Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-25

meal schools which the government has
established have not been able to produce
enough skilled men to meet the demand
Young men of the upper classes are be-
ginning to study the applied sciences more
Or less seriously; a~few pupils of the peon
class from the public schools are appear
ing at the doors of the technical institu-
tions every year, but 1t will be long time
before they are competent to meet the sit
uation.
There is no room here for doctors. drug
gists. lawyers, school teachers or other
professional people. There is law school
and a medical school In almost every Mexi-
can City and they turn as large crops OF
graduates every year as similar schools In
the United States. The professions .n al. are
Gated Mexican 10 to seek a clerical position.
He prefers indoor employment and the APP
plicants are so much In excess OF the va
cancies that the salaries are small. Ste
nographers are paid from s25 to $50 silver,
which is equal to just half that amount
in our money; bookkeepers. cashiers and
men in similar positions get from 500 to
$50 silver, or half of those amounts in gold.
Next to engineers, railway men, machin-
lists and skilled mechanics have the best
show for employment. But ordinary me-
chanics and workmen should not come here
under any circumstances. The wages OF
skilled mechanics are less than they are in
the United States, although they seem
larger because the figures are given in sill
yer. locomotive engineer or machinist,
y,
which means So and 81 in American money.
and the highest class of manual labor is
paid So in silver. which is only 81 in gold.
The Mexican Laborer Deliberate.
A Mexican. no matter what his employ
ment, either clerical. professional, mechan-
ical or ordinary labor does not accomplish
half as much in a day as the ordinary
American in the same occupations. He re-
quires time for gossip and for prelim-
inaries. He must stop every now and then
to smoke a cigarette; he Is very deliberate
I'm his movements. and of a contemplative
disposition.
The late Matias Romero. for many years
the beloved ambassador of Mexico to Wash
ington, in discussing this subject in one of
his books, says:
1.-THE days work of Mexican laborer.
very likely, represents in many cases only
cne-fourth what is accomplished during the
same time by q laborer in the United States.
A Mexican laborer working from ten to
eleven hours day, for instance, accom-
plishes less work. or produces less, than an
American European laborer in seven or
nine hours, and In some instances the dis
proportion is as great as one to five. l have
been assured that Mexican brfcklayer In
eleven hours work does not lay more than
500 bricks, while brcklayer In the United
States lays $500 in nine hours. Mr.. Enrique
Creel of Chihuahua, a prominent Mexican
gentleman Of American parentage, stated in
an interview published by the Denver News
of October %. 1898, that st Louis con-
tractor, who was executing large contract
for the Mexican government, told him that
a Mexican bricklayer could lay, on an aver
age, 500 bricks daily, while an American
bricklayer is able to lay 5000 daily; Under
such conditions the high wages of So a day
In the United States are no higher than the
wages of 90 cents paid in Mexico, SO far as
the product OF labor is concerned. The prin-
cipal causes for the differences in working
capacity are, in my opinion. the following:
"a The Mexican laborer is not so well FED as
his fellow-laborer In this country; CD he
generally works until he is exhausted, and
his work is not, therefore. SO productive; 8)
he is not on the whole. so well educated as
the average laborer In the United States;
"a he has fewer wants to satisfy, and there
fore less inducement to work. Perhaps
there is In addition to these causes, at least
In some localities, another-a climatic infu-
ence. the enervating character of the trop-
zeal climate and the high altitude above the
level of the sea. and the consequent lower
atmosnheric pressure at which large pro-
portion of the population of Mexico is To-
Gated am inclined to believe that this is
a factor in the case. as similar difference
is noticed among animals. A plow driven
by one horse in this country tthe United
States) would In Mexico require two or
three horses to accomplish the same work
in similar soil: and this shows that the diff
ference In working strength may be due, at
least In part and In some places. TO natural
causes or climatic influences"
No Inducements to immigration.
Under the conditions have described,
as you will already conclude. there are no
inducements in Mexico for immigrants,
and every effort to bring Italians, Hun
earians and other workmen from Euro
pean countries, like those who are crowd
Ing into the United States, has failed.
Those who have introduced Chinese and
Japanese have been more successful. Tho
oriental races alone can compete with tho
native peon or will put up with the priva-
lions he is compelled to endure. But the
common complaint here as everywhere.
lis that they desert the plantations and
mining camps and drift. to the cities. It
IS perfectly natural. They can make more
money and enjoy more diversions in the
in the companionship OF their fellow
countrymen.
Ten years ago there were practically no
Chinese In the City of Mexico; today am