The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1891-10-23
COST OF LIVING IN MEXICO.
It Is Worry Steep. but Money Is Made
Easily.

COSl Of LiVIN0 iiS IVA 6<~AN0s
It Is Very Steep. but Money Is Made
Easily.
l asked young American dentist in
San Luis Potosi, city of 100, 600 peo-
pie in the north central part of Mexico
"a richa farming country what it
costs to live in Mexico, says Carpen-
ter's special letter to the n. 7. World.
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;
Il keep a close account of my ex-
penses and as figure it it costs me
just about $117 month. My living
costs me for table expenses 81 day,
or $50 a month. I pay $25 month
for my house and l have three serv-
ants. who average 81 per month apiece.
Here every respectable fellow has to
have a cook, man and chamber
maid. In addition to the wages OF the
servants / have to give them SO much
a day for food. Each of them expects
six cents every morning for tortillas
or corn cakes which constitute the
bread of the common people. 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. I once bought twenty
five pounds of soap and tried to dole it
to them, but they wouldn't take it.
Washing and ironing are never done
in the house in Mexico. There are
public washerwomen. 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
Cinnamon and l pay them S. month
for doing it, My butter costs me sey-
enty-five cents a pound, my milk sew
enteen cents day, and l pay about
six cents day on the average for
charcoal.
''An ordinary hand-me-down suit
costs from $40 to $50. Underclothing
is very expensive. Calico costs Is
cents yard. A very ordinary silk
necktie sells for 80. Linen cuffs are
so cents pair and collars three for
81. My wife's dresses count up. I
can tell you, and a man has got to
make good lot of money in Mexico
in order to live as well as he does at
home'
Il suppose you make it. said I.
Eyes, do" was the reply, land
an American dentist who will come
here and stay can do likewise. made
SIS, 900 the first year, and have done
considerably better right along since
that time. l can charge bigger prices.
I get from 800 to $3.50 for a full set
of teeth on rubber. Whenever I adj
minister gas I charge $40 for pulling
a tooth, and when number are pulled
I charge $40 for the first tooth and S.
for all succeeding ones. For jerking
out tooth without gas I charge 50.
Filings range from S. upward, and
gold filings cost from $15 up into the
hundreds, according to the size of the
cavity and the size of the bank account
of the man who has his teeth filed. /
always get $500 for making a set of
teeth on gold, and all other business
is done at proportionate rates"
There are about 700 Americans liv-
ing in Mexico City. Some of these
are very wealthy. A few own houses,
and quite number have rented es-
Establishments. Thomas Brauniff, who
was born on Staten Island is said to
have an income of 500. 900 year.
He is President of the Mexican Rail-
way which runs to Vera Cruz, and he
has big plantation, cotton factories
and is one of the leading owners of the
Bank of London and Mexico which is
the biggest bank in the country. He
is building a house which will cost
$780, 900 on the Paseo. fashionable
drive of Mexico City. He is the rich
est American in Mexico. Gen. John
B. Frisbie is another rich American.
He owns some gold mines near Toluca
and he has one of the most comfort
able homes in the capital. He tells
me that living is high in Mexico and
that his expenses there are about as
big as they would be in Washington.