‘If you are a good citizen, you can make it . . .’

Sixty-two years ago Eduardo Martinez came to this country to work. His labor earned him a home, a wife, two daughters and three grandchildren. Last week, at age 81, Martinez became a citizen of the United States.

The first time I came to America was with my father, mother and sister in 1911. I went to Lopez School in El Paso. In 1912 we went back to my home town of Chihuahua. In 1924 I came back to the United States, spent five months in El Paso, then worked a year in Arizona. From there I came to work on the new railroad between Tucson and Yuma in 1926. We lived in railroad cars and started work at 7 in the morning. It was pretty hard work because they didn’t have the equipment they have today. We had hammers, picks and bars to tamp the ground. Now they have machines.

When I came to California in 1926, I worked on construction. When I finished a job, I would have to wait for another job to come up. I worked on the Pacoima dam in 1927, then I worked on building the streets, cement for the streets. After that I was in the hospital. I broke my leg in an automobile accident in 1933. I worked for my nephew in a beer joint for a little while, then I started working on construction again.

I didn’t buy a car until 1957. Before you have a car to drive to work, they pick you up on the streets. To get a steady job, you have to have a car. When I worked for the electrical company, I had to go all around Los Angeles County to work, because the company did a lot of work on schools. I worked for the electrical company for 14 years until I retired.

Coming to the United States was good to me because I worked almost all the time. I never lost time when I didn’t work. The only time was when I was in the hospital with the broken leg. Except for that, I worked all the time until I retired in 1969.

There are a lot of people in Los Angeles. More people come and stay here all the time. They don’t have so much work to do now because everything is built up now. When I came, the city of San Fernando was a small town, and there were nothing but oranges and lemons in the San Fernando Valley. Now there is nothing but houses. Then, San Fernando had five or six packing houses for lemons and oranges. Now they don’t have any.

I own a house in Sylmar and one in Pacoima. In 1934 or ’35 you could buy a lot in San Fernando for $25. On Mission Boulevard you could buy a lot for $50. I was thinking I would go back to Mexico, so I didn’t buy one. I bought my first house in 1959 for $17,000. Now I could sell it for 85. I wasn’t thinking I would buy a house until my daughter said, “When are you going to start buying a house?” I didn’t even have to make a down payment. I went to the real estate man, and he said you can go in there, and you don’t have to pay anything until you make the payments. I was working so I could make the payments. I only paid $150 a month.

I’ve been in the United States almost all my life. I don’t think I would go back and live in Mexico. I live my life here. I have my family here. My family doesn’t want to go there. There is no place to work there.

I know that citizenship is good because you have a lot of opportunities with your citizenship. If you are a good citizen, you can make it pretty good in the United States. I don’t think any country can be better, not even my own country.

I took my citizenship lessons at Santa Rosa School in San Fernando. My wife and I went over there and took the lessons. My wife didn’t get her papers today, but later on she’s going to get them.

I feel pretty good, but I wasted too much time to get American citizenship. Sixty-two years and I never tried to get it. I couldn’t go on government work because I wasn’t a citizen.

I don’t think any country is better than the United States. You can speak to the people, and you can talk whatever you want to talk. In other countries you can’t say anything about the government.