church operated out of rented rooms and a storefront on Twenty-fourth S t r e e t . T h e storefront church served as the Mexican Catholic Church until 1919 when the 52 parish acquired a permanent church b u i l d i n g . C o m m e r c i a l , religious and cultural activities in West- side received the active support of many well-educated Mexi- can r e f u g e e s . Some of these refugees worked for EX C o s m o p o - Ilia, published by the refugee community from 1914 until 1919. Other Mexican professionals such as d o c t o r s , lawyers and engineers were not licensed to practice in the United S t a l e s . C o n s e q u e n t l y , some of these professionals and hacendados (owners of large landed e s t a t e s ) waited out the R e v o l u t i o n in the relative safety of Kansas C i t y . Some of 5 4 these refugees formed a Mexican social c l u b , the Cas ino M e x i c n n o . Over a hundred of the elite M e x i c a n s in Kansas City joined the c l u b . As soon as c o n d i t i o n s in Mexico per- mitted their r e t u r n , the u p p e r - c l a s s M e x i c a n s d e p a r t e d and 5 3 the C a s i n o Mcxicano c o l l a p s e d . m C o n c l u s i o n By 1920 Kansas City contained at least s i x M e x i c a n 0 barrios-, in addition to many other i m m i g r a n t - e t h n i c n e i g h - b o r h o o d s and a substantial Negro p o p u l a t i o n . M e x i c a n s w e r e the last major group of new immigrants to arrive in t h e twin cities prior to 1 9 2 0 . In Kansas City M e x i c a n s e n g a g e d in e c o n o m i c competition with other immigrant g r o u p s , as well as with N e g r o e s . Like other recent i m m i g r a n t s , M e x i - cans settled in the bottoms in the industrial d i s t r i c t s « adjacent to the rivers and creeks which ran through the twin c i t i e s . In all c a s e s , M e x i c a n s inherited the worst type of h o u s i n g available in the c i t y . O f t e n this h o u s i n g c o n s i s t e d of boxcar villages on the side tracks in railroad y a r d s . As the y e a r s passed Mexicans moved into h o u s i n g a b a n d o n e d by u p w a r d l y - m o b i l e immigrant g r o u p s . T h r e e waves of Mexican i m m i g r a t i o n reached the city between 1900 and 1920. The first wave c o n s i s t e d primarily of transient male laborers who worked under c o n t r a c t s with the railroads and other industries for several m o n t h s . F e w of the original members of this group remained in the c i t y , for they were highly t r a n s i e n t . The second wave was com- posed of refugees who fled Mexico during the R e v o l u t i o n . Many of these refugees remained in the city at least until 1920. The third wave of Mexican immigrants were those who came to the city during the First World War to take jobs in the city's industries. Mexican immigrants who sought permanent jobs in the twin cities, in f a c t , met with little success until the United States entered the war in 1 9 1 7 . Some Mexican laborers profited from the disruption of * European immigration casued by the outbreak of war in E u r o p e in 1914, but the major breakthrough in employment opportuni- ties for Mexicans in Kansas occurred in 1 9 1 7 . The war-related industrial expansion, rather than the immigrants* aspira- t i o n s , created the avenues of upward occupational mobility for Mexican immigrants. T h e remainder of this work is given over to the study of Mexican immigration and settlement in the Argentine barrio of Kansas C i t y , Kansas. In Argentine the process of immigra- tion and barrio formation closely paralleled that of Kansas City as a w h o l e . Argentine may be seen as a microcosm of the Mexican experience in-Kansas C i t y . Subsequent chapters explore the Argentine experience in several d i m e n s i o n s . These include analyses of the Mexican origins of the immigrants, immigration leaves and settlement p a t t e r n s , the Mexican immigrant s ' relationship to the Santa Fe and the process of community or barrio d e v e l o p m e n t . FOOTNOTES: CHAPTER II Kansas City" refers to the twin cities unless otherwise indicated* 2 J o h n Ramo'n Martinez, Mexican E m i g r a t i o n to the United S t a t e s . 1910-1930 (San Francisco: R & E Research Associates 1 9 7 2 ) , p . 3; and Leo Grebler t Mexican Immigration to the United States: The Record and Its I m p l i c a t i o n s . Mexican- American Study Project, Advance Report 2 (Los Angeles; D i v i s i o n of Research, Graduate School of B u s i n e s s , Univer- sity of C a l i f o r n i a , 1965), p . 2 1 . 3 Matt S. Meier and Feliciano R i v e r a , The C h i c a n o s . A History of Mexican Americans (New York: Hill & W a n g , 1972), p . 126. 'Arthur F . C o r w i n , "Causes of Mexican E m i g r a t i o n to the United Slates: A Summary View," in Perspectives in Ancrican H i s t o r y . VII, 1973: Dislocation and E m i g r a t i o n . The Social Background of Ancriran inr.jgrat ion. e d . by Donald Fleming and Bernard Bailyn (Cambridge, Mass.: C h a r l e s Warren Center for Studies in American H i s t o r y , Harvard U n i v e r s i t y , 1974), p . 5 6 1 . * r 'An analysis of Mexican census data is in F e r n a n d o R o s e n z w e i g , "El Desarollo Econdmico de México de 1877 a 1910,- El Trimestre Econofrlco, Vol. 32 ( J u l y - S e p t e m b e r , 1 9 6 5 ) , 4 1 U - 1 9 . 6 V i c t or S. C l a r k , "Mexican Labor in the United S t a t e s , Deparime ni of Labor Bullet in. 7 8 (Sept., 1 9 0 8 ) , 4 6 6 , 483- 85; 494-95; and Marti'nez, Mexican E m i g r a t i o n , p p . 2 - 3 . 7 M a r t f n e z , Mexican E m i g r a t i o n , p . 4; and Paul S . T a y l o r , A Spanish-Mexican Peasant C o m m u n i t y . ArâflA&i jjfl J a l i s c o . Mexico. (Berkeley: University of C a l i f o r n i a P r e s s , 1933), p p . 62- 72; and An American-Mexican F r o n - t 1 e r . \upfr» C o u n t y , Texas (Chapel Hill: University of North C a r o l i n a Press, 1934). ®Ihe Santa Fe Trail was a general pattern of routes connecting Kansas and Central Mexico via Santa F e , New M e x i c o . By the 1840s goods from the United States reached as far south as Zacatecas in the central plateau of M e x i c o . The Santa Fe Trail was a major overland route from its 57 beginning in 1021 until the late 1070s when railroads reached the Southwest. D. W . Meining, Southwest. Three Peoples in Geonranhirai Change. 1600-1970 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1971), pp. 17-20, gives an overview of the T r a i l . 9 Darrel1 Garwood, Crossroads of America (New York: W . W , Norton, 1940), p. 29. 1 0 T h c role of Mexican freighters on the Santa Fe Trail is discussed in Henry Pickering Walker, The W a g o n m a s t e r s . H i j h Pjtflins Freighters from The Karii-si I W s o f T h ejsa nt q Fr Trail to 1HHQ (Norman; University of Oklahoma P r e s s , 1966); 8nd David Lavender, Bent * s Fort (Garden C i t y , N . Y.: Doubleday 6 C o . , 1954). ^ M i s s o u r i , Writers* Program, Work Projects Adminis- tration*, Ml SgftUr i• A Guide to the 'Show Me* State* Ameri- can Guide Series (New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1941), p . 246. 1 2 I M A * . P . 247; Garwood, Crossroads, p . 31; Argent|nç Republ lc. August 30, 1901, p . 1; and U . S., Census Office, Twcjth Census pf th? United S t n e * » 1 3 M ' P o p u l ^ U » ! . 7 9 8 . 1 3 M a r t i*nez, Mexican Emigration, p . 4; and C o r w i n , "Causes of Mexican Emigration," p . 561 and 6 0 3 . S., Senate, Immigration C o m m i s s i o n , Immigrant s in Industries. Part 1 1 : 3 , Slaughtering and Meat Packing in Kansas C i i v . Kansas. 61st C o n g . , 2d Sess., 1910, p . 273» hereafter cited as Immigration Commission, Meat Packing in Kansas C11 v : and J. Neale C a r m a n , "Foreign-Language Units of Kansas," Vol. Il, Part III, p p . 507-26 (Typescript.) — University Archives, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. * '^Garwood, Crossroads, p p . 120-22; and Charles N . G1 a a b, Kansas Ciiv and the Railroads (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1962). 1 * > This map is copied from "Map of the Kansas City Suburban Bell R . R., Kansas City & Independence Air Line and the Union Terminal Railroad," Investors* Supplement of th. C onmerr i a 1 and Financial C h r o n i c l e . V o l . 59 (November 2 4 , 1 OV'I) , p . 7 7 . ^ H i s t o r i c a l and Descriptive Review of Kansas. Is Northern Section (Topeka: Jno. Lethem, 1090), p . 64; Perl Wilbur Morgan, Hlstorv of Wyandotte f o u n t v . Kansas, and Its People. Vol. 1 (Chicago: Lewis Publishing C o m p a n y , 1911), pp. 316-17; and Guide to the 'Show Me' State, p p . 243, 2 4 7 . 5 8 1 0 Garwood, Crossroads, pp. 127-29. 19 Grant W. Harrington, Historic Spots or Milestones in i he Progress of Wvanriotte County. Kansas (Merriam, Kan- sas: Mission Press, 1935), pp. 212-15; Historical and Dcs- crip! i V t: R C Vi r V.. pp. 63-65; and Kansas, Federal Writers* Project, Work Projects Administration, Kansas. A Guide to the Sunflower State (New York: Viking Press, 1939), p p . 207- 211. 20 " Map 2 is adapted from Kansas City, Kansas, Planning Department, Community Renewal Program. 1969. An Analysis of Community Need and Renewal Potential. Exist ing Condl- t ions (Kansas City, Kansas: Kansas C i t y , Kansas, Planning Department, 1969), Plate 0-1, "Growth Patterns & Historic Uoundar ies." Joseph H. McDowell, Building a City; fl history Kansas C i t y , Kansas (Kansas City, Kansas: Kansas City Kan- san, 1970), p. 9. 2 2 G a r w o o d , Crossroads, p p . 125-29, 170-72, 184. 23 Immigration Commission, Meat Packing in Kansas C i t y . p . 273. 2 *Carraan, "Foreign-Language Units,** Vol. II, Part II, p . 525. h id.. p. 094. Carman states that Armour used Mexicans as strikebreakers during the 1921 packing house sir ike. 2,, Imrai«jrai ion Commission, Meat Parking in Kansas C i t y , p. 273; "A Program of Americanization for Kansas C i t y , Kansas, under the Direction of the Kansas City Public Schools, the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and the University of Kansas" (Mimeographed); and Carman, "Foreign-Language Units," Vol. II, Part II, p. 273. 2 7 J o h n T . Duncan and Severiano Alonzo, Guadaluoe Center. r.O Years of Service (Kansas City, Missouri? John I . Duncan and Severiano Alonzo, 1972), p . 11. *>n * Grebler, Mexican Immigration, pp. 20, 44. 2 \ 1 Cosmonol it a was published In Kansas City from August, 1914, until November, 1919. 30 El Cosmonollta. January 1, 1916, p p . 1 6 4 . 3 l C l a r k , "Mexican Labor," p. 277; C a r m a n , Forclgq- t.angungr Units of Kansas. I: Historical Atlas and Statis- tics (Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, 1972), 5 9 p p . 3 9 - 4 0 ; and J . Neale C a r m a n P a p e r s , B o x 5 , S e c t i o n 8 0 . 0 3 , p . 3 — U n i v e r s i t y A r c h i v e s , K e n n e t h S p e n c e r R e s e a r c h L i b r a r y , U n i v e r s i t y of K a n s a s , h e r e a f t e r cited as C a r m a n P a p e r s » 3 2 C l a r k , " M e x i c a n L a b o r , " p p . 4 7 2 , 4 7 9 , 4 8 0 . 3 3 * * A r a c n t ine Republ ic. D e c e m b e r 2 1 , 1 9 0 5 , p . 1; and T n p e k a Daily C a n i t a 1 - H e r a i d . A p r i l 1 2 , 1 9 0 7 , C l i p p i n g , in K a n s a s S t a l e H i s t o r i c a l , W y a n d o t t e C o u n t y C l i p p i n g s , Vol* 1 1 , p p . 1 3 0 - 1 1 — K a n s a s Slate H i s t o r i c a l S o c i e t y . 3 "Hi. S . , D e p a r t m e n t of C o m m e r c e , B u r e a u of the C e n s u s , T h 1 r i c e n t h C e n s u s of the U n i t e d S t a t e s . 1 9 1 0 ; P o p u l a t i o n . 1 1 , 6 9 7 , T a b l e V . 35 D u n c a n and A l o n z o , G u a d a l u p e C e n t e r , p . 15; i n t e r - v i e w c o n d u c t e d by Paul S . T a y l o r in K a n s a s C i t y , M i s s o u r i , n 3 6 - 2 0 0 — T a y l o r P a p e r s , B a n c r o f t L i b r a r y ; and Paul M i n g - C h a n g L i n , " V o l u n t a r y K i n s h i p and V o l u n t a r y A s s o c i a t i o n In a M e x i c a n - A m e r i c a n C o m m u n i t y " ( u n p u b l i s h e d M . A* t h e s i s , U n i v e r s i t y of K a n s a s , 1 9 6 3 ) , p . 2 6 . ^ " A r m o u r d a l e . A C i t y W i t h i n a C i t y , " B u l l e t i n of the t ^ l y e y s h y 9 f K g n s 9 ? , V o l . X X , N o . 12 (June 1 5 , 1 9 1 9 ) , p . 36; EJ. f o s n o p o i i t a . 1 9 1 4 , p a s s i m ( a d v e r t i s e m e n t s ) ; and P e t e r E a r l e , " T h e M e x i c a n s in K a n s a s C i t y , K a n s a s , M J u n e , 1 9 5 3 ( T y p e s c r i p t . ) — U n i v e r s i t y A r c h i v e s , K e n n e t h S p e n c e r R e s e a r c h L i b r a r y , U n i v e r s i t y of Kansas* 3 7 K a n s a s C o n f e r e n c e of C h a r i t i e s and C o r r e c t i o n , P r o c e e d i n g s of the E i g h t h A n n u a l S e s s i o n ( T o p e k a : S t a t e P r i m i n g Of f i c e , 1 9 0 9 ) , p . 9 5 . ^ I m m i g r a t i o n C o m m i s s i o n , Meat P a c k i n g in K a n s a s C l t v , p . 2 7 3 ; and T h i r t e e n t h C e n s u s of the t-nin-d .S>nt»-s. 191.0s P o p u l a t i o n . II, 6 9 7 . In 1 9 X 0 only 3 , 9 3 5 p e o p l e lived in W a r d i . Part of the B o t t o m s lay in Ward 6 , r o u g h l y the A r m o u r d a l e d i s t r i c t , w h i c h had a p o p u l a t i o n of 1 0 , 0 1 2 in 1 9 1 0 . T h e social w o r k e r q u o t e d in the text i n c l u d e d p o r - t i o n s of W a r d 6 as part of the West B o t t o m s . 39 D u n c a n and A l o n z o , G u a d a l u p e C e n t e r , p . 8 . 4 0 J o h n 0 . A d a m s , " T h e North K a n s a s C i t y U r b a n D i s - t r i c t . " E c o n o m i c G e o g r a p h y . 8:4 ( O c t . , 1 9 3 2 ) , 4 0 9 - 2 5 . ' 1 D u n c a n and A l o n z o , G u a d a l u p e C e n t e r , p . 8; North* s G u i d e to K a n s a s C l t v . M o . , and K a n s a s C i i v . K a n s a s ( K a n s a s C i t y , M i s s o u r i : J . H . North F u r n i t u r e G C a r p e t C o . , 1 8 8 9 ) , p . 1; and E l C o s m o p o l i t a . D e c e m b e r 2 5 , 1 9 1 5 , p . 1 . 4 2 L ! C o s m o p o l i t a , May 10, 1 9 1 9 , p . 1 . T h e S h e f f i e l d b a r r i o g a i n e d p o p u l a t i o n d u r i n g the 1 9 4 0 s w h e n M e x i c a n s 60 moved into the East Bottoms in larger numbers. By 1949 one investigator estimated that 500 Mexican families lived in these two areas. Carman, "Foreign-Language Units," V o l . II, Part III, p . 893. 1 1 Duncan and Alonzo, Guadalupe C e n t e r , p p . 8 , 11-15; L» Prensa (San Antonio), February 22, 1921, p p . 1, 5; and C a r m a n , "Foreign-Language Units," Vol. II, Part II, p . 5 2 0 . 4 4 I M j I . * 5 L i n , "Voluntary Kinship," p . 7 . 4 6 L L Cosmopolita. August 2 2 , 1914, p . 4; October i , 1 9 1 4 , p p . 2 - 3 . » 4 ' F o r an examination of the Metropolitan Street Rail- way System's consolidation and operating procedures see, Bion J. Arnold, Report to Hon. William C . H o o k . Judge, on the Value of the Properties of the Metropolitan Street Rail- sV5î«'tt of Kansas City, Missouri. Vol. I: Kfrffsgs P U y, Railway flnd ^ g ^ t Ççmpgffy. Complainant vs. Mpt ropo j i t ftj hLLSSA Ç they can be b r o k e n down into geographic and status cate- g o r i e s . T a b l e 6 divides these data into g r o u p s , corrcs- « p o n d i n g to the higher-status shop laborers and the lower- status track w o r k e r s in Argentine and to geographically d i s - tinct b a r r i o s (Argentine and the W e s t s i d e , Kansas C i t y , M i s s o u r i b a r r i o ) . Shop laborers looked with disdain upon track w o r k . O n e retired Mexican shop worker interviewed for this study objected to being asked about the c h a r a c t e r of a s e c t i o n foreman in A r g e n t i n e , d e c l a r i n g , "I don't know none of t h e m section b o s s e s . " 3 5 T h e e x i s t e n c e of such status d i f f e r e n c e s between types of railroad e m p l o y m e n t for M e x i c a n s w i t h i n the small barrio are s i g n i f i c a n t . Just as significant w e r e the divergent patterns of m i g r a t i o n of M e x i c a n s into these two types of railroad employment in A r g e n t i n e . T a b l e 6 shows that immigrants from the central p l a t e a u , e s p e c i a l l y those from Michoactfn, d o m i n a t e d shop « e m p l o y m e n t . T h e MichoacaVi contingent in the Santa F e shops *as d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e l y large when compared with other cate- » gories of M e x i c a n railroad employment in Kansas C i t y . T h e 67 barrio in Argentine clearly absorbed a larger percentage of immigrants from Michoacafn than did the Wcstside, Kansas C i t y , Missouri, barrio where the warehouse was located. The concentration of Michoacanos (people from Michoa- ca'n) in the Argentine shops can be explained by the existence of a group of Mexicans from the pueblo (town) of Tangancf- cuaro, M i c h o a c d n . This pueblo over the years consistently contributed a larger number of Mexican immigrants to Argen- tine than any other community in Mexico. There is no evi- dence that any of the "Tangas," as people from the pueblo are known in Argentine, sought work in other Kansas City b a r r i o s . None worked In the warehouse. Around 1907 the first "Tangas" made.their way to Argen- tine to work for the Santa F e . Immigrants from the pueblo continued to seek seasonal track employment there until about 1916 when sono "Tangas" settled permanently in Argentine. These immigrants initiated a process of chain migration between TanganciVuaro and Argentine. "Tangas" in Argentine lured others from the pueblo, including many family m e m b e r s . This process continued over the decades as new waves of "Tangas" arrived in the barrio. The immigrants from Tan- ganc fcuaro attempted to settle in close proximity to one another in the Argentine barrio and the men secured shop J o b s . Some "Tangas" who arrived during World Kar One to work in the shops kept their jobs until they retired or d i e d . 3 6 Immigrants from other Mcxican pueblos also displayed a similar pattern of immigration, although none proved as tuccessfuI as the "Tangas" in maintaining their Mexican TAULE 6 STATES OF ORIGIN 0* MEXICAN LABORER S IH KANSAS CITY AS COMPARED 10 OTHER AREAS OK THE UNITED STATES K A N S A $ C I T Y d OTHER UNITED STATES P E R C E K T A G E B Y S T A T E S PERCENTAGE BY STATES St ate Argent i ne Shops Argent ine Track Argent ine Total Ware- house, k. C . M « Kansas City Tot al Cl» icago Cal unei Region** f United St at es, 1926 e Indiana, 111inois. Michigan" Jalisco 12.07 6.45 10. 17 7.69 9.82 20.7 11.7 17.55 Guanajuat o 22.41 30.71 29.07 30.46 31 .25 17.4 19.6 33.06 Michoaca'n 36.21 16.13 30.23 11.54 25.09 18.5 20.0 25.78 Zacatecas 17.21 16.13 17.44 19.23 17.06 0.1 4.8 1.87 Ch ihuahua 3.45 3.23 3.49 3.05 3.57 3.6 4.4 1.10 San Luis Potosi* • 6.45 2.33 1.79 4.3 3*7 2.47 Nuevo Letfn 1.72 1.16 .09 4.2 8,0 2.56 Coahu i1 a 1.72 1.16 7.69 2.68 4.5 3.8 1 ,93 Aguas- cal ientes 9.6ft 3.49 2.60 2.6 1.9 1 ,57 Durango 3.23 1.16 11 ,54 3.57 3.6 5.9 2,02 Total : 100.00 100,00 100,00 100,00 100,00 Sources: a Prior Service Files, Kansas City Division, Author's calculations. (Sample, 112) b r . S. Taylor, Chicago and the Calumet Region, p, 49* (Sample, 3,132) c Manuel Gamio, Mexican Immigrai ion to the United States, p. 13. (Sample, 28,846) djbid ». p. 19, (Sample, 3,366) b f c , u , p e r c e n t a g e s a r e o n ^ y give n f 0 r states represented in the Prior Service data* c o m m u n i t y i de fit i t les* Although Michoacanos predominated in the shops, immi- grants from Guanajuato dominated all other categories of Santa Fe employment in Argentine and Kansas C i t y . Guana- juatenses (people fro» Guanajuato) constituted the largest single group in the track forces and among the warehouse e m p l o y e s , and they ranked second only to the Michoacanos in the s h o p s . It is likely, also, that they were the largest single group of Mexicans in the city prior to 1940. Guana- juato in 1910 had the second largest population of any of the four major states which made up the central plateau. M o r e o v e r , it also had the greatest population density of any of these states, as Table 7 shows. Michoacsfn ranked second TABLE 7 POPULATION AND POPULATION DENSITY OF FOUR STATES IN THE CENTRAL PLATEAU OF MEXICO, 1910 Stale Population Inhabitants per Square Kilometer Jalisco 1,200,055 13.93 Guanajuato 1,001,651 30.14 MichoacVn 991,800 16,03 Zacatecas 477,556 7.53 Source: Anita Edgar Jones, Conditions Surrounding Mexicans Ln ILLl JJLS, Francisco: R* 6 E Research Asso- c i a t e s , 1971), p . 31. to Guanajuato in the number of inhabitants per square kilo- m e t e r . It was logical that these two states would contri- bute a large share of immigrants when economic pressures intensified after 1900. T h u s , the majority of Kansas City's Mexican immigrants came from thé central plateau of Mexico. The Mexican Central 90 Railway serviced the densely populated states of the region and transferred immigrants to El Paso where the Santa Fe conducted them to Kansas City. Other railroads drained away the supply of Mexican laborers at Laredo and Eagle P a s s , resulting in a diffused migration pattern in the B o r d e r l a n d s . Victor S. C l a r k , an employe of the Department of L a b o r , noted in 1907 that immigrants from the northeast border states (Coahuila, Durango and Nuevo Lecfn) moved along the National Railway of Mexico to Laredo* From Laredo railroad lines «F % connected with San Antonio, F t . Worth and D a l l a s . Immigrants from Querdtaro and San Luis Potosi* probably entered through Eagle Pass (Piedras Negras). Immigrants from Jalisco either followed the Mexican Central f or, after 1 9 1 2 , the Southern Pacific to the United States border. T h u s , migration streams followed the existing railway network. Consequently, Mexican immigration patterns were somewhat predictable* Migrants from the central plateau generally leap-frogged across already saturated employment areas in the Border region to the Midwest. Mexican immi- grants initially, had little choice in their employment locale, but as the years passed, preferences became apparent and the process of chain migration of people from the same Mexican pueblos to specific towns and cities in the United States began* Seasonal workers who returned to Argentine to work y e a r l y , eventually settled there and sent for friends and relatives to join then. 91 Mexican Donor C o m m u n i t y Although some researcher» examined Mexican immigration patterns, no published studies exist which trace immigrants who settled in specific geographical locations in the United States to their respective pueblos, cities or villages of origin* Although Gamio apparently had access to data on Mexican donor communities, he did not explore the topic. Consequently, there are «any questions about the origins of Mexican Immigration which remain unanswered. None of the studies conducted by Gamio and Taylor, for example, explored the dimensions of migration to one barrio* Examination of the Prior Service files - reveals that Mexican communities of a particular size contributed a dis- proportionate share of immigrants to the Argentine barrio. Table 8 lists more thaa fifty Mexican donor communities which can be identified. These communities are broken down by the number of inhabitants each contained in 1910, on the eve of the Mexican Révolution. The number of immigrants to Argen- tine is glvea for each sise category of donor communities. Table 8 dispels notions that the majority of immigrants to Argentine were peons or hacienda laborers. Although the states of Mlchoacrfn, Jalisco and Guanajuato contained large numbers of large landed estates, or haciendas, the immi- grants sent from those states to Argentine, for the most part, were not born on haciendas or rgpçfrpf (small farms), nor were they bora la villages. Only three male immigrants listed their birthplaces as identifiable ranchos. The other six immigrants listed in Table 8 as products of ranchos or 92 haciendas were arbitrarily assigned to this classification because their places of birth were too small to be located in Mexican directories and on detailed maps. It is possible that these six immigrants may have been b o r n in r^nrhor i\s. These are not to be confused with ran- chos, The term "rancho" docs not equate with "ranch," but more correctly can be described as a small farm property maintained by an independent proprietor, or ranchero. and hit family. Rancheros are often referred to as peasant proprietors, Rancheri'as, on the other hand, were mobile villages formed of semi-tribal groups or extended families *ho lived collectively in makeshift dwellings throughout Uexico. Rancher iV»s have existed since the Colonial period until the present day. Often, these migratory squatter camps located near haciendas, railway centers and cities to enable the inhabitants to engage in various forms of casual labor. The location of rancheri'as would not be indicated on maps, nor would they be included in geographical dictiona- ries. Rancher l'as of Sonora Joined in the gold rush in the I O I O S and in the 1680s served as railroad laborers in the Southwest. So, it is reasonable to assume that they also 38 produced migrants in the 1900s as well. Immigrants from small villages, ranchos, haciendas and rancher fa s constituted a very small percentage of the long-term immigrants to Argentine. Even when combined with the next group of eleven (see Table 0) who came from villages with populations ranging between 1,000 and 1,999, these twenty-two men composed only twenty-six percent of the total 93 group. The next major group consisted of thirty-five immi- grant» from towns with populations of 2,500 to 5,000. They were the largest single group of immigrants, as defined by community size, to settle in Argentine. They represented forty-three percent of the total. Seven immigrants were born in towns ranging between 6,000 and 10,999 in population, and cities with populations of 12,000 to 19,999 also sent seven. Thirteen immigrants were born in cities with a population of 20,000 or more. Hence, the donor communities ranged in size from small ranchos to large urban centers. Only twenty-six percent of the immigrants to Argentine examined in this study fell into categories which fit the conventional stereotype of the Mexi- can Immigrant as peasant. Almost seventy-five percent of Argentine's long-term immigrants came from communities with populations of 2,500 or more. As late as 1940 the majority of Mexicans (or 64.9 percent) still lived in villages and hamlets with populations of less than 2,500. Hence, Argen- tine's Mexican immigrants were not drawn from the least urban populace of Mexico. ' In 1940 towns with populations of 2,500 to 10,000 contained only 13*2 percent of the nation's population. Forty-nine percent of the Mexicans studied in Table 8 came from communities of this size. More- over, twenty-four percent Cor twenty) came from cities with 39 populations of 12,000 or moro. It is reasonable to classify the pueblos which con- tributed the largest number of immigrants, those with popu- lations of 2,300 to 5,999, as small towns whose primary indus- MEXICAN DONOR COMMUN 1*1 IKS OF IMHIGRAJfTS TO ARGENTINE, KANSAS Size of Donor CoaauiMly , 1910 Mexican Donor Connunities s 100- 999 Elu'cuaro, Mich.; San Cristobal, Jal.; and 9 ranchos and haciendas 1 1 1,000- 1,999 Tlaza/alca, Mich,; Unidn de San Anionio and P o n c i t W n , Jal.; Julioes, Chih.; Mezquiial del Oro and San Pedro Piedra-Gorda, Zac,; and Arnadïilo, S. L. P. 11 2,000- 2,999 Palaraban, Mich. (2,600) 1 3,000- 3,999 Tanganc i'cuaro and Parncho, Mich.; C u e r a i o r o , Gto.; 6 Nochistl.ln, Zac. 20 4,000- 4,999 San Juan de los Lagos (Uniôn de los Lagos), Jal,; Cuitzeo de Abasoia, Salud de Labltoria, Gio.; Valparaiso and Villanueva, Zac,; & Vllialdana, N. L. 11 5,000- 5,999 Tepatilla'n and Arandas, Jal.; Yuriria and Hoaiita, Gto. 4 6,000- 6,999 Purtfpcro, Mich. 1 7,000- 7,999 Ciudad Lerdo, Dgo. 1 8,000- 8,999 Prfnjamo, Gto.j Jere f z (Ciudad Garcia Salinas), Zac,; and Ciudad Juarez, Chih. 4 10,000-10,999 La Piedad, Mich. 1 12,000-12,999 Zamora, Mich,; and Valle de Santiago, Gto, o 13,000-13,999 Torreo'n, Coah,; and Coeneo (Municipality), Mich, 2 15,000-19,999 Silao and Irapuato, Gto, 3 20,000-49,999 Aguascallentes, Ags.; Guanajuato, Gto,; Zacatecas, Zac.; and Catorse (Municipality), S, L, P. 6 60,000-80,000 Leo'n, Gto. (63,263) 5 100,000+ Guadalajara, Jal, (101,200) 2 Total 05 Sources: Prior Service Files, Kansas City Division; and Alberto Leduc and Dr. L u i s Lara y Pardo, Dicçionflrio Geoqrqffa. Historia y Biografi'a Mexicanas (Mdxico, D, F• : Libreri'a de la Vda. de C. Bouret, 1910). try was agriculture. The majority of the inhabitants of such towns found employment in agriculture or in agriculture- related enterprises such as milling, blacksmithing and car- pentry. Artisans and other self-employed craftsmen in such towns occupied a notch above the lower classes, although it is probably incorrect to refer to artisans and other inter- mediary groups as members of the middle class. Indeed, no real middle class existed in these towns by 1900, although the upper and lower classes were well defined* The upper strata of a typical pueblo in Michoacàn around the turn of the twentieth century consisted of hacen- dados, doctors, lawyers, high church and military officials and those from wealthy families. The lower strata included Indians, hacienda peons, day laborers and servants. The mid- dle class was so stratified that is was more a catch-all category, than a real group* Included in this category were lessor church and military officials, teachers, small land- holders, lowor level bureaucrats, petty mer<^mts, store assls- 40 tants, muleteers, artisans and self-employed persons. Some of Argentine 9 » immigrants fell into the middle strata la their native pueblos. Included among the immi- grants were artisans such as blacksmiths and shoemakers, as well as small farmers, and possibly, some tenant farmers. Moreover, some of the Immigrants attended school in Mexico as children; so, it is reasonable to assume that they were not drawa from the lower strata of these towns. Likely, a substantial number of Argentine^ immigrants were small farmers who lived la town and farmed on the outskirts of 96 the community • Other» were day laborers who sought work on nearby haciendas during periods of peak labor demand. Some, also, may have been arrlcros (muleteers), for arriero i rode flourished between the mestizo hill communities of Michoacrfn. One Mexican who settled in Argentine came from PureVero, MichoacaVi, a center of arriero traffic for over a century. 4 1 The assumption that many of Argentine's immigrants came from small-farm backgrounds can be supported by evi- dence from the Prior Service files and the Kansas state cen- sus. The 1925 state census reported that forty-five per- cent of all Mexican households in the Argentine barrio, excluding the transient boxcar camp, continued to engage in agriculture to some extent* 4 2 There is also evidence to suggest that some of the immigrants engaged in farming in Mexico and spent varying periods in the United States to earn money to support and sustain their agricultural endea- vors* This pattern was commonplace during the Mexican migra- tory movements in the twentieth century* Mexican Santa Fe employes often took leaves of absence from their jobs in Argentine's shops to return to Mexico* Often they made such 43 trips during the prime agricultural season t h e r e . ^ In particular, this pattern of alternating agricultural and railroad work characterized immigrants from Tangancf- cuaro and other Michoacanos* One shop worker from Coeneo, Michoacrfn, spent the Spring, Summer and Fall of 1917 and 1919 in Mexico and worked in Argentine in the interim* A "Tanga" worked for two months in 1907, four months in 1909, 97 and five months in 1911 for the Santa Fe in Kansas and Mis- souri, presumably returning to Mexico at the end of each work stint* When he re-entered Santa Fe service in 1919 for what was to be an unbroken twenty—two year period in the shops, the worker reported that he farmed for himself in T anganc i'cuaro from 1913 to September, 1918. Another "Tanga* who entered the Argentine shops in March, 1916, at the age of nineteen, reported be farmed prior to that time. 4 4 A laborer from Arandas, Jalisco, also exhibited an on-again, off-again pattern of employment characteristic of part-time farmers. He worked as an extra-gang laborer in the Southwest from 1911 to 1917 on a seasonal basis until he located permanently in Argentine. He demonstrated his farm background during the 1921 recession* When he lost his Job in Argentine, the man became a self-employed farmer there until the company rehired him some months l a t e r * P a u l S* Taylor in his Investigation of Arandas in 1931-32 found that peasant proprietorships were not at all uncommon in that a r e a . 4 6 Although this evidence is sketchy, it supports the argument that small peasant proprietors sometimes abandoned their farming enterprises, albeit reluctantly and often after many years of seasonal migratory work, when they were no longer able or willing to make a go of it in Mexico. The major migratory thrusts from Michoacato and other states in the mesa central occurred during periods of crop failures and other economic disruptions. Marginal farmers succumbed under such duress and many sought to recoup their losses by seeking work elsewhere* TanganciVuaro, for example, lay on a hilly, sloping land which could best be described as marginal. Uncertain precipitation, erosion and the need to let this Infertile land lie fallow after three or four years of cultivation made farming in the area a calculated risk. Droughts and crop failures in the years 1892 and 1907 functioned to spur emigration from Michoaca*n and other states in the mesa central. In the 1890s many of the uprooted laborers and farmers migrated to Mexico City and to the northern areas of Mexico then undergoing development. By 1895 more than ten percent of the population of the state» in the mesa central no longer lived in their native towns. In 1907 migrants followed the rail lines northward into the United States in search of work. 4 7 Hence, push factors played a large role in these migra- tions . The greatly-reduced production in 1907 resulted in a decline in the need for agricultural laborers. Conse- quently, many farm laborers also migrated in search of work. Another effect of the subnormal production was a rise in the cost of farm products. Unemployment, coupled with rising food prices, helped spur the migrations in 1892 and 1907. 4 8 In 1907 push factors in Mexico coincided with pull factors in the United States. Railroads In that year solicited Mexi- can laborers to cut costs during a domestic recession. Thus, conditions In Mexico predisposed agricultural laborers and farmers to migrate In search of work at a time the railroad Industry sought a cheap labor supply. Romero Flores, the noted historian of Mlchoacdn and the Mexican Revolution, described the life of the unemployed 99 agricultural laborer in this epoch. When work was not available on the haciendas, the laborers accepted handouts of corn and beans or lived by selling firewood and fowls in nearby towns. Some sank into despondency and idleness, while others become petty thieves. 4 9 Small farmers, too, suffered when even the larger hacendados could not sustain production at the necessary levels. Small farmers made for- ays into the Job market in the United States on a seasonal basis until around 1916-17. Only when the possibility_of higher-paying Jobs beckoned did these determined farmers pull up stakes. This appears to have been the case with the farmers from Tangancibuaro, Coeneo and Arandas mentioned above. Agricultural calamities were not, however, the only perils which threatened the security of the small farmers. Emigration, especially from Michoaca'n, continued after the Mexican Revolution due to other push factors. That state continued to be torn by minor rebellions. In 1917-18 the ruthless guerilla chieftain Inès Chdvez Garcfa led a revolt against the governor of the state. Influenza, rather than military defeat, ended the life of the diseased-crazed guerilla in November, 1918. 5 0 This conflict coincided with a bad year for agriculture in Nichoacafa. By March, 1918, Ll Prensa reported that the "proletariat class* in Michoa- cdn was desperate due to graia shortages and hoarding by businessmen. 5 1 Something resembling a Mass exodus of "Tangii- occurred la 1918-1919. Six families pulled up stakes and resettled in Argentine in 1918, and other fami- 100 52 lies followed in 1919. * Fighting between s o c i a l i s t s and Catholics shattered the tranquility of the area again in 1921. This conflict presaged the bloody Cristero revolt of 1926-28 which raged in Michoaca'n and Jalisco. 5 3 Thus, small farmers and agricultural laborers resorted to migration when wide-spread economic disruptions caused by crop failures and internecine warfare destroyed their means of livelihood. The immigrants who found their way to Argentine came primarily from a restricted geographical area of the mesa central, as Map 4 indicates. The numbers on the map corres- pond to identifiable donor communities. Although more than fifty communities are identified In Table 9, the geogra- phic locations of only forty-two were ascertained. Table 9 lists each community by its corresponding number on Map 4 and indicates the number of immigrants per community. The geographical locations of these pueblos and cities are approx imately correct. A more detailed map. Map 5, shows the exact locations of the doaor communities clustered in the mesa central of Guanajuato, Jalisco, Mlchoacrfn, Aguascalientes and Zacatecas. Map 4 portrays the railway system of Mexico as it appeared In 1925. 5 5 This was substantially the same sys- tem which existed by 1910. The majority of the donor communities lay along the Mexican Central Ballway. This major transportat ion artery stretched southward from El Paso through Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas and Aguascalientes into the heart of tie mesa central. Only four communities in Nuevo t.erfn and San Luis Potosi* relied upon the National ORIGINS of ARGENTINE'S I M M I G R A N T S tAICWAT UM« art At X I M M J U I t l Map 4 102 103 TABLE 9 MEXICAN DONOR COMMUNITIES—BY STATE, AS SHOWN ON THE PRECEDING MAP Number of M i r h o a c a'n : Immigrants 1. Tanganc i'cuaro 14 2. Paracho 2 3. Pur^pero 1 4. Ecuanduero 1 5. Zamora 1 6. Patanbaa 1 7 . T1azazcala 1 8 . La Piedad 1 9. Coeneo 1 10. Etdcuaro 1 Total 24 JtiilSft: 11. Tepat it 1 a*n 1 12. Cnidn de los Laogs (San Juan de los Lagos) 2 13. Arandas 1 14. San Cristtfbal 1 15. Pone itlrfn 1 16. Union de San Anto- nio 1 17. Guadalajara JL Total 9 Gua na.lttfll*: 18. Led» 5 19. GuanaJ uato 1 20. Cucrrfnaro 3 21. Yur irla 1 2 2 . Vaile de Santiago 1 23. Pt \ V 2 h J i - a n d T o p * k * Cfipitgl-Hqrgld, April 12, 1907, Clipping, in the Kansas State Historical Society, Myandotte County Clippings, Vol. II, pp. 130-41 — Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas. *U. S.. Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census, T H f U f f f ^ Çfrnfttf 9Î t N VnUt* 1910: A f r t m u 9i ihg C t n t m • . f wfltft frypftlgffw fp* k ^ S ^ S , 621. ^These tables are from J. Neale Carman, "Foreign- Language Units of Kansas," II, Part 3, p. 891 (Typescript.) — University Archives, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. *Leo Grebler, Mexican Immigration to the United States: The Rorord and Its Iraniications. Mexican-American Study Project, Advance Report 2 (Los Angeles: Division of Research, Graduate School of Business, University of California, 1965), pp. 0 6 23. ^Carroll D. Clark and Roy L. Roberts, People of Kansas. A Demographic and Soc loi on leal Study (Topeka: Kansas State Planning Board, 1936), p. 55. *The Prior Service Files are described on pp. 77-79. 7 A t c h i s o n , Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Payroll Records, Prior Service Flies, Kansas City Division, Numbers 7035-7679, and 18623-18711 (Indecks Research Deck, P . S. File*, « 81), hereafter cited as P . S. Files; and Oecenqigl Census of the State of Kansas. Wyfifflm* ÇWflU.» .Kansas City, Kansas (Argentine). 1925 (Indecks Research Deck, 1925 census, compilations and tabulations of * 71). ^Kansas Perennial Cen*U«, ArggnUfl*, *9gS ( ï n * ® c * * Research Deck, 1925 census, tabulations of numbers 33-3o). Twenty-four other couples did not supply sufficient Infor- mat ion. 109 Carmen, Foreign-Language Units," II, Part III, p. 092; and Thirteenth Census of thr United States. 1910: Kansas Abstract, o- 621 10. Santa Fe Payroll, Hay and November, 1910. * * Kansas Decennial Census. Argentine. 1925 (Indecks Research Dock, » 77). Tabulation of 1915 census data for Argentine revealed that 82.2% of all Mexican nales living there boarded as solos with other males or in single-family dwel1ings. I o X * P . S. Files (Indecks Research Deck, # 85); and Santa Fe Payroll v March, 1925. 1 3 C a r « a n , "Foreign-Language Units," Vol. II, Part I, p. 218 « 14 Mexico, Secretarfa de Relaciones Exteriores, Memoria. 1927-28 (Mexico: Imprenta de la Secretarfa de Relaciones Exteriores, 1928), p. 817. I c Miseria y honradez en una colonla mexicana," La Prensa. March 22, 1921, p. 1; and "Los Mexicanos en Kansas City," La Prensa. March 30, 1921, p. 1. I & "Send Mexicans Home," Kansas City Kansan, June 1, 1921, p . 1; "Send the Mexicans Home," Kansas City Times. June 2, 1921, p. 9; and "Mexicans Back to Mexico," Kansas Cltv Star (Main Edition), June 1, 1921, p. 10. ^ M e t h o d i s t Episcopal Church, Kansas Conference, Woman's Home Missionary Society, Annual Report, July 1. 1926 (Parsons, Kansas: Commercial Printers, 1926), p. 41; and Methodist Episcopal Church, Kansas Conference, Woman's Home Missionary Society, Yearbook. August. 1939 (n.p., 1939), p . 30. f o u r t e e n t h Census of the United States. 1920: Populat ion. Ill, 3t>0; and interview with Leopoldo Ayala, Kansas City, Missouri, June 20, 1974. l 9 " F e w Mexicans in K.C.K.," Kansas City Kansan. August 18, 1919, p. 1. 2 0 C e r a l d B . Breitigam, "Welcomed Mexican Invasion," New York Times. June 20, 1920, Section B., p . 6. 2 l L a Prensa. February 3, 1918, p. 8; March 14, 1919, p. 5; March 20, 1920, p. 1; April 8 , 1 9 2 0 p. 2; April 26, 1920, p. 5; April 29, 1920, pp. 2 & 8; April 20, 1921, p . 5; and May 1, 1921* p. 2. 110 52 . K a n s a s . Department of Health, Annual 1 II ( K ® n « a » City , Kansas: Department of Health, 1 "«lu ) , p . 3o« 2 3 S a n t a Fe Payroll, March, 1925. 24 U . S., Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Census of the United Steten, Population. I , «too. 25 P. S. Files, "Letter to Employees." 2 6 Robert F . Foerster, The Racial Problem Involved fP ImiSiLMLlUL from Latin America and the West Indies t o the United States (Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, Department of Labor, 1925), p . 51. 2 7 P . S. Taylor, Mexican Labor in the United States: Imperial Vallev (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1920), pp. 20-21. 28 P. S. Taylor, M g ^ ç a g U b p r M the UpiU<* Chicago and the Calumet Reoion (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1932), p. 49. Only thirteen percent of the Mexicans in the Winter Garden region of T'axas came from the central plateau. See P. S. Taylor, Mexican Labor in the MnHçti $ H l y i : HifllJllSLa SJLilliU&it IV (Berkeley: Uni- versity of California Press, 1934), p. 49. * Manuel Gamio. Mexican Immigration to the United St atrs. A Study of Human Migration and Adjustment (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1971), p. 21. Also see his study of postal money orders, Quantitative Estimate. Sources and Distribution of Mcxican Immigration into the United States (Mexico, D. F.: Talieres Grdficos Editorial y 'Diario Of icial, ' Lie. Verdad Nufcero 2, 1930), pp. 7-19. 3 0 J o h n Ramcfn Martinez, Mexican Emigration to the United States. 1910-1930 (San Francisco: R G E Research Associates, 1972), pp. 42, 49. 3 l T a y l o r , Chicago and the Calunet Region, p. 48. 3 2 I b l d . . p. 49. 3 3 lnterview conducted by P. S. Taylor in Kansas City, Missouri, Manuscript « 42-214—Taylor Papers, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, California. 3 * L L Coimopolita. October 22, 1914, p. 1; Febraury 10, 1917, p . 1; May 5. 1917, p . 1. 3 5 Iaterview with Leopoldo Ayala, Kansas City, Missouri, June 20, 19T4. 30 52 P. S. File» (Indecks Research Deck, Category, "L"): and interview» with Father Gabriel Perez, St. John the Divine Catholic Church, Argentine, March 15, 1973, and June 27, 1974* « • 'Victor S. Clark, "Mexican Labor in the United States/ U . S. Department of Labor Bulletin. 78 (Sept., 1908), p. 468. 38 Arthur F . Corwin, "Causes of Mexican Emigration to the United States: A Summary View," in Perspectives in A f r i c a n History. VII, 1973: Dislocation and Emigration. The Social Uarknround of American Immigration, ed. by Donald Fleming and Bernard Bailyn (Cambridge, Mass.: Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, Harvard University, 1974), pp. 560-61; and Moisés Gonzélez Navarro, "La Vida Social en el Porfiriato," in Historia Modcrna de Mc'xlco. ed. by Daniel Cosfo Villegas (Mexico: Editorial Hermes, 1957), IV, p. 210. 3 9 Merbert C1ine,*"Mexican Community Studies," Hispanic American Historical Review. XXXII, No. 2 («ay, 1952), 231. 4 0 0 r i o l Pi-Sunyer, Zamora: A Regional Economy in Mcx1co. Middle American Research Institute, Publication 29 (New Orleans: Middle American Research Institute, 1967), pp. 118-121, 128. 1 l D a n Stanislawski. The Anatomv of Eleven Towns in uirhoar an. Laiin-Aoerlean Studies, X (Austin: University of ïexas, Institute of Latin American Studies, 1950), pp. 65-71 ; and interview with Leopoldo Ayala, Kansas City, Missouri, June 20, 1974; and P. S. Files. > 2 Kan»a» Perennial Census. Argentine. 1925 (Indecks Research Deck, « 2 f- 6). * 3 Corwln, "Causes of Mexican Emigration," p. 561. The term "'visiting in Mexico" appear» to have been used e u p h e m U t leal ly by Santa Fo bureaucrat» to describe this employment pattern. 4 4 P . S. Files, Employe Numbers 7444, 7633 and 7636. 4 5 P . S. Files, Employe Number 7587. 4 6 P a u l S. Taylor, A Snanlsh-Mexlcan Peasant Community. Arandas in Jalisco. Mexico (Berkeley: University of Cali- fornia Press, 1933). 4 7 Gonztfic2 Navarro, "La Vida Social," IV, 26, 29; Jesu's Romero Flores, Historia de la Revolucio'n en Michoacrfn (Mexico, D . F.: Bibliotcca del instituto Nacional de Estudio» Hiiio'r lco» de la Revolucio*n Mexicana, 1964), p. 47; and Pi-Sunycr, V,amora. p. 111* 112 52 Clark, "Mexican Labor in the United States," p. 473. 1 'Romero Flores, Historia de la Revolucidn. p. 44. 50 Jose* Bravo Ugarte, Historia Sucinta de Michoaca'n. I I l : Est ado y Pfnartamonto ( i 821 -196!»,) (Mexico, D. F.: Editorial Jus, 1VO4), p. 213; and "Creen que ha llegado el ' Ant ic r 1st o. ' Michoûca'n es el inficrno," La Prensa. Febru- ary 0, 19l6 t p. 1 6 8A. 5 l " L a s i i u a c i oV) en Michoacdn es desperada," La I'rrnso. March 24, 1918, p. 4. 52 P. S. Files (Indecks Category tt L tt ; and Kansas Decen- nial Census. Argentine, 1925 (Indecks * 75). 53 k l El£J3±jl. Hay 14* 1921; "Todavia la tragedia," La fronça. May 22, 1921, p. 6; "Cunden los desordenes de los radicales en el Estado de Michoaca'n," La Prensa. May 27, 1921, p. 1; end May 28, 1921, p. 1. ^^This map is adapted from Mexico, Secretari'a de Agri- culture y Ganaderfa, Direccio*» General de Geografia y Meteo- r o i o g f u , Carta General de la Reoubiica Mexicana (Mexico: Secretariat de Agriculture y Ganaderfa. Direccidn General de Geografia y Meteorologfa, 1962). Scale 1:2000000. 5 5 M a p is from W. Rodney Long, Railways of Mexico. Trade Promotion Series No. 16, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce (Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, Department of Commerce, 1925). 5 6 R o m e r o Flores, Historia de la Revoluciofa. pp. 161-62; and Gamio, Mexican Immigration, pp. 13-23. S 7 C a » i o , Uexican Immigration, p. 171. 5 0 Harvey M. Choldin, "Kinship Networks in the Migration Process,- International Migration Review, VII, No. 2 (Summer 1973), 163-175. 5 9 Intervien with Leopoldo Ayala, Kansas City, Missouri, June 20, 1974. 6 0 Jose' Bravo Ugarte, H^toria Sucinta, III, p. 174; and Alberto Leduc and Dr. Luis Lara y Pardo, Oic.cionario O o n r a f l'a. Historia v Blograffa Mexicanas (Mexico: Libre- rid de la Vda. de C. Bouret, 1910), pp. 940-1083. ^ * Interview with Leopoldo Ayala, Kansas City, Missouri, June 20, 1974. CHAPTER IV MEXICANS IN A SANTA FE TOWN The railway industry functioned both as the primary conduit of Mexicans into the interior of the United States and as a channel of limited upward social mobility for the immigrants. The role of railways in the geographical disper- sal of Mexicans In the Midwest is well established. Thus far, no studies describe the relationship of Mexican immi- grants to the railroad Industry* Although contemporary government InvestIgators reported on wage rates and working conditions in the industry, no in-depth studies resulted which gave historical perspective upon the relationship of Mexican immigrants to the railroads* 1 Since the railway industry was one of the major employ- ers of Mexicans during the early twentieth century, the fate of large numbers of Mexicans was closely intertwined with that of the railways* Mexican immigrants who settled in the Argentine barrio of Kansas City, Kansas, in effect lived in a company town. The Santa Fe Railway dominated the economic life of the community and, consequently, most Mexican bread- winners found employment with that company* In 1925 at least seventy-five percent of all employed males over eighteen who lived In the barrio worked for the Santa F e . Thirty-four 114 Mexicans who did not work for the Santa Fe included three sclf-craployed businessmen, eighteen "laborers," and thirteen men who worked in other Argentine industries. 2 Mexicans living in a company town experienced both for- mal and informal control by the Santa Fe. Most of the other Argentine Industries which employed Mexicans had close ties with the Santa Fe Railway and produced products used by rail- roads. These companies included an oil refinery, a structural steel company, a railroad wheel manufacturer and a company which produced tank cars for the railroad industry. 3 Inhabi- tants of the boxcar camp in the Santa Fe yards, in particular, felt the heavy thumb of the company upon them in their day-to- day existence. Commissary agents and labor bosses ruled their 1 Ives. The following discussion explores the dimensions of Mcxican employment with the Santa Fe Railway in the Argentine barrio. This exploration of immigrant-corporate relations utilizes Santa Fe payroll records, especially a series of records called the "Prior Service Files" which the company compiled on Its employes* These records contain useful Insights Into the utilization of Mexican laborers by the Santa Fe in Argentine from 1907 to 1940. The influx of Mexicans into Argentine resulted from the employment practices of the Santa Fe Railway. In parti- cular, the company * s policies as elaborated in its western lines determined policy for the whole system. The Santa Fe procured Its Mexican workforce through a number of private 115 employment agencies operating in El Paso and Laredo, nota- bly, the Holmes Supply Company and the Hanlin Supply Com- pany. Tho Santa Fe divided its business regionally between these two companies. Holmes supplied laborers to the com- pany's lines west of El Paso, and Hanlin, after 1908, mono- polized the labor supply business of the Santa Fe east of El Paso to Chicago,* . These companies received no payment for labor supply services, but made profits by operating commissary units on the Santa Fe's lines* Since their earnings derived solely from their commissary functions, the companies tended to bear down hard upon the Mexican laborers under their con- trol* Often company agents forced Mexicans to pay exhorbi- tant rates for necessities and required them to purchase unwanted items from the commissary* Such abuses remained a bono of contention between Mexican laborers and commissary c agents for years. The establishment of formal contractural arrangements with Holmes and Hanlin reflected a major shift in the supply of cheap labor. Since few of the "old* immigrant groups remained in unskilled track jobs by the end of the century, the Santa Fe rocruited "new" immigrant groups such as Mexi- cans, Greeks and Bohemians. Prior to 1905 the Santa Fe employed Mexican laborers principly in New Mexico and Texas. After 1905 the use of Mexicans throughout the Santa Fe sys- tem increased rapidly, as Table 10 shows. 116 TABLE 10 MEXICAN TRACK LABORERS ON THE SANTA FE RAILWAY t 1885-1927 Year Number of Mexican Percentage of the tot al Work Force 1005 1007 1090 1095 1900 1905 1910 1915 1920 1927 Track Laborers 32 211 318 975 6.0% 28.0% 30.4% 50.8% 26.2% 46.0% 86.0% 81.5% 85.2% 88.4% 1 1178 5 1 583 13» 329 14,542 13,512 18,930 Source: Author's calculations, based upon, J. R., "Outline of Study. Mexican Track Labor on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad,** Topeka, Kansas, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, General Offices, August, 1928. (Type- script . )--T ay 1 or Papers, Bancroft Library. The arrival of Mexican track laborers in Argentine in 1905, thus, coincided with the diffusion of Mexicans through- out the Santa Fe system. By 1903 the company utilized Mexi- cans as track laborers in the southern and western portions of Kansas. Unlike other immigrant groups who settled in Kan- soi, Mexicans approached the state from the southwest. They quickly replaced other immigrant groups in the Santa F e f s track forces. By 1910 all divisions of the Santa Fe in Kan- sas depended primarily upon Mexicans for track maintenance. From 1910 to 1927 Mexicans comprised at least eighty-two per- cent of all track laborers in the four Santa Fe divisions operating in Kansas. 6 The number of Mexicans employed by the Santa Fe in Argentine rose after 1905 and Mexicans comprised an increas- ingly large proportion of the work force. Table 11 shows the 117 number of Mexican track laborers employed during the month of June in Argentine from 1905 to 1927 and gives the percent- age of Mexicans employed in the track force there. TABLE 11 MEXICAN TRACK LABORERS IN ARGENTINE (KANSAS CITY DIVISION), 1905 to 1927 (JUNE SAMPLE) Year Total Mexican Employes Total Number of Employes Percentage of Mexi- can Track Laborers 1905 52 803 6.5% 1910 240 435 55.2% 1915 366 429 85.3% 1920 305 349 87.4% 1927 366 400 91,4% Source: J. R., "Outline of Study, Mexican Track Labor on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad," Topeka, Kansas, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, General Offices, August, 1920. (Typescript)--Taylor Papers, Bancroft Library. In Argentine the Santa Fe first utilized other nation- alities such as Greeks and Bohemians before it shifted to hiring Mexicans around 1905-1907. Although the company con- tinued to hire Individuals of other nationalities such as Greeks, Italians and Japanese, Mexicans comprised the bulk of the track forces after 1907. The first major shipment of Mexicans to Argentine occurred in early 1907, for by Spring of that year 600 Mexican men, women and children lived in the Santa Fe camp. 7 Mexicans lived in Argentine from 1907 onward on a year- round basis, although a continual turnover of population occurred. Early arrivals did not remain there for over six to twelve months. Most signed contracts with the company which guaranteed free passage back to the border for the 118 worker and his family at the end of a year's service. The * Santa Fe also granted a reduced rate of one-half cent per mile to Mexicans who worked at least three months. Other railroads which operated closer to the Mexican Border, required shorter periods of contract, ranging from three to six months. A study conducted by the Immigration Commission in 1910 found that only forty percent of the Mexicans employed by the Santa Fe worked for a full year. The Mexican popula- tion in Argentine remained fairly stable in 1907. No mass exodus occurred with the arrival of cold weather. In May, 1907, 133 Mexicans worked for the company there; and in Novem- ber, 125 remained. Contractu/al agreements which specified cheap return travel and the presence of Mexican family mem- bers helped reduce the potential shrinkage of the work force* The arrival of this group in 1907 marked the origin of the barrio, for Included in this group were the first long- term immigrants. It appears that immigrants who arrived first in the community obtained preferential treatment afterwards from the company. The Santa Fe encouraged employe loyalty and sought to bolster the morale of its Mexican work force by hiring friends and relatives of the workers. It may, also, have encouraged group migration. The Topeka barrio, for instance, owed its origin to the arrival of a group of Mexi- cans from the town of Silao, Guanajuato, in 1907. The Santa Fe hired these immigrants in El Paso. 9 Many immigrants from the town of Tanganc ituaro, MichoacaVi, settled in Argentine. 119 It was not unusual for inhabitants of the same communi- ties in Mexico to migrate together. Santa Fe payroll records and manuscript census data document migration of relatives and in-laws. Another study of Mexicans in Kansas revealed thai beetworkers who lived in Garden City and saltworkers in Lyons come from the same pueblos. Depopulation of Mexi- can communities occurred to some extent in the 1920s as their inhabitants Joined the migration northward. 1 0 The Santa Fe* s growing reliance upon Mexicans in Argen- tine resulted from a need to cut labor costs during the 1906- 1907 recession. Other railroads throughout the Southwest and Midwest turned to Mexicans as a source of cheap labor in the same period. By 1912 Mexicans comprised the major portion of the track forces on railroads located to the south and west of Kansas City. They also worked in sizeable numbers in Mis- 11 souri, Iowa and Illinois. * The Santa Fe found that Mexican workers performed their Jobs well when they received good treatment. Santa Fe bureaucrats did not fall prey to simplistic views of their Mexican employes, for they often distinguished between indivi- duals and sought to pacify disgruntled workers. The Santa Fe supervisors did not lump all Mexicans together as peasants. R. A. Rut ledge, Chief Engineer of the Santa Fe system in the 1920s, pointed out to an Investigating committee that the immigrants were "not all peons." 1 2 This view led Santa Fe officials to improve living and working conditions for its Mcxlcan employes. 120 After 1907 the Santa Fe evolved policies and practices to accomodate its Mexican workforce. One of its first con- cerns was to feed, house and supply Mexican track laborers in the Midwest. Most track laborers worked in "extra gangs," or "floating gangs," so called because of their peripatetic work pattern. These mobile units moved along the tracks in boxcar villages, building and repairing track facilities. The size of these gangs ranged from fifty to two hundred men. The arrival of such gangs in Argentine and other Santa Fe towns, thus, temporarily swelled the Mexican population there and overburdened the town's boarding accomodations. in 1908 the Santa Fe entrusted the Hanlin Supply Company of Newton, Kansas, with the responsibility of supplying these boxcar encampments throughout the Santa Fe system. The com- pany began operating commissary units in Kansas in 1906-1907. The inauguration of the Hani in-operated camp in Argentine occurred around 1908. The Santa Fe yard camp, located inside the main railroad yards in Argentine, housed track laborers and some shop workers until around 1929. The heyday of box- car life in Argentine occurred in the mid-l920s when an Anglo commissary agent and his wife lived in the camp to administer company policy. Between 1910 and 1929 the number of boxcars ranged from fourteen, to twenty, to forty at any given time, depending upon the Santa Fe*s need for manual laborers in 13 the Kansas City area. Payroll records indicate that the Santa Fe paid Hanlin a flat rate per Mexican for board. The Santa Fe supplied 120 A f t e r 1907 the Santa Fe evolved p o l i c i e s and p r a c t i c e s to accomodate i t s Mexican workforce . One of i t s f i r s t con- c e r n s Mas to f e e d , house and supply Mexican track laborers in i he M i d w e s t . Host track laborers worked in " e x t r a g a n g s , " or " f l o a t i n g g a n g s , " so cal led because of t h e i r p e r i p a t e t i c work p a t t e r n . These mobile units moved along the t racks in b o x c a r v i l l a g e s » b u i l d i n g and repair ing track f a c i l i t i e s . The s i z e of t h e s e gangs ranged from f i f t y to two hundred men. The a r r i v a l of such gangs in Argentine and other Santa Fe t o w n s , t h u s , temporarily swelled the Mexican populat ion there and o v e r b u r d e n e d the town 's boarding accomodations . in 1 9 0 8 the Santa Fe entrusted the H a n l i n Supply Company of Newton , K a n s a s , with the respons ib i l i ty of supplying these boxcar encashments throughout the Santa Fe system. The com- pany began operat ing commissary units in Kansas in 1 9 0 6 - 1 9 0 7 . The i n a u g u r a t i o n of the Hani in-operated camp in Argent ine o c c u r r e d around 1900 , The Santa Fe yard camp, located i n s i d e the main r a i l r o a d yards in A r g e n t i n e , housed track l a b o r e r s and some shop workers until around 1 9 2 9 . The heyday of box- car l i f e in Argentine occurred in the mid-l920s when an Anglo commissary agent and his w i fe l ived in the camp to administer company p o l i c y . Between 1910 and 1929 the number of boxcars ranged from f o u r t e e n , to twenty , to forty at any g iven t i m e , d e p e n d i n g upon the Santa F e * s need for manual l aborers in 13 the Kansas City a r e a . P a y r o l l records ind icate that the Santa Fe pa id H a n l i n a f l a t rate per Mexican for board . The Santa Fe s u p p l i e d 121 bunk car» for the laborer» , and Hanlin operated a k i t c h e n . L i k e l y , only t r a n s i e n t » availed themselves of H a n l i n ' s ser- v i c e s . More sett led workers brought their wives along to cook ; o r , if they were unmarried or solos , unaccompanied * males , l a b o r e r s often took meals with a Mexican family or with r e l a t i v e s . Around 1910-1911 the Santa Fe made another major pol icy change to improve the l iving conditions of i t s Mexican work f o r c e . R e l i a n c e upon solos proved less than sat is factory because unattached males seldom remained on the job for more than a few month» . T h i » rapid turnover in section crewa t in p a r t i c u l a r , led to a reconsideration of Santa Fe p o l i c y . Sect ion h a n d » , unl ike extra-gang workers, were not highly mobile in t h e i r J o b » . They lived in dwell ings alongside the t racks and p a t r o l l e d a ten-mile section of t r a c k . O f t e n , a l l workers a s s i g n e d to care for yard tracks l ived together in a l S b u i l d i n g c a l l e d the " s e c t i o n house. " Because section work- ers r e q u i r e d more tra in ing than did extra-gang l a b o r e r s , the company sought to reduce the turnover in th is category of work . In 1911 the Santa Fe O lv is ion Engineer attempted to reduce the rapid rate of turnover among Mexican section workers by a d o p t i n g new g u i d e l i n e s . To s t a b i l i z e the section f o r c e s the company provided more a t t r a c t i v e , comfortable l i v i n g q u a r t e r s and encouraged workers to bring their f a m i l i e s a l o n g . M i r i n g married men, the engineer e x p l a i n e d , pro- duced a " b e t t e r trained and steadier class of l a b o r e r s . " Although contemporary observers noted the presence of Mexican 122 f a m i l i e s in A r g e n t i n e by 1 9 0 7 , the company a p p a r e n t l y d i d not sy s i r n a i i c o l l y a t lenpi io r e c r u i t married men accom- p a n i e d by i h c i r f a m i l i e s u n t i l 1 9 1 1 . B e t t e r h o u s i n g for Mexican workers and t h e i r w i v e s was a l s o a top p r i o r i t y of the Santa Fe in 1 9 1 1 . P r i o r to that y e a r , M e x i c a n s e c i i o n workers in Kansas l i v e d in s h a c k s or d u g - o u t s they b u i l t t h e m s e l v e s . Some l a b o r e r s b u i l t h o u s e s of r a i l r o a d t i e s and mud, s i m i l i a r to adobe h o u s e s in the S o u t h w e s t . The f i r s t r a i n s caved in t h e s e mud s t r u c - t u r e s , a n d the M e x i c a n s e c t i o n hands l e f t in d i s g u s t . A f t e r that e x p e r i e n c e , t h e Santa Fe began to erect two t y p e s of h o u s i n g a l o n g i t s K a n s a s l i n e s * The b e t t e r t y p e of h o u s e , b u i l t a l o n g t h e main l i m e , u t i l i z e d old b r i d g e t i e s , h o r i - z o n t a l l y l a i d , c h i n k e d w i t h mud or c o n c r e t e * H o u s e s b u i l t a l o n g b r a n c h l i n e s c o n s i s t e d of o ld r a i l s set on e n d * T k e r o o f s of t h e s e s t r u c t u r e s were of sheet m e t a l , and the f l o o r s w e r e e i t h e r e a r t h e n or c o n c r e t e . U s u a l l y * s e c t i o n h o u s e s c o n t a i n e d two r o o m s . As in the p a s t , the company o r d e r e d M e x i c a n l a b o r e r s to b u i l d t h e i r l i v i n g q u a r t e r s . 1 7 T h e s e two b a s i c house types were t y p i c a l of h o u s i n g a l o n g the S a n t a F e l i n e from C h i c a g o to the West C o a s t . S e c t i o n h o u s e s of such c o n s t r u c t i o n e x i s t e d in the S a n t a Fe y a r d s in Caiporia u n t i l 1 9 2 9 . I n other Kansas towns such as Dodge C i t y , s e c t i o n houses of t h i s v i n t a g e s t i l l e x i s t e d as l a t e as 1 9 5 0 # T h e Santa Fe was not the only major r a i l r o a d to u t i l i z e b o x c a r and r a i l r o a d t i e h o u s i n g . O t h e r r a i l r o a d s w h i c h p a s s e d t h r o u g h K a n s a s , such as the M i s s o u r i P a c i f i c 123 and the Rock I s l a n d , also erected such structures . Other Kansas i n d u s t r i e s , such as the sugar beet , saltmining and meatpacking i n d u s t r i e s , also provided company housing of a crude nature to house Mexican workers, as well as other 18 u n s k i l l e d groups* In A r g e n t i n e , section houses did not appear u n t i l 1 9 2 9 . P r i o r to that time track laborers l ived in the Santa Fe boxcar camp or iff barrio housing . In 1929 the company c o n s t r u c t e d three b u i l d i n g s , referred to as the " M e x i c a n tenements,** at the Ballway lee Plant west of Argentine* T h e s e accomodat ions boused laborers employed at the ice p l a n t . There la so i a d i c a t l o a that the Santa Fe u t i l i z e d extra gangs in A r g e n t i n e a f ter 1 929 . Father Gabriel P e r e z , a r e t i r e d p a r i s h p r i e s t , remembers that the tenements contained no running w a t e r . All of the Mexican f a m i l i e s who l i v e d in the tenements shared one t o i l e t . These structures were larger than the typ ical section houses and may have been converted coaches or other Santa Fe equipment. The tenements , as well as a group of huts used by section workers located underneath the Forty-Second Street b r i d g e , disappeared in the f l o o d 1Û waters In 1 9 5 1 . Boxcar and section housing at the ice plant and under the b r i d g e accomodated only a small portion of the Mexican employes of the Santa F e . For the most p a r t , only track l a b o r e r s and unsk i l led shop workers opted to l ive in these types of h o u s i n g . Many shop laborers , for i n s t a n c e , never l i v e d in company housing . Others resorted to such arrange- ments as a temporary expedient and moved out as quickly as X 24 p o s s i b l e . In the early 1920s Mexicans began to purchase houses in areas adjacent to the shops. The movement of Mexi- cans into rental property in Argentine began a decade ear- l i e r . 2 0 (laving made some ef forts to improve Mexican housing c o n d i t i o n s , the company in 1913 moved towards improving wages and working condit ions of its Mexican employes and to improve the morale of i ts work f o r c e . In 1913 the company abolished i ts b o n u s , or e f f i c i e n c y , system to make shop wages more compet it ive with other ra i lroads . This action probably r e s u l t e d from aa investigation made by the Russel l Sage Foun- d a t i o n in 1913 of conditions in the Santa F e ' s Topeka car shops . The survey revealed that Santa Fe shop workers received lower wages than their counterparts employed by r ival ra i l- roads operat ing in Kansas, Iowa and Missouri . I n v e s t i g a t o r s la id the blame for low wages paid in the Santa Fe shops to an i 11 -conceived bonus system which was not based upon what they held to be "generally accepted pr inc ip les of e f f i c i e n c y e n g i n e e r i n g . " The bonus system, in operation in the shops s ince 1 9 0 5 , led to the demoralization of shop workers and to a lowering of wages . Only a few Mexicans in Argentine bene- f i t t e d d i r e c t l y from this d e c i s i o n . In the long run , as they entered shop Jobs in increasing numbers, the absence of an 21 e f f i c i e n c y system made working conditions more p l e a s a n t . Mexicans were the direct b e n e f i c i a r i e s of another S o m a Fe pol icy decision in 1 9 1 3 . In that year the company moved to br idge the language barrier e x i s t i n g between i t s labor foremen ( bosses ) aad the Mexican laborers by i ssu ing 125 S p a n i s h - E n g l i s h d i c t i o n a r i e s to i t s track foreraon. The company r e c e i v e d much cr it ic ism from its Mexican workers bec au se the Santa Fe foremen did not f as a r u l e , speak Span- i s h . R i v a l rai lway advertisements often emphasized that t h e i r foremen spoke Spanish . The Santa Fe bowed to p u b l i c p r e s s u r e and from competition from other r a i l r o a d s in t h i s a c t i o n . So doubt any such action improved Job performance and e f f i c i e n c y . Although a company spokesman claimed in 1 9 1 3 that a l l Santa Fe foremen spoke a " s o r t of Mexican l i n g o , " ihe company obviously deemed the l i n g u i s t i c l i m i t a t i o n s of i ts foremen to be a s i g n i f i c a n t problem in d e a l i n g with the Mexican l a b o r e r s * Language b a r r i e r s , i ndeed , created a t r y i n g s i t u a t i o n f o r both laborers and foremen. The f i r s t groups of Mexicans to a r r i v e in Kansas to work for the company communi- cated with t h e i r boases by sign language . The d i c t i o n a r i e s did not r e v o l u t i o n i z e the s i t u a t i o n , for in 1 9 1 5 the Santa Fe employed the English-speaking children of the Mexican workers 22 as i n t e r p r e t e r s and Waterboys . * The Santa F e ' s attempts to improve working and housing c o n d i t i o n s d i d not end the continuing erosion of i ts Mexican work f o r c e , nor d id its policy changes pacify a g g r e s s i v e , v o c i f e r o u s c r i t i c s . The rapid turnover of track laborers c o n t i n u e d and was a serious problem for years* In 1907 the Santa Fe lost thirty percent of i ts Mexican track l a b o r e r s in southern Kansas during wheat h a r v e s t . As l a te as 1 9 2 8 the Holmes Supply Company c o n f i d e n t i a l l y estimated i t s rate of t u r n o v e r at 150 to 200 p e r c e n t . * * 126 The Santa Fe* s problems in retaining its labor force stemmed in part from information disseminated by Spanish- language newspapers , notably La Prensa (San A n t o n i o ) and L L Ç S L i m M l M I (Kansas C i t y , M i s s o u r i ) . A labor agent inter- viewed by Paul S . Taylor in the late 1920s estimated that twenty percent of Mexicans l i v i n g i s ra i lroad camps sub- s c r i b e d to LlHHA* Most r a i l r o a d s and other b u s i n e s s e s s o l i c i t i n g Mexican labor advertised in these p a p e r s . At times the e d i t o r i a l s t a f f s of these newspapers supported c la ims made by various companies , often at the expense of the Santa F e . O u r I n g prime migration p e r i o d s , nearly every i ssue of these papers carr ied advertisements by other r a i l r o a d s p r o m i s i n g b e t t e r condit ions and higher wages than o f f e r e d by the Santa Fe* EJ[ Cosmooolita was rabidly anti-Santa F e . Upon o c c a s i o n It urged Mexicans to desert the Santa Fe f o r Jobs w i t h o t h e r r a i l r o a d s h i r i n g labor in Kansas C i t y . 2 4 E d i t o r s of L L CosraonolIta often c r i t i c i z e d the Santa Fe and compared it unfavorably to other r a i l r o a d s in Kansas C i t y . In A p r i l , 1 9 1 6 , the paper printed a report that Mexi- cans employed by the Santa Fe were mistreated . The Santa Fe b e l i e v e d it was the " o w n e r , body and s o u l , " of i t s Mexi- can employes and treated them l i k e " caged animals,** the paper charged* Mexicans complained that the bosses and agents of the H a n l i n Supply Company acted l ike " J p f ç s ?o\f%\çoa9m or p o l i t i c a l bosses* The paper continued i ts attacks on the Santa Fe throughout 1 9 1 6 , accusing it of behaving l i k e a 25 " d i c t a t o r " towards Its Mexican employes. 127 O t h e r r a i l r o a d » quickly fo l lowed up such a t t a c k s with l i s t s of a d v a n t a g e s o f f e r e d by t h e i r company, in c o n t r a d i s - t i n c t i o n to the Santa F e . In response to charges that the S a n t a Fe c h a r g e d Mexicans for coal and stoves used in t h e i r b o x c a r h a b i t a t s and provided f i l t h y b o x c a r s , v a r i o u s companies p r o m i s e d c l e a n c a r s , h igher wages , garden p l o t s , f r e e s t o v e s and coal and year-round Jobs* The B u r l i n g t o n v s g u a r a n t e e s o u t d i d a i l the o t h e r s * It a lso maintained a f r e e employment s e r v i c e , as w e l l as a complaint d e p a r t m e n t * 2 6 C o m p e t i t i o n between r a i l w a y s was not only a matter of r h e t o r i c . R a i l r o a d s operat ing in the Kansas C i t y area openly p i r a t e d M e x i c a n l a b o r e r s brought into the area by the Santa F e * T h e r e was no need for agents to invade t h e A r g e n t i n e b a r r i o , for M e x i c a n s who l i v e d there could reach the Mexican b u s i n e s s d i s t r i c t of Kansas C i t y , M i s s o u r i , by paying f i v e c e n t s to r i d e the s t r e e t c a r * Once there they had a c c e s s to v a r i o u s p r i v a t e l a b o r a g e n c i e s which p r o l i f e r a t e d in nearby indus- t r i a l and commercial d i s t r i c t s . These s p e c i a l i z e d a g e n c i e s p r o c u r e d M e x i c a n laborers for a variety of i n d u s t r i e s through- out the Midwest and P l a i n s s t a t e s * C o m p e t i t i o n among r i v a l employment a g e n c i e s led to some I l l e g a l r e c r u i t i n g in M e x i c o , a p r a c t i c e f o r b i d d e n by the A l i e n C o n t r a c t Labor Law of 1 8 8 5 . Labor agents who t e s t i f i e d b e f o r e the S e n a t e F o r e i g n R e l a t i o n s Committee in 1 9 1 9 - 1 9 2 0 e m p h a t i c a l l y d e n i e d that t h e i r companies a d v e r t i s e d or r e c r u i t e d in M e x i c o . Dur ing House h e a r i n g s in l 9 2 8 t E * E . M c l n n i a , G e n e r a l S o l i c i t o r of the A . T . & S * F * # d e n i e d that 128 i h c S a n t a F e or the Moines Supply Company ever engaged in i l l e g a l i m p o r t a t i o n of M e x i c a n s . 2 7 D i s c l a i m e r s notwithstanding , there is some e v i d e n c e that the S a n t a Fe r e c r u i t e d openly in Mexico . T h e r e i s no i n d i c a - t i o n that it d i d so s y s t e m a t i c a l l y , over a long p e r i o d of t i m e . A farmer interviewed by Paul S . T a y l o r in A r a n d a s , J a l i s c o , in the 1930s told of a Santa Fe agent who v i s i t e d the a r e a to r e c r u i t in 1 9 1 3 . The laborers t r a v e l e d w i th the agent by automobi le and t r a i n to the B o r d e r . R e p o r t e d l y , o t h e r r a i l r o a d and mining r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s a lso c r i s s - c r o s s e d the s t a t e d u r i n g the same per iod . 2 * * A p p a r e n t l y r a i l r o a d companies resorted to e x t e n s i v e i l l e g a l r e c r u i t m e n t dur ing the 1906-1907 r e c e s s i o n . V . S . C l a r k , a L a b o r Department i n v e s t i g a t o r , reported accounts of i l l e g a l r e c r u i t i n g in that p e r i o d , although he d i d not per- s o n a l l y w i t n e s s such a c t i v i t i e s * C lark q u a l i f i e d h i s account of i l l e g a l r e c r u i t i n g with a reminder that a " l a r g e p a r t " of the immigrants r e c e i v e d no inducement to immigrate and that t h e r e was an I n c r e a s i n g tendency f o r l a b o r e r s to cross the B o r d e r " f r e e l y and spontaneously** as word spread through Mexico 2 9 of the o p p o r t n n l t i e s a v a i l a b l e in the U n i t e d S t a t e s . * 7 A p p a r e n t l y I l l e g a l r e c r u i t i n g increased dur ing World Mar O n e , f o r the Mexican government attempted to c u r t a i l o u t - m i g r a t i o n from states in the central p l a t e a u by o r d e r i n g the g o v e r n o r s to end the a c t i v i t i e s of labor c o n t r a c t o r s from the U n i t e d S t a t e s . One 0 . S . company r e p o r t e d l y r a i d e d C a r r a n z a ' s army of 1 , 4 0 0 s o l d i e r s for use in the C a l i f o r n i a 129 30 s u g a r - b e e t i n d u s t r y . ™ It is not known w h e t h e r t h i s was an i s o l a t e d i n c i d e n t or whether it represented a g e n e r a l i z e d p a t t e r n of I l l e g a l h i r i n g in M e x i c o . The Mexican government a s s u m e d t h e r e was a connection between e m i g r a t i o n and l a b o r r c c r u i t i a g w i t h i n i t s b o u n d a r i e s * A f t e r 1 9 1 7 r e p o r t s of i l l e g a l h i r i n g c o n t i n u a l l y sur- f a c e d , b u t much of tills r e c r n i t s e n t c o n s i s t e d of s m u g g l i n g w i l l i n g i r a i g r a n t a a c r o s s the b o r d e r . A c l a s s of p r o f e s s i o n a l s m u g g l e r s , c a l l e d c o y o t e s , appeared in b o r d e r towns as e a r l y as 1 9 1 0 . T h e i r J o b was to arrange c l a n d e s t i n e t r i p s a c r o s s the b o r d e r f o r M e x i c a n s who w ished to avoid l e g a l e n t r y . A l t h o u g h t h e r e is some documentat ion df i l l e g a l r e c r u i t - m e n t , t h i s a r e a r e m a i n s l a r g e l y u n e x p l o r e d . T h e documented c a s e of S a n t a Fe recru i tment in J a l i s c o may have r e s u l t e d from an o v e r - z e a l o u s agent d e s i r o u s of a l a r g e c o m m i s s i o n . Word-of-mout h a d v e r t i s i n g by r e t u r n i n g , e n t h u s i a s t i c m i g r a n t s p r o b a b l y s u f f i c e d to supply s u f f i c i e n t l a b o r e r s except in p e r i o d s of l a b o r s h o r t a g e s * Push and p u l l f a c t o r s d e t e r m i n e d the s i z e and c h a r a c t e r of the migratory f l o w * A f t e r a g e n t s made an i n i t i a l c o n t a c t , they c o u l d be a s s u r e d of a c o n t i n u e d m i g r a t i o n froai that a r e a . I m m i g r a n t s from T a n g a n c f c u a r o f o l l o w e d o t h e r s f r o » that p u e b l o to A r g e n t i n e a f t e r 1 9 0 ? * A r g e n t i n e ' s Mex ican r a i l r o a d l a b o r e r s r e a d i l y admit that they e n c o u r a g e d o t h e r s from t h e i r own p u e b l o s to J o i n them in t h e b a r r i o * The « o r e s e t t l e d r e s i d e n t s p r o v i d e d h o u s i n g and M a i s f o r the newcomers and h e l p e d them f i n d j o b s . S a i l r o a d r e c o r d s g i v e s e v e r a l examples of mutual a s s i s t a n c e 130 among M e x i c a n ! , and local newspapers also commented upon t h i s phenomenon . The s i c k , the unemployed and the unemployable , orphans and dependent a d u l t s , often moved in with f r i e n d s , r e l a t i v e s and even s t r a n g e r s * ^ R e l a t i v e s and those l inked through compadrazao (a formal k i n s h i p system) often moved in with r a i l r o a d l a b o r e r s to share the rent-free boxcar accomodations. A n i t a Jones in her study of Mexican boxcar camps in Chicago noted the importance of such k inship t i e s and group s o l i d a r i t y among M e x i c a n s * In per iods of economic recession and dur ing w i n t e r months when work was slack the boxcar camps became severely 3 3 overcrowded* T h i s p a t t e r n of mutual ass istance was a lso observed in the A r g e n t i n e barr io during the 1921 r e c e s s i o n * As unem- ployment in ( h e Santa Fe shops and yards mounted, Mexicans who r e t a i n e d t h e i r jobs d iv ided their s a l a r i e s among the w h o l e . Mexican work f o r c e . In th is way, many unemployed l a b o r e r s 34 managed to s u r v i v e being la id o f f . T h e Santa Fe had an edge over other Midwestern com- p a n i e s which r e l i e d upon Mexican l a b o r . Not only did it have a d i r e c t r a i l l ink to El Paso , but it a l s o had strong f i n a n c i a l t i e s to the Mexican Central Rai lway* At one time the Santa F e , through its branch l i n e , the Sonora R a i l w a y , shared a p r e s i d e n t with the Mexican Central* Santa Fe engi- neers and labor foreman worked in the company*s Mexican l i n e s d u r i n g the 1 8 8 0 s , and many remained In Mexico a f t e r the com- pany r e l i n q u i s h e d formal control over the Sonora R a i l w a y . X 31 At l e a s t one Mexican worked for a Santa Fe foreman in Mexico p r i o r to arriving in A r g e n t i n e . 3 5 O t h e r Mexicans chose the Santa Fe over other r a i l r o a d s b e c a u s e of the r e l i g i o u s symbolism the name conveyed . Santa Fe means " s a c r e d faith.** Moreover, the symbol used by the Santa Fe on i ts ro l l ing stock resembled a c r o s s . Some Mexi- cans f e l t they mould receive better treatment from a company which d i s p l a y e d the - c r o s s . " 3 6 For devout C a t h o l i c s , i n p a r t i c u l a r , the company*s name may have symbolized i n s t i - t u t i o n a l p a t e r n a l i s m and secular c a t h o l i c i s m . Moreover , the company 9 s name was easy to pronounce, even f o r the most u n t u t o r e d immigrant . The Santa F e , t h u s , symbolized a l i n k a g e or b r i d g e between two c u l t u r e s . ' D e s p i t e i t s "natural** advantages yls-à-vis Mexican l a b o r e r s , the Santa Fe suf fered a c r i t i c a l shortage in i t s m a i n t e n a n c e of way department in 1 9 1 7 . Other major r a i l r o a d s a l s o e x p e r i e n c e d labor shortages in that y e a r . T h i s severe s h o r t a g e of track labor r e s u l t e d from economic f a c t o r s , as w e l l as government p o l i c y . During 1914-1915 r a i l r o a d s cut back t h e i r maintenance of way expenditures because of f i n a n - c i a l r e v e r s a l s . By 1 9 1 6 , however , b u s i n e s s r e v i v e d as a r e s u l t of A l l i e d spending , and r a i l r o a d s were hard-pressed to f i n d s u f f i c i e n t l a b o r e r s . R a i l r o a d s re-examined t h e i r l a b o r p o l i c i e s in order to r e t a i n and attract l a b o r e r s . T h e major areas of d i s s a t i s f a c t ion among track l a b o r e r s were the u n e t h i c a l p r a c t i c e s of pr ivate employment a g e n c i e s , poor h o u s i n g accomodations aad i r r e g u l a r , spasmodic employment 132 c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of that type of work. To solve these pro- blems r a i l w a y s began e s t a b l i s h i n g their own employment b u r e a u s . The B u r l i n g t o n pioneered in th is a r e a . It was a l s o one of the f i r s t railways to offer s t e a d y , year-round employment to Mexican track l a b o r e r s . Labor-saving machinery a l s o became more widely used . Although e a s t e r n roads began u s i n g motor c a r s , locomotive c ranes , r a i l - l a y i n g machines and p n e u m a t i c tamping machines to reduce the numbers of men r e q u i r e d f o r r a i l - l a y i n g and track maintenance , the Santa Fe and o t h e r w e s t e r n l i n e s continued to be labor i n t e n s i v e in t h e i r o p e r a t i o n s , for ready suppl ies of Mexicans were a v a i l a b l e . The Santa Fe also h ired women as u n s k i l l e d shop l a b o r e r s d u r i n g the war , and the St* Louis and San F r a n c i s c o H a l l w a y used women as track laborers in i t s Kansas C i t y y a r d s . 3 7 An immediate result of the labor shortage was a drama- tic r i s e in wages paid to unsk i l led and semi-skilled rai lway l a b o r e r s , especially in the area west of C h i c a g o . P r i o r to 1917 M e x i c a n track workers hired by the Santa Fe in A r g e n t i n e e a r n e d S I . S O per day for a ten-hour day . By 1917 they earned $ 2 . 2 5 per day, or 2 2 . 5 cents per hour . Some roads paid as h igh as $ 3 . 0 0 for a ten-hour day . U s u a l l y , wage rates f o r track l a b o r e r s Increased in proportion to the d i s t a n c e from the work l o c a l e to the Mexican B o r d e r . To compete with r i s i n g wages the Santa Fe in J u l y , 1 9 1 7 , announced a bonus f o r i t s non-union employes earaing less than $ 5 , 0 0 0 per y e a r . The bonus c o n s i s t e d of ten percent of their wages for the l a s t 133 s i x months of 1 9 1 7 # 3 8 The i n c r e a s i n g scarcity of Mexican labor and the r i s i n g wages p a i d to track laborers by U . S . r a i l w a y s were d i r e c t r e s u l t s of the new immigration law passed by Congress in F e b r u a r y f 1 9 1 7 . T h i s law imposed a l i t e r a c y test and an e ight d o l l a r head tax upon immigrants from M e x i c o . No severe l abor s h o r t a g e occurred unt i l the United States d e c l a r e d war on Germany in A p r i l , 1 9 1 7 , and announced a d r a f t . The outcry from a g r i c u l t u r a l i s t s who claimed they were unable to main- t a i n p r o d u c t i o n for the war e f f o r t without the use of Mexican l a b o r e r s led to a temporary waiver of the r e s t r i c t i o n s in J u n e * 1 9 1 7 . T h i s wa iver applied only to a g r i c u l t u r a l w o r k e r s . R a i l - roads and other i n d u s t r i e s such as mines and f a c t o r i e s c o n t i n u e d to a g i t a t e for a waiver to permit entry of Mexicans d e s t i n e d f o r c e r t a i n non-agricultural s e c t o r s . Not u n t i l J u n e , 1 9 1 8 , d i d the government extend the waiver to include workers i n t h e s e i n d u s t r i e s . R a i l r o a d s and mines began to r e c r u i t Mexi- c a n s at a more f r e n z i e d pace than ever b e f o r e . 3 9 T h e entry of Mexican workers for war-time use r e c e i v e d a f u r t h e r boost a month l a t e r , in J u l y , 1 9 1 8 , when the U n i t e d S t a t e s government assured Mexicans that they were not s u b j e c t to the d r a f t . A g i t a t i o n by r a i l r o a d and a g r i c u l t u r a l lobby- i s t s led to a f u r t h e r e x t e n s i o n of the waiver through March , 1 9 2 1 . D u r i n g t h i s period the United States and Mexican govern- ments co-operated to f a c i l i t a t e the immigration of M e x i c a n s . P r e s i d e n t C a r r a n i a o f f e r e d f r e e r a i l t r a n s p o r t a t i o n to aspi- rant M e x i c a n i m m i g r a n t s . 4 0 The Un ited S t a t e s v i r t u a l l y t h r e w 134 open the border to all Mexicans who agreed to sign contracts to work in designated war-related industries . T h i s period of relaxed border control attracted immi- grants who remained in their new habitats to put down roots . Mony of Argent ine ' s long-term immigrants arrived during the war to take up Jobs with the Santa F e . The 1921 recession temporarily curtailed hiring of Mexicans in the Argentine shops , but additional laborers entered the shops during the shopmen*s strike in 1922-1923. Those Mexicans who secured jobs at these c r i t i c a l J u n c t u r e s slipped through an otherwise impenetrable b a r r i e r . Only two Mexican Santa Fe employes from the Argentine barrio who later retired with the Santa Fe did not secure their jobs during a war or a s t r i k e . 4 1 This does not rule out further retirements among the younger generations of immigrants who entered the work force in the 1930s or l a t e r . This data bears d irect ly upon the older generation who entered Santa Fe employment prior to 1937» Events In the United States , such as wars and s t r i k e s , as well as the "cultural baggage* of the immigrant, deter- mined an individual *s chance of survival as a member of the Santa Fe work force . Members of certain pueblos who arrived in Argentine had an ample life-support system awaiting them. They could wait patiently until a job opening occurred and be assured of a hearty recommendation from their f r iends and r e l a t i v e s employed by the Santa F e . Mexicans from the pueblo of Tanganc fcuaro, for instance, exhibited this kind of mutual a s s i s t a n c e pattera . 135 A p p a r e n t l y , l i t e r a c y somewhat a f f e c t e d an i n d i v i d u a l ' s c h a n c e of h o l d i n g onto a Job with the Santa F e , f o r e i g h t y p e r c e n t of the Mexicans employed by the Santa Fe in 1 9 2 5 w e r e l i t e r a t e . For the b a r r i o as a w h o l e , s i x t y - f i v e p e r c e n t of a l l m a l e s over e i g h t e e n were l i t e r a t e . S i x t y - s i x p e r c e n t of a l l m a r r i e d f e m a l e s were l i t e r a t e . I n the l o n g r u n , l i t - e r a t e s w e r e somewhat more s u c c e s s f u l In r e t a i n i n g t h e i r j o b s t h a n w e r e i l l i t e r a t e s . By 1 9 4 0 , twenty-eight percent of a l l l i t e r a t e s and n i n e t e e n percent of the i l l i t e r a t e s p r e s e n t i n «i» 1 9 2 5 r e m a i n e d in the community. A l t h o u g h l i t e r a c y in t h e Span- ish l a n g u a g e d i d not n e c e s s a r i l y a f f e c t j o b p e r f o r m a n c e , i t may h a v e i n f l u e n c e d an i m m i g r a n t ' s a b i l i t y to a d j u s t to 0 . S . s o c i e t y . 4 2 A more Important determinant of Job s t a b i l i t y was t h e t y p e of work performed by the i n d i v i d u a l . O f the twenty-two A r g e n t i n e M e x i c a n s who r e t i r e d from the company as of 1 9 7 1 , o n l y f o u r were s e c t i o n w o r k e r s . The r e s t were shop l a b o r e r s . None w o r k e d on extra-gangs in A r g e n t i n e , a l t h o u g h n i n e s t a r t e d t h e i r work c a r e e r s as s e c t i o n h a n d s . Extra-gang work o f f e r e d no J o b s e c u r i t y , aad s e c t i o n work a f f o r d e d M e x i c a n s a small c h a n c e of o c c u p a t i o n a l s t a b i l i t y . Even shop work a f f o r d e d a l i f e - l o n g o c c u p a t i o n with ret irement for only a small f r a c t i o n of the Mexican shop employes from the A r g e n t i n e b a r r i o . L e s s than one-fourth of the M e x i c a n s employed in t h e A r g e n t i n e shops in A u g u s t , 1 9 3 5 , kept t à e i r j o b s w i t h 4 3 t h e S a n t a Fe u n t i l r e t i r e m e n t , as of 1 9 7 1 . 136 Few Mexicans entered the Argentine shops unt i l 1917 when curtailment of European immigration and the draft c r e a t e d v a c a n c i e s . Labor shortages caused a rapid r i s e in wages* By 1917 Mexicans who came to Argentine to work for the Santa Fe found they could earn enough money to consider remaining in the United States as permanent r e s i d e n t s . Semi- s k i l l e d shop workers earned about eighty d o l l a r s per month, a lthough most shop aad track laborers* monthly incomes aver- aged between forty and f i f t y d o l l a r s . Pr ior to 1917 few Mexicans earned enough moaey to remain in the United S t a t e s . Migratory workers usually returned with some savings to Mexico 44 where the money would go further* The dramatic increase in wages earned by lower echelon ra i lway employes resulted in part from government ownership of the r a i l w a y s . Shortly after the government takeover in late 1 9 1 7 , the Railroad Administration under Wi l l iam G. McAdoo issued a ser ies of General Orders establ i sh ing wage rates and d e f i n i n g working conditions throughout the n a t i o n a l i z e d indus- t r y . When the government returned the r a i l r o a d s to pr ivate control on March I , 1 9 2 0 , the United States Ra i lroad Labor Board assumed respons ib i l i ty for e s t a b l i s h i n g standard wage rates in the i n d u s t r y . 4 9 y I r o n i c a l l y , demand drove prices up in advance of govern- ment p r o c l a m a t i o n s . Mages paid Mexican laborers in Argentine rose r a p i d l y a f ter 1917 until the recession of 1 9 2 1 . Non- u n i o n i z e d Mexican laborers consistently received a h igher minimum hourly wage than that speci f ied by the fiailroad Labor Board . A r g e n t i n e ' s track laborers received a higher wage 137 prior to 1921 and afterwards than did Mcxican track laborers employed by the Santa Fe in other parts of the c o u n t r y . 4 6 No doubt the proximity of Kansas C i t y ' s vast labor market played • role in f ix ing the wage rates in Argentine . Mexican shop laborers benefitted more than did track laborers from the rising rates of pay after 1917 . By July , 1 9 2 1 , Argent ine* s sixty-four Mexican shop laborers earned between $ . 4 0 and $ . 7 7 per hour. The lowest-paid laborers in the shops , including J a a i t o r s , received a higher hourly wage than did section and extra-gang laborers . Semi-skilled shop laborers could earn as much as $154 per month. The average salary range for unskilled shop laborers was between $79 and $ 1 0 9 per month . 4 7 The disproportionate r ise in wages paid shop laborers continued in the 1920s , although the wage rate per Job c l a s s i f i c a t i o n in the shops f e l l after 1 9 2 1 , at T a b l e 1 2 shows* Even though the wage rate for a particular job did not change substant ia l ly during the 1920s , higher-paying jobs opened to Mexicans after 1921 . This sudden movement of Mexicans into higher-paying positions was a direct result of a nation-wide railroad shopmen's strike which began on July 1 , 1 9 2 2 . Union members and sympathizers walked off the Job in protest over a reduction in hourly wages ordered by the R a i l r o a d Labor B o a r d . 4 8 The shopmen's strike caused violent f lucutat ions in enploymem throughout the railroad industry ' s mechanical d e p a r t m e n t . 4 9 The dislocations in employment caused by the strike created new opportunities for Mexicans in the shops. 138 TABLE 12 WAGE RATES OF MEXICAN LABORERS IN ARGENTINE, 1921-1935 Jul) C iatft i f icot ion July 1921 July 1922 Aug. 1922 March 1 9 2 5 July 1925 Aug . 1 9 3 5 Shop Sweeper . 4 0 . 3 5 . 3 5 . 3 8 . 3 8 . 3 8 C a r , Coach P a i n t e r . 77 . 7 0 . 6 3 . 5 1 L o c o . P n t r . H l p r . . 4 7 . 4 7 . 4 9 . 5 8 Coach C l e a n e r . 4 1 * 36 . 3 6 . 4 0 . 4 0 . 4 3 Car M a t e r i a l Mao . 5 4 . 4 9 . 4 9 . 4 9 . 4 9 Locomotive Laborer . 4 0 . 3 5 . 3 5 . 3 8 . 3 8 . 3 8 Engine Wiper . 4 3 . 3 8 . 3 8 . 4 9 . 4 1 . 4 1 B o i l e r w a s h e r . 5 9 . 5 2 . 6 2 . 6 9 B l w s h r . H e l p e r . 5 4 . 4 9 . 4 9 . 4 1 . 4 1 . 6 0 C i n d e r P itmaa . 4 3 . 3 8 . 3 8 . 4 1 . 4 1 . 4 1 Flue Borer . 4 3 . 3 8 . 6 4 Supplymaa . 4 3 . 3 8 . 4 1 . 4 1 . 4 1 Loco . L u b . F i l l e r . 4 9 . 3 8 . 3 8 . 4 1 . 4 1 Turn T a b l e Operator .433* . 3 8 * ..41Î4 .41)4 Boilermokcr Helper . 4 7 . 4 7 . 5 1 . 5 8 Carman H e l p e r . 47 . 7 4 . 5 8 Car L a b o r e r . 3 5 . 3 5 . 3 8 . 3 8 Blacksmith . 7 0 .70- Blacksmith Helper . 4 7 Machinist Helper . 4 7 . 4 7 . 5 8 Coach R e p a i r e r . 6 3 . 6 3 . 7 2 . 7 4 . 0 1 Bo i lermaker . 7 0 . 7 4 . 8 1 Machinist . 7 0 . 7 4 . 8 1 Locomotive P a i n t e r . 7 0 Car Air Brake Repairer . 6 5 . 6 7 . 7 4 F r t . Car Truck Repairer . 5 9 . 6 1 . 6 8 Car O i l e r . 5 1 . 6 0 Car I n s p o c t o r . 6 7 . 7 4 Boilermaker lllpr. Spécial . 7 1 Yard Car R e p a i r e r .7.4 • FCT 6 DRR . 6 8 Car Air Brake Helper . 7 4 Loco . Brickmaa lllpr. . 5 4 . 4 1 Locomotive Brickmaa r*7 . 7 8 Car C a r n c n t e r , 7 4 Source: A t c h i s o n , Topoka and Santa Fe R a i l w a y , Payrol l Records , Kansas City D iv is ion ( A r g e n t i n e ) , 1 9 2 1 - 1 9 3 5 . 139 H i t h e r t o , the company employed only one Mexican in a s k i l l e d shop J o b . During the i tr ike the number jumped to t h i r t e e n . In a d d i t i o n , Mexicans who remained at their jobs received h igher w a g e s , a lbeit only temporarily . Car l a b o r e r s , for i n s t a n c e , rece ived a wage of sixty-three cents per hour , rather than the t h i r t y - f i v e cents they earned p r e v i o u s l y . 5 0 The Santa Fe continued to hire Mexican laborers at a l l l e v e l s of s k i l l throughout the duration of the s t r i k e . Although the general strike of shopmen collapsed in 1 9 2 2 , the Santa Fe shopmen held out unti l December 1 , 1923* In order to obta in more sk i l led workers , the company promoted many of i t s Mexican employes to higher-paying s k i l l e d or semi- s k i l l e d J o b s . Mexicans who had worked for years in u n s k i l l e d Jobs suddenly found themselves catapulted into pos i t ions such as B o i l e r w a s h e r , Machinist Helper and Locomotive P a i n t e r Hel- 51 p e r , w h i l e some section workers secured u n s k i l l e d shop j o b s . «any of these -promotions- occurred in J u l y , 1 9 2 2 . The tota l number of Mexican shop laborers increased roughly by one-third during the f i r s t month of the s t r i k e . By August , Mexicans 5 2 comprised e ight percent of all Argentine shop e m p l o y e s . " * Not a i l Mexicans employed in the shops remained on the Job* One f o u r t h of the eighty-five Mexican workers did not show up f o r work during the f i r s t two weeks of the s t r i k e . It is d i f f i c u l t to understand why any of the non-unionized immigrants struck in support of Anglo un ion ists since none of the c r a f t unions admitted Mexicans to membership. Perhaps community pressure encouraged some of the Mexican laborers 140 to s t r i k e . During the f irst week of the s t r i k e , ninety- seven percent of all shopmen employed in the c i t y ' s th irteen ra i lroad mechanical shops Joined in the walkout . Only 150 thopracn out of 6 , 0 0 0 employed in the twin c i t y ' s ra i lroad shops remained on the Job.**® «any of the sixty-four Mexican non-strikers were u n s k i l l e d coach c l e a n e r s , locomotive laborers and engine w i p e r s . Since these men worked primarily la gangs composed of other Mexi- cans , they had l i t t l e coatact with Anglo shopmen and therefore were not personally involved ia the str ike . Helpers and suppiymen, on the other hand, who worked in close company with s k i l l e d Anglo workers were divided in their attitude towards the s t r i k e . Some struck and remained out for months, while others remained on the Job . Conceivably , Mexican helpers struck when the workers they assisted joined the s t r i k e . A l l three Mexicans employed in skilled Jobs struck , one for two 54 weeks and the other two for a month. Some Mexicans benefited from the strike by accepting promotions and temporary r a i s e s , but others struck . Most Mexican shop workers in Argentine returned to work in August , although a large group of Anglo shop workers fought on unt i l December , 1 9 2 3 . A local newspaper claimed that ninety percent of t h e s h o p m e n employed in the Santa Fe system abandoned 5S the s t r i k e in early August. In Argentine , several hundred s t r i k e r s refused to Join the newly-organized company union 5 6 and cont inued their struggle . I n i t i a l l y « la July , 1 9 2 2 , the Santa Fe d id n 0 t Import sir i k c b r c a k c r i to crush the s t r i k e , but attempted to h ire l o c a l l y . The Santo Fe hired a handful of Mexicans during the s i r i k e , but could not resort to wholesale importation of Mexican workers due to the h o s t i l i t y of non-striking Anglo 5T shopmen. Elsewhere in Kansas , notably in Newton and Welling- i o n , ihe company re l ied more heavily upon Mexicans as s tr ike- b r e a k e r s , c r e a t i n g an h o s t i l i t y which p e r s i s t e d for decades In those t o w n s . 5 8 In Argentine the Santa Fe imported Anglo farm l a b o r e r s by the tra inloads from western Kansas to break the s t r i k e . Some 200 workers arrived in one t r a i n . These rural l a b o r e r s kaew nothing of shop work, but the Santa Fe t r a i n e d them to replace the s t r i k e r s . 5 ^ A l though h i r i n g of str ikebreakers occurred throughout July and e a r l y August , no trouble ensued in Argentine u n t i l late A u g u s t . On August 2 2 , pol ice d ispersed a crowd of 5 0 0 s t r i k e r s and sympathizers who attacked a group of non-strikers as they attempted to board a streetcar south of the Santa Fe y a r d s . It is not clear if the non-strikers were Mexicans or A n g l o s . 6 0 T a b l e 1 3 shows the impact of the shopmen's str ike on employment p a t t e r n s of Mexicans in the Argentine shops . The major change was an increase in the number of Mexicans who held s k i l l e d J o b s . Most Mexicans who secured promotions to s k i l l e d p o s i t i o n s during the str ike kept t h e i r j o b s u n t i l the d e p r e s s i o n . Four a n a l y t i c a l categories are u t i l i s e d in T a b l e 13 to examine the changing wage pattern of Mexicans employed 142 TABLE 13 KACE P A T T E R N S OF MEXICAN SHOP EMPLOYES ARGENTINE # 1 9 2 1 - 1 9 3 5 K a l e Per Hour Xwwbf-r of M c x i r ? n « J u l y , J u l y , A u g . , March , J u l y , I n n « * r m > . . « . ^ _ * J 9 O *J M CO I m 01 7 ? 1i 7 2 7 1 7 0 6 9 68 6 7 6 5 6 3 62 61 60 5 9 5 8 5 4 5 2 51 1 7 2 1 1 9 2 2 1 9 M Î 9 M i " q ; V Î S U 4 R a t e Per Hour 19 47 6 4 6 6 8 2 3 4 6 5 3 4 * 6 3 [ T " 1 4 ! 8 ~T 16 81 a 77 a 74 a 7 2 . g 7 1 7 0 S 6 9 a 68 rf 6 7 S 6 5 i 6 3 £ 6 2 8 61 60 5 9 5 8 5 4 2 5 2 g 51 j 4 9 §3 4 7 ïl «J Mi 10 ac a 431* 4 3 4 1 H 41 4 0 3 8 H 3 8 3 6 I 31 11 1 2 3 11 3 0 1 3 J S 1 9 19 1 3 1 3 3 2 5 26 9 I S 21 ?5 i 4 6 4 8 5 9 4 101 101 7 6 4 3 K 4 3 Q 4 i x a x ii 4 0 ^ 3834 g 3 8 » 3 6 3 5 Toi ni s Source : A t c h i s o n , Topeka and Santa Fe R a i l w a y , P a y r o l l R e c o r d s , K a n s a s C i t y D i v i s i o n » 1 9 2 1 - 1 9 3 5 . • I n c l u d e d in t h i s f i g u r e were twenty-four w i p e r s , employed t e m p o r a r i l y at t h i s r a t e . Only t e n w o r k e r s e a r n i n g 49 c e n t s p e r hour were a c t u a l l y " h e l p e r s . * . 143 in the A r g e n t i n e shops from 1921 until 1 9 3 5 . These cate- g o r i e s ; U n s k i l l e d , Helpers , Semi-skilled and S k i l l e d , do not c o r r e s p o n d to the terminology used by the Santa F e . In 1 913 the Santo Fe c l a s s i f i e d shop workers into three d i v i - s i o n s : Journeymen , handymen and h e l p e r s . U n s k i l l e d workers were not i n c l u d e d in the c l a s s i f i c a t i o n s y s t e m . 6 1 Santa Fe p a y r o l l r e c o r d s did not c l a s s i f y workers into broad cate- g o r i e s , but l i s t each Job t i t l e separately by department . T a b l e 13 o r g a n i z e s the work force on the b a s i s of the degree of s k i l l r e q u i r e d and r e s p o n s i b i l i t y e n t a i l e d in per forming ihe J o b , which generally determined wage r a t e s . O c c a s i o n a l l y labor s c a r c i t y d i c t a t e d a temporary r i s e in the wage r a t e — as was the case in August , 1 9 2 2 , for h e l p e r s . 6 2 The majority of Mexicans employed in the A r g e n t i n e shops in the 1 9 2 0 s were u n s k i l l e d laborers and h e l p e r s . The Santa Fe h i r e d these laborers in a b u y e r ' s market . Although wages for s k i l l e d and semi-skilled workers advanced s t e a d i l y from 1922 to 1 9 3 5 . wages of u n s k i l l e d workers remained l o w . Track l a b o r e r s earned only $ . 3 7 per hour . The wage paid u n s k i l l e d shop l a b o r e r s never climbed above $ . 4 33$ per h o u r . T h i s i n c r e a s i n g d i s p a r i t y between wages of s k i l l e d and u n s k i l l e d workers c h a r a c t e r i z e d the wage structure of the Un ited S t a t e s 6 3 in the two d e c a d e s f o l l o w i n g the F i r s t World War . The sharp break between wages paid u n s k i l l e d workers and h e l p e r s (double p a r a l l e l l i n e s in Table 1 3 ) widened a f t e r 1 9 2 1 . Wage r a t e s did not r i se proport ionately across the b o a r d . I n J u l y , 1 9 2 1 , helpers earned about seven c e n t s more 144 per hour than u n s k i l l e d workers . By August , 1 9 3 5 , the spread was f i f t e e n c e n t s . Wage rates of the three highest-paid groups in the shops rose s u b s t a n t i a l l y , as the cost of l i v i n g i n c r e a s e d , w h i l e unski l led workers received the same hourly rate in 1 9 3 5 as they did in 1 9 2 1 , before the dramatic drop in wages d u r i n g the 1921 recess ion . It la not clear if these four categories r e f l e c t e d status d i f f e r e n c e s among the shop f o r c e . Most l ike ly such d i f f e r e n c e s were m i n i m a l , f o r unsk i l led shop laborers sometimes advanced to the raak of h e l p e r 9 and o c c a s i o n a l l y , a f ter a per iod of y e a r s , o c c u p i e d semi-skilled , s k i l l e d and supervisory posi- t i o n s . " C a r I n s p e c t o r , " for example , was a p o s i t i o n he ld by a M e x i c a n in Argentine in 1925* The ult imate success of Mexican shop employes , def ined as retirement with annuity* bore l i t t l e r e l a t i o n s h i p to their earning capacity in any g iven y e a r . In A u g u s t , 1 9 3 5 , for Instance , the nineteen Mexican shop l a b o r e r s who ret ired as of 1971 were scattered across a l l four c a t e g o r i e s . Two were s k i l l e d , two were s e m i - s k i l l e d , s ix were h e l p e r s and nine were u n s k i l l e d . 6 4 The most crucial status separation among the Mexican work f o r c e in Argentine was between track laborers and shop workers . Shop employes shunned the boxcar camps, p r e f e r r i n g to rent houses in the area near the shops* Many shop l a b o r e r s began t h e i r work careers as track l aborers , notably in K a n s a s , M i s s o u r i , Oklahoma and T e x a s . 6 5 Of the sixty-two Mexican shop employes whose records appear in the Pr ior Service F i l e s , thirty-two l i s t e d track work as a previous Job held with the company. Of t h e s e , only three spent the bulk of t h e i r p r i o r 145 work c a r e e r s as members of extra-gangs. The m a j o r i t y , or t w e n t y - n i n e , worked primarily as section laborers throughout t h e i r pro-shop employment careers . Hence , Mexicans who kepi shop Jobs during the depression did not e x h i b i t a haphazard employment pattern . They tended to return to the same p l a c e to work every season , o r , o c c a s i o n a l l y , to the same geographical area . There was some exchange of w o r k e r s b e t w e e n Topeka and A r g e n t i n e . % T w e n t y - f i v e shop workers entered the shops without any p r e v i o u s work e x p e r i e n c e . The i n f luence of k i n s h i p and f r i e n d s h i p is apparent in th is case , for most of these workers came from the same pueblos as those immigrants who a r r i v e d e a r l i e r to take up shop J o b s . S ix of the twenty-five men who s e c u r e d shop Jobs immediately upon a r r i v i n g in Argen- t i n e were from TangancTcuaro . Mexicans from that town a r r i v e d in A r g e n t i n e around 1 90? and worked there on a s e a s o n a l b a s i s u n t i l some s e t t l e d there dur ing the F i r s t World W a r . C o n t i n g e n t s from other Mexican communities a lso f o l l o w e d in the f o o t s t e p s of others from those pueblos to A r g e n t i n e . The pattern of d irect migration to the shops was the least random of a l l occupat ional and geographical routes f o l l o w e d by Mexican immigrants to A r g e n t i n e . 6 7 C u l t u r a l i n f l u e n c e s were c l e a r l y . a t work in the b a r r i o . M e x i c a n s as a group comprised the lowest-paid s t r a t a in the S a n t a Fe Job h i e r a r c h y , for these new immigrants • c c e p t e d low-paying , d i r t y , r e p e t i t i v e Jobs which f e w native- born w o r k e r s sought . T h u s , the d i f f e r e n c e in income between 146 M e x i c a n s and Anglos d id not result from wage d i s c r i m i n a t i o n . E x a m i n a t i o n of the Santa Fe Payrol l records f o r the 1 9 0 7 - 1 9 3 5 p e r i o d r e v e a l e d only two d i s c r e p a n c i e s in wage r a t e s p a i d M e x i c a n s and non-Mexicans for the same j o b . U s u a l l y , a l l employes who o c c u p i e d a certa in p o s i t i o n r e c e i v e d the same rate of p a y . Two d i s c r e p a n c i e s appeared in the J u l y , 1 9 2 5 , p a y r o l l . Two Anglo ear p a i n t e r s worked at s i x t y - s e v e n and s e v e n t y - f o u r c e n t s , r e s p e c t i v e l y , w h i l e a Mex ican e a r n e d f i f i y - o n e c e n t s per h o u r . An Anglo b o i l e r w a s h e r earned- e i g h t c e n t s per hour more than a M e x i c a n . 6 8 T h e s e were r a r e except i o n s . T h e amount of d i s c r i m i n a t i o n against M e x i c a n s w h i c h e x i s t e d in the Santa Fe system is d i f f i c u l t to d e t e r m i n e . T h e r e i s l i t t l e e v i d e n c e that the Santa F e d i s c r i m i n a t e d a g a i n s t M e x i c a n s in the d i s t r i b u t i o n of a p p r e n t i c e s h i p s p r i o r to 1 9 4 0 . D u r i n g the pre-1940 period few Mexicans met the r e q u i r e m e n t f o r a p p r e n t i c e s h i p which s p e c i f i e d e i g h t y e a r s * s c h o o l i n g . S i n c e a Spanish-surnamed man born in T e x a s r e c e i v e d an a p p r e n t i c e s h i p in 1 9 2 9 , it appears that the e d u c a t i o n a l r e q u i r e m e n t , r ather than overt d i s c r i m i n a t i o n , 6 9 kepi M e x i c a n s out of the program. No other Mex icans in ihe s h o p s met the school ing requ iremen t . A f e w immi- grant s , n o t a b l y those from T a n g a n c f c u a r o , a t t e n d e d grade school in M e x i c o , and others l a t e r obtained grade-school e d u c a t i o n s at the A m é r i c a n i s a t i o n s c h o o l , but immigrants with an e i g h t h grade e d u c a t i o n were r a r e . M o r e o v e r , it is »ot c l e a r i f the Santa Fe r e c o g n i s e d Mexican d e g r e e s . 147 Whether or not the educational requirement was d i s c r i - minatory in e f f e c t because it was not needed for job perfor- mance is another i s s u e . C l e a r l y , sk i l led p a i n t e r s were no l e s s s k i l l e d with less than eight years of formal e d u c a t i o n . The s t i p u l a t i o n of eight y e a r s ' formal educat ion appears to have been a p p l i e d uniformly , without the i n t e n t , at l e a s t , of d i s c r i m i n a t i n g against Mexicans as a c l a s s . 7 0 The form of discriminatory behavior most prevalent throughout the Santa Fe structure (shops and t r a c k ) was personal i n t i m i d a t i o n and informal coercion . There are several documented cases of coercive measures used by Santa Fe b o s s e s and commissary agents to control the Mexican work f o r c e , EJ. Çosmopolita voiced the complaints of Mexican Santa Fe l a b o r e r s against the company as early as 1 9 1 4 . That paper o f t e n advised Mexicans how to avoid be ing e x p l o i t e d by r a i l r o a d b o s s e s . The paper claimed that d i s a b l e d Mexi- cans were o f t e n tr icked into s igning statements r e l i e v i n g 71 the company of r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for an a c c i d e n t . By f a r the most o f fens ive outward m a n i f e s t a t i o n of coer- cion was f o r c e d name chaaging t or A n g l i c i z i n g , of Mexican surnames . R a i l r o a d s often encouraged their Mexican employes to adopt Anglo names which the bosses could pronounce . The process of A n g l i c i z i n g given names was well underway in Argen- tine by 1 9 0 7 . M F r a a k l e , F e l i x , Joe and John** were common among the Mexican track l aborers . While th is p r a c t i c e may sot have seemed part icular ly o b j e c t i o n a b l e , s ince it f a c i l i - tated w o r k i n g arrangements , it nonetheless represented a 148 a subtle reminder of the power of the b o s s J 2 X h i s power , a r b i t r a r i l y used , is demonstrated by the example of a Mexican who a r r i v e d in Argentine in 1911 to work on the s e c t i o n . The boss and timekeeper refused to use the man's name, but inven- ted one more to their l i k i n g . In 1949 the man attempted to set the record straight in order to secure retirement b e n e f i t s . His e x p l a n a t i o n appeared in a letter from the Argentine Super- intendent to the Santa Fe Treasurer : I t r i e d to make the Boas put my right name on the - l i s t s , but timekeeper said / ^ A g u i l e r a S a n t i l l a n l / The man d i d not object to the procedure, s ince he wanted the J o b . The f a r c e continued for decades , and when the man f s two sons s tarted to work for the Santa F e , they used h i s a l i a s surname, for the section foreman knew them as the sons L i k e l y , the company's managerial staff knew l i t t l e of the every-day abuses which their Mexican employes endured . R e t i r e d Santa Fe Mexican employes speak in glowing terms of the company, but with host i l i ty and disgust when r e f e r r i n g to the labor foremen . All the bosses were uniformly "malas " ( b a d ) , or as one worker expressed h is sentiments , " A l l them b o s s e s — c u t with same s l s s o r s . * 7 5 Former employes swear by the company, but enrse the bosses* Such abuses did not ex ist without an accompanying reward system. Those who " p l a y e d b a l l " with t h e ' b o s s e s secured steady work . A hierarchy ex isted even on the sect ion gangs . U s u a l l y , oae or more Mexicans consistently r e c e i v e d going to call me / " P a b l o of " P a b l o G a r c i a -74 149 more work o p p o r t u n i t i e s than d id those f a r t h e r down the l i s t . M e x i c a n s o c c u p y i n g the f i r s t s i x or seven p o s i t i o n s on cach s e c t i o n gang were assured of more regular employment, and , h e n c e , h i g h e r e a r n i n g s , than section workers as a whole e n j o y e d . O f t e n , the h ighest-ranking Mexican laborer on the gang occupied a q u a s i - s u p e r v i s o r y p o s i t i o n as a " s t r a w b o s s . " The A r g e n t i n e Roadraaster , M. G a n l e y , e xp la ined how he used t h i s t e c h n i q u e among h i s M e x i c a n w o r k e r s . 7 6 The story of the Mexican railway workers in A r g e n t i n e cannot be t o l d in charts and t a b l e s . These are merely u s e f u l i n d i c a t o r s of the parameters w i t h i n which Mexican l a b o r e r s o p e r a t e d . A l though the Santa Fe attempted to accomodate M e x i c a n s w i t h i n i ts system, it could not o f f e r s t e a d y , perma- nent employment to all the Mexican immigrants who sought J o b s in the track and shop departments . The s i z e of the Santa Fe track f o r c e s f l u c t u a t e d erratically , for the law of supply and demand determined I t s s i z e . t h e company turned to Mexican workers because of demo- g r a p h i c and economic f a c t o r s beyond its c o n t r o l . The economic and i n d u s t r i a l development of the Southwest c o i n c i d e d with a d e c l i n e in t r a d i t i o n a l sources of cheap u n s k i l l e d l a b o r . At the same t i m e , cond it ions in Mexico encouraged the exodus of u n p r e c e d e n t e d numbers" of Mexican laborers and f a r m e r s . M e x i c a n s became the new i n d u s t r i a l reserve array f o r some 0 . S . i n d u s t r i e s , e s p e c i a l l y transportat ion and a g r i c u l t u r e . M e x i c a n s formed the backbone of the Santa F e ' s t rack f o r c e s . Few M e x i c a n s g a i n e d entry to shop employment, a lthough those 150 who d i d f a r e d b e l t e r than the ir compatriots who spent the bulk of t h e i r work careers as track l a b o r e r s . The Santa Fe served as a very l imited channel of upward s o c i a l m o b i l i t y for Mexican immigrants . It absorbed only a small p r o p o r t i o n of i ts Mexican work f o r c e . The f a t e of the i n d i v i d u a l immigrant depended upon such f a c t o r s as h i s p r i o r work e x p e r i e n c e , time of a r r i v a l in the U n i t e d S t a t e s , the p u e b l o of o r i g i n in Mexico , economic c y c l e s in the O n i t e d S t a t e s and M e x i c o , and resultant structural d i s l o c a t i o n * w i t h i n the ra i lway industry* Well-connected Mexicans who c o u l d d e p e n d upon k i n s h i p and family t i e s to t i d e them over d u r i n g s l a c k p e r i o d s could survive even when unemployed . P r i o r to u n i o n i s a t i o n of the Mexican shop employes in 1 9 4 0 - 1 9 4 1 there were no Job g u a r a n t e e s . The a b i l i t y to d e v e l o p a t h i c k s k i a aga inst i n s u l t s l eveled at the worker from Anglo w o r k e r s and b o s s e s , coupled with sheer l u c k , enhanced the i m m i g r a n t 9 s chances of keeping h i s J o b . Those who r e t a i n e d a Job of some kind with the company through the d e p r e s s i o n of the 1 9 3 0 s found themselves 1» a f o r t u n a t e p o s i t i o n when the economy r e v i v e d dur ing World War I I * In the e n d . the d e s i r e to sink down r o o t s , to remain • * in the community or b a r r i o , e x e r c i s e d a powerful i n f l u e n c e over an i n d i v i d u a l ' s a b i l i t y to survive in A r g e n t i n e . Luck • l s o p l a y e d a p a r t . Those who secured t h e i r j o b s at c r u c i a l J u n c t u r e s had f a t e on the ir s i d e . A few s l i p p e d through d u r i n g the F i r s t World War and others arr ived d u r i n g the shopmen ' s s t r i k e . For these immigrants , e s p e c i a l l y those who m i g r a t e d 151 with f r i e n d s and relatives , abuses and discrimination could be endured because rewards also existed. FOOTNOTES: CHAPTER IV U . S . . Congress , House, Committee on Immigration and N a t u r a l i z a t i o n , Immigration from Countries of the Western H r n i m h r r c . Hoar inns, before the Committee on Immigration and Natural izat ion, on H . R . 6 465 , H . R . 7 358 , H .R # 1 0 9 5 5 , and II• K . 1 1 6 8 , 70th Cong . , 1st s e s s . , 1928 ; and 0 . S . , Con- g r e s s , S e n a t e , Immigration Commission, Immigrants in Indus- 1 f k f * 2 5 : Japanese and Other Immigrant Races in the P a c i f i c Const and Rockv Mountain States . Part I : Immi- grant Laborer» Employed hv Steam Railway Companies in the P a c i f i c Const and KocKv fountain States . 61st C o n g . , 2nd s e s s . , 1 9 1 0 . 2 K a n s a s , State Board of Agriculture , Decennial Census Of lil£ S m e of *>nfft»» Kansas Cltv , Kansas ( A r g e n t i n e ) , ( l n d e c k s Research Deck, tabulations of " j " and w k r t . ) 3 Kansas , Public Service Commission, Eighth B iennial Report . 1^24-26 (Topeka: Kansas State Pr int ing P l a n t , 1 9 2 7 , pp . '133-34. ^ « m i g r a t i o n from Countries of the Western Hemisphere. Hrnr i n»i». p p . 419-11; Larry G . Sutter , "Mexican Americans in Kansas : A Survey and Social Mobility Study, 1900-1970" ( u n p u b l i s h e d M. A. t h e s i s , Kansas State U n i v e r s i t y , 1 9 7 2 ) , p . 3 0 : and Newton Kansan. August 2 2 , 1922 , pp . 22-23. A computer Tearch in 1974 for records of the Santa F e ' s trans- a c t i o n s with Manila f a i l e d to locate any documents. The Santa Fe o f ten d id not preserve records of defunct contractual arrangements , according to company spokesmen. 5 " N o reciben igual tratamiento, " El Cosmopolit a . April 8 , 1 9 1 6 , p . 1 ; and "The Maintenance of Way Labor Pro- b l e m . " Railway Ane. L X 1 I , No. 25 (June 22 , 1 9 1 7 ) , 1314-317 . 6 A u i h o r f s calculations based upon, J . R . , " O u t l i n e of Study , Mexican Track Labor on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe R a i l r o a d , " Topeka, Kansas, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe R a i l w a y , General O f f i c e s , August, 1 9 2 8 . (Type- s c r i p t . ) — T a y l o r Papers , Bancroft L ibrary . ^ K a n s a s D r c ^ n i n l Census Argentine. 1 8 9 5 ; "Murder in the C r ^ k ftrnenti»*» Republic (Argentine , K a n s a s ) , June 2 9 , 1 9 0 5 , p . 1 ; Toaoka Dally Caoltal-Hcrald . April 1 2 , 1 9 0 7 , C l i p p i n g , in the Kansas State Historical Soc iety , 153 hynndotte County C l i p p i n g , Vol . I I , p p . 130-41; and Atrh son , Topcka and Santa Fe Railway, Payroll Records , Kansas C i t y D i v i s i o n , May, 1 9 0 5 , Hereafter , Payroll Record/ ore c i t e d as Santa Fe Payrol l , Kansas City D i v i s i o n , with the a p p r o p r i a t e month ond year . n S a n t a Ke Payrol l , Kansas City D i v i s i o n , May, 1 9 0 7 , and November, 1907 ; Immigration Commission, Immigrants in I n d u s t r i e s , P t . 2 5 : 1 , p . 2 8 . 9 R u t t e r , "Mexican Americans in K a n s a s , " pp . 2 3 , 1 3 1 . l 0 H e c t o r Franco , "The Mexican People in the State of Kansas'* ( unpubl ished M .S . thes is , University of W i c h i t a , 1 9 5 0 ) , p . 3 5 ; Iji Prcnsa (San Antonio ) , March 2 0 , 1 9 2 0 , p . 1 ; and S . 1 . E s q u i v a i , "The Immigrant from Mexico , " The Out- l o o k . Mny 1 9 , 1 9 2 0 , p . 1 3 1 . H 0 . W . H e r t e l , History of the Brotherhood of Main- tenance of Wav Employees (Washington, D . C . : Ransdell I n c . , P u b l i s h e r s , 1 9 5 5 ) , p . 6 2 ; Immigration Commission, Immigrants iff I M i O U L l J E l » P t . 2 5 ; 1 , pp. 42-43; and Railway Age . L I I I , No. 12 ( S e p t . 2 0 , 1 9 1 2 ) , 5 1 9 . IZVernon Monroe McCombs, From Over the Border , a 9f lh? Ifl tfo (New York : C o u n c i l of Women for Home Missions and Missionary Educa- tion Movement, 1 9 2 5 ) , p . 2 2 . 13 Santa Fe P a y r o l l , Kansas City D i v i s i o n , November, 1 9 0 7 ; Arnent i tie Republ ic . Agusut 4 , 1 910 , p . 4 ; Kjtnsqs P e r e n n i a l O n m s . Argentine . 1 925 . " Santa Fe Yards Camp; " and I n t e r v i e w with Leopoido Ayaia in Kansas C i t y , M i s s o u r i , June 2 0 , 1 9 7 4 . * * S a n t a Fe P a y r o l l , Kan as City D i v i s i o n , November, 1 9 1 0 ; J u l y , 1 9 2 1 ; and March, 1 9 2 5 . 1 5 F r a n c o , "Mexican People , * p . 3 9 . 1 6 L . C . Lawton, "Mexican Laborers ' Houses on the Santa F e , " Rai lway A a e . L I . No. 7 (August 18 , 1 9 1 1 ) , 3 4 4 ; and Victor S . C l a r k , "Mexican Labor in the United S t a t e s , " U . S . Department of Labor B u l l e t i n , 78 (September, 1 9 0 8 ) , P« 5 2 1 . l 7 L a w t o n , "Mexican Laborers ' H o u s e s . " l 8 F r a n c o , "Mexican P e o p l e , " pp . 41-42, 48-50; R u t t e r , " M e x i c a n Americans in Kansas , " p . 9 6 ; Soccorro M. RamiVez , "A Survey of the Mexican in Emporia , Kansas" (unpublished M . S . t h e s i s , 1 9 4 2 ) , p . 2 1 ; and J . Neale Carman, " Fore ign- Language U n i t s of Kansas , " Vol . I I . pp- 440-41--Uniyersity A r c h i v e s , Kenneth Spencer Research L i b r a r y , Univers ity of Kansas , L a w r e n c e , Kansas . 104 1 9m " O u t l i n e of Study, Mexican Track Labor on the Atchi- s o n , Topeko and Santa Fe R a i l r o a d ; " Sanborn Map Company, n s u r g n y ; Wqpj of Kqn$as C i t y . Rosedpln and A r g e n t i n e . Kansas (New o r k : banborn Map C o ! ; 1 9 3 1 ) ; «id interviews with L e o p o l d o Ayala and with Father Gabriel Perez at S t . John the D i v i n e C a t h o l i c Church, Argentine , on June 2 7 , 1 9 7 4 , 20 I n t e r v i e w with Leopoldo Ayala . Santa Fe Bonus Çystem Receives Awful B l o w , " The ( A r g e n t i n e ) , January 1 6 , 1 913 , p . 1 ; Zenas L . P o t i e r , " I n d u s t r i a l Conditions in Topeka , " in the R u s s e l l Sage F o u n d a t i o n , The Topeka Improvement Survey (Topeka : The Improvement Survey , 1 9 1 4 ) , pp . 9-11, 1 5 ; and C . W. Kouns , " T h e E f f i c i e n c y Plan in Maintenance Work on the Santa F e , " M l l W O r Aflft» X L V I I I , Ho. 10A (March 15 , 1 9 1 0 ) , 557-58 ; Arn?fH Inv HîPMfrllS. December 7 , 1 905 , p . 1 . 2 2 " Importante a los Wexicanos , " El Cosmopolite . June 3 , 1 9 1 6 , p . 4 ; I m k f Ç l P l H l November 2 1 , 1 9 1 3 , p . 1 ; L . L . W a t e r s , S u d T r a i l s ttf Saata Fe (Lawrence , Kansas : U n i v e r s i t y of Kansas- Press , 1 9 5 0 ) , p . 3 2 7 ; Eamfrez , " Survey of the Mexican in Emporia , " p . 1 6 ; and Franco , " M e x i c a n P e o p l e , " p . 4 5 . 2 3 C l a r k , "Mexican Labor in the United S t a t e s , " p . 4 7 2 ; and " O u t l i n e of Study, Mexican Track Labor on the Atchi- s o n , Topeka aad Santa Fe R a i l r o a d . " 2 4 I n t e r v i e w conducted by P . S . Taylor in Kansas C i t y , M i s s o u r i , » 102-273 , Taylor Papers , Bancroft L i b r a r y * 2 5 " N o Reciben Igual Tratamionto , " El Cosmopolite . A p r i l 0 , 1 9 1 6 , p . 1 ; and " S i g u e n Los Quejas Contra e l Saata F e , " El Coamoool i t a . April 2 2 , 1 9 1 6 , p . 1 . 2 ^ l b i d . . " S e c c i d n del T r a b a j o , " El Cosmopollta . June 1 7 , 1 9 1 6 , p . 4 ; " Importante a los Mexicanos , " El Cosmopollta . June 3 , 1 9 1 6 , p . 4 ; " L a Companfa del Burl ington Route , Amplla y Todo P r o t e c c I d a Posible Para el Trabajador Mex icano , " E± Cosmoool i t a , July 1 , 1 916 , p . 1 ; and El Cosmopollta . July 2 2 , 1 9 1 6 , p . 2 ; "Magnli-icos Sueldos a los Trabajadores del B u r l i n g t o n , " El Cosmoool It a . March 3 1 , 1917 , p . 1 ; March 2 3 , 1 9 1 8 , p . 1 6 4 ; March 3 0 , 1 9 1 8 , p . 4 . 2 7 I m m i g r â t ion Commission, Immigrants in I n d u s t r i e * , p t . 2 5 : 1 , p . 4 1 0 ; and U . S . . Immigration Commission, A b ^ r j Ç t ? fff * y P 9 H f f 9f J ? ? * 1 " * ™ } * : ! * 1 * * 1 0 * ' D # c * : Government P r i n t i n g O f f i c e , 1 9 1 1 ) , I I , 371-86 . 2 8 P a u l S . T a y l o r , A Spanish-American Peasant Community. Arandas in J m i . r o Mexico (Berkeley , C a l i f o r n i a : U n i v e r s i t y of Cal I f o r a i a P r e s s , l 9 3 3 ) t p . 4 5 , 155 30 C l a r k * " M e x i c a i 1 *-®*>or in the United S t a t e s , " p p . •17 1 " 7 #i « f S Ï o lïUlt* i l * * 1 ? * * * ' « cx ican Emigrat ion to the U n i t e d M P t Q - P P O (San F r a n c i s c o , C a l i f . : R & E Research A s s o r i a i e s , 1 9 7 2 ) , p . 4 6 . 3 1 U . S . , Immigration Commission, Abstract of the Report of J g P f l ^ K ot^yr jmmjgrant Races in the P a c i f i c Coast and Rocky Mountain Slates (Washington , 0 , C . : Government P r i n t i n g O f f i c e , 1 9 1 1 ) , p # 6 8 4 . The best d e s c r i p t i o n of coyote o p e r a t i o n s is found la Appendix I I , " L e g a l and I l l e g a l Entry of Mexicans into the United S t a t e s , " in Manual G a m i o , M e x i c a n Immigration to the United S t a t e s (New Y o r k : Dover P u b l i c a t i o n s , I n c . , 1 9 7 1 ) , p p . 2 04-207 . 3 2 T h e 1 9 2 5 state census revealed the e x i s t e n c e of many dependent a d u l t s among the Mexican populat ion in A r g e n t i n e . See the d i s c u s s i o n of the census in Chapter V . The papers of G o v e r n o r Arthur Capper contain l e t t e r s documenting the case of Santa Fe employes b e f r i e n d i n g a t u b e r c u l a r c o m p a t r i o t . See P a p e r s of Governor Arthur Capper ( 1 9 1 5 - 1 9 1 9 ) , Numerical F i l e , G e n e r a l . 1 9 1 5 , » 574 ( four l e t t e r s ) — K a n s a s State His- t o r i c a l S o c i e t y , Topeka , Kansas . 3 3 A n i t a Edgar Jones , C o n d i t i o n s Surrounding Mexicans in g h l c a o o ( S a n F r a n c i s c o : R & E Research A s s o c i a t e s , 1 9 7 1 ) , p p . 5 6 - 5 7 . 3 4 " M l s e r i a y honradez de una Colonia M e x i c a n a , " La P r e n s a . March 2 2 , 1 9 2 1 , p . 1 . 3 5 R a i l w a v Age . X L I V , No. 23 ( D e c . 6 , 1 9 0 7 ) , 8 0 2 ; and A t c h i s o n , l o p e k a and Santa Fe R a i l w a y , Kansas C ity D i v i s i o n , P r i o r S e r v i c e F i l e s , Employe Number 7 4 4 4 . H e r e a f t e r these r e c o r d s a r e r e f e r r e d to as the P . S . F l i e s . 3 6 R u t t e r , " M e x i c a n Americans in Kansas,** p . 8 6 . 3 7 " T h e Maintenance of May Labor P r o b l e m , " R f t U f W Age , L X I I , N o . 2 5 ( June 2 2 , 1 9 1 7 ) , 1314-19 ; "Women in R a i l Yard W o r k , " Kansas Cltv Kansan. June 1 , 1 9 1 8 , p . 1 ; Santa Fe P a y r o l l , Kansas City D i v i s i o n , December, 1 9 1 7 . 3 8 S a n t a Fe P a y r o l l , Kansas City D i v i s i o n , J u l y , 1 9 1 5 , and D e c e m b e r , 1 9 1 7 : " A r r e s t the D e t e r i o r a t i o n of Ra i lway T r a c k , " Ra i lway Age . L X I I 1 . No. 9 ( A u g u s t ^ l , 1 9 1 7 ) , 3 7 2 ; and MMew Santa Fe U o n u s , " Railway Age . L X I I , No. 2 I Ju ly 1 5 , 1 9 1 7 ) , 7 6 . 3 9 M a r t i b e x , E m i g r a t i o n , pp . 27-28 ; Avery T u r n e r , " D e t e r i o r a t i o n of Railway T r a c k , " R^llw?y Age , L X I I I , No . 11 ( S o p t . 1 4 , 1 9 1 7 ) , 4 4 9 ; and " L o s T r a b a j a d o r e s Mexicanos ten- 156 dron L i b r e A c c e s o , " F.l Cosmopolji^ , Feb . 22 f 1 9 1 9 , pp . 1-2. '10*lari i'nez, Mexican Emigration , pp. 2 3 , 4 2 , 5 4 . 41 » c P . S . F i l e s ( Indecks Research Deck, # 8 2 ) , A u t h o r ' s i a b u l a i i o n s . 4 2 " K a n s a s 0<'ccnnia| CensusT Argentine . 1925 ( I n d e c k s R e s e a r c h Deck * s 61-60, 107 and categories " j " & " k " . ) 4 3 P . S . F i l e s ( Indecks Research Deck, # 8 2 ) ; and Santa Fe P a y r o l l , Kansas City D i v i s i o n , August , 1 9 3 5 . 4 4 S a n t a Fe P a y r o l l , Kansas City D i v i s i o n , December, 1 9 1 7 . 4 5 H e r t e l , History of the Brotherhood, pp . 84-96 . 4 6 I b i d . . p . 1 0 5 ; Kansas City Times. May 1 8 , 1 9 2 1 , p . 1 ; Santa Fe P a y r o l l , Kansas City D i v i s i o n , 1917-35 ; and Immigration Commission, Immigrants in I n d u s t r i e s . 4 0 4 - 4 0 7 . 47 Santa Fe P a y r o l l , Kansas City D i v i s i o n , J u l y , 1 9 2 1 . 4 0 H e r t e l , Historv of the Brotherhood, p p . 98-102 ; Kai l imv Age . LXXV, No. 26 (Dec . 2 9 , 1 9 2 3 ) , 1 2 2 2 ; and LXXV , No. ( D e c . 2 2 , 1 9 2 3 ) , 1 179 . The Santa Fe organized a company union in its shops during the s t r i k e . See Railway Age . LXXV 1 1 1 , So. 25 (May 23 , 1 9 2 5 ) , 1 297 ; and Kansas C ity T i m e s . August 4 , 1 9 2 2 , p . 1 . 4 9 w S t a b i l i z a i i o n of Employment," Railway Age . L X X X I I , S o . 3 0 ( Juno 2 5 , 1 9 2 7 ) , 2 0 0 0 . 5 0 S a n t a Fe P a y r o l l , Kansas City D i v i s i o n , July and A u g u s t , 1 9 2 2 . 5 1 P . S . F i l e s ( Indecks Research Deck, # 6 8 , # 7 0 ) ; and Ra i lway Age. LXXV, No. 26 (Dec . 2 9 , 1 9 2 3 ) , 1 2 2 2 . 5 2 S a n t a Fe P a y r o l l , Kansas City D i v i s i o n , August , 1 9 2 2 ; - E s t i m a t e s 150 at Work, " Kansas City T imes . July 7 , 1 9 2 2 , p . 2 . Tho number of Mexican shop employes rose only s l i g h t l y dur ing the rest of t h e d e c a d e ; and Mexicans const i tuted roughly ten percent of the total work force unt i l the depres- s i o n . « " E s t i m a t e s 150 at Mork , " Kansas City T imes . July 7 , 1 9 2 2 , p . 2 ; and "No Troops , No V i o l e n c e , " Kansas C i t y S t a r , July 4 , 1 9 2 2 , p* 1* 5 4 S a n t a Fe P a y r o l l , Kansas City D i v i s i o n , J u l y , 1 9 2 2 . 157 5 5 « 5 a n l a / î . S l r i k c r * L o s e , " Kansas Citv Timos. July 7 , 1 9 2 2 , p . 2 ; a n d K a n s a s C.\ty T j » ^ , A u g u s t 4 f 1 9 2 2 f 1 # 5 6 " f111 W ° Y Agy, LXXV, No. 26 (Dec. 29 , 1 9 2 3 ) , 1 2 2 2 . ^ ' I n t e r v i e w with Leopoldo Ayala . Carman, "Foreign-Language Units of K a n s a s , " I I , p . 9 1 7 . r , 9 I n t c r v i e w with Leopoldo Ayala . 6 0 " D i s p e r s e Mob in Argent ine , " Kansas Citv T imes . August 2 3 , 1 9 2 2 . p . 1* 6 1 P o t t e r , " I n d u s t r i a l Conditions in T o p e k a , " p p . 7 - 9 . L a t e r the Santa Fe c l a s s i f i e d shop employes as " l a b o r e r , high 1 abore r , h e l p e r , d i f f e r e n t i a l helper , second-class m e c h a n i c , and f i rst-class mechanic . " See R u t t e r , "Mexican Americans in K a n s a s , " p . 1 3 5 . ^ ^ T h e s e arbitrary d iv is ions correspond well to those u t i l i z e d by Harold F . Clark in , L i f e Earnings in Selected O c c u p a t i o n s In the United States (New York: Harper & Brothers P u b l i s h e r s , 1 9 3 7 ) , p . 369 (Table 2 6 6 : Serai- S k i l l c d and S k i l l e d Male Labor , 1920-1937 ) ; and p . 397 ( T a b l e 2 0 0 : Earnings of Unski l led—Male L a b o r , 1 9 2 0 - 1 9 3 7 ) . 6 3 I b l d . , p . 1 3 8 . ^ A u t h o r ' s tabulat ions , P . S . F i l e s ( Indecks Research D e c k , * 8 2 ) ; and Santa Fe P a y r o l l , Kansas City D i v i s i o n , A u g u s t , 1 9 3 5 . 6 S t h i s pattern of upward occupational mobility was wide-spread in the railway industry . Most new immigrant groups such as M e x i c a n s , Ch inese , I t a l i a n s , Japanese and Greeks who secured Jobs in railway shops began their work careers as track l a b o r e r s . See Immigration Commission, Immigrants in I n d u s t r i e s , p t . 2 5 : 1 , p . 4 2 . 6 6 P . S . F i l e s , Employe Numbers 7633 and 7 2 8 8 . 6 7 P . S . F i l e s ( Indecks Research Deck, * 8 8 ) . 6 8 S a n t a Fe P a y r o l l , Kansas City D i v i s i o n , Ju ly , 1 9 2 5 . 6 9 P . S . F i l e s , Employe Number 7 3 0 5 . ? 0 " Study Your Apprentice Boys C a r e f u l l y , " Railway Age , LXV , No . l (July 4 , 1 9 1 3 ) , 7-9 . 7 1 " l n t e r e s a n t e a los Mexicanos , " Eft Cosmopolita . December 1 1 , 1 9 1 5 , p . 2 | a n d " Seccldn E d i t o r i a l , " El Cosmo- polit q . January 1 , 1 916 , p* 2 . 39 7 2 El foxncipol i t a . January ] # 1 9 1 4 , p . 4 ; and S a n t a Fe P a y r o l l , Kansas C i t y D i v i s i o n , November , 1 9 0 7 , and N o v e m b e r , 1 9 1 0 . 7 3 P . S . r i l e s , Employe Number 1 8 6 5 6 . T h e names h a v e b e e n c h a n g e d due to an agreement w i th the S a n t a F e R a i l w a y Company not to use a c t u a l names of e m p l o y e s in th st udy • 7 4 l b l d . 7 5 ï m e r v i e w w ith L e o p o l d o A y a l a . G a n i e y , " C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the M e x i c a n , " R a i l w a y Arte . L I 1 1 , N o . 12 ( S e p t . 2 0 , 1 9 1 2 ) , 5 2 9 . CHAPTER V THE ARGENTINE BARRIO AS AN URBAN VILLAGE T h e Argent ine b a r r i o in Kansas C i t y , K a n s a s , can best be d e s c r i b e d as an " u r b a n v i l l a g e , * an e t h n i c e n c l a v e In w h i c h M e x i c a n immigrants attempted to adapt t h e i r i n s t i t u - t i o n s and c u l t u r e to United States s o c i e t y . T h i s adapta- t i o n p r o c e e d e d in an orderly manner and d id not e n t a i l the t e x t r e m e c u l t u r a l d i s l o c a t i o n g e n e r a l l y assumed by e a r l i e r h i s t o r i a n s of immigrat ion . Mexican immigrat ion and s e t t l e - ment in the A r g e n t i n e b a r r i o bore l i t t l e resemblance to the " u p r o o t i n g " e x p e r i e n c e which Oscar H a n d l i n d e p i c t e d as char- a c t e r i s t i c of European immigrat ion . I n d e e d , c o n t i n u i t y , r a t h e r than a l i e n a t i o n , m a r g i n a l i t y and s o c i a l d i s o r g a n i z a - t i o n , c h a r a c t e r i z e d Mexican immigration t o A r g e n t i n e . T h e A r g e n t i n e e x p e r i e n c e was more ak in to the a n a l y s i s of I t a l i a n i m m i g r a t i o n set forth by Rudolph J . V e c o l l which d e m o n s t r a t e d that c u l t u r a l d i s l o c a t i o n was not n e c e s s a r i l y a by-product of u r b a n i m m i g r a t i o n . ^ I n A r g e n t i n e , as in V e c o l l * s I t a l i a n s e t t l e m e n t s i n C h i c a g o , settlement p a t t e r n s f o s t e r e d c o n t i n u a n c e of the l i f e s t y l e the Immigrants knew In t h e i r home-country. T h e Mexi- can l i f e s t y l e s t r a n s f e r r e d to Argentine were so p e r v a s i v e that they d i c t a t e d where immigrants would l i v e and with whom they would a s s o c i a t e . Immigrants from a p a r t i c u l a r 160 p u e b l o in M e x i c o , for i n s t a n c e , came ult imately to s e t t l e a l o n g the same street in the barr io and took up j o b s in the same i n d u s t r y . They e f f e c t i v e l y re-created t h e i r nat ive env ironment in the quasi-rural Argentine s e t t i n g . T h i s r e p l i c a t i o n of v i l l a g e l i f e in Argentine d id not occur i m m e d i a t e l y , but evolved between 1910 and 1 9 4 0 . To some e x t e n t , t h e n , b a r r i o s were w i l l f u l c r e a t i o n s . T h i s chapter descr ibes the process whereby Mexican immigrants c o n s o l i d a t e d the barrio and made it a permanent e t h n i c e n c l a v e , or "urban v i l l a g e . " The term, " u r b a n vi l- lage,* 1 i s used here to describe the funct ion of the Argen- t ieo b a r r i o . T h i s does not infer that Mexican immigrants came from small Mexican v i l l a g e s . I n d e e d , t h i s was not u s u a l l y the c a s e . Mexican immigrants to Argent ine came p r i m a r i l y from towns and c i t i e s with p o p u l a t i o n s of 2 , 5 0 0 and m o r e . 2 I n i t i a l l y , the immigrants interacted in a very l i m i t e d way w i t h t h e i r environment . T h e i r world centered around t h e i r w o r k , family l i f e and r e l i g i o n . C o n s e q u e n t l y , t h e i r a l l e g i a n c e s and commitments were to the C a t h o l i c C h r u c h , the S a n t a Fe Railway and their f a m i l i e s . Dur ing the f i r s t two d e c a d e s of settlement in the barrio the Mexicans r e l i e d p r i m a r i l y upon one another to accomplish t h e i r g o a l s . The f i r s t mutual-aid s o c i e t i e s , or m u t u a l i s t a s . appeared in t h i s p e r i o d . But as the y e a r s p a s s e d , the immigrants began to look beyond the narrow c n f i n e s of the b a r r i o . They became more a c t i v e l y involved in l o c a l , non-barrio i n s t i t u t i o n s , such as the p u b l i c school system. G r a d u a l l y , the w a l l s of 161 t h e i r p r o t e c t i v e b a r r i o became more permeable . The o u t s i d e w o r l d came i n c r e a s i n g l y to impinge upon the immigrants and l u r e d them into greater i n t e r a c t i o n with U n i t e d S t a t e s s o c i e t y . One of the major f u n c t i o n s of the b a r r i o as an urban v i l l a g e was to accomodate newly-arrived immigrants . Through- out i t s e x i s t e n c e the Argentine b a r r i o served as a proces- s i n g c e n t e r f o r success ive waves of immigrants . I n i t i a l l y , f rom 1 9 0 5 to 1 9 1 6 , the b a r r i o was l i t t l e more than a migrant l a b o r camp where Mexican laborers procured seasonal or short- term employment with the Santa Fe R a i l w a y . T h e nature of the b a r r i o began to change in 1 910 when the Mex ican Revolu- t i o n b e g a n . D u r i n g the per iod of the R e v o l u t i o n A r g e n t i n e r e c e i v e d a mora mixed Mexican populat ion than p r e v i o u s l y . T h i s wavo c o n t a i n e d many p o l i t i c a l r e f u g e e s and other d is- p l a c e d p e r s o n s , in a d d i t i o n to manual l a b o r e r s . A r g e n t i n e * s b a r r i o underwent a th ird t r a n s i t i o n in 1 9 1 7 . Nhen h i g h e r p a y i n g j o b s opened and wages rose in the r a i l w a y i n d u s t r y , some M e x i c a n s dropped ont of the migratory stream and set- t l e d in A r g e n t i n e . A few found steady j o b s w i t h the Santa Fe p r i o r to 1 9 1 6 - 1 7 , but the majority of permanent s e t t l e r s a r r i v e d a f t e r 1 9 1 6 . Movement through the b a r r i o was extremely r a p i d . B e t w e e n 1 9 1 5 and 1925 the b a r r i o underwent a nearly t o t a l t u r n o v e r in p o p u l a t i o n . Only s i x of the 2 1 9 Mexican s a l e s l i v i n g in the b a r r i o in 1 9 1 5 remained tfeere In 1 9 2 5 , a c c o r d i n g to s t a t e c e a s u s d a t a . Santa Fe employment r e e o r d s , l i k e - w i s e , c o n t a i n few examples of l aborers who remained i n t h e 162 b a r r i o over the decade . These records conta in only f i v e e x a m p l e s of workers not included in the census r e p o r t s who l i v e d and worked continuously in Argent ine from 1 9 1 5 to 1 9 2 5 . 3 T h e composition of the population changed a p p r e c i a b l y a f t e r 1 9 1 5 . In 1915 7 7 . 7 percent of the b a r r i o * s p o p u l a t i o n of 2 6 2 woro m a l e s . Few family un its e x i s t e d , and women of a l l a g e s c o n s t i t u t e d 2 2 . 3 percent of the t o t a l p o p u l a t i o n . 4 A l t h o u g h t h e i r numbers were small , the presence of women and c h i l d r e n was s i g n i f i c a n t . In 1915 women headed seven of the twenty-seven s ingle family housing u n i t s in the b a r r i o . By c o n t r a s t , in 1 9 2 5 , only one female householder e x i s t e d . The h i g h i n c i d e n c e of women householders p r e s e n t in 1 9 1 5 was a d i r e c t consequence of the Dexlcan R e v o l u t i o n , for women c o n s t i t u t e d an a t y p l c a l l y large proport ion of the immigration 5 d u r i n g those y e a r s . A f t e r 1 9 1 5 the Mexican populat ion s p i l l e d out of the y a r d camp into a d j o i n i n g h o u s i n g , although the bulk of the i m m i g r a n t s s t i l l l i v e d in the yard camp u n t i l the e a r l y 1 9 2 0 s . By 1 9 2 5 the majority of the immigrants no longer l i v e d in the Saata Fe yard camp. The main b a r r i o c o n t a i n e d 3 9 8 i m m i g r a n t s , and the yard camp, 1 7 5 . A smaller c l u s t e r of M e x i c a n s l i v e d in the town of R o s e d a l e , located about two m i l e s s o u t h e a s t of the Argent ine b a r r i o . In 1 9 2 5 the Rose- d a l e b a r r i o contained 148 p e r s o n s . v T h e p r o p o r t i o n of c h i l d r e n to a d u l t s i n c r e a s e d drama- t i c a l l y in these settlements between 1915 and 1 9 2 5 . I n 1 9 1 5 c h i l d r e n under e i g h t e e n c o n s t i t u t e d 1 5 . 3 percent of the t o t a l 163 M e x i c a n p o p u l a t i o n in Argent ine . I n 1 925 the proport ion of c h i l d r e n to a d u l t s in Argentine was 4 4 . 5 p e r c e n t , and 5 6 . 9 p e r c e n t in R o s e d o l e . Mexican communities in other Kansas towns a l s o e x p e r i e n c e d a similar transformation in t h i s d e c a d e . The proportion of ch i ldren to adults in Kansas C i t y , K a n s a s , W i c h i t a and Topeka increased from f i v e percent in 1 9 1 5 to f o r t y percent in 1 9 2 5 . The f e d e r a l census r e v e a l e d a s i m i l a r increase la Mexican family l i f e in Kansas , from e i g h t e e n percent in 1920 to forty-two percent in 1 9 3 0 . ? As the number of family units grew , the number of boarders d e c l i n e d p r e c i p i t o u s l y . Male boarders in A r g e n t i n e ' s b a r r i o in 1 9 1 5 t o t a l l e d 1 8 0 , or 8 2 . 2 percent of a l l Mexican malea in the b a r r i o . In 1 9 2 5 , only n ineteen men l i s t e d t h e i r s t a t u s as " b o a r d e r . " 9 T h u s , family l i f e in A r g e n t i n e ' s b a r r i o grew r a p i d l y a f t e r h igher-paying jobs o f f e r i n g year-round employment become a v a i l a b l e in the Santa Fe shops . The increase in popu- 1st ion and family un its did not result from the p r o c r e a t i v e e n e r g i e s of Mexican couples who l ived in the b a r r i o in 1 9 1 5 . S i n c e t h e r e was very l i t t l e populat ion p e r s i s t e n c e between 1 9 1 5 and 1 9 2 5 , the b a r r i o ' s populat ion in 1925 was composed of r e l a t i v e newcomers* T h e a r r i v a l of the th ird wave of immigrants a f t e r 1 9 1 5 g r a d u a l l y changed the shape of the Argent ine b a r r i o . No longer was it primarily a migratory labor camp. It was on i t s way to becoming a stable community. S o c i a l I n s t i t u t i o n s soon emerged and the immigrants began to i d e n t i f y proudly w i t h " A r g e n t i n a , " as they c a l l e d the b a r r i o . In p r e v i o u s 164 y e a r » , however , other Mexicans in the city had r e f e r r e d con- d e s c e n d i n g l y to "Argent ina " as an area in which to conduct c h a r i t a b l e work at C h r i s t m a s . 1 0 Prior to 1919 Mexicans in the b a r r i o r e l i e d upon the larger " W e s t s i d e , " Kansas C i t y , M i s s o u r i , b a r r i o for their entertainment , " h a n d o u t s , " and p a t r i o t i c c e l e b r a t i o n s . In 1919 th is changed somewhat as M e x i c a n s in Argentine organized a basebal l team (with three A n g l o members) to play their compatriots from W e s t s i d e . They a l s o s p l i t off from the u n i f i e d Westside-Armourdale S i x t e e n t h of September ce lebrat ion (Mexican Independence Day) and s t a g e d t h e i r own well-attended e v e n t * 1 1 T h e Argent ine barrio continued to r e l y heavi ly upon the r e s o u r c e s and services ava i lab le in other b a r r i o s in the twin c i t i e s , but it had begun a slow e v o l u t i o n into a s t r o n g e t h n i c enclave which afforded more than housing and J o b s . T h e development of social i n s t i t u t i o n s in A r g e n t i n e ' s b a r r i o marked i ts t r a n s i t i o n from a work camp into a community, i n c r e a s i n g l y , the barr io provided an environment which nur- t u r e d and supported immigrants during t h e i r adaptat ion to U n i t e d S t a t e s s o c i e t y . It would be a mistake , however, to portray a complete break betweea the pre-and post 1917 b a r r i o . E a r l i e r immi- g r a n t s , such as the seasonal workers who contracted with the Santa Fe for varying per iods of t ime , paved the way f o r M e x i c a n s who f o l l o w e d . They made the f i r s t inroads into the r e n t a l hous ing market around 1910-11 and e s t a b l i s h e d minimal c o n t a c t w ith the Anglo populat ion through the p u b l i c school s y s t e m . Even these highly trans ient laborers a s s i s t e d , a l b e i t 165 u n k n o w i n g l y , in t h e construction of the b a r r i o . T h e s e e a r l i e r immigrants also performed an important role in d i r e c t i n g streams of migration to the b a r r i o . A l t h o u g h they did not remain in Argentine as permanent res i- d e n t s , other members of their f a m i l i e s apparently f o l l o w e d the b e a t e n path to Argent ine . Santa Fe employment records and c e n s u s reports reveal the r e p e t i t i o n of many d i s t i n c t i v e and r e l a t i v e l y uncommon surnames, suggesting consecut ive m i g r a t i o n of r e l a t i v e s . There is no quest ion that, cha in m i g r a t i o n from certa in pueblos in Mexico to A r g e n t i n e » 2 o c c u r r e d . 4 * It is not known, however, to what extent t h i s m i g r a t i o n rested upon family units and consecutive f a m i l i a l c h a i n m i g r a t i o n * Mexican immigrants d id not migrate as a tomist ic b e i n g s , but as members of a d i s t i n c t social system and culture which they c a r r i e d with them into the ir new environment* Dur ing the c o u r s e of their migratory wanderings Mexicans mainta ined c l o s e economic t i e s with their f a m i l i e s , and , through them, to t h e i r nat ive pueblos . They accomplished t h i s f eat through the system of banking houses which appeared during the Mexi- can R e v o l u t i o n in both the United States and Mexico . These c o m p a n i e s co-ordinated the banking and shipping needs of the immigrants d u r i n g the period of revolutionary upheaval when mail s e r v i c e s were d i s r u p t e d . Through these companies Mexi- cans sent g trot (ooney orders ) and packages of c l o t h i n g and other a r t i c l e s to their f ami l ies in Mexico . These Mexican- owned companies m a i n t a i n e d o f f i c e s in the major labor d i s t r i -13 hut ion c e n t e r s throughout the Southwest and Midwest . 166 The l a r g e » ! and best-organized of these companies was the Los Angeles Mercantile Company (LAMC). Between 1918 and 1 9 2 0 it maintained paid agents in over two hundred Mexi- can towns at any one time. Based in Los Angeles , the com- pany had branches in San Antonio , Kansas C i t y , El Paso , L a r e d o and C a l e x i c o , C a l i f o r n i a . 1 4 Other companies f requent ly used the LAMC money orders in their b u s i n e s s e s . Kansas C i t y had its share of these banking companies , but M e x i c a n s in the Argentine barrio did not have to t ravel to the c i ty to obtain these money orders . By 1 9 1 8 , i f not e a r l i e r , an Argentine Anglo bank sold the LAMC money orders , p a y a b l e in Mexican s i lver or gold . Many other Anglo banks throughout Kaasas also sold the LAMC money o r d e r s . 1 5 T h u s , A r g e n t i n e ' s immigrants functioned within a t ightly-integrated system of communications with their native towns, for they had a d i r e c t l ink with their homes through this network of pr i- vate b n n k i n g f i r m s . In 1918-1920, for instance , the Los A n g e l e s Mercant i le Company had representatives in over two- t h i r d s of the Mexican communities which sent immigrants to A r g e n t i n e dur ing the f i r s t three decades of the twentieth c e n t u r y . * * The success of these companies was due in part to the p e r s o n a l t i e s they generated . The LAMC readi ly supplied the names of i t s agents and l i s t s of persons who had trans- 17 a c t i o n s w i th the company for any town in Mexico . T h i s was p a r t i c u l a r l y important during the Révolution . Persons known to the immigrant might appear more l ike ly to transmit funds to w a i t i n g family members. Money orders were the umbi l ica l 167 cords which strctched between the immigrant and h is parent c u l t u r e . The importance of t h i s phenomenon cannot be over- 10 e m p h a s i z e d . So strong was th is practice among Mexicans in Kansas in 1930 that c r i t i c s complained that Mexicans sent too much money back to Mexico and did not s u f f i c i e n t l y sup- port the United States e c o n o m y . 1 9 R e l o c a t i o n , l i k e w i s e , did not destroy the c u l t u r a l alle- g i a n c o s of the Mexican people . It might be s a i d , i n s t e a d , that c e r t a i n environments nurtured the c u l t u r a l t r a d i t i o n s of the immigrants* A r g e n t i n e ' s immigrants s e t t l e d in a quasi- r u r a l environment in the midst of the i n d u s t r i a l i z e d bottoms a l o n g the Kaw R i v e r . Relocation in t h i s case meant the pre- s e r v a t i o n of a long-standing work p a t t e r n . Back in M e x i c o , most males worked as laborers in either rural or urban enter- p r i z e s , l ived in a small town, and engaged , to varying d e g r e e s , in a g r i c u l t u r a l endeavors . The move to A r g e n t i n e d i d not e n t a i l a fundamental change in t h i s p a t t e r n . The men took up jobs as manual l aborers , mostly w ith the Santa F e , and most women remained in the home. Few Mexican women worked o u t s i d e the home prior to the depress ion* In 1 9 2 5 two women worked as l a u n d r e s s e s , probably at home. D u r i n g the d e p r e s s i o n women began to work as domestics in Anglo homes In A r g e n t i n e , and one widow operated a store out of her h o m e . ^ The small-town environment of Argent ine f a c i l i t a t e d r e t e n t i o n of close t i e s to the l a n d . The l a b o r e r s ' i n t e r e s t in a g r i c u l t u r e did aot wane . Some Mexicans a l t e r n a t e d b e t w e e n farming and r a i l r o a d employment, t a k i n g up f a r m i n g 168 when I hey could not f i n d other work. U n p r e d i c t a b l e , recur- rent l a y - o f f » in the r a i l r o a d industry f u r t h e r encouraged i h i s p a t t e r n among the u n s k i l l e d l a b o r e r s . One Mex ican who lost h i s Job dur ing the 1921 recess ion stayed on to farm u n t i l he r e g a i n e d h is Job some months l a t e r . 2 1 A g r i c u l t u r e , h o w e v e r , was not merely an a l t e r n a t i v e to unemployment . Many M e x i c a n f a m i l i e s continued to farm on a small s c a l e . F o r t y - f i v e percent of a l l Mexican housing u n i t s , e x c l u d i n g t h e r a i l r o a d y a r d camp, were l i s t e d in the " a g r i c u l t u r a l " c a t e g o r y of the 1 9 2 5 c e n s u s . 2 2 In the R o s e d a l e b a r r i o , f o r t y - f o u r percent of the Mexican households c a r r i e d on a g r i c u l t u r a l e n t e r p r i s e s . Probably these c o n s i s t e d of small b a c k y a r d g a r d e n s where the . f amil ies grew v e g e t a b l e s and h e r b s 2 3 f o r t h e i r own consumption . B e c a u s e they l i ved In a compact b a r r i o in the company of o t h e r M e x i c a n s , the r e s i d e n t s of the A r g e n t i n e b a r r i o g a v e up l i t t l e of t h e i r accustomed i n t e r a c t i o n p a t t e r n s . In 1 9 2 5 the b a r r i o occupied the northeast corner of Argen- t i n e . A small c l u s t e r of Mexican houses l i n e d T h i r t y - n i n t h and F o r t i e t h S t r e e t s , south of the P e n n s y l v a n i a Car Company , but the m a j o r i t y of Mexicans l i ved in the main b a r r i o , loca- ted on both s i d e s of the r a i l r o a d yards between Twenty-fourth and T w e n t y - s e v e n t h S t r e e t s * A smaller group l i v e d in the y a r d camp in the Saata Fe y a r d s , adjacent to the main b a r r i o . ( S e e Map 6 ) . I a t e r s p e r s e d with the Mexlean p o p u l a t i o n were " p o o r w h i t e s " and B l a c k s , e s p e c i a l l y ia " N o r t h A r g e n t i n e , " that p o r t l o a of the b a r r i o aorth of the Santa Fe t r a c k s . 169 In t h i s t e l l i n g Mexicans funct ioned more or l e s s as d i d sma11 -1oh n d w e l l e r s in Mexico* The i n s t i t u t i o n s of the f a m i l y , the k i n s h i p system (compadrazgo) and the Catho- l i c C h r u c h c o n t i n u e d to hold the a l l e g i a n c e of b a r r i o dwel- l e r s . C o n t i n u e d m i g r a t i o n d u r i n g the 1 9 2 0 s , both l e g a l and i l l e g a l , r e i n f o r c e d theme b as ic i n s t i t u t i o n s and s o c i a l - i n t e r - a c t i o n p a t t e r n s . Mexican males returned to t h e i r n a t i v e p u e b l o s to marry and brought t h e i r b r i d e s to A r g e n t i n e * I l l e g a l i m m i g r a n t s b lended in witii t à e i r c o m p a t r i o t s * T h e b a r r i o was a c u l t u r a l h a v e n , f o r it absorbed i l l e g a l s and s h e l t e r e d t h e immigrants from t h e c o m p l e x i t i e s of the A n g l o w o r l d . M e x i c a n s in the b a r r i o l i v e d i n a w o r l d a p a r t * T h e p e r v a s i v e n e a s of Mexican c u l t u r e i n A r g e n t i n e i s d r a m a t i c a l l y i l l u s t r a t e d by the lack of need f o r t h e E n g l i s h l a n g u a g e * M lien S a n t a Fe o f f i c i a l s i n t e r v i e w e d M e x i c a n s from t h e b a r r i o in 1 9 4 2 , they d i s c o v e r e d that two of t h e i r employes c o u l d not s p e a k , r e a d , w r i t e or u n d e r s t a n d E n g l i s h * One man , an u n s k i l l e d shop l a b o r e r , had l i v e d in A r g e n t i n e f o r t h i r t y - f o u r y e a r s . The o t h e r , a twenty-two y e a r v e t e r a n witii t h e 2 4 c o m p a n y , r e s i d e d in the b a r r i o f o r the l a s t f o u r t e e n y e a r s . H e n c e , w o r k e r s could spend the b a l k of t h e i r a d u l t w o r k i n g l i f e in A r g e n t i n e w ithout knowing even t b e r u d i m e n t s of E n g l i s h . F u r t h e r e v i d e n c e of t h i s l a c k of f a m i l i a r i t y w i t h E n g l i s h among the o lder aiembers of the Mexlcsa-Attertaft* community i s c o n t a i n e d in a report by c i t y p l a n n e r s , b a s e d on a s t u d y condmcted there in tJie l a t e 1 * 6 0 * , C i t y p l a n n e r s f o u n d t h a t t w o - t b i r d s of tbe M e x i c a n - A m e r i c a wbo w e r e s ixty- f i v e y e a r » of age and older spoke no E n g l i s h . Of the t o t a l p o p u l a t i o n , twenty-two percent of the Mexican-American res- p o n d e n t s spoke no E n g l i s h , w h i l e 1 9 . 4 percent spoke broken E n g l i s h . T h i s h igh percentage of Mexican-Americans who spoke l i t t l e or no E n g l i s h r e s u l t e d from c o n t i n u i n g immigra- t i o n of M e x i c a n s to the b a r r i o . 2 5 T h e C a t h o l i c Chtxrch remained a v i t a l f o r c e among the b a r r i o ' s r e s i d e n t s . Mexicans who s e t t l e d in A r g e n t i n e a f t e r 1 9 1 5 c o n t i n u e d to move w i t h i n the orbit of C a t h o l i c i s m . From 1 9 1 4 onward they had a c c e s s to a Mexican n a t i o n a l p a r i s h p a s t o r e d by n a t i v e S p a a i s h s p e a k e r s . The f i r s t o r g a n i z e d M e x i c a n p a r i s h ia the twin c i t i e s o r i g i n a t e d in 1 9 1 4 when two r e f u g e e p r i e s t s , l e v . Jose* Muloz and B e v . C i r l l o Cor- bato\ e s t a b l i s h e d a s t o r e f r o n t church in the h e a r t of the tfestside, K a n s a s C i t y , M i s s o u r i , b a r r i o . 2 6 I n O c t o b e r , 1 9 1 9 , t h i s p a r i s h became the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe when it s e c u r e d a permanent church b u i l d i n g . T h i s was the only M e x i c a n n a t i o n a l p a r i s h in the twin c i t i e s f o r near ly a d e c a d e . R e v . Muno* remained at the p a s t o r a t e u n t i l 1 9 2 7 when he r e s i g n e d to conduct m i s s i o n work among M e x i c a n s in K a n s a s , I l l i n o i s , P e n n s y l v a n i a and M i c h i g a n . He d i e d in 71 N e w t o n , K a n s a s , in 1 9 4 1 . 4 I t i n e r a n t p r i e s t s appeared in the t w i n c i t i e s f rom time to t i m e from 1 9 1 3 o n w a r d s . I » 1 9 1 5 a p r i e s t , F a t h e r G u t i e r r e z , l i v e d in an A r g e n t i n e rooming house and w o r k e d f o r the S a n t a F e . It is not known whether or not he con- d u c t e d an a c t i v e m i n i s t r y among the r a i l r o a d w o r k e r s t h e r e . C v e n h i g h o f f i c i a l s of the Mexican C a t h o l i c C h u r c h 171 v i s i t e d the city for special occasions . In r e c o g n i t i o n of the fact that many Mexicans in the Kansas City-Topeka area came from the state of Michoactfn, the Archbishop of that s t a t e p a i d a v i s i t to the area in 1 9 1 9 . 2 8 T h u s , Catholi- cism accompanied the immigrants to the c i t y . Not unt i l 1923 did the Catholic Church e s t a b l i s h a Mexican nat ional parish in Kansas C i t y , Kansas . T h i s par ish o r i g i n a t e d as Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission , housed in the basement of the Church of St . Thomas on Osage Street in the Armourdoie b a r r i o . Eighty-five Mexican f a m i l i e s from A r g e n t i n e and Armourdale joined to form this p a r i s h . The A u g u s t i n i a n Recollect Order took charge of t h i s par ish and d e d i c a t e d i t s e l f to the ministry among the Spanish-speaking people in Kansas C i t y , Kansas , from 1923 onward. The Fran- c i s c a n brotherhood had charge of that ministry in the West- s i d e . 2 9 In 1924 the Augustiniaa Order i n i t i a t e d a fund-raising d r i v e to erect a permanent Mexican church b u i l d i n g in Armour- d a l e . The completion of this church, Our Lady of Mt . Carmel , in 1 9 2 5 owed much to A r g e n t i n e ' s Mexican r a i l r o a d workers . When the Mexican parish fund-raising society , the " S o c i e d a d B e n e f i c e del Nuevo Templo , " f a i l e d to raise s u f f i c i e n t funds for the new b u i l d i n g , the priest establ ished an Anglo women's s o c i e t y , the Guadalupe G u i l d , to assist in the e f f o r t . Iron- i c a l l y , the husband of a prominent Guild o f f i c e r was none other than the Argentine Roadmaster, M. Ganley . Ganley s u p e r v i s e d the track forces in the Kansas C i t y D i v i s i o n ( A r g e n t i n e and Kansas C i t y ) . In this c a p a c i t y , G a n l e y , a 172 devout C a t h o l i c , forced a l l Mexican parish members employed by the S a n t a Fe to donate one d o l l a r out of each paycheck to the b u i l d i n g f u n d . T h i s amounted to two d o l l a r s m o n t h l y , per w o r k e r . A C a t h o l i c h i s t o r i a n later deplored t h i s high- handed t e c h n i q u e , but j u s t i f i e d it because , he r a t i o n a l i z e d , M e x i c a n s would only spend it f o o l i s h l y a n y w a y . 3 0 M t . Carmel served as the p r i n c i p a l p a r i s h f o r Mex icans l i v i n g in A r g e n t i n e u n t i l 1937 when the B ishop of Leavenworth d e s i g n a t e d A r g e n t i n e at the s i t e of the second Mexican n a t i o n a l p a r i s h in Kansas C i t y , Kansas* P r i o r to 1 9 3 7 some M e x i c a n s a l s o attended Our Lady of Guadalupe or the Sacred Heart C h u r c h in Rosedale* The Argent ine p a r i s h c h u r c h , d e d i c a t e d as St* John the D i v i n e , helped u n i f y the b a r r i o s t i l l f u r t h e r , for it was now a c u l t u r a l and r e l i g i o u s cen- t e r * T h i s church s t i l l e x i s t s , although Mt* Carmel was d e s t r o y e d in the f lood of 1951* Many Mt . Carmel p a r i s h mem- ' 31 bera a d h e r e d to S t . John the D i v i n e a f t e r the f l o o d . M e x i c a n s in A r g e n t i n e remained , f o r the most p a r t , out- w a r d l y l o y a l to the C a t h o l i c C h u r c h . I n d e e d , A r g e n t i n e become known as one of the most r e l i g i o u s l y c o n s e r v a t i v e p a r i s h e s in the twin c i t i e s . The creat ion of a n a t i o n a l p a r i s h in A r g e n t i n e , moreover , strengthened the b a r r i o , f o r it was no l o n g e r necessary f o r Mexicans to l e a v e the b a r r i o to w o r s h i p . S i n c e they were not welcome in the local A n g l o C a t h o l i c C h u r c h , Mexicans j o i n e d p a r i s h e s i n Armourdale and the M e s t s i d e p r i o r to the c r e s t i o n of the M e x i c a n n a t i o n a l p a r i s h in A r g e n t i n a . T h i s e n f o r c e d s e g r e g a t i o n of M e x i c a n s i n t o s e p a r a t e p a r i s h e s promoted the cont inued use of S p a n i s h 173 among the p a r i s h o n e r s , for Spanish-born A u g u s t i n i a n F a t h e r s s t a f f e d the new church , as well as the p a r i s h e s in the 32 W c s t s i d e and Armourdale . A l t h o u g h some Mexican f a m i l i e s in Argent ine j o i n e d local P r o t e s t a n t churchcs , the majority of the immigrants r e m a i n e d at least nominally C a t h o l i c . M e t h o d i s t s , in p a r t i - c u l a r , a t t e m p t e d to win A r g e n t i n e ' s Mexicans away from the C a t h o l i c C h u r c h by o f f e r i n g social s e r v i c e s , r e l i g i o u s t r a i n i n g and A m e r i c a n i z a t i o n c lasses at a miss ion in Horth 3 3 A r g e n t i n e . The mission met with a notable lack of suc- c e s s in c o n v e r t i n g adults to the Protestant camp, f o r mo-st M e x i c a n s looked to the C a t h o l i c Church to s a n c t i f y major e v e n t s in t h e i r l i v e s : baptisms , marriages and d e a t h s . For n e a r l y two d e c a d e s , however , Methodists proved much more e n e r g e t i c in p r o v i d i n g s o c i a l , recreat ional and e d u c a t i o n a l programs in the b a r r i o . Just as C a t h o l i c i s m remained a strong f o r c e in the bar- r i o , so d i d r eg ional i d e n t i t i e s and a l l e g i a n c e s . Immigrants from c e r t a i n Mexican pueblos d e l i b e r a t e l y s e t t l e d in b a r r i o s w h i c h c o n t a i n e d members from the ir old home towns and shunned those w h i c h d i d not . Moreover, the immigrants attempted to l i v e in c l o s e proximity with others from t h e i r nat ive t o w n s . For e x a m p l e , immigrants from the pueblo of T a n g a n c f c u a r o , Michoaca 'n , e v e n t u a l l y become concentrated a long T w e n t y - f i f t h S t r e e t In the heart of the b a r r i o . T h i s process of concen- t r a t i o n b e g a n In the 1 9 2 0 s . I n i t i a l l y , the " T a n g a s , " as they a r e known in the b a r r i o , took up whatever housing was a v a i l a b l e . Ia 1 9 2 5 they l ived pr imari ly on South Twenty- fourth and South Twenty-fifth Streets , although some l ived north of the t r a c k s . No "Tangas" lived in the yard camp. These immigrants moved in with other "Tanga" f a m i l i e s until other hous ing became a v a i l a b l e , A U T angas " who did not live on Twenty-fifth Street in 1925 moved at least once and sometimes twice between 1925 and 1 9 4 0 in their attempt to secure housing in the heart of the b a r r i o * T h i s area contains small bungalows and cot- tages and the houses are neat in appearance. Many have well- kept lawns and flower beds and are fenced* The photographs in F i g u r e 1 show a typical tree-1 ined street and neat bun- g a l o w s . Hoi a i l " Tangas " succeeded in their quest to move into t h i s a r e a . I n t e r e s t i n g l y , none of the "Tanga " house- holders who l ived on Twenty-fifth Street in 1925 changed res i- dence between 1925 and 1940* Th is was atypical of the barr io p o p u l a t i o n , for there was great geographical mobility H i t h i n the b a r r i o , as well as through the b a r r i o . F l u x , rather than s t a b i l i t y , characterized the Mexi- can p o p u l a t i o n in the Argentine barr io . Many inhabitants of the r a i l r o a d camp, for instance , moved into housing in North A r g e n t i n e In the late 1920s , although others relocated in s e c t i o n housing underneath the Forty-second Street bridge or at the Rai lway Ice Company tenements. Other renters f r e q u e n t l y changed location within the b a r r i o , moving north and south a c r o s s the tracks which d ivided the b a r r i o . It was not unheard of for a family to change res idence two or three times between 1925 and 1 9 4 0 . Often f a m i l i e s moved only a few houses away, perhaps to adjust their housing needs 17 C n j r , P H . f 9 r . p b . of »*» rtrg.Btinc Ucrr io . t , U c „ iii 1974 . 176 to t h e i r e x p a n d i n g family s i z e . 3 5 An e x a m i n a t i o n of r e s i d e n t i a l p a t t e r n s of f o r t y Mexi- can male householders who remained in the community from 1 9 2 5 u n t i l 1 9^0 reveals that more of them moved at l e a s t once t h a n remained in the same house between 1 9 2 5 and 1 9 4 0 . T w e l v e f a m i l i e s did not move r e s i d e n c e , but twenty-four moved at l e a s t o n c e , and three moved at least t w i c e . H e n c e , n e a r l y one-third of the b a r r i o ' s most s t a b l e p o p u l a t i o n kept t h e same r e s i d e n c e . Male householders in the r a i l r o a d camp in 1 9 2 5 who remained in the b a r r i o i n 1 9 4 0 u s u a l l y d i d not move about a fter their i n i t i a l r e l o c a t i o n o u t s i d e the camp . E l e v e n remained in the same house a f t e r l e a v i n g the camp . Only three men moved a second time p r i o r to 1 9 4 0 . 3 6 T h i s e v i d e n c e should be cons idered in l i g h t of Howard P . C h u d o c o f f ' s f i n d i n g s on ethnic r e s i d e n t i a l d i s p e r s i o n i n Otaaho in the 1800-1920 p e r i o d . C h u d a c o f f , s e e k i n g to f i n d e v i d e n c e to support the view that homogeneous s t a t i c e t h n i c « jhetios d i d not e x i s t in Omaha, traced p o p u l a t i o n samples l o n g i t u d i n a l l y through c i t y d i r e c t o r i e s over seven i n t e r v a l s f o r the p e r i o d 1080 to 1 9 0 0 . He found that only about t e n p e r c e n t of the sample p o p u l a t i o n stayed at the same a d d r e s s f o r as long as ten y e a r s . Chudacof f suggests that l a t e r a l m o b i l i t y may have increased socio-economic m o b i l i t y , i . e . , that the a b i l i t y to change r e s i d e n t i a l l o c a t i o n i s I n i t s e l f - g o o d . - 3 7 T e n t a t i v e f i n d i n g s from the A r g e n t i n e b a r r i o s u g g e s t that C h u d a c o f f s a n a l y s i s is f a u l t y on s e v e r a l c o u n t s . 177 C l e a r l y , a l l geographic mobil ity cannot be lumped into a " d e s i r a b l e " c a t e g o r y . E v i c t i o n s , loss of j o b , i l l n e s s and o t h e r c o n d i t i o n s which necess i tated r e s i d e n t i a l moves d id not n e c e s s a r i l y promote upward social m o b i l i t y . R e l o c a t i o n undtr such c ircumstances was a great d r a i n upon already- s t r a i n e d f i n a n c e s . A l s o , if another v a r i a b l e , such as home- o w n e r s h i p is i n c l u d e d , there appears to be no p o s i t i v e c o r r e l a t i o n between geographical mobi l i ty per se and s o c i a l n o b i l i t y . I n d e e d , homeowners in the A r g e n t i n e b a r r i o t e n d e d to move l e s s than did the group as a w h o l e . Nine of the twenty-two Mexican s a l e s who became homeowners between 1 9 2 5 and 1 9 4 0 remained in the same house in 1 9 4 0 , w h i l e s e v e n of the group moved once and two moved more than o n c e . F o u r homeowners were no longer l i s t e d in the c i t y d i r e c t o r y 3 8 by 1 9 4 0 . I f homeownership and p e r s i s t e n c e through the d e p r e s s i o n of the 1930s can be used to d e f i n e " s u c c e s s , " then p e r m a n e n c e , rather than frequent moves , proved more b e n e f ic i a l . A t h i r d f a c t o r to consider when comparing C h u d a c o f f ' s f i n d i n g s w i t h other c i t i e s is r a c i a l d i s c r i m i n a t i o n and r e s i d e n t i a l s e g r e g a t i o n . Chudacoff admitted that ghetto e n t r a p m e n t and c o n s e q u e n t l y , lack of l a t e r a l m o b i l i t y , c h a r a c t e r i s e d B l a c k s in Omaha. Perhaps M e x i c a n s , t o o , were an e x c e p t i o n s i n c e they also e x p e r i e n c e d h o u s i n g d i s c r i m i - n a t i o n and e n f o r c e d r e s i d e n t i a l s e g r e g a t i o a as B l a c k s d i d in Omaha and e l s o w h e r e . A major t h e o r e t i c a l problem in the study of the Mexi- c o n - A o e r l e a n group is to determine to what extent b a r r i o s 178 e x i s t b e c a u s e the group preferred to settle in the company of other M e x i c a n s . A geographical study of Mexican-Americans in T e x a s d e s c r i b e s the tendency for the group to c l u s t e r out of p r e f e r e n c e . 3 9 Such c l u s t e r i n g occurred in A r g e n t i n e , e s p e c i a l l y among the " T a n g a s . " During the 1 9 4 0 s and 1 9 5 0 s , as "wetbacks** and braceros poured into the community, the c o n c e n t r a t i o n of " T a a g a s " c o n t i n u e d . They s e t t l e d p r i m a r i l y a l o n g South T w e n t y - f i f t h S t r e e t . The r e t i r e d p a r i s h p r i e s t , F a t h e r G a b r i e l P e r e s , states that " T a n g a s " c o n s t i t u t e about t h i r t y - f i v e p e r c e n t of all Mexican f a m i l i e s in the p a r i s h at the p r e s e n t t i m e . 4 0 The Argentine exper ience shows that the "Tangas** succeeded to a remarkable degree in r e p l i c a t i n g t h e i r n a t i v e p u e b l o . Housing se lect ion was not random. The **TangasM d e l i b e r a t e l y located adjacent to or w i t h i n a b l o c k or two of c lose f r i e n d s and family members. I r o n i c a l l y , tho creation of t h i s strong ethn ic e n c l a v e r e s u l t e d from tho pattern of r e s i d e n t i a l segregat ion by custom which e x i s t e d in Argentine u n t i l 1 9 5 1 . The d e v a s t a t i n g flood w h i c h demolished North Argentine in that year helped e r a d i c a t e t r a d i t i o n a l housing b a r r i e r s . More r e c e n t l y , urban renewal p r o j e c t s further d i s p e r s e d the p o p u l a t i o n , and M e x i c a n - A m e r i c a n s began to relocate outside of the b a r r i o p r o p e r . 4 1 P r i o r to 1 9 4 0 , however , Mexicans and t h e i r o f f- s p r i n g l i v e d apart from the Anglo community in a neighbor- hood s p r i n k l e d with "poor whites* and B l a c k s . Even w i t h i n t h i s a r e a poor whites attempted to halt Mexican r e s i d e n t i a l e x p a n s i o n northward in North A r g e n t i n e . They f a i l e d in t h i s a t t e m p t , but elsewhere, the boundaries of the b a r r i o remained 179 f i r » . 4 2 In the pro-19-10 period Mexicans and t h e i r U n i t e d S t a t e s - b o r n c h i i d r e n never completely dominated the b a r r i o , nor d i d they completely occupy any one block to the exclu- s i o n of non-Mexicans . The Spanish-speaking group comprised b e t w e e n f i f t y to seventy-five percent of the t o t a l popula- t i o n of the area throughout the 1920s and 1 9 3 0 s . I n d e e d , the b a r r i o became more homogeneously Mexican over the y e a r s . 4 3 In 1 936 Mexican housing units outnumbered non- M e x i c a n u n i t s by only a sl ight margin on South T w e n t y - f i f t h S t r e e t , north and south of the t r a c k s . Mexicans occupied 5 1 . 3 p e r c e n t of a i l houses a v a i l a b l e for o c c u p a n c y . 4 4 P r e s u m a b l y , the Mexican population ranged over f i f t y - f i v e p e r c e n t of the t o t a l , since Mexican f a m i l i e s were l a r g e r 4 5 than A n g l o f a m i l i e s in Kansas C ity during the p e r i o d . The p a t t e r n over the deoades from 1 9 2 0 to 1 9 5 0 was for the Mexican population in Argentine to become more s e p a r a t e d from the rest of the community and more con- c e n t r a t e d in the b a r r i o , between Twenty-fi fth and Twenty- s e v e n t h S t r e e t s . In 1 9 2 5 , as Map 6 shows, Mexicans l i v e d p r i m a r i l y in the area a d j o i n i n g the r a i l r o a d y a r d s , a l though 4 * one l i v e d o u t s i d e the barr io proper . The small c l u s t e r of h o u s e s on T h i r t y - n i n t h and F o r t i e t h S t r e e t s c o n t a i n e d l a b o r e r s employed by the Pennsylvania Car Company, a company w h i c h c o n s t r u c t e d r a i l r o a d tank c a r s . The area southeast of the b a r r i o proper where some Mexican f a m i l i e s l i v e d c o n t a i n e d l a r g e numbers of Negroes , as d id North A r g e n t i n e . M e x i c a n s " i c m n • .m 11 » ' ""» « * 1 1 1 * t r . *»* / f-i r "I CUD r " n p , Q • / / JJ. I u (*1 lt&t]ini'i| ' (• i j f | | | / • • -j iprq ' t A.. • • ' r^ i^ tzD'gzd nzA I CI £3 D D o n r a B B a ° Iso HnnnDDt 'rpreJTr.^ r J Map 6 . D i s t r i b u t i o n of Mexican Housing in the Argentine B a r r i o , 1 9 2 5 , (Each dot represents a Mexican D w e l l i n g U n i t . ) o o 2 15 lived in area» adjoining industrial sites and in racially- rcixrd arcai. North Argentine grew rapidly in the late 1920s, a period in Khich the Argentine community experienced a housing boon. By 1936, as Map 7 shows, the shape of the barrio had changed somewhat. North Argentine's Mexican population increased as Mexican families purchased lots and built houses in the area. Almost all of the inhabitants of the boxcar camp who remained in the community in 1940 lived in North Argentine, as did many other Mexican Santa Fe employes. Mexican housing, particularly in North Argentine, resembled that described by Professor Paul S. Taylor in the Imperial Valley in 1927. Mexican lots in North Argen- tine often contained more than one dwelling per 25 x 120 foot lot. Mexican lot owners often erected temporary buildings in which to live while they built their houses. Later, they rented out these rear dwellings to other Mexicans. Or rationally, married children moved into these units. In 1936 the Argentine barrio contained at least seven rear houses occupied by Mexicans. The actual number of lots containing at least one rear unit was around thirty, accord- ing to representations on the 1931 Sanborn Insurance Map of the area. The Mexican population declined somewhat in the 1930s, leaving many of these rear shacks and huts vacant. Moreover, there were also some vacant houses in 1936 along Twenty-fifth Street* 4 6 Home ownership among the Mexican population in the i • e n • c p • o J • S n o n l a s W n _ , faffcj a Q D B D • C D CpCC? OÉinii'ii' ii • » " ' i | t.. .n i i Map 7 . Distribution of .Mexican Housing in the Argentine Barrio, 1936 (Each dot represents a Mexican Dwelling Unit.) 2 15 barrio grew rapidly after 1925. In that year Mexicans owned only fifteen of the 106 housing units occupied by Mexican», or fourteen percent of the total. The 106 units included sixty-eight units in the main barrio and thirty- eioht in the yard camp. Mexicans, then, owned twenty-two Jicrront of the non-Santa Fe Mexican housing units. Houses owned by Mexicans lay on both sides of the railroad tracks which bisected the barrio, along Twenty-fiftk , Twenty-sixth, Silver and Metropolitan Streets, and in West Argentine, near the tank car company. 4 7 By 1936, however, the number of hooes owned by Mexicaas in the barrio had tripled. The i mm i gr ant s owned fifty of the ninety-four houses occupied by Mexicans, or fifty-three percent of the total. Not included in this tabulation were Santa Fe housing units underneath the Forty-seeond Street Bridge and at the Railway Ice Company. These properties housed Santa Fe laborers and their families. 4 8 The barrio achieved its fullest expansion in the late 1920s and then bfgan to contract. It gained additional population during Korld Mar Two, but suffered a setback when the flood of 1951 demolished much of the barrio. Flood damage was severe because the barrio occupied a low-lying bottoms area, below the bluffs thrown up by the winding Kaw River. Mexicans never rebuilt the North Argentine portion of the barrio. In 1969 only two Mexican families lived in i he area which oace contained between forty and sixty fami- l i e s . 4 9 Economic setbacks and flood damage stunted the bar- rio's urowth. As late as 1969 Mexicans still owned only fifty 2 15 of * total of ninety housing units occupied by the group, and population declined to 443. 5 0 The decline of the barrio after 1936 resulted from natural attrition, economic cycles, flood damage and out- migration of Mexican-Amcricans. Some Mexican-American families diiplaced by the flood resettled in the Westside barrio, but it, too, declined in the 1950s and 1960s as u r b a n renewal projects and highway construction destroyed the neighborhood. Moreover, in recent years the housing narket in the Kansas City area opened somewhat to Mexican- Anerleans and caused the further dispersion of Mexican- Aarricans into other areas of the twin cities. 5 1 Prior to 1940, however, residential segregation of Mexicans by custom characterized the twin cities. Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans had little choice in the housing market. Consequently, they remained in tight clus- ters near friends and family members in industrial areas. This enforced clustering, often mistaken by Anglo observers as ftrre " c 1 a n n i s h n e s s i n some ways proved beneficial to the viexicait immigrant community* This close settlement pattern encouraged the retention of traditional Mexican values, customs, and institutions, especially the extended family. Although the extended family as a social institution was widespread in Mexico, few immi- grants successfully transferred the institution with them, intact, to Argentine. The 1915 census revealed the exis- tence of few extended families. Only three multi-family households existed, and of these, only two were extended 2 15 f«mlllci, having representatives of more than two con- secutive generations present in the same household. Census data did not indicate that other extended families lived in the barrio, occupying adjacent housing or other dwelling units. Two nuclear families shared a third dwelling. Only two other households reported relatives present. 5 2 The paucity of relatives present in 1915 reflected the highly transient nature of the barrio. Seventy-eight percent of the barrio's population were males. Men between the prime working ages of eighteen and forty constituted 08.1 percent ©f the male population, and eighty-nine percent of ail males eighteen years of age and over lived in boarding h o u s e s . A l t h o u g h children under eighteen constituted 15.3 percent of the barrio's population, only three of the forty-three children were born in Kansas or any other state in the United States* These demographic patterns suggest . that the twenty-nine families were relative newcomers to the United Slates aad had not had time to sink down roots. The number of extended families living under one roof grew only slightly during the next decade, although the number of houses with relatives present increased consider- ably. By 1925 aine extended families lived in Argentine. A few other extended families occupied adjacent buildings such as rear houses, la preference to crowding together in one house. Mexican families i» the Imperial Valley in the 1920s also exhibited this clustering patter». Paul S. Taylor noted that families often occupied separate housing units on 2 15 the same or adjoining lots. In Argentine an assortment of twelve adult relative», including mothers, fathers, sisters, brother», cousins, et_c., lived in the extended family units. In addition, eighteen other adults lived with relatives in single family housing units in the barrio. 5 4 Ily 1925 the Mexican family system was alive and flour- ishing in the barrio. Nineteen housing units contained at least one dependent adult, other than an immediate family member. These constituted eighteen percent of all housing u n i t s . 5 5 The presence of dependent adults among the barrio's population confirms the existence of a strong extended family system. It also suggests that Mexicans in Argentine suc- cessfully preserved their traditional social and cultural values. The cohesive, largely self-contained barrio of Argentine functioned as a cultural haven for newly-arrived immigrant S. Over the years from 1925 to the present, the strong family orientation of the barrio continued. Immigrants moved in with relatives until they could find work and become familiar with United States culture. As parents became aged and widowed, children incorporated the elderly Into their households, or vice versa. In this fashion, houses were passed dowa through the family from generation to general ion. Researchers who conducted a community study in the Argentine barrio in the late 1960s remarked upon the phenomenon of consecutive generational occupation of housing units and pointed to this as evidence of the continued strength of the extended family system. Further evidence 2 15 of the continued viability 0f the family system in the barrio is srrn in the high percentage of dependent adults living there i n I'M,9. Over fourteen percent of all Mexican-American faillie» in the barrio contained at least one dependent a d u l t . as compared to -i.9 percent of Anglo-American families el jl In Ar g e nii ne . w Argentine n u , in the fullest sense, an "urban vil- lage," an ethnic enclave where Mexican traditional values and institutions held sway over a period of generations» Immigrants and the children of immigrants lived as a community a p a r t , sheltered from the complexities of Anglo-American society. Their social interaction with the larger Anglo society remained minimal* Mexican immigrants did not abandon cultural values and familial interaction patterns when they migrated. Many n r v r r intended to remain in the United States permanently and a s » timed they would one day return to Mexico. This con- cept or "the return** exerted a strong influence in the b a r r i o . tven today, many of the barrio's long-term resi- dent s talk of returning to Mexico. But one immigrant who arrived shortly after the end of World War One pointed out 1» 57 r e c e n t l y . "They don't want to go back with empty hands." Immigration did not involve great commitment for the immi- g r a n t s . and consequently they remained ambivalent in their attitude towards their new environment. Th-ir relative isolation within the barrio buffered the immigrants from contacts with Anglo culture. Even a 2 15 r a i 1 rood camp i„ l h e middle of an urban area functioned as a wonb for the migrants. At barrios developed into real communities, I hey became sub-systems which enabled the immi- grant to function more or less as a Mexican would in a small Mexican town. Continued migration to the barrio reinforced the Mexican identity and retention of the Spanish language. Argentine remained a Mexican cultural island, although contacts with Anglo-American society, mediated through institutions which reached into the barrio, led to some acculturation, or cultural assimilation. 5 8 One cri- terion often used to measure the degree of integration of an immigrant group into the recipient society is acquisition of citizenship, or naturalisation. Few Mexicans in the twin citiea filed for citiseaship prior to 1940, and those who did from the Argentine barrio can be counted on the fingers of one hand* Ironically, evea though concerned public officials genuinely wished to "Americonize" the immigrants, socio- economic conditions under which Mexicans lived did not encourage naturalisation. The traditional pattern of iso- lation that characterised Mexican-Anglo relations in Argen- tine. in fact, retarded naturalization among the Mexican people. Outspoken Mexican critics of naturalization in the twin cities argued that the status of Mexicans did not change * he n they became citizens. Mexicans continued to experience discrimination la housing, education, jobs and in their social life. Mexicans who sought citizenship found themselves objects of ridicule and harassment. Mexican consuls, too. 2 15 a 11 cap led to thwart naturalization attempts because they frit continued Mexican citizenship afforded better protec- t i o n to the immigrant than naturalization. 5 9 He cause Mexicans felt naturalization would not change their chances of success in the job and housing markets, and in the political and civic arena, few became citizens prior to Morld Mar II, A federal court official in Kansas C i t y , Kansas « complained is 1919 that naturalizati on of Mexi- cans "virtually ia an unheard of proceeding." He estimated that only two Mexicans per year applied for their first papers in the c i t y . 6 0 Not until 1930 did the naturalization rate increase somewhat among Mexicans in Kansas City, Kansas. S i n c e only citizens qualified for federal- relief, Mexicans sometimes sought citizenship to secure federal aid during the d e p r e s s i o n . The rate of naturalization quickened during Morld Mar Two as Mexicans sought to show their loyalty. A l s o , soop undoubtedly became citizens in hopes of securing jobs In the defense industry. T a b l e 14 shows the naturalization dates for Mexicans who filed with the Clerk of the District Court in Kansas C i t y , K a n s a s , from 1859 to 1947. No Mexicans became citi- zens through the federal court prior to 1923. A veteran of Morld Mar One b e c a m e a citizen in that year, and nearly a decade lapsed until a second proceeding occurred. As the unemployment rate soared in the late 1930s, fourteen Mexi- c nas obtained their citizenship papers. Eighty-nine percent of all Mexicans who bccame citizens between 1923 and 1947 2 15 d i d so d u r i n g the 1940s. TABLE 14 \ATl*RAL!ZAT ION OP M E X I C A N S IN K A N S A S C I T Y K A X S A b , F R O M 1859 TO 1947 Veor 1923 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1912 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 Total Per Year Total 1 0 0 3 5 0 1 5 15 12 21 12 23 15 10 9 132 Source: Naturalization Index, 1850-, Clerk of the* District Court, Kansas City, Kansas, Wyandotte County. T o r r e s in Kansas City, Kansas, promoting naturalization of M e x i c a n s and other immigrants first concentrated their energies on the Armourdale district, the major immigrant settlement area in" the city. Chamber of Commerce statistics collected in 1918 showed that twenty-two Mexicans, or 6.5 percent of the district's Mexican population of 342, were c it liens. Only Creeks and Russians exhibited naturalization 62 » rates lower than Mexicans. Yet, Armourdale s rate of naturalisation of Mexicans in 1918 compared very favorably 2 15 K M h «hc natural izat ion rate of Mexican immigrants in the lînu.d S t o i c , at a whole who became eligible for citizenship t,ct*rc 1959 and 1966. In that period, only 2.4 to 5.0 per- cent of all Mexican immigrants who qualified became citi- * o n a , at compared to twenty-six to thirty-five percent of 63 all noa-VexI can immigrants. Armoordale * s relatively high incidence of Mexican nat nral Ixal Ion probably was not typical of the rate in other barrios In the twin cities* Apparently, only a dozen Mexi- cans In Kansas City, Missouri, had become 0 . S. citizens by 1919. In Armourdale the public schools boasted a flour- ishing M A m e r icanlzat Ion** program. This program, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and the University of Kansas, sought to prepare Mexicans, Jews, Croatians and Poles in the city's largest packing houses for citizenship.^ 4 No doubt this night school for immigrants had some impact on the Mexican naturalization rate. Mot until 1921, however, did Americanization classes begin among the Mexican population in Argentine. In that year the Methodist Mexican Mission began its work in the b a r r i o . A constant feature of this mission throughout its existence mas ita Americanization program. The tangible results of that program were negligible during the 1920s and 1930s. The 1923 census listed only one young Mexican couple as natural lied citizens. Only two other Mexicans from the barrio became citizens prior to 1940, in 1936 and 1939, r e s p e c t i v e l y . T w e l v e Santa Fe Mexican employes received 2 15 their naturalisation papers in the 1940-47 p e r i o d . 6 5 The reluctance of Mexicans in the Argentine barrio to be c o»e V. S, citizens sprang both from their own ambivalent attitudes and from the treatment they received in the United S t a t e s . Segregation was the rule in Argentine, as well as In other barrios in the twin cities. In particular, Mexicans resented raclai discriminât lost of various kinds which occurred la the twin cities* Mexicans found themselves excluded from r e s t a u r a n t s , theatres, churches and swimming pools throughout the city. They particularly reseated being assigned to Negro wards or aaaaxea of hospitals in the twin cities. For a time Hex leant in Kansas City, Missouri, were buried in Negro ceme- t e r i e s . A mayoral proclamation in 1916 procured by the Mexi- can consul ended assignment of Mexicans to Negro hospital 66 wards and cemeteries in Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City, Kansas, issued no such proclamations. As late as the 1930s dark-complexioned Mexicans from the Argen- tine barrio mere assigaed to Negro wards at Bell Memorial Hospital (the University of Kansas Medical Center), although cemeteries did aot require segregated burial practices. Dis- crimination against Mexicans on the Kansas side continued after 1940. A number of restaurants and cafes barred Mexi-67 cans and movie houses segregated them until 1951. Most Argentine businessmen welcomed Mexican business, and con- sequently, few Mexican basinesses appeared in the barrio. During the 1920s and 1930s Mexican businesses consisted of barber shops, local neighborhood grocery stores, and an ice 2 15 a n d c o a l s u p p l y b u s i n e s s y f t e . * A , , ri j w u i i n c n , siost of these appeared after 1^2:». , h c 0 0 1 1 f »»0rant example of racial discrimination Hhich occurred in Argentine was the establishment of a segregated Mexican elementary school. From 1907 until 1924 Mexican children attended the local Anglo school, Emerson, west of the barrio or enrolled in parochial schools. With the increase of Mexican population In the barrio in the early 1920s, local school and civic officials sought tp pre- vent the entry of additional Mexican children in the public school systea. The Mexican elementary school in Argentine, named Clara Barton, began operation in 1924 with an enrollment of 150. The school owed Its origin to the efforts of civic and f . T . A . groups in Argentine and Armourdale who favored segre- gated schools for Mexicans. The Spanish Club of the Argen- lior district, composed of Anglo patrons of the Clara Barton school, raised funds for the new building. The one-room stucco building, located in North Argentine at 2500 Cheyenne A v e n u e , contained grades one through eight. A staff of three oversaw the school's operation. As the Mexican-American population grew in the late 1920s and early 1930s, two addi- tional rooms were added. A photograph of Clara Barton s c h o o l appears on the next page. Note the "Spanish" style not 1 f . Mexican grade school children attended the Clara I'arton school uatil 1951 when flood waters demolished the building. The flood effectively ended segregation of Mexi- V0 •à, Figure 2. The Clara Barton Ucxican Grade School, c. 1930. 2 15 con c1 roe ni«ry children in Argentine, 6 9 Segregation of Mexican children throughout Kansas City, Kansas, became the rule in 1924. Mexican children attended school in basement rooms, special annexes and at separate schools. In Rosedaie Mexican children were not permitted to attend the newly-eonstructed Major Hudson School, but were assigned, instead, to the former school building, desig- nated the Major Hudson Annex. In this case, the school board bowed to Anglo protests in refusing to sanction continued Mexican attendance la the Rosedaie school system. 7 0 Else- where la Kansas City, Kansas, Mexican children attended school in segregated rooms in both public and parochial schools. Ihe creation of segregated facilities for Mexican children also occurred throughout the state, notably at O t t a w a , Chanute and Michita, in the same period. Kansas City, Missouri, however, did not segregate its Mexican grade s c h o o l p u p i l s . 7 1 Thus, school board officials, civic groups and P.T.A. organisai Ions implemented a tri-racial school system in Kansas C i t y , Kaasas: white, black and Mexican. Blacks 72 attended segregated elementary and high schools after 1905. the " separate but equal" doctrine which supported school segregation did not produce equal facilities and personnel for Mexican students. The Mexican grade schools were clearly Inferior to ail other schools in the city. When city health department Inspectors conducted a survey of the city's schools in 1939 they found that both Clara Barton and Major 2 15 Mu cl » on School Annex had substandard toilet facilities. The r r p o n stated that the schools had «toilet facilities of the l>oor c »t and worst type." These consisted of poorly con- ftirurtcd out-door privies which were infested with flies. \»t until 1919 did the city install sanitary facilities com- parable to those at the city's other schools. 7 3 Although conditions at the school were bad, Mexican children from the Argentine barrio were not permitted to attend school elsewhere, as the school superintendent explained to a Mexican Methodist minister in 1938: Mexicans have no business moving or living away iron the Mexican school, life would rather pay their t r anspor t at loa to the Mexican school than let them attend any other school in the city. 7 4 Thus., the school administration strongly supported discrimina t ion towards Mexicans. Prejudice and discrimination against tlexirans permeated the school system and discouraged school at tendance and achievement of Mexican and Mexican-American children, few Mexicans attended high school prior to 1940, d e s p i t e efforts in the late 1920s by Mexican leaders in the 75 barrio to open Argentine High School to Mexican youths. Although at least one Mexican youth gained entry to Argen- t i n e High School as a result of that campaign, few Mexican children stayed la school beyond the eighth grade. In 1939 the number of Mexican children attending school in Kansas City. Kansas, totalled 604. Roughly one-fifth of these children attended parochial schools. Only three children i.ere in grades aiae through twelve and all three attended parochial school. Mo Mexicans were enrolled in junior 2 15 roi 1 rgp , The 1 ong-r ange impact of school segregation in the barrio 1» difficult to assess* Clara Barton produced at lratt m o students «ho later obtained college degrees. Both students graduated la 1925-26, however, and thereby spent no «ore than two years at the school. Previously, they attended a non-segregated Anglo school in Argentine. 7 7 Since school records boast of oo other upwardly-bound scholars, it caa be assumed that segregation did not facilitate edu- cat lonal achievement. The depression in the 1930s also made such advancement mora difficult* Mexicans in Argeatiae were not totally successful in their efforts to end discriminatory practices against Span- ish-speaklng people la the twin cities. Perhaps, if the economy had remalaed sound, the Mexican population might have continued to make progress in this area. The economic depress lorn of the 1930s, however, took its toll in the bar- rio. Severe economic hardship sapped the strength of the immigrant a. A r g e n t i n e ' s Mexican immigrants were not unaccustomed to hard times, for they had endured the recessions of 1919 and 1921. The 1919 recession primarily affected packing house 78 laborers, b«t the 1921 crisis left few barrios untouched. By February, 1921, Li tSSJOA <$an Antonio) carried a report that 1.500 Mexicans mere starving in Kansas City. Lay-offs in the packing, railroad and constructiom imdmstries thrust the laborers late desperate conditions. Particularly hard- hit was the Vest side barrio, which had a «ore transient 2 15 Mexican population than other barrios. A soup kitchen opened to fe.d the unemployed laborers who sought shelter under huts. bridge» and viaducts. Wore affluent members of the barrio held baiaars, raffles and benefits to raise funds for their indigent compatriots. 7 ** U Kansas City, Kansas, Mexicans crowded into the office of the United Charities, the city's official charity agency, rapidly depleting Its funds. In late March, 1921, La Prensa reported that 900 Mexican families in Argentine needed.help, but most probably 9 900 Mexican immigrants, including family units, lived la the barrio. Opon several occasions Mexican railroad laborers la the Argentine barrio divided their salaries among their unemployed friends. Yet, these efforts p r o v e d insufficient, and local governments found themselves hard-pressed to deal with the crisis. To compound the situai t ion, the Railroad Labor Board slashed wages of railroad track and sect ionmen by eight and a half percent on June 1, 1921, thereby further constricting the flow of money into the h k f f l f t 00 t»art to. The Mexican government intervened to alleviate the we ! f are problem by organizing repatriation trains from major C . S. cities to Mexico. The first train which left Kansas C i t y . Missouri, oa June 1, 1921, carried over 800 repatriates. H o ot her trains followed, containing Mexicans from the Kansas City and topeka barrios. The Mexican government and the Kan- sas C i t y , Missouri, Chamber of Commerce shared the cost of the rep.tr iatioa tralaa. Each paid $15,000 for the first t r a i a . 0 1 By October, 1921, the Mexican government claimed 2 15 It had repat rI at cd 50.000 of it, nationals from the United S t a i r s . The official repatriation program existed from early Hay to October under the direction of the Special Or par i ment of Repatriation (Departamento E s p ^ ^ h» p ^ - tr U r i o ' n ) , 0 2 At least m o hundred of the repatriates were from A r g e n t i n e , Armourdale, Rosedaie and Turner, a small Santa Fe town jmst west of Argentine. The Methodist Mexican Mis- s i o n . established la March 9 1921, at 1044 S. 26th Street la Hot i h Argentine, processed all the repatriates from the a r e a . An old-timer from the barrio maintains, though, that ail the repatriates from the Argentine barrio soon returned. 0 3 Founded to Improve conditions la the barrio during the 1921 recession, the Methodist Mexican Mission served as an important social service agency in the barrio until 1951. Throughout the 1920s it provided food, clothing, medical . services and funds (through the Associated Charities) to Mexicans la the barrio. The mission also conducted educa- t tonal , recreational and religious activities. It operated a day-rare center and a night school and offered courses in s e w i n g , cooking and homemaklng. It also supported a band with other seventy members which performed at church a n d . civic functions, aad sponsored organizations such as the 84 C a m p Fire Clrls aad a 4-H Garden Club. The work of the mission intensified during the depres- sion of the 1930s when the federal government began channel- ing funds through the million to barrio residents. Begin- 2 15 nincj in 1931, W.P.A. workers directed recreational and edu- cational activities at the mission under the W.P.A. Recrea- tion Program of the Kansas Emergency Relief Corporation. W.P.A. workers also organized programs for Mexicans and Mcxican-Ancricans at the parish house in Argentine, at Ward High School and at other community centers in Armour- dale. 0 5 The Mexican barrio in Argentine could not have endured such a prolonged economic depression and unemployment without assistance. Economic help came to the barrio through the auspices of the federal government, in co-operation with local welfare and health agencies. More often than not, the Methodist Mexican Mission played an important role in co-ordinating and distributing services and goods in the bar- rio. It maintained close ties with various government and social agencies such as charitable organizations, the Visiting Nurse Association, the Department of Health, hospitals, the county welfare department and with the Clara Barton School. The mission served as an intermediary between health and welfare agencies and the barrio's population, in the fashion of a patrdn (patron). These agencies, in turn, used the mission as a base of operation in the barrio. In 1935-36 the health department expanded public health ser- vices to include a maternity and post-natal clinic, a tuber- culosis control program and two venereal disease clinics. The mission's staff transported Mexicans to and from these clinics. In 1936-37 the mission transported 587 Mexicans from the barrio to these clinics, and took another fifty-two 2 15 to hospitals for surgery. Public health nurses also con- ducted a well-baby clinic at the mission once a month in the late 1930s. 0 6 Federal funding, thus, enabled the public health department of Kansas City, Kansas, to expand its services among the Mexican population. Disease control became an important aspect of its work. The incidence of T. B. among the Mexican population from 1920 to 1939 in Kansas City, Kansas, was six times greater than that among whites. -The health department discovered that the Mexican population had "astoundingly high death rates" from T . B. The death rate in the city from 1920 to 1939 was fifteen times greater for Mexicans than for whites. The T. B. death rate among Mexicans from 1930 to 1939 ranged from 187.5 to 555.0 per 100,000, as compared to less than 35.8 per 100,000 for whites. Likewise, the incidence of syphilis among the Mexi- can population was much higher than for whites. In 1939 the Mexican syphilis rate in Kansas City, Kansas, was 1,188 per 100,000, as compared to 401 for whites. The syphilis rate among Blacks was 3,042 per 100,000. 8 7 The impact of federal support for public health ser- vices can be seen clearly in the increase in the number of -Mexicans admitted to the state T. B. sanatorium in Norton. From 1922 until 1934 the number of Mexican patients at the sanatorium ranged from two to eleven for each two-year period. The reports for 1934-36, 1937-38, and 1939-40 showed thirty-two, sixty-one and fifty-eight Mexican patients, 88 respectively. The rise in the number of Mexicans admitted 2 15 to the sanatorium reflected better health care, not an increase in the T . B. rate among the Mexican population. In Kansas City the number of Mexican T. B.-related deaths declined after peaking in 1924 at a rate of 750 per 09 100,000. ' Increased health services were accompanied by a more systematic relief effort. Prior to the depression Mexicans appealed to the Associated Charities and to other private charitable institutions for assistance. In the 1930s new agencies appeared in the city to alleviate economic distress. Some Mexicans found jobs with Wyandotte County Relief and with federal programs such as the W.P.A., although few Mexicans qualified for the latter. Others received 90 direct financial assistance from the county. The Santa Fe Railway also interceded on behalf of its Mexican railroad employes in Argentine when a public clamor arose in 1930 to fire the aliens and "hire American." Public hostility towards Mexicans in Kansas began to increase in the late 1920s. The Labor Department of the Kansas Public Service Commission published strong statements in 1927 and 1929 opposing the use of Mexican laborers by Kansas indus- tries. Because Mexicans worked for low wages, the Depart-91 ment felt they were the "worst menace" to Kansas labor. The department director also submitted written testimony to Iiouse Immigration Committee hearings in 1928. He stated that Mexican agricultural workers wintered in Kansas cities where they became heavily involved in petty crime. His report 2 15 stated that Mexicans had the highest percentage of misde- meanors, such as petty thievery and liquor violations, than go any other nationality. After the Crash, as unemployment in the state rose, this latent hostility became tied to a policy promoted by Governor Clyde M. Reed to "hire American." This policy orig- inated as a request from the Southwest Regional Director of President Hoover's emergency commission on unemployment. Governor Reed urged the six major railroads operating in the State of Kansas to dismiss their Mexican work forces to pro- vide jobs for U. S. citizens. Most railroads promised to hire non-Mexican laborers in the future, but the Santa Fe maintained that most of its remaining Spanish-speaking work force were permanent residents with many years standing with the company. The President of the Santa Fe, M. B. Storey, claimed that the company's Mexican employes were "for the most part" United States citizens, "having come from the 93 State of New Mexico." The Santa Fe's statements about the citizenship status and place of origin of the Mexicans it employed in Kansas were erroneous, for neither the Kansas Decennial Census, nor the Santa Fe's own records support these claims. Almost all of the Spanish-surnamed laborers in Argentine came directly from Mexico, and this pattern of migration also prevailed in other Kansas towns such as Topeka, Hutchinson and Emporia. Further, few Mexicans in Kansas became citizens 94 prior to World War II. * 2 15 President Storey apparently deliberately misled the Governor of Kansas to shelter the Santa Fe's remaining Mexican employes. The company adopted this protection policy at a time official repatriation movements were underway in other U . S. cities. Many Mexicans from the Kansas City area voluntarily returned to Mexico in this period, and still others were repatriated. It is not known whether organ- ized repatriation drives similar to those which occurred in Gary, Indiana, or Los Angeles took place in Kansas during this period, but Argentine remained immune from such acti- vities due to the support of the Santa Fe Railway and the Methodist Mexican Mission. In the late 1930s the mission flourished as never before* In the fall of 1935 it organized a Methodist Church on the premises. This move exacerbated a long-standing rivalry between Methodists and Catholics in the area. Since 1922 all public schools in Kansas City, Kansas, released children for religious instruction each week. The mission moved quickly into the arena and spurred the Catholic Church to establish a Week-Day Religious School in North Argentine in 1 9 2 4 . 9 6 Competition between the rival religious groups intensified in 1935 with the founding of the Metho- dist Church at the mission. Within two years the Catholic Bishop designated Argentine as the site of a second Mexican national parish in the city. In its 1938 report the mission boasted that it had helped find jobs for all unemployed heads of families in the 2 15 b a r r i o . 9 7 Although several more years of depressed con- ditions lay ahead, Mexicans had powerful advocates in the Methodist Mcxican Mission, the Santa Fe Railway and the Catholic Church. As the depression lifted, wages in the railway industry rose rapidly, and the Mexican workers benefited greatly. The depression experience did much to alter the immi- grants* attitude towards the federal government. In the past Mexicans feared outside government interference. Now, they welcomed federal welfare workers and programs. The barrio benefited directly and indirectly from the infusion of federal monies into Kansas City. Many Mexicans no longer viewed the federal government with hostility and no longer hesitated to swear allegiance to such a powerful body. By 1940 the mission staff noted a "decided increase" in enroll- ments in Americanization classes at the mission. Many Mexi- 98 cons, the staff reported, were working towards citizenship. The depression also changed Anglo attitudes towards Mexicans throughout the twin cities. A sign of the growing acceptance by the Anglo community came In 1941 when a "Span- ish Queen,** a young Mexican-American woman, rode proudly with two Anglo queens in Argentine's "Silver City Jubilee" p a r a d e . " The Mexican consul in Kansas City, Missouri, reported to his government that there had been a decided decrease in cases of racial antipathy towards Mexicans in the twin cities since 1933. He attributed the change to the -Good Nel ghbor** policy and to the decline in the size of the 2 15 transient or floating Mexican population. The consul attributed the decline in the transient population to stricter immigration laws and to employment opportunities which opened to residents and citizens during the 1930s. Many Mexicans, he claimed, established residency in order to secure public works j o b s . 1 0 0 As economic opportunities and access to social services opened to the Mexican immigrants in Argentine, accultura- tion and integration of the immigrants and their children into United States society speeded up. They perceived that citizenship conferred opportunities and advantages—at least during the "New Deal" period. The barrio retained its strong Mexican cultural orientation and sense of "people- hood." Certainly, acculturation occurred to some extent, but total assimilation did not. The depression experience altered the barrio's rela- i ionship to the outside world. During the late 1920s and early 1930s Mexicans in the barrio sought to alleviate eco- nomic hardships by group effort. Many of the Mexican rail- road employes joined the mutual aid society, Sociedad More- j os l'."» (indecks * 80), hereafter cited as Kansas Derennini Census: and P. S. F i l e s , Numbers 7635, 18650, 1007V and 1 0 7 0 6 . 4 tCansns Decennial Census. ALflMllM., 1211*. (Indecks tabulai ions). S L e o Grebler, Mexican Immigration to the United States: The Record and Its Implications, Mexican-American Study P r o j e c t , Advance Report 2 (Los Angeles: Division of R e s e a r c h , Graduate School of Business, University of Cali- f o r n i a , 1965), p . 20; and Kansas Decennial Census, Argen- t inc. 1915 and 1925. ^Kansas Decennial Census (Ward 7 ) . 3,925. 7 I b l d . . Argentine, J U i and \9 8 J . Nealc Carman t w w Foreign-Language Units of Kansas," V o l . I I , Part III, p . 891 (Typescript.)—University Archives, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas, L a w r e n c e , K a n s a s . 2 15 Argent ine . ^ (In.eCcs, » 69). Î 0 Ê 1 C o s n o p o U t ^ Doc. 11, 1915, p. 1; and Dec. 25, ] 91 5, p . 1 . l l £± Cfisinopol i t a, "Los Fiestas Patrios en Argentine, Kans., Sept . 13, 1919, p. 1; Sept. 20, 1919, p. l; June 7 1919, p . 1; and June 14, 1919, p. 1. ? ' ' i 2 S e e Chapter III, pp. 87-89. * 3 k i ProjIM, Feb. 2, 1918, p. 6; March 2, 1918, p . 8: March 8, 1919, p, 10; and April 4, 1919, p . 8. 1 5ka Prenaa. Feb. 3, 1918, p. 8. 1 6 L a Prcnsa, 1918-1920; and P. S. Files. 1 7 k â PrcjiM, April 4, 1919, p. 8 . i fit See, especially, Manuel Gamio's assessment of the importance of money orders in Quantitative Estimate. Sources and Distribution of Mexican Immigration into the United M ates (Mexico: Talleres Graïicos Editorial y 'Diario Of ic i ai,' 1930). 19 Let ter to Governor Reed of November 28, 1930, in Papers of Governor Reed, 1929-31, "Unemployment and Mexican Labor" F i l e — K a n s a s State Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas. 2 0 K a n s a s Decennial Census. Argentine. 1925: and Polk*s Kansas Citv (h'vandotie County. Kansas) Directory. 1936 (Kansas C i t y , Missouri: R. L. Polk & Co., 1936); and interview with Mrs. Betty Soulen, Baldwin, Kansas, June 26, 1974. 2 * P . S. Files, Employe Number 7587. 2 2 K a n s a s Decennial Census. Argentine. 1925 (Indecks » 2 & » 6). 2 3 I M d . , Rosedale. JL9££ (Indecks # 3 & # 6). 2 4 P . S. Files, Employe Numbers 8587 & 18685. 2 3 K a n s a s City, Kansas, Urban Renewal Agency, Department, Argentine Neighborhood Analysis. Pre} Sor io—Economie Report (Kansas City, Kansas: Urban Agency, 1969?), pp. A-44, A-45. 212 °6 " L I Cosnopolltq, Dec. 26, 1914, p. 1; Catholic IN'ii sir r. Nov. 26, 1914. 27 John T . Duncan and Sevcriano Alonzo, Guadalupe f r n * r r - V<*ars of Service (Kansas City, Missouri: John T . Duncan and Sevcriano Alonzo, 1972), pp. 22-23. 2 °Lil Prensq, March 15, 1919, p. 7; and Kansas Decennial C m sus. Argentine. 1915 (Indecks, house * 209). - Wilhclmina Berger, "The Beginnings of Catholicity in Kansas C i t y , Kansas" (unpublished M. A. thesis, Creighton U n i v e r s i t y , Omaha, Neb., 1934), p. 57; and Guadalupe Center, p . 3 0 . The Franciscan Fathers took over Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1929. 3 0 R e v . Joseph Urrutia, "Kansas City, Our Lady of M t . Carme 1, H in Diocese of Leavenworth, "Historical Sketches of Parishes and Churches Within the Diocese," Book A , p p . 290-291 (Typescript.)—Kansas State Historical S o c i e t y . 3 1 E a s t e r n Kansas Register. August 4, 1939, p . 1; and interview with Father Gabriel Perez, St. John the Divine C a t h o l i c Church, Argentine, March 15, 1973. " B e r g e r , "Catholicity in Kansas City, Kansas." 33 Methodist Episcopal Church, Woman's Home Missionary S o c i e t y , Fort 1ft h Annunl Report. 1920-1921 (Cincinnati, O h i o : Methodist Hook Concern Press, 1921), p . 265; and Methodist Episcopal Church, Kansas Conference, Woman's Home Missionary Society, Annual Reports. 1921-1932 (Chanute, Kansas: The Tribune Pub. Co., 1922-1932), and Yearbooks, 1'>33-19-10 (Parsons, Kansas: Commercial Publishers, 1934- T v i o ) , publisher varies* 3 4 'Kansas Decennial Census. Argentine. 1925 (Indecks » 7 5 , 1U7): and Polk's Kansas City (Kansas) City D i r e c t o r y . 1910 (Kansas City, Missouri: R . L . Polk & Co., 1 9 4 0 ) . 3 5 I b l d . 3 6 l b l d . 3 T H o w a r d P. Chudacoff, "A New Look at Ethnic Neigh- borhoods: Residential Dispersion and the Concept of Visi- bility in a Medium-Sized City," Journal of American H i ^ o r y , 6 0 , No. 1 (June, 1973), 76-93. 21 7 01 . - , l n k a n 5 a s „ 0 m " " i o 1 Census. Arnont i»,, i Q 9 . ( i n d e c k s * 7 6 0 , ; o n t l t < ) l k * Directory,, 1936 and 1940. 39. Ronald C » Scheck, Mexican-Amor lean Migration t.n Sri rrird Irxas Panhandle Urban Places (Ohin state n»»*»-»-- sity, Department ol Geography, Discussion Paper No. 20. August, 1971) t p. 16. r f ^ I n t e r v i e w with Father Gabriel Perez, St. John the Divine, Argentine, March 15, 1973. 4 U F o r c i g n - L a n g u a g e Units,* Vol. II, Part III, 895; Paul Ming-chang Lin, "Voluntary Kinship and Voluntary Association in a Mexican-American Community" (unpublished M. A. thesis. University of Kansas, 1963), maps at end of thesis; and Kansas City, Kansas, Planning Department, Community Rpnefral Program. 1969. Summary Report (Kansas City, Kansas: Kansas City, Kansas, Planning Department, 1969), p p . 26-27. 4 2 I n t e r v i e w with Leopoldo Ayala, Kansas City, Missouri, June 20, 1974. gent I ne Neighborhood Analysis, p. A-34. 4 4 T a b u l a t i o n s based upon Polk's Directory. 1936. 4 **By 1919 the average Mexican family size in Kansas City, Kansas, was 4.08, as compared to 3.52 for whites and 3.57 for Blacks. See Kansas City Kansan. August 20, 1919, p. 1. Fifty years later the Mexican-American family size in Argentine was 4.31, as comparod to an Argentine average of 3.97 and a city-wide average of 3.00. See the Argentine Neighborhood Analysis, p. A-34. 4 6 Pelfc's Directory. 1936: and Sanborn Map Company, I n s u r a n t -Lin» of Kansas City. Kansas (New York: Sanborn Map C o . , 1931). ^ K a n s a s Perennial Census. Argentine, 1925 (Indecks * 7-12). 4A Polk's Directory. 1936. la 1973 Rev. Perez, the retired parish priest, estimated that fifteen families lived in the huts beneath the bridge in the late 1930s. The tenements at the ice plant also contained Mexican family units. Interview with Father Gabriel Perez, St. John the Divine, Argentine, March 15, 1973. 4 9 K a n s a s C i t y , Kansas, Planning Department, Çfrgfflîjfty. Kansas: Kansas City, Kansas, Planning Department, 1969), Plate 0-26; and interview with «et» Parez, Merci 15, 1973. 21 7 01 Argentine Neighborhood Analysts, p. A-34, A-49. j l Plonning Department, Argentine Community, pp. l & 4. 50 "Kansas State Decennial Census, Argentine. 1915 (Indecks « 75, 76, 08). 53 JJ>±d. (Indecks » 77, 89, 90), tabulations. e J ILii*. 1925 (Indecks # 67, 70); and Paul S. Taylor, Mexican Labor in the United States: I m p e r i a l V a l l e y iUcrkeley t California: University of California Press, Dec. 17, 1928), pp. 68-70. 5 5 Kan*as Decennial Census. Argentine. 1925. tabulations. 5 6 Argentlne Neighborhood Analysis. A-32, A-39, A-40 & A-45-46. 5 7 Interview with Leopoldo Ayala, Kansas City, Missouri, Juen 20, 1974. SB The following discussion accepts the interpreta- tion of acculturation as behavioral or cultural assimila- tion, as expounded by Milton Gordon in Assimilation in American Life (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964), pp. 70-71. Americanizac i o * n E J ^ Cosmopolita. October 11, 1919, p. 2; and Nov. 17, 1917, p. 1; and Leo Grebler, "The Naturalisation of Mexican Immigrants in the United Siutcs," International Migration Review. Vol. I, No. 1, n.s., (Fall, 1966), 27. 6 0 K a n s a s Citv Kansan. Aug. 25, 1919, p. 1. Immigrants could petition for citizenship after five years continuous residence in the United States. To become naturalized they had to show knowledge of the English language and of the basic history and principles of the United States government. 6 1 T h i s table does not reflect the naturalization pro- ceedings conducted by the state court system. Prior to 1932 applicants could file either at the U. S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas, or in the state common pleas courts. After 1932 the District Court in Kansas City had jurisdiction over all naturalization proceedings. See, U. S., Department of Labor, Bureau of Naturalization, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Naturalization, 1920 (Washing- ton, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1920), 14-18; and U. S., Department of Labor, Bureau of Naturalization, Direc- tory of Courts Having Jurisdiction in Naturalization Pro- 2 15 "'««dings (Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1932), 34-36. 6 2 " A 24 Hour Church,* Kansas City Kansan. June 8, 1910, p. 1. 6 3» f% « Leo Grebler, The Mexican-American People. The Nation s Second Largest Minority (New York: The Free Press, 1970), pp. 550-559. 6 4 t , L a Amer icanizacicfn," El Cosmopolita. October 11, 1919, p. 2; "KCK Night School to Hold Commencement," Kansas City Kansan. April 16, 1919, p. 1; and "A Program of Americanization for Kansas City, Kansas, under the Direction of the Kansas City Public Schools, the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and the University of Kansas" (Mimeographed.)— Kansas State Historical Society. 65 Naturalization Index, 1850 - , Clerk of the District Court, Kansas City, Kansas, Wyandotte County; Kansas Decen- nial Cçftsm, 1985 (Indecks "J"); and P. S. Files, # 7035- 7679, 18623-18711. 6 6 " S o b e r a n o Triunfo en favor de los Mexicanos," El Cosnopol ita. Jan. 1, 1916, pp. 1 & 4. The proclamation' s effect was short-lived. In the 1920s Mexican immigrants acting through a mutual aid society, the Uiiio'n Cultural Mexlcana (Mexican Cultural Union), again sought to end dis- crimination in the General Hospital and in schools, swimming pools and restaurants. They won this battle in 1920 with the assistance of the Mexican consul and Mexi- can ambassador. See Lin, "Voluntary Kinship," pp. 103-04. 6 7 lloctor Franco, "The Mexican People in the State of Kansas** (unpublished M. A. thesis, University of Wichita, 1950), p . 53; and "Foreign-Language Units," Vol. II, Part III, 895. 6 8 K a n s a s Decennial Census. Argentine. 1925: and Polk's D|rertoyy t [9?$. 6 9 " C l a r a Barton School Notes," Kansas Citv Kansan. Nov. 30, 1924, p. 16-A; and Nellie McGuinn, "The Kansas City, Kansas, Public School System," pp. 358, 463 (Typescript.)--Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education; and, Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education, "School History, March 16, 1920" (Mimeographed.)—Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education. 7 0 M c G u i n n , "School System," pp. 379, 463; and "Solves Racial Problem," Kansas Citv Kansan. Sept. 17, 1924, p. 10. In the 1920s Mexicans enlisted the aid of the Mexican Cul- tural Union of Kansas City, Missouri, in their efforts to end segregation of Mexican children in Rosedale. See Lin, 2 15 "Voluntary Kinship," pp. 103-04, T1 *• "Americanization Program;" and Kansas City Kansan. Sept. 23, 1924, p. 1; Berger, "Catholicity in Kansas City, Kansas, p. 57; Mexico, Sccretaria de Relaciones Exteriores, M«*«nor ifl, 1 931 -32 (Mexico: Imprenta de la Secretari'a de He 1 ac i one s Exteriores, 1932), 326; and Kansas City Kansan. May 0, 1921, p. 5C. 72 Paul E. Wilson, "Brown v. Board of Education Revi- «ited," Kansas Law Review. Vol. 12, No. 4 (May, 1964), 507-24• 73 McGuinn, "School System," p. 457; and Kansas City, Kansas, Department of Health, Annual Report. 1939. Survey and Appraisal (Kansas City, Kansas: Department of Health, 1940). 7 4 f ranco, "Mexican People," pp. 54-55. 7 5 I n t e r v i e w with Leopoldo Ayala, June 20, 1974: Apparently this action by members of the Kansas City, Kansas, based mutualista, the Sociedad Morelos. was part of a city- wide campaign supported by the Mexican Cultural Union of Kansas City, Missouri, to end school segregation of Mexicans. The secretary of the Sociedad Morelos was a self-employed shoemaker who lived in the Argentine barrio. Mexico, Secre- tari'a de Relaciones Exteriores, Mentor ia. II (Mexico: imprenta de la Secretarfa de Relaciones Exteriores, 1931), p . 1780. ^ K a n s a s City, Kansas, Department of Health, Annual R«Miort . 193V. pp. 170-71. The Catholic High School was Hard High School, established in November, 1930, at Eight- eenth and Ann Streets. See Berger, "Catholicity in Kansas City, Kansas,** pp. 24-25. 77"School History." 7 Q W N O debe alarmar la falta de trabajo," El Cosmopo- 1 ita. F e b . 22, 1919, p. 1. 7 9 " N e g r a situacio^i de ntra. colonia en Kansas City," La Prensa. Feb. 22, 1912, p. 1 & 5; "La verdadera situacitfn de los Mcxicanos en Kansas," La Prensa. March 1, 1921, p. 1;^ and "Festival a beneficio de los sin trabajo en Kansas City, L l Prensa. March 3, 1921, p. 4. °°"Mlseria y honradez de una colonia Mexicana," La Prensa, March 22. 1921, p. 1; and "Send Mexicans Home, Kansas Cltv Kansan, June 1, 1921, p. 1. 21 7 01 , Methodist Episcopal Church, Kansas Conference, Woman s Hone Missionary Society, Annual Report. 1921-22 .(Chanutc, Kansas: The Tribune Print Co.), p 18. Reports on the numbers of repatriates on the trains ranged from 700 to 1300. For detailed, often contradictory, reports on repatriation from the Kansas City and Topeka area, see "Repatriocidn de los Mexicanos que estan sin trobajo en Kansas City, Missouri," La Prensa. March 11, 1941, p . 4; "Un tren con mil repatriados sale de Kansas C i t y , Missouri," L& Prensa. June 3, 1921, p. 1; La Prensa. June 5 , 1921, p . 1; "Send Mexicans Home," Kansas Citv Kansan. June 1, 1921, p . 1; "Mexicans Back to Mexico," Kansas City St ar. June 1, 1921, p . 10 (Main Edition); "Send The Mexicans Home," Kansas Citv Times, June 2, 1921, p . 9; and "Unemployed Mexicans in Topeka Get to Go Home," Topeka Daily Capital. May 0 , 1921, p . SB. 0 2 J o h n Ramdn Martfnez, Mexican Emigration to the"^ United States. 1910-1930 (San Francisco: R & E Research Associates, 1972), p. 76; "Es Establecido un Departamento de Repatr iacicfn," k l £l5JSLM, «ay 12, 1921, p . 1; and ** Suspenderan las repatriaciones de Mexicanos," La Prensa. June 2 2 , 1921, p . 1* 83 Interview with Leopoldo Ayala, Kansas City, Missouri, June 2 0 , 1974» e * I h i d . : - L o . Haxicaao. e„ Kanaa* City," La Prensa. March 30, 1921, p. 5; Methodist Episcopal Church, Kansas C o n f e r e n c e , Woman's Home Missionary Society, Annual Report. 1 '>26. p p . 41-42; and Methodist Episcopal Church, Woman's H o m e Missionary Society, Fortv-nlnth Annual Report. 1929- 1930 CCincinnati, Ohio: Woman's Home Missionary Society, Methodist Episcopal Church, 1930), p . 124. 0 5 K a n s a s City, Kansas, Department of Health, Annual Report . 1939. p . 288. 6 6 M e t h o d i s t Episcopal Church, Kansas Conference, Wonan's Home Missionary Society, Yearbooks. jl934-l940. 8 7 K a n s a s City, Kansas, Department of Health, Annua; Report. 1939. pp. 52, 95-97, 105 and 119. 8 ® K a n s a s , State Tubercular Sanatorium, Biennial Reports (Topeka: State Printing Plant, 1922-1940). 8 9 K a n s a s City, Kansas, Department of Health, Annual « « - p m , 1*3?. P- 9 0 W e t h o d i s t Episcopal Church, Kansas Conference, Woman's Home Missionary Society, Y f i â l M & M » 1934-1940. 2 15 91 v Kansas. St ate Labor Department, Annual Report of ihe P»l»))r Servirp Commission, 1907 (TopïïkT: Kansas State P r i m i ny Plant, 1920), p. 78; and Annual Report, 1929 (Topeka; Kansas State Printing Plant, 1930), p. 93. 92 U . S,, Congress, House, Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, Immigration from Countries of the Western Hemisphere. Hearings, before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization on H.R. 6465, H.R. 9358, il.R. 10955 and H.R. 1168, 70th Cong., 1st s ess., 1928, pp. 58, 515. 93 Kansas, State Labor Department, Annual Report of Labor ond Industry, for the year ending 31 Dec. 1930 (Topeka: Kansas State Printing Plant, 1931), pp. 63-64; and Letter of November 22, 1930, from M. B. Storey, President of the A.T. & S.F. Railway to Governor Clyde M. Reed, Governor, State of Kansas, in the Papers of Governor Reed, 1929-31, "Unemployment and Mexican Labor" F i l e - Kansas State Historical Society. In the same file are other letters supporting and criticizing Governor Reed's proposal. ^Larry G. Rutter, "Mexican Americans in Kansas: A Survey and Social Mobility Study, 1900-1970" (unpublished M, A . thesis, Kansas State University, 1972), pp. 91-92, 22. 95 Mexico, Secretarial de Relaciones Exteriores, Mener 1 a . 1931-32 (Mexico: Imprenta de la Secretarfa de Helaciones Exteriores, 1932), p. 954. 9 6 B e r g e r , "Catholicity in Kansas City, Kansas," p. 26. 9 7 Methodlst Episcopal Church, Kansas Conference, Woman's Home Missionary Society, Yearbook. 1938, p. 30. 9 C J L k M - . lOJrbook, 1940, p. 9. " K a n s a s Cltv Kansan. Oct. 1, 1941. 1 0 0 E r n e s t o Hidalgo, La Proteccltfn de Mexicanos en los Estndos Unidos (Mexico: Talleres Gra'ficos de la .\acio'n, 1940), pp. 42-45. 1 0 l " L a si t uac icfn de los braceros Mexicanos," La Prensa, March 25, 1921, pp. I C S ; and Mexico, Secretarfa de Rela- ciones Exteriores, Memorla. II (Mexico: Imprenta de la Secretarfa de Relaciones Exteriores, 1931), pp. 1777-1780. 1 0 2 I n t e r v i e w with Jostf M. Garcfa, Topeka, August, 1974. 1 0 3 K a n s a s , Conference of Social Work, Handbook of Kansas Social Resources. )932 (Topeka: Kansas State Printing Plant, 1932), p. 227. CONCLUSION The evolution of the Argentine barrio of Kansas City, Kansas provides many insights into Mexican immigration and settlement in the twin cities, for it was typical of other railroad barrios during the 1907-1940 period. Most Kansas City barrios originated as railroad yard camps in the pre- 1920 period. As Mexicans moved out of these camps during the first two decades of the twentieth century, they inher- ited the housing and neighborhoods of other immigrant groups who preceded them. In Argentine Mexicans followed a succes- sion of Bohemians and Greeks as Santa Fe extra-gang laborers. All of these "new immigrant** groups initially moved into jobs at the lowest levels of the city's industries. For railroad workers these jobs consisted of unskilled manual labor on the tracks or in the shops. Since Argentine was the primary entrepot for Mexicans brought into the city by the Santa Fe Railway, it served as the processing center for successive waves of Mexican immi- grants who sought jobs with the Santa F e . Throughout the history of the barrio, the fortunes of its Mexican population were closely intertwined with those of the Santa F e . Changing; economic conditions affected the Santa Fe's labor needs and thereby dictated the size, activities and composition of its work force. The law of supply and demand swelled and con- 2 15 tractod the Mexican work force in concert with economic trends. Consequently, the size of the work force grew during World War One, when labor shortages plagued the rail- way industry, but sagged in 1919 and 1921 as recessions caused lay-offs and wage cuts. The majority of Santa Fe Mexican employes prior to 19-10 were unskilled manual labor- • ers and helpers. Some Mexicans also held semi-skilled and skilled jobs during the 1907-1940 period. A few obtained these higher-paying jobs during the 1922-23 shopmen's strike. Those immigrants who arrived in Argentine at a time of great labor scarcity and rising wages fared better than those who arrived during periods of contraction and reces- sion. Virtually none of the immigrants who arrived prior to 1915 remained with the company over ten years. Many of those who secured shop jobs during World War One and during the post-war boom, however, kept their jobs and stayed with the company until retirement. Conditions prevailing in the railroad industry during peak periods of Mexican immigration did not permit great upward social mobility. The Santa Fe simply could not pro- vide steady, non-seasonal work to all unskilled or semi- skilled immigrants who sought jobs with the company, for its labor needs for that type of labor were not constant. Increased mechanization of rail maintenance work further cur- tailed the size of construction and maintenance crews. Consequently, the railroad industry afforded a route of upward social mobility for only a minuscule portion of the Mexican immigrants who signed on with the company in Argen- 2 15 line during the 1907-1935 period. Mexican laborers served as a reserve labor supply, migrating seasonally until economic conditions permitted permanent relocation. Increased wages paid to unskilled shop and track laborers during World War One resulted in an improvement in the standard of living of Mexican railroad workers. No longer were the majority consigned to boxcar habitations. Increasingly they moved into houses in areas adjacent to the railroad yards. As wages rose after 1916, more family units appeared in the barrio. Although Mexi- can laborers brought their families along as early as l907 r the proportion of children to adults increased about thirty percent in the decade after 1915. Utilization of Santa Fe employment data obtained from the company's Prior Service files permitted an examination of the Mexican origins of Argentine's immigrants. These data revealed that the majority of Argentine's long-term immigrants came from towns and cities with populations of 2,500 and more. Only one-fourth of these railroad workers listed their birthplaces as small hamlets, villages, ranchos (small farms), or hac iendas (large landed estates) with populations of less than 2,500. These data suggest that immigrants who lived in towns were more likely to immi- grate to the United States than those from small villages and hamlets. Those from small towns, large towns and cities proved more successful in holding onto their jobs and wrenching themselves forever from their native roots than did immigrants from more rural backgrounds. 2 15 The Argentine experience casts doubt upon the common assumption that most Mexican immigrants who settled in the United States from 1910 to 1920 were illiterate agricul- tural workers. About sixty-five percent of Mexican males eighteen and over who supplied information to census takers in Argentine in 1925 were literate. About sixty-six percent of the married Mexican women living in Argentine who supplied information on literacy were literate. Clearly, Mexican immigrants cannot be dismissed as illiterates. Nor is the " agricultural" classification entirely satisfactory, since this term usually implies oeo'n. or a tradition-bound haci- enda laborer* Argentine's immigrants do not; fit into that category, for most were born in towns, not in hacienda vil- lages. Moreover, included among the immigrants were small farmers, blacksmiths, artisans, manual laborers and, possibly, some muleteers* Although Argentine's immigrants may have occasionally sought work on local haciendas, as some surely did, thoy were not, as a lot, victims of debt peonage. Another assumption which suffers in light of the Santa Fc data is that Mexican immigration occurred as if by "drift.** While it is true that some migrants merely drifted about, taking up one Job after another, this was not the only type of immigration pattern which existed. Migration was not entirely random. Immigration and settlement in Argentine proceeded in an orderly manner. A disproportionate number of immigrants in the barrio were from MIchoaca'b. Many of the Michoecanos were from Tangancifcuaro, a small agricul- 2 15 tural town located about twenty miles southwest of Zamora. I he " T a n p s , " as immigrants from the town are known in the Argentine barrio, exhibited a pattern of chain migration to Argentine. For over fifty years "Tangas" have made the trek from Tanganci'cuaro to Argentine and back. Friends, brothers, sons, cousins, and other relatives followed in their footsteps. Many of the "Tangas" brought their fami- lies along with them to Argentine and put down new roots in the transplanted "Tanga" community there. The "Tangas" and other Mexican immigrants in Argentine carried their institutions, religious beliefs and cultural practices with them to the barrio. They did not experience extreme anomle. alienation and loneliness in migration and resettlement in their new environment because they migrated 8s part of a community. They maintained close economic ties to their families in Mexico, even when engaged in seasonal work, and moved within the orbit of others from their native communities. Their ties to the Catholic Church remained strong, for Spanish-speaking priests, fleeing the Revolution in Mexico, accompanied the immigrants. The Augustinian Recollect Fathers ministered to the spiritual needs of the Mexican Catholic population in the twin cities. Eventually, they established a Mexican national parish in Argentine. The Argentine barrio grew in stages corresponding to the needs of the Santa Fe Railway and the resulting compo- sition of its Mexican work force. While the Santa Fe offered only seasonal employment to the majority of its Mexican workers, it attracted transients who engaged in short-term 2 15 employment t alternating between living in Mexico and the United States. Usually, these workers hired on at border towns with the Hanlin Supply Company or other Santa Fe agents and worked in Argentine for periods ranging from three months to a year. During this period, roughly from 1903 to 1916, the majority of the Mexican population were adult males. Many were solos. unmarried men or married men who left their families behind in Mexico. Few Mexican families lived in the Argentine barrio during this period, although the barrio gained a more mixed population during the Mexican Revolution as fauily units fled to the safety of U. S. cities. A transformation occurred in the barrio during World Mar One as more stable Mexican immigrants arrived to put down roots. In less than a decade these immigrants transplanted their social systems in Argentine. By 1925 the barrio con- tained a number of formal extended families, having three or nore consecutive generations present in the same dwelling. I here were also a large number of family units containing at least one dependent adult. These living patterns tes- tify to the strength of family and kinship systems among the Mexican population in Argentine. Blood ties and the highly-ritualized kinship system (compadrazoo). thus, helped unify members of the barrio, especially the "Tangas." The Catholic Church sanctioned these kinship ties in its baptismal ceremonies, for godparents stood as sponsors for the new-born children. Thus, religion increased the bonding between members of the parish and within the barrio. The arrival of each new child added yet another formal linkage 2 15 to bind the barrio together. Usually, parents selected others from their native towns to act as god-parents, thus preserving the community spirit oJC the particular group. Mexican immigrants attempted in various ways to improve their working, living and housing conditions. They were avid i n their efforts to become home owners. The immigrants owned over fifty percent of all housing units occupied by Mexicans in the barrio in 1936. Even this achievement resulted from concerted group effort. Family members .and friends shared housing to enable the principal occupant to purchase the dwelling, while the other householder either saved to do likewise or bought a lot upon which to erect a house. Families also threw up shanties as rear buildings on their lots until they could afford to build a permanent dwel1ing. Such family ties proved invaluable on innumerable occasions. Unemployment was not necessarily a disaster for those workers who lived in close proximity to others from their native towns. In extreme cases, such as in the 1921 recossion, Mexican railroad workers in the Argentine barrio divided their salaries with their unemployed com- patriots in their effort to preserve the barrio. They also formed a mutualista, or mutual aid society, to provide accident and unemployment insurance for themselves. This rautualista, the Sociedad Morelos. also functioned as a pressure group in a school desegregation struggle. Mexican immigrants also exhibited a group or community spirit in their work environment in the yards and shops. 2 15 system, regional and local loyalties, the compadrazgo sys- tem and even their work patterns to Argentine. Rather than being "at sea" in the Argentine-Kansas City environment, the immigrants quickly constructed a cohesive, largely self-contained barrio which preserved their Mexican cultural identity. Continued immigration, both legal and illegal, during the 1920s and after the depression, reinforced local and regional loyalties as braceros and "wetbacks" joined friends and relatives in Argentine. The Argentine barrio remained in a state of flux, especially during peak immigration periods. Population turn- over was rapid, and residential relocation within the barrio was commonplace. There was always much coming and going, in and out of the barrio, as residents returned to Mexico for visits, often to find a bride. During such times the workers took leaves-of-absence from the Santa Fe, usually returning to their jobs within three months. Continued population turnover and erratic employment patterns made it difficult for census takers to make a correct enumeration of the barrio. Census reports must not be taken at face value, for they are but relative indi- cators of Mexican population at any particular time. Santa Fe employment records indicate that a sizeable undercount of the Mexican population occurred. This undercount, obser- vable in both the state and federal census returns, resulted from language difficulties, population instability and, most probably, Mexican hostility to government intruders. It can also be assumed that some Mexicans deliberately misled 2 15 i he census takers to hide the presence of illegal aliens in a household. Hence, the Argentine barrio was a refuge for illegals, as well as a supportive social environment for its resi- dents. To the extent that the barrio was a willful crea- tion by the Mexican immigrants, it served a useful function. It nurtured its Mexican inhabitants while they began a long process of adjustment to the U. S. environment. The barrio experience was not entirely positive for the Mexican immigrants, though, for it also represented segregation of Mexicans from the larger Anglo world. Since their arrival in the twin cities, Mexicans encountered dis- crimination and prejudice as members of a brown-skinned group. Dark-complexioned Mexican immigrants and those with distinctive Indian physiques and features, in particular, often found themselves classified as Negroes. Throughout ihe first four decades of the twentieth century Mexican imnigrants and political refugees who resided there during the Mexican Revolution sought to end discriminatory prac- tices which segregated Spanish-speaking persons into sepa- rate schools, churches, hospitals, cemeteries, neighborhoods, restaurants, and so on. Segregation in Argentine manifested itself in resi- dential, educational and social arenas. Anglo community pressure confined the immigrants to the northeast corner of Argentine, adjacent to the railroad yards and other indus- trial sites. "Poor whites" and some blacks lived in this area when Mexicans first arrived there around 1905. Resi- 2 15 dent i al segregation encouraged other d iscr iininat ory prac- tices, as well. Social harriers remained rigid. Mexicans were not welcome at the local Anglo Catholic Church in Argen- tine, nor in most Protestant churches. Even mission workers who staffed the Methodist Mexican Mission in North Argentine maintained a social distance from their charges. Exclusionary social behavior led to school segregation in Argentine and elsewhere in Kansas City, Kansas, as the Mexican and Mexican-American population grew in the early 1920s. Khen it became apparent that the Mexican community in Argentine was becoming a permanent fixture, local Anglo groups helped finance the construction of a segregated Mexican grade school. Elsewhere in Kansas City, Kansas, similar movements occurred, and Mexican children uniformly began attending school in special annexes, basement rooms and segregated classrooms. Segregated educational facilities discouraged contacts between Spanish-speaking and Anglo children, for the Spanish- surnamed children attended school within the confines of the barrio. Thus, contact with non-Spanish-speaking youths was haphazard, not institutionalized. This situation rein- forced the use of Spanish and did not promote educational achievement among the Spanish-speaking population. As late as 19-10 Mexican and Mexican-American children remained vir- tually excluded from the city's high schools. Segregation initiated a vicious cycle. Mexicans could not mo ve outside the barrio even when they desired to do so; and they remained locked within an ever-tightening circle. 2 15 Their exclusion from participation in institutions and activities enjoyed by the Anglo community encouraged Ihe barrio to turn inward, to seek within itself the bene- fits and rewards of community life. This inward focus explains the low rate of naturalization among the Mexican population in Argentine. The immigrants justifiably felt no compunction at not becoming citizens of a country which segregated them as an inferior racial group. Moreover, federal authority appeared as coercive and restrictive to Mexican immigrants prior to the "New Deal" days. Never had they experienced government as a positive force working towards their over-all betterment. To them government was synonymous with customs officials, police, judges and census t ake rs • Mexican suspicion of government dissipated somewhat during the New Deal era as the immigrant community came into contact with federal relief programs. Federal assistance reached the barrio in the form of W.P.A. recreational work- ers at the Methodist Mexican Mission in North Argentine and through improved health and welfare services made available by federally-assisted local and county agencies. Naturaliza- tion among Mexican aliens in Argentine and elsewhere in the city increased in the 1940s, partially as a result of the immigrants' changed perception of the U. S. government. They could identify proudly with such a government, parti- cularly because of its "Good Neighbor" policy towards Latin Americans, manifested both in Argentine and abroad. 2 15 Initially the Mexican barrio in Argentine sustained itself through mutual self Thelp efforts of an informal kind, such as family and kinship ties. During the late 1920s, as they sought greater participation in non-barrio insti- tutions, these groups proved insufficient to deal with the barrio's problems* As a result, Mexicans from the barrio Joined with others from Kansas City, Kansas, to form a mutua- liste which sought to improve the barrio's position through promoting greater educational opportunities and self-help* Mutualistes no doubt aided those Mexican families which did not experience long periods of unemployment, but workers who lost their Jobs during the depression soon exhausted their benefit payments and turned to public and private charity* The Mexican community received help from religious groups, notably the Methodist Mexican Mission, and from their principal employer, the Santa Fe Railway. That company sheltered its alien Mexican work force by a clever sub- terfuge. The company's President informed the Governor of the State of Kansas that most of the company's Spanish- surnamed employes were U . S. citizens from the State of New Mexico. This deception apparently helped preserve the Argen- tine barrio and other Mexican enclaves throughout the state, for other railroads in Kansas phased out their Mexican employes. Such assistance from the Santa Fe and local and private welfare agencies helped preserve the Argentine barrio. Throughout the pre-1930 period Mexicans in Argentine had not adjusted rapidly to the U. S. environment. They 2 15 lived in a largely self-contained, transplanted Mexican environment. Argentine's Mexican population, moreover, hod access to other Mexican barrios in the twin cities by the street railway system. The Westside and Armourdale barrios in Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas, respectively, contained many Mexican commercial, religious and recreational establishments. Thus, even though Mexicans lived in Kansas City, they operated within a Mexican subculture. The persistence of a strong ethnic community in Argen- tinc owed much to the formative period in which basic inter- action patterns appeared. Acculturation proceeded slowly due to the occupational, educational, religious and social isolation of the Spanish-speaking population in Argentine from the Anglo world. The continued strength of the extended family system and the high percentage of persons over sixty- five years of age in the barrio in the late 1960s who spoke no English testify to the viability of the barrio as an ethnie enclave, or "urban village." The creation and preservation of this strong ethnic enclave in Argentine occurred almost in spite of local hos- tilities to Mexicans. The Santa Fe and the federal govern- ment came to the aid of the immigrants at a critical junc- ture. With the inclusion of Mexican railroad workers in the Railroad Retirement and Social Security programs after 1935, the foundation of the barrio became firm. For the first time the immigrants received some guarantee of a future in the community, and as new waves of immigrants poured into the 2 15 community after 19-10, the ground rules were well-established. The Anglo community grudgingly acknowlodged the barrio's existence, but two socio-cultural systems remained side by side, interacting only infrequently, and then, in formal s e 11 i n g s . SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Archival Collections Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Payroll Records, Kansas City Division, 1 9 0 0 - 1 9 4 0 — A . T. & S. F . Railway General Office Building, Topeka, Kansas. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Payroll Records, Prior Service Files, Kansas City D i v i s i o n — A . T . & S. F . Railway General Office Building, Topeka, Kansas. Bancroft Library. Archives, Taylor Papers. Kansas St8te Historical Society. Archives, Papers of Governor Arthur Capper (1915-1919). Kansas State Historical Society. Archivés, Papers of Governor Clyde M. Reed (1929-1931). Kansas State Historical Society. Archives, "Santa Fe 'Splinters.* Compiled by Jos. Weidel, 1940. 34 Vols. University of Kansas. Archives, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, J. Neale Carman Papers. Other Unpublished Materials Berger, tfilhelraina. "The Beginnings of Catholicity in Kansas City, Kansas." Unpublished M. A. thesis, Crcighton University, Omaha, Neb., 1934. Braun, Marian F . "A Survey of the American Mexicans in Topeka, Kansas." Unpublished M. S. thesis, Emporia State Teachers College, Emporia, Kansas, 1970. Caraan, J. Neale* "Foreign-Language Units of Kansas." 2 Vols. (Typescript.)—Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. Earle, Peter. "The Mexicans in Kansas City, Kansas," June, 1953. (Typescript.)—Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 2 15 Franco Hector. "The Mexican People in the State of Kansas. Unpublished M. S. thesis, University of Wichita, 1950. Kansas City. Kansas. Board of Education. "School His- tory, March 16, 1920. (Mimeographed.)--Kansa s City, Kansas, Board of Education. Kansas City, Kansas. City Planning Commission. "History of K. C . K.," April 27, 1970. (Typescript.) — Kaasas City, Kansas, City Planning Department. Kansas City, Missouri. Public Library. Clippings, "Argen- tine." (Clippings File.)—Kansas City, Missouri, Public Library, Missouri Valley Room. Kansas Stale Historical Society. "Inventory, New York Executive Department Files, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company." (Typescript.) —Archives, Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas. Kansas State Historical Society. "Inventory of Santa Fe Railroad Archives," 1969. (Typescript.)—Archives, Kansas State Historical Society* Kansas State Historical Society. "Wyandotte County Clip- pings," Vol. II (Clippings Book.)—Kansas State Historical Society. Land is, Margaret M. "History of Rosedale, Kansas." 4 Vols. (Clippings Book.)—Kansas State Historical Society. Lin. Paul Ming-Chang. "Voluntary Kinship and Voluntary Associations in a Mexican-American Community." Unpublished M. A. thesis, University of Kansas, 1963. McCulnn, Nellie. "The Kansas City, Kansas, Public School System." (Typescr ipt. ) — Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education. Our Lady of Mt. Carmcl, Kansas City, Kansas. Register of Baptisms; May 17, 1923-July 10, 1951. (Ledger.) — St. John the Divine, Kansas City, Kansas. Poppino, Hattie E. "Argentine and Argentine High School/' 1965. (Typescript.)—Author * s possession. "A Program of Americanization for Kansas City, under the Direction of the Kansas City Public Schools, the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and the University of Kansas, 1920-21." (Mimeographed.)—Kansas State Historical Society. 2 15 Rarurez, Soccorro M. "A Survey of the Mexican in Emporia, Kansas." Unpublished M. S. thesis, Kansas State Teachers College of Emporia, 1942. Ricart, Domingo. "Just Across the Tracks. 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(Typescript.)—Western Historical Manuscripts Collec- tion, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. l^rrutia, Joseph, Rev. "Kansas City. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel." "Historical Sketches of Parishes and Churches Within the Diocese," Book A. Compiled by the Diocese of Leavenworth. (Typescript.)—Kansas State Historical Society. Vccoli, Rudolph J. "Chicago's Italians Prior to World War I: A Study of Their Social and Economic Adjustments." Unpublished Ph.D. dissert at ion, University of Wis- consin, 1963. Wyandotte County. Clerk of the District Court. Naturali- zation Index, 1859- (Ledger.)—Clerk of the Dis- trick Court, Kansas City, Kansas. Public Document s Clark, Victor S. "Mexican Labor in the United States." U. S. Department of Labor Bulletin. 78 (Sept., 1908). Foerster, Robert F . The Racial Problem Involved in Immigra- tion from Latin America and the West Indies to the 2 15 United States. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Oil ice, Department of Labor, 1925. Kansas City, Kansas. 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Federal Writers* Project. Work Projects Adminis- V tration. Kansas. A Guide to the Sunflower State. American Guide Series. New York: The Viking Press, 1939. Kansas City, Missouri. Chamber of Commerce. Where these Rocky Bluffs Meet. Kansas City, Missouri: Chamber of Commerce, 1938. Lamb, Ruth S. Mexican-Americans: Sons of the Southwest. Claremont, California: Ocelot Press, 1970. Leduc, Alberto, and Lara y Pardo, Luis. Diccionario ^ G r i«ir.»i i«.tt, l»i«- So fjnl Hnrknrnund of Anerimn l m | , t r n l ion. Edited by Donald Fleming and Bernard Hill) n • Carolir idge, Mass.: Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, Harvard University, 197-1. • "Mexican Emigration History, 1900-1970: Literature and R e s e a r c h L a t i n American Research Review. Vol. VIII, No. 2 (Summer, 1973), 3-24. Fitzpatrick, Joseph P . "The Importance of 'Community* in the Process of Immigrant Assimilation." International MtqrgiJon R?v*eif, n.s., Vol. I, No. 1 (Fall, 1966), 5-15. Cans, Herbert. "Some Comments on the History of Italian Migration and on the Nature of Historical Research." JLflJ erqflilonglMiqration Review, n.s., Vol. 1, No. 3 . (Summer, 1967), 5-9. Ctdnv z - Qu i no ne s , Juan. "The First Steps: Chicano Labor Conflict and Organizing, 1900-1920." Aztl^n. Vol. 3, No. 1 (Spring, 1972), 13-45. Gonzdiez Navarro, Moists. "La Vida Social en el Porfiriato." Historia Moderns de Mexico. Vol. IV. Edited by Daniel Cosi'o Villegas. Mexico; Editorial Hermes, 1957. Grebler, Leo. "The Naturalization of Mexican Immigrants in the United States." International Migration Review, n.s., Vol. I, No. 1 (Fall, 1966), 17-32. Hall, Michael M. "Approaches to Immigration History." New Approaches to Latin American History. Edited by Richard Graham and Peter H. Smith. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1974. Hoffman, Abraham. "Mexican Repatriation Statistics: Some Suggested Alternatives to Carey McWilliams." Western Historical Quarterly. Vol. Ill, No. 4 (Oct., 1972), 391-404. Kiser, George C . "Mexican-American Labor Before World War II." Journal of Mexican-American History. Vol. II, No. 2 (Spring, 1972), 122-42. Moore, Joan W. "Mexican Americans and Cities: A Study in Migration and the Use of Formal Resources. I n t e r n a t i o n a l Migration Review. Vol. V , No. 3 (Fall, 1971), 292-308. 2 15 Vi . 1 r r O , Jn%r j,h. -Th«« Cofitlii ion of M«*\ ir an-Aricr irnn Ills- t •» r %•. " iMiirn.il *»f M r x t r ^ n ^ o r r i r . m Mi s lory. Vol. I, I CI a I t . P ' T o i , 2 Ô - Ô 2 . Oetavio I. "The Ant h r opol ogy and Sociology of i he Mcxican-Amcricons: The Distortion of Ucxican- Anerican History (A Review Essay)." El Cr ito. Vol. 11, No. 1 (Tall, I960), 13-26. T a > l o r , P . S. "Notes on Streams of Mexican Migration."* A a £ l l £ A I istMIMl of S ^ ç l ç H ç g y , 36 (1930-31) , 288. Vecoii, Rudolph J. "Cont adini in Chicago; A Critique of The Uprooted. 1 he Ai iens: A History of Ethnic Minorities in Aacrica. Edited by Leonard Dinner- stein and Frederic Copie Jahcr. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1970. Marner, Sam Bass. "If All the Norld Mere Philadelphia: A Scaffolding for Urban History, 1774-1930." American Historical Review. 74 (October, 1968), 26-43.