Review of Mexican Emigration to the United States, 1897- 1931: Socio-economic Patterns By Lawrence A. Cardoso

Authors

Felix D. Almaraz Jr., University of Texas at San Antonio

Date of this Version

Spring 1983

Citation

Great Plains Quarterly Vol. 3, No. 2, Spring 1983, pp. 123-24.

Comments

Copyright 1983 by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Abstract

In this book Lawrence A. Cardoso focuses attention on the flow of unskilled, low-paid Mexican workers who migrated north across the border between Mexico and the United States from 1897 to 1931. He traces the origins of the northward movement, beginning with the rapid changes in the land and labor systems of rural Mexico in the closing decade of the nineteenth century.

During Porfrrio Draz's long tenure in the presidency, Mexico's national policies favored foreign capital investment, the impact of which transformed the pastoral countryside. Prior to the inauguration of public-sponsored programs for economic development, rural inhabitants lived on communally held ejidos or privately owned haciendas, if not altogether securely or comfortably, at least with a sense of belonging. In general, the principal economic function of the ejiodos and haciendas in Profirian Mexico was to supply nearby urban centers with basic commodities.

With the introduction of the machine culture, hacienda owners, in need of new arable lands to expand crop production, readily encroached upon the ejidos. The process of encroachment forced millions of ejected dwellers to relocate. For the displaced ejidatarios the choice was either to find employment and accommodations at the haciendas or to join the migratory labor force that furnished additional temporary workers at planting and harvesting seasons.

According to Cardoso: a significant intrusion of the machine culture that accelerated the destruction of the ejidos was the highly visible railway system. As the railroads exported voluminous quantities of luxury food items to distant markets, the value of prime land for agricultural production increased correspondingly, fomenting the rapid enclosure of ejidos. Unstable working and living conditions in the countryside, compounded by an erratic economy, prompted thousands of families to seek an alternative in the northern borderlands, where they found passageway into the United States.