MEXICANS
Mexicans have settled in some of the best fields of California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Idaho.
They are not a people who love academic work, but they enjoy any educational training which develops the use of their hands. Their interest lies largely in music, flowers, and the arts.
Mexicans who live in the rural sections, on farms or ranches, are not naturally migratory. They remain in the same locality or in the same communities more permanently than any other nationality. They are especially desired where irrigation farming is necessary, because they are very skillful at this kind of farming, many of them having been well trained in old Mexico. Most of them live in houses on the farms and pay a per acre rent, although there are some who pay a percentage of the grains.
Many live in the smaller villages, leaving their families there and going to work by the day on ranches. This bears a definite likeness to the French system. They live in groups, going out to work small sections during the day and returning to the village at night. They pay rent for their small houses in the villages, although some own the small tracts of land on which they live; and the men and the older sons take care of these, or leave them to the care of their wives while they themselves work by the day on larger ranches in the neighborhood. To look at their homes, one would think that they were decidedly unsanitary. This is not necessarily so, but depends almost entirely upon the water supply. Most of the water comes from private wells in rural sections, and if the wells are shallow, the quality of the water is questionable.
The people crowd into their small houses, and often there is a deplorable lack of window space. Fortunately, the shacks are only one story high and are not close together, even in the villages. The life is an outdoor one; doors are almost always left open, and it is doubtful if the housing conditions have much to do with their ill health.
Infant mortality is always high among the Mexicans in both city and rural districts, and this is no doubt entirely a matter of feeding and bathing. Most babies are breastfed, especially during the first few months, but in addition to the milk, Mexican mothers generally insist on feeding the children heavier foods as soon as they will begin to take them. Very small infants are taught to eat frijoles or beans, and when the melons begin to ripen, the babies are stuffed with cantaloupes and watermelons. During the summer, and especially during the hottest months, infant mortality increases by leaps and bounds. If the babies can be put on milk diets under the care of a visiting nurse, they seem to do quite well, although it is necessary for the nurse to repeat her instructions many times.
There has been distinct improvement in the housing conditions in El Paso, and to some degree in other cities also, during recent years. A few years ago the Mexicans were living in crowded, small, adobe houses of one room only, sometimes with no windows at all, and only the door to admit light. In one instance eighty tenants lived in one block, the entire block being filled, leaving nothing but an alleyway which was not used. The houses were a miscellaneous lot of shacks, with one toilet for the entire block and no water in any of the houses. One hydrant in the alleyway furnished water to all.
There are still undesirable places, and many of the houses lack proper window space and toilet facilities. Almost none of the houses in which Mexicans live have bathrooms, but plans are under way to provide a system of public baths, which will probably be better than having bathrooms that would not be used. There is one small public bath, which is almost always crowded with Mexican boys.
As the Mexicans live almost entirely in one-story houses, part of which are of brick and part of adobe, the housing problem should not be a serious one, as there are few elements of danger. There are only a few tenement houses, which are of two and three stories. Small houses tend to scatter the population, although, of course, they may be crowded in the single rooms.
The people are responsive to right treatment, although suspicious, but not necessarily unstable. Their suspicious nature handicaps efforts to get their cooperation. They are responsive only to the degree that they understand the motives. The prevalent idea is that Mexicans are very deceitful. This may be so if their suspicions are aroused; otherwise they are no more deceitful than any other nationality. They are extremely courteous, and in their way coöperative.
With regard to their food, Mexicans eat beans, rice, potatoes, peas, and all sorts of vegetables. The chili, or pepper, is often considered a sacred plant which furnishes health to those who eat it. Therefore it is found in many of their dishes. They still prepare their food largely as they did in Mexico. To write fully about it and its preparation would require many pages. In brief, however, they eat less meat than Americans eat, and generally it is mixed with vegetables and well cooked. When not too highly seasoned, Mexican dishes are very tasty. During the winter, when vegetables are scarce, their food is limited almost entirely to beans, rice, and potatoes, using a little meat when they can afford it. Such a diet abounds in starch and has too little protein and mineral matters, thereby causing stomach troubles of all kinds. In some ways, however, their foods are superior to ours, and by making adjustments, if they do not acquire some of our bad habits, there ought to come from their dietary a sensible, economical, and nourishing group of foods. Only lack of variety and the use of hot flavors keep their food from being superior to that of most Americans.
Undernourished and malnourished children are frequently found in Mexican families. They are served with the same foods as the adults, foods highly spiced, with a large amount of fat added, or corn meal fried in fat. Bland foods are quite unknown in their dietary. Chicken, chicken soup with rice, vegetables, fruits and cereals, with milk and eggs, are good foods for the children. Clean milk, however, is not always easy to procure. Rice and oatmeal are the cereals most commonly used. These are boiled in water, with milk added when nearly done. They are eaten as a thick gruel instead of with cold milk poured over them as we have them.
Nephritis cases, in general, must have foods containing less spice and salt. The diabetic must be furnished with dishes that have no rice in them. This is difficult, as rice is used in many combinations with other foods.
When the Mexicans intermarry with Americans, the result of the cross dietary is that often there is double the amount of fat taken at a meal by the American. The