The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-03
RIVALS OF RAILWAYS
MEXICAN BURDEN BEARERS REALLY
HINDER EXTENSION OF ROADS.
Descendants of the Montezumas Per-
Their Ubiquity and strength.
Correspondence New York Post

| People who come back from a tour
| through old Mexico, as our sister re-
| public is called in the West. to distinguish
| ii from the Territory of New Mexico. are
| full of wonder at the dexterity and strength
| of the burden-bearers of the old land. In
| Paso del Norte, the thriving little Mexican
| city, across the Rio Grande from Ell Paso.
| the earliest things that attract the atten-
| ton of visitors from the States are first,
| the men and women who are hourly seen
| going at dog trot up and down the nar>
| row streets with enormous loads of mer-
chandise on their shoulders, and, second,
| the prison-like closeness with which every
home, from the lowlest peon adobe to
the aristocratic brick residence, is barred
and bolted to any entrance of inquisitive
eyes from the street
The longer one stays in Mexico. the more
| convinced is he of the fact that the modern
descendants of Montezuma are race OF
burden-bearers. There are in Paso del
Norte several hundred men who daily carry.
pounds or more. and there are few lusty.
| young Mexicans there who have frequently
brought envy to the hearts of their ASSOC
ciates by carrying packs of ore or meta
weighing over 400 pounds across the long
wooden bridge over the Rio Grande to Ell
Paso, a distance of more than mile.
There are a few of them who have carried
a load of $50 pounds twenty miles in G.
day. These men are the teamsters, the
freighters and the railroads of old Mexico,
and without them and the ubiquitous burro
or ass, hundreds of mining camps and enter
prises away up in the .mountasns, AL over
the republic. would be impossible Without
would suffer for lack of necessities of iiv-
ing. The burden-bearers of Mexico are
They are far from being fair specimens of
physical beauty. As a rule, they are OF
small stature, thin of legs and arms, bag.
gard faced probably from excessive use OF
| the powerful mescal and tobacco). and pre-
maturely old. But their necks and chests
ing a heavy pack great muscular develop
ment. They are somewhat stoop-shouidereo
peculiarly eai a intense and staring expression
The business of burden bearing, or foot
Mexico call it to distinguish the manner of
carrying their freight from that or NIUE
eam son or Several nroa freghters in Paso del
| Norte exhibit crude Spanish signs on their
mud houses. informing the public that tnesr
erations back were first-class "cargadores
or burden bearers. in the City of Mexico
outside of Asia that clings SO tenaciously
to old customs and that has as thorough
| contempt for modern ways OF clvlllzatlon
| the poor people of Mexico.
COURIERS AND NAIL CARRIERS
| In the early history of Mexico post
houses were established on the great roads
| of the country about two leagues apart
and couriers were dispatched at regular in
| tervals with the mail and commerce of the
y.
are dozens of pictures of these couriers
with their dispatches. in the form of HERO
glyphics. running over the mountains and
| plains, and the legends state that they
| were trained so as to make from four to
| five leagues an hour, the league IN that
half miles. There are scores of mail
| carriers in the sparsely settled parts OF
every every week. A few cover on foot forty
| miles a day six, days in the week, and up
and down rough mountain sides at fhat
| They do not seem to know. what fatigue
| means. The fact is that from the Rlo
peaceable Indian carrier bears on his back
| the commerce of the Spanish American
countries. the load being held in place ~. BY
| breast or shoulders, or by two or more or
| these combined.
| The mountainous condition of these coun-
| tries and the thick tropical vegetation have
| kept alive this practice of using human be-
time time as the best substitute for the patient
| pack mule. In every city and pueblo, cara
| coming from every direction, bringing to
the market every kind OF COMMONLY, ana
the various attitudes show there IS ~ not br
den-bearing with which he is not familiar:
The descendants of the Aztecs are a stir,
necked people in more than one sense, ana
seem to prefer to place their burdens so as
| to be supported by strap across the fore
| forehead and the muscles of the neck
while the hands are left free to handle the
to carry a pole TO help them up some preci-
| p;ce. In this way they are seen carrying
so steep that any one else would have to
pick his steps with care to avoid a tumble
longer than that from the top of the Wash
Ride along any of the railroad systems
of Mexico and the persistent. patient
b burros and their masters both heavily
loaded and parallelng the iron track with
animated trains that are no mean rivals
a
Yankee manager of one of the roads said
one day nera is our rival that IS the
it were not for that line this company
would treble its lines of railroad next
their profits We have to combat the Gus
toms and habits of centuries. Those fel-
City of Mexico the crops of great ha-
ciendas far back in the mountains and it
is impossible to force change"
TIME NO OBJECT.
Remembering this the writer talked to
one of the richest of the haciendados one
day. and tried to show him how the United
States had prospercd by railroads and OK
planned that the railroads could carry his
produce in one-quarter of the time and
for less than half the COST but it was
soon learned that time was no object in
'the land of tomorrow and that it was
impossible to convince the haciendado
about the cost, as the roads charged hard
in the city was on the barter system and
he only knew what his balance was.
The railroads, they know, cost immense
sums of money to maintain, and the shipper
does not propose to pay part of that cost
when he has burden bearer who raises
his own food, feeds, waters and curries
himself although little time is wasted in
the latter operation) who changes himself
into propeller, trackman, and a multitude OF
other forms; who is indeed engine engineer,
freight car, truck, wheelbarrow, horse cart,
dray, mule and driver all combined and
whose wife is equal sharer of his bur-
dens. The Mexican believes in womans
rights to the extent that she should carry
her half and in fact a little more.
Even during the horrors of uncvlized
war, in the worst of the dearly loved revo-
lutions, the soldier of the army has each
his woman who belongs to him, who carries
a heavy load of Indian corn and babies,
and who cooks tortillas and frijoles for her
lord and master and helps carry home
the plumber If the revolution is a success,
and who not infrequently perishes if the
other party is victorious. At home, in the
fields, it is common to see the woman
hitched up helping the forlorn mule drag
the wooden pillow through the stubborn soil,
or in harness assisting the patient burro up
some especially precpitous pass. But these
are of the poor classes.
standing before the door of any hotel it
Is interesting TO study the procession pass
ing Here women loaded down