The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-04-24
Der Plantations.

General POWeH Clayton, our
lei ambassador to Mexico. when he
49, was in Washington a short time
t01Sl ago. General Clayton is now sew
49, enty years of age, but he does not
look sixty and bears no signs of the wear
and tear of public life. Still. he has been
in the thick of things for more than half
a century. He comes from a family OF
statesmen. The Claytons began TO do
things in the United States more than $50
years ago. and they have kept pretty well
to the front ever since. Joshua Clayton
came TO America with William Penn. and
John NJ Clayton, the secretary of state,
who made the Clayton Bulwer treaty, was
his grandson. Powell Clayton comes from
the same branch of the family. He was
born in Pennsylvania, went TO school at
Wilmington, Del, and, like George Wash
ington, started life as a civil engineer.
Washington got s. a day for surveying
the wiids of Virginia for Lord Fairfax.
Powell Clayton got S a mile for surveying
public lands in Kansas in the days just
preceding the war. 1t was his job as a
surveyor that took him to the West. He
was there when the war broke out. He
entered the Union army and remained in
a captain and came out brigadier gen.
eral.
After the war he bought a plantation in
Arkansas, settled there and was elected
Governor of the State. He held this posi-
ton during the exciting period of recon-
struction, when he fought a battle royal
against the Ku Klux Khan. He was elected
to the United States Senate from Arkan-
sas and after that devoted himself to
building the Eureka Springs Railroad.
For the past seven years General Clay
ton has been ambassador from the United
States to Mexico. He appointed by
President Mckinley, and says that he will
close his term at the end of the present
administration.
During our conversation L asked him
how he liked the position of ambassador
He replied:
THE office is a pleasant one, although it
carries many responsibilities and also the
possibility of doing good. 1 feel,
however, that / have had it quite long
enough and 1 am ready to retire. 1t was
my intention TO have closed my public life
at seventy, but l shall remain until the
end of this administration and retire at
seventy-two."
What will you do then, general?' 1
asked.
II don't know, but l suppose 1 will do
what most old men do. that is, lead a quiet
life enjoying my friends My children
want me to write my memoirs for them 1
have been saving material all my life, and
it is possible may do that
MEXICO IN 1904.
general?''
ut is in an excellent condition. The peo-
pie are prosperous and the country is on
good substantial basis. Times are good,
although not so good, perhaps, as here
Does the country grow much from year
to year,"
Mexico has a steady natural growth ~
replied General Clayton. Its population is
now about 14,OOO,O OO and it is increasing at
the rate of a million every five years. A
great majority of the people are native
Mexicans, including those descended from
the Spanish and Indians. There is no such
immigration from Europe as to the United
States. The labor conditions there are diff
ferent, and the people who come in have
other things to sell than pure muscle.
Many come to invest capital in mining or
to engage in trade"
How about the labor conditions. General
Clayton? Do the capitalists have much
trouble with organized labor?'
mot at all" was the reply. 1.-THE only
organized labor in Mexico is that employed
on the different branches of the railways.
Such men belong to unions, but their or
CARNATIONS are usually branches of the
trades unions of the United States The
chief labor of Mexico is made up of poems,
the descendants of the native Indians.
They are not like our Indians being far
more Industrious and more quiet and easily
handled. They do not know what the
walking delegate is and as yet strikes and
lockouts are comparatively unknown"
"Give me some idea of wages, general"
said 1.
Wages are low replied our ambassador
| to Mexico. twenty-five cents a day is
| paid for ordinary farm labor in most parts
of the country, and in the factories the
| wages proportiona tely small. The hours
are long and on the farms the men work