El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-04-09


every 1000 possesses within himself
none of the ambition or impeling forces
which give dignity and fiber 10 our
labor in the United States and makes
this element of the population the real
backbone of the nation. The Mexican
laborer does not work of his own Volt
ton or initiative. He requires to be
driven to it. He works because he must
eat Having striven to the extent
whereby his bodily requirements are
provided for by the few pesos weekly
derived by the sweat of his brow, he
declares truce with work if he is al
lowed to, and loafs until his pockets
are empty, and his stomach grumbleS
for lack of food. He owns no land
He pays no monthly instalments to
building and loan association to clear
the title of a home for himself and his
family. He is sending no boys and
girls through college. None of the in
centives which inspire the American
workingman to fatten the contents of
his pay envelope abide with the Next
can peon. His case presents no indi-
vidual problem as far as he is con-
cerned, but it brings the planter, the
mining superintendent and every man
whose prosperity depends upon getting
SO much work daily out of so many
hands face to face with the biggest sort
Tropic Labor Conditions.
1t is particularly toward labor con-
ditions in the tropics of Mexico that Of
late attention has been drawn by vari-
Gus writers They have combined to
make out an apparently bad case
against Mexico on the score Of abuse
and oppression of labor. 1t is unQues-
tionable that exaggeration and misrep-
resentation, if not unadulterated men
dacify, has tinctured these reports.
Half truths and isolated instances have
been set up as Illustrating conditions
which are declared to be general. With
as much reason could the recent exposes
of peonage cases in Texas and out
rageous treatment of prisoners in the
convict camps of Georgia be elevated
10 the dignity of typical examples Of
labor conditions in the United States.
Peonage, so far as its essential ele-
ments go, has an important part in the
economical life OF Mexico. But peonage
is not recognized, sanctioned nor blink
ed at by the Mexican law, or the au-
thorities. If it is not erring on the side
of truth TO nominate the term ''peon-
age as descriptive of the general con-
ditions under which a majority of the
laborers in Mexico earn their bread, it
must in justice be asserted that ii is,
for the most part "peonage" that
comprehends no involuntary service and
entails no injustice upon the laborer-
Peonage and the law severed partner
ship with the passing of Mexico from
the domination of Spain. But the prin-
ciple has survived since, as a charac-
teristic example of the reluctance of
the Mexican peon to desert the ways
Of his forefathers for those dictated
by an enlightened comprehension Of
the relations between man and his
fellows
The Old Spanish Way.
Under the Spanish rule in Mexico, a
man. could mortgage the labor of his
hands to a planter or a hacendado I'M
til he had paid back the money ad-
vanced to him by his employer, and to
gain which he signed away his liberty.
The law recognized such contracts. It
was the care of the planter that the
laborer, once in his debt, should never
be allowed 10 get out Sons were liable
for the debts of their fathers, and so
a system of virtual slavery was set up.
II is a question If the peon suffered
materially, or was deprived OF any Of
the comforts or pleasures of life,
through the operation of the system
Naturally, subservient, dependent,
without ambition or initiative, life to
him meant nothing save work, a suffi-
shelter for his head, and the intermit-
tent delights of an occasional fiesta.
Left to his own devices, lack of the
power to properly shape his destinies
would probably have condemned him
to q hand to mouth existence, with
nothing assured and everything precar-
ious- But by placing the responsibility
for his food, clothing and shelter upon
the planter who loaned him money, the
IL L H.
material things of life. Toiling for his
master assured him of returns at least
as ample, If not greater, than those
which would have accrued to him had
he kept his labor free.
imprisonment for Debt.
Modern Mexican law does not coun-
tenance Imprisonment for debt, or lay
upon the peon the necessity of working
out the amount of his advance money,
should he elect to evade the obligation
If lew could be enacted and rem
dered effective, whereby the giving of
advance money TO laborers would be
forbidden, what is left of the old peon-
age system would be dealt a death
blow. But the custom Of demanding
and receiving advance money is so
firmly fixed in the pc on's scheme of
things. that he will not engage to work
for a stated period on a plantation I'M
less the labor contractor, or the planter,
places in his hand a sufficient number
of pesos toenable him TO enjoy grand
blow out" before departing for the
scene of his labors
In return for the money advanced,
the peon signs a contract. Excepting
as moral force, the contract is not
worth the paper upon which it is writ
ten. Suppose the laberer owes $50 He
works a week. and decides that he will
try to evade the debt He runs away
The planter can do one Of three things
He can let the man go, and charge MS
account up to profit and loss he can