<Begin Segment 19>

SF: So what other racial groups were there working as railroad crew people at that time?

TS: There was Filipinos, and they were good workers, but not as competitive as the Nisei. But they, they worked hard. And the Mexicans were the same way. They worked hard.

SF: And these Filipinos and Mexicans, they were integrated with other crews, or they were -- had their own racially segregated...

TS: No, no. They weren't segregated because there wasn't enough of 'em to make up a crew. Well, I don't -- timekeeper for a gang that was -- had about maybe 50 percent Mexican. But that was, I don't know, there for -- I guess maybe there was a shortage of labor, so they went to Mexico and recruited. So that was for about four, five months. One of 'em, one of the guys was a policeman and made more money on the railroad as a laborer than he did as a policeman in wherever he was from Mexico. Cases like that. But they're all nice guys. And somehow, I don't know how that was arranged, they tended to be, like -- well, maybe they're away from home or whatever, they needed a woman. So I don't know how they arranged that -- they had some gal, or two gal -- one or two gals come up to the gang and take care of all of the men. I don't know how much they -- money the gals made, but...

SF: So that was the way that the -- they handled the woman issue, they -- somebody would arrange -- who'd arrange for...

TS: I have no idea.

SF: But this one, one or two or three gals would service the whole...

TS: Yeah.

SF: ...the whole crew, huh?

TS: And being the timekeeper, I just didn't wanna know.

SF: Right.

TS: If somebody should ask me, then, so... I kept my nose out of it.

SF: Well, did the Japanese crews...

TS: Never did that.

SF: ...do that? They never did that?

TS: Yeah. (They serviced their individual needs when they had time off and went to a large city -- like Spokane.)

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.