Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-08
SAYS "COST OF LIVING"
is WITHOUT PARALLEL
People Starving in the Streets-Mur-
ders and Assassinations of Daily
Occurrence.

mailed there.
There is a bull train caravan leaving
here tomorrow with refugees leaving
Mexico, and as I have some friends
who will be aboard will try and get a
letter through.
ut will be quite an exodus. Some
thing like the exodus from Egypt. and
probably somewhat like as picturesque
and interesting. Some $50 men, wom-
en- and children will leave here at
am. outward bound. and as each indl-
yidual has to provide his own convey
ance it is probable that there will De
a resurrection of ancient contraptions
that will run all the way from automo-
biJes to the high wheel bicycle. ana
from the democratic wagon 10 the sea
going hack Following this Impressive
panorama will come the baggage
wagons and commlssary.
Meager Mail Facilities.
1--WE have had no mail since January
axcept one dab that came in from the
north in March. and such as Frank
, Doughty brings up on his return trip to
Puebla. The latter is a recent 1nno-
vation. Some weeks ago Frank took. a
Messenger to Puebla in his automoblle
and collected therefor $4,000. and ne
looked upon his work and said that l!
was good Thereupon he esta pllsheu
a regular weekly service to take out
people from here at $1,000 Mex per
head and arranged with some of the
different governments in control mere
to permit him to bring mail He also
takes mail out at SO Mex. per ietter.
The mail we have received is that DAT
ed last January and February.
Three bones per is not conducive to
frequent correspondence in the state
of the money market at present Inere
is another drawback to writing, ana
that is that all letters coming or s Sr =
from the country are inspected py a
censor at Vera Cruz. II he thinks tney
are deleterious, they don't go, and the
three bones are burnt up.
"An innocent little pastime here rs
to write letters to fictitious parties In
the states and signed by fictitious
names ESQ there won't be any unpleas-
ant consequences) for censor consump.
ton. telling in detail and in words OF
simple truth what the revolutionists
are. We want to keep that censor in
terested and also to know what people
think of the 4paytrots.'
'T haven't heard from any OF you
since last January except telegram
me- back sil.75.
You folks may think that the cost
of living in the states is high and
also that conditions are bad. but you
Of it. The col in Mexico is some-
thing terrific. The other day l paid
$50 for a sack of flour. Lard is 81 per
kilo. eggs Is cents each. etc: OF course,
about 8 cents on the dollar. but 1t is
Mexican money that We earn. when we
earn any. The poor are starving liter
ally and hideously. starving to death
tirely disappeared from the streets of
Mexico and the daily newspapers chroni-
Gle the arrest of small butchers for SELL
ing horse and dog meat. The horses. OF
course are not butchered for their meat.
The horse meat is from dead horses and
not slaughtered ditto. A dead cat that
was lying in front Of our office was gath
cred in by the old fellow who cleans up
for US. who took it home and ate 1t.
Government Distributes Corn.
1.-THE government is distributing free
corn to the people. and every day and
for weeks it has been so there are long
lines of palid-faced women with bas-
kets, extending for several blocks In
tightly damned ranks, waiting for
corn. The evening of the day before a
corn distribution one can see long lines
of them sitting on the pavement wait
ing for the place to open fourteen or
sixteen hours later.
Bad as it Is here 1t is worse in the
interior. There people are living on
bark and herbs-and dying of starva-
ton. No crops have been planted and
remember my having predicted. the
famine is now upon US. There is very
little food left in the country and this
is going fast. There was a demonstra-
of which was to break into the stores
and appropriate food, but the govern
ment stopped 1t.
Conditions are bad-bad such as
how ~ har Sc
little food. no work, no business. no
railway communication. No way for
the people to get out and nothing for
them to do here but starve.. This is not
a particle overdrawn. 1t is but a very
slight glimpse Of the truth.
Meanwhile the generals and 'colonels'
tear up and down the avenue in auto
mobiles with their wives. four or half a
dozen wives per general Armed Indians
parade the streets doing as they please.
Murder and robbery are Of common oc-
currence and sometimes different generals
with their troops clash. Not long ago
there was such battle in the center of
the town, where more than fifty of them
were killed
Things have reached such a pass that
all Of the Mexican people want interven-
tion-except, of course, those participating
in the graft
THE foreign legion here takes things
pretty much as they come. Some are
apprehensive and nervous. and some are
not Some are pessimistic and see NO
hope for the future, while others are
optimistic But all of US have our bad
days when the sky looks blue
1t is a pretty stif fight for us ALL
stiner lot than any of you can real
lie. for you never have had any expert
ence with which to compare it, For
example, the townspeople in the quiet
village Of our childhood IL they heard
q rifle shot would cackle about it. and
II the shot was with criminal intent
they would be goggle-eyed for days
thereafter. Suppose that suddenly
about 10 o'clock at night a band OF
yaqui Indians should start to kill all
the policemen. This happened here
And it would be just as hard for you
to realize that during the shooting
dropped Off to sleep again. I certainly
would not have done that FIVE years
ago, but five years of this has made
feelings and has sort Of instilled 9
fatalistic view of things.
Thousands Are Slaughtered.
What used to get on my nerves
though. was the daily executions at the
cemetery. Possibly it went ahead al
day. but heard 1t only at night About
o'clock every evening it would com
mence. There would be a volley ant
then a single shot; a volley and a sin.
gle shot. repeated half a dozen times OF
so. The volley was when the doomed
one was stood against the wall, thu
single shot was through the head t
insure q good job. There have beer