Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-08-21
LOMBER CAMP SLAVES.
MEXICAN PEoNS WHO ARE HELD IN
PRACTICAL BONDAGE.


The announcement that a lumber
company, with headquarters at Tacas-
co, Mexico, has paid the Gautemalan
government S125,000 in national cur
rency for five years concession to cut
mahogany and cedar timber on the
banks of four rivers in that country
calls attention to an unknown little
corner of the world, says the New York
Sun. The concession carries with 1t
on its face the privilege of introducing
the necessary labor. This means that
the timber will be handled by slave
labor, for slavery, though not rec
ognized institution. still exists there,
to ell intents and purposes.
The region Of the four rivers is a
vast and unexplored wilderness; the
wilderness through which Cortez
struggled on his way to Honduras af-
ter the conquest of Mexico. This
tract is one mass Of tangled, tropical
forest Twenty years ago the school
biographies Of Guatemala described
it as country inhabited by wild,
Independent tribe of Indians, who
recognized no authority but that of
their chiefs. In the early part Of
1880 the writer journeyed through this
forest, travelling 10 days without see
ing other human face than that OF
his mestizo servant. What has be-
come of this population Is a mystery,
for the evidence Of it's existence still
remains in ruined edifices, temples
and idols scattered through the for
ests, now grown over with great
trees.
Far up into Mexico the forest ex-
tends, and the pushing Mexican lum-
bermen penetrated the woodland
wherever they could find streams to
carry the lumber down and estab-
lished their camps Presently they
overrun the frontier and brought on
wars in 1884 and again in 1896, which
in each case pushed back the Guate-
mala frontier.
The first timber company that went
into mahogany cutting on an extern
sive scale there got concession
from the Guatemalan government and
struck in through the dense forest
until they reached large and placid
stream, the River de la Passion, about
which the valuable trees grew thick.
To get the lumber out was the prob
ltm. Fashioning a canoe the eN
plorers set out down the stream,
which presently became narrow and
swift, and rushed through gorge
to dash over rock shelf in a seeth-
ing torrent. Only by throwing them
selves from the canoe did the men
escape. A long time after the canoe
was found on the gulf beach near
the mouth of the river. If boat
could mahogany tree trunks. Camps
were soon established there. Then
came the question Of labor.
1t was not to be hoped that the
sun-loving Mexican poems could be
tempted from the social life of the
villages and cities into the depth of
the gloomy forest at any wages.
Some other method must be found.
The cunning monteros, as the mahog-
any hunters were called, devised a
means of enslaving the poems. By
the Mexican system a man engaged
for certain labor and prepaid, is COM
PEELED to work oNt his wage. In any
Mexican town it is easy to pick up
poems, particularly at festival time,
who will drink a little and then be
ready to enter into any kind of a
contract for the sake of money for
more drink. With the amount aj-
vanced they buy little clothing and
great deal of mescal liquor, and
have a round of pleasure, at the end
of which time they find their money
all gone, and a squad of soldiers wait
ing to escort them to their respec-
tive camps.
By this means the mahogany cut
ters found they were able to extend
their camps in the vast wilderness
of both Chiapas and Guatemala, and
there virtually set up q little prin-
cipality of their own. Patches of for
est are now cleared and planted in
corn, and the poems are fed on this
corn, which is first boiled in a weak
solution of potash water made from
ashes and then ground between two
stones. An occasional wild boar or
other game from the forest is their
only change of food
Few of the poems return to their
homes. It is long journey to the
monteros camp. a journey over trail
where every bit of food consumed on
the way must be carried, and some
/ times water, too, and the journey is
one of days in a forest abounding in
wild beasts. By the Mexican law the
peon cannot be detained any longer
than necessary for him to work out
his Indebtedness but what is the laws
avail to the peon after he is once
in the monteros camp? His miser-
ably insufficient food is credited to
him at prices so high that he can
hardly avoid running further into
debt. Moreover, the montero prac-
tices a system Of treble entry book
keeping, by which method the peon's
t., ,kov I