The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-31


 Cuzco, Peru. TwRITE of the debt slaves of the An-
 des. They are nui-loered by the hun
 dreds of thousands and the most of them are in the direst of bondage. This mighty plateau. between the two ranges of mountains. is divided into farms or haciendas. owned by the whites, the de- scendants of the Spa nlards, or by the Cholos, a mixture of Spaniards and In- dians. These estates are large. You may ride all day across many of them and not come 10 the end of the property Each of them has large number of Indians upon it and these Indians 'are practically the debt slaves of the owners. They live in villages or in huts, scattered over the property. The land belongs to the ha- ciendaoas. and the Indians have their huts and small nieces of land. which are leased to them under certain conditions. One of these is that the Indian must work a part of each week foi his master. He may have cattle, namas. alpacas and sheep but he has to give q certain per centage of the increase to the hacienda dos There are. also. fixed rules as to how the stock must be sold, and the es-
 
 and of all the products that the Indians raise He practically fixes the prices and he gets everything for song The haciendados make such advances to the Indian as keep him in a state of debt slavery and this state is transmitted to his children. The conditions are different in the different provinces and in some places they are milder than in others But all over the plateau they are such that the red man has practically no chance of accumulating property or of advancing in the state of civilization.
 l have just had a long talk with a haciendado, who lives here in Cuzco. He owns 2SS,00o acres of land at Casipata in the province of Paucartando, but he goes there only during a part of tho summer. and spends his money abroad He has house here in Cuzco, and his Indians bring the crops here to mark let. This mans estate represents about the worst of thV conditions on the high Andes He was very free in talking x about them. and he seems to have no shame in the part he is taking in them shall give our converse ton it oc- cured. Said he:
 Land here is cheap. The estate at Cusipata cost Us only about cents an acre. We got the whole. including the stock, which consisted of large num- her of cattle, alpacas and sheep. for 2o.000 soles, or about $l0,000. l think we would sell it for twice that amount to- day. Much of the land Is high running up to 16,000 feet above the sea. This is fitted only for pasture. We have also some which is as low as 10000 feet, upon which barley, potatoes qulnua and other crops can be grown. We have big flocks of alpacas and altogether about 5000 sheep. We have also cattle and horses and llamas and donkeys.
 'The most important possession of the farm, however, our Indians. Our lands are valuable noy according to their area, but according to the number of families of Indians who have homes upon them and are therefore obliged to work for the owners The great trouble here is labor. If we do not have the Indians on the estates we can get no one to work them. Therefore we hold them by keep ing them more less in debt to us. We advance money for their expenses, and also for the purchase of the cattle. llamas, alpacas and other stock that they own This is done from time to time until they are so deep in our debt they cannot get out. We want to keep -fhew Ill debt, for this is the only way we can be sure of holding them to the land. The Indian seldom pays his debts He has been accustomed for generations to our system, and the only way he could pay would he by getting some other farmer to ume his obligation to us. In that case he could move, but he would be only going from one master to another"
 But how do the Indians begin their life on the farm?' l asked
 They come first to get homes and pastures for their stock, as we'll as to have lands to cultivate. They have no land of their own and no money to buy It, so they rent the land of us. As they have no money. the conditions of the rent are that they must work a part of each week for us. According to my con tracts every Indian man has to work five days for the estate. In his lease he agrees to give all of his Mondays, Tuesdays. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays to me and to have only Satur- day and Sunday for himself This is the rule throughout the year with the exception of holidays and saints days In addition we have special arrange ments as to his stock, providing that it must be sold to us at fixed prices"
 Can you give the those arrange ments?"
 'Yes." said the haciendado, as he picked up ledger filled with writing and accounts of one kind or another Here Is my farm book. It contains all of the data regarding the running of the estate, including our terms of con tract with the Indians. These terms are the same as have been in use upon this farm since 1t was established away back in colonial times. l will give you them as they are read to all the In- dians when they are hired. As you will see, the last record of these rules was put down in May, 1902
 Tn the first place, the Indians agree 10 work for us from Monday to Friday without any other pay except an ounce and a half of coca per day. This is about "a handful and it costs us per man. -four cents a week. It is also villages on the farm shall furnish me from time to time throughout the year /a man servant or pongo, and a woman servant to work in my house, or for someone else if I so direct I bring one of these pongoes to Cuzco and use him here, keeping the two others to work on the farm. The pongoes are changed from month to month, and the Village authorities see that new one is on hand before the old one leaves In this way We always have house servants.
 '"rhe next provisions of the lease are as to trade. The Indians cannot trade with stranger without our permission, and We nave the first chance as to everything they sell. As an ordinary thing they will > not trade with anyone else under any condition, and that not even if the prices offered were 10 times what we give. For instance, although my Indians are now selling me their lambs for 20 cents each you could not buy lamb from them for