Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-10-02
LAND OF MONTEzUMAS.
THE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
FOR AMERICANS.
a Few Chances for Manipulating,
but no Places for Labor
ing Classes.
IREcoAD-UN1oS Special correspondence
MFx1cn. September q. 1886.

swered all such to the best of his knowl-
edge, and in nearly every case discouraged
his countrymen from coming to Mexico,
unless they have considerable capital to in
vest and in that case it is his opinion that
a man had better content himself to 1--we
moderately at home upon the small but
safe interest Of his money-where his fam
lily can have social advantages and his chill
dren better opportunities for education
thar to risk all in this chaotic country. He
might happen to " strike it rich here in
mines, manufactures, or some big scheme,
but he odds would be fearfully against
MIN for permanent success. Said our con-
sular friend More than ten thousand
Americans came to Mexico last year with
vague ideas Of getting rich in the land OF
the Montezumas, and probably not ten OF
those who remained to work out the idea
are now located to their satisfaction"
'Why don't you travelling Journalists
continued he-'giye the flowers and the
mountains and the strange sights and Gus
toms here a rest, and tell your people at
horne something of vastly more impor-
lance? Business interests, commercial
matters, laws pertaining to the rights of
foreigners, etc, might not make attractive
literature for the general reader, but would
be of great benefit to a certain class who
are eagerly seeking just such information;
and what IS of more consequence, 1t might
deter many from the irretrieyable mistake
OF sacrificing their home interests to come
to this fancied Ell Dorado in search OF an
SgniS tatuuS."
The subject indicated is too great to be
handled effectively in the limits OF a news
II IL Co-v G.,t1 an ayt1ff,Ny
facts NAV be of service to some. In the
irst place, it should be distinctly under
stood that Mexico is 40 place for a North
ern laborer, and NJ working man need
come here with the expectation of earning
a living by honest toil-unless under
special contract with an American railway
or some other home enterprise-for there
is now
A GLUT OF LABOR,
At prices ranging from six cents to fifty
cents per diem. It must be remembered
that the serving classes of Mexico greatly
outnumber those who are able to hire them,
that the swarming Deon population are
almost as much in actual slavery as were
their forefathers to the early Spaniards,
and that-from hereditary habits and their
profound ignorance of the comforts of life
they can live well enough according to
their simple ideas) on wages that would
starye an Anglo-Saxon. Being few manu-
factories here, there is no demand for
skilled artisans, and nobody from the
United States can afford to compete in
price with native workmen.
But there is plenty Of room here for
capital, accompanied by prudence, energy,
thrift and discretion. 1t is foolish to talk
of the conquest and annexation of Mexico
BY force of arms. The way to possess all
70 want of this low Rnnnfrv lie mot Inv
war, but by the peaceful invasion of Amer
lean enterprise, backed by the dollars of
our daddies,' in the development of
natural resources and the establishment of
m~uch-needed manufactures.
For example: Among Mexico's press
ing and special needs are glass-works, fruit
canning establishments, iron foundries and
rolling mills, paper factories, ham-curing
houses, irrigation companies and drive
wells, cattle and sheep ranches, oil refiner-
les and cotton factories.
There are many places in Mexico where
4 kind of cotton cloth, both bleached and
unbleaehed, called manta, is made, but few,
If any, manufactures of printed goods.
The poorest grade of calico, which else
where retails for o cents per yard, here
brings from 90 to % cents a Td~ra-about
three-fourths of a yard. AS
THE DUTY on PRINTS
Amounts to considerably more than the
original cost of the cloth itself-while the
duty on raw cotton is simply nominal, and
the price of labor less than anywhere else
on the co%ntinent-it would, doubtless, re-
paw capitalists to establish print factories
wherever there is suitable water power.
One will do well to +" think twice" how
ever, before setting up any machinery that
must be run by steam, and carefully count
II that
there is comparatively 10 coal here, n IN
some sections wood sells as high as a cent
and a half per pound.
Other fortunes might perhaps be realized
from the manufacture of paper, for that
quality which retails for about 81 so per
ream in the United States, sells for not less
than SIS so per ream after it has crossed the
border and paid the duties. The refuse OF
cotton mills, which is now burned as OF no
value, might be utilized in the new indus
trv-not to mention the fiber plants which
grow wild all over Mexico, some OF which
are said 10 make the best paper pulp in the
world.
Machinery of all kinds now comes in
tree of duty-and right here is a hint to
the several thousand surplus Agents"
which the United States would not grieve
TO get rid Of, viz: The most ordinary sew
ing-nachines sell readily here for S125 and
upwards wherever the lightning-rod man
has been his mark is left on nearly every
house while life insurance agents, the
book fend, the chrome nuisance, and all
the rest of the fraternity who have strayed
down here being novelties as yeti, are re-
ceived with open arms, so to speak, instead
of being popularity snubbed, as at home.
In Mexico we pay from so cents to 81 for
a cake of ordinary toilet soap, such as re-
tails " three for a quarter" anywhere in
the United States. Common brown soap
is sold for 25 cents the bar and is also
"retailedn in thin slices, resembling
boarding-school sponge-cake, at a madeo
rs cents per slice. As may be inferred,
the Mexican poor seldom indulge in so
expensive a luxury. They use instead the
root of the mountain shrub, ~LechuQuiliG,
which answers the purpose pretty well, ex-
cept that it tears the clothes into shreds and
roughens the skin till it resembles a cactus
leaf. There are several mines of that we'll
known substance called "soap-stone,'
which softens the water somewhat and
makes considerable I" suds," yet is a poor
substitute for Yankee soap. A very large
deposit of this
MINERAL SOAR
Is found in the well-known mines of Ce-
mango del Rio, in the State of Guerrero. In
\ land where so much pork and mutton
are universally eaten there can be no lack
of soap m~ateria-beside the nut-bearing
palms and cactus-beans, both indigenous
TO the soil, which might be made to yield
bonanzas in the shape Of oil.
IN my opinion fortunes lie in market
gardening-the raising of potatoes, yege-
tables and small fruits on the American or
English plan. In many portions of Mex
leo an Irish potato, or any other vegetable
with which Northerners a familiar, are
never seen-although it is asserted that
they would grow to advantage in this rich
soil, if properly cultivated. If you ask a
native why he does not eat such things, he
shrugs his shoulder and replies 1t is not
the custom'-simply because neither be
nor his neighbors have enterprise enough
to plant them. But l never yet found a
Mexican who did not like American food
better than his own, when well cooked.
In northern Mexico q few Irish potatoes
ora imnnrfa1 for Yanfao oaDSupanfiop Of