The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-10-17

owned by the rich and cover an area OF
from 10 to 100 square miles. Farming and
agricultural implements are primitive.
The plow is a crooked stick or beam and
scratches the ground to a depth of three
or four inches. This pillow is drawn by
TWO oxen, and the harness Is a broad
strap or rope passing over the forehead
instead OF the shoulders OF the oxen.
Planting is done by poking a hole into
the grund with a stick, dropping the corn
Into it,and the seed Is covered by the oeOn
In stepping from hole TO hole. On these
immense tracts of lands the natives. or
poems. have lived for centuries, and are
forced to buy all their necessities OF life
OF the haciendados Qand owners). Al
the hacienda he gets from IS TO so cents a
day for his work and hut to live IN, II
he builds 1t himself. The peon gets no
money except on feast days and for re-
ligious offerings. BY this system he Is
always in debt to the haciendados. This
form of slavery has been forbidden by
law for a number OF years, but two
thirds Of the poems do not know It. as
they can neither read nor write. and their
masters take good care not to teach shem
this fact.
Organized labor Is unknown here
which is considered a great blessing. But
the country today that has the best sys-
tenn of trade organiza ton and the greater
number of union men per capita OF It's
population is the foremost in wealth. pro-
gression and the happiness of its people
The cry Is raised that there are no poor
in Mexico, but that is no indication of the
absence of poverty. as your committee
can fully testify without fear of contra
diction. as the voice of the mendcant
supplicating almost rang in our ears all
through the country. In the cities Of "a
catecas and Guanajuato, with a popula-
ton of 10000 and 10000, respectively, we
failed to get butter and potatoes on the
tables Of the best hotels. On inquiry, we
were informed that If we paid 81 a pound
for butter, It would be purchased and
kept for our exclusive use.
your commission would caution Amer
lean workmen against going to Mexico
without sufficient funds 10 bring them
back, or to have employment secured be-
fore going there, or they viii be obliged
to subsist on cactus and the sap of the
taquila plant while doing the country. On
asking an American who was conducting
a prosperous business in one of the cities
which your commission visited why it
was that the foreigners all seemed to be
making money, no matter what business
they were engaged In, he, with charac-
teristic Yankee frankness, replied: The
laborer here is different from the laborer
from the states. Here labor is cheap,
and we have no brains to contend with.
THE mission intrusted to your com
mission is a peculiar one. We were sent
to study the social and financial condi-
ton of n far-away people. We are plain
toilers. Injured to the hard knocks of the
factory and workshop, and none are bet
ter qualified to investigate or to feel and
sympathize with the workers of another
country than men from our ranks. We
did not go loaded with credentials. to be
entertained by the people of the better
classes, or yet as scholars, to describe
the monuments of historic interest, or
to have our poetic fancies inspired by the
landscape and azure Skies building NJ
energies in the healthful air OF that
southern cline, but to go among the com
mon people, who are of our own class
and study conditions from that stand
| point. Hence this epistle does not
! abound in high-soundih- platitudes on
! the sublime and beautiful OF that coun-
! try, but on the facts that still exist anC
are ready to speak for themselves tC
those who will go and seek as we have
done. Should they do so, they will fee
as we do. that the American working
man Is a prince compared with the work
ingmen of Mexico. In this country al
stand equal in social and political life
and that political right they should ex
ercise care in the faithful discharge Of
their duties. unprejudiced and unbiased
by supporting such principles as viii dc
the greatest good TO the greatest mum
Der, irrespective of party politics or tn,
machinery of either party, who may ma
nipulate conditions and measures for per
sonal gain TO the detriment of the whole
people
p. ]. MAS,
PATRICK ENRIGHT,