The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-10-17
WAGES PAID IN MEXICO
CHICAGO TRADE AND LABOR COM
MITTEE MAKES ITS REPORT.
skilled Mechanics Receive Good
Pay, While UnslSiIled Labor
Gets Poor Reward.


that country. has returned TO Chicago
and submitted its report at the meeting
OF the assembly this afternoon. The
report is in part as follows:
The first stop made by your com
mittee was at Ell Paso, Texas, where we
investigated the wages paid and the con-
dition of the American labOrers. From
that point we crossed to the city OK Ju-
Rrez, but two miles from ii Paso. At
this place a complete change met the
eye-everything assuming a Mexican air
and we realized that the time had ar
rived when the real duties Of our mis-
sion began. We took observations of
the people as to their appearance, mode
of living, social condition, wages paid
ana prices of commodities, and were sur
prised at the contrast as compared with
conditions we left in Ell Paso. The two
peoples as to their habits. tastes, Gus
toms and modes OF life, are such that
a comparison is unnatural
Life Is regarded from quite different
standpoints, as they live under different
conditions. inasmuch as the Mexican
Iaborer is apparently contented with the
four bare walls of his 10-foot square
adobe hut, with nothing inside but the
ground TO sleep on, a shawl or blanket
to cover or wrap himself up in. dish
OF tortillas corn pancakes) and frijoles
(beans) for his frugal meal, and in
large number of cases little pig, a dog
and a chicken or two OF the game cock
order. sharing his scant quarters, while
the American laborer. across the line,
has all the comforts of home and many
of the luxuries of life.
Wages in Mexico, except the skilled
and steady MISUNDERSTANDING foreign
ers-are low. On railroads, engineers
(American) on passenger trains receive
SILL per month, while the hremen Mex
icGns) receive $l.S5 per day; freight en-
? gineers (Americans), 500 per month; fire
men (MeXicans) $l.50 to $l.15 per day;
passenger conductors (American), $l60
rer month; brakemen (MeXicans), $3.50
per day; freight conductors (American),
$500 per month; bralIemen (MeXicansJ,
$57 to $63 per month; Pullman conductors,
$50 per month american money!, and the
porters S2S per month american money!,
with S. per month extra for being able
TO talk Spanish. The national soldiers
Geeular army of Mexico. called ru-
ra,es, and who are all ex-bandits, receive
81 per day.
"ln a broom factory near the depot
at Juarez the men are paid so cents, wo-
iuen and children 25 to 371s cents per
day. In the cotton mills, seed oil mills
and soap factories at Torreon, men are
paid 41h to 81 cents, women and chill
dren 20 cents per day. A carcador pub
lie carrier) has a rate of l2h cents per
hour, but you can hire him for from
rs to 3711 cents per day.
AT Leon, where nearly all the leath-
or goods are manufactured, the peon gets
his leather cut for shoes or other goods
TO be made by him. and take the mate
if.I to hrff 10 hHl f4 mil
assist him, the same as in the sweat
shops of Chicago. For making shoes he
receives 81 and upwards per dozen
pairs; on the other goods he receives
871a to SO cents per day for his labors
working as long as daylight lasts, aVerag-
ing from u to IA hours per day Com
mon laborers can be hired for Is 10 70
cents per day. House servants. male Or
female, receive So TO 50 per month and
board themselves. In or near the cities
poems live in adobe houses and pay a
rental Of s. a year for the ground. When
leaving this for another location ali I'M
provements the people have made go to
the landlord, or owner of the land, who
pays no taxes whatever on the land
The report was adopted by an almost
unanimous vote, only two members
speaking in opposition to it. The dele
gates claimed. in submitting their report,
that they carried out their mission IN
an unbiased and non-partisan manner.
and they pictured the low state of the
working classes as it was, without ref
erence to political questions. There were
many calculations OF establishment at the
pitiable pictures presented, and the mo-
ton to adopt the report called forth but
little debate.
THE chief article of dress is his SOM
brero. often costing as much as SS5 (Which
is bought on the installment plan), while
the balance of his clothes would make a
crazy quilt turn green with envy, owing
20 its variety of colors and assortment of
patches, making it a hard problem to
solve as to which IS the original gar
ment and which the patch. No stockings
are worn by either sex, and only about
one-third wear sandals, which are made
from a piece of sole leather and tied TO
the foot with straps. These sandals cost
frcm y to 20 cents per pair. The average
cost of the necessities of life of a family
of 1--WE IS 25 cents, and clothing for the
same cost $50 per year.
..rhe 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 laborer's work IS
easy as compared with the American la
borer except these carriers, who bear
enormous burdens on their backs all day
without manifesting fatigue. The ques-
ton of shorter hours in Mexico is a long
ways off, for a country in which labor is
so cheap and plentiful that 1t is offered as
an inducement to bring foreign capital IN