Evening journal., 1909-09-24
SAYS SLAVERY
EXISTS in MEXICO
This One Of the Many SenSa-
tiOnaI Charges Made
Against Government
BY United Press Leased Special Wire

Bv United Press Leased Special Wire
NEW YORK. Sept. 2s-That peonage
to the extent of absolute slavery in
its worst forms exists In the republic
of Mexico. fostered by the govern
ment officials, is but one OF the many
serious and sensational charges
against the Mexican government con-
tanned in the first of a series Of
articles entitled '"The Slavery of
Yucatan, Barbarious Mexico" by John
Kenneth Turner. beginning in the cur
rent number Of The American Maya
zine.
In a foreword TO the story the
editors of the magazine declare;
I'VE had no knowledge before (this
story was written) that slavery existed
TO such an extent-right at our doors
that men and women are enslaved for
life by the thousands, starved, beaten,
and sold We had supposed Mexico
to be in some sense a republic but we
find Il a government more absolute
and autocratic than Russia II has its
Siberias-in the hot lands of the south;
it's spy system. its condemnation for
political offenses. and it's terrible
prisons. The constitution is a dead
document. 1t is a government of
few for the few, with a standing army
to back them.
"Why have we not known this be-
fore2 Diaz controls all sources OF
news and the means OF transmitting
IT, The real news of Mexico does
not get across the border.
Diaz is an able autocrat, who has
polced his country well, used his
power for the benefit of the few and
neglected the welfare of the great
body OF the people. In Mexico. they
say: After himl the deluge. II in
deed he is not swept away by IT,"
The author declares he was led TO
make his Investigations by the stories
told him by a number OF political
refugees who had been arrested and
thrown into jails in the United States
at the instigation of the Mexican gov
ernment on the charge that they were
formenting revolt against Mexico. In
part he says:
1T found Mexico to be a country
with a written constitution and writ
ten laws as fair as our own, but with
neither the constitution nor the laws
in operation. Mexico is a country
without political freedom. without
press, without free ballot, without
jury system. without political
parties. It is a land where there has
been no contests for the presidency
for more than a generation. where the
executive rules all things by a stand
ing army. where political offices are
sold for a fixed price. where the public
school system in vast country districts
/ is abolished because government
/ governs the money. I found Mexico
TO be a land where the people are
poor because they have no rights
where peonage Is the rule for thS
great mass, where actual chatte
slavery obtains for hundreds Of thous
ands Finally / found that the peo
pie do not idolize their president. tina
the tide OF opposition damned an
held back as it has been by the arm
and the secret police. is rising to
height where il must shortly overflow
the dam. Mcxicans Of all classes an,
Affiliations agree that their country Il
hurrying to a general revolution ir
favor Of democracy; If not a revolution
I'm the time of Diaz. for Diaz is old
and Is exepcted soon to pass; then a
revolution after Diaz."
Turner declares he found the first
traces of slavery in Yucatan, where
the soil is adapted to the growing of
a century plant which produces hene-
ouen or sisal hemp. The annual ex-
port of henequen from this state
amounts TO 25O.O0O pounds, the vast
majority being raised by fifty hene-
auen kings. who hold 100000 men and
women in actual slavery. on the
pretense that he wished to buy a
heneauen plantation during the panic
of 1907. Turner says he secured the
confidence Of a number of these hene-
quen raisers
The slaces in Yucatan he Classics