Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-26

iHlItcu, uHucT Tie pOHCy VI Tie hcAlSou
government. to keep him at work. Some
times the peon will conclude that he Is
ill-used by his employer, and goes out
and finds another master who is willing
to pay off the old obligations and assume
the loan himself.
There are about 100000 adults in the
republic who can neither read nor write,
and they consti-
Peon Glass Numbers tute the peon
5000, 900 Adults. ity Of them are
Indians, although a million are half
breeds. In Mexico they are known as
'gente sin razon''-people without rea-
son. AS a rule they are deferential. but
quick to resent what they consider an
affront to their rights. They may be
compelled to work a lifetime at pitiful
wages, and will never complain about it.
but the minute any one treats them dis
courteously he is likely to hear from
them. The man who calls one Of them
a greaser had better be prepared for
trouble.
The begging class, of course, is made
up Of poems. Almost the first phrase a
foreigner learns in Mexico is "perdoneme
por DiOs"-pardon me in the name Of
God-for wherever he goes he is con-
fronted with the lame. the halt, the
nothing, with an appeal for ''un .centavo,
senor." Many of them invoke the bless
ing Of God and the saints upon the per-
son Of whom they beg, and the foreigner
"for-God-sakers." Dozens Of poor. be-
draggled boys and girls are to be found
on the streets of every town and city and
at every railroad station In the republic.
each Of them usually carrying a baby
wrapped in a rebosa. They accost the
stranger with appeals for a centavo.
When they get it, it usually goes to some
pulQue-sOdden peon, who uses 1t to re-
pienish his supply Of the favorite bev
erage.
The dress Of the peon and his family.
is usually Of the cheapest kind, cotton
being the favorite
Women Are Often material. The men
wear a cotton shirt
Heavily Laden. and trousers and a
straw sombrero. AS a wrap they wear
the serape, which serves as clothing by
day and bedding by night. The women
wear very simple clothing and wrap their
head and shoulders in the rebosa, which
is sort Of shawl. They have unique
back with the rebosa, and one often sees
a peon woman carrying baby on her
back, basket on her head and a bundle
in each hand. Sometimes she reverses
this and wraps the baby in front Of her,
straps her load on her back and carries
a bundle in each hand. They often travel
for miles so laden without seeming to
tire. The children present an amusing
spectacle. The little girls dress exactly
like their mothers and look like pygmy
women, and the boys dress in precisely
the same style as their fathers.
Moving vans are practically unknown
in Mexico. Household goods and almost
everything else down to the baggage of
the tourist is carried by cargadores. In
heavy work these human burden-bearers
operate in pairs. They have a sort Of
platform which might be ikened to
double-ended wheelbarrow without
wheels. On this is loaded the stuff to be
transported, man takes hold of each
end and they start on their journey.
motion of the feet of the man in front
corresponding to that Of a pacing horse.
1t is surprising what heavy burdens these
men are able to carry. When they operate
which passes around the load and across
the forehead right at the edge Of the
scalp. Thus the whole burden of the load
is thrown upon their necks.
lueTc were dS IuuCE III the germ
theory as many medical men assert, sure
ly half of the poems of Mexico would be
dead within a single year. In the larger
cities the conditions under which the
poems live are unspeakably fnsanitary
The tenement of Mexico City, for in
stance. Is usually one-story structure,
built around q square, and the inhabi-
tants live as thickly as bees in a hive. In
many cases three and four families will
occupy a single room. No effort is
made to observe even the simplest prin-
ciples of health, and the whole place
reeks with filth. Sometimes, when there
is a bad outbreak of an epidemic disease,
President Diaz issues an order requiring
every native to battle at least once
week. No other decree Of the govern
ment meets with such hostility as this.
X
OF course. the condition of the peon is
much worse in the cities then in the
rural dis
Wants Are Few tricts. While
and Easily Satisfied. abode huts
on the plateau and their matched ones
in the low country seldom have more
than one room and rarely possess win
dow, there is more air and less crowding
than in the cities. While the children in
the cities usually are clothed to the point
of decency, this is not true In the country
districts, and the American employer of
peon labor often musts issue orders COM