Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-04-04
TENNEY IN MEXICO
BUT HE ABOMINATES THE CCUN-
TRY.
PEOPLE MISERABLY POOR
And Nothing Good to Eat-Even
Tropical Fruit FaiIure-Every
Dish Holly Representations of
Maauey PIants-PracticaI Slavery
Prevais-MoraI Tone Very Low.
Special Correspondence.

Speclal Correspondence.
Coronado Beach, Cal, March 25-
| Having completed a tedious Mexican
tour of about 5000 miles, occupying
| nearly month, l hope to be excused
for imparting to your readers some OF
| the profound wisdom which l gathered
on the way. The tour embraced nearly
all the large cities of the republic
and many of the small ones. 1t ex.
| hibited to us sufficient ruins, both
ancient and modern, to satisfy the
| longings of the most ardent archaeolo-
gist and current affairs of the present
day in sickening abundance.
The republic of Mexico is composed
Of a considerable number of states,
like our own. Each legislates for
itself in local matters but all are sub
tuition. The population numbers some
10000, 900, of which about one-half
have two legs and the other half four.
For convenience, the first are some
times called human beings. They are
distinguished from the others chiefly
by wearing sombreros, a sort of hat
with crown raising to an apex IS
inches above the head and having a
brim of about the same breadth,
turned up couple of inches on the
outskirts. These are worn only by
the males and range in price from 81
to 500, according to the degree of
nobility possessed by the owner On
hn
as much as all the rest of the clothing.
The females go bareheaded, covering
their heads and forms, in cases of
emergency, with a serapa. This is a
sort of fancy shawl generally woven
of cotton but sometimes with wool
combined. Modesty forbade me from
Investigating the underclothing, but,
from the ragged edges which were
usually visible, judged that complete
suits could be bought at two for g
quarter. The males wear similar I'M
derclothing and wrap red blankets
around their shoulders in the cool
mornings and evenings which gener-
ally prevail here. In the heat of the
day and without these blanket cover
ings they seem little better than
meandering skeletons About one in
ten Of both sexes wears shoes. Many
wear sandals composed of thick sole
leather strapped over the feet. Most
of them go barefooted throughout the
year.
The four-footed population, some
times called mules and bronchos, wear
ears instead Of sombreroS. To see
thousands of these people, two and
four-legged, at work upon the hacien-
das in the country and upon the
streets in the cities is indeed a great
curiosity. All seem lazy and shift
less and work because they have to
and not because they want to. One
class works for wages and the other
for board. The long-eared population
seems quite as contented as it's com
patriots. No wonder. The pay for
ordinary labor is from nine to eight
cen cents day. Those working on
the railroads get 25 cents. The com
mon people live almost exclusively on
corn pancakes, called tortillas We
saw thousands of women grinding the
corn and making these cakes by hand,
out of doors, and baking them upon
little pieces of sheet iron resting up
on a few stones with small fire be-
meath. They seemed to be joyous and
no doubt they were,-a clear demon
stration that Ignorance is bliss
Dons and Poems.
The people are divided into three
classes, the upper class or moneyed
aristocracy, mainly descendants of the
few thousand in the whole country.
These possess the morality usual in
modern civilization. Then the mid
die class, a product Of spanish and
Indian miscegenatiOn. Then the
common people or poems These con-
stitute 80 per cent of the population
and are practically the slaves of the
upper classes, the system OF peonage
existing here being so much like our
ancient American slavery as to be
hardly distinguishable Among the
middle and lower classes sexual NOR
atty is almost unknown. Three cents
Mexican money gratifies any desire.
One-half of the births are illegitimate
and three-fourths of the entire people
cans neither read nor write-and this
Notwithstanding civilization of the
Spanish variety was introduced
among the people here nearly 400
years ago-100 years before the land
ing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth rock
and has been ardently propagated
by the priesthood ever since. The
people at large are really degenerate
Indians, small in stature, stupid in
appearance, ragged and nasty. There
is scarcely water enough in the whole
country to give them daily a good
Washing. If there was, it is doubtful
whether they would use it. It seems
to be a total stranger to their hands
and faces and to all other parts of
their scrawny carcasses frequently
in evidence. have seen a good many
varieties Of human degeneracy and
uncleanness in Europe, Asia and
Africa but never anything approach
ing in abject horror that is every
where visible in Mexico I doubt if
the interior Of Africa can show it's
equal. The sight is a bewilderment
to decent people.
Primitive Ways.
Farming is chiefly conducted on
haciendas. These are large bodies
of land, ranging from 100000 to $780,
600 acres. owned by single wealthy in