antedating of _wetback_ (1920)

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

Barry Popik's invaluable website  (barrypopik.com) already noted the 1920 attestation, plus a few more; see:
http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/wetback_wet_back/

Gerald Cohen

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David Barnhart wrote, Monday, April 01, 2013 9:05 PM:

Current eOED earliest date is 1929.  Found in Google Books:

Mr. Hudspeth. The chairman knows that I stood here and urged with all the
vehemence in my power that that resolution be put through.  I stood here and
did all in my power to keep the "wetback" the "grayback" and the "blueback"
from coming across.  And I stand here to-day asking for that.

The Chairman.  Let us get a definition of those terms.  What is a "wetback"?

Mr. Hudspeth.  You have heard a "wetback" described; he is a fellow that
crosses the river surreptitiously.

"Temporary admission of illiterate Mexican laborers," Hearings Before the
Committee on Immigration and Naturalization House of Representatives
Sixty-sixth Congress second session on H.J. Res. 271, Jan. 26, 27, 28, 30,
and Feb. 2, 1920, p 141

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