The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-04-27

the wages are higher, but. as a rule
the higher the wages the less number
of days OF work furnished. The man
who gets 81 Il day viii worl, only two
or three days week, and il he gets
50 he may work a while and then lay
off for a month. \ few weeks ago a
contractor found that six of his men
were doing so we'll that he could raise
their wages 80 per cent. They were
receiving 81 a day, and he gave them
$50. The result was that he got only
| three days Of work the next week. and
he finally had to discharge the whole
gang and bring in new men at the
old rate of wages. He says the labor
is not so efficient as ours. and that
one American will lay more bricks than
four MeNicans.
Labor on the Plantations.
The laboring people oil the hacie nda S
or farms are far worse off than those
of the cities. The average wages there
run from 10 cents and upward per day,
bu: millions of the farm hands and
/ their families are in r state of debt
slavery. getting little more than their
clothing and food. The laws are such
that they dare not leave their masters
without paying their debts and as II
/ result they work along from hand to
mouth, receiving a little spending
money now and then. and increasing
/ their debts whenever they have a we'd
ding or funeral. The only way they
can escape is by getting some one to
assume their debts and this is some
times done by the neighboring haci-
endas others who want work
and can find none in the market. 1t
Is difficult TO get peon away from
his old master. and this is especially
so ii he has been fairly well treated.
How Money Talks I'm Mexico.
And still find that money talks
quito as loudly here rs on the other
sidee of the boundary. At least, it did
SO not long ago for some Americans
in the tropical lowlands. and were
hard up for labor. They offered big
wages, but in vain. All the poems of
the neghborhood were in debt slavery
to the owners of the estates about, and
the promises of the foreigners fell fiat
At last the Americans brought in
several bushels of now Mexican dol
lars. and laid them in great piles on
the bic in the rude building which
formed their plantation Office. They
then called in the poems and showed
them the money. saying that they had
brought it there to pay off their debts
for them. and also that they had
bushels Of other dollars to pay the
debts of the poems provided they would
drop their present employers and work
for them, and the wages they proposed
were higher than the Poems had ever
ndO III the past
The sight of the money worked won
ders. The poems came over in body
and were instructed by the Americans
to get papers showing their exact in
debtedness They did so. and the
Americans. then went will, them to
their old employers and saw that they
we're legally freed. The men were then
able to contract, and their contracts
were registered with the officials of
the district, SO that they became legally
bound to their American employers.
l. Peonnge still In Force.
Nominally, there is now no slavery
in Mexico, but really this form of debt
slavery is still in existence. The rich
estate owners have practically con-
trolled the jefe- politicos or local of
fcials. who can force the men to &c
into tho army. and it Is through them
that they have kept the Indians at
work During the administration OF
Diaz it was the same with the factories
the jefe- politicos aiding in keeping the
men on the job. The wiping out OF
this great labor-forcing machine is one
of the questions agitated by the re-
formers of Mexico to-day, and 1t is the
hope of the most advanced that IL may
be accomplished. The system has beer
complete and wide-reaching, and al
sorts OF methods have been employed
to keep the poems In debt. Nearly
every big estate has its store, where
credit, and the same has been true
OF the factories and in the mines The
peon Is naturally thriftless. lie is like
a child. and he will borrow all thai
he can. This is especially so at the
times Of weddings and funerals A mar