The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-08-25

of cruelty exercised toward these hum ble 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 peons.
 How is 1t that the peon gets so deeply into debt that he may not hope ever to release himselfT
 The field peon contracts debts and will always continue making them, be- cause he gains a wage which will neith- CT feed nor dress his family nor provide for medicine and attendance in case of sickness, nor meet any of the extraor- dinary expenses of life. Naturally he will fall in debt And, being in debt he never can hope to get out of it.
 The person who acquires one of these estates in the far south ny inheritance, or purchase, receives not only an in- ventory of the implements used, the live stock, etc, but of the gang of peons who belong to the "ano," 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 debt,
  good care not to permit him to dis charge 1t by giving him good wages.
 The Indian works from four o'clock in the morning till six o'clock at night in all weathers, and his labor is a rude and painful one. His wages are eight cen cents day, nine cents being given him in corn to make his tortillas, and the other nine cents remaining to the master. who is continually furnishing him with necassaries from the planta- tion 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 two or three hun dred per cent. more than in the town Hence the perpetual indebtedness of the Indians.
 A day comes when, worn with fever, unable longer to toll in the field, the hapless victim of 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 laborer dies, and it is necessary to bury him. The survi- vors feel bound to pay for the last of fees of the priest, and the master set ties the bill, and it is added to with ever accommodating account. And so with baptisms and marriages. The country clergy in those parts do noth- ing without pay, and here precisely is an abuse which it is proposed to stop by means of placing in those remote re- giors clergymen of high character, un- stained by avarice.
 The Liberals charge openly that, even when a family of peons succeeds in getting a little ahead pecuniarily, the priest takes the savings on the pretence of this CT that fiesta, and so the 1ndi- ans remain poor and in involuntary servitude. Add to all this the vke of alcoholism, encouraged by many mas ters. It is reasoned that aguardiente keeps the peon satisfied and indisposed to run away. He is enbruted in order to make him better serf.
 The system Is, a bad one in every way. It renders the masters harsh, cruel and avaricieus, and, as their la borers are stupid. agriculture remains rutinary in all it's methods and so the planter never receives the benefits that welI-paid. intelligent and loyal laborers would bring him. A well-knoWn Libe- ral politician says:
 "The time has come to stop writing editorials filled with eloquence regard- ing the sad condition of the Indian serf When his material condition is inl- proved when his wants are increased, and he has the means of satisfying them, he will have taken long step ahead. After that, the spelling book and the elementary school. The Indian needs to be shown that his diet is in sufficiently nftrogenous, and, therefore, inadequate to a laborer toiling all day in the fields. Peppers and tortillas slowly destroy the digestion The 1ndi- an Is naturally intelligent; his brain can, as has been amply proved, be we'll cultivated. for many of our ablest men have come up from the lowest strata of society, as did some of your AmeSican statesmen. It is tremendous ques- ton, that of a'bolishingi servitnde for deht. Whel ever railways enter, an1 more competition arises for labor, serf- dom must go The railway allows the peon to go for from his hacienda and seek new masters"
 Not all the peons are ill-treated, and on some estates pains are taken to deal with them justly, to educate the chill dren, and to administer the rites of re- ligion freely. There are many philan- thropic masters, and many who While making no pretence to benevolence, are striving to solve the question of the el- ovation of 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 requires money to start schools and money to carry them on, and to house the peons well is ex- pensive. And then it is so discoura- ging. One master told me of his efforts to educate the children, and of the sell fishness of the parents, who could not understand why their children should not be at work aiding in the mainte- nance of the family. One by one the children were withdrawn from the school, and in few months the ,expefl- ment had to be abandoned and the teacher sent away.
 In some of the states. where serVi- tude for debt is common, the authori- ties are bestirring themselves to pre- pare the way for the abolition Of a sys- tenn so unjust and behind the age. There can be no doubt that were the peons gradually elevated intellectually,