Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1920-11-30
WORKMEN STRIKE
TWICE A WEEK
MARK E. BELLS, NOW IN
PERU, WRITES OF
EXPERIENCES

American workmen are a peaceful
LOT as compared to Peruvians., accord
ing to Mark E. Bells, Wausau man,
who ACCOMPANIED by a Chicago friend,
Lawrence Lindemann, went to South
America the middle of October. For
the last six months the Peruvian Ia
horers have gone on strike on the
average of twice a week." Mr.. Bells
writes in letter to his mother, Mrs.
p. 1. Goerling of this city, "as there
is a bunch of Bolshevist agitators
down here" Mr.. Bells is now loca-
fed $50 miles inland and is $1,000
feet I'D in the Andes, where he is con-
nected with an American Copper min
ing company.
Huge Tax on Tobacco
Part of the letter, which was writ
ten shortly after the arrival OF the
two men in Peru, follows.
I'VE came off the boat early in the
morning of October 25th, obtaining
our baggage on the docks where 1t
was inspected by the customs. They
found the tobacco l had in my trunk
and | had to pay $40 a package tax
OH anu PHO dpICSC IoA Oi
cigars which amounted to $2150 gold
tax and $500 special tax. Isn't that
fright? But then you can't buy
American cigarettes here for they
have an imitation that costs $50
package. We had to go through lot
of red tape to pay the tax and then
we had to report to the police to have
our passports inspected.
"Callas is a very dirty town. We
finally got on a train for Lima, the
capital which is only seven miles
away. OF course, we were very much
disappointed in Callas also. 1t is just
like all Spanish towns. The streets
are very narrow (about as wide as our
alIeyl, all the buildings are built
right up to the street and most of the
people are very ragged, and dirty and
very poor. All the money is in the
hands or a few.
1--WE went to the Maurey hotel and
got a room. 1t is supposed to be the
best hotel on the west coast but l
wish you could see it. 1t is just like
big barn and very dirty. There are
no carpets and we have no running
water in our room and in addition, it
is an inside room. We pay $1,000
day for two including two meals day.
1t cost us $1,000 to have our baggage
taken from the boat to this hotel.
You know they don't check baggage
on the trains here so you have to pay
considerable to have it transported"
On the following day, Mr.. Bells
continued his letter "We went to
the American consul yesterday" he
wrote, land we located a room in
boarding house here where we are now
located. We moved in here yesterday
afternoon. Nearly all the boarders
are young Americans or Englishmen.
We have an immense room, what was
formerly dining room, for which we
are paying $4,000 week with all
meals but we only get terrible coffee
and dry bread for breakfast, which is
the Spanish breakfast. We have din
ner at o'clock.
Girls Most Beautiful
"The customs are very funny here.
Everybody quits work at o'clock and
from to s p. m. everyone is up town
sitting around cafes drinking. Then
they go home and eat dinner. Then
they walk or ride around for an hour
and at 10 o'clock everyone goes to
bed. The Peruvian girls are the most
beautiful in the world, they say, and
| guess they are, all right We only
see then riding past in big cars and
they are never seen walking along
the street They dress in black and
have large black mantellas which
hang down their backs. One can new
er meet them except in their homes
and one can never go to see them I'M
Cd %aJ- 4,
anywhere you must take the whole
family including the grandparents
and a maid or two. This is surely
different from America.
THE houses are built right up to the
street and are all made of stone and
plaster. The windows all have heavy
blinds which are kept continually
locked. The houses and stores are
all built with court in the middle
from which they get their light.
1t must be against the law to have a
window facing the street. They have
heavy doors or iron gates for entran-
ces which are always kept locked and
1t is days work to get into a Peru
Wan house if you aren't known. They
come to the door and look through a
peek hole to see who is there. | don't
know what the idea is but maybe it
is because they have a revolution
down here on the average of twice a
year.
No Manufacturing
prices here are higher than in the
states. The people here are really
way behind the times. There is prac-
tlcally no manufacturing and every
thing is imported. They are very slow
and it takes weeks to get anything
done. Here is a good example-Peru
is big exporter of chocolate (raw)
and raw sugar, but there is no candy
made in the country 81 it is all i'm
ported and costs $500 pound. Cot
ton, rubber and petroleum are three
or the biggest exports but all the auto
tires are imported from America and
gasoline is $50 a gallon although the
OIL wells are only a few miles away
was surprised at the number of
Americans down here. There are
many American concerns here"
On another day, Mr.. Bells compile
ted the letter. There seems to be
plenty of work down here for Ameri-
cans in American banks and offices
out 1t costs so much to live in Lima
that we have decided to go into the
interior and work. Wednesday we
went to the office of the offices of the
Ceno De Paseo Copper company. big
American corporation, to find out
whether they had any work in the
mountains. They were very nice to
us and gave us both letters of intro
duction to the manager up there.
They need a man to run the conden-
sers and they gave me a letter recon-
mending me for the job. They charge
only $4,000 for board and room up
there and there are many Americans.
The company owns the whole town
which is $50 miles inland and 1900
feet in the Andes.
Whole Country Strikes
ssWa wara N tol-o tba 4ra;p waste,