mac davis wrote:

On Sun, 02 Dec 2007 00:17:24 -0700, Just Wondering
wrote:

CW wrote:
Would you be willing to pay $15.00 for an apple? How about $18.00 for a
pear? Those who claim that the problem is as simple as throwing out the
illegal either don't live in farm country or are not paying attention.
Ever picked apples? I have. You won't find enough Americans to get the
crops in. You couldn't pay most people enough to do the work. It is not
because of low
pay. A (Mexican) apple picker can easily make $20.00 an hour. Mexican
labor is what keeps the fruit producers going.


So how did the farmers get their crops in, say, 40 years ago, before there
was the massive flood of illegals we have now?

I think that there were 2 factors... One was that you had more family
farms then, and the whole family worked.. as opposed to now when most kids
are looking for ways to get into careers other than farming..

Even back in the 40's when my mother was home on the farm, the whole
family worked, but my granddad did hire migrant workers at the peaks of the
season (chopping cotton and picking cotton). There were people who
followed the harvest or other crop seasons from Texas on north throughout
the year. From what I understand however, they were all American citizens
or here legally.


Also, I'm not sure when the "bracero" (SP) program started, but that was a
big push of foreign pickers every season..

I'd also guess that borders were a lot looser and folks worked wherever
the work was..


Even back then there were issues with illegals; I know my granddad would
never knowingly hire anyone who was illegal. But back then,there were
citizens who would also do the work



mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

--
If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough