The progress., 1904-10-01
RUN BUSINESS IN MEXICO.
Women Merchants and Capitalists
b WHO Have Reap Immensely
Successful m7e

In far southern Mexico, in the real
tropics, there are women who are
looked up to by traders and merchants
and whose will is law. Down on the
bowersGulf coast in an important port
town lives ia viuda de Perez" a huge
bulk of woman, Weighing perhaps $50
pounds, seated always = vast arm
chair, apparently indolent, attended
ever by her maids, Sne inherited a
fortune from her husband. long dead,
and has trebled her wealth, and it Is
related of her that, at one time, she
lent great revolutionary chieftain
100000 in good silver dollars, and, in
time, got it back with substantial in
terest.
She is a great reader of charcter,
and, aided by her woman's intuition,
never makes any mistake in the men
she deals with Hsery business man
in tow4nEegards her as thearbiter of
his destiny, for on the river running
up into the interior all the plantations
are hers and all managed by men she
mas selected and goserns witnan iron
hand, though liberal one. The COM
merce of the rivsrAis, largely under her
control. and no traveller can land on
hersestates save by her permission.
If YOU should attempt it armed men
would drive you away, but show a
written permit signed by the Widow
Perez and you are made royalty free
of everything, and will be treated like
prince.
This great, indolent body of wom-
an, forever in repose, has most act.
i've brain. She is mercantile regis
try of the whole region, knows to
dollar what every man is worth, has
inventoried his mental abilities and
his physical energy, settles his domes-
tic disputes, makes matches for the
girls, is loyal AHA Klhdly, but infiexibly
just. avu empress ever reigned more
despotically than this Mexican wom-
an who sits always In her house in
the little. hot port town, arbiter and
regulator Of all things. Her mental
activity Is enormous. Her fortune is
great, and she is possessed of more
ready money than anyone. in that
whole region. Her brains have made
her very rich, and her brains hold andd
steadily augment her fortune.
Another Mexican queen reigns in a
district of the remote state of Chi
apas, down on the Guatemala border.
She owns great plantation, and her
kingdom is extensive. All the men
looL to tbic uroo A. shro{pod opd ~~S,,,
tive woman for orders and counsel |
There is no American trust magnats
more absolute in his business. She is
Iolly, fun-loving, warm-hearted,s ssbut |
her brain is that of man in it's pre-
cision, logic and creativeness. If you
travel in that region, youHmust be
by the lady regent, and woe
10 You il you are4formtful of her
powers Her word rhakesall the men,
or leagues aroufl0, your humble servi-
ors or else your enemies
Further nortlf in the Tehauntepec
country, is woman of the Indigenous
ace, a character Balzac would have
ound to his mind-a woman, rich, \
dominating and known to
very whitesman in that district. 1t
S with her that contractors must deal
o get supply of iabor,sfpr the In
Ian men regard her as their ruler,
vhese word is on no account to be dis
'uted. The zapotecans. virile race.
re understhe rule. CT Dona Juana, who
elongs to another tribe, whose men
re lazy, housekeeping, and allow their
yomen to, do all the outsidss work sf II
hetr ranches while they remain nthe
ouse. mifd the baSees and do the
ooking!