The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1896-09-17
PEON SLAVERY IN MEXICO
BIZ JAS. =. JOHNSON.


i've part OF the community. Ever
since the Spaniards conquered this
country system Of serfhood has pre-
vailed here. says a City Of Mexico
letter. gradually fading ont as the
country became more settled in the
| central states. and now remaining
mainly in the rcmOter regions, where
labor is scarce and it Is distinctly 10
the advantage of the planting class 10
keep the field hand in bondage. tn
| der this system, opposed to the funda-
mental principles of the federal con
sttntiOn, peon once in debt to hls
master must work i ont. and, f ne
dies in debt, his descendants are held
! in seryItude One might think. e5-
pecially If unaquainted with the prac
tices on those remote plantations,
that peon could not possibly con
| tract 50 large a debt as to reduce him
II perpetual bondage, and entail on
| his children the Same loss of personal
| liberty.
In the states Of Yucatan, Campecny,
Tabasco and Chiapas peonage is still
in force, and If is even charged recent
ly in prominent liberal paper that.
in Yucatan in particular, children are
openly sold from plantation to planta
ton Instances occasionally come up
OF cruelty exercised toward these
humble people, and it is to the credit
of the federal authorities that they DO
not sustain the planters III the Ill
| treatment Of their poems.
How is it that the peon gets 50
dceply into debt that he may not hope
ever to release himself? The field
peon contracts debts and will always
continue making them. because he
gains wage which Will neither feed
nor dress his family nor provide for
medicine and attendance in case Of
sickness, nor meet any of the extra
ordinary expense Of life Naturally
he will fall in debt And, being III
! debt, he never can hope to get ont of
it
The person who acquires one of
these estates in the far South by in
heritancc. or purchase, receives not
only an inventory Of the implements
used. the live stock, etc, but Of the
gang of poems who belong to the
"amo.' or master, with all their -fami-
ly, wife and children, who are obliged
To work for the master. The peon Is
not bought ont and out. but comes
with the plantation by virtue of his
ancestors having contracted debt,
and each succeeding master has taken
/ good care not to permit him TO dis
charge it by giving him gool wages.
The Indian works from q clock in
the morning till 6 o'clock at night in
all weaihers. and his labor 5 rude
and painful one. lis wages are
eighteen cents Il day, nine cents q
day, being given him in corn to
make his tortillas, and the other
nine cents remaining to the mastor.
who is continually furnishing him
with necessaries from the plantation
store, and invariably a profit. The
merchandise from the store is mainly
beans and chile peppers, which with
the corn make up the simple diet of
the poor labOrer and bis family. Plan
tation prices are 200 to 300 per cent
more than in the towns. Hence The
perpetual indebtedness of the In
dians
\ day comes when. worn with fever
unable longer to toll in the field. the
hapless victim of a hard destiny drags
| himself to his wretched hut and falls
inert on It's earth floor This miser-
able shelter is all the peCn can call
home The old, wornout laborer dies,
and it Is necessary to bury him. The
survivors feel bound to pay for the
last offices of the priest, and the mas
| ter settles the bill, and il is added to
with ever accumulating account, And
So with baptisms and marriages. The
country clergy in those parts do moth
ing without pay, and here precisely
IS an abuse which it IS proposed to
stop by means Of placing in those re
mote regions Clergyman of high char
acter, unstained by avarice.
The Liberals charge openly that,
even when family of poems succeed
in getting a little ahead pecuniariIy.
the priest takes the savings on the
pretense of this or that fiesta, and so
the Indians remain poor and III in
voluntary servitude Add to this the
|
many masters. 1t is reasoned that Il
| guardiente keeps the pcon satisfied
and indisposed to run away. He Is
embruted in order to make him bet
ter serf. The system is n bad one in
every way. 1t renders the masters
harsh, cruel, and avariciOns. and. rs
their laborers are stupid, agriculture
| remains rutinary in all its methods.
and SO the planter never receives the
benefit that we'll paid, intelligent and
loyal laborers would bring him. i we'll
known Liberal politician says:
The time has come to stop writing
editorials filled with eloquruce re
garding the sad condition of the In
dian serf. When his material con
ton is improved. when his wants are
increased and he has the means of
satisfying them. he Will have taken Il
long step ahead After that. the
spelling book ana elementary school.
The Indian needs to be shown that
his diet Is insutficIently nitrogenous.
and, therefore, inadequate to q labor
er toiling all day in the fields Pep
pers and tortilias slowly destroy the
digestion. The Indian is naturally
intelligent; his brain can, as has been
amply proved, he we'll cultivated, for
many of oHr ablest men have come
up from the lowest strata Of society,
as did some of your American states
men. 1t is q tremendous question,
that Of abolishing servitude for debt.
! Wherever railways enter, and more
competition arises for labor. serfdom
must go, The railway allows the
peon to go far from his hacienda; and
seek new II asters'
Not all the poems are i'll treated,
and on some estates pains are taken
to deal with them justly, to educate
the chileren, and to administer the
, rites of religion freely. There are