Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-10-22
CLOTHED IN
CRAZY QUILTS.
The Laborers of Mexico
and Their Poverty.
RIDICULOUS WAGES PAID.
Compared With the Laborer In
This Country.

Report OI Gno 1raucS ana LABOR Assem-
bIy's Comnittec-No Poorhouses In Mex
ico, but Poverty Observation-Disclosures
Manufacturers Grow Rich There; the
Laborer Remains Poor.
The Mexican laborer is apparently
content with the four bare walls of his
10 foot square adobe hut, with nothing
inside but the ground to sleep ON,
shawl or blanket to cover or wrap him
self up in, a dish of tortilles (corn pam
cakes) end frejoles (beans) for his frugal
meal, and in large number of cases
little pig. dog and chicken Or two
OF the gamecock order sharing his scant
quarters, while the American laborer
across the limo has all the comforts of
homo and many Of the Injuries of life.
Wages in Mexico, except to skilled
and steady observation-disclosures foreign
ers-are very low. On railroads engi-
neers (Americnns) OH passenger trains
receive $210 Per month, while the fire.
men (Mexicans) receive $1.S5 per day;
freight engineers (Americans), $3.50 per
month; tircmen (Mexicans), 81. so to
$l.75 per day; passenger conductors
(Americans), $3.50 per month; brake
men (Mexioans). 81. so per day; freight
conductors (Americans), 5000 per
month; brakemen (Mexicaps), $57 to
S63 per month; Pullman conductors,
$50 per month american money!, and
the porters $38 per month american
money!, with S. per month extra for
being able to talk Spanish. The national
soldiers (or regular army of Mexico.
called rurales, and who are all ex BAN
dts, receive 81 per day.
In broom factory near the depot, at
Jiminez, the men are paid so cents,
women and children % to 371a cents
per day. In the cotton mills. cottonseed
oil mills and soap factory at Torreon
men are paid 371a to so cents, and
women and children 25 cents per day.
A carcador (public carrier) has rate Of
121a cents per hour, but you can hire
him for from 25 to 2711a cents per day.
At Leon, where nearly all the leather
goods in Mexico are manufactured, the
peon gets his leather cut for shoes, har-
ness or other goods to be made by him
and takes the material to his hut, where
the whole family assists him, the same
as in the sweatshops of Chicago. For
making shoes be receives 81 and upward
per dozen pairs. On the other leather
goods ho receives 81 p to 80 cents per
day for his labor, working as long as
daylight lasts. averaging l2 to ii hours
per day.
Common laborcrs can be hired for Is
to 30 cents per day. House servants,
male or female, receive So to 50 per
month and board themselves. In or near
cities poems live in adobe houses and
pay rental Of 50 year for the ground
that the house stands on. When leaving
this for another location, all Improve
ments" the pcon has made 60 to the
landlord or owner of the land, who pays
no taxes whatever OH the land. A mans
chief article of dress is his sombrcrO,
often costing as much as $50 (Which is
bought on the installment plan, while
the balance of his clothing would make
a crazy quilt turn green with envy, ow-
ing to its variety Of colors and assert
ment of patches, making it hard prob
lem to solve rs to which is the original
garment and which the patch. No stock
ings are worn by either sex, and only
about one third wear sandals, which are
made from q piece of sole leather and
tied to the feet with straps. These san
dals cost from Il to 90 cents per pair.
The average cost Of the necessities of
life for peon family Of five is 25 cents
per day, and clothing for the same costs
about $50 per year
The days work in Mexico runs from
10 to IA hours. The bakers work 20
hours, and workmen who take work to
their homes work as many hours as they
please. The Mexican laEorer's work is
easy compared with the American la
borer, except the carrier, who bears
enormous burdens on his back all day
without manifesting fatigue. The ques-
ton Of shorter hours to Mexico is q long
way off for country in which labor is
so cheap and plentiful that it is offered
as An inducement to bring foreign CAPT
tai in, and its toilers will be compelled
to work as many hours as they are phys
ically able, and thanks to organized Ia
Dor or the American workingman would
be in the same condition today as his
Mexican brother. The haciendas, or
plantations, are owned by the very rich
and cover an area of from 10 to 100
square miles. Farming and agricultural
implements are very primitive. The
pillow is crooked stick or beam and
scratches the ground to depth of three
or four inches. This pillow is drawn
by two oxen, and the harness is broad
strap or rope passing over the forehead
instead of the shoulders of the oxen.
Planting is done by poking hole i'll
the ground with stick, dropping the
corn into it, and the seed is covered by
the peon in stepping from hole to hole.
On these immense tracts of land the
natives, or poems, have lived for CEN
turies and are forced to buy all their
necessities of life at the haciendado's
IlandOwner'Sl truck store On the