Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-24
THE Poems OF MEXICO
Small Advance Made in Last
Quarter Century.
PRACTICAL SLAVERY EXISTS
Farm Hands Virtually Belong to
Their Employer.
IMPROVED METHODS IGNORED
Those Who Go to the City for Better
Wages Waste Their EN-
creased Earnings
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

Special Correspondence OF The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
CITY OF MEXICO. April IS, 1906
The labor situation In Mexico is beeom-
ing serious and is beginning to receive at
tention from those who are responsible for
the welfare of the public. I told you the
other day of the enormous commercial, ag
ricultural and Industrial development that
has taken place In the thirty years since
Gen. Diaz came into power, and 1t has all
occurred without any considerable increase
| in the laboring population either from
natural causes or from immigra ton The
population of the republic has increased
about II per cent-some contend Is per
cent The census of Mexico like that of
other Latin-American republics is inaccu-
rate because the poems are suspicious OF
the object of the enumeration. They fear
that 1t may mean more taxes or military
consumption. AT any rate, the mortality
among children is so great as to prevent
any large growth of the population. and
wages are so low that there is no induce
ment for immigrants to come from Europe
Inc only relief seems to be by the impor-
tatlon OF Chinese or Japanese coolies 1t
Is not possible to open many more mines
or run many more factories or cultivate
many more farms without finding help out
side the limits of the country
me labor population of Mexico is not
only increasing very slowly but accord
Ing to the best authorities is degeneratine
physically, mentally and morally. The
newspapers and political economists are
discussing causes and cures which seem
TO De apparent to all who have studied the
question, but the causes are not corrected
the cures are not applied and a great re-
sponsibility Is neglected.
AFFECT Condition of the Poems.
One of the newspapers of tba c,n++,,
which is loyal supporter of the church.
contained an editorial the other day call
ing attention to pastoral recently issued
by the archbishop of Chile to his clergy,
In which he deplores the condition Of
agricultural laborers in that country. who.
ne says, I'VE In the same kind of a hut
that they occupied before the Spanish con-
quest, IN which a whole family herd to-
gether in single room with dogs and
other animals Not only that, but even
In the towns. in the wretched tenements,
there is even less protection for health
than In the huts Of the rural Indians. The
archbishop urges the clergy to promote,
by all means in their power, the erection
OF hygienio dwellings for the working
classes. His grace laments the prevalence
of drunkenness among the lower classes
and recommends the clergy to endeavor to
promote temperance and to secure at
least one meal day Of wholesome food
for the children. He advocates practical
lessons in farming for boys and In house
keeping and needlework for girls"
The editorial goes on to say that all this
applies with equal force to the poems OF
Mexico. who are in a deplorable condition
so far as their homes, their health and
habits are concerned, and 1t calls the at
tention of the Mexican clergy to the fact
that great temples, stately ceremonies and
the pomp of worship, magnificent and SYM
bolic of spiritual truth, are vain unless
they are accompanied by genuine Christian
endeavor for the betterment of the material
condition of the wop5nipers. Less dogma
and theological controversy and more prac-
teal work among the people for the i'm
provement of the people would become the
clergy. In the United States we see the
Catholic clergy foremost in good works, ad-
vocates of temperance and organizers of
societies for the promotion of wholesome
amusements; doing work that well becomes
spiritual pastors. The church should get
down among the poor The wealthy laity
should be stimulated to do their duty ana
the clergy should cooperate with the au-
thorities and local sanitary officers In Sc
curing healthy homes and promoting habits
of temperance among the humble
Little Progress Made.
With the exception of small but COM
mendabIe fraction, the poems of Mexico
have made but little progress during the
last quarter of q century, notwithstanding
all that has been done for them In the
way of Increased wages, schools. hospitals
and sanitary improvements. We hear that
q middle class has been created, class OF
mechanics and tradesmen, who have been
educated In schools Of commerce and man
ual training for useful careers In the shops
and manufacturing institutions. Most or
them are the sons of poems and by educa-
ton have been uplifted several grades IN
the social scale. They have scattered an
over the country. They are found IN every
village but the most of them are In the
cities and they are very important addi-
ton to the community. which should be
recognized and appreciated as one OF the
results of free education
The faithful poems who have remained
upon the plantations are stationary they
have made no progress whatever Al
though mat form of slavery known as
peonage was long ago forbidden by law. it
Is still almost universal throughout the
agricultural districts. The iaborer VINO
tills the soil Is actually, although not le-
gally the property of the man who en-
nloys him as much as his mules or his
cattle The mules and the man can both
run away, and other people can employ
them but those who are farnillar with the
customs and public sentiments or the coun-
try would as soon take one as the other,
Farm hands inherit the employment or
their fathers. Their parents lived upon
the same hacienda occupied the same mud
hut with a single room and mud Hoor,
slept upon the same sheepskins, used the
same earthen pots and kettles when they
cooked their beans and made their tor
tllaS. Iney worked Wltu tue sumo looAS
and lived the same aimless lives.
There has been no change The conpui-
sorry education law, the establishment OF
free schools and the introduction OF other
innovations have not made the slightest I'M
preston upon the dense mass of Ignorance
and superstition that constitutes the farm
labor of Mexico. Four-fifths of thu Guilt
waited area of the republic is still ploughed
with crooked sticks; there is scarcely
wheelbarrow between the Rio Grande and
the isthmus; dirt and stones are still car
ried in baskets or in blankets on the backs
of men. They refuse the reaper. the NOW
ing machine and other labor-saving devices,
and still cut their grain with sickle and
thresh IL under the hoofs of oxen and
mules.
Flocking to the City.
Large numbers OF young men have left
the haciendas for the cities. because they
can get higher wages and more social ex-
element but they have generally deterio-
rated. City life has not improved their
morals, their manners or their health.
Every housekeeper win tell you that there
are no more good servants in Mexico. and
when you complain about the lack of a
proper hotel at the capital you always hear