The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-08-16
PEON SLAVERY IN x
DEBT TO THE EMPLOYER KEEPS
THE INDIAN IN BONDAGE.
II Not Cancelled mt His Death Ii Falls
Upon His Chf1dren-HOw U~nscrupu-
lous Masters Increase Ii.



The condition of the peon laborer In
southern Mexico is beginning TO attract the
attention of philanthropic statesmen and
OF the more progressive part of the COM
munity. Ever since the Spaniards con-
Quered this country n system of serfhood
has prevailed here, gradually fading out
as the country became more settled in the
central States. and now remaining mainly
in the remoter regions. where labor is
scarce and IL is distinctly TO the advantage
of the planting class to keep the field hand
In bondage. Under this system, opposed to
the fundamental principles of the federal
Constitution. q Deon once in debt TO his
master must work it out, and. If he dies
in debt, his descendants are held in servi-
tude. One might think. especially If unac-
quainted with the practices on those remote
plantations, that a peon could not possibly
contract so large n debt as to reduce him
to perpetual bondage, and entail on his
children the same loss of personal liberty.
In the States of Yucatan, Campechy. Ia
basco and Chiapas peonage is still in force.
and it is even charged recently in n a prom
inent Liberal paper that, in Yucatan in par
ticular, children are openly sold from plan
tation to plantation. 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 in the i'll treatment of their
poems. 9
How is it that the peon gets so deeply
into debt that he may not hope ever to re-
lease himself?
The field peon contracts debts and will
always continue making them, because he
gains a wage which will neither feed nor
dress his family, nor provide for medicine
and attendance in case of sickness. nor
meet any of the extraordinary expenses of
life. Naturally he will fall in debt. And,
being in debt, he never can hope to get out
of IL.
The person who acquires one of these es-
tates in the far south by inheritance, 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 family,
wife and children. who are obliged to work
for the master. The peon is not bought out
and out, but comes with the plantation by
virtue Of his ancestors having contracted
a debt, and each succeeding master has
taken good care not to permit him to dis
charge it by giving him good wages.
The Indian works from A O'Clock in the
morning till 6 o'clock at night in all wealth
ers, and his labor Is a rude and painful
one. His wages are is cents a day, 8 cents
being given him in corn TO make his tor
the master, who is continually furnishing
him with necessaries from the plantation
store. and invariably at 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 his family. Plantation prices
are zoo to 800 .er cent. more than in the
towns. Hence the perpetual indebtedness of
the Indians.
A BAD SYSTEM.
A day comes when, worn with. fever, un.
able 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 miserable shelter is all the
peon can call home. The old, worn-out la
borer dies, and it is necessary to bury him.
The survivors feel bound TO pay for the last
offices of the priest, and the master settles
the bill, and it is added to the ever-ac-
cumulating account. And so with baptisms
and marriages. The country clergy in those
parts do nothing without pay, and here
precisely is an abuse which it is proposed
to stop by means of placing in those re-
mote regions clergymen of high character,
unstained by avarice.
The Liberals charge openly that, even
when a family of poems succeeds in getting
a. httiC ~ hhS iiCo
the savings on the p~retense of this or that
fiesta, and so the Indians remain poor and
in involuntary servitude. Add to all this
the vice of alcoholism. encouraged by
many masters. 1t is reasoned that aguardi-
ente keeps the peon satisfied and indisposed
to run away. He is embruted in order to
make him. a better serf.
The system is a bad one in every way. 1t
rapdarc tho uaStora harsh cruel apd W.
ricious, and. as their laborers are stupid,
agriculture remains rutinary in all it's
methods. and so the planter never receives
the benefits that well-paid. Intelligent and
loyal laborers would bring him. A WELL
known Liberal politician says:
1.-THE time has come to stop writing edi-
torials filled with eloquence regarding the
sad condition of the indian serf. When his
material condition is improved. when his
wants are increased, and he has the means
of satisfying them. he will have taken a
long step ahead. After that. the spelling
book and the elementary school. The In
dian needs to be shown that his diet is in
sufficiently heterogeneous. and. therefore. in
adequate to a laborer toiiing all day i'm the
fields. Peppers and ~tortillas slowly destroy
the digestion. The Indian is naturally in
telligent: his brain can. as has been amply
proved, be well cultivated, for many of our
ablest men nave come UP from the lowest
strata of society, as did some of your Amer
lean statesmen. 1t is q tremendous uues-
ton, that of abolishing servitude for debt.
Wherever railwa Us enter. and more compe-
tition arises for labor, serfdom must go.
The railway allows the peon to go far from
his hacienda. and seek new masters"
Not all the poems are ill-treated. and on
some estates pains are taken to deal with
them Justly. to educate the children and
to administer the rights of religion freely.
are many philanthropic masters, and
many who. while making no pretence to
benevolence, are striving to solve the ques-
ton Of the elevation CT the serfs of the
soil. |
Most Mexican masters are kind of heart.
as are especially their wives. They would
like to improve the lot of the Indians, but |
they find no solution of the problem. IT re-
uuires money to start schools and money
TO carry them on, and to house the poems
well is expensive. And then Ii is so discour-
aging. One master told me of his efforts TO
educate the children. and of the selfishness
of the parents. who could not understand
why their children should not be at work
aiding in the maintenance of the family. |
One by one the children were withdrawn
from the school. and In a few months the |
experiment had to be abandoned, and the
teacher sent away.
In some of the States. where servitude |
for debt is common. the authorities are be- |
stirring themselves to prepare the way for
the abolition of a system so unjust and be-
hind the age. There can be no doubt that |