Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-09-13
EASY TO GET RICH.
The Young Fortune Seeker Should
HE Himself Away to Mexico.
AN AMERICAN DENTISTS LUCK.
It Costs Great Deal to Live, but People
Expect High Charges.
FIFTY DOLLARS FOR FILLING A TOOTH
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE p1spArcH.I ]

MEXICO CITY, Sept. 1O.-"What does 1t
cost to live in Mexico"
asked this question of young Amer1-
can dentist who was practieing his profess
sion in the City of San Luis Potosi. This
is city of about 1OO 900 people. 1t lies in
the north central part of Mexico and is in .
rich farming country. The young dentist
lives very nicely. Like all of his kind in
Mexico, he is making money, and he is saw
ing enough to make him rich within the
next 10 or Is years. Said he:
'I keep close account of my expenses,
and, as I figure it, it costs me just about
SLY month. My living costs me for table
expenses 50 day, or $50 month. 1 pay
s25 month for my house, and 1 have thSee
servants, who average 81 month apiece. I
might get along with less servants, but not
very we'll. Here every respectable fellow
has to have cook, man, and chamber
maid. The cook won't go outside the
kitchen, and you have some trouble making
the chambermaid wait upon the table. My
boy tends to the front door, waters the
street in front of my house and runs my
errands. He sleeps in front of the door at
night, and does the most of my marketing.
PERoUIsITEs OF THE SERVANTS.
'In addition to the wages of the servants
I have to give them so much day for food.
Each of them expects 6 cents every morning
for tortillas or the corn cakes, which con-
stitutes the bread of the common people.
They claim that they don't like my food,
but 1 have sneaking idea that they steal it
all the same. Then every week l have to
give cents extra to them for soap. This is
the custom and they want the money and
not the soap. 1 once bought % pounds of
soap and tried to dole it out to them, but
thev wouldn't take it. Then in addition to
this, 1 have my washing and ironing This
is never done in the house in Mexico. There
are public washer-women, who pound and
rub the clothes to pieces after wetting them
with cold water, which they get from public
tanks, or bitches. They wear out the
clothes in one-third the time that they
would be destroyed by the Chinese laundry,
and pay them S. month for doing it. My
butter costs IS cents pound, my milk II
cents day, and pay about cents day
on the average for charcoal. All the cook
ing in Mexico is done with charcoal and
there is not a cooking stove in Mexican
family the country over. Mexican houses
have no chimneys and our cooking utensils
are all made of clay"
SOME OF THE RULING PRICES.
"How about incidental expenses?" I
asked. 'They are very high was the
reply. "Money slips away here faster than
you would think, and I would like to give
YOU some of the items An ordinary hand
me-down suit costs from $50 to $50. Under
clothing is very expensive. Calico costs 18
cents yard. A very ordinary silk necktie
sells for g. Linen cuffs are 30 cents pair,
and collars are three for 81. Coal oil costs
81 cents a gallon, good tea costs 81 90
pound, and canned meats are expensive.
Take one of these 15-cent cans of lobster or
salmon, which you can buy any place in
America, and it will cost 81 cents here, and
cake of good soap will cost you IS cents.
Canned fruits are from Is cents up, coffee
costs % cents in the bean unground, and
chocolate is 40 cents a pound. Bread costs
12 cents loaf. You can buy the same at
home for cents. Table salt costs cents
pound. Flour is shilling pound, and the
better classes of imported articles are very
high. Ny claret costs me 81 30 bottle,
and pay 10 cents quart for potatoes
NV wifes dresses count up can tell you,
and a man has to make good lot of money
in Mexico in order to live as well as he
does at home.
HOW ONE DENTIST GOT RICH.
'T suppose you make it," said 1. ''Yes,
I do," was the reply, 'tand any American
dentist who will come here and stay can do
likewise I made $1,000 the first year, and
1 have done considerably better right along
since that time. I can charge bigger prices.
1 get from $100 to $3.50 for full set OF teeth
on rubber The same thing in the States
costs YOU SIS. Whenever 1 administer gas
1 charge $40 for the pulling of a tooth, and
when number are pulled charge SlO Tor
the first and S. for all succeeding ones. For
Jerking out tooth without gas charge 81,
and in the United States you would only
get 50 cents for this work. As TO filings,
they range from S. upward, and gold filings
cost from S15 up into the hundreds, accord
ing to the size of the cavity and to the size
of the bank account of the man who has his
teeth filled. 1 always get $500 for making
a set of teeth on gold, and all other busi-
ness is done at proportionate rates.
81 know of many dentists who are maxi
ing more than I, and know of number
who charge more than do. 1 often make
81 900 month, but dentists in Mexico City
make more, and 1 know man there who
gets $50 tooth for any kind of filling, and
who came to Mexico from South America,
where he made $40, ,00Q single year. He is
a good dentist, but his charges are terrible.
In the meantime am investing all save
in Mexico, and expect to make fortune"
AMERICANS IN MEXICO CITY.
There are about 700 Americans living in
Mexico City. Some of these are very
wealthy. A few own houses and quite
number have rented establishments The
Hon. Thomas Braunif, who was, under
stand, born on Staten Island is SAID to be
number of times millionaire, and his in
come must be considerably over 800, 900
year. He is president of the Mexican rail-
way which runs to Vera Cruz, and he has a
big plantation, cotton factories, and is one
of the leading owners of the Bank of Lon
don and Mexico, which is the biggest bank
in the country. He is building house
which will cost S100, 900 on the Paseo, which
is fashionable drive of Mexico City, and
he is the richest American in Mexico.
General John B. Frisbie is another rich
American. He owns some gold mines near
Toluca, and he has one of the most comfort
abba homes in the Capital. He tells me
that living is high in Mexico, and that his
expenses are about as big as they would be
in Washington. The same is the verdict of
the other Americans whom 1 have met
here. Rents are high and luxuries are very
expensive. Everything that is imported is
high, and a great chance for money
making is for the American to go to Mexico,
study the needs of the people, and to start
factories in Mexico for making the articles
that are now SO highly protected by the
tariff.
A CHANCE FOR NAILMAKER.
Take the matter of nails, for instance.
These cost from 16 to % cents q pound, and
they are so expensive that great part OF
the building of Mexico is done with ropes |
instead of nails. Here in Mexico City, |
within a stones throw of the Iturbide !
Hotel, an immense building is being erected. !
7 ~ h,,I1 @yoI