The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-10-12
Much Higher than in the
United States.
AN UNBIASED STATEMENT
BASED on 4 THOROUGH INvEsTfGA-
TION OF THE SITUATION.
What Might Be Expected I'm This
Country in Course of Time III Free
Coinage Became a Law.

CHICAGO. Oct. 1.-THE committee OF the
Trade and Labor Assembly sent to Mexico
by that organization ito investigate the
condition of the laboring classes of that
country has returned to Chicago and sub
mitted its report at the meeting of the
assembly this afternoon. The report was
adopted by an almost unanimous vote
only two members speaking in opposition
to 1t. The delegates claimed in submitting
their report, that they carried out their
mission in unbiased and nonpartisan
manner, and they simply pictured the low
state of the working classes as it was,
without reference to political questions
1here were many ejaculati ols of astonish-
ment at the pitiable pictures presented.
and the motion to adopt the report called
forth but little debate The report follows:
The first stop made by your committee
was at I'll Paso, Tex. where we investi-
gated the wages paid and the conditions or
the American laborers. From that point we
crossed an imaginary line (the Rio Grande
river being dry over the only international
street railway in the world to the citv OF
JnareZ, formerly called Paso del Norte, and
but two miles distant from FL Paso. At
TINS place complete change met the eye
everything assuming Mexican air-and we
realized that the time had arrived when
took observations of the people as to their
appearance, mode of living, social condi-
IlOHS, wages paid and prices OF cOmmOdi-
ties, and We're surprised at the contrast
as compared with conditions, etc, in El
Paso. Here we first saw the cotton cloth
ing and sandals as worn by the peon. The
clothing on many of these people was per-
forated and abbreviated in a manner suffi-
cient 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.
iT1 R1ai, t1n. l,1.<
parenty content with the four bare walls
of his ten-foot square adobe hut, with moth
ing IN, II inside but the ground to sleep on, a
self up in, a dish of tortilles (corn pam
cakes) and frejoles (beans) for his frugal
meal. and in large number of cases q.
little pig, 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.
Mexico, with all it's boasted natural re-
sources, charming climate. picturesque
scenery, traditions, prehistoric ruins, it's
many and ancient churches, is attractive
northern half of the country, from EI Paso
to Siloa, a distance of nearly one thousand
tains, which no doubt contain rich deposits
of coal silver or gold. is Il barren desert.
with nothing but rocks. sage brush and
thing but the ideal abiding place where
civilization could exc out an existence and
nothing to bear out the moss-covered chest
nut that health wealth and contented peo-
pie live and thrive there Excepting in the
towns along the lines of the railroads not a
bird or animal was seen and the few poems
and burros we saw were half-starved and
the picture of misery and detection.
WAGES VERY LOW.
Wages in Mexico, except to skilled and
steady mechanics-always foreigners--are
very low. On railroads engineers (Ameri-
cans) on passenger trains receise $40 per
month, while the firemen (Mexicans) re-
frpi
(American) $3.50 per m onth. firemen Mex
ican) $3.50 to Size per day: passenger con-
ductors (Americap) $3.50 per month, brake
men (Mexican) s1.50 per day; freight con-
ductors (American) 5000 per month, brake
men (Mexican) $57 to $63 per month: Pull
man conductors $50 per month american
money! with So per month extra for being
able to talk Spanish. The national soldiers.
or regular army, of Mexico. called rurales,
and who are all ex-bandits receive 81 per
day. In the broom factory near the depot
at JimeneZ, the men are paid 80 cents,
women and children q TO 37i. cents per
day. In the cotton mills cotton-seed-oil
mills and soap factory at Torreon men are
per day A carca lor public carrier) has 81
rate of 1919 cents per hour, but you can
hire him for from rs TO 37l2 cents per day.
AT Leon. where nearly all the leather
goods are manufactured, the peon gets his
goods to be made by him and takes the
material to his hut where the whole FAM
lily assists him, the same as in the sweat
shops of Chicago. For making shoes he
receives 81 and upward per dozen pairs; ON
leather goods he receives 3ila to 80 cents
per day for his labors. working as long as
da ylight lasts, averaging twelve to four
teen hours per day. Common laborers can
be hired for IS to 80 cents per day. House
servants male ,or female. receive So to S.
per month and board themselves. In or
neag cities poems live in adobe houses and
pay a rental of 80 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
owner of the land. who pays no taxes
Whatever on the land. Building lots In
cities-50 by 125 feet--cost s25 per foot front
and up, or smaller patch OF ground
verra-three feet square at the rate OF
THE chief industry of Mexico is mining.
and the way mines are worked is certainly
as primitive as can be, Very few mines
are worked from the side Of the hill. A
shaft is generally sunk. The drilling IL
done by hand, one peon holding a long
steel chise while the other uses 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 a coarse pow
der by rubbing II on fiat stones or break
ing ii with hammer. This Is then SHOW
eled into bags and carried 10 the surface.
poems climbing a number OF timbeFs with
notches cut in them (called monkey lad
ders) 201 to 400 feet high, with 2oO TO go
pounds OF pulverized orc on his back.
PEONs AND BURROS
ITO watch gang of peon laborers at
work putting up a new building will break
the heart of an American ia.borcr. All
building Is done with species of stone
called tepatate, which is 'quarried with an
AK or hatchet, and which hartens by ex-
posure TO the elements. All material Is ear~
ried to the patio or open court In the midi
die of the proposed new building on tho
backs of poems and burros. A trench Is dug
and the foundation commenced. one peon