The character of the reports is indicated by the headlines quoted and leaves little doubt that a rather serious labor trouble exists in the Imperial Valley of California and perhaps other regions. In which Mexican aliens are forbidden to assemble in crowds. several leaders are arrested and jailed. and some of them heavily fined. It is said that great nuunbers of these alien peons are now threatened with deportation to Mexico on account of alleged lawless. radical conduct. I know nothing and do not pretend to speak of the merits of the labor trouble existing in that vicinity. Unless the leaders arrested. imprisoned. and fined are acting lawlessly. their arrest and imprisonment is not justified. If the conduct of the leaders and the imported Mexican peon laborers is as lawless as their treatment indicates. they constitute a bad element to have imported into the United States by scores of thousands annually. In this connection I call the attention of the House to statements made by me before the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization in support of the bill fo the restriction of Mexican immigration. in which I said: The uninformed and unthinking frequently take the view that very ignorant and badly downtrodden people are not dangerous under the influence of radicalism. Tile very reverse is true. The mobs of Ancient Rome. the peasants of France in the days of the French Revolution and Reign of Terror. and the parts recently played by Russian city workers. peasants. and serfs. all prove that such material is the best fuel for the fires of revolution.
Identified stereotypes
Ignorant and downtrodden people are dangerous under the influence of radicalism.