The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-10-13

and the MAJORITY have a spree once a
week. Monday Is called the roto's
holiday for he is often SO drunk
SUNDAY that he has to take Monday
TO recover. The liquor used Is the
vilest of alcohol, being often made
of potatoes and rotten vegetables 1t
would. as one of the employers says.
kill the ordinary man at d thousand
yards. The stuff is gulped down in
great quantities, not ecauS II is
liked. but because it makes the drunk
come. There are many saloons and
a recent census showed 6,90e places
in Santiago where liquor was sold.
and in Valparaiso the average was
one saloon for every twenty four men.
There are drinking places in all the
Chilean villages. and every small town
and hacienda store keeps liquors for
sale. Of late. there nave been some
movements toward temperance. but
so far but little has been accom-
plished.
AS q result of these excuses ard of
the poor feod and insanitary condi-
tons of the houses the mortality
among the inquilinos is great They
breed like Australian rabbits, and
their babies die like flies. IT is only
the strong children who live. and for
this reAson perhaps the poems, as a
class, are as tough and strong as any
people of the world. I have seen
them carrying nitrate bags weighing
500 pounds each and tossing them
about like bags Of feathers -Four
of them will lift a piano and carry
it along the roadway. and in the
mines a peon will tote a bag of ore,
weighing $50 pounds up the notched
| stick that serves as a ladder all day
| long.
As to the homes of the poems, they
are often little better than pispens.
Some of the large Haciendadoe have
recently been erecting model dwell
ings. but the most Of the tenant
houses are still Shanties of adobe brick
or hutS made of reeds and sticks,
woven together and pastered with
mud. They are matched with straw.
The doors are rude, and the win
dow are small. hTe ground is often
the floor, and the furniture consists
of little more han q table covered
with oilcloth a few roughtc hairs and
a bed. These people have large fam
lilies and a hut Of fifteen or twenty
feet square is often the home Of six
or eight people.
The Inquilinos pay nc rent for such
houses, and they have in addition
small tracts Of ground which they
can cultivate, as we'll as pasture fOf
a certain number Of cattle. In returr
they have to provide labor for the
proprietor whenever it is required
and that at wages that are often hall
the currents rates of the neighbor-
hood. The Haciendado has the righ1
to discharge he InQuilino, and the
Inquilino has the right to leave wheI
he p1eaSeS. AS a rule the hacien.
dadOS try to hold their men, and the
men, if at all we'll treated, are no,
likely to move. On some of the farm:
{ there is a general store run by tht
landlord for his servants, and there
the Inquilino makes the most of hi.
purchases. He is supposed to give
one mans work in exchange for hi
rent and this means that he gets hi.
house and garden for from 50 to S,
per week. | am told that the In
Quilinos love their masters, and
know that the masters are fond of tn,
G men who work for them. The maste,
; occuples somewhat the position of
y feudal lord, and the men treat hin
! with a great deal of respect.
The service in the army, which i
now universal. is having civilizing in
t1uence upon the lower classes. Ever
t young man, when he arrives at tn
g of twenty, is supposed to spen,
one year in the military establish
s ment during which time he is whip
e ped into shape, taught to obey an,
q made into a soldier. The militar
q system is that of Germany. and edu
cation is combined with the training
n There are German professors in al
the military academies, and the GA
n diets who aid in handling the troop
q are usually we'll educated. TIL In
qullIno is broadened by this service
and 1t tends TO make him leave h
n farm for the city and to engage j
l. labor there.
d Another influence toward civilian
is and eleVatins the Inquilino is the Il
ID Dor organizations. They are slow,
Ie making their way into the y,rio,
d countries Of South America. The raj
way employees are organized. and :
III are the ~StevedoreS as we'll as the men
De bers of some of the mechanical trade
.r The labor element is beginning IN IA
o. part in politics, and it has now to