Antedating of "Wetback"

[Fred Shapiro]

wetback (OED 1929)

1920 _N.Y. Times_ 20 June XX6 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  In the
Laredo district alone, a speaker at a business men's dinner recently
estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 of these "wetbacks," as they are
called because of their method of entry, had crossed into Texas in that
time.

Fred Shapiro


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