The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-03-09
OPENING OF THE ROCK
ISLAND TO MEXICO
Continued from Thirteenth Page.

CuriousIy enough. the statue erected
70 Jaurez. the arch enemy Of Catholicism.
stands in front Of the church. The name
of the original town. FL Paso Del Norte.
was also changed in his honor. he having
lived there while the French army occys-
pied Mexico in 1875, IN order TO escape
into the United States i pressed too
hard ~ the military power OF the third
Napoleon. Il is a scurvey monument for
la Petit Iudien." as he was called: for
outside Of his policy towards the church
he vas certainly great soldier.
visited the postofRce and walked into
its private apartments much more freely
that 1 could have entered the back door
OF the Wichita postoflce. I expected 10
be bounced sumTaarily, but to my sur
prise I was warmly welcomed. \ young
lady in the Office could speak English,
and from her 7 learned q great deal about
the service. Although the population Of
tic town is 7.o99 the mail business is very
light. The postoaice has only twenty
four lock boxes and not more than half
Of them are rented. y list is made daily
Of the letters in the Office and posted il
front. there being no such thing as a
general delivery system. The government
trusts that some one viii read the list
who viii be kind enough 10 inform some
body else that there IS a letter for him
il. the Office and this is how the mani ser
vice is conducted There is a bust OF
Jaucez in front Of the postoficc ana a
slab comnenlora ting his public virtues.
I visited the CGercil PGblica. or public
jan. in connection with the military bar
racks. The soldiers are all convicts. there
being no regular military establishment.
but the officers are men of honor. The
soldiers get as compensation a per diem
OF IS cents and with this they have to
feed. clothe and lodge themselves. II
requires strenuous hustling for these
convict pillars of the republic to make
both ends meet and. as a result, they
have a half starved appearance. Instead
Of sending petty criminals to the rock
pile, as the American custom is. the Mex
leans make soldiers Of them. The sol
d-ers and officers for some reason treated
me with great respect and We're vNy
courteous to ME. An officer caught pig
con and presented it 10 me with his com
pliments in Spanish and indicated his
wish that I should take II to the ! S.
with me. a new Caerci Publica IS being
built out of adobe and ii is quite fine
looking building. I walked into it and
watched the workmen. Instead OF mix
ing the mortar at the foot of the wall it
is mixed about half a block away. \ ff-
teen-year-old boy carried it on a piece Of
board about a foot square instead Of in a
hod He heaped the mortar on the board.
balanced it on top Of his head, stuck his
hands in his pockets and walked up a
twenty foot ladder without removing
them. There the adobe mason took the /
mrOtar and had it all used before the boy |
was half way down the ladder The ma
son loafed on top Of the wall until the lad /!
returned with some more mortar The /
adobe blocks are hauled in two wheel /
carts drawn by little mules. The Mexi- I
cans are good enough worl1men but they
work without system. Father Pinto is
having a wall built around the old grave /
yard and he superintends the work him 7
self. lie pays his men American wages, /
makes them work as hard as Americans F
work and as a result. they 10 more work +
in one day than those working on the 4
government building do in five.
] dropped into la Central Abarrote.
tic N@lAAAHA SipttAe 1%tAt Az ttSlif
and talked quite while with the propri-
etor. Regino Soto. who spoke Indifferent
English. Re kept potatoes in a show case
and sold them for six cents per pound.
He gave ne little insight into the gro
Gerry business. He has adopted the Amer
lean system Of taking orders and the free
Of goods by horse ard wagon
lie sells great deal to American famn-
les living in Jaurez. principally people
working for the Mexican Central railway
The market place is revelation. The
stalls are lined up against the wall of the
old church and the market men have an
awful time splitting hairs with their Gus
toners. Mexican women beat Irish wo-
men all hollow I'm trying to make the
merchant or market men shave down the
price and when business is lively in tho
morning would think that a riot was
ronig ON
The Mexican children are cute. 7 met
q rather handsome Mexican man who
looked as if he might be r college pro
ressor and we were or friendly terms
from the start He hailed q boy and said
10 him in Spanish. The hoy
Of and soon returned with
three little sirls.-one about three. one
seven. and one about nine They were
Inc Children of my friend and De sent for
them on purpose 20 show me what fne
hair they had. have never seen such
leau;ifm long black hair on children 50
young gave eacn ~ tf,en small Mex
can coin. they said "Gracias- thank
-ou-in the sweetest voice and walked
away IS proud as u President Diaz HIM