The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-12-04
LIVING In MEXICO.
It Costs Much Moro Than It Docs
In tho United States.
Rents High ana Luxurles OF All Kinds
Very Expensivc--A Rich Field
for American Enter
prise.


for American Enter
what does it cost to live in McXico?"
was aslle d OF IL young American dentist
who was practicing his profession in the
city of San Luis Potos, by II City of
Mexico correspondent of the St. Louis
Globe-Deinocrat. This city of about
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 saving enough to
make him rich within the next ten or
fifteen years. Said he: 81 keep close
account of my expenses, and figure it
costs me just about one hundred and
seventeen dollars n month. My living
costs me for table expenses two dollars
n day, or sixty dollars month. pay
twenty-five dollars month for my
house and / have three servants, who
average four dollars Il month apiece.
might get along with less servants but
not very we'll. Here every respectable
fellow has to have cook, n man, and
q chambcrmaid. The cook won't 90
go outside tho kitchen, and you have
some trouble making the chamber
maid wait upon the table. My
boy tends to the front door,
waters the street in front of my
house, and runs my crrands. He sleeps
in front of the door ut night, and does
the most of my marketing. In addition
to the wages of the servants have to
give them so much day for food. Each
of them expects six cents every morning
for tortillas, or the corn cakes which
constitute the bread of the common
people. They claim that they don't like
my food, but have Il sncalzing idea
that they steal it all the same. Then
every week have to give six cents
extra to them for soap. This is the
custom; and they want the money and
not the soap. l once bought twenty
five pounds of soap and tried to dole it
out to them, but they wouldn't take it.
Then, in addition to this, have INV
washing and ironing. This is never done
in the house in Mexico. There arc pub
lie washerwomen. who pound and rub
the clothes to pieces after wetting them
with cold water, which they get from
the publ tanks or bitches. They
wear out the clothes in one-third tho
time that they would DC destroyed by
the Chinese laundry, and l pay them
five dollars month for doing it.. My
butter costs me sevcnty-fvc cents n
pound. my milk seventeen cents day,
and pay about six cents day on tho
average for charcoal All the cooking
in Mexico is done with charcoal, and
there is not n cooking stove in Mexi-
can family the country over. Mexican
houses have no chimneys, and our cook
ing utensils are all made of clay"
"How about incidental expcnses?"
asked.
They are very high" was tho reply.
Money slips away hero faster than
you would think, and would like to
give you some of the items"
Rents arc high and luXurics arc very
expensive. Everything that is import
cd is high. and a great chance for
money making is for the American to
go to Mexico, study the needs of the
people, and start factories there for
making the articles that are now SO
highly protected by the tariff. Take
the matter of nails, for instance. They
cost from sixteen to twenty-five cents
a pound, and they are SO expensive that
a great part of the building of Mexico
is done with ropes instead of nails.
Here in Mexico city, within n stones
throw of the Iturbide hotel, an i'm
mense building is being erected The
scaffolding about this building is tied.to-
gether with ropes, and the rafters being
spliced in this way Many of the huts
of the southern part of the country
have roofs of thatch tied to rafters with
ropes, and some of these huts have not
a nail in them. Few wooden buildings
are known in Mexico. The average
house has neither cellar nor garnet, and
the fastening. which we make with
nails, are ingeniously constructed with
brick and mortar. | have seen fences
where the boards and poles were tied
to the posts, and crate that got the
other day to carry pottery in was made
of rods tied together with strings. All
classes of building material are costly
here. You have to pay thirty-fivc to
forty dollars thousand for flooring,
and glass is very high. A great many
of the cheaper houses have no win
dows. in the glass sense of the word.
The openings arc covered with iron bars
and are fastened ut night with close
wooden shutters. Iron has during past
years been largely imported from Bel
GUM, and there is q good chance for