The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-10-12
TRADES UNIONS INVESTIGATE
AND WARN FELLOW LABORERS
NOT TO GO THE.-G WITHOUT
RETURN TICKET.
POLITICS NOT TOUCHED UPON
Interesting Description of the
Habits and Methods of the
Greaser PeOn.

to Chicago, and submitted it's report tt
the meeting Of the assembly this after
noon. The report is in part as follows
The principal inducement offered capita
| to invest in Mexico is the cheap native labor
! to be found, and no danger Of strikes and 1T
| consequent evils to the investor This is one
| of the strongest points. advanced in solicit
ing investments for Mexico, which statements
| we have CLEANED from native newspapers and
literature sent broadcast to the world. Tt
| this we respectfully call the attention OF
| the American workingmen, as 1t gives 9
/ arue status of the condition Of labor as II
/ q lists in our sister republic, where in that
| c\lntry the only thing that the toiler has to
! o1\-r to maintain his existence-his labor-is
| IL cheapest commodity in the country. To
| talN advantage of this the foreigner Is in
! swaf enrich himself on the general misery
! of lie toilers. For labor creates all wealth
| and the creator Of all wealth, aye, even the
! Creator of the universe, If possible, would
! be detbroned TO subserye the interests Of
man in his greed for af1uence and power,
| and In no country among the civilized nations
is this fact SO manifestly true as in the
| United States Of Mexico. There class dis
| tinction Is carried to a degree parallel to
| the castles Of India. There the native toiler
believes that he Is born to live and die a
| is contented with his lot. But that content
ment, so much harped on by certain writ
ers. Is the contentment akin to the burro-
performs it's task with the impressive IN
difference of an automaton.
The first stop made by your committee was
at FL Paso, Tex, where we investigated the
wages paid and the conditions of the Ameri-
can laborers. From that point We crossed
| over the only international street railway
in the world to the city Of Juarez, formerly
distant from Ell Paso At this place a COM
plete change met the eye-everything assum-
ing Mexican air-and we realized that the
time had arrived when the real duties Of our
Y17iSS Wyo tnnlx 0hc Qti ions Of 10
people as to their appearance, mode Of living,
social conditions, wages paid and prices of
commodities, and were surprised at the con-
trast compared with conditions ETC., in Ell
Paso. Here we first saw the cotton clothing
and sandals worn by the peon. The cloth
ing on many of these people was perforated
and abbreviated in q manner sufficient to
show their bronzed skin as the sandals showed
their feet.
The two peoples, as to their habits, tastes,
customs and modes of life, are such that a
comparison is unnatural Life Is regarded
from very different standpoints, as they live
under different conditions, inasmuch as the
Mexican laborer Is apparently content with
the four bare walls Of his ten-foot square
adobe hut, with nothing inside but the
ground to sleep on, shawl or blanket TO
cover wrap himself up in, a dish of
tortlllas (corn pancakes) and frijoles (beans)
for his frugal meal, and In a large number
OF cases a little pig. dog and a chicken or
two Of the game cock order sharing his
scant quarters, while the American laborer
and many of the luxuries Of life.
Wages In Mexico. except to skilled and
steady Observation-Disclosures foreigners--are
very low. On railroads engineers (Arnert-
cans) on passenger trains receive $210 per
month, while the fremen (Mexicans) receive
1.85 per day; freight engineers (Americans),
$3.50 per month; 1remen (Mexlcans), $3.50 to
$1.75 per day; passenger conductors (Amer-
icans), $3.50 per month; brakemen (Mexicans),
so per day; freight conductors (Americans),
$500 per month; brakemen (Mexicans). $57
to SGD per month; Pullman conductors. $50
per month (American money!. and the porter
$50 per month (American money! with S.
per month extra for being able to talk Span
ish. The national soldiers Tor regular army
OF Mexico, called rurales, and who are all
ex-bandlts, receive 81 per day. In a broom
factory near the depot at Jimenez, the men
are paid 80 CENTS women and children Is
to 3715 cents per day. In the cotton mills,
cottonseed Oil mills and soap factory at Ter
reon men are paid 371a to so cents, women
and children 25 cents per day. carcador
public CARRIER has rate Of 121z cents per
hour, but you can hire him from % to 371a
cents per day.
At Leon. where nearly all the leather goods
In Mexico are manufactured, the peon gets
his leather cut for shoes, harness 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 sweat shops
of Chicago. For making shoes he receives
81 and upward per dozen pairs; on other
leather goods he receives 3711 to SO cents per
day for his labors. working as long as day
hours per day. Common laborers can be hired
for is to so cents per day. House servants,
male or female, receive So to S. per month
and board themselves. In or near cities
poems live in adobe houses and pay rental of
So year for the ground that the house stands
on. When leaving this for another location
all Improvements" the peon has made goes
to the landlord or owner Of the land who
pays no taxes whatever on the land. Build
ing lots In cities-50 by 125 feet-cost SOS
per foot front and up, or smaller patch of
ground-verra-three feet square, at the rate
Of $3.50 to $3.50 per vera.
The chief industry Of Mexico Is mining,
and the way mines are worked Is certainly
as primitive as can be. Very few mines are
generally sunk. The drilling is done by
hand, one peon holding a long steel chisel
while the other uses a heavy sledge- hammer
or stone to drive the chisel into the rock
After blasting poems break up the larger
rocks into smaller ones, while others crush
the same Into coarse powder by rubbing it
| on nat stones or breaking 1t with hammer
This is then shoveled into bags and carried
to the surface. poems climbing number of
umbers with notChes cut in them (called
monkey ladders 200 to 400 feet high, with
$50 to 325 pounds Of pulverized ore on his
back.
To watch a gang. Of peon laborers at work
| putting up new building will break the
heart OF an American laborer. Ali building
| Is done with species of stone called tepa-
| tate, which is "quarried" with an ak or
Ratchet, and which hardens by exposure to
/ the elements. All material is carried to the
| patlo or open court In the middle Of the pro-
| posed new building the backs Of poems and
| burroS. trench Is dug and the foundation
commenced one peon mixing netive cement
| In hollow log with a stick, While another
| carries stone to the trench for the mason
| When the structure has reached the height
/ OF about five feet above the ground a scat
foid is made on the outside Of the building
| OF wooden beams securely tied with ropes
across which other beams are laid and the
iaoorer carries the material up a series oil
inclines The inside Of the building is filed
| with dirt and rubbish as fast as the walls
60 up. The bod carrier carries the cement to
the stone mason in bag while another car
RES up stones or adobe bricks (size, 6x11xs
teen OF the bricks at a time or stone
| weighing from % to 200 pounds This work
Is very tedious. owing to its method. After
| the building is completed the dirt and rub.
Dish with which 1T is filled on the inside Il
i carried out in bags and carried away on bur
ro's backs to some dumping place, while the
| the front Of the building, an art In which
they are very skillful and receives STU cents
to 81 day.
| In the mines as we'll as on buildings the
| modern ladders, but the peon would not use
| them. fearing to risk his life on the rounds
and when wheelbarrcws were bro. ght fol
| his use he filled the box of the same and car.
ried the loaded wheelbarrow away on his
! head.
The stone quarries in Mexico are from one
to fifty miles away from the cities but the
stone, as fast quarried or a use has beer
found for 1t, is carried on the backs of poems
and burros to the cities. Your Committee
met one OF these poems carrying a stone 81
| S1a feet square and inches thick which
he was bringing from a quarry nearly twenty
| miles away. Twenty minutes later we me-
| number OF burros, each carrying two suct
1 stones and learned from the attendants thai
the peon had left the quarry at the same tins
| as did the burros with their load
| The native Tor laborerl of Mexico is but
! child In intelligence and IL left to his owr
! resources would be helpless to make q liveli.