The National tribune., 1903-08-27

their health, 50 that there must be some
thing doing in'the back country.
MeXicaus become constantly more plen-
tiful. They are blowing the fields cutting
corn, harvesting alfalfa, and in gangs of
section hands along the railroad. Many
of these gingS are ut work cutting out
hire INIT along the right of way. 1t is
hard to see how spark from the engine
could do any damage to such country.
They are of q race which seems equally
far removed fiom whites and from the ne
groes with characteristics strongly differ
ing from either. they are uniformly of
medium hight, square as to shoulders,
with stooplng' carriage-not one stands
squarciy upngat-witn enormous feet and
hands, square, wooden faces, complexions
shading from that of old copper TO 4 dark
walnut stain, chair coarse and black as
horses tail, eyes bright and black and
features coarse and heavy, tending IN
many iaces to an expression of suilen and
repusnaTt moroseness. There may be
handsome and attractive Mexicans. but
they certainly do rot appear along the laIl-
road. Even the ehildren, while their faces
have rot settled into the dull sullenness
of their elders, have not the vivaeious
attractiveness frequently seen in negro and
Indian children.
The men, one and all. without exception,
wear the broad-brimmed, high-peaked
characteristic Mexican hat. The shape is
the same, whether the cheap straw affair
worn by the laborerS, and which sells IN
the stores for % ceIlts-"twO bits they
call it ont hereto the elaborate creation
of fine fur, hediZened with gold lace, which
ave see or the head of a dandy 'cabal
lero' galloping along the hard and blazing
road, and which may have cost SOD or
more. The sombrero is every mans eN-
trayagance, and he goes to the limit of his
means on it, JUST as among us men go to
their limit upon coat or 4 horse and bug
gy. Except the cheap straws, the hats are
enormously heavy, some weighing five
pounds CT more, and tie wonder is how
they endure them. Probably they wonder
how we can endure our starched shirt
fronts, our stiff high collars. and our alb
surdly uncomfortable silk hats.
The women, from the girl just able to
walk to the toOt!i'ess old grandmother,
wear "ribosa"-webs of thin black stuff,
drawn closely over their heads, and caught
in front of their left hands. Fortunately
the American fashion OF catching up the
skirt has not extended down here, and the
Mexican women, with one hand employed
in holding on her ribosa does not have to
use the other in managing her drapery.
Though they still wear sandals south Of
the Rio Grande, all this side wear a heavy
coarse, but quite strong cowhide shoe.
THEIR HOMES.
The lowest limit of civilized homes
seems to have been reached in their dwell
ngs. Even the home of the cave-dweller
and the teepee Of the Indian shows more
art and labor than the abOdes of these
people. Imagine a desoate stormy plain,
miles in extent, dry as a lime-kiln, blazing
Al. %l, ,.I..t
sand and clay siiimmering like the top Of
a stove, dotted here and there by stunt
ed mesquite bushes about as big as d
gooseberry bush, punches of aerid weeds,
clumps of ill-natured cactus, bristling ev-
crywhere with ,thorns as keen and fine as a
cambria needle and vicious as muske-
to's bill. Somewhere on this plain-any
old where, it would seem, for the builder
has none Of the Northern farmers consid-
eratiOns as to nearness to wood, water,
the road, the fields, etc.-rises d square
box of sun-dried clay, say, 10 or Il feet
wide, ID feet long, seven feet high; say it
is about as high as an old-fashioned single
mule street car, or the shed under which a
farmer might keep his buggy. 1t looks
like big dry-gpods box made of mud. The
walls are chunks of sun-dried clay. The
roof is made by laying straight poles
across, then PUSHES and weeds, and then
layer Of clay, with very slight slope, to
run off the water. A door at each end
and a hole for window complete the
house" There is no fireplace nor CHM
ney. The earth serves for q floor.
In this contracted Granny of clay live
father, mother and children, grandfather,
grandmother and relatives. Any old num-
ber Of all ages and sizes may string out
like ants from hole, as the train passes.
oh Int In Of fho
things one usually associates with even
the poorest cabin-no well for water; they
mist get at least q little water from some
where for cooking or drinking, but whence
is a mystery; no Outbuildings of any kind;
no trees for shade; no gardens for vege-
tables; no fields Of any kind; no sheds for
stock, tools or crops; no animals of any
kind, not even dogs and ehickens-abso-
lutely nothing but the four mud walls and
mud roof rising stark and bare, a solitary
bump in the middle of the sun-baked
plain.
Occasionally several men seem to have
joined together and then there will be
row of four or five of these mud cram
MES, with party walls between each pair.
AS LABoRERs.
Men who have had experience with them
say that the Mexicans are very fair la
borers, but hardly as good as the better
class of negroes. Like the negroes they
can only be worked to advantage in gangs
with q white man over them. Left to
themselves they will accomplish little, even
with the best intentions, because the least
thing brings them to halt until the OBJ
stace or the doubt as to which of two
things to do is removed. They are perhaps
slower workers than the negroes, and as
rule have little mechanical skill. Those
who show aptitude for trades have white
Spanish blood, and their aptitude is in
direct proportion to this. The Spanish
make much closer distinctions as to ad.
mixtures than we do, and differentiate up
| to onesixty-fourth part of white blood.
Several superintendent of railroads in
Mexico, who were in the car with me, said
that except as masons the Mexicans, I'M
less they had preponderance of Spanish
blood, were of little value as mechanics
carpenters, blacksmiths, machinists, etc
The law compelled the employment of Q
certain percentage of natives on the roads
but it was with great difficulty thai
enough competent men could be found
Part Of this difficulty was no doubt due
to the rigid caste system. A man witt
any infusion of Spanish blood was likely
to feel that any physical labor was degrad
ing, and he would not undergo the menia
apprenticeship necessary to learn any
branch of railroading. He would be q
clerk and some of them were very gooi
| clerks but he did NOT take kindly TO tele