The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-03-01

|: rative of his experiences in a
|: personal investigation of peon
|: slavery on the tobacco pianta-
|: tions of what Richard Harding
: Davis calls that ''unclean and
Il uncivilized country"
| The Vale Nacional, John Kenneth
Turner calls the worst slave hole in
| Mexico. 1t is a narrow valley in the
extreme northwestern corner of the
state of Oaxaca. To this place, from
| which escape is almost Impossible,
| thousands of men, women and child
| rem are kidnapped each year and
worked until they die. The plantation
| owner, the labor agent and the gov
eminent are in league in the slave
traffic. Turner in the American Ma
gazine, thus describes how the sys-
tenn works:
How Victims Are Secured.
THE methods employed by the Ia
Dor agent in getting the laborer are
many and various. His first step is TO
open an employment office ana adVer-
tise for workers who are to be given
high wages, a comfortable home and
plenty of freedom somewhere in the
south of Mexico. Free transportation
is offered. These inducements always
cause a certain number to take the
bait, especially men with families VINO
want to move with their families to
a more prosperous cline. The nus
band and father is given an advance
fee of So and the whole family is
locked up in a room resembling a jail.
After a day or two, as they are joined
by others, they come to have m1sglV-
ingS. Perhaps they ask to be let out
and then they find that they are in
deed prisoners. They are told that
they are in debt and will be held I'M
til they work out their debt. A few
days later the door opens and they file
out. They find that rurales are all
about them. They are bundled into
wagons or marched through a back
street to railroad station, where
they are put upon the train. They
try to get away, but it is no use; they
are prisoners In a few days they are
in Vale Nacional.
"a third method employed by the
labor agent is outright kidnapping.
have heard of many cases of the kid
naping of women and of men. Hun
dreds of half drunken men are picked
up about the pulque shops of Mexico
City every season, put under lock ana
key, and later hurried off to Vale
Nacional. Children, also, are regu-
IarIy kidnapped for the Vale Nacional
trade. The official records of Mexico
City say that during the year ending
1, 1908, $50 little boys be-
tween the ages Of and II disappear
ed on the streets. Some of these have
later been located in Vale Nacional."
Always in the Managers Debt.
The advance fee is the only money |
the slave ever sees. Thereafter he is |
never out of debt to the plantation
They are charged out |
rageous prices for clothing. They |
must pay back the cost of their trans
portation and a high rate of interest
runs against delinquent payments. |
These are the weapons used to keep |
and the government help the planta- |
ton owner do it.
such is keeping books to keep the |
slave a slave" Mr.. Turner writes. "On i
the other hand, when you figure up |
the cost of the slave to yourself, it is |
quite different. Purchase price, food,
clothes. wages-everything,' Senior
Rodriguez told me, costs from $50 to
Of service Take from this your pur
chase price, advance fee and suits at
cost, sixty cents each, and we discover
that between So and SIS are left for
both food and wages for each six
months. 1t all goes for food-beans
and tortillas. Yes, there is another
item of expense that the mas
-ers must pay-the burial fee in the
Vale Nacional cemetery. 1t is $3.50.
Guarded Night and Day.
Every slave is guarded night and
day. At night he is locked UP in a
1ormitory resembling jail. In addi-
plantation has it's mandador. or SUI
perintendent; it's cabos who combine
he function of overseer and guard; |
and several free laborerS to run the
errandS of the ranch and help round
Up the runawayS in case of slave
1.-The dormitories are large barnlike
buildings built strongly of young trees
set upright and wired together with
many strands of barbed wire fencing.
The windows are iron barred, the
'loors dirt There is no furniture eX-
,ept sometimes long. rude benches
Il, ,~l, 4
ire thin grass mats and in this hole
deep all the slaves, men, women and
the number ranging, accord
ng to the size of the plantation, from
0 to 400
\ plowman whom Turner met by
he roadside told him his story while
he foreman was at distance:
4 was carpenter and a good one
six years ago." he went on. "I
ived with my brother and sister in
he City of Mexico. My brother was
student-he was only in his teens
ny sister tended the little house that
paid for out of my wages We were
lot poor-no. We were happy. Then
he work in my trade fell slack and
me evening I met a friend who told
ne of employment to be had in the
tate of Vera Cruz at three pesos a
ay-a long job. I jumped at the
lere-here! / told my brother and
lister that I would send them money
egularly, and when 1 learned that I
ould send them nothing and wrote
o let them know, the bosses would
lot let me send the letter, For
months 1 kept that letter, watch
ng, waiting. trying to get an oppor-
unity to speak to the carrier as he
ode along the highway. At last RI
aw him, but when handed him the
etter he laughed in my face and
landed it back. Nobody is allowed
o send a letter out of here.
Then Came the CabO.
'' 'Escape?' went on the plowman.