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 BARBAROUS MEXICO
 
 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 BY 
 JOHN KENNETH TURNER 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY 
 CO-OPERATl \^E 
 
 8 G 2 1 3
 
 Copyright 1910 
 By Charles H. Kerr & Company
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. The Slaves of Yucatan 9 ^- 
 
 II. The Extermination of the Yaquis 37 
 
 III. Over the Exile Road 49 
 
 IV.VThe Contract Slaves of Valle Nacional. 67 
 
 V. In the Valley of Death 82 
 
 VI.y/THE Country Peons and the City Poor. 109 / 
 
 VII. YThe Diaz System 120 
 
 VIII.y/REPRESSivE Elements of the Diaz Ma- 
 chine 138 
 
 IX. The Crushing of Opposition Parties. . . . 160 
 
 X. The Eighth Unanimous Election of J 
 
 Diaz 174 
 
 XL Four Mexican Strikes 197 
 
 XII. Critics and Corroboration 220 
 
 XIII. The Diaz-American Press Conspiracy... 237 
 
 XIV. The American Partners of Diaz 253 
 
 XV. American Persecution of the Enemies 
 
 OF Diaz 270 
 
 XVI. Diaz Himself 299 
 
 XVII. The Mexican People 324 ^
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 facing pack 
 
 Slave Mother and Child, also Henequen Plant 20 
 
 Women Are Cheaper than Grist-Mills 20 
 
 Calling the Roll at Sunrise on a Slave Plantation 26 
 
 Scene in a Yaqui Bltll Pen on the Exile Road 49 
 
 Band of Yaquis on the "Exile Road 52 
 
 Type of "Enganchado," or Plantation Slave 70 
 
 Boy Slaves on a Sugar Plantation in the Hot Lands 96 
 
 Cargadores with Baskets, Seen Everywhere on the 
 
 Mexican Plateau 110 
 
 Midnight in Mexico City "Meson," Cheap Lodging House 116 
 
 Two Groups of Waifs Sleeping in a "Meson" 118 
 
 Ready for the Execution 140 
 
 Mexican Cavalry and Mexican County Jail 144 
 
 Yaquis Hanged in Sonora, Mexican Rurales 148 
 
 A Typical Mexican Military Execution, Before and After 164 
 Diaz and Taft Photographed Together at El Paso, Texas 254 
 
 Portraits of Five American Revolutionists 272 
 
 Primitive Plow; Mexico Is Backward in Modern Ma- 
 chinery, Not Because the Mexican Laborer Is Stupid, 
 BUT Because He Is Cheap 328 
 
 Wood Carriers, City of Mexico 334
 
 T^5 
 
 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 Since the publication of the first edition of this book 
 less than four months ago both the prophecies which it 
 embodies have been fulfilled. On page 10 I say that 
 Mexico "is on the verge of a revolution in favor of 
 democracy ;" and on page 267, that "The United States 
 will intervene zvith an army, if necessary, to maintain 
 Diaz or a successor zvho would continue the special part- 
 nership with American capital." 
 
 As this is writteiT^lTearly 30,000 American soldiers are 
 patroUing the Mexican border and American warships 
 are cruising in the neighborhood of Mexican ports. 
 Though not a soldier may cross the line, though not a 
 vessel may fire a shot, tliis is effective intervention all the 
 same. The confessed purpose is to crush the revolution 
 by cutting off its source of supplies and by preventing 
 patriotic Mexicans residing in the United States from 
 going home to fight for the freedom of their country. 
 
 The action of President Taft in mobilizing the troops 
 was taken without regard for the wishes of the American 
 people and without due explanation to them. The action 
 of the troops in seizing revolutionist supplies and arrest- 
 ing revolutionist recruits is not only against every tradi- 
 tion of political liberty upon which this nation is supposed 
 to be based, but it is unlawful and criminal and punish- 
 able under the laws of the States by fine and imprison- 
 ment. It is not a crime against any federal or state law 
 to ship food, or even arms and ammunition, into Mexico 
 with the open intention of selling them to the revolution- 
 ists. It is not a crime against any federal or state law 
 to go from the United States into Mexico with the open 
 intention of joining the revolution there. Without a 
 formal proclamation of martial law the military author- 
 ities have no right to exceed the civil laws and when 
 they do so they are liable to fine and imprisonment for 
 unlawful detention. 
 
 Martial law has not been proclaimed on the border. 
 Every day the military authorities there are violating
 
 6 PREFACE. 
 
 the laws. But the civil authorities are cowed, the people 
 are cowed, and the victims, Mexican or American, seem 
 to have no redress. By fiat of the executive laiu and 
 civil authority have been subverted and, as far as the 
 Mexican situation is concerned, the United States has 
 been turned into a military dictatorship as sinister and 
 irresponsible as that of Diaz himself. 
 
 And why has this thing been done? To maintain a 
 chattel slavery more cruel than ever existed in our 
 Southern states. To uphold a political tyranny a hundred 
 times more unjust than the one against which our men 
 of Seventy-Six revolted. If the policy of the Taft ad- 
 ministration be permitted to continue these purposes will 
 be attained. Already the revolution has received such a 
 set-back that, though it win in the end, many good and 
 brave men must die who otherwise might have lived. 
 The purpose of this book was to inform the American 
 people as to the facts about Mexico in order that they 
 might be prepared to prevent American intervention 
 against a revolution the justice of which there can be no 
 question. 
 
 So far "Barbarous Mexico" has failed in this purpose. 
 Will it fail in the end? Are the American people as en- 
 slaved in spirit as the Mexicans are in body? In Mexico 
 the only protest possible is a protest of arms. In the 
 United States there is still a degree of freedom of press 
 and speech. Though by tricks and deceits innumerable 
 the rulers of America succeed in evading the will of the 
 majority, the majority yet may protest, and if the protest 
 be long enough and loud enough, it is still capable of 
 making those rulers tremble. Protest against the Crime 
 of Intervention. And should it become necessary, in 
 order to make the rulers heed, to raise that protest to a 
 threat of revolution here, so be it; the cause will be 
 worth while. 
 
 JOHN KENNETH TURNER. 
 
 Los Angeles, Calif., April 8, 1911.
 
 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE SLAVES OF YUCATAN 
 
 What is Mexico? 
 
 Americans commonly characterize Mexico as "Our 
 Sister Republic." Most of us picture her vaguely as 
 a republic in reality much like our own, inhabited by 
 people a little different in temperament, a little poorer 
 and a little less advanced, but still enjoying the protec- 
 tion of republican laws — a free people in the sense that 
 we are free. 
 
 Others of us, who have seen the country through a 
 car window, or speculated a little in Mexican mines 
 or Mexican plantations, paint that country beyond the 
 Rio Grande as a benevolent paternalism in which a 
 great and good man orders all things well for his fool- 
 ish but adoring people. 
 
 I found Mexico to be neither of these things. The 
 real Mexico I found to be a country with a written 
 constitution and written laws in general almost as fair 
 and democratic as our own, but with neither constitution 
 nor laws in operation. Mexico is a country without 
 political freedom, without freedom of speech, without 
 a free press, without a free ballot, without a jury sys- 
 tem, without political parties, without any of our cher- 
 ished guarantees of life, liberty and the pursuit of 
 happiness. It is a land where there has been no contest
 
 10 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 for the office of president for more than a generation, 
 where the executive rules all things by means of a 
 standing army, where political offices are sold for a fixed 
 price. I found Mexico to be a land where the people 
 are poor because they have no rights, where peonage 
 is the rule for the great mass, and where actual chattel 
 slavery obtains for hundreds of thousands. Finally, I 
 found that the people do not idolize their president, that 
 the tide of opposition, dammed and held back as it has 
 been by army and secret police, is rising to a height 
 where it must shortly overflow that dam. Mexicans 
 of all classes and affiliations agree that their country 
 is on the verge of a revolution in favor of democracy ; 
 if not a revolution in the time of Diaz, for Diaz is old 
 and is expected soon to pass, then a revolution after 
 Diaz. 
 
 My special interest in political Mexico was first awak- 
 ened early in 1908, when I came in contact with four 
 Mexican revolutionists who were at that time incar- 
 cerated in the county jail at Los Angeles, California. 
 Here were four educated, intelligent Mexicans, college 
 men, all of them, who were being held by the United 
 States authorities on a charge of planning to invade a 
 friendly nation — Mexico — with an armed force from 
 American soil. 
 
 Why should intelligent men take up arms against a 
 republic? Why should they come to the United States 
 to prepare for their military maneuvers? I talked with 
 those Mexican prisoners. They assured me that at 
 one time they had peacefully agitated in their own coun- 
 try for a peaceful and constitutional overthrow of the 
 persons in control of their government. 
 
 But for that very thing, they declared, they had been 
 imprisoned and their property had been destroyed. Secret
 
 THE SLAVES OF YUCATAN 11 
 
 police had dogged their steps, their lives had been threat- 
 ened, and countless methods had been used to prevent 
 them from carrying on their work. Finally, hunted 
 as outlaws beyond the national boundaries, denied the 
 rights of free speech, press and assembly, denied the 
 right peaceably to organize to bring about political 
 changes, they had resorted to the only alternative — 
 arms. Why had they wished to overturn their govern- 
 ment ? Because it had set aside the constitution, because 
 it had abolished those civic rights which all enlightened 
 men agree are necessary for the unfolding of a nation, 
 because it had dispossessed the common people of their 
 lands, because it had converted free laborers into serfs, 
 peons, and some of them even into — slaves. 
 
 "Slavery? Do you mean to tell me that there is any 
 real slavery left in the western hemisphere?" I scoffed. 
 "Bah ! You are talking like an American socialist. You 
 mean 'wage slavery,' or slavery to miserable conditions 
 of livelihood. You don't mean chattel slavery." 
 
 But those four Mexican exiles refused to give ground. 
 "Yes, slavery," they said, "chattel slavery. Men, women 
 and children bought and sold like mules — just like mules 
 — and like mules they belong to their masters. They are 
 slaves." 
 
 "Human beings bought and sold like mules in 
 America! And in the twentieth century. Well," I told 
 myself, "if it's true, I'm going to see it." 
 
 So it was that early in September, 1908, I crossed 
 the Rio Grande bound for my first trip through the 
 back yards of Old Mexico. 
 
 Upon this first trip I was accompanied by L. Gutier- 
 rez De Lara, a Mexican of distinguished family, whose 
 acquaintance I had made also in Los Angeles. De Lara 
 was opposed to the existing government in Mexico,
 
 12 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 which fact my critics have pointed out as evidence of 
 bias in my investigations. On the contrary, I did not 
 depend on De Lara or any other biassed source for 
 my information, but took every precaution to arrive 
 at the exact truth, and by as many different avenues 
 as practicable. Every essential fact which I put down 
 here in regard to the slavery of Mexico I saw with my 
 own eyes or heard with my own ears, and heard usually 
 from those individuals who would be most likely to 
 minimize their cruelties — the slave-drivers themselves. 
 
 Nevertheless, to the credit of De Lara I must say 
 that he gave me most important aid in gathering my 
 material. By his knowledge of the country and the 
 people, by his genius as a "mixer," and, above all, 
 through his personal acquaintance with valuable sources 
 of information all over the country — men on the inside 
 — I was enabled to see and hear things which are prac- 
 tically inaccessible to the ordinary investigator. 
 r~ Slavery in Mexico! Yes, I found it. I found it first 
 ' in Yucatan. The peninsula of Yucatan is an elbow of 
 Central America, which shoots off in a northeasterly 
 direction almost half way to Florida. It belongs to 
 Mexico, and its area of some 80,000 square miles is 
 almost equally divided among the states of Yucatan and 
 Campeche and the territory of Quintana Roo. 
 
 The coast of Yucatan, which comprises the north- 
 central part of the peninsula, is about a thousand miles 
 directly south of New Orleans. The surface of the 
 state is almost solid rock, so nearly solid that it is usually 
 impossible to plant a tree without first blasting a hole 
 to receive the shoot and make a place for the roots. 
 Yet this naturally barren land is more densely populated 
 than is our own United States. More than that, within 
 one-fourth of the territory three-fourths of the people
 
 THE SLAVES OF YUCATAN 13 
 
 live, and the density of the population runs to nearly 
 seventy-five per square mile. 
 
 The secret of these peculiar conditions is that the 
 soil and the climate of northern Yucatan happen to be 
 perfectly adapted to the production of that hardy species 
 of century plant which produces hcncqucn, or sisal 
 hemp. Hence we find the city of Merida, a beautiful 
 modern city claiming a population of 60,000 people, 
 and surrounding it, supporting it, vast henequen 
 plantations on which the rows of gigantic green plants 
 extend for miles and miles. The farms are so large 
 that each has a little city of its own, inhabited by from 
 500 to 2,500 people, according to the size of the farm. 
 The owners of these great farms are the chief slave- 
 holders of Yucatan; the inhabitants of the little cities 
 are the slaves. The annual export of henequen from 
 Yucatan approximates 250,000,000 pounds. The popu- 
 lation of Yucatan is about three hundred thousand. The 
 slave-holders' club numbers 250 members, but the vast 
 majority of the lands and the slaves are concentrated 
 in the hands of fifty henequen kings. The slaves num- 
 ber more than one hundred thousand. 
 
 In order to secure the truth in its greatest purity from 
 the lips of the masters of the slaves I went among them 
 playing a part. Long before I put my feet upon the 
 white sands of Progreso, the port of Yucatan, I had 
 heard how visiting investigators are bought or blinded, 
 how, if they cannot be bought, they are wined and 
 dined and filled with falsehood, then taken over a route 
 previously prepared — fooled, in short, so completely that 
 they go away half believing that the slaves are not 
 slaves, that the hundred thousand half -starving, over- 
 worked, degraded bondsmen are perfectly happy and so 
 contented with their lot that it would be a shame indeed
 
 14 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 to yield to them the freedom and security which, in all 
 humanity, is the rightful share of every human being 
 born upon the earth. 
 
 The part which I played in Yucatan was that of an 
 investor with much money to sink in henequen prop- 
 erties, and as such I was warmly welcomed by the 
 henequen kings. I was rather fortunate in going to 
 Yucatan when I did. Until the panic of 1907 it was 
 a well-understood and unanimously approved policy of 
 the "Camara de Agricola," the planters' organization, 
 that foreigners should not be allowed to invade the 
 henequen business. This was partly because the profits 
 of the business were huge and the rich Yucatecos wanted 
 to "hog it all" for themselves, but more especially be- 
 cause they feared that through foreigners the story of 
 their misdeeds might become known to the world. 
 
 But the panic of 1907 wiped out the world's henequen 
 market for a time. The planters were a company of 
 little Rockefellers, but they needed ready cash, and they 
 were willing to take it from anyone who came. Hence 
 my imaginary money was the open sesame to their club, 
 and to their farms. I not only discussed every phase 
 of henequen production with the kings themselves, and 
 while they were off their guard, but I observed thousands 
 of slaves under their normal conditions. 
 
 Chief among the henequen kings of Yucatan is 
 Olegario Molina, former governor of the state and Sec- 
 retary of Fomento (Public Promotion) of Mexico. 
 Molina's holdings of lands in Yucatan and Quintana 
 Roo aggregate 15,000,000 acres, or 23,000 square miles 
 — a small kingdom in itself. The fifty kings live in 
 costly palaces in Merida and many of them have homes 
 abroad. They travel a great deal, usually they speak 
 several different languages, and they and their families
 
 THE SLAVES OF YUCATAN 15 
 
 are a most cultivated class of people. All Merida and 
 all Yucatan, even all the peninsula of Yucatan, are 
 dependent on the fifty hencquen kings. Naturally these 
 men are in control of the political machinery of their 
 state, and naturally they operate that machinery for their 
 own benefit. The slaves are 8,000 Yaqui Indians im- 
 ported from Sonora, 3,000 Chinese (Koreans), and be- 
 tween 100,000 and 125,000 native Mayas, who formerly 
 owned the lands that the henequen kings now own. 
 
 The Maya people, indeed, form about ninety-five per 
 cent of the population of Yucatan. Even the majority 
 of the fifty henequen kings are Alayas crossed with the 
 blood of Spain. The Mayas are Indians — and yet they 
 are not Indians. They are not like the Indians of the 
 United States, and they are called Indians only because 
 their homes were in the western hemisphere when the 
 Europeans came. The Mayas had a civilization of their 
 own when the Europeans "discovered" them, and it 
 was a civilization admittedly as high as that of the most 
 advanced Aztecs or the Incas of Peru. 
 
 The Mayas are a peculiar people. They look like 
 no other people on the face of the earth. They are not 
 like other Mexicans; they are not like Americans; they 
 are not like Chinamen ; they are not like East Indians ; 
 they are not like Turks. Yet one might very easily 
 imagine that fusion of all these five widely different 
 peoples might produce a people much like the Mayas. 
 They are not large in stature, but their features are 
 remarkably finely chiselled and their bodies give a strong 
 impression of elegance and grace. Their skins are 
 olive, their foreheads high, their faces slightly aquiline. 
 The women of all classes in Alerida wear long, flowing 
 white gowns, unbound at the waist and embroidered 
 about the hem and perhaps also about the bust in some
 
 16 BARBAROUS MEXICO v 
 
 bright color — green, blue or purple. In the warm even- 
 ings a military band plays and hundreds of comely 
 women and girls thus alluringly attired mingle among 
 the fragrant flowers, the art statues and the tropical 
 greenery of the city plaza. 
 
 The planters do not call their chattels slaves. They call 
 
 them "people," or "laborers," especially when speaking 
 
 I to strangers. But when speaking confidentially they 
 
 have said to me : "Yes, they are slaves." 
 \L/ But I did not accept the word slavery from the people 
 of Yucatan, though they were the holders of the slaves 
 themselves. The proof of a fact is to be found, not in 
 the name, but in the conditions thereof. Slavery is 
 the ownership of the body of a man, an ownership, so 
 absolute that the body can be transferred t o an other, 
 b an ownership that gives to the owner a ri ght t o take 
 , fy^ the products of that body, to starve it, to chastise it at 
 will, to kill it with impunity. Such is slavery "m~~the 
 extreme sense. Such is slavery as I found it in Yucatan. 
 
 The masters of Yucatan do not call their system 
 slavery; they call it enforced service for debt. "\Vc 
 do not consider that we own our laborers; we consider 
 that they are in debt to us. And we do not consider 
 that we buy and sell them ; we consider that we transfer 
 the debt, and the man goes with the debt." This is the 
 way Don Enrique Camara Zavala, president of the 
 "Camara de Agricola de Yucatan," explained the atti- 
 tude of the henequen kings in the matter. "Slavery is 
 against the law^ ; we do not call it slavery," various plant- 
 ers assured me again and again. 
 
 But the fact that it is not service for debt is proven 
 by the habit of transferring the slaves from one master 
 to another, not on any basis of debt, but on the basis of 
 the market price of a man. In figuring on the purchase
 
 THE SLAVES OF YUCATAN 17 
 
 of a plantation I always had to figure on paying cash 
 for the slaves, exactly the same as for the land, the 
 machinery and the cattle. Four hundred Mexican dollars 
 apiece was the prevailing price, and that is what the 
 planters usually asked me. "If you huy now you buy 
 at a very good time," I was told again and again. "The 
 panic has put the price down. One year ago the 
 price of each man was $1,000." 
 
 The Yaquis are transferred on exactly the same basis 
 as the Mayas — the market price of a slave — and yet all 
 people of Yucatan know that the planters pay only $65 
 apiece to the government for each Yacjui. I was offered 
 for $400 each Yaquis who had not been in the country 
 a month and consequently had had no opportunity of 
 rolling up a debt that would account for the difference 
 in price. Moreover, one of the planters told me: "We 
 don't allow the Yaquis to get in debt to us." 
 
 It u^ould be absurd to suppose that the reason the 
 price was uniform was because all the slaves were equally 
 in debt. I probed this matter a little by inquiring into 
 the details of the selling transaction. "You get the 
 photograph and identification papers with the man," said 
 one, "and that's all." "You get the identification papers 
 and the account of the debt," said another. "We don't 
 keep much account of the debt," said a third, "because 
 it doesn't matter after you've got possession of the man." 
 "The man and the identification papers are enough," 
 said another; "if your man runs away, the papers are 
 all the authorities require for you to get him back again." 
 "Whatever the debt, it takes the market price to get 
 him free again," a fifth told me. 
 
 Conflicting as some of these answers are, they all 
 tend to show one thing, that the debt counts for nothing 
 after the debtor passes into the hands of the planter.
 
 18 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 Whatever the debt, it takes the market price to get the 
 debtor free again ! 
 
 Even then, I thought, it would not be so bad if the 
 servant had an opportunity of working out the price 
 and buying back his freedom. Even some of our negro 
 slaves before the Civil War were permitted — by excep- 
 tionally lenient masters — to do that. 
 
 But I found that such was not the custom. "You 
 need have no fear in purchasing this plantation," said 
 one planter to me, "of the laborers being able to buy 
 their freedom and leave you. They can never do that." 
 
 The only man in the country whom I heard of as 
 having ever permitted a slave to buy his freedom was 
 a professional man of Merida, an architect. "I bought 
 a laborer for $1,000," he explained to me. "He was 
 a good man and helped me a lot about my ofirice. After 
 I got to liking him I credited him with so much wages 
 per week. After eight years I owed him the full $1,000, 
 so I let him go. But they never do that on the planta- 
 tions — never." 
 
 Thus I learned that the debt feature of the enforced 
 service does not alleviate the hardships of the slave by 
 making it easier for him to free himself, neither does 
 it affect the conditions of his sale or his complete sub- 
 jection to his master. On the other hand, I found that 
 the one particular in which this debt element does 
 play an actual part in the destiny of the unfortunate 
 of Yucatan militates against him instead of operating in 
 his favor. For it is by means of debt that the Yucatan 
 slave-driver gets possession of the free laborers of his 
 realm to replenish the overworked and underfed, the 
 overbeaten, the dying slaves of his plantation. 
 
 How are the slaves recruited? Don Joaquin Peon 
 informed me that the Maya slaves die off faster than
 
 THE SLAVES OE YUCATAN 19 
 
 they are born, and. Don Enrique Camara Zavala told 
 me that two-thirds of the Yaquis die during the first year 
 of their residence in the country. Hence the problem 
 of recruiting the slaves seemed to me a very serious one. 
 Of course, the Yaquis were coming in at the rate of 
 500 per month, yet I hardly thought that influx would 
 be sufficient to equal the tide of life that was going out 
 by death. I was right in that surmise, so I was informed, 
 but I was also informed that the problem of recruits 
 was not so difficult, after all. 
 
 "It is very easy," one planter told me. "All that is 
 necessary is that you get some free laborer in clebt^ to 
 you, and then you have him. Yes, we are always get- 
 ting new laborers in that way." 
 
 The amount of the debt does not matter, so long as 
 it is a debt, and the little transaction is arranged by men 
 who combine the functions of money lender and slave 
 broker. Some of them have offices in Merida and they 
 get the free laborers, clerks and the poorer class of 
 people generally into debt just as professional loan sharks 
 of America get clerks, mechanics and office men into 
 debt — by playing on their needs and tempting them. 
 Were these American clerks, mechanics and office men 
 residents of Yucatan, instead of being merely hounded 
 by a loan shark, they would be sold into slavery for all 
 time, they and their children and their children's chil- 
 dren, on to the third and fourth generation, and even 
 farther, on to such a time as some political change puts 
 a stop to the conditions of slavery altogether in Mexico. 
 
 These money-lending slave brokers of Merida do not 
 hang out signs and announce to the world that they have 
 slaves to sell. They do their business quietly, as people 
 who are comparatively safe in their occupation, but as 
 people who do not wish to endanger their business by
 
 20 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 too great publicity — like police-protected gambling 
 houses in an American city, for example. These slave 
 sharks were mentioned to me by the henequen kings 
 themselves, cautiously by them, as a rule. Other old 
 residents of Yucatan explained their methods in detail. 
 I was curious to visit one of these brokers and talk with 
 him about purchasing a lot of slaves, but I was advised 
 against it and was told that they would not talk to a 
 foreigner until the latter had established himself in the 
 community and otherwise proved his good faith. 
 
 These men buy and sell slaves. And the planters buy 
 and sell slaves. I was offered slaves in lots of one up 
 by the planters. I was told that I could buy a man or 
 a woman, a boy or a girl, or a thousand of any of them, 
 to do with them exactly as I wished, that the police 
 would protect me in my possession of those, my fellow 
 beings. Slaves are not only used on the henequen plan- 
 tations, but in the city, as personal servants, as laborers, 
 as household drudges, as prostitutes. How many of 
 these persons there are in the city of Merida I do not 
 know, though I heard many stories of the absolute power 
 exercised over them. Certainly the number is several 
 thousand. 
 
 So we see that the debt element in Yucatan not only 
 does not palliate the condition of the slave, but rather 
 makes it harder. It increases his extremity, for while 
 it does not help him to climb out of his pit, it reaches 
 out its tentacles and drags down his brother, too. The 
 portion of the people of Yucatan who are born free 
 possess no "inalienable right" to their freedom. They 
 are free only by virtue of their being prosperous. Let 
 a family, however virtuous, however worthy, however 
 cultivated, fall into misfortune, let the parents fall into 
 debt and be unable to pay the debt, and th^ whole family
 
 SLAVK MOTIIKR AM) Cllll.D: ALSO ULXEQl K^■ PLANT 
 
 WOMKN A1:K CIlKAPEIt THAN GUIS T- M ILLS
 
 THE SLAVES OF YUCATAN 21 
 
 is liable to pass into the hands of a henequen planter. 
 Through debt, the dying slaves of the farms are replaced 
 by the unsuccessful wage-workers of the cities. "^ 
 
 Why do the henequen kings call their system enforced 
 servicefoF~Be5t "instead of by its right name? Prob- 
 ably for two reasons — because the system is the out- 
 growth of a milder system of actual service for debt, 
 and because of the prejudice against the word slavery, 
 both among Mexicans and foreigners. Service for debt 
 in a milder form than is found in Yucatan exists all over 
 Mexico and is called peonage. Under this system, police 
 authorities everywhere recognize the right of an em- 
 ployer to take the body of a laborer who is in debt to 
 him, and to compel the laborer to work out the debt. 
 Of course, once the employer can compel the laborer 
 to work, he can compel him to work at his own terms, 
 and that means that he can work him on such terms as 
 will never permit the laborer to extricate himself from 
 his debt. 
 
 Such is peonage as it exists throughout all IMexico. 
 In the last analysis it is slavery, but the employers con- 
 trol the police, and the fictional distinction is kept up 
 all the same. Slavery is peonage carried to its greatest 
 possible extreme, and the reason we find the extreme 
 in Yucatan is that, while in some other sections of Mex- 
 ico a fraction of the ruling interests are opposed to 
 peonage and consequently exert a modifying influence 
 upon it, in Yucatan all the ruling interests are in hene- 
 quen. The cheaper the worker the higher the profits 
 for all. The peon becomes a chattel slave. 
 
 The henequen kings of Yucatan seek to excuse their 
 system of slavery by denominating it enforced service 
 for debt. "Slavery is against tlie law." they say. "It 
 js against the constitution," When a thing is abolished
 
 22 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 by your constitution it works more smoothly if called 
 by another name, but the fact is, service for debt is 
 just as unconstitutional in Mexico as chattel slavery. 
 The plea of the hcnequen king of keeping within the 
 law is entirely without foundation. A comparison of 
 the following two clauses from the Mexican constitu- 
 tion will show that the two systems are in the same 
 class. 
 
 "Article I, Section 1. In the Republic all are born 
 free. Slaves who set foot upon the national territory 
 recover, by that act alone, their liberty, and have a right 
 to the protection of the laws." 
 
 "Article V, Section 1 (Amendment). No one shall 
 be compelled to do personal work without just compen- 
 sation and without his full consent. The state shall 
 not permit any contract, covenant or agreement to be 
 carried out having for its object the abridgment, loss 
 or irrevocable sacrifice of the liberty of a man, whether 
 by reason of labor, education or religious vows. * * * 
 Nor shall any compact be tolerated in which a man 
 agrees to his proscription or exile." 
 
 So the slave business in Yucatan, whatever name may 
 be applied to it, is still unconstitutional. On the other 
 hand, if the policy of the present government is to be 
 taken as the law of the land, the slave business of 
 Mexico is legal. In that sense the henequen kings "obey 
 the law." Whether they are righteous in doing so I 
 will leave to hair-splitters in morality. Whatever the 
 decision may be, right or wrong, it does not change, for 
 better or for worse, the pitiful misery in which I found 
 the hemp laborers of Yucatan. 
 r The slaves of Yucatan get no money. They are half 
 \ ,. starved. They are worked almost to death. They are 
 beaten. A large percentage of them are locked up every
 
 THE SLAVES OF YUCATAN 23 
 
 night in a house resembHng a jail. If they are sick 
 they must still work, and if they are so sick that it is 
 impossible for them to work, they are seldom permitted 
 the services of a physician. The women are compelled 
 to marry, compelled to marry men of their own planta- 
 tion only, and sometimes are compelled to marry certain 
 men not of their choice. There are no schools for the 
 children. Indeed, the entire lives of these people are 
 ordered at the whim of a master, and if the master 
 wishes to kill them, he may do so with impunity. I 
 heard numerous stories of slaves being beaten to death, 
 but I never heard of an instance in which the murderer 
 was punished, or even arrested. The police, the public 
 prosecutors and the judges know exactly what is ex- 
 pected of them, for the men who appoint them are the 
 planters themselves. The jcfcs politicos, the rulers of 
 the political districts corresponding to our counties, who 
 are as truly czars of the districts as Diaz is the Czar of 
 all Mexico, are invariably either henequen planters or 
 employes of henequen planters. 
 
 The first mention of corporal punishment for the 
 slaves was made to me by one of the members of the 
 Camara, a large, portly fellow with the bearing of an 
 opera singer and a white diamond shining at me like 
 a sun from his slab-like shirt front. He told a story, 
 and as he told it he laughed. I laughed, too, but in a 
 little different way. I could not help feeling that the story 
 was made to order to fit strangers. 
 
 "Oh, yes, we have to punish them," said the fat king 
 of henequen. "We even are compelled to whip the 
 house servants of the city. It is their nature ; they de- 
 mand it. A friend of mine, a very mild man, had a 
 woman servant who was always wishing to serve some- 
 body else. My friend finally sold the woman, and some
 
 24 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 months later he met her on the street and asked her 
 how she liked her new master. 'Finely,' she answered, 
 'finely. You see, my master is a very rough man and 
 he beats me nearly every day !' " 
 
 The philosophy of beating was made very clear to me 
 by Don Felipe G. Canton, secretary of the Camara. 
 
 "It is necessary to whip them — oh, yes, very neces- 
 sary," he told me, with a smile, "for there is no other 
 way to make them do what you wish. What other 
 means is there of enforcing the discipline of the farm? 
 If we did not whip them they would do nothing." 
 
 I could make no reply. I could think of no ground 
 upon which to assail Don Felipe's logic. For what, 
 pray, can be done to a chattel slave to make him work 
 but to beat him? With the wage worker you have the 
 fear of discharge or the reduction of wages to hold over 
 his head and make him toe the mark, but the chattel 
 slave would welcome discharge, and as to reducing his 
 food supply, you don't dare to do that or you kill him 
 outright. At least, that is the case in Yucatan. 
 
 One of the first sights we saw on a henequen planta- 
 tion was the beating of a slave — a formal beating before 
 the assembled toilers of the ranch early in the morning 
 just after the daily roll call. The slave was taken on 
 the back of a huge Chinaman and given fifteen lashes 
 across the bare back with a heavy, wet rope, lashes so 
 lustily delivered that the blood ran down the victim's 
 body. This method of beating is an ancient one in 
 Yucatan and is the customary one on all the plantations 
 for boys and all except the heaviest men. Women are 
 required to kneel to be beaten, as sometimes are men 
 of great weight. Men and women are beaten in the fields 
 as well as at the morning roll call. Each foreman, or 
 capata;:, carries a heavy cane with which he punches
 
 THE SLAVES OF YUCATAN 25 
 
 and prods and whacks the slaves at will. I do not 
 remember visiting a single field in which I did not see 
 some of this punching and prodding and whacking 
 going on. 
 
 I saw no punishments worse than beating in Yucatan, 
 but I heard of them. I was told of men being strung 
 up by their fingers or toes to be beaten, of their being 
 thrust into black dungeon-like holes, of water being 
 dropped on the hand until the victim screamed, of the 
 extremity of female punishment being found in some 
 outrage to the sense of the modesty in the woman. I 
 saw black holes and everywhere I saw the jail dormi- 
 tories, armed guards and night guards who patrolled 
 the outskirts of the farm settlements while the slaves 
 slept. I heard also of planters who took special delight 
 in personally superintending the beating of their chat- 
 tels. For example, speaking of one of the richest plant- 
 ers in Yucatan, a professional man of Merida said to 
 me: 
 
 "A favorite pastime of was to sit on his 
 
 horse and watch the 'cleaning up' (the punishment) of 
 his slaves. He would strike a match to light his cigar. 
 At the first puff of smoke the first stroke of the wet 
 rope would fall on the bare back of the victim. He 
 would smoke on, leisurely, contentedly, as the blows fell, 
 one after another. When the entertainment finally palled 
 on him he would throw away his cigar and the man 
 with the rope would stop, for the end of the cigar was 
 the signal for the end of the beating." 
 
 The great plantations of Yucatan are reached by pri- 
 vate mule car lines built and operated specially for the 
 business of the henequen kings. The first plantation 
 that we visited was typical. Situated fifteen miles west 
 of Merida, it contains thirty-six square miles of land,
 
 26 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 one-fourth of it in henequen, part of the rest in pasture 
 and a part unreclaimed. In the center of the plantation 
 is the farm settlemei^t, consisting of a grass-grown patio, 
 or yard, surrounding which are the main farm buildings, 
 the store, the factory, the house of the administrador, or 
 general manager; the house of the mayordonio primcro, 
 or superintendent; the houses of the mayordomos scc- 
 undos, or overseers, and the little chapel. Behind these 
 are the corrals, the drying yard, the stable, the jail 
 dormitory. Finally, surrounding all are the rows of 
 one-room huts set in little patches of ground, in which 
 reside the married slaves and their families. 
 
 Here we found fifteen hundred slaves and about thirty 
 bosses of various degrees. Thirty of the slaves were 
 Koreans, about two hundred were Yaquis and the rest 
 were Mayas. The Maya slaves, to my eyes, differed 
 from the free Mayas I had seen in the city principally 
 in their clothing and their general unkempt and over- 
 worked appearance. Certainly they were of the same 
 clay. Their clothing was poor and ragged, yet generally 
 clean. The women wore calico, the men the thin, un- 
 bleached cotton shirt and trousers of the tropics, the 
 trousers being often rolled to the knees. Their hats 
 were of coarse straw or grass, their feet always bare. 
 
 Seven hundred of the slaves are able-bodied men, the 
 rest women and children. Three hundred and eighty 
 of the men are married and live with their families in 
 the one-room huts. These huts are set in little patches 
 of ground 144 feet square, which, rocky and barren as 
 they are, are cultivated to some small purpose by the 
 women and children. In addition to the product of 
 their barren garden patch each family receives daily 
 credit at the plantation store for twenty-five centavos, 
 or twelve and one-half cents' worth of merchandise.
 
 THE SLAVES OF YUCATAN 27 
 
 No money is paid; it is all in credit, and this same sys- 
 tem prevails on about one-half the plantations. The other 
 half merely deal out rations. It amounts to the same 
 thing, but some of the planters stick to the money 
 credit system merely in order to keep up the pretense 
 of paying wages. I priced some of the goods at the 
 store — corn, beans, salt, peppers, clothing and blankets 
 was about all there was — and found that the prices were 
 high. I could not understand how a family could live 
 on twelve and one-half cents' worth of it each day, a 
 hard-working family, especially. 
 
 The slaves rise from their beds when the big bell 
 in the patio rings at 3 :45 o'clock in the morning, and 
 their work begins as soon thereafter as they can get 
 to it. Their work in the fields ends when it is too dark 
 to see, and about the yards it sometimes extends until 
 long into the night. 
 
 The principal labor of the plantation is harvesting 
 the henequen .leaves and cleaning the weeds from be- 
 tween the plants. Each slave is given a certain number 
 of leaves to cut or plants to clean, and it is the policy 
 of the planter to make the stint so hard that the slave 
 is compelled to call out his wife and children to help 
 him. Thus nearly all the women and children of the 
 plantation spend a part of the day in the field. The 
 unmarried women spend all the day . in the field, and 
 when a boy reaches the age of twelve he is considered 
 to be a man and is given a stint of his own to do. Sun- 
 days the slaves do not work for the master. They spend 
 their time in their patches, rest or visit. Sunday is 
 the day on which the youths and maidens meet and plan 
 to marry. Sometimes they are even permitted to go off 
 the farm and meet the slaves of their neighbor, but never 
 are they permitted to marry the people of other planta-
 
 28 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 tions, for this would necessitate the purchase of either 
 the wife or the hushand by one or the other of the two 
 owners, and that would involve too much trouble. 
 
 Such are the conditions in general that prevail on 
 all the plantations of Yucatan. 
 
 We spent two days and two nights on the plantation 
 called San Antonio Yaxche and became thoroughly 
 acquainted with its system and its people. 
 
 Not only do not the owners of the great henequen 
 farms of Yucatan live on their farms, but neither do 
 the managers. Like the owners, the managers have 
 their homes and their offices in Merida, and visit the 
 plantations only from two to half a dozen times a month. 
 The mayordomo primcro is ordinarily the supreme ruler 
 of the plantation, but when the manager, or aduiiii- 
 istrador, heaves in sight, the mayordomo primcro be- 
 comes a very insignificant personage indeed. 
 
 At least that was the case on San Antonio Yaxche. 
 The big mayordomo was compelled to bow and scrape 
 before the boss just as were the lesser foremen, and 
 at meal time Manuel Rios, the administrador, I and my 
 companion — the latter, much to the disgust of Rios, who 
 looked upon him as an underling — dined alone in state 
 while the mayordomo hovered In the background, ready 
 to fly away instantly to do our bidding. At the first 
 meal — and it was the best I had in all Mexico — I felt 
 strongly impelled to invite Mister Mayordomo to sit 
 down and have something. I did not do it, and after- 
 wards I was glad that I did not, for before I left the 
 ranch I realized what an awful breach of etiquette I 
 would have been guilty of. 
 
 In the fields we found gangs of men and boys, some 
 gangs hoeing the weeds from between the gigantic 
 plants and some sawing off the big leaves with machetes.
 
 THE SLAVES OF YUCATAN 29 
 
 The harvest of the leaves goes on unceasing all the 
 twelve months of the year, and during the cycle every 
 plant on the farm is gone over four times. Twelve 
 leaves are usually clipped, the twelve largest, the thirty 
 smallest being left to mature for another three months. 
 The workman chops off the leaf at its root, trims the 
 sharp briars off the two edges, trims the spear-like tip, 
 counts the leaves left on the plant, counts the leaves 
 he is cutting, piles his leaves into bundles, and finally 
 carries the bundles to the end of his row, where they 
 are carted away on a movable-track mule-car line. 
 
 I found the ground uneven and rocky, a punishment 
 for the feet, the henequen leaves thorny and treach- 
 erous and the air thick, hot and choking, though the 
 season was considered a cool one. The ragged, bare- 
 footed harvesters worked steadily, carefully and with 
 the speed of better paid laborers who work "by the 
 piece." They were working "by the piece," too, the 
 reward being immunity from the lash. Here and there 
 among them I saw tired-looking women and children, 
 sometimes little girls as young as eight or ten. Two 
 thousand leaves a day is the usual stint on San Antonio 
 Yaxche. On other plantations I was told that it is 
 sometimes as high as three thousand. 
 
 The henequen leaves, once cut, are carted to a large 
 building in the midst of the farm settlement, where 
 they are hoisted in an elevator and sent tumbling down 
 a long chute and into the stripping machine. Here 
 hungry steel teeth tear the tough, thick leaves to pieces, 
 and the result is two products — a green powder, which 
 is refuse, and long strands of greenish, hair-like fibre, 
 which is henequen. The fibre is sent on a tramway to 
 the drying yard, where it turns the color of the sun. 
 Then it is trammed back, pressed into bales, and a few
 
 30 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 days or weeks later the observer will see it at Progreso, 
 the port of Yucatan, twenty-five miles north of Meriila, 
 being loaded into a steamship flying the British flag. 
 The United States buys nearly all the henequen of 
 Yucatan, our cordage trust, a»-aHeged concern of Stand- 
 ard Oil, absorbing more than half of the entire product. 
 
 Eight centavos per pound was the 1908 price received 
 for sisal hemp in the bale. One slave dealer told me 
 that the production cost no more than one. 
 
 About the machinery we found many small boys 
 working. In the drying yard we found boys and men. 
 All of the latter impressed me with their listless move- 
 ments and their haggard, feverish faces. This was ex- 
 plained by the foreman in charge. "When the men are 
 sick we let them work here," he said — "on half pay!" 
 
 Such was the men's hospital. The hospital for the 
 women we discovered in a basement of one of the main 
 buildings. It was simply a row of windowless, earthen- 
 floor rooms, half-dungeons, in each of which lay one 
 woman on a bare board, without a blanket to soften it. 
 
 More than three hundred of the able-bodied slaves 
 spend the nights in a large structure of stone and mortar, 
 surrounded by a solid wall twelve feet high, which is 
 topped with the sharp edges of thousands of broken 
 glass bottles. To this inclosure there is but one door, 
 and at it stands a guard armed with a club, a sword 
 and a pistol. These are the quarters of the unmarried 
 men of the plantation, Mayas, Yaquis and Chinese; 
 also of the "half-timers," slaves whom the plantation 
 uses only about half of the year, married men. some 
 of them, whose families live in little settlements border- 
 ing on the farm. 
 
 These "half-timers" are found on only about one- 
 third of the plantations, and they are a class which has
 
 THE Sf-AVFLS OF YUCATAN 31 
 
 been created entirely for the convenience of the masters. 
 They become "full-timers" at the option of the masters, 
 and are then permitted to keep their families on the 
 plantations. They arc compelled to work longer than 
 half the year if they are wanted, and during the time 
 when they are not working they are not permitted to 
 go away on a hunt for other work. Generally their 
 year's labor is divided into two sections, three months 
 in the spring and three in the fall, and during that period 
 they cannot go to visit their families. They are always 
 kept in jail at night, they are fed by the farm, and their 
 credit of twelve and one-half cents per day is kept back 
 and doled out to their families a little at a time to pre- 
 vent starvation. 
 
 A moment's figuring will show that the yearly credit 
 for a half-timer who works six months is $22.50, and 
 this is all — absolutely all — that the family of the half- 
 time slave has to live on each year. 
 
 Inside the large, one-room building within the stone 
 wall at San Antonio Yaxche we found, swinging so 
 close that they touched one another, more than three 
 hundred rope hammocks. This was the sleeping place 
 of the half-timers and the unmarried full-timers. We 
 entered the enclosure just at dusk, as the toilers, wiping 
 the sweat from their foreheads, came filing in. Behind 
 the dormitory we found half a dozen women working 
 over some crude, open-air stoves. Like half-starved 
 wolves the ragged workers ringed about the simple 
 kitchen, grimy hands went out to receive their meed of 
 supper, and standing there the miserable creatures ate. 
 
 I sampled the supper of the slaves. That is, I sam- 
 pled a part of it with my tongue, and the rest, which 
 my nostrils warned me not to sample with my tongue, 
 I sampled with my nostrils. The meal consisted of two
 
 32 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 large corn tortillas, the bread of the poor of Mexico, 
 a cup of boiled beans, itnflavored, and a bowl of fish — 
 putrid, stinking fish, fish that reeked with an odor that 
 stuck in my system for days. How could they ever eat 
 it? Ah, well, to vary a weary, unending row of meals 
 consisting of only beans and tortillas a time must come 
 when the most refined palate will water to the touch of 
 something different, though that something is fish which 
 offends the heavens with its rottenness. 
 
 "Beans, tortillas, fish!" I suppose that they can at 
 least keep alive on it," I told myself, "provided they do 
 no worse at the other two meals." "By the way," I 
 turned to the adminstrador, who was showing us about, 
 "what do they get at the other two meals?" 
 
 "The other two meals?" The administrador was 
 puzzled. "The other two meals ? Why, there aren't any 
 others. This is the only meal they have !" 
 
 Beans, tortillas, fish, once a day, and a dozen hours 
 under the hottest sun that ever shone! 
 
 "But, no," the administrador corrected himself. "They 
 do get something else, something very fine, too, some- 
 thing that they can carry to the field with them and eat 
 when they wish. Here is one now." 
 
 At this he picked up from one of the tables of the 
 women a something about the size of his two small fists, 
 and handed it to me, triumphantly. I took the round, 
 soggy mass in my fingers, pinched, smelled and tasted 
 it. It proved to be corn dough, half fermented and 
 patted into a ball. This, then, was the other two meals, 
 the rest of the substance besides beans, tortillas and 
 decayed fish which sustained the toilers throughout the 
 long day. I turned to a young Maya who was carefully 
 picking a fish bone.
 
 THE SLAVES OF YUCATAN 33 
 
 "Which would you rather be," I asked of him, "a 
 half-timer or a full-timer?" 
 
 "A full-timer," he replied, promptly, and then in a 
 lower tone: "They work us until we are ready to fall, 
 then they throw us away to get strong again. If they 
 worked the full-timers like they work us they would 
 die." 
 
 "We come to work gladly," said another young Maya, 
 "because we're starved to it. But before the end of the 
 first week we want to run away. That is why they 
 lock us up at night." 
 
 "Why don't you run away when you're free to do it?" 
 I asked. "When they turn you out, I mean?" 
 
 The administrador had stepped away to scold a wom- 
 an. "It's no use," answered the man earnestly. "They 
 always get us. Everybody is against us and there is 
 no place to hide." 
 
 "They keep our faces on photographs," said another. 
 "They always get us and give us a cleaning-up (beat- 
 ing) besides. When we're here we want to run away, 
 but when they turn us out we know that it's no use." 
 
 I was afterwards to learn how admirably the Yucatan 
 country is adapted to preventing the escape of run- 
 aways. No fruits or eatable herbs grow wild in that 
 rocky land. There are no springs and no place where 
 a person can dig a well without a rock drill and dyna- 
 mite. So every runaway in time finds his way to a 
 plantation or to the city, and at either place he is caught 
 and held for identification. A free laborer who does 
 not carry papers to prove that he is free is always liable 
 to be locked up and put to much trouble to prove that 
 he is not a runaway slave. 
 
 Yucatan has been compared to Russia's Siberia. "Si- 
 beria," Mexican political refugees have told me, "is hell
 
 34 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 frozen over; Yucatan is hell aflame." But I did not see 
 many points in common between the two countries. 
 True, the Yaquis are exiles in a sense, and political 
 exiles at that, but they are also slaves. The political 
 exiles of Russia are not slaves. According to Kennan, 
 they are permitted to take their families with them, to 
 choose their own abode, to live their own life, and are 
 often given a small monthly stipend on which to live. I 
 could not imagine Siberia as being as bad as Yucatan. 
 
 The Yucatan slave gets no hour for lunch, as does 
 the American ranch hand. He goes to the field in the 
 morning twilight, eating his lump of sour dough on the 
 way. He picks up his machete and attacks the first 
 thorny leaf as soon as it is light enough to see the thorns 
 and he never lays down that machete until the twilight 
 of the evening. Two thousand of the big green leaves 
 a day is his "stint," and besides cutting, trimming and 
 piling them, he must count them, and he must count the 
 number of leaves on each plant and be sure that he does 
 not count too many nor too few. Each plant is sup- 
 posed to grow just 36 new leaves a year. Twelve of 
 these, the 12 largest, are cut every four months, but 
 whatever the number cut just 30 leaves must be left 
 after the clipping. H the slave leaves 31 or 29 he is 
 beaten, if he fails to cut his 2,000 he is beaten, if he 
 trims his leaves raggedly he is beaten, if he is late at 
 roll-call he is beaten. And he is beaten for any other 
 little shortcoming that any of the bosses may imagine 
 that he detects in his character or in his make-up. Si- 
 beria? To my mind Siberia is a foundling asylum com- 
 pared to Yucatan. 
 
 Over and over again I have compared in my mind 
 the condition of the slaves of Yucatan with what I 
 have read of the slaves of our southern states before
 
 THE SLAVES OF YUCATAN 35 
 
 the Civil War. And always the result has been in favor 
 of the black man. Our slaves of the South were almost 
 always well fed, as a rule they were not overworked, on 
 many plantations they were rarely beaten, it was usual to 
 give them a little spending money now and then and to 
 allow them to leave the plantation at least once a week. 
 Like the slaves of Yucatan they were cattle of the ranch, 
 but, unlike the former, they were treated as well as cat- 
 tle. In the South before the War there were not so 
 many plantations where the negroes died faster than 
 they were born. The lives of our black slaves were not 
 so hard but that they could laugh, sometimes — and sing. 
 But the slaves of Yucatan do not sing ! 
 
 I shall never forget my last day in Merida. Merida 
 is probably the cleanest and most beautiful little city in all 
 Mexico. It might even challenge comparison in its white 
 prettiness w^ith any other in the world. The municipality 
 has expended vast sums on paving, on parks and on 
 public buildings, and over and above this the henequen 
 kings not long since made up a rich purse for improve- 
 ments extraordinary. My last afternoon and evening 
 in Yucatan I spent riding and walking about the wealthy 
 residence section of Merida. Americans might expect 
 to find nothing of art and architecture down on this 
 rocky Central American peninsula, but Merida has its 
 million dollar palaces like New York, and it has miles of 
 them set in miraculous gardens. 
 
 Wonderful Mexican palaces! Wonderful Mexican 
 gardens! A wonderful fairyland conjured out of 
 slavery — slavery of Mayas, and of Yaquis. Among the 
 Yucatan slaves there are ten Mayas to one Yaqui, but 
 of the two the story of the Yaquis appealed to me the 
 more. The Mayas are dying in their own land and 
 with their own people. The Yaquis are exiles. They
 
 36 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 are dying in a strange land, they are dying faster, and 
 they are dying alone, away from their families, for 
 every Yaqui family sent to Yucatan is broken up on the 
 way. Husbands and wives are torn apart and babes are 
 taken from their mothers' breasts.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE EXTERMINATION OF THE YAQUIS 
 
 My real purpose in journeying to Yucatan was to find 
 out- what became of the Yaqui Indians of Sonora. In 
 common with thousands of other Americans who have 
 lived for years in our Southwest and near the border 
 line of Mexico, I knew something of the sufferings of the 
 Yaquis in their native state, of the means which had 
 been taken to stir them to revolt, of the confiscation of 
 their lands, of the methods of extermination employed by 
 the army, of the indignation voiced by the decent ele- 
 ment of Sonora, finally of President Diaz's sweeping 
 order of deportation. 
 
 I knew that the order of deportation was being car- 
 ried out, that hundreds of families were being gathered 
 up monthly and sent away into exile. But what fate 
 was awaiting them there at the end of that exile road? 
 The answer was always vague, indefinite, unsatisfactory. 
 Even well-informed Mexicans of their country's metrop- 
 olis could not tell me. After the Yaqui exiles sailed 
 from the port of Veracruz the curtain dropped upon 
 them. I went to Yucatan in order to witness, if possi- 
 ble, the final act in the life drama of the Yaqui nation. 
 And I witnessed it. 
 
 The Yaquis are being exterminated and exterminated 
 fast. There is no room for controversy as to that; the 
 only controversy relates to whether or not the Yaquis 
 deserve to be exterminated. It is undoubtedly true that 
 a portion of their number have persistently refused to 
 accept the destiny that the government has marked out 
 for them. On the other hand, there are those who 
 
 37 
 
 86^18
 
 38 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 assert that the Yaquis are as worthy as other Mexicans 
 and deserve as much consideration at the hands of their 
 rulers. 
 
 The extermination of the Yaquis began in war; its 
 finish is being accompHshed in deportation and slavery. 
 
 The Yaquis are called Indians. Like the Mayas of 
 Yucatan, they are Indians and yet they are not Indians. 
 In the United States we would not call them Indians, 
 for they are workers. As far back as their history can 
 be traced they have never been savages. They have 
 been an agricultural people. They tilled the soil, dis- 
 covered and developed mines, constructed systems of 
 irrigation, built adobe towns, maintained public schools, 
 had an organized government and their own mint. When 
 the Spanish missionaries came among them they were 
 in possession of practically the whole of that vast ter- 
 ritory south of Arizona which today comprises the state 
 of Sonora. 
 
 "They are the best workers in Sonora," Colonel Fran- 
 cisco B. Cruz, the very man who has charge of their 
 deportation to Yucatan, and of whom I will have more 
 to say later, told me. "One Yaqui laborer is worth 
 two ordinary Americans and three ordinary Mexicans," 
 E. F. Trout, a Sonora mine foreman told me. "They 
 are the strongest, soberest and most reliable people irt^ 
 Mexico," another one told me. "The governmajit is 
 taking our best workmen away from us and destroying 
 the prosperity of the state," said another. "The govern- 
 ment says it wants to open up the Yaqui country for 
 settlers," S. R. DeLong, secretary of the Arizona His- 
 torical Society and an old resident of Sonora, told me, 
 "but it is my opinion that the Yaquis themselves are the 
 best settlers that can possible be found." 
 
 Such expressions are heard very frequently in Sonora,
 
 THE EXTERMINATION OF THE YAQUIS 39 
 
 in the border states and in border publications. The 
 Yaqui certainly has an admirable physical development. 
 During my journeys in Mexico I learned to pick him out 
 at a glance, by his broad shoulders, his deep chest, his 
 sinewy legs, his rugged face. The typical Yaqui is al- 
 most a giant, the race a race of athletes. Perhaps that 
 is just the reason why he has not bent his head in sub- 
 mission to the will of the masters of Mexico. 
 
 American mine-owners and railroad men of Sonora 
 are repeatedly complaining against the deportation of 
 the Yaquis, and it is because they are such good work- 
 men. Another matter which I have heard much re- 
 marked about by border Americans is the regard of the 
 so-called renegade, or fighting Yaquis, for the property 
 of Americans and other foreigners. When the Yaquis 
 first took up arms against the present government some 
 twenty-five years ago they did so because of a definite 
 grievance. Usually they fought on the defensive. 
 Driven to the mountains, they have been compelled at 
 times to sally forth and plunder for their stomachs' 
 sake. But for many years it was known to all men that 
 they seldom attacked Americans or any people but 
 Mexicans. And for a long time they never committed 
 any depredations on railroads or railroad property, 
 which in Sonora has always been American. 
 
 I The origin of the Yaqui troubles is generally attrib- 
 u£e3 to a plot on the part of a number of politicians, the 
 purpose being to get possession of the rich lands in 
 Southern Sonora which the Yaquis had held for hun- 
 dreds of years. For twenty-four years past the only 
 governors Sonora has had have been Ramon Corral, 
 now Diaz's vice-president, Rafael Yzabal and Luis 
 Torres. These three have rotated in office, as it were, 
 for more than a generation. As no popular elections
 
 40 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 were held at all, these three friends had absolutely no 
 one to answer to except President Diaz, and their au- 
 thority in Sonora has been practically absolute. 
 
 The Yaquis seem to have had a pretty good title to 
 their lands when Corral, Yzabal and Torres came upon 
 the scene. . At the time of the Spanish conquest they 
 were a nation of from one to two hundred thousand peo- 
 ple, supposed by some authorities to have been offshoots 
 from the Aztecs. The Spanish were never able to sub- 
 due them completely, and after two hundred and fifty 
 troublous years a peace was entered into whereby the 
 Yaquis gave up a part of their territory and, as ac- 
 knowledgment of their rightful ownership of the rest 
 of it, the King of Spain gave them a patent signed by 
 his own hand. This was nearly one hundred and fifty 
 years ago, but the royal patent was honored by every 
 ruler and chief executive of Mexico down to Diaz. Dur- 
 ing all that time the Yaquis were at peace with the world. 
 Their reputation as a naturally peaceful nation was 
 established. It remained for the government of Diaz to 
 stir them into war. 
 
 During these years of peace the Yaquis became part 
 and parcel of the Mexican nation. They lived like other 
 Mexicans. They had their own personal farms, their 
 own homes, and they paid taxes on their property like 
 other Mexicans. During the war against Maximilian 
 they sent soldiers to help Mexico, and many of them 
 distinguished themselves by brilliant service. 
 
 But the Yaquis were goaded into war. The men at 
 the head of the government of Sonoraj wanted the Yaqui 
 lands. Moreover, they saw an opportunity for graft in 
 bringing a large body of soldiers into the state. So they 
 harassed the Yaquis. They, sent bogus surveyors through 
 the Yaqui valley to mark out the land and tell the peo-
 
 THE EXTERMINATION OF THE YAQUIS 41 
 
 pie that the government had decided to give it to for- 
 eigners. They confiscated $80,000 in a bank belonging 
 to Chief Cajeme. Finally, they sent armed men to arrest 
 Cajcme, and when the latter could not find him they 
 set fire to his house and to those of his neighbors, and 
 assaulted the women of tlie village, even Cajemc's wife 
 not being respected. Finally, the victims were goaded 
 into war. 
 
 Since that day twenty-five years ago the Mexican gov- 
 ernment has maintained an army almost perpetually in 
 the field against the Yaquis, an army ranging in num- 
 bers from 2,000 to 6,000 men. Thousands of soldiers 
 and tens of thousands of Yaquis have been killed in bat- 
 tle and many hundreds of the latter have been executed 
 after being taken prisoners. After a few years Chief 
 Cajeme was captured and publicly executed in the pres- 
 ence of a large body of his people who had been taken 
 prisoner with him. Tetabiate, another Yaqui, was 
 promptly elected to Cajeme's place, and the fight went 
 on. Finally, in 1894, at one fell swoop, as it were, the 
 ground was literally taken from under the feet of the 
 rebels. By act of the federal government the best of 
 their lands were taken from them and handed over to 
 one man. General Lorenzo Torres, .who is at this writing 
 chief of the army in Sonora, then second in command. 
 / The government is credited with having been guilty 
 of the most horrible atrocities. Two examples are cited 
 by Santa de Cabora, a Mexican writer, as follows: 
 
 "On May 17, 1892, General Otero, of the Mexican army, 
 ordered the imprisonment of the Yaquis, men, women and 
 children, in the town of Navajoa, and hung so many of these 
 people that the supply of rope in the town was exhausted, it 
 being necessary to use each rope five or six times." 
 
 "A colonel in the army, Antonio Rincon, in July, of 1S92, 
 took two hundred Yaauis. men. women and children, prisoners.
 
 42 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 and carried them in the gunboat El Dcmocrata and dropped 
 them in the ocean between the mouth of the Yaqui river and 
 the seaport of Guaymas, all of them perishing." ._ 
 
 A report was circulated along our Mexican border 
 that an incident similar to the last mentioned happened 
 in February, 1908. Colonel Francisco B. Cruz, who 
 was in charge of the exiles and who claims to have been 
 on board of the gunboat and witnessed the incident, de- 
 clared to me, however, that this report was not true. 
 The Yaquis were drowned, he declared, but not by the 
 authorities, and, since at that time the government was 
 not killing any Yaquis whom it could catch and sell, I 
 accept the version of Colonel Cruz as the correct one. 
 
 "Suicide — nothing but suicide," asseverated the Colo- 
 nel. "Those Indians wanted to cheat me out of my com- 
 mission money and so they threw their children into the 
 sea and jumped in after them. I was on board myself 
 and saw it all. I heard a loud cry, and looking, saw 
 some of the crew running to the starboard side of the 
 vessel. I saw the Yaquis in the water. Then there was 
 a cry from the port side and I saw the Yaquis jumping 
 overboard on that side. We lowered boats, but it was 
 no. use ; they all went down before we got to them." 
 
 /^'Every soldier who kills a Yaqui," an army physician 
 who served two years with the troops against the Yaquis 
 and whom I met in Mexico City, told me, "is paid a re- 
 ward of one hundred dollars. To prove his feat the 
 soldier must show the ears of his victim. 'Bring in the 
 ears,' is the standing order of the officers. Often I 
 have seen a company of soldiers drawn up in a square 
 and one of their number receiving one hundred dollars 
 for a pair of ears. 
 
 "Sometimes small squads of the Indians are cap- 
 tured, and when I was with the army it was customary
 
 THE EXTERMINATION OF THE YAQUIS 43 
 
 to offer the men freedom and money to lead the troops 
 over the secret mountain trails to the fastnesses of their 
 friends. The alternative was the rope, yet I never knew 
 of one of these captives turning traitor. 'Give me the 
 rope,' they would cry, and I have seen such a man run, 
 put the rope round his own neck and demand that it be 
 tightened quickly, that he might not again be subjected 
 to so base an insult." 
 
 I have before me a letter signed by G. G. Lelevier, a 
 former member of the Mexican Liberal Party and editor 
 of one of their papers in the United States. Lelevier is 
 said to have afterwards gone over to the cause of the 
 government. Commenting on a photograph showing a 
 lot of Yaquis hanging from a tree in Sonora, the let- 
 ter says: 
 
 "This picture resembles very much another one that 
 was taken at the Yaqui river when General Angel Mar- 
 tinez was in command of the Mexican army of occu- 
 pation. It was the custom of this general to hang men be- 
 cause they could not tell him where the insurrecto Yaquis 
 were -at the time, and he went so far as to lasso the 
 women of the Yaquis and to hang them also. It went 
 on so until the chief of the geographical commission re- 
 ported the facts to the City of Mexico and threatened to 
 resign if the practice continued. Then this monster of a 
 general was removed. 
 
 "But later on Governor Rafael Ysabal — it must have 
 been in 1902 — made a raid on Tiburon Island where 
 some peaceful Yaquis had taken refuge, and then and 
 there ordered the Seri Indians to bring to him the 
 right hand of every Yaqui there, with the alternative of 
 the Seris themselves being exterminated. Doctor Boido 
 took a snapshot with a kodak, and you could see in it 
 the governor laughing at the sight of a bunch of hands
 
 44 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 that had been brought to him and that were danghng 
 from the end of a cane. This picture was even pub- 
 lished in derision of the exploits of Governor Ysabal 
 m_the newspaper El Imparcial, of Mexico City." 
 £_ In 1898 the government troops were armed for the 
 first time with the improved Mauser rifle, and in that 
 year they met and wiped out an army of Yaquis at 
 Mazacoba, the killed numbering more than 1,000. This 
 ended warfare on anything like an equal footing. There 
 were no more large battles; the Yaqui warriors were 
 merely hunted. Thousands of the Indians surrendered. 
 Their leaders were executed, and they and their fami- 
 lies were granted a new territory to the north, to which 
 they journeyed as to a promised land. But it proved to 
 be a barren desert, entirely waterless and one of the 
 most uninhabitable spots in all America. Hence the_ 
 peaceful Yaquis moved to other sections of the state, J 
 some of them becoming wage-workers in the mines, 
 others finding employment on the railroads, and still 
 others becoming peons on the farms. Then and there 
 this portion of the Yaqui nation lost its identity and 
 became merged with the peoples about it. But it is 
 these Yaquis, the peaceful ones, who are sought out and 
 deported to Yucatan. 
 
 A few Yaquis, perhaps four or five thousand, refused 
 to give up the battle for their lands. The found inac- 
 cessible peaks and established a stronghold high up in 
 the Bacetete mountains, which border upon their former 
 home. Here flow never-ceasing springs of cold water. 
 Here, on the almost perpendicular cliffs, they built their 
 little homes, planted their corn, raised their families and 
 sang, sometimes, of the fertile valleys which once were 
 theirs. The army of several thousand soldiers still 
 hunted them. The soldiers could not reach those moun-
 
 THE EXTERMINATION OF THE YAQUIS 45 
 
 tain heights, but they could wait for the Indians in tlie 
 gorges and shoot them as they came down in search of 
 meat, of clothes, and of other comforts which they 
 yearned to add to their existence. 
 
 Many small bands of these so-called renegades have 
 been killed. Others have been captured and executed. 
 Rumors of peace have traveled the rounds only to prove 
 untrue a little later. ^ Peace conferences with the gov- 
 ernment have been held, but have failed because the 
 "renegades" could secure no guarantee that they would 
 not be either executed or deported after they laid down 
 their arms. In January, 1909, the report was officially 
 sent out by Governor Torres that Chief Bule and sev- 
 eral hundred of his warriors had surrendered on con- 
 ditions. But later troubles showed this announcement 
 to have been premature. There are at least a few hun- 
 dred Yaquis among those Bacetete crags. They refuse 
 to surrender. They are outlaws. They are cut off from 
 the world. They have no connection with the peaceful 
 element of their nation that is scattered all over the state 
 of Sonora. Yet the existence of this handful of "rene- 
 gades" is the only excuse the Mexican government has 
 for gathering up peaceful Mexican families and deport- 
 ing them — at the rate of 500 per month ! 
 
 Why should a lot of women and children and old men 
 be made to suffer because some of their fourth cousins 
 are fighting away off there in the hills ? The army physi- 
 cian with whom I talked in Mexico City answered the 
 question in very energetic terms. 
 
 "The reason?" he said. "There is no reason. It is 
 only an excuse. The excuse is that the workers con- 
 tribute to the support of the fighters. If it is true, it 
 is true only in an infinitesimal minority of cases, for the 
 vast majority of the Yaquis are entirely out of touch
 
 46 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 with the fighters. There may be a few guilty parties, 
 but absokitely no attempt is made to find them out. 
 For what a handful of patriotic Yaquis may possibly be 
 doing tens of thousand are made to suffer and die. It 
 is as if a whole town were put to the torch because one 
 of its inhabitants had stoleri a horse." 
 
 The deportation of Yaquis to Yucatan and other slave 
 sections of Mexico began to assume noticeable propor- 
 tions about 1905. It was carried out on a small scale 
 at first, then on a larger one. 
 
 Finally, in the spring of 1908, a despatch was pub- 
 lished in American and Mexican newspapers saying that 
 President Diaz had issued a sweeping order decreeing 
 that every Yaqui, wherever found, men women and chil- 
 dren, should be gathered up by the War Department 
 and deported to Yucatan. 
 
 During my journeys in Mexico I inquired many times 
 as to the authenticity of this despatch, and the story was 
 confirmed. It was confirmed by men in the public de- 
 partments of Mexico City. It was confirmed by Colo- 
 nel Cruz, chief deporter of Yaquis. And it is certain 
 that such an order, wherever it may have come from, 
 was carried out. Yaqui workingmen were taken daily 
 from mines, railroads and farms, old workingmen who 
 never owned a rifle in their lives, women, children, babes, 
 the old and the young, the weak and the strong. Guarded 
 by soldiers and rurales they traveled together over the 
 exile road. And there are others besides Yaquis who 
 traveled over that road. Pimas and Opatas, other In- 
 dians, Mexicans, and any dark people found who were 
 poor and unable to protect themselves were taken, tagged 
 as Yaquis, and sent away to the land of henequen. What 
 becomes of them there? That is what I went to Yuca- 
 tan to find out.
 
 THE EXTERMINATION OF THE YAQUIS 47 
 
 The secret that Hes at the roots of the whole Yaqui 
 affair was revealed to me and the whole matter summed 
 up in a few words by Colonel Francisco B. Cruz of the 
 Mexican army, 'in one of the most remarkable interviews 
 which I obtained during my entire trip to Mexico. 
 
 For the past four years this officer has been in immedi- 
 ate charge of transporting all the Yaqui exiles to Yuca- 
 tan. J was fortunate enough to take passage on the 
 same steamer with him returning from Progreso to 
 Veracruz. He is a stout, comfortable, talkative old cam- 
 paigner of about sixty years. The steamship people put 
 us in the same stateroom, and, as the colonel had some 
 government passes which he hoped to sell me, we were 
 soon on the most confidential terms. 
 
 "In the past three and one-half years," he told me, "I 
 have delivered just fifteen thousand seven hundred Ya- 
 quis in Yucatan — delivered, mind you, for you must re- 
 member that the government never allows me enough ex- 
 pense money to feed them properly, and from ten to 
 twenty per cent die on the journey. 
 
 "These Yaquis," he said, "sell in Yucatan for $65 
 apiece — men, women and children. Who gets the money? 
 Well, $10 goes to me for my services. The rest is turned 
 over to the Secretary of War. This, however, is only 
 a drop in the bucket, for I know this to be a fact, that 
 every foot of land, every building, every cow, every 
 burro, everything left behind by the Yaquis when they 
 are carried away by the soldiers, is appropriated for the 
 private use of authorities of the state of Sonora." 
 
 So according to this man, who has himself made at 
 least $157,000 out of the business, the Yaquis are de- 
 ported for the money there is in it — first, the money 
 from the appropriation of their property, second, the 
 money from the sale of their bodies. He declared to me
 
 48 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 that the deportations would never stop until the last 
 possible dollar had been squeezed out of the business. 
 The company of officials who have rotated in office in 
 Sonora for the past twenty-five years would see to that, 
 he said. 
 
 These little confidences of the colonel were given me 
 merely as bits of interesting gossip to a harmless for- 
 eigner. He had no notion of exposing the officials and 
 citizens whose names he mentioned. He expressed no 
 objection whatever to the system, rather gloried in it. 
 
 "In the past six months," the fat colonel told me, "I 
 have handled three thousand Yaquis — five hundred a 
 month. That's the capacity of the government boats 
 between Guaymas and San Bias, but I hope to see it in- 
 creased before the end of the year. I have just been 
 given orders to hurry 1,500 more to Yucatan as quickly 
 as I can get them there. Ah, yes, I ought to have a com- 
 fortable little fortune for myself before this thing is 
 over, for there are at least 100,000 more Yaquis to come! 
 
 "One hundred thousand more to come !" he repeated 
 at my exclamation. "Yes, one hundred thousand, if 
 one. Of course, they're not all really Yaquis, but — " 
 
 And President Diaz's chief deporter of Sonora work- 
 ing-people lolling there upon the deck of the freight 
 steamer passed me a smile which was illuminating, ex- 
 ceedingly illuminating — ^yes, terribly illuminating!
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 OVER tup: kxile road 
 
 Yaquis traveling to Yucatan, after arriving at the port 
 of Guaymas, Sonora, embark on a government war ves- 
 sel for the port of San Bias. After a journey of four 
 or five days they are disembarked and are driven by foot 
 over some of the roughest mountains in Alexico, from 
 San Bias to Tepic and from Tepic to San IMarcos. As 
 the crow flies the distance is little more than one hun- 
 dred miles; as the road winds it is twice as far, and re- 
 quires from fifteen to twenty days to travel. "Bull pens," 
 or concentration camps, are provided all along the route, 
 and stops are made at the principal cities. All families 
 are broken up on the way, the chief points at which this 
 is done being Guaymas, San Marcos, Guadalajara and 
 Mexico City. From San Marcos the unfortunates are 
 carried by train over the Mexican Central Railway to 
 Mexico City and from Mexico City over the Interna- 
 tional Railway to Veracruz. Here they are bundled into 
 one of the freight steamers of the "National" company, 
 and in from two to five days are disembarked at Pro- 
 greso and turned over to the waiting consignees. 
 
 On the road to Yucatan the companion of my jour- 
 neys, L. Gutierrez DeLara, and I, saw gangs of Yaqui 
 exiles, saw them in the "bull pen" in the midst of the 
 army barracks in Mexico City; finally we joined a party 
 of them at Veracruz and traveled with them on ship 
 from Veracruz to Progreso. 
 
 There were 104 of them shoved into the unclean hole 
 astern of the freight steamer Sinai oa, on which we em- 
 barked. We thought it might be difficult to obtain the 
 
 49
 
 50 15ARBAR0US MEXICO 
 
 opportunity to visit this unclean hole, but, luckily, wc 
 were mistaken. The guard bent readily to friendly 
 words, and before the ship was well under way my 
 companion and I were seated on boxes in the hold with 
 a group of exiles gathered about us, some of them, to- 
 bacco-famished, pulling furiously at the cigarettes which 
 we had passed among them, others silently munching the 
 bananas, apples and oranges which we had brought. 
 
 There were two old men past fifty, one of them small, 
 active, sharp-featured, talkative, dressed in American 
 overalls, jumper, shoes and slouch hat, with the face 
 and manner of a man bred to civilization ; the other, tall, 
 silent, impassive, wrapped to the chin in a gay colored 
 blanket, the one comfort he had snatched from his few 
 belongings as the soldiers were leading him away. There 
 was a magnificent specimen of an athlete under thirty, 
 with a wizened baby girl of two held in the crook of one 
 arm, an aggressive-faced woman of forty against whom 
 was closely pressed a girl of ten shivering and shaking 
 in the grasp of a malarial attack, two overgrown boys 
 who squatted together in the background and grinned 
 half foolishly at our questions, bedraggled women, 
 nearly half of them with babies, and an astonishingly 
 large number of little chubby-faced, bare-legged boys 
 and girls who played uncomprehendingly about the floor 
 or stared at us from a distance out of their big solemn 
 black eyes. 
 
 "Revolutionists?" I asked of the man in overalls and 
 jumper. 
 
 "No; workingmen." 
 
 "Yaquis ?" 
 
 "Yes, one Yaqui," pointing to his friend in the blanket. 
 "The rest are Pimas and Opatas."
 
 OVER THE EXILE ROAD 51 
 
 "Then why are you here?" 
 
 "Ah, we are all Yaquis to General Torres. It makes 
 no difference to him. You are dark. You dress in my 
 clothes and you will be a Yaqui — to him. He makes no 
 investigation, asks no questions — only takes you." 
 
 "Where are you from?" I asked of the old man. 
 
 "Most of us are from Ures. They took us in the 
 night and carried us away without allowing us to make 
 up bundles of our belongings." 
 
 "I am from Horcasitas," spoke up the young athlete 
 with the babe on his arm. "I was plowing in the field 
 when they came, and they did not give me time to un- 
 hitch my oxen." 
 
 "Where is the mother of your baby?" I inquired cu- 
 riously of the young father. 
 
 "Dead in San Marcos," he replied, closing his teeth 
 tight. "That three weeks' tramp over the mountains 
 killed her. They have allowed me to keep the little 
 one — so far." 
 
 "Did any of you make resistance when the soldiers 
 came to take you?" I asked. 
 
 "No," answered the old man from Ures. "We went 
 quietly; we did not try to run away." Then with a 
 smile : "The officers found more trouble in looking after 
 their men, their privates, to prevent them from running 
 away, from deserting, than they did with us. 
 
 "We were one hundred and fifty-three at the start, we 
 of Ures," went on the old man. "Farm laborers, all of 
 us. We worked for small farmers, poor men, men with 
 not more than half a dozen families each in their em- 
 ploy. One day a government agent visited the neighbor- 
 hood and ordered the bosses to give an account of all 
 their laborers. The bosses obeyed, but they did not 
 know what it meant until a few days later, when the
 
 52 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 soldiers came. Then they knew, and they saw ruin 
 coming to them as well as to us. They begged the offi- 
 cers, saying: 'This is my peon. He is a good man. He 
 has been with me for twenty years. I need him for the 
 harvest.' " 
 
 • "It is true," broke in the woman with the ague- 
 stricken child. "We were with Carlos Romo for twenty- 
 two years. The night we were taken we were seven; 
 now we are two." 
 
 "And we were with Eugenio Morales for sixteen 
 years," spoke another woman. 
 
 "Yes," went on the spokesman, "our bosses followed 
 us, begging, but it was no use. Some of them followed 
 us all the way to Hermosillo. There was Manuel Gan- 
 dara, and Jose Juan Lopez, and Franco Tallez, and Eu- 
 genio Morales and the Romo brothers, Jose and Carlos. 
 You will find them there now and they will tell you that 
 what we say is true. They followed us, but it was no 
 use. They had to go back and call vainly at our empty 
 houses for laborers. We were stolen — and they were 
 robbed ! 
 
 "They died on the way like starving cattle," went on 
 the old man from Ures. "When one fell ill he never 
 got well again. One woman was deathly sick at the 
 start. She begged to be left behind, but they wouldn't 
 leave her. She was the first to fall — it happened on the 
 train between Hermosillo and Guaymas. 
 
 "But the crudest part of the trail was between San 
 Bias and San Marcos. Those women with babies! It 
 was awful! They dropped down in the dust again and 
 again. Two never got up again, and we buried them 
 ourselves there beside the road." 
 
 "There were burros in San Bias," interrupted a 
 woman, "and mules and horses. Oh, why didn't they
 
 OVER THE EXILE ROAD 53 
 
 let US ride? But our men were good. When the little 
 legs of the ninos were weary our men carried them on 
 their backs. And when the three women who were far 
 gone in pregnancy could walk no more our men made 
 stretchers of twigs and carried them, taking turns. Yes, 
 our men were good, but now they are gone. We do 
 not see them any more !" 
 
 "The soldiers had to tear me away from my husband," 
 said another, "and when I cried out they only laughed. 
 The next night a soldier came and tried to take hold of 
 me, but I pulled off my shoes and beat him with them. 
 Yes, the soldiers bothered the women often, especially 
 that week we starved in Mexico City, but always the 
 women fought them back." 
 
 "I have a sister in Yucatan," said a young woman un- 
 der twenty. "Two years ago they carried her away. 
 As soon as we arrive I shall try to find her. We will 
 keep each other company, now that they have taken 
 my husband from me. Tell me, is it so terribly hot in 
 Yucatan as they say it is? I do not like hot weather, 
 yet if they will only let me live with my sister I will not 
 mind." 
 
 "To whom do all these bright little tads, these mu- 
 chachos, all of the same size, belong?" I inquired. 
 
 "Quicn sahc?" answered an old woman. "Their 
 parents are gone, just as are our babes. They take our 
 children from us and give us the children of strangers. 
 And when we begin to love the new ones, they take 
 them away, too. Do you see that woman huddled over 
 there with her face in her hands? They took her four 
 little boys at Guadalajara and left licr nothing. Myself? 
 Yes, they took my husband. For more than thirty years 
 we had never been parted for a single night. But that 
 made no difference ; he is gone. Yet perhaps I am lucky ;
 
 54 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 I Still have my daughter. Do you think, though, that 
 we may meet our husbands again in Yucatan?" 
 
 As we breasted the Veracruz lighthouse, the shoulder 
 of a Norther heaved itself against the side of the vessel, 
 the ocean streamed in at the lower portholes and the 
 quarters of the unhappy exiles were flooded with water. 
 They fled for the deck, but here were met by flying 
 sheets of rain, which drove them back again. Between 
 the flooded hold and the flooded poop the exiles spent 
 the night, and when, early the next morning, as we drove 
 into the Coatzacoalcos river, I strolled aft again, I saw 
 them lying about the deck, all of them drenched and 
 shivering, some of them writhing in the throes of acute 
 seasickness. 
 
 We steamed thirty miles up the Coatzacoalcos river, 
 then anchored to the shore and spent a day loading jun- 
 gle bulls for the tough beef market of New Orleans. 
 Two hundred ordinary cattle may be coaxed through a 
 hole in the side of a ship in the space of two hours, but 
 these bulls were as wild as wolves, and each had to be 
 half butchered before he would consent to walk in the 
 straight and narrow way. Once inside, and ranged along 
 the two sides of the vessel, they fought, trampled each 
 other, bawled as loud as steam whistles, and in a num- 
 ber of instances broke their head ropes and smashed 
 through the flimsy railing which had been erected to 
 prevent them from over-running other portions of the 
 lower deck. In a bare space at the stern of the vessel, 
 surrounded on three sides by plunging, bawling bulls, 
 were the quarters of the "Yaquis." It was stay there 
 and run the risk of being trampled, or choose the un- 
 sheltered deck. For the remaining four days of the 
 journey, one of which we spent waiting for the Norther 
 to pass, the "Yaquis" chose the deck.
 
 OVER THE EXILE ROAD 55 
 
 At last we arrived at Progreso. As we entered the 
 train for Merida we saw our friends being herded into 
 the second class coaches. They left us at the little sta- 
 tion of San Ignacio, on their way to a plantation belong- 
 ing to Governor Olegario Molina, and we saw them no 
 more. 
 
 In Yucatan I soon learned what becomes of the Yaqui 
 exiles. They are sent to the henequen plantations as 
 slaves, slaves on almost exactly the same basis as are the 
 100,000 Mayas whom I found on the plantations. They are 
 held as chattels, they are bought and sold, they receive 
 no wages, but are fed on beans, tortillas and putrid fish. 
 They are beaten, sometimes beaten to death. They are 
 worked from dawn until night in the hot sun beside the 
 Mayas. The men are locked up at night. The women 
 are required to marry Chinamen or Mayas. They are 
 hunted when they run away, and are brought back by 
 the police if they reach a settlement. Families, broken 
 up in Sonora or on the way, are never permitted to re- 
 unite. After they once pass into the hands of the planter 
 the government cares no more for them, takes no more 
 account of them. The government has received its 
 money, and the fate of the Yaquis is in the hands of 
 the planter. 
 
 I saw many Yaquis in Yucatan. I talked with them. 
 I saw them beaten. One of the first things that I saw 
 on a Yucatan plantation was the beating of a Yaqui. 
 His name was Rosanta Bajeca. 
 
 The act, though not intentionally so, perhaps, was the- 
 atrically staged. It was at 3 :45 o'clock in the morning, 
 just after roll-call of the slaves. The slave gang was 
 drawn up in front of the plantation store, the fitful rays 
 of the lanterns sputtering high on the store front play- 
 ing uncertainly over their dusky faces and dirty white
 
 56 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 forms. There were seven hundred of them. Now and 
 then a brighter lantern beam shot all the way to the tow- 
 ering tropical trees, which, standing shoulder to shoulder, 
 walled in the grass-grown patio. Under the hanging 
 lanterns and facing the ragged band stood the adminis- 
 trador, or general manager, the mayordomo primero, or 
 superintendent, and the lesser bosses, the mayordomos 
 sccundos, the majacol and the capataces. 
 
 "Rosanta Bajeca!" 
 
 The name, squeaked out by the voice of the adminis- 
 irador, brought from the crowd a young Yaqui, medium- 
 sized, sinewy-bodied, clean-featured, with well-formed 
 head erect on square shoulders, bony jaw fixed, dark, 
 deep set eyes darting rapidly from one side to another 
 of the circle which surrounded him, like a tiger forced 
 out of the jungle and into the midst of the huntsmen. 
 
 "Off with your shirt!" rasped the administrador, and 
 at the words superintendent and foremen rmged closer 
 about him. One reached for the garment, but the Yaqui 
 fended the hand, then with the quickness of a cat, 
 dodged a cane which swished at his bare head from the 
 opposite direction. For one instant — no more — with the 
 hate of his eyes he held the circle at bay, then with a 
 movement of consent he waved them back, and with a 
 single jerk drew the shirt over his head and bared his 
 muscular bronze body, scarred and discolored from pre- 
 vious beatings, for the whip. Submissive but dignified 
 he stood there, for all the world like a captive Indian 
 chief of a hundred years ago, contemptuously awaiting 
 the torture of his enemies. 
 
 Listlessly the waiting slaves looked on. A regiment 
 of toil, they stood half a dozen deep, with soiled calico 
 trousers reaching half way to the ankles or rolled to the 
 knees, shirts of the same material with many gaping
 
 OVER THE EXILE ROAD 57 
 
 mouths showing the bare bronze skin beneath, bare legs, 
 bare feet, battered grass hats held deferentially in the 
 hands — a tatterdemalion lot, shaking the sleep from their 
 eyes, blinking at the flickering lanterns. Three races 
 there were, the sharp-visaged, lofty-browed Maya, abo- 
 rigine of Yucatan, the tall, arrow-backed Chinaman and 
 the swarthy, broad-fisted Yaqui from Sonora. 
 
 At a third command of the administrador there 
 stepped from the host of waiting slaves a giant Chinese. 
 Crouching, he grasped the wrists of the silent Yaqui. 
 The next moment he was standing straight with the 
 Yaqui on his back in the manner of a tired child being 
 carried by one of its elders. 
 
 Not one of that throng who did not know what was 
 coming, yet not until a capataz reached for a bucket 
 hanging high on the store front did there come a ten- 
 sion of nerves among those seven hundred men. The 
 whipper extraordinary, known as a majocol, a deep- 
 chested, hairy brute, bent over the bucket and soused 
 his hands deep into the water within. Withdrawing 
 them, he held high for inspection four dripping ropes, 
 each three feet long. The thick writhing things in the 
 dim lamplight seemed like four bloated snakes, and at 
 sight of them the tired backs of the ragged seven hun- 
 dred straightened with a jerk and an involuntary gasp 
 rippled over the assemblage. Laggard slumber, though 
 unsated, dropped from their eyes. At last all were 
 awake, wide awake. 
 
 The ropes were of native henequen braided tight and 
 thick and heavy for the particular purpose in hancf. 
 Water-soaked, to give them more weight and cutting 
 power, they were admirably fitted for the work of 
 "cleaning up," the term whereby corporal punishment 
 is known on the plantations of Yucatan.
 
 58 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 The hairy majocol selected one of the four, tossed 
 back the remaining three, the pail was carried away and 
 the giant Chinaman squared off with the naked body of 
 the victim to the gaze of his fellow bondsmen. The 
 drama was an old one to them, so old that their eyes 
 must have ached many times at the sight, yet for them 
 it could never lose its fascination. Each knew that his 
 own time was coming, if it had not already come, and 
 not one possessed the physical power to turn his back 
 upon the spectacle. 
 
 Deliberately the majocol measured his distance, then 
 as deliberately raised his arm high and brought it swiftly 
 down again; the bloated snake swished through the air 
 and fell v/ith a spat across the glistening bronze shoul- 
 ders of the Yaqui ! 
 
 The administrador, a small, nervous man of many ges-, 
 tures, nodded his approval and glanced at his watch, the 
 mayordomo, big, stolid, grinned slowly, the half dozen 
 capataces leaned forward a little more obliquely in their 
 eagerness, the regiment of slaves swayed bodily as by 
 some invisible force, and a second gasp, painful and 
 sharp like the bursting air from a severed windpipe, 
 escaped them. 
 
 Every eye was riveted tight upon that scene in the 
 uncertain dimness of the early morning — the giant Chi- 
 naman, bending slightly forward now, the naked body 
 upon his shoulders, the long, uneven, livid welt that 
 marked the visit of the wet rope, the deliberate, the ago- 
 nizingly deliberate majocol, the administrador, watch in 
 hand, nodding endorsement, the grinning mayordomo, 
 the absorbed capataces. 
 
 All held their breath for the second blow. I held my 
 breath with the rest, held it for ages, until I thought 
 the rope would never fall. Not until I saw the finger
 
 OVER THE EXILE ROAD 59 
 
 signal of the ad mini sir ad or did I know that the blows 
 were delivered by the watch and not until it was all over 
 did I know that, in order to multiply the torture, six 
 seconds were allowed to intervene between each stroke. 
 
 The second blow fell, and the third, and the fourth. 
 I counted the blows as they fell, ages apart. At the 
 fourth the strong brown skin broke and little pin-heads 
 of crimson pushed themselves out, burst, and started 
 downward in thin tricklets. At the sixth the glistening 
 back lost its rigidity and fell to quivering like a jelly- 
 fish. At the ninth a low whine somewhere in the depths 
 of that Yaqui, found its devious way outward and into 
 the open. Oh, that whine! I hear it now, a hard, hard 
 whine, as if indurated to diamond hardness by drilling 
 its way to the air through a soul of adamant. 
 
 At last the spats ceased — there were fifteen — the ad- 
 mhiistrador, with a final nod, put away his watch, the 
 giant Chinaman released his grip on the brown wrists 
 and the Yaqui tumbled in a limp heap to the ground. 
 He lay there for a moment, his face in his arms, his 
 quivering, bleeding flesh to the sky, then a foreman 
 stepped forward and put a foot roughly against his 
 hip. 
 
 The Yaqui lifted his head, disclosing to the light a 
 pair of glazed eyes and a face twisted with pain, A mo- 
 ment later he rose to his feet and staggered forward to 
 join his fellow bondsmen. In that moment the spell of 
 breathless silence on the seven hundred snapped, the 
 ranks moved in agitation and there rose a hum of low 
 speech from every section of the crowd. The special 
 "cleaning up" of the morning was over. Five minutes 
 later the day's work on the farm had begim. 
 
 Naturally I made inquiries about Rosanta Bajeca to 
 find out what crime he had committed to merit fifteen
 
 60 BARBAROITS MEXICO 
 
 lashes of the wet rope. I ascertained that he had been 
 only a month in Yucatan, and but three days before had 
 l.ieen put in the field with a harvesting gang to cut and 
 trim the great leaves of the hcncquen plant. Tvv^o thou- 
 sand a day was the regular stint for each slave, and 
 Bajeca had been given three days in which to acquire 
 the dexterity necessary to harvest the required number 
 of leaves. He had failed. Hence the flogging. There 
 had been no other fault. 
 
 "It's a wonder," I remarked to a capatac, "that this 
 Yaqui did not tear himself from the back of the China- 
 man. It's a wonder he did not fight. He seems like a 
 brave man ; he has the look of a fighter." 
 
 The capataz chuckled. 
 
 "One month ago he was a fighter," was the reply, 
 "but a Yaqui learns many things in a month in Yucatan. 
 Still, there was a time when we thought this dog would 
 never learn. Now and then they come to us that way; 
 they never learn ; they're never worth the money that's 
 paid for them." 
 
 "Tell me about this one," I urged. 
 
 "He fought; that's all. The day he came he was put 
 to work loading bundles of leaves onto the elevator 
 which leads to the cleaning machine. The mayordomo — 
 yes, the mayordomo primcro — happened along and 
 punched the fellow in the stomach with his cane. A 
 half minute later a dozen of us were struggling to pull 
 that Yaqui w^olf away from the throat of the mayordomo. 
 We starved him for a day and then dragged him out for 
 a cleaning up. But he fought with his fingers and with 
 his teeth until a capataa laid him out with the blunt 
 edge of a machete. After that he tasted the rope daily 
 for a while, but every day for no less than a week the 
 fool fought crazily on until he kissed the earth under
 
 OVER THE EXILE ROAD 61 
 
 the weight of a club. But our majocol never faltered. 
 That majocol is a genius. He conquered the wolf. He 
 wielded the rope until the stubborn one surrendered, un- 
 til that same Yaqui came crawling, whimpering, on hands 
 and knees and licked with his naked tongue the hand of 
 the man who had beaten him!" 
 
 During my travels in Yucatan I was repeatedly 
 struck with the extremely human character of the peo- 
 ple whom the Mexican government calls Yaquis. The 
 Yaquis are Indians, they are not white, yet when one 
 converses with them in a language mutually understood 
 one is struck with the likenesses of the mental processes 
 of White and Brown. I was early convinced that the 
 Yaqui and I were more alike in mind than in color. I 
 became convinced, too, that the family attachments of 
 the Yaqui mean quite as much to the Yaqui as the fam- 
 ily attachments of the American mean to the American. 
 Conjugal fidelity is the cardinal virtue of the Yaqui 
 home and it seems to be so not because of any tribal 
 superstition of past times or because of any teachings 
 of priests, but because of a constitutional tenderness 
 sweetened more and more with the passing of the years, 
 for the one with whom he had shared the meat and the 
 shelter and the labor of life, the joys and sorrows of 
 existence. 
 
 Over and over again I saw this exemplified on the ex- 
 ile road and in Yucatan. The Yaqui woman feels as 
 keenly the brutal snatching away of her babe as would 
 the cultivated American woman. The heart-strings of 
 the Yaqui wife are no more proof against a violent and 
 unwished-for separation from her husband than would 
 be the heart-strings of the refined mistress of a beauti- 
 ful American home. 
 
 The Mexican government forbids divorce and re-
 
 62 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 marriage within its domain, but for the henequen plant- 
 ers of Yucatan all things are possible. To a Yaqui 
 woman a native of Asia is no less repugnant than he is 
 to an American woman, yet one of the first barbarities 
 the henequen planter imposes upon the Yaqui slave 
 woman, freshly robbed of the lawful husband of her 
 bosom, is to compel her to marry a Chinaman and live 
 with him! 
 
 "We do that," explained one of the planters to me, 
 "in order to make the Chinamen better satisfied and less 
 inclined to run away. And besides we know that every 
 new babe born on the place will some day be worth any- 
 where from $500 to $1,000 cash!" 
 
 The cultivated white woman, you say, would die of 
 the shame and the horror of such conditions. But so 
 does the brown woman of Sonora. No less a personage 
 than Don Enrique Camara Zavala, president of the 
 "Camara de Agricola de Yucatan," and a millionaire 
 planter himself, told me: 
 
 "If the Yaquis last out the first year they genei;ally 
 get along all right and make good workers, but the 
 trouble is, at least two-thirds of them die off in the first 
 twelve months!". 
 
 On the ranch of one of the most famous henequen 
 kings we found about two hundred Yaquis. One-third 
 of these were men, who were quartered with a large 
 body of Mayas and Chinamen. Entirely apart from 
 these, and housed in a row of new one-room huts, each 
 set in a tiny patch of uncultivated land, we discovered 
 the Yaqui women and children. 
 
 We found them squatting around on their bare floors 
 or nursing an open-air fire and a kettle just outside the 
 back door. We found no men among them, Yaquis or
 
 OVER Tlir: EXILE KOAD 63 
 
 Chinamen, for they had arrived only one month before — 
 all of them — from Sonora. 
 
 In one house we found as many as fourteen inmates. 
 There was a woman past fifty with the strength of an 
 Indian chief in her face and with words which went to 
 the mark like an arrow to a target. There was a com- 
 fortable, home-like woman with a broad, pock-marked 
 face, pleasant words and eyes which kindled with 
 friendliness despite her troubles. There were two woman 
 who watched their fire and listened only. There was a 
 girl of fifteen, a bride of four months, but now alone, 
 a wonderfully comely girl with big eyes and soft mouth, 
 who sat with her back against the wall and smiled and 
 smiled — until she cried. There was a sick woman who 
 lay on the floor and groaned feebly but never looked up, 
 and there were eight children. 
 
 "Last week we were fifteen," said the home-like 
 woman, "but one has already gone. They never get 
 well." She reached over and gently stroked the hair of 
 the sister who lay on the floor. 
 
 "Were you all married?" I asked. 
 
 "All," nodded the old woman with the face of a chief. 
 
 "And where are they now ?" 
 
 "Quien sahe?" And she searched our eyes deep for 
 the motive of our questions. 
 
 "I am a Papago," reassured De Lara. "We are friends." 
 
 "You are not working," I remarked. "What are you 
 doing?" 
 
 "Starving," said the old woman. 
 
 "We get that once a week — for all of us," explained 
 the home-like one, nodding at three small chunks of raw 
 beef — less than a five-cent stew in the United States — 
 which had just been brought from the plantation store.
 
 64 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 "Besides that we get only corn and black beans and not 
 half enough of either of them." 
 
 "We are like hogs ; we are fed on corn," put in the 
 old woman. "In Sonora we made our tortillas of wheat." 
 
 "How long will they starve you?" I asked. 
 
 "Until we marry Chinamen," flashed the old woman, 
 unexpectedly. 
 
 "Yes," confirmed the home-like one. "Twice they have 
 brought the Chinamen before us, lined them up, and 
 said : 'Choose a man.' Twice." 
 
 "And why didn't you choose?" 
 
 This question several of the women answered in cho- 
 rus. In words and wry faces they expressed their ab- 
 horrence of the Chinamen, and with tremulous earnest- 
 ness assured us that they had not yet forgotten their 
 own husbands. 
 
 "I begged them," said the old woman, "to let me off. 
 I told them I was too old, that it was no use, that I was 
 a woman no longer, but they said I must choose, too. 
 They will not let me off; they say I will have to choose 
 with the rest." 
 
 "Twice they have lined us up," reiterated the home- 
 like one, "and said we must choose. But we wouldn't 
 choose. One woman chose, but when she saw the rest 
 hang back she pushed the man away from her. They 
 threatened us with the rope, but still we hung back. 
 They will give us but one more chance, they say. Then 
 if we do not choose, they will choose for us. And if we 
 do not consent we will be put in the field and worked and 
 whipped like the men." 
 
 "And get twelve centavos a day (six cents American) 
 to live on," said the old woman. "Twelve centavos a 
 day with food at the store twice as dear as in Sonora!" 
 
 "Next Sunday morning they will make us choose," re-
 
 OVER THE EXILE ROAD 65 
 
 peated the home-like woman. "And if we don't choose — " 
 
 "Last Sunday they beat that sister there," said the old 
 woman. "She swore she'd never choose, and they beat 
 her just like they beat the men. Come, Refugio, show 
 them your back." 
 
 But the woman at the fire shrank away and hung her 
 head in mortification. 
 
 "No, no," she protested, then after a moment she mut- 
 tered : "When the Yaqui men are beaten they die of 
 shame, but the women can stand to be beaten ; they can- 
 not die." 
 
 "It's true," nodded the old woman, "the men die of 
 shame sometimes — and sometimes they die of their own 
 will." 
 
 When we turned the talk to Sonora and to the long 
 journey the voices of the women began to falter. They 
 were from Pilares de Teras, where are situated the mines 
 of Colonel Garcia. The soldiers had come in the day- 
 time while the people were in the field picking the ripe 
 corn from the stalks. They had been taken from their 
 harvest labor and compelled to walk all the way to Her- 
 mosillo, a three weeks' tramp. 
 
 The Yaqui love for the one who suckled them is 
 strong, and several of the younger women recounted the 
 details of the parting from the mother. Then we spoke 
 of their husbands again, but they held their tears until 
 I asked the question: "How would you like to go back 
 with me to your homes in Sonora?" 
 
 That opened the flood-gates. The tears started first 
 down the plump cheeks of the cheery, home-like woman, 
 then the others broke in, one at a time, and at last the 
 listening children on the floor were blubbering dolefully 
 with their elders. Weeping, the unhappy exiles lost their 
 last modicum of reserve. They begged us please to take
 
 ^ BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 them back to Sonora or to find their husbands for them. 
 Tlie old woman implored us to get word to her boss, 
 Leonardo Aguirre, and would not be content until I had 
 penned his name in my note-book. The bashful woman 
 at the fire, aching for some comforting, hopeful words, 
 parted her dress at the top and gave us a glimpse of the 
 red marks of the lash upon her back. 
 
 I looked into the face of my companion; the tears 
 were trickling down his cheeks. As for me, I did not 
 cry. I am ashamed now that I did not cry ! 
 
 Such is the life of the Yaqui nation in its last chapter. 
 When I looked upon those miserable creatures there I 
 said: "There can be nothing worse than this." But 
 when I saw Valle Nacional I said: "This is worse than 
 Yucatan."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE CONTRACT SLAVES OF VALLE NACIONAL 
 
 Valle Nacional is undoubtedly the worst slave hole in 
 Mexico. Probably it is the worst in the world. When 
 I visited Valle Nacional I expected to find it milder than 
 Yucatan. I found it more pitiless. 
 
 In Yucatan the Maya slaves die off faster than they 
 are born and two-thirds of the Yaqui slaves are killed 
 during the first year after their importation into the 
 country. In Valle Nacional all of the slaves, all but a 
 very few — perhaps five per cent — pass back to earth 
 within a space of seven or eight months. 
 
 This statement is almost unbelievable. I would not 
 have believed it; possibly not even after I had seen the 
 whole process of working them and beating them and 
 starving them to death, were it not the fact that the 
 masters themselves told me that it was true. And there 
 are fifteen thousand of these Valle Nacional slaves — 
 fifteen thousand new ones every year! 
 
 "By the sixth or seventh month they begin to die off 
 like flies at the first winter frost, and after that they're 
 not worth keeping. The cheapest thing to do is to let 
 them die ; there are plenty more where they came from." 
 
 Word for word, this is a statement made to me by 
 Antonio Pla, general manager of one-third the tobacco 
 lands in Valle Nacional. 
 
 "I have been here for more than five years and every 
 month I see hundreds and sometimes thousands of men. 
 women and children start over the road to the valley, but 
 I never see them come back. Of every hundred who go 
 over the road not more than one ever sees this town 
 
 67
 
 68 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 again." This assertion was made to mc by a station 
 agent of the Veracruz al Pacifico raih-oad. 
 
 "There are no survivors of Valle Nacional — no real 
 ones," a government engineer who has charge of the 
 improvement of certain harbors told me. "Now and 
 then one gets out of the vahey and gets beyond El Hule. 
 He staggers and begs his way along the weary road to- 
 ward Cordoba, but he never gets back where he came 
 from. Those people come out of the valley walking 
 corpses, they travel on a little way and then they fall." 
 
 This man's work has carried him much into Valle 
 Niacional and he knows more of the country, probably, 
 than does any Mexican not directly interested in the 
 slave trade. 
 
 "They die ; they all die. The bosses never let them go 
 until they're dying." 
 
 Thus declared one of the police officers of the town 
 of Valle Nacional, which is situated in the center of the 
 valley and is supported by it. 
 
 And everywhere over and over again I was told the 
 same thing. Even Manuel Lagunas, president c (mayor) 
 of Valle Nacional, protector of the planters and a slave 
 owner himself, said it. Miguel Vidal, secretary of the 
 municipality, said it. The bosses themselves said it. The 
 Indian dwellers of the mountain sides said it. The slaves 
 said it. And when I had seen, as well as heard, I was 
 convinced that it was the truth. 
 
 The slaves of Valle Nacional are not Indians, as are 
 the slaves of Yucatan. They are Mexicans. Some are 
 skilled artizans. Others are artists. The majority of 
 them are common laborers. As a whole, except for their 
 rags, their bruises, their squalor and their despair, they 
 are a very fair representation of the Mexican people. 
 They are not criminals. Not more than ten per cent were
 
 THE CONTRACT SLAVES OF VALLE NACIONAL 69 
 
 even charged with any crime. The rest of them are 
 peaceful, law-abiding citizens. Yet not one came to the 
 valley of his own free will, not one would not leave the 
 valley on an instant's notice if he or she could get away. 
 
 Do not entertain the idea that Mexican slavery is con- 
 fined to Yucatan and Valle Nacional. Conditions simi- 
 lar to those of Valle Nacional are the rule in many sec- 
 tions of Diaz-land, and especially in the states south of 
 the capital. I cite Valle Nacional because it is most no- 
 torious as a region of slaves, and because, as I have al- 
 ready suggested, it presents just a little bit the worst ex- 
 ample of chattel slavery that I know of. 
 
 The secret of the extreme conditions of Valle Nacional 
 is mainly geographical. Valle Nacional is a deep gorge 
 from two to five miles wide and twenty miles long 
 tucked away among almost impassable mountains in the 
 extreme northwestern corner of the state of Oaxaca. 
 Its mouth is fifty miles up the Papaloapan river from El 
 Hule, the nearest railroad station, yet it is through El 
 Hule that every human being passes in going to or com- 
 ing from the valley. There is no other practical route 
 in, no other one out. The magnificent tropical moun- 
 tains which wall in the valley are covered with an im- 
 penetrable jungle made still more impassable by jaguars, 
 pumas and gigantic snakes. Moreover, there is no wagon 
 road to Valle Nacional ; only a river and a bridle path — 
 a bridle path which carries one now through the jungle, 
 now along precipitous cliffs where the rider must dis- 
 mount and crawl, leading his horse behind him, now 
 across the deep, swirling current of the river. It takes 
 a strong swimmer to cross this river at high water, yet 
 a pedestrian must swim it more than once in order to 
 get out of \''alle Nacional. 
 
 The equestrian must cross it five times — four times in
 
 70 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 a canoe alongside which his mount swims laboriously, 
 once by fording, a long and difficult route over which 
 large rocks must be avoided and deep holes kept away 
 from. The valley itself is as flat as a floor, clear of all 
 rank growth, and down its gentle slope winds the Papa- 
 loapan river. The valley, the river and its rim form one 
 of the most beautiful sights it has ever been my lot to 
 look upon. 
 
 Valle Nacional is three days' journey from Cordoba, 
 two from El Hule. Stray travelers sometimes get as far 
 as Tuztepec, the chief city of the political district, but 
 no one goes on to Valle Nacional who has not business 
 there. It is a tobacco country, the most noted in Alex- 
 ico, and the production is carried on by about thirty large 
 plantations owned and operated almost exclusively_by 
 Spaniards. Between El Hule and the head of the valley 
 are four towns, Tuztepec, Chiltepec, Jacatepec and Valle 
 Nacional, all situated on the banks of the river, all pro- 
 vided with policemen to hunt runaway slaves, not one 
 of whom can get out of the valley without passing the 
 towns. Tuztepec, the largest, is provided with ten po- 
 licemen and eleven ruralcs (mounted country police). 
 Besides, every runaway slave brings a reward of $10 
 to the man or policeman who catches and returns him 
 to his owner. 
 
 Thus it will be understood how much the geograph- 
 ical isolation of Valle Nacional accounts for its being 
 just a little worse than most other slave districts of 
 Mexico. Combined with this may be mentioned the 
 complete understanding that is had with the government 
 and the nearness to a practically inexhaustible labor 
 market. 
 
 Just as in Yucatan, the slavery of Valle Nacional is 
 merely peonage, or labor for debt, carried to the extreme,
 
 TYPE OF "ENGANCHADO" OU PLAXTATIOX SLAVE
 
 THE CONTRACT SLAVES OF VALLE NACIONAL 71 
 
 although outwardly it takes a slightly different form — 
 that of contract labor. 
 
 The origin of the conditions of Valle Nacional was 
 undoubtedly contract labor. The planters needed la- 
 borers. They went to the expense of importing labor- 
 ers with the understanding that the laborers would stay 
 with their jobs for a given time. Some laborers tried 
 to jump their contracts and the planters used force to 
 compel them to stay. The advance money and the cost 
 of transportation was looked upon as a debt which the 
 laborer could be compelled to work out. From this it 
 was only a step to so ordering the conditions of labor 
 that the laborer could under no circumstances ever hope 
 to get free. In time Valle Nacional became a word of 
 horror with the working people of all Mexico. They re- 
 fused to go there for any price. So the planters felt 
 compelled to tell them they were going to take them 
 somewhere else. From this it was only a step to play- 
 ing the workman false all round, to formulating a con- 
 tract not to be carried out, but to help get the laborer 
 into the toils. Finally, from this it was only a step to 
 forming a business partnership with the government, 
 whereby the police power should be put into the hands 
 of the planters to help them carry on a traffic in slaves. 
 
 The planters do not call their slaves slaves. They 
 call them contract laborers. I call them slaves because 
 the moment they enter Valle Nacional they become the 
 personal property of the planter and there is no law or 
 government to protect them. 
 
 In the first place the planter buys his slave for a given 
 sum. Then he works him at will, feeds or starves him 
 to suit himself, places armed guards over him day and 
 night, beats him, pays him no money, kills him, and the 
 laborer has no recourse. Call it by another name if it
 
 72 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 pleases you. I call it slavery only because I do not 
 know of a name that will fit the conditions better. 
 
 I have said that no laborer sent to Valle Nacional to 
 become a slave travels the road of his own free will. 
 There are just two ways employed to get them there. 
 They are sent over the road either by a jcfe politico or 
 by a "labor agent" working in conjunction with a jcfe 
 politico or other officials of the government. 
 
 A jcfe politico is a civil officer who rules political 
 districts corresponding to our counties. He is appointed 
 by the president or by the governor of his state and is 
 also mayor, or president c, of the principal town or city 
 in his district. In turn he usually appoints the mayors of 
 the towns under him, as well as all other officers of im- 
 portance. He has no one to answer to except his gov- 
 ernor — unless the national president feels like interfering 
 — and altogether is quite a little Czar in his domain. 
 
 The methods employed by the jcfe politico working 
 alone are very simple. Instead of sending petty prison- 
 ers to terms in jail he sells them into slavery in Valle 
 Nacional. And as he pockets the money himself, he 
 naturally arrests as many persons as he can. This method 
 is followed more or less by the jcfcs politicos of all the 
 leading cities of southern Mexico. 
 
 The jcfe politico of each of the four largest cities 
 in southern Mexico, so I was told by Manuel La- 
 gunas, by "labor agents," as well as by others whose 
 veracity in the matter I have no reason to question 
 — pays an annual rental of $10,000 per year for 
 his office. The office would be worth no such amount 
 were it not for the spoils of the slave trade and other lit- 
 tle grafts which are indulged in by the holder. Lesser 
 jefes pay their governors lesser amounts. They send 
 their victims over the road in gangs of from ten to one
 
 THE CONTRACT SLAVES OF VALLE NACIONAL 7Z 
 
 hundred or even more. They get a special government 
 rate from the railroads, send along government-salaried 
 ruralcs to guard them; hence the selling price of $45 to 
 $50 per slave is nearly all clear profit. 
 
 But only ten per cent, of the slaves are sent directly to 
 Valle Nacional by the jcfcs politicos. There is no basis 
 in law whatsoever for the proceeding, and the jcfcs politi- 
 cos prefer to work in conjunction with "labor agents," 
 There is also no basis in law for the methods employed 
 by the "labor agents," but the partnership is profitable. 
 The officials are enabled to hide behind the "labor 
 agents" and the "labor agents" are enabled to work under 
 the protection of the officials and absolutely without fear 
 of criminal prosecution. 
 
 In this partnership of the government and the labor 
 agent — popularly known as an cnganchador (snarer) — 
 the function of the labor agent is to snare the laborer, 
 the function of the government to stand behind him, help 
 him, protect him, give him low transportation rates and 
 free guard service, and finally, to take a share of the 
 profits. 
 
 The methods employed by the labor agent in snaring 
 the laborer are many and various. One is to open an em- 
 ployment office and advertise for workers who are to be 
 given high wages, a comfortable home and plenty of 
 freedom somewhere in the south of Mexico. Free trans- 
 portation is offered. These inducements always cause 
 a certain number to take the bait, especially men with 
 families who want to move with their families to a more 
 prosperous clime. The husband and father is given an 
 advance fee of $5 and the whole family is locked up 
 in a room as securely barred as a jail. 
 
 After a day or two, as they are joined by others, they 
 come to have misgivings. Perhaps they ask to be let
 
 74 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 out, and then they find that they are indeed prisoners. 
 They are told that they are in debt and will be held until 
 they work out their debt. A few days later the door 
 opens and they file out. They find that ruralcs are all 
 about them. They are marched through a back street 
 to a railroad station, where they are put upon the train. 
 They try to get away, but it is no use ; they are prisoners. 
 In a few days they are in Valle Nacional. 
 
 Usually the laborer caught in this way is taken through 
 the formality of signing a contract. He is told that he 
 is to get a good home, good food, and one, two or three 
 dollars a day wages for a period of six months or a year. 
 A printed paper is shoved under his nose and the engan- 
 chandor rapidly points out several alluring sentences 
 written thereon. A pen is put quickly into his hand and 
 he is told to sign in a hurry. The five dollars advance 
 fee is given him to clinch the bargain and put him in debt 
 to the agent. He is usually given a chance to spend this, 
 or a part of it, usually for clothing or other necessaries 
 in order that he may be unable to pay it back when he 
 discovers that he has been trapped. The blanks on the 
 printed contract — fixing the wages, etc. — are usually 
 filled out afterwards by the labor agent or the consignee. 
 
 In Mexico City and other large centers of population 
 there are permanently maintained places called casas de 
 los enganchadorcs (houses of the snarers). They are 
 regularly known to the police and to large slave buyers 
 of the hot lands. Yet they are nothing more nor less 
 than private jails into which are enticed laborers, who 
 arc held there against their will until such time as they 
 are sent away in gangs guarded by the police powers of 
 the government. 
 
 A third method employed by the labor agent is out- 
 right kidnapping. I have heard of many cases of the
 
 THE CONTRACT SLAVES OF VALLE NACIONAL 75 
 
 kidnapping of women and of men. Hundreds of half- 
 drunken men are picked up about the pulque shops of 
 Mexico City every season, put under lock and key, and 
 later hurried off to Valle Nacional. Children, also, are 
 ^ regularly kidnapped for the Valle Nacional trade. The 
 official records of Mexico City say that during the year 
 ending September 1, 1908, 360 little boys between the 
 ages of six and twelve disappeared on the streets. Some 
 of these have later been located in Valle Nacional. 
 
 During my first Mexican trip El Imparcial, a leading 
 daily newspaper of Mexico, printed a story of a boy of 
 seven who had disappeared while his mother was looking 
 into the windows of a pawn shop. A frantic search failed 
 to locate him; he was an only child, and as a result of 
 sorrow the father drank himself to death in a few days' 
 time, while the mother went insane and also died. Three 
 months later, the boy, ragged and footsore, struggled 
 up the steps and knocked at the door that had been his 
 parents'. He had been kidnapped and sold to a tobacco 
 planter. But he had attained the well-nigh impossible. 
 With a boy of nine, he had eluded the plantation guards, 
 and, by reason of their small size, the two had escaped 
 observation, and, by stealing a canoe, had reached EI 
 Hule. By slow stages, begging their food on the way, 
 the baby tramps had reached home. 
 
 The typical life story of a labor agent I heard in 
 Cordoba on my way to the valley. It was told me first 
 by a negro contractor from New Orleans, who had 
 been in the country for about fifteen years. It was told 
 me again by the landlord of my hotel. Later, it was 
 confirmed by several tobacco planters in the valley. The 
 story is this: 
 
 Four years ago Daniel T , an unsuccessful Span- 
 ish adventurer, arrived, penniless, in Cordoba. In a few
 
 76 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 days he was having trouble with his landlord over the 
 non-payment of rent. But he had learned a thing or 
 two in those few days, and he set about to take advan- 
 tage of his knowledge. He went for a stroll about the 
 streets and, coming upon a farm laborer, thus addressed 
 him: 
 
 "Would you care to earn dos reales (25 ccntavos) 
 very easily, my man?" 
 
 Of course the man cared, and in a few minutes he 
 was on his way to the Spaniard's room carrying a "mes- 
 sage." The wily fellow took another route, arrived first, 
 met the messenger at the door, took him by the neck, 
 and, dragging him inside, gagged and bound him and 
 left him on the floor while he went out to hunt up a 
 labor agent. That night the adventurer sold his prisoner 
 for $20, paid his rent, and immediately began laying 
 plans for repeating the operation on a larger scale. 
 
 The incident marked the entrance of this man into 
 the business of "labor contracting." In a few months 
 he had made his bargain with the political powers of 
 Mexico City, of Veracruz, of Oaxaca, of Tuztepec and 
 
 other places. Today he is El Senor Daniel T . I 
 
 saw his home, a palatial mansion with the sign of three 
 cocks above the door. He uses a private seal and is 
 said to be worth $100,000, all acquired as a "labor agent." 
 
 The prevailing price in 1908 for men was $45 each, 
 women and children half price. In 1907, before the 
 panic, it was $60 per man. All slaves entering the valley 
 must wait over at Tuztepec, where Rodolpho Pardo, the 
 jefe politico of the district, counts them and exacts a toll 
 of ten per cent of the purchase price, which he puts into 
 his own pocket. 
 
 The open partnership of the government in the slave 
 traffic must necessarily have some excuse. The excuse
 
 THE CONTRACT SLAVES OF VALLE NACIONAL 77 
 
 is the debt, the $5 advance fee usually paid by the labor 
 agent to the laborer. It is unconstitutional, but it serves. 
 The prcsidcntc of Valle Nacional told me, "There is not 
 a police official in all southern Mexico who will not 
 recognize that advance fee as a debt and acknowledge 
 your right to take the body of the laborer where you 
 will." 
 
 When the victim arrives in the valley of tobacco he 
 learns that the promises of the labor agent were made 
 merely to entrap him. Moreover, he learns also that 
 the contract — if he has been lucky enough to get a peep 
 at that instrument — was made exactly for the same pur- 
 pose. As the promises of the labor agent belie the 
 provisions of the contract, so the contract belies the 
 actual facts. The contract usually states that the laborer 
 agrees to sell himself for a period of six months, but 
 no laborer with energy left in his body is by any chance 
 set free in six months. The contract usually states that the 
 employer is bound to furnish medical treatment for the 
 laborers; the fact is that there is not a single physician 
 for all the slaves of Valle Nacional. Finally, the con- 
 tract usually binds the employer to pay the men fifty 
 ccntavos (25 cents American) per day as wages, and the 
 women three pesos a month ($1.50 American), but I 
 was never able to find one who ever received one copper 
 centavo from his master — never anything beyond the 
 advance fee paid by the labor agent. 
 
 The bosses themselves boasted to me — several of them 
 — that they never paid any money to their slaves. Yet 
 they never called their system slavery. They claimed 
 to "keep books" on their slaves and juggle the accounts 
 in such a way as to keep them always in debt. "Yes, 
 the wages are fifty ccntavos a day," they would say, 
 "but they must pay us back what we give to bring them
 
 78 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 here. And they must give us interest on it, too. And 
 they must pay for the clothing that we give them — and 
 the tobacco, and anything else." 
 
 This is exactly the attitude of every one of the to- 
 bacco planters of Valle Nacional. For clothing, and 
 tobacco, and "anything else," they charge ten prices. It 
 is no exaggeration. Senor Rodriguez, proprietor of the 
 farm "Santa Fe," for example, showed me a pair of 
 unbleached cotton pajama-like things that the slaves 
 use for pantaloons. His price, he said, was three dollars 
 a pair. A few days later I found the same thing in 
 Veracruz at thirty cents. 
 
 Trousers at $3, shirts the same price — suits of clothes 
 so flimsy that they wear out and drop off in three weeks' 
 time. Eight suits in six months at $6 is $48. Add $45, 
 the price of the slave; add $5, the advance fee; add $2 
 for discounts, and there's the $90 wages of the six months 
 gone. 
 
 Such is keeping books to keep the slave a slave. On 
 the other hand, when you figure up the cost of the slave 
 to yourself, it is quite different. "Purchase price, food, 
 clothes, wages — everything," Senor Rodriguez told me, 
 "costs from $60 to $70 per man for the first six months 
 of service." 
 
 Add your purchase price, advance fee and suits at 
 cost, 60 cents each, and we discover tliat between $5 and 
 $15 are left for both food and wages for each six months. 
 It all goes for food — beans and tortillas. 
 
 Yes, there is another constant item of expense that 
 the masters must pay — the burial fee in the Valle 
 Nacional cemetery. It is $1.50. I say this is a constant 
 item of expense because practically all the slaves die 
 and are supposed to be buried. The only exception to 
 the rule occurs when, in order to save the $1.50, the
 
 THE CONTRACT SLAVES OF VALLE NACIONAL 79 
 
 masters bury their slaves themselves or throw them to 
 the alligators of the neighboring swamps. 
 
 Every slave is guarded night and day. At night he 
 is locked up in a dormitory resembling a jail. In addi- 
 tion to its slaves, each and every plantation has its 
 mandador, or superintendent, its cabos, who combine /-_. 
 the function of overseer and guard ; and several free 
 laborers to run the errands of the ranch and help round 
 up the runaways in case of a slave stampede. 
 
 The jails are large barn-like buildings, constructed 
 strongly of young trees set upright and wired together 
 with many strands of barbed wire fencing. The win- 
 uo\.: Te iron barred, the floors dirt. There is no fur- 
 niture except sometimes long, rude benches which serve 
 as beds. The mattresses are thin grass mats. In such 
 a hole sleep all the slaves, men, women and children, 
 the number ranging, according to the size of the planta- 
 tion, from seventy to four hundred. 
 
 They are packed in like sardines in a box, crowded 
 together like cattle in a freight car. You can figure it 
 out for yourself. On the ranch "Santa Fe" the dormi- 
 tory measures 75 by 18 feet, and it accommodates 150. 
 On the ranch "La Sepultura," the dormitory is 40 by 
 15 feet, and it accommodates 70. On the ranch "San 
 Cristobal," the dormitory is 100 by 50 feet, and it 
 accommodates 350. On the ranch "San Juan del Rio," the 
 dormitory is 80 by 90, and it accommodates 400. From 
 nine to eighteen square feet for each person to lie down 
 in — so runs the space. And on not a single ranch did 
 I find a separate dormitory for the women or the chil- 
 dren. Women of modesty and virtue are sent to Valle 
 Nacional every week and are shoved into a sleeping 
 room with scores and even hundreds of others, most
 
 80 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 of them men, the door is locked on them and they are 
 left to the mercy of the men. 
 
 Often honest, hard-working Mexicans are taken into 
 Valle Nacional with their wives and children. If the 
 wife is attractive in appearance she goes to the planter 
 or to one or more of the bosses. The children see their 
 mother being taken away and they know what is to 
 become of her. The husband knows it, but if he makes 
 objection he is answered with a club. Time and time 
 again I have been told that this was so, by masters, by 
 slaves, by officials. And the women who are thrust into 
 the sardine box must take care of themselves. 
 
 One-fifth of the slavCv. of Valle Nacional are women; 
 one-third are boys under fifteen. The boys work in 
 the fields with the men. They cost less, they last well, 
 and at some parts of the work, such as planting the 
 tobacco, they are more active and hence more useful. 
 Boys as young as six sometimes are seen in the field 
 planting tobacco. Women are worked in the field, too, 
 especially during the harvest time, but their chief work 
 is as household drudges. They serve the master and 
 the mistress, if there is a mistress, and they grind the 
 corn and cook the food of the male slaves. In every 
 slave house I visited I found from three to a dozen 
 women grinding corn. It is all done by hand with two 
 pieces of stone called a mctate. The flat stone is placed 
 on the floor, the woman kneels beside it, bends almost 
 double and works the stone roller up and down. The 
 movement is something like that of a woman washing 
 clothes, but it is much harder. I asked the presidente 
 of Valle Nacional why the planters did not purchase 
 cheap mills for grinding the corn, or why they did not 
 combine and buy a mill among them, instead of breaking
 
 ' THE CONTRACT SLAVES OF VALLE NACIONAL 81 
 
 several hundred backs yearly in the work. "Women are 
 cheaper than machines," was the reply. 
 
 In Valle Nacional the slaves seemed to me to work 
 all the time. I saw them working in the morning twi- 
 light. I saw them working in the evening twilight. I 
 saw them working far into the night. "If we could use 
 the water power of the Papaloapan to light our farms 
 we could work our farms all night," Manuel Lagunas 
 told me, and I believe he would have done it. The rising 
 hour on the farms is generally 4 o'clock in the morning. 
 Sometimes it is earlier. On all but three or four of 
 the thirty farms the slaves work every day in the year — 
 until they fall. At San Juan del Rio, one of the largest, 
 they have a half holiday every Sunday. I happened to 
 be at San Juan del Rio on a Sunday afternoon. That 
 half holiday! What a grim joke! The slaves spent it 
 in jail, locked up to keep them from running away! 
 
 And they fall very fast. They are beaten, and that 
 helps. They are starved, and that helps. They are 
 given no hope, and that helps. They die in anywhere 
 from one month to a year, the time of greatest mortality 
 being between the sixth and eighth month. Like the 
 cotton planters of our South before the war, the tobacco 
 planters seem to have their business figured down to a 
 fine point. It was a well-established business maxim of 
 our cotton planters that the greatest amount of profit 
 could be wrung from the body of a negro slave by 
 working him to death in seven years and then buying 
 another one. The Valle Nacional slave holder has dis- 
 covered that it is cheaper to buy a slave for $45 and 
 work and starve him to death in seven months, and then 
 spend $45 for a fresh slave, than it is to give the first 
 slave better food, work him less sorely and stretch out his 
 life and his toiling hours over a longer period of time.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 
 
 I visited Valle Nacional in the latter part of 1908, 
 spending a week in the region and stopping at all the 
 larger plantations. I passed three nights at various plan- 
 tation houses and four more at one or another of the 
 towns. As in Yucatan, I visited the country in the guise 
 of a probable purchaser of plantations. 
 
 As in Yucatan, I succeeded in convincing authorities 
 and planters that I had several million dollars behind me 
 just acliing to be invested. Consequently, I put them 
 as completely off their guard as it would be possible 
 to do. As in Yucatan, I was able to secure my informa- 
 tion, not only from what I saw of and heard from the 
 slaves, but from the mouths of the masters themselves. 
 Indeed, I was more fortunate than I was in Yucatan. 
 I chummed with bosses and police so successfully that 
 they never once became suspicious, and for months some 
 of them were doubtless looking for me to drop in any 
 fine day with a few million in my pocket, prepared to 
 buy them out at double the value of their property. 
 
 The nearer we approached Valle Nacional the greater 
 horror of the place we found among the people. 
 None had been there, but all had heard rumors, some 
 had seen survivors, and the sight of those walking corpses 
 had confirmed the rumors. As we got off the train at 
 Cordoba, we saw crossing the platform a procession of 
 fourteen men, two in front and two behind with rifles, 
 ten with their arms bound behind them with ropes, their 
 
 82
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 83 
 
 heads down. Some were ragged, some well diessed, and 
 several had small bundles on their shoulders. 
 
 "On their way to the valley !" I whispered. My com- 
 panion nodded, and the next moment the procession 
 disappeared through a narrow gateway on the opposite 
 side of the street, the entrance to a most conveniently 
 situated "bull pen" for the accommodation over night 
 of the exiles. 
 
 After supper I mingled with the crowds in the lead- 
 ing hotels of the town, and was aggressive enough in my 
 role of investor to secure letters of introduction from 
 a wealthy Spaniard to several slave holders of the valley. 
 
 "You'd better call on the jcfc politico at Tuztepec as 
 soon as you get there," advised the Spaniard. "He's a 
 friend of mine. Just show him my signature and he'll 
 pass you along, all right." 
 
 When I arrived at Tuztepec I took the advice of the 
 Senor and to my good fortune, for the jcfc politico, 
 Rodolpho Pardo, not only passed me along, but gave 
 me a personal letter to each of his subordinates along 
 the road, the prcsidcntcs of Chiltepec, Jacatepec and 
 Valle Nacional, instructing them to neglect their official 
 business, if necessary, but to attend to my wants. Thus 
 it was during my first days in the Valley of Death I 
 was the guest of the presidcntc, and on the nights which I 
 spent in the town a special police escort was appointed 
 to see that I came to no harm. 
 
 In Cordoba, a negro building contractor, an intelligent 
 fellow, who had sojourned in Mexico for fifteen years, 
 said to me: 
 
 "The days of slavery ain't over yet. No, sir, they 
 ain't over. I've been here a long time and I've got a 
 little property. I know I'm pretty safe, but sometimes 
 I get scared myself — yes, sir, I get scared, you bet!"
 
 84 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 Early next morning as I was dressing I glanced out 
 of my window and saw a man walking down the middle 
 of the street with one end of a riata around his neck 
 and a horseman riding behind at the other end of the 
 riata. 
 
 "Where's that man going?" I inquired of the servant. 
 "Going to be hanged?" 
 
 "Oh, no, only going to jail," answered the servant. 
 "It's the easiest way to take them, you know. In a day 
 or two," he added, "that man will be on his way to 
 Valle Nacional. Everybody arrested here goes to Valle 
 Nacional — everybody except the rich." 
 
 "I wonder if that same gang we saw last night will 
 be going down on the train today," my companion, De 
 Lara, said, as we made for the depot. 
 
 He did not wonder long, for we had hardly found 
 seats when we saw the ten slaves and their rnrale guards 
 filing into the second-class coach adjoining. Three of 
 the prisoners were well dressed and had unusually intel- 
 ligent faces; the others were of the ordinary type of 
 city or farm laborers. Two of the former were bright 
 boys under twenty, one of whom burst into tears as the 
 train pulled slowly out of Cordoba toward the dreaded 
 valley. 
 
 Down into the tropics we slid, into the jungle, into 
 the dampness and perfume of the lowlands, known as 
 the hot country. We flew down a mountain, then skirted 
 the rim of a gash-like gorge, looking down upon coffee 
 plantations, upon groves of bananas, rubber and sugar 
 cane, then into a land where it rains every day except 
 in mid-winter. It was not hot — not real hot, like Yuma 
 —but the passengers perspired with the sky. 
 
 We watched the exiles curiously, and at the first 
 opportunity we made advances to the chief of the rurale
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 85 
 
 squad. At Tierra Blanca we stopped for dinner and, as 
 the meal the riirales purchased for their charges con- 
 sisted only of tortillas and chili, we bought a few extras 
 for them, then sat and watched them eat. Gradually 
 we drew the exiles into conversation, carefully nursing 
 the good will of their guards at the same time, and pres- 
 ently we had the story of each. 
 
 The prisoners were all from Pachuca, capital of the 
 state of Hidalgo, and, unlike the vast majority of Valle 
 Nacional slaves, they were being sent over the road 
 directly by the jefc politico of that district. The par- 
 ticular system of this particular jcfc was explained to 
 us two days later by Espiridion Sanchez, a corporal of 
 ruralcs, as follows : 
 
 "The jefe poUtico of Pachuca has a contract with 
 Candido Fernandez, owner of the tobacco plantation 
 'San Cristobal la Vega,' whereby he agrees to deliver 500 
 able-bodied laborers a year for fifty pesos each. The 
 jefe gets special nominal government rates on the rail- 
 roads, his guards are paid for by the government, so 
 the four days' trip from Pachuca costs him only three 
 pesos and a half per man. This leaves him forty-six 
 and one-half pesos. Out of it he must pay something 
 to his governor, Pedro L. Rodriguez, and something to 
 the jefe politico at Tuztepec. But even then his profits 
 are very large. 
 
 "How does he get his men? He picks them up on 
 the street and puts them in jail. Sometimes he charges 
 them with some crime, real or imaginary, but in either 
 case the man is never tried. He is held in jail until 
 there are enough others to make up a gang, and then 
 all are sent here. Why, men who may be safely sent 
 to Valle Nacional are getting so scarce in Pachuca that 
 the jefe has even been known to take young boys out of
 
 86 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 school and send them here just for the sake of the fifty 
 pesos!" 
 
 Of our ten friends from Pachuca, all had been arrested 
 and put in jail, but not one had been taken before a 
 judge. Two had been charged with owing money that 
 they could not pay, one had been arrested when drunk, 
 another had been drunk and had discharged a firearm 
 into the air, the fifth had shouted too loudly on Inde- 
 pendence Day, September 16th, another had attempted 
 rape, the seventh had had a mild-mannered quarrel with 
 another boy over the sale of a five-cent ring, two had 
 been musicians in the army and had left one company 
 and joined another without permission, and the tenth 
 had been a clerk of ruralcs and had been sold for pay- 
 ing a friendly visit to the previous two while they were 
 in jail serving out their sentence for desertion. 
 
 When we smiled our incredulity at the tale of the tenth 
 prisoner and asked the chief rurale pointblank if it was 
 true, he astonished us with his reply. Nodding his 
 grizzled head he said in a low voice: 
 
 "It is true. Tomorrow may be my time. It is always 
 the poor that suiTer." 
 
 We would have looked upon the stories of these men 
 as "fairy tales," but all of them were confirmed by one 
 or the other of the guards. The case of the musicians 
 interested us most. The older carried the forehead of 
 a university professor. He was a cornet player and his 
 name was Amado Godaniz. The younger was a boy of 
 but eighteen, the boy who cried, a basso player named 
 Felipe Gomez. 
 
 "They are sending us to our 'death — to our death," 
 muttered Godaniz. "We will never get out of that hole 
 alive." And all along the route, wherever we met him, 
 he said the same thing, repeating over and over again;
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 87 
 
 "They are sending us to our death — to our death !" And 
 always at the words the soft-faced, cringing boy of eight- 
 een at his side would cry silently. 
 
 At El Hule, The Gateway to the Mexican Hell, we 
 parted from our unfortunate friends for a time. As we 
 left the railroad depot to board our launch in the river, 
 we saw the ten, strung out in single file, one mounted 
 rurale in front and one behind, disappear in the jungle 
 toward Tuztepec. Four hours later, as we approached 
 the district metropolis in the thickening twilight, we saw 
 them again. They had beaten the launch in the journey 
 up the river, had crossed in a canoe, and now stood rest- 
 ing for a moment on a sandy bank, silhouetted against 
 the sky. 
 
 Rodolpho Pardo, the jefe politico, whom we visited 
 after supper, proved to be a slender, polished man of 
 forty, smooth-shaven, with eyes which searched our 
 bodies like steel probes at first. But the thought of fresh 
 millions to be invested where he might levy his toll upon 
 them sweetened him as we became acquainted, and when 
 we shook his cold, moist hand good-bye, we had won all 
 that we had asked for. Don Rodolpho even called in the 
 chief of police and instructed him to find us good horses 
 for our journey. 
 
 Early the following morning found us on the jungle 
 trail. During the forenoon we encountered several other 
 travelers, and we lost no opportunity to question them. 
 
 "Run away ? Yes ; they try to — sometimes," said one 
 native, a Mexican cattleman. "But too many are against 
 them. The only escape is down river. They must cross 
 many times and they must pass Jacatepec, Chiltepec, 
 Tuzetpec and El Hule. And they must hide from 
 every one on the road, for a reward of ten pesos is paid 
 for every runaway captured. We don't love the system,
 
 88 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 but ten pesos is a lot of money, and no one would let 
 it go by. Besides, if one doesn't get it another will, and 
 even though the runaway should get out of the valley, 
 when he reaches Cordoba he finds the cnganchador 
 Tresgallo, waiting there to send him back." 
 
 "One time," another native told us, "I saw a man 
 leaning against a tree beside the trail. As I rode up 
 I spoke to him, but he did not move. His arm was 
 doubled against the tree trunk and his eyes seemed to be 
 studying the ground. I touched his shoulder and found 
 that he was stiff — dead. He had been turned out to die 
 and had walked so far. How do I know he was not a 
 runaway? Ah, Scnor, I knew. You would have known, 
 too, had you seen his swollen feet and the bones of his 
 face — almost bare. No man who looks like that could 
 run away !" 
 
 Just at nightfall we rode into Jacatepec, and there 
 we found the slave gang ahead of ijs. They had started 
 first and had kept ahead, walking the twenty-four miles 
 of muddy trail, though some of them were soft from 
 jail confinement. They were sprawled out on a patch 
 of green beside the detention house. 
 
 The white linen collar of Amado Godaniz was gone 
 now. The pair of fine shoes, nearly new, which he wore 
 on the train, were on the ground beside him, heavy with 
 mud and water. His bare feet were small, as white as 
 a woman's and as tender, and both showed bruises and 
 scratches. Since that evening at Jacatepec I have often 
 thought of Amado Godaniz and have wondered — with a 
 shiver — how those tender white feet fared among the 
 tropical flies of Valle Nacional. "They are sending us 
 to our death — to our death !" The news that Amado 
 Godaniz were alive today would surprise me. That night 
 he seemed to realize that he would never need those fine
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 89 
 
 shoes again, and before I went to bed I heard him trying 
 to sell them to a passer-by for twenty-five cents. 
 
 Wherever we stopped we induced people, by careless 
 questions, to talk about the valley. I wanted to make no 
 mistake. I wanted to hear the opinion of everybody. I 
 did not know what might be denied us farther on. And 
 always the story was the same — slavery and men and 
 women beaten to death. 
 
 We arose at five the next morning and missed our 
 breakfast in order to follow the slave gang over the 
 road to Valle Nacional. At first the chief of the two 
 rurales, a clean, handsome young Mexican, looked 
 askance at our presence, but before we were half way 
 there he was talking pleasantly. He was a Tuztepec rurale 
 and was making his living out of the system, yet he 
 was against it. 
 
 "It's the Spanish who beat our people to death," he 
 said bitterly. "All the tobacco planters are Spanish, all 
 but one or two." 
 
 The rurale chief gave us the names of two Spaniards, 
 partners, Juan Pereda and Juan Robles, who had become 
 rich on Valle Nacional tobacco and had sold out and 
 gone back to spend the rest of their days in Spain. After 
 they were gone, said he, the new owner, in looking over 
 the place, ran upon a swamp in which he found hundreds 
 of human skeletons. The toilers whom Pereda and 
 Robles had starv^ed and beaten to death they had been 
 too miserly to bury. 
 
 Nobody ever thought of having a planter arrested for 
 murdering his slaves, the rurale told us. To this rule he 
 mentioned two exceptions ; one. the case of a foreman 
 who had shot three slaves ; the other, a case in which an 
 American figured and in which the American ambassador 
 took action. In the first case the planter had disapproved
 
 90 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 the killing because he needed the slaves, so he himself 
 had secured the arrest of the foreman. As to the other 
 case: 
 
 "In past years they used to pick up a derelict Ameri- 
 can once in awhile and ship him down here," said my 
 informant, "but the trouble this particular one kicked up 
 has resulted in Americans being barred altogether. This 
 American was sent to 'San Cristobal,' the farm of Can- 
 dido Fernandez. At this plantation it was the custom to 
 kill a steer every two weeks to provide meat for the 
 family and the foremen; the only meat the slaves ever 
 got was the head and entrails. One Sunday, while help- 
 ing butcher a steer, the hunger of the American slave 
 got the better of him, and he seized some of the entrails 
 and ate them raw. The next day he died and a few 
 wrecks later an escaped slave called on the American 
 ambassador in Alexico City, gave him the name and home 
 address of the American, and told him the man had been 
 beaten to death. The ambassador secured the arrest of 
 the planter Fernandez and it cost him a lot of money to 
 get out of jail," 
 
 Our trip was a very beautiful one, if very rough. At 
 one point we climbed along the precipitous side of a 
 magnificent mountain, allowing our horses to pick their 
 way over the rocks behind us. At another we waited 
 while the slaves took ofif their clothing, piled them in 
 bundles on their heads and waded across a creek; then 
 we followed on our horses. At many points I yearned 
 mightily for a camera, yet I knew if I had it that it 
 would get me into trouble. 
 
 Picture merely that procession as it wound in single 
 file around the side of a hill, the tropical green above 
 broken now and then by a ridge of gigantic grey rocks, 
 below a level meadow and a little farther on the curving.
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 91 
 
 feminine lines of that lovely river, the Papaloapan, Pic- 
 ture those ten slaves, six with the regulation high straw 
 hat of the plebeian Mexican, four with felts, all bare- 
 footed now except the boy musician, who is sure to throw 
 away his shoes before the end of the journey, half of 
 them bare-handed, imagining that the masters will fur- 
 nish them blankets or extra clothing, the other half with 
 small bundles of bright-colored blankets on their backs; 
 finally, the mounted and uniformed ruralcs, one in front 
 and one behind; and the American travelers at the 
 extreme rear. 
 
 Soon we began to see gangs of men, from twenty to 
 one hundred, at work in the fields preparing the ground 
 for the tobacco planting. The men were the color of the 
 ground, and it struck me as strange that they moved 
 incessantly while the ground was still. Here and there 
 among the moving shapes stood others — these seemed 
 different; they really looked like men — with long, lithe 
 canes in their hands and sometimes swords and pistols 
 in their belts. We knew then that we had reached Valle 
 Nacional. 
 
 The first farm at which we stopped was "San Juan del 
 Rio." Crouching beside the porch of the main building 
 was a sick slave. One foot was swollen to twice its nat- 
 ural size and a dirty bandage was wrapped clumsily about 
 it. "What's the matter with your foot?" I asked. 
 "Blood poisoning from insect bites," replied the slave. 
 "He'll have maggots in another day or two," a boss told 
 us with a grin. 
 
 As we rode away we caught our first glimpse of a 
 Valle Nacional slave-house, a mere jail with barred win- 
 dows, a group of women bending over mctatcs, and a 
 guard at the door with a key. 
 
 I have said that our rurale corporal was opposed to the
 
 92 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 system, yet how perfectly he was a part of it he soon 
 showed. Rounding a bluft" suddenly we caught sight of 
 a man crouching half hidden behind a tree. Our ruralc 
 called him and he came, trembling, and trying to hide the 
 green oranges that he had been eating. The ensuing con- 
 versation went something like this : 
 
 Ruralc — Where are you going? 
 
 Man — To Oaxaca. 
 
 Ruralc — Where are you from? 
 
 Man — From the port of Manzanillo. 
 
 Ruralc — You've come a hundred miles out of your 
 way. Nobody ever comes this way who doesn't have 
 business here. What farm did you run away from, any- 
 how? 
 
 Man — I didn't run away. 
 
 Ruralc — Well, you fall in here. 
 
 So we took the man along. Later it was ascertained 
 that he had run away from "San Juan del Rio." The 
 ruralc got the ten pesos reward. 
 
 At the plantation "San Cristobal" we left the slave 
 gang behind, first having the temerity to shake the hands 
 of the two musicians, whom we never saw again. Alone 
 on the road we found that the attitude of those we met 
 was widely different from what it had been when we 
 were traveling in the company of the ruralcs, the agents 
 of the state. The Spanish horsemen whom we encoun- 
 tered did not deign to speak to us, they stared at us 
 suspiciously through half closed eyes and one or two 
 even spoke offensively of us in our hearing. Had it not 
 been for the letter to the prcsidcntc in my pocket it would 
 doubtless have been a difficult matter to secure admission 
 to the tobacco plantations of A^alle Nacional. 
 
 Everywhere we saw the same thing — gangs of emaci- 
 ated men and boys at work clearing the ground with
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 93 
 
 machetes or ploughing the hroad fields with oxen. And 
 everywhere we saw guards, armed with long, lithe canes, 
 with swords and pistols. Just before we crossed the 
 river for the last time to ride into the town of Valle 
 Nacional we spoke to an old man with a stump of a 
 wrist who was working alone near the fence. 
 
 "How did you lose your hand ?" I asked. 
 
 "A cabo (foreman) cut it off with a sword," was the 
 reply, 
 
 Manuel Lagunas, presidcnte of Valle Nacional, proved 
 to be a very amiable fellow, and I almost liked him — 
 until I saw his slaves. His secretary, Miguel Vidal, was 
 even more amiable, and we four sat for two hours over 
 our late dinner, thoroughly enjoying ourselves — and talk- 
 ing about the country. During the entire meal a little 
 half-negro boy of perhaps eight years stood silent behind 
 the door, emerging only when his master, needing to be 
 waited upon, called "Negro!" 
 
 "I bought him cheap," said Vidal. "He cost me only 
 twenty-five pesos." 
 
 Because of its great beauty Valle Nacional was orig- 
 inally called "Royal Valley" by the Spaniards, but after 
 the Independence of Mexico it was rechristened Valle 
 Nacional. Thirty-five years ago the land belonged to the 
 Chinanteco Indians, a peaceable tribe among whom it 
 was divided by President Juarez. When Diaz came into 
 power he failed to make provision for protecting the 
 Chinantecos against scheming Spaniards, so in a few 
 years the Indians had drunk a few bottles of mescal and 
 the Spaniards had gobbled up every foot of their land. 
 The Valle Nacional Indians now secure their food from 
 rented patches high up on the mountain sides which are 
 unfit for tobacco cultivation. 
 
 Though the planters raise corn and beans, and some-
 
 94 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 times bananas or other tropical fruits, tobacco is the only 
 considerable product of the valley. The plantations are 
 usually large, there being only about thirty in the entire 
 district. Of this number twelve are owned by Balsa Iler- 
 manos (Brothers), vv'ho operate a large cigar factory in 
 Veracruz and another in the city of Oaxaca. 
 
 After dinner we went for a stroll about town and for 
 a bodyguard the prcsidente assigned us a policeman, Juan 
 Hernandez. We proceeded to question the policeman. 
 
 "All the slaves are kept until they die — all," said 
 Hernandez. "And when they are dead the bosses do not 
 always take the trouble to bury them. They throw them 
 in the swamps where the alligators eat them. On the 
 plantation 'Hondura de Nanche' so many are given to the 
 alligators that an expression has arisen among the slaves : 
 'Throw me to The Hungry !' There is a terrible fear 
 among those slaves that they will be thrown to 'The 
 Hungry' before they are dead and while they are yet con- 
 scious, as this has been done !" 
 
 Slaves who are worn out and good for nothing more, 
 declared the policeman, and yet who are strong enough 
 to cry out against being thrown to "The Hungry," are 
 turned out on the road without a cent, and in their rags 
 many of them crawl to the town to die. The Indians give 
 them some food and on the edge of the town there is an 
 old house in which the miserable creatures are permitted 
 to pass their last hours. This place is known as "The 
 House of Pity." We visited it with the policeman and 
 found an old woman lying on her face on the bare floor. 
 She did not move when we came in, nor when we spoke 
 to each other and finally to her, and for some time we 
 were not sure that she was alive. At last she groaned 
 feebly. It can be imagined how we felt, but we could do 
 nothing, so we tip-toed to the door and hurried away.
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 95 
 
 "You will find this a healthy country," the municipal 
 secretary told us a little later in the evening. "Don't 
 you notice how fat we all are ? The laborers of the plan- 
 tations? Ah, yes, they die — die of malaria and consump- 
 tion — but it is only because they are under-fed. Tor- 
 tillas and beans — sour beans at that, usually, is all they 
 get, and besides they are beaten too much. Yes, they die, 
 but nobody else here ever has any sickness." 
 
 Notwithstanding the accounts of Juan Hernandez, the 
 policeman, the secretary assured us that most of the dead 
 slaves were buried. The burying is done in the town and 
 it costs the bosses one and one-half pesos for each burial. 
 By charity the town puts a little bamboo cross over each 
 grave. We strolled out in the moonlight and took a look 
 at the graveyard. And we gasped at the acres and acres 
 of crosses! Yes, the planters bury their dead. One 
 would guess by those crosses that Valle Nacional were 
 not a village of one thousand souls, but a city of one 
 hundred thousand! 
 
 On our w^ay to our beds in the house of the Presidentc 
 we hesitated at the sound of a weak voice hailing us. A 
 fit of heart-breaking coughing followed and then we saw 
 a human skeleton squatting beside the path. He wanted 
 a penny. We gave him several, then questioned him and 
 learned that he was one who had come to die in "The 
 House of Pity." It was cruel to make him talk, but we 
 did it, and in his ghastly whispering voice he managed to 
 piece out his story between paroxysms of coughing. 
 
 His name was Angelo Echavarria, he was twenty 
 years old and a native of Tampico. Six months previ- 
 ously he had been offered w^ages on a farm at two pesos 
 a day, and had accepted, but only to be sold as a slave 
 to Andres M. Rodriguez, proprietor of the plantation 
 "Santa Fe." At the end of three months he besran to
 
 96 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 break down under the inhuman treatment he receivcu 
 and at four months a foreman named Augustin broke a 
 sword over his back. When he regained consciousness 
 after the beating he had coughed up a part of a lung. 
 After that he was beaten more frequently because he 
 was unable to work as well, and several times he fell in 
 a faint in the field. At last he was set free, but when 
 he asked for the wages that he thought were his, he was 
 told that he was $1.50 in debt to the ranch! He came 
 to the town and complained to the Presidcntc, but was 
 given no satisfaction. Now too weak to start to walk 
 home, he was coughing his life away and begging for 
 subsistence at the same time. In all my life I have never 
 seen another living creature so emaciated as Angelo 
 Echavarria, yet only three days previously he had been 
 working all day in the hot sun ! 
 
 We visited the plantation "Santa Fe" the following 
 day, as well as a half a dozen others. We found the 
 system of housing, feeding, working and guarding the 
 slaves alike on all. 
 
 The main dormitory at "Santa Fe" consisted of one 
 windowless, dirt-floor room, built of upright poles set in 
 the ground an inch apart and held firmly together by 
 strands of barbed wire fencing. It was as impregnable 
 as an American jail. The beds consisted of a single grass 
 mat each laid crosswise on a wooden bench. There were 
 four benches, two on each side, one above another, run- 
 ning lengthwise of the room. Tlie beds were laid so 
 close together that they touched. The dimensions of the 
 room were 75 by 18 feet and in these cramped quarters 
 150 men, women and children slept every night. The 
 Valle Nacional tobacco planters have not the decency of 
 slave-holders of fifty years ago, for on not one of the 
 plantations did I find a separate dormitory for the women.
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 97 
 
 And I was repeatedly told that the women who enter 
 that foul hole all become common to th.e men, not because 
 they wish to become so, but because the overseers do not 
 protect them from the unwelcome advances of tlie men ! 
 
 On the "Santa Fe" ranch the mandador, or superin- 
 tendent, sleeps in a room at one end of the slave dormi- 
 tory and the cabos, or overseers, sleep in a room at the 
 other end. The single door is padlocked, but a watch- 
 man paces all night up and down the passageway between 
 the rows of shelves. Every half hour he strikes a clam- 
 orous gong. In answer to a question Senor Rodriguez 
 assured me that the gong did not disturb the sleeping 
 slaves, but even if it had that the rule was necessary to 
 prevent the watchman from going to sleep and permitting 
 a jail-break. 
 
 Observing the field gangs at close range, I was aston- 
 ished to see so many children among the laborers. At 
 least half were under twenty and at least one-fourth 
 under fourteen. 
 
 "The boys are just as good in the planting as the men," 
 remarked the Prcsidente, who escorted us about. "They 
 last longer, too, and they cost only half as much. Yes, 
 all the planters prefer boys to men." 
 
 During my ride through fields and along the roads 
 that day I often wondered why some of those blood- 
 less, toiling creatures did not cry out to us and say : 
 "Help us ! For God's sake help us ! We are being mur- 
 dered !" Then I remembered that all men who pass this 
 way are like their own bosses, and in answer to a cry 
 they could expect nothing better than a mocking laugh, 
 and perhaps a blow besides. 
 
 Our second night in Valle Nacional we spent on the 
 Prcsidcntc's plantation. As we approached the place we 
 lagged behind the Prcsidente to observe a gang of 150
 
 98 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 men and boys planting tobacco on the adjoining farm, 
 "El Mirador." There were half a dozen overseers among 
 them and as we came near we saw them jumping here 
 and there among the slaves, yelling, cursing and striking 
 this way and that with their long, lithe canes. Whack! 
 Whack ! went the sticks on back, shoulders, legs and even 
 heads. The slaves weren't being beaten. They were only 
 being urged a little, possibly for our benefit. 
 
 We stopped, and the head foreman, a big black Span- 
 iard, stepped over to the fence and greeted us. 
 
 "Do they ever fight back?" he repeated, at my ques- 
 tion. "Not if they're wise. They can get all the fight 
 they want from me. The men that fight me don't come 
 to work next day. Yes, they need the stick. Better to 
 kill a lazy man than to feed him. Run away? Some- 
 times the new ones try it, but we soon tame it out of 
 them. And when we get 'em tamed we keep 'em here. 
 There never was one of these dogs who got out of here 
 and didn't go telling lies about us." 
 
 Should I live a thousand years I would never forget 
 the faces of dull despair I saw everywhere ; and I would 
 never forget the first night I spent on a Valle Nacional 
 slave farm, the farm of the Presidente. The place was 
 well named, "La Sepultura," though its name was given 
 by the Indians long before it became the sepulchre of 
 Mexican slaves. 
 
 "La Sepultura" is one of the smallest farms in the 
 valley. The dormitory is only 40 by 15 feet and it accom- 
 modates 70 men and women nightly. Inside there are no 
 benches — nothing but the bare ground and a thin grass 
 mat for each sleeper. In it we found an old woman lying 
 sick and shivering alone. Later that night we saw it 
 crammed full of the miserables shivering with the cold, 
 for the wind was blowing a hurricane and the rain was
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 99 
 
 coming down in torrents. In a few hours the tempera- 
 ture must have dropped forty degrees. 
 
 One-third of the laborers here were women, one of 
 them a girl of twelve. That night the buildings rocked 
 so fearfully that the horses were taken out of the barn. 
 But, though a building had blown down a few weeks 
 previously, the slaves were not taken out of their jail. 
 Their jail was built just ofif the dining-room of the 
 dwelling and that night my companion and I slept in the 
 dining-room. I heard the jail door open and shut for a 
 late worker to enter and then I heard the voice of the 
 twelve-year-old girl pleading in terror: "Please don't 
 lock the door tonight — only tonight ! Please leave it so 
 we can be saved if the house falls!" The answer that I 
 heard was only a brutal laugh. 
 
 When I went to bed that night at 9:30 a gang of 
 slaves was still working about the barn. When I 
 awoke at four the slaves were receiving their beans and 
 tortillas in the slave kitchen. When I went to bed two of 
 the Prcsidcntc's kitchen drudges were hard at work. 
 Through the chinks in the poles which divided the two 
 rooms I watched them, for I could not sleep. At eleven 
 o'clock by my watch one disappeared. It was 12:05 
 before the other was gone, but in less than four hours 
 more I saw her again, working, working, working, 
 working ! 
 
 Yet perhaps she fared better than did the grinders of 
 corn and the drawers of water, for when, with the son 
 of the Presidente, I visited the slave kitchen at five and 
 remarked on the exhausted faces of the women there, 
 he informed me that their rising hour was two o'clock 
 and that they never had time to rest during the day ! 
 
 Oh, it was awful ! This boy of sixteen, manager of the 
 farm in his father's absence, told me with much gusto of
 
 100 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 how fiercely the women sometimes fought against the 
 assauhs of the men and how he had at times enjoyed 
 peering through a crack and watching those tragic 
 encounters of the night ! All night we were disturbed — 
 mostly by the hacking, tearing coughs that came to us 
 through the chinks, sometimes by heart-breaking sobs. 
 
 De Lara and I did not speak about these things until 
 the morning, when I remarked upon his haggard face. 
 
 "I heard the sobs and the coughs and the groans," said 
 De Lara. "I heard the women cry, and I cried, too — 
 three times I cried. I do not know how I can ever laugh 
 and be happy again !" 
 
 While we waited for breakfast the President c told us 
 many things about the slavery and showed us a number 
 of knives and files which had been taken from the 
 slaves at various times. Like penitentiary convicts, the 
 slaves had somehow got possession of the tools in the 
 hope of cutting a way out of their prison at night and 
 escaping the sentries. 
 
 The Prcsidente told us frankly that the authorities of 
 Mexico City, of Veracruz, of Oaxaca, of Pachuca and of 
 Jalapa regularly engage in the slave traffic, usually in 
 combination with one or more "labor agents." He espe- 
 cially named the mayor of a certain well known seaport, 
 who was mentioned in the American newspapers as an 
 honored guest of President Roosevelt in 1908 and a 
 prominent visitor to the Republican convention at Chi- 
 cago. This mayor, said our Presidente, regularly 
 employed his city detective force as a dragnet for slaves. 
 He arrested all sorts of people on all sorts of pretexts 
 merely for the sake of the forty-five pesos apiece that 
 thev would bring from the tobacco planters. 
 
 Our conversation that morning was interrupted by a 
 Spanish foreman who rode up and had a talk with the
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 101 
 
 Presidente. They spoke in low tones, but we caught 
 most of what they said. The foreman had killed a woman 
 the previous day and had come to make his peace about 
 it. After a consultation of ten minutes the Presidente 
 shook the hand of his visitor and we heard him tell the 
 murderer to go home and attend to his business and 
 think no more about the matter. 
 
 It was Sunday and we spent the entire day in the 
 company of Antonio Pla, probably the most remarkable 
 human monster in Valle Nacional. Pla is general man- 
 ager for Balsa Hermanos in Valle Nacional and as such 
 he oversees the business of twelve large plantations. He 
 resides on the ranch "Hondura de Nanche," the one of 
 special alligator fame, where the term "Throw me to The 
 Hungry" originated. Pla calls his slaves "Los Tigres" 
 (the tigers) and he took the greatest of pleasure in 
 showing us the "dens of the tigers," as well as in explain- 
 ing his entire system of purchase, punishment and burial. 
 
 Pla estimated that the annual movement of slaves to 
 Valle Nacional is 15,000 and he assured me that if the 
 planters killed every last one of them the authorities 
 would not interfere. 
 
 "Why should they?" he asked. "Don't we support 
 them?" 
 
 Pla, like many of the other planters, raised tobacco in 
 Cuba before he came to Valle Nacional, and he declared 
 that on account of the slave system in the latter place the 
 same quality of tobacco was raised in Valle Nacional 
 for half the price that it cost to raise it in Cuba. It was 
 not practical, said he, to keep the slaves more than seven 
 or eight months, as they became "all dried out." He 
 explained the various methods of whipping, the informal 
 slugging in the field with a cane of hejnco zvood, and the 
 lining-up of the gangs in the morning and the admin-
 
 102 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 istration of "a few stripes to the lazy ones as medicine 
 for the day." 
 
 "But after awhile," declared Pla, "even the cane 
 doesn't do any good. There comes a time when they 
 just can't work any longer." 
 
 Pla told us that an agent of the government had three 
 months before tried to sell him 500 Yaquis for twenty 
 thousand pesos, but he had rejected the offer, as, though 
 the Yaquis last like iron, they will persist in taking long 
 chances in a break for liberty. 
 
 "I bought a bunch of Yaquis several years ago," he 
 said, "but most of them got away after a few months. 
 No, Yucatan is the only place for the Yaquis." 
 
 We found two Yaquis, however, on the farm, "Los 
 Mangos." They said they had been there for two years 
 and were the only ones left out of an original lot of 
 two hundred. One had been out of commission for a 
 few days, one of his feet being half gone — eaten ofl by 
 insects. 
 
 "I expect I'll have to kill that tiger," said Pla, in the 
 man's hearing. "He'll never be worth anything to me 
 any more." 
 
 The second Yaqui we found in the field working witK a 
 gang. I stepped up to him and felt of his arms. They 
 were still m^uscular. He was really a magnificent speci- 
 men and reminded me of the story of Ben Hur. As I 
 inspected him he stood erect, staring straight ahead but 
 trembling slightly in every limb. The mere attitude of 
 that Yaqui was to me the most conclusive evidence of the 
 beastliness of the system under which he was enslaved. 
 
 At "Los Mangos" a foreman let us inspect his long, 
 lithe cane, the beating cane, the cane of hcjuco wood. It 
 bent like a rawhide bugg)-^ whip, but it would not break. 
 
 "The bejuco tree grows on the mountain side," ex-
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 103 
 
 plained the foreman. "See! The wood is hke leather. 
 With this cane I can beat twenty men to death and yet 
 it will be good for twenty more!" 
 
 In the slave kitchen of the same ranch we found two 
 girls of seventeen, both with refined and really beautiful 
 faces, grinding corn. Though their boss, Pla, stood 
 menacingly by, each dared to tell her story briefly. One, 
 from Leon, State of Guanajuato, declared that the "labor 
 agent" had promised her fifty pesos per month and a 
 good home as cook in a small family, and when she 
 discovered that all was not right it was too late; the 
 rurales compelled her to come along. The other girl was 
 from San Luis Potosi. She had been promised a good 
 home and forty pesos a month for taking care of two 
 small children! 
 
 Wherever we went we found the houses full of fine 
 furniture made by the slaves. 
 
 "Yes," explained Antonio Pla, "some of the best arti- 
 sans in the country come right here — in one way or 
 another. We get carpenters and cabinet-makers and 
 upholsterers and everything. Why, on my ranches I've 
 had teachers and actresses and artists and one time I 
 even had an ex-priest. I had one of the most beautiful 
 actresses in the country one time, right here on 'Hon- 
 dura de Nanche.' She was noted, too. How did she 
 get here? Simple enough. A son of a millionaire in 
 Mexico City wanted to marry her and, to get her out 
 of the way, the millionaire paid the authorities a good 
 price to kidnap her and give her to a labor agent. Yes, 
 sir, that woman was a beauty!" 
 
 "And what became of her?" I asked. 
 
 "Oh." was the evasive reply. "That was two years 
 ago!" 
 
 Truly, two years is a long time in Valle Nacional,
 
 104 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 longer than a life-time, usually. The story of the 
 actress reminded me of a story told me by a newly- 
 married runaway Mexican couple in Los Angeles just 
 before I started on my trip. The young husband was 
 a member of the middle class of Mexico City and his 
 wife was the daughter of a millionaire. Because the boy 
 was considered to be "below" the girl, the girl's father 
 went to extremes in his efforts to prevent the marriage. 
 
 "George went through many dangers for me," is the 
 way the young bride told the story. "One time my 
 father tried to shoot him and another time my father 
 offered the authorities five thousand pesos to kidnap him 
 and send him to Valle Nacional. But I warned George 
 and he was able to save himself !" 
 
 Pla also told of eleven girls who had come to him in a 
 single shipment from Oaxaca, 
 
 "They were at a public dance," said he. "Some men 
 got into a fight and the police jailed everybody in the 
 hall. Those girls didn't have anything to do with the 
 trouble, but the jcfe politico needed the money and so 
 he sent them all here." 
 
 "Well," I asked, "what sort of women were they ? Pub- 
 lic women?" 
 
 Pla shot me a glance full of meaning. 
 
 "No, Senor!" he said, with contempt in his voice, "do 
 you suppose that I need to have that kind of women sent 
 in here to mc?" 
 
 The close attendance of owners and superintendents 
 as well as the ubiquity of overseers, prevented us from 
 obtaining many long interviews with the slaves. One of 
 the most notable of our slave talks occurred the day 
 following our visit to the Ralsa Hermanos farm. Return- 
 inw from a long day's visit to numerous plantations, we 
 hailed a ploughman working near the road on "Hondura
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 105 
 
 de Nanche." The nearest overseer happened to be half 
 way across the field and the slave, at our inquiry, will- 
 ingly pointed out the slough of the alligators and con- 
 firmed the story of dying men being thrown to "The 
 Hungry." 
 
 "I have been here for six years and I believe I hold 
 the record for the valley," he told us. "Other strong 
 men come and turn to skeletons in a single season, but it 
 seems that I cannot die. They come and fall, and come 
 and fall, yet I stay on and live. But you ought to have 
 seen me when I came ! I was a man then — a man ! I had 
 shoulders and arms — I was a giant then. But now — " 
 
 Tears gathered in the fellow's eyes and rolled down 
 his cheeks, but he went on : 
 
 "I was a carpenter and a good one — six years ago. 
 I lived with my brother and sister in A'lexico City. My 
 brother was a student — he was only in his teens — my 
 sister tended the little house that I paid for out of my 
 wages. We were not poor — no. We were happy. Then 
 work in my trade fell slack and one evening I met a 
 friend who told me of employment to be had in the 
 State of Veracruz at three pesos a day — a long job. I 
 jumped at the chance and we came together, came here — 
 here! I told my brother and sister that I would send 
 them money regularly, and when I learned that I could 
 send them nothing and wrote to let them know, they 
 would not let me send the letter ! For months I kept 
 that letter, watching, waiting, trying to get an oppor- 
 tunity to speak to the carrier as lie rode along the high- 
 way. At last I saw him, but when 1 handed him the 
 letter, he only laughed in my face and handed it back. 
 Nobody is allowed to send a letter out of here. 
 
 "Escape?" v^^ent on the ploughman. "Yes, I tried it 
 many times. Once, only eiglit months ago. I got as far as
 
 106 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 Tuztepec. I was writing a letter. I wanted to get word 
 to my people, but they caught me before the letter was 
 finished. They don't know where I am. They must 
 think I am dead. My brother must have had to leave 
 school. My—" 
 
 "Better stop," I said. "A cabo is coming!" 
 
 "No, not yet," he answered. "Quick ! I will give you 
 their address. Tell them that I never read the contract. 
 Tell them that I never saw it until I came here. My 
 brother's name is Juan " 
 
 "Look out!" I cried, but too late. "Whack!" The 
 long cane struck the ploughman across the back. He 
 winced, started to open his mouth again, but at a second 
 whack he changed his mind and turned sullenly to his 
 oxen. 
 
 The rains of our last two days in Valle Nacional made 
 the trail to Tuztepec impassable, so we left our |iorses and 
 traveled down river in a balsa, a raft of logs on which was 
 erected a tiny shelter house roofed with banana leaves. 
 Two Indians, one at each end, poled and paddled the 
 strange craft down the rushing stream, and from them 
 we learned that the Indians themselves have had their 
 day as slaves in Valle Nacional. The Spaniards tried to 
 enslave them, but they fought to the death. They em- 
 ployed their tribal solidarity and fought in droves like 
 wolves and in that way they regained and kept their 
 freedom. Such a common understanding and such mass 
 movements cannot, of course, be developed by the hetero- 
 geneous elements that toda}'^ are brought together on the 
 slave plantations. 
 
 At Tuztepec on our way we met Scnor P , poli- 
 tician, "labor agent," and relative of Felix Diaz, nephew 
 of President Diaz and Chief of Police of Mexico City.
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH 107 
 
 Scnor P , who dressed like a prince, made himself 
 
 agreeable and answered our questions freely because he 
 hoped to secure the contract for furnishing slaves for my 
 company. 
 
 "You can't help but make money in Valle Nacional," 
 said he. "They all do. Why, after every harvest there's 
 an exodus of planters to Mexico City, where some of 
 them stay for months, spending their money in the most 
 riotous living!" 
 
 Senor P was kind enough to tell us what became 
 
 of the fifty pesos he received for each of his slaves. Five 
 pesos, he said went to Rodolpho Pardo, jefe politico of 
 Tuztepec, ten to Felix Diaz for every slave taken out of 
 Mexico City, and ten to the mayor of the city or jefc 
 politico of the district from whence came the other 
 slaves. 
 
 "The fact that I am a brother-in-law of Felix Diaz," 
 
 said Senor P , "as well as a personal friend of the 
 
 governors of the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz, and of 
 the mayors of the cities of the same name, puts me in a 
 position to supply your wants better than anyone else. I 
 am prepared to furnish you any number of laborers up to 
 forty thousand a year, men, women and children, and 
 my price is fifty pesos each. Children workers last better 
 than adults and I advise you to use them in preference to 
 others. / can furnish yon 1,000 children a month under 
 fourteen years of age, and I am prepared to secure their 
 legal adoption as sons and daughters of the company, so 
 that they can be legally kept until they reach the age of 
 twenty-two !" 
 
 "But how," I gasped, "is my company going to adopt 
 12,000 children a year as sons and daughters? Do you 
 mean to tell me that the government would permit such a 
 thing?"
 
 108 BAP.CAKOUS AIEXICO 
 
 "Leave that to me," replied Scnor P , signifi- 
 cantly. "I'm doing it every day. You don't pay your 
 fifty pesos until you get the children and the adoption 
 papers too !"
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE COUNTRY PEONS AND THE CITY POOR 
 
 A whole book, and a large one, could very profitably be 
 written upon the slavery of Mexico. Pjut important as 
 the subject is, it is not important enough to fdl a greater 
 fraction of space in this work than I have allotted to it. 
 Most necessary is it that I dig beneath the surface and 
 reveal the hideous causes which have made and are per- 
 petuating that barbarous institution. 
 
 I trust that my exposition of the previous chapters has 
 been lucid enough to leave no question as to the com- 
 plete partnership of the government in the slavery. 
 
 In some quarters this slavery has been admitted, but 
 the guilt of the government has been denied. But it is 
 absurd to suppose that the government could be kept in 
 ignorance of a situation in which one-third the entire 
 population of a great state are held as chattels. More- 
 over, it is well known that hundreds of state and national 
 officials are constantly engaged in rounding up, trans- 
 porting, selling, guarding and hunting slaves. As I pre- 
 viously pointed out, every gang of cnganchados leaving 
 Mexico City or any other city for Valle Nacional or any 
 other slave district are guarded by government ruralcs, or 
 rural guards, in uniform. These ruralcs do not act on 
 their ow^n initiative ; they are as completely under orders 
 as are the soldiers of the regular army. Without the 
 coercion of their gims and their authority the cnganchados 
 would refuse to travel a mile of the journey. A moment's 
 thought is sufficient to convince any unprejudiced mind 
 
 109
 
 110 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 that without the partnership of the government the whole 
 system of slavery would be an impossibility. 
 
 Slavery similar to that of Yucatan and Valle Nacional 
 is to be found in nearly every state of Mexico, but 
 especially in the coast states south of the great plateau. 
 The labor on the henequen plantations of Campeche, in 
 the lumber and fruit industries of Chiapas and Tabasco, 
 on the rubber, coffee, sugar-cane, tobacco and fruit plan- 
 tations of Veracruz, Oaxaca and Morelos, is all done by 
 slaves. In at least ten of the thirty-two states and terri- 
 tories of Mexico the proportion of labor is over- 
 whelmingly of slaves. 
 
 While the minor conditions vary somewhat in different 
 places, the general system is everywhere the same — 
 service against the will of the laborer, no pay, semi- 
 starvation, and the whip. Into this arrangement of things 
 are impressed not only the natives of the various slave 
 states, but others — 100,000 others every year, to speak in 
 round numbers — who, either enticed by the false promises 
 of labor agents, kidnapped by labor agents or shipped by 
 political authorities in partnership with labor agents, 
 leave their homes in other parts of the country to jour- 
 ney to their death in the hot lands. 
 
 Debt and contract slavery is the prevailing system of 
 production all over the south of Mexico. Probably 
 three-quarters of a million souls may properly be classed 
 as human chattels. In all the rest of Mexico a system 
 of peonage, differing from slavery principally in degree, 
 and similar in many respects to the serfdom of Europe in 
 the Middle Ages, prevails in the rural districts. Under 
 this system the laborer is compelled to give service to 
 the farmer, or hacendado, to accept what he wishes to 
 pay, and even to receive such beatings as he cares to 
 deliver. Debt, real or imaginary, is the nexus that binds
 
 THE COUNTRY PEONS AND THE CITY POOR 111 
 
 the peon to his master. Debts are handed from father to 
 son and on down through the generations. Though the 
 constitution does not recognize the right of the creditor to 
 take and hold the body of the debtor, the rural authorities 
 everywhere recognize such a right and the result is that 
 probably 5,000,000 people, or one-third the entire popula- 
 tion, are today living in a state of helpless peonage. 
 
 Farm peons are often credited with receiving wages, 
 which nominally range from twelve and one-half cents a 
 day to twenty-five cents a day, American money — seldom 
 higher. Often they never receive a cent of this, but are 
 paid only in credit checks at the hacienda store, at which 
 they are compelled to trade in spite of the exorbitant 
 prices. As a result their food consists solely of corn 
 and beans, they live in hovels often made of no more 
 substantial material than corn-stalks, and they wear their 
 pitiful clothing, not merely until the garments are all rags 
 and patches and ready to drop off, but until they actually 
 do attain the vanishing act. 
 
 Probably not fewer than eighty per cent of all the farm 
 and plantation laborers in Mexico are either slaves or 
 are bound to the land as peons. The other twenty per cent 
 are denominated as free laborers and live a precarious 
 existence trying to dodge the net of those who would drag 
 them down. I remember particularly a family of such 
 whom I met in the State of Chihuahua. They were 
 typical, though my memory of them is most vivid because 
 I saw them on the first night I ever spent in Mexico. It 
 was in a second-class car on the Mexican Central, trav- 
 eling south. 
 
 They were six, that family, and of three generations. 
 From the callow, raven-haired boy to the white-chinned 
 grandfather, all six seemed to have the last ray of 
 mirth ground out of their systems. We were a lively
 
 112 • BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 crowd sitting there near them — four were happy Mexi- 
 cans returning home for a vacation after a season at 
 wage labor in the United States. We sang a little and 
 wc made some music on a violin and a harmonica. But 
 not one of that family of six behind us ever smiled or 
 showed the slightest interest. They reminded me of a 
 herd of cattle standing in a blizzard, their heads between 
 their front legs, their backs to the storm. 
 
 The face of the old patriarch told a story of burdens 
 and of a patient, ox-like bearing of them such as no 
 words could possibly suggest. He had a ragged, griz- 
 zled beard and moustache, but his head was still covered 
 with dark brown hair. He was probably seventy, but 
 was evidently still an active worker. His clothing con- 
 sisted of American jumper and overalls of ordinary 
 denim washed and patched and washed and patched — 
 a one-dollar suit patched until it was nothing but 
 patches ! 
 
 Beside the patriarch sat the old lady, his wife, with 
 head bowed and a facial expression so like that of her 
 husband that it might have been a copy by a great painter. 
 Yes, the expression differed in one detail. The old 
 woman's upper lip was compressed tight against her 
 teeth, giving her an effect of perpetually biting her lip 
 to keep back the tears. Perhaps her original stock of 
 courage had not been equal to that of the man and it 
 had been necessary to fortify it by an everlasting com- 
 pression of the mouth. 
 
 Then there was a young couple half the age of the two. 
 The man sat with head nodding and granulated lids 
 blinking slowly, now and then turning his eyes to stare 
 with far distant interest upon the merrymakers around 
 him. His wife, a flat-breasted, drooping woman, sat
 
 THE COUNTRY PEONS AND THE CITY POOR 113 
 
 always in one position with her head bent forward and 
 her right hand fingering her face about the bridge of 
 the nose. 
 
 Finally, there were two boys, one of eighteen, second 
 son of the old man, and one of sixteen, son of the 
 second couple. In all that night's journey the only smile 
 I saw from any of the six was a smile of the youngest 
 boy. A passing news-agent offered the boy a book for 
 seventy-five ccntavos. With slightly widening eyes of 
 momentary interest the boy looked upon the gaily deco- 
 rated paper cover, then turned toward his uncle and 
 smiled a half startled smile. To think that anyone 
 might imagine that he could aft'ord to purchase one of 
 those magical things, a book! 
 
 "We are from Ciiihuahua," the old man told us, when 
 we had gained his confidence. "We work in the fields — 
 all of us. All our lives we have been farm laborers in 
 the corn and t4ie beans and the melons of Chihuahua. 
 But now we are running away from it. If the bosses 
 would pay us the money they agree to pay, we could 
 get along, but they never pay all — never. This time 
 the boss paid us only two-thirds the agreed price, yet 
 I am very thankful for that much, for he might have 
 given us only one-third, as others have done in the past. 
 What can I do? Nothing. I cannot hire a lawyer, for 
 the lawyer would steal the other two-thirds, and the 
 boss would put me in jail besides. Many times I and 
 my sons have gone to jail for asking the boss to pay 
 us tlie full amount of our agreement. My sons become 
 angry more and more and sometimes I fear one may 
 strike the boss or kill him. That would be the end 
 of us. 
 
 "No, the best thing to do, I decided at last, was to
 
 ^ 
 
 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 get away. So we put our wages together and used our 
 last dollar to pay for tickets to Torreon, where we hope 
 to find work in the cotton fields. I hear we can get one 
 peso a day in busy times. Is it so? Or will it be tlic 
 same story over again there ? Perhaps it will. But what 
 else can I do but try ? Work ! work ! work ! That's all 
 there is for us — and nothing in return for the work ! 
 We do not drink; we are not lazy; every day we pray 
 to God. Yet debt is always following us, begging to 
 be taken in. Many times I have wanted to borrow just 
 a little from my boss, but my wife has always pleaded 
 with me. 'No,' she would say, 'better die than to owe, for 
 C'wing once means owing forever — and slavery.' 
 
 "But sometimes," continued the old man, "I think it 
 might be better to owe, better to fall in debt, better to 
 give up our liberty than to go on like this to the end. 
 True, I am getting old and I would love to die free, but 
 it is hard — too hard !" 
 
 'he three-quarters of a million of chattel slaves and 
 the five million peons do not monopolize the economic 
 misery of Mexico. It extends to every class of men that 
 toils. There are 150,000 mine and smelter workers who 
 receive less money for a week's labor than an American 
 miner of the same class gets for a day's wages. There 
 are 30,000 cotton mill operatives whose wages average 
 less than thirty cents a day in American money. There 
 
 (are a quarter of a million domestic servants whose wages 
 range from one to five dollars a month. There are 
 40,000 impressed soldiers who get less than two dollars 
 a month above the scantiest rations. The common police- 
 men, of Mexico City, 2,000 of them, are paid but fifty 
 cents a day in our money. Fifty cents a day is a higli 
 average for street-car conductors in the metropolis, where 
 wages are higher than in any other section of the coun-
 
 THE COUNTRY TEONS AND THE CITY POOR (115 
 
 try except close to the American border. And this pro- / 
 portion is constant throughout the industries. An offer v 
 of fifty cents a day without found, would, without the j 
 slightest doubt, bring in Mexico City an army of 50,000 ^ 
 able-bodied laborers inside of twenty-four hours. 'yvkii, 
 
 From such miserable wages it must not be guessed r^^fj^- 
 that the cost of the necessities of life are less than thej^^^^"'" 
 are here, as in the case of other low wage countries, such / 
 as India and China. On the contrary, the cost of corn / 
 and beans, upon which the mass of the Mexican people \ 
 eke out their existence, is actually higher, as a rule, than 
 it is in the United States. At this writing it costs nearly 
 twice as much money to buy a hundred pounds of corn 
 in Mexico City as it does in Chicago, and that in the 
 same money, American gold or Mexican -silver, take it as 
 you like it. And" this' is the cheapest staple that the 
 poverty-stricken Mexican is able to lay his hands upon. 
 
 As to clothing and shelter, the common Mexican has 
 about as little of either as can be imagined. The tene- 
 ments of New York City are palatial homes compared to 
 the tenements of Mexico City. A quarter of a mile in 
 almost any direction off Diaz's grand Paseo de la 
 Reforma, the magnificent driveway over which tourists 
 are always taken and by which they usually judge Mexi- 
 co, will carry the investigator into conditions that are 
 not seen in any city worthy the name of civilized. If in 
 all Mexico there exists a city with a really modern sewer/ 
 system I am ignorant of its name. 
 
 Travelers who have stopped at the best hotels of the 
 metropolis may raise their eyebrows at this last state- 
 ment, but a little investigation will show that not more 
 than one-fifth of the houses within the limits of that 
 metropolis are regularly supplied with water with which 
 to flush the sewers, while there are many densely popu-
 
 ^0 
 
 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 I lated blocks which have no pubUc water whatsoever, 
 Or' neither for sewer flushing nor for drinking. 
 
 It will take a few minutes' reflection to realize what 
 this really means. As a result of such unsanitary con- 
 ditions the death rate in that city ranges always between 
 5 and 6 per cent, usually nearer the latter figure, which 
 places that percentage at more than double the death 
 rate of well-regulated cities of Europe, the United 
 States and even of South America. Which proves that 
 u^ (y^^ half the people who die in Diaz's metropolis die of causes 
 
 which modern cities have abolished. 
 
 o/l.^Vi -^ life-long resident once estimated to me that 200,000 
 
 - -TlTpeople of the country's metropoHs, or two-fifths the 
 
 ' f)\PJ?^l^"^^^^ population, spend every night on the stones. "On 
 
 ^' ') \J0^^ stones" means not on the streets, for sleeping is not 
 
 WS^ permitted on the streets or in the parks, but on the floors 
 
 of cheap tenements or lodging houses. 
 
 Possibly this is an exaggeration. From my own ob- 
 servations, however, I know that 100,000 would be a 
 very conservative estimate. And at least 25,000 pass the 
 nights in mesoncs — the name commonly applied to the 
 cheapest class of transient lodging houses. 
 
 A meson is a pit of such misery as is surpassed only 
 by the galcras, the sleeping jails, of the contract slaves 
 of the hot lands — and the dormitories of the Mexican 
 prisons. The chief difference between the mesones and 
 the galeras is that into the latter the slaves are driven, 
 tottering from overwork, semi-starvation and fever — 
 driven with whips and locked in when they are there; 
 while to the mesoncs the ragged, ill-nourished wretches 
 from the city's streets come to buy with three precious 
 copper centavos a brief and scanty shelter — a bare spot to 
 lie down in, a grass mat, company with the vermin that 
 squalor breeds, rest in a sickening room with hundreds
 
 O 2 
 
 % < 
 
 ^ s 
 
 
 2 ^. 
 
 ~ V.
 
 THE COUNTRY PEONS AND THE CITY POOR 117 
 
 of others — snoring, tossing, groaning brothers and sisters 
 in woe. 
 
 During my most recent visit to Mexico — in the winter 
 and spring of 1909 — I visited many of these mcsoncs and 
 took a number of flashhght photos of the inmates. The 
 conditions in all I found to be the same. The buildings 
 are ancient ones — often hundreds of years old — which 
 have been abandoned as unfit for any other purposes than 
 as sleeping places for the country's poor. For three 
 ccntavos the pilgrim gets a grass mat and the privilege 
 of hunting for a bare spot large enough to lie down in. 
 On cold nights the floor and yards are so thick with 
 bodies that it is very difficult to find footing between the 
 sleepers. In one room I have counted as high as two 
 hundred. 
 
 Poor women and girls must sleep, as well as poor men 
 and boys, and if they cannot afford more than three 
 cents for a bed they must go to the mcsoncs with the 
 men. In not one of the mcsoncs that I visited was there 
 a separate room for the women and girls, though there 
 were many women and girls among the inmates. Like 
 a man, a girl pays her three cents and gets a. grass mat. 
 She may come early and find a comparatively secluded 
 nook in which to rest her weary body. But there is 
 nothing to prevent a man from coming along, lying down 
 beside her and annoying her throughout the night. 
 
 And this thing is done. More than once, in my visits 
 to mcsoncs, I saw a young and unprotected girl awakened 
 from her sleep and solicited by a strange man whose 
 roving eye had lighted upon her as he came into the 
 place. The mcsoncs breed immorality as appallingly as 
 they breed vermin. Homeless girls do not go to mcsoncs 
 because they are bad, but because they are poor. These 
 pl§.ce§ are licensed by the authorities and it would be a
 
 118 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 simple matter to require the proprietors to set apart a 
 portion of the space exclusively for women. But this the 
 authorities have not the decency to do. 
 
 Lliserable as are the mcsoncs, the 25,000 homeless 
 Mexicans who spend their nights there are fortunate com- 
 pared to the thousands of others who, when the shadows 
 fall upon them, find that they cannot produce the three 
 centavos to pay for a grass mat and a spot on a bare 
 fioor. Every night there is a hegira of these thousands 
 from the city's streets. Carrying what pitiful belongings 
 they have, if they have any belongings, moving along 
 hand in hand, if they are a family together, husband and 
 wife, or merely friends drawn closer together by their 
 poverty ; they travel for miles, out of the city to the open 
 roads and fields, the great stock farms belonging to men 
 high up in the councils of the government. Here they hud- 
 dle about on the ground, shivering in the cold, for few 
 nights in that altitude are not so cold that covering is not 
 sorely needed. In the morning they travel back to the 
 heart of the city, there to pit their feeble strength against 
 the Powers that are conspiring to prevent them from 
 earning a living ; there, after vain and discouraging strug- 
 gles, at last to fall into the net of the "labor agent," who 
 is on the lookout for slav^es for his wealthy clients, the 
 planters of the lowland states. 
 
 Mexico contains 767,000 square miles. Acre for acre, 
 it is as rich as, if not richer than the United States, It 
 has fine harbors on both coasts. It is approximately as 
 near the world's markets as are we. There is no natural 
 or geographical reason why its people should not be as 
 prosperous and happy as any in the world. In point of 
 years it is an older country than ours. It is not over- 
 populated. With a population of 15,000,000, it has 
 eighteen souls to the square mile, which is slightly less
 
 AVAIFS, MOTHER AND SON, IN A " MESON ". TWENTY THOUSAND 
 
 SLEEP THIS WAY EVERY NIGHT IN DIAZ'S CAPITAL ALONE. 
 
 FLASHLIGHT I5Y THE AUTHOR 
 
 GROUP OF HOMELESS CHILDREN IN A CORNER OF A " MESON", MID- 
 NIGHT. THOUGH THESE PLACES ARE LICENSED BY THE AU- 
 THORITIES, THERE IS NO SEGREGATION OF THE SEXES
 
 THE COUNTRY TEONS AND THE CITY POOR /ll9 
 
 than we have here. Yet, seeing the heart of Mexico, it 
 is inconceivable that there could be more extreme pov- 
 erty in all the world. India or China could not be worse 
 off, for if they were, acute starvation would depopulate 
 them. Mexico is a people starved — a nation prostrate. 
 What is the reason? Who is to blame? rr^^ ^ -^
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE DIAZ SYSTEM 
 
 The slavery and peonage of Mexico, the poverty and 
 illiteracy, the general prostration of the people, are due, 
 in my humble judgment, to the financial and political 
 organization that at present rules that country — in a 
 word, to what I shall call the '"system" of General 
 Porfirio Diaz. 
 
 That these conditions can be traced in a measure to 
 the history of Mexico during past generations, is true. I 
 do not wish to be unfair to General Diaz in the least 
 degree. The Spanish Dons made slaves and peons of 
 the Mexican people. Yet never did they grind the people 
 as they are ground today. In Spanish times the peon at 
 least had his ov^n little patch of ground, his own hum- 
 ble shelter; today he has nothing.^^ Moreover, the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, proclaimed just one hundred 
 years ago, in 1810, proclaimed a'lso the abolition of chat- 
 tel slavery. Slavery was abolished, though not entirely. 
 Succeeding Alexican governments of class and of church 
 and of the individual held the people in bondage little 
 less severe. But finally came a democratic movement 
 which broke -the back of the church, which overthrew the 
 rule of "caste, which adopted a form of government as 
 modern as our own, which freed the slave in fact as 
 well as in name, which gave the lands of the people back 
 to the people, which wiped the slate clean of the blood 
 of the past. ^^ 
 
 It was at this juncture that General Porfirio Diaz, with- 
 out any valid excuse and apparently for no other reason 
 
 120
 
 THE DIAZ SYSTEM 121 
 
 than personal ambition, stirred up a series of revolu- 
 tions which finally ended in his capture of the govern- 
 mental powers of the land. \YhiIe.p,o:}fessing to respect 
 the progressive institutions which Juarez and Lerdo had 
 "established before him, he built up a system all his own, 
 a system in which he personally was the central and 
 all-controlling figure, in which his individual caprice was 
 the constitution and the law, in which all circumstances 
 and all men, big and little, were bent or broken at his 
 will. Like Louis XIV, The State — Porfirio Diaz w^as 
 The State ! 
 
 It was under Porfirio Diaz that slavery and peonage 
 were re-established in Mexico, and on a more merciless 
 basis than they had existed even under the Spanish 
 Dons. Therefore, I can see no injustice in charging at least 
 a preponderance of the blame for these conditions upon 
 the system of Diaz. 
 
 I say the "system of Diaz" rather than Diaz personally 
 because, though he is the keystone of the arch, though he 
 is the government of Mexico more completely than is 
 any other individual the government of any large coun- 
 try on the planet, yet no one man can stand alone in his 
 iniquity. Diaz is the central^ prop of the slavery, but 
 there are other props without wEich the system could 
 not continue upright for a single day. For example, 
 there is the collection of commercLal interests which profit 
 by the Diaz system of slavery and autocracy, aifd which 
 puts no insignificant part of its tremendous powers to 
 holding the central prop upright in exchange for the 
 special privileges that it receives. Not the least among 
 these commercial interests are American, wdiich, T blush 
 to say, are quite as aggressive defenders of the Diaz 
 citadel as any. Indeed, as I shall show in future chap- 
 ters, these American interests jundoubtedly form the
 
 122 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 detcnniiiing force in the continuation of Mexican slavery 
 Thus docs Alexican slavery come home to us in the full 
 sense of the term. For the horrors of Yucatan and Valle 
 Nacional, Diaz is to blame, but so are we; we are to 
 blame insofar as governmental powers over which we 
 are conceded to have some control are employed under 
 our very eyes for the perpetuation of a regime of which 
 slavery and peonage are an integral part. 
 
 In order that the reader may understand the Diaz sys- 
 tem and its responsibility in the degradation of the 
 Mexican people, it will be well to go back and trace 
 briefly the beginnings of that system. Mexico is spoken 
 of throughout the world as a Republic. That is because 
 it was once a Republic and still pretends to be one. 
 Mexico has a constitution which has never been repealed, 
 a constitution said to be modeled after our own, and one 
 which is, indeed, like ours in the main. Like ours, it pro- 
 vides for a national congress, state legislatures and 
 municipal aldermen to make the laws, federal, state and 
 local judges to interpret them, and a president, governors 
 and local executives to administer them. Like ours, it 
 provides for manhood suffrage, freedom of the press and 
 of speech, equality before the law, and the other guar- 
 antees of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness which 
 we ourselves enjoy, in a degree, as a matter of course. 
 
 Such was Mexico forty years ago. Forty years ago 
 Mexico was at peace with the world. She had just over- 
 thrown, after a heroic war, the foreign prince, Maxi- 
 milian, who had been seated as emperor by the armies 
 of Napoleon Third of France. Her president, F)enito 
 Juarez, is today recognized in Mexico and out of Mexico 
 as one of the most able as well as unselfish patriots of 
 Mexican history. Never since Cortez fired his ships there 
 on the gulf coast had Mexico enjoyed such prospects of
 
 THE DIAZ SYSTEM /l23 /_ 
 
 political freedom, industrial prosperity and general ad- i 
 vancement. 
 
 But in spite of these facts and the additional fact that 
 he was deeply indebted to Juarez, all his military pro- 
 motions having been received at the hands of the latter, 
 General Porfirio Diaz stirred up a series of rebellions / 
 for the purpose of securing for himself the supreme 
 power of the land. Diaz not only led one armed rebel- 
 lion against a peaceable, constitutional and popularly ap- 
 proved government, but he led three of them. For nine 
 years he plotted as a common rebel. The support that 
 he received came chiefly from bandits, criminals and pro- ^-^^^ 
 fessional soldiers who were disgruntled at the anti-mili- '^^^ 
 tarist policy which Juarez had inaugurated and which, if 
 he could have carried it out a little farther, would have 
 been effective in preventing military revolutions in the 
 future — and from the Catholic church. 
 
 Repeatedly it was proved that the people did not want 
 Diaz at the head of their government. Three times dur- 
 ing his first five years of plotting he was an unsuccessful 
 candidate at the polls. In 1867 he received a little more ?' ^ 
 than one-third the votes counted for Juarez. In 1871 he 
 received about three-fifths as many votes as Juarez. In^^ 
 1872, after the death of Juarez, he ran against Lerdo de C 
 Teja^a and received only one-fifteenth as many votes as 
 his opponent. While in arms he was looked upon as a 
 common rebel at home and abroad and when he marched 
 into the national capital at the head of a victorious 
 army and proclaimed himself president hardly a Euro- 
 pean nation would at first recognize the upstart govern- 
 ment, while the United States for a time threatened 
 complications. 
 
 In defiance of the will of the majority of the people 
 of Mexico, General Diaz, thirty-four years ago, came to
 
 124 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 the head of government. In defiance of the will of the 
 majority of the people he has remained there ever since — 
 except for four years, from 1880 to 1884, when he 
 turned the palace over to an intimate friend, Manuel 
 Gonzalez, on the distinct understanding that at the end 
 of the four years Gonzalez would turn it back to him 
 again. 
 
 Since no man can rule an unwilling people without 
 taking away the liberties of that people, it can be very 
 easily understood what sort of regime General Diaz found 
 it necessary to establish in order to make his power 
 secure. By the use of the army and the police powers 
 generally, he controlled elec tions, th e^^jfess and public 
 speech and made of popular government a farce. By 
 distributing the public offices among his generals and 
 granting them free rein to plunder at will, he assured 
 himself of the continued use of the army. By making 
 political combinations with men high in the esteem of 
 the Catholic church and permitting it to be whispered 
 about that the church was to regain some of its former 
 powers, he gained the silent support of the priests and the. 
 Pope. By^^pfomTsfng full payment of all foreign debts 
 and launching at once upon a policy of distributing 
 favprsanaQUg citizens of other countries, he made his 
 peace with the world at large. 
 
 In other words, General Diaz, with a skill that none 
 can deny, annexed to himself all the elements of power in 
 the country except the nation at large. On the one hand, 
 he had a military dictatorship. On the other, he had a 
 financial camarilla. Himself was the center of the arch 
 and he was compelled to pay the price. The price was the 
 nation at large. He created a machine and oiled the 
 machine with the flesh and blood of a people. He re- 
 warded all except the people; the people were the sacri-
 
 THE DIAZ SYSTEM 125 
 
 fice. Inevitable as the blackness of night, in contrast t:> 
 the sun-g!ory of the dictator, came tlie degradation of 
 the people — tb.e slavery, the peonage and every misery 
 that walks v/ith poverty, the abolition of democracy aiul 
 the personal security that breeds providence, self-respect 
 and worthy ambition ; in a word, general demoralization, 
 depravity. 
 
 Take, for examp.le, Diaz's method of rewarding his 
 Miilitary chiefs, the men who helped him overthrow the 
 government of Lerdo. As quickly as possible after 
 assuming tlie power, he installed his generals as governors 
 of the various states and organized them and other influ- 
 ential figures in tlie nation into a national plunderbund. 
 Thus he assured himself of the continued loyalty of the 
 generals, on the one b.and, and put them where he could 
 most effectivel}^ use them for keeping down the people, on 
 the otlier. One variety of rich plum which he handed out 
 in those early days to his governors came in the form of 
 charters giving his governors the right, as individuals, to 
 organize companies and build railroads, each charter 
 carrying with it a huge sum as a railroad subsidy. 
 
 The national government paid for the road and then 
 the governor and his most influential friends owned it. 
 Usually the railroads were ridiculous aflfairs, were of 
 narrow-gauge and of the very cheapest materials, but 
 the subsidy was very large, sufficient to build the road 
 and probably equip it besides. During his first term of 
 four years in office Diaz passed sixty-one railroad sub- 
 sidy acts containing appropriations aggregating $40,000,- 
 000, and all but two or three of these acts were in favor 
 of governors of states. In a number of cases not a mile 
 of railroad was actually built, but the subsidies are sup- 
 posed to have been paid, anyhow. In nearly every case 
 the subsidy was the same, $12,880 per mile in Mexican
 
 126 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 silver, and in those days Mexican silver was nearly on a 
 par with gold. 
 
 This huge sum was taken out of the national treasury 
 and was supposedly paid to the governors, although 
 Mexican politicians of the old times have assured me that 
 it was divided, a part going out as actual subsidies and a 
 part going directly into the hands of Diaz to be used in 
 building up his machine in other quarters. 
 
 Certainly something more than mere loyalty, however 
 invaluable it was, was required of the governors in 
 exchange for such rich financial plums. It is a well 
 authenticated fact that governors were required to pay a 
 fixed sum annually for the privilege of exploiting to the 
 limit the graft possibilities of their ofifices. For a lon£, 
 time Manuel Romero Rubio, father-in-law of Diaz, was 
 the collector of these perquisites, the offices bringing in 
 anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 per year. 
 __ The largest single perquisite whereby Diaz enriched 
 himself, the members of his immediate family, his 
 . friends, his governors, his financial ring and his foreign 
 '^\ favorites, was found for a long time in the confiscation of 
 the lands of the common people — a confiscation, in fact, 
 which is going on to this day. Note that this land rob- 
 bery was the first direct step in the path of the Mexican 
 ^ people back to their bondage as slaves and peons. 
 
 In a previous chapter I showed how the lands of the 
 Yaquis of Sonora were taken from them and given to 
 political favorites of the ruler. The lands of the Mayas 
 of Yucatan, now enslaved by the henequcn planters, were 
 taken from them in almost the same manner. The final 
 ^-aetrin this confiscation was accomplished in the year 
 ; 1904, v.'hen the national government set aside the last of 
 Viheir lands into a territory called Ouintana Roo. This 
 territory contains 43,000 square kilometers or 27,000
 
 THE DIAZ SYSTEM 127 
 
 square miles. It is larger than the present state of 
 Yucatan by 8,000 square kilometers, and moreover is the 
 most promising land of the entire peninsula. Separated 
 from the island of Cuba by a narrow strait, its soil and 
 climate are strikingly similar to those of Cuba and ex- 
 perts have declared that there is no reason why Quintana 
 Roo should not one day become as great a tobacco-grow- 
 ing country as Cuba. Further than that, its hillsides are 
 thickly covered with the most valuable cabinet and dye- 
 woods in the world. It is this magnificent country which, 
 as the last chapter in the life of the Mayas as a nation, the 
 Diaz government took and handed over to eight Mexican 
 politicians. 
 
 In like manner have the Mayos of Sonora, the Papagos, 
 the Tomosachics — in fact, practically all the native peoples 
 of Mexico— been reduced to peonage, if not to slavery. 
 Small holders of every tribe and nation have gradually 
 been expropriated until today their number as property 
 holders is almost down to zero. Their lands are in the 
 hands of members of the governmental machine, or per- 
 sons to whom the members of the machine have sold for 
 profit — or in the hands of foreigners. 
 
 This is why the typical Mexican farm is the million- 
 acre farm, why it has been so easy for such Americans as 
 William Randolph Hearst, Harrison Gray Otis, E. H. 
 Harriman, the Rockefellers, the Guggenheims and nu- 
 merous others each to have obtained possession of mil- 
 lions of Mexican acres. This is why Secretary of 
 Fomento Molina holds more than 15,000,000 acres of the 
 soil of Mexico, why ex-Governor Terrazas, of Chihuahua, 
 owns 15,000,000 acres of the soil of that state, why 
 Finance Minister Limantour, Mrs. Porfirio Diaz, Vice- 
 President Corral, Governor Pimentel, of Chiapas, Gover- 
 nor Landa y Escandon of the Federal District, Governor
 
 128 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 Pablo Escandon of Morelos, Governor Ahumada of 
 Jalisco, Governor Cosio of Queretaro, Governor Mercado 
 of Michoacan, Governor Canedo of Sinaloa, Governor 
 Cahuantzi of Tlaxcala, and many other members of the 
 Diaz machine are not only millionaires, but they are 
 millionaires in Mexican real estate. 
 
 Chief among the methods used in getting the lands 
 away from the people in general was through a land regis- 
 tration law which Diaz fathered. This law permitted any 
 person to go out and claim any lands to which the pos- 
 sessor could not prove a recorded title. Since up to the 
 time the law was enacted it was not the custom to record 
 titles, this meant all the lands of Mexico. When a man 
 possessed a home which his father had possessed before 
 him, and which his grandfather had possessed, which 
 his great-grandfather had possessed, and which had been 
 in the family as far back as history knew, then he con- 
 sidered that he owned that home, all of his neighbors con- 
 sidered that he owned it, and all governments up to that 
 of Diaz recognized his right to that home. 
 
 Supposing that a strict registration law became neces- 
 sary in the course of evolution, had this law been enacted 
 for the purpose of protecting the land owners instead of 
 plundering them the government would, naturally, have 
 sent agents through the country to apprise the people 
 of the new law and to help them register their property 
 and keep their homes. But this w^as not done and the 
 conclusion is inevitable that the law was passed for the 
 purpose of plundering. 
 
 At all events, the result of the law was a plundering. 
 No sooner had it been passed than the aforesaid mem- 
 bers of the governmental machine, headed by the father- 
 in-law of Diaz, and Diaz himself, formed land companies 
 and sent out agents, not to help the people keep their
 
 THE DIAZ syste:,! 129 
 
 lands, but to select the most desirable lands in the 
 country, register them, and evict the owners. This they 
 did on a most tremendous scale. Thus hundreds of 
 thousands of small farmers lost their property. Thus 
 small farmers are still losing their property. In order 
 to cite an example, I reprint a dispatch dated Merida, 
 Yucatan, April 11, 1909, and published April 12 in the 
 Mexican Herald, an American daily newspaper printed 
 in Mexico City: 
 
 "Merida, April 11. — Minister Olegario Molina, of the Depart- 
 ment of Fomento, Colonization and Industry, has made a 
 denouncement before the agency here of extensive territory lying 
 adjacent to his lands in Tizimin partido. The denouncement 
 was made through Esteban Rejon Garcia, his adminisirador at 
 that place. 
 
 "The section was taken on the ground that those now occupy- 
 ing them have no documents or titles of ownership. 
 
 "They measure 2,700 hectares (about 6,000 acres, or over nine 
 square miles), and include perfectly organized towns, some fine 
 ranches, including those of Laureano Breseno and Rafael 
 Aguilar, and other properties. The jefe politico of Tizimin has 
 notified the population of the town, the owners and laborers on 
 the ranches, and others on the lands, that they will be obliged 
 to vacate within two months or become subject to tlie new 
 owner. 
 
 "The present occupants have lived for years upon the land 
 and have cultivated and improved much of it. Some have 
 lived there from generation to generation, and have thought 
 themselves the rightful owners, having inherited it from the 
 original 'squatters.' 
 
 "Mr. Rejon Garcia has also denounced other similar public 
 lands in the Espita partido." 
 
 Another favorite means of confiscating the homes of 
 small owners is found in the juggling of state taxes. 
 State taxes in Mexico are fearfully and wonderfully 
 made. Especially in the less populous districts owners 
 are taxed inversely as they stand in favor with the
 
 130 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 personality who represents the government in their par- 
 ticular district. No court, board or other responsible 
 body sits to review unjust assessments. The jcfc politico 
 may charge one farmer five times as much per acre as 
 he charges the farmer across the fence, and yet Farmer 
 No. 1 has no redress unless he is rich and powerful. He 
 must pay, and if he cannot, the farm is a little later listed 
 among the properties of the jcfc politico, or one of the 
 members of his family, or among the properties of the 
 governor of the state or one of the members of his family. 
 But if he is rich and powerful he is often not taxed at all. 
 American promoters in Mexico escape taxation so nearly 
 invariably that the impression has got abroad in this 
 country that land pays no taxes in Mexico. Even 
 Frederick Palmer'lHSQe' a statement to this effect in his 
 recent writings about that country. 
 
 Of course such bandit methods as were employed and 
 are still employed were certain to meet with resistance, 
 and so we find numerous instances of regiments of sol- 
 diers being called out to enforce collection of taxes or 
 the eviction of time-honored land-holders. Mexican his- 
 tory of the past generation i. blotched with stories of 
 massacres having their cause in this thing. Among the 
 most noted of these massacres are those of Papantla and 
 Tomosachic. Manuel Romero Rubio, the late father-in- 
 law of General Diaz, denounced the lands of several thou- 
 sand farmers in the vicinity of Papantla, Veracruz. Diaz 
 backed him up with several regiments of regulars and 
 before the farmers were all evicted four hundred, or 
 some such number, were killed. In the year 1892, General 
 Lauro Carrillo, who was then governor of Chihuahua, laid 
 a tax on the town of Tomosachic, center of the Tomosa- 
 chic settlement, which it was impossible for the people to 
 pay. The immediate cause of the exorbitant tax, so the
 
 THE DIAZ SYSTEM 131 
 
 story goes, was that the authorities of the town had re- 
 fused Carrillo some paintings which adorned the walls of 
 their church and which he desired for his own home. Car- 
 rillo carried away some leading men of the town as host- 
 ages, and when the people still refused to pay, he sent sol- 
 diers for more hostages. The soldiers were driven away, 
 after which Carrillo laid siege to the town with eight 
 regiments. In the end the town was burned and a 
 churchful of women and children were burned, too. 
 Accounts of the Tomosachic massacre place the number 
 of killed variously at from 800 to 2,000. 
 
 Cases of more recent blood spillings in the same cause 
 are numerous. Hardly a month passes today without 
 there being one or more reports in Mexican papers of 
 disturbances, the result of confiscation of homes, either 
 through the denunciation method or the excuse of non- 
 payment of taxes. Notable among these was the case of 
 San Andreas, State of Chihuahua, which was exploited in 
 the Mexican press in April, 1909. According to those 
 press reports, the state authorities confiscated lands of 
 several score of farmers, the excuse being that the own- 
 ers were delinquent in the'r taxes. The farmers resisted 
 eviction in a body and two carloads of troops, hurried to 
 the scene from the capital of the state, promptly cleaned 
 them out, shooting some and chasing half a hundred of 
 them into the mountains. Here they stayed until starved 
 out, when they straggled back, begging for mercy. As 
 they came they were thrown into jail, men, women and 
 children. The government carefully concealed the truth 
 as to the number killed in the skirmish with the troops, 
 but reports place it at from five to twenty-five. 
 
 An incident of the same class was that of San Carlos, 
 also in the State of Chihuahua, which occurred in 
 August, 1909. At San Carlos, center of a farming dis-
 
 132 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 ^/<^trict, the misuse of the taxing power became so iinbear- 
 ri able that four hundred small farmers banded together, 
 defied a force of fifty ruralcs, forcibly deposed the jcfc 
 politico, and elected another in his place, then went back 
 to their plows. It was a little revolution which the news- 
 ,1 paper reports of the time declared was the first of its 
 [/ kind to which the present government of Mexico ever 
 yielded. Whether the popularly constituted local gov- 
 ernment was permitted to remain or whether it was 
 later overthrown by a regiment of soldiers is not re- 
 corded, though the latter seems most likely. 
 
 Graft is an established institution in the public offices 
 of Mexico. It is a right vested in the office itself, is 
 recognized as such, and is respectable. There are two 
 main functions attached to each public office, one a 
 privilege, the other a duty. The privilege is that of 
 using the special powers of the office for the amassing 
 of a personal fortune; the duty is that of preventing the 
 people from entering into any activities that may endan- 
 ger the stability of the existing regime. Theoretically, 
 the fulfillment of the duty is judged as balancing the 
 harvest of the privilege, but with all offices and all places 
 this is not so, and so we find offices of particularly rosy 
 possibilities selling for a fixed price. Examples are those 
 of the jefes politicos in districts where the slave trade is 
 peculiarly remunerative, as at Pachuca, Oaxaca, Vera- 
 cruz, Orizaba, Cordoba and Rio Blanco; of the districts 
 in which the drafting of soldiers for the army is especially 
 let to the jefcs politicos; of the towns in which the 
 gambling privileges are let as a monopoly to the mayors 
 thereof ; of the states in which there exist opportunities 
 extraordinary for governors to graft off the army supply 
 contracts. 
 
 Monopolies called "concessions," which are nothing
 
 THE DIAZ SYSTEM 133 
 
 more nor less than trusts created by governmental decree, 
 are dealt in openly by the Mexican government. Some of 
 these concessions are sold for cash, but the rule is to give 
 them away gratis or for a nominal price, the real price 
 being collected in political support. The public domain 
 is sold in huge tracts for a nominal price or for nothing 
 at all, the money price, when paid at all, averaging about 
 fifty Mexican ccntavos an acre. But never does the 
 government sell to any individual or company not of its 
 own special choice; that is, the public domain is by no 
 means open to all comers on equal terms. Public con- 
 cessions worth millions of dollars — to use the water of 
 a river for irrigation purposes, or for power, to engage 
 in this or that monopoly, have been given away, but not 
 indiscriminately. These things are the coin with which 
 political support is bought and as such are grafts, pure 
 and simple. 
 
 Public action of any sort is never taken for the sake 
 of improving the condition of the common people. It is 
 taken with a view to making the government more 
 secure in its position. Mexico is a land of special privi- 
 leges extraordinary, though frequently special privi- 
 leges are provided for in the name of the common people. 
 An instance is that of the "Agricultural Bank," which 
 was created in 1908. To read the press reports concern- 
 ing the purpose of this bank one would imagine that 
 the government had launched into a gigantic and benevo- 
 lent scheme to re-establish its expropriated people in 
 agriculture. The purpose, it was said, was to loan money 
 to needy farmers. But nothing could be farther from 
 the truth, for the purpose is to help out the rich farmer, 
 and only the richest in the land. The bank has now 
 been loaning money for two years, but so far not a 
 single case has been recorded in which aid was given
 
 134 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 to help a farm that comprised less than thousands of 
 acres. Millions have been loaned on private irrigation 
 projects, but never in lumps of less than several tens of 
 thousands. In the United States the farmer class is an 
 humble class indeed ; in Mexico the typical farmer is the 
 king of millionaires, a little potentate. In Mexico, be- 
 cause of the special privileges given by the government, 
 medievalism still prevails outside the cities. The barons 
 are richer and more powerful than w^ere the landed 
 aristocrats before the French Revolution, and the canaille 
 poorer, more miserable. 
 
 And the special financial privileges centering in ths 
 cities are no less remarkable than the special privileges 
 given to the exploiters of the hacienda slave. There is 
 a financial ring consisting of members of the Diaz ma- 
 chine and their close associates, who pluck all the finan- 
 cial plums of the "republic," who get the contracts, the 
 franchises and the concessions, and whom the large aggre- 
 gations of foreign capital which secure a footing in the 
 country find it necessary to take as coupon-clipping part- 
 ners. The "Banco Nacional," an institution having some 
 fifty-four branches and which has been compared flat- 
 teringly to the Bank of England, is the special financial 
 vehicle of the government camarilla. It monopolizes the 
 major portion of the banking business of the country and 
 is a convenient cloak for the larger grafts, such as the 
 railway merger, the true significance of which I shall 
 present in a future chapter. 
 
 Diaz encourages foreign capital, for foreign capital 
 means the support of foreign governments. American 
 capital has a smoother time with Diaz than it has even 
 with its own government, which is very fine from the 
 point of view of American capital, but not so good from 
 the point of view of the Mexican people. Diaz has even
 
 THE DIAZ SYSTEM 135 
 
 entered into direct partnership with certain aggregr- 
 tions of foreign capital, granting these aggregations 
 special privileges in some lines which he has refused to 
 his own millionaires. These foreign partnerships which 
 Diaz has formed has made his government international 
 insofar as the props which support his system are con- 
 cerned. The certainty of foreign intervention in his 
 favor has been one of the powerful forces which have 
 prevented the Mexican people from using arms to remove 
 a rule r who i mposed himself upon them by the use of 
 arms. 
 
 When I come to deal with the American partners of 
 Diaz I mention those of no other nationahty in the same 
 breath, but it will be well to bear in mind that England, 
 especially, is nearly as heavily as interested in Mexico as 
 is the United States. While this country has $900,000,000 
 (these are the figures given by Consul General Shanklin 
 about the first of the year 1910) invested in Mexico, 
 England (according to the South American Journal) has 
 $750,000,000. However, these figures by no means repre- 
 sent the ratio between the degree of political influence 
 exerted by the two countries. There the United States 
 bests all the other countries combined. 
 
 Yet there are two English corporations so closely iden- 
 tified with the Mexican financial ring as to deserve special 
 mention. They are the combination represented by Dr. 
 F. S. Pearson, of Canada and London, and the other cor- 
 poration distinct from the first, S. Pearson & Son, Lim- 
 ited. Of Dr. F. S. Pearson it is boasted that he can get 
 any concession that he wants in Mexico, barring alone 
 such a one as would antagonize other foreign interests 
 equally powerful. Dr. Pearson owns the electric raihvay 
 system of the Federal District and furnishes the vast 
 quantity of electric light and power used in that political
 
 136 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 division of Mexico. Among other things, he is also a 
 strong power along the American border, where he and 
 his associates own the Mexico Northwestern Railway and 
 several smaller lines, as well as vast tracts of lands and 
 huge lumber interests. In Chihuahua he is establishing 
 a large steel plant and in El Paso, just across the line, 
 he is building a half million dollar sawmill as a part of his 
 Mexican projects. 
 
 S. Pearson & Son have been given so many valuable 
 concessions in Mexico that they were responsible for the 
 invention of the term, "the partners of Diaz." Through 
 concessions given them by the government they are in 
 possession of vast oil lands, most of which are unex- 
 ploited, yet so many of which are producing that the com- 
 pany recently gave out a statement that it would hereafter 
 be in a position to supply its entire trade with Mexican 
 oil. Its distributing company, "El Aguila," contains on 
 its directorate a number of Diaz's closest friends. Pear- 
 son & Son, also, have monopolized the contracts for deep- 
 ening and improving the harbors of Mexico. Since their 
 advent into the country some fourteen years ago the 
 government treasury has paid to this concern $200,000,000 
 for work on the harbors of Salina Cruz and Coatza- 
 coalcos, and the Isthmus railroad. This amount, a 
 government engineer told me personally, is an even double 
 the price that should have been paid for the work. In 1908 
 Diaz's congress appropriated $50,000,000 to install an 
 extensive irrigation project on the Rio Nasus, for the 
 benefit of the cotton barons of the Laguna district in the 
 State of Durango. Immediately afterwards the Pearson 
 company organized a subsidiary irrigation concern with 
 a capital of one million. The new company drew up plans 
 for a dam, whereupon the Diaz congress promptly voted
 
 Till-: Di.\;: .sv.stI':m 
 
 $10,000,000 out of the $50,000,000 to be paid to the 
 Pearsons for their dam. 
 
 In this chapter I have attempted to give the reader an 
 idea of the means which General Diaz employed to 
 attract support to his government. To sum up, by means 
 of a careful placing of public offices, public contracts and 
 special privileges of multitudinous sorts, Diaz absorbed 
 all of the more powerful men and interests within his 
 sphere and made them a part of his machine. Gradually 
 the country passed into the hands of his officeholders, 
 their friends, and foreigners. And for this the people 
 paid, not only with their lands, but with their flesh and 
 blood. They paid in peonage and slavery. For this they 
 forfeited liberty, democracy and the blessings of progress. 
 And because human beings do not forfeit these things 
 without a struggle, there was necessarily another function 
 of the Diaz machine than that of distributing gifts, an- 
 other material that went into the structure of his govern- 
 ment than favors. Privilege — repression ; they go hand 
 in hand. In this chapter I have attempted to sketch a 
 picture of the privilege attached to the Diaz system ; in 
 the succeeding chapter I shall attempt to define its ele- 
 ments of repression.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 REPRESSIVE ELEMENTS OF THE DIAZ MACHINE 
 
 Americans launching upon business in Mexico are 
 usually given about the same treatment at the hands of 
 local authorities as they have been used to at home. The 
 readier hand for graft is more than overbalanced by the 
 easier plucking of the special privilege plum. Sometimes 
 an American falls into disfavor and is cautiously perse- 
 cuted, but it is seldom. And if he is there to get rich 
 quickly, as is usual, he judges the Mexican government 
 by the aid it gives to his ambition. To him the system of 
 Diaz is the wisest, most modern and most beneficent on 
 the face of the earth. 
 
 To be wholly fair to Diaz and his system, I must con- 
 fess that I am not judging Mexico from the viewpoint of 
 the American investor. I am estimating it from its effects 
 upon the mass of Mexicans generally, who, in the end, 
 must surely determine the destiny of Mexico. From the 
 viewpoint of the common Mexican the government is 
 wholly the opposite of beneficent; it is a slave-driver, a 
 thief, a murderer; it has neither justice nor mercy — 
 nothing but exploitation. 
 
 In order to impose his rule upon an unwilling people 
 General Diaz found it necessary not only to reward the 
 powerful of his country and to be free and easy with the 
 foreigner, but also to strip the people of their liberties to 
 the point of nakedness. He took away from them all 
 { governmental powers, rights and securities, and all powers 
 
 ^ 138
 
 REPRESSIVE ELEMENTS OF THE DIAZ MACHINE 139 
 
 to demand the return of these things. Why do naliuiis 
 universally demand a popular form of government? 
 Never until I saw Mexico did I appreciate to its full the 
 reason why. The answer is that life under any other 
 system is intolerable. The common interests can be con- 
 served only by the common voice. Governments by indi- 
 viduals not responsible to the mass invariably result in 
 robbery of the mass and debasement of the nation. The 
 upbuilding of any people requires certain social guar- 
 antees which are not possible except under a government 
 in which considerable numbers take part. 
 
 When General Diaz led his army into the Mexican 
 capital back in 1876 he declared himself provisional presi- 
 dent. Shortly afterwards he held a pretended election 
 and declared himself constitutional president. By a "pre- 
 tended election" I mean that he put his soldiers in posses- 
 sion of the polls and prevented, by intimidation, anyone 
 from appearing as a candidate against him. Thus was he 
 "elected" unanimously. And, except for one term, when 
 he voluntarily relinquished the office, he has continued to 
 elect himself unanimously in much the same way. 
 
 I do not need to dwell on the election farces of Mexico, 
 since the warmest flatterers of Diaz admit that Mexico 
 has not had one real election during the past thirty-four 
 years. But to those who desire some statement of the 
 matter it will only be necessary to point out the results 
 of the Mexican "elections." Can anyone imagine a nation 
 of some 15,000,000 with, say 3,000,000 persons of voting 
 age, all preferring the same man for their chief executive, 
 not only once, but year after year and decade after 
 decade? Just picture such a condition obtaining in the 
 United States, for example. Could anyone imagine Mr. 
 Taft being re-elected by a unanimous vote? Mr. Roose- 
 velt was undoubtedly the most popular president tliis
 
 140 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 country ever had. Could anybody imagine Mr. Roose- 
 velt being re-elected by a unanimous vote? Moreover, 
 could anyone imagine a country of 15,000,000 souls in 
 which ambition never stirred the heart of more than one 
 individual with the desire to stand before the people as a 
 candidate for the highest office in the nation ? 
 
 And yet this is exactly the condition we find in Mexico. 
 Eight times Don Porfirio has been seated as "president." 
 Eight times he has been elected "unanimously." Never 
 has an opponent stood against him at the polls. 
 
 And the story of the presidential succession is repeated 
 in the states. Re-election without contest is a rule which 
 has seen exceedingly few exceptions. The governor of 
 the state holds office for life, unless for some reason he 
 loses favor with Don Porfirio, which is seldom. A mem- 
 ber of the Mexican upper class once put the situation to 
 me quite aptly. Said he : "Death is the only anti-re-elec- 
 tionist in Mexico." The chief reason why the states are 
 not governed by men who have been in office for thirty- 
 four years is because those who were first put in have 
 died and it has become necessary to fill their places with 
 others. As it is, Colonel Prospero Cahuantzi has ruled 
 the State of Tlaxcala for the whole Porfirian period. 
 General Aristeo Mercado has ruled the State of Michoa- 
 can for over twenty-five years. Teodoro Dehesa has 
 governed the State of Veracruz for twenty-five years. 
 When deposed in 1909, General Bernardo Reyes had gov- 
 erned the State of Nuevo Leon for nearly twenty-five 
 years. General Francisco Canedo, General Abraham 
 Bandala and Pedro Rodriguez ruled the States of Sinaloa, 
 Tabasco and Hidalgo, respectively, for over twenty years. 
 General Luis Terrazas was governor of Chihuahua for 
 over twenty years, while Governors Martinez, Cardenas 
 and Obregon Gonzalez ruled the States of Puebla, Coa-
 
 READY FUR THE EXEC'l'TlON
 
 REPRESSIVE ELEMENTS OF THE DIAZ MACHINE ^^ 141) 
 
 huila and Guanajuato, respectively, for about fifteen 
 years. 
 
 Diaz's system of government is very simple, once it 
 is explained. ■- The president, thc^ governor, the jefe 
 politico-rdrhese three names represent all the power in the 
 country. In Mexico there is but one governmental power 
 — the executive. The other two departments exist in 
 name only. Not one elective office remains in the country. 
 All are appointive. And through the appointive power 
 the three executives mentioned control the entire situa- 
 tion. The word of these three officials in his particular 
 sphere — the president in the twenty-seven states and two 
 territories, the governor in his state, the jcfc politico in 
 his district — is the law of the land. Not one of the three 
 is required to answer to the people for his acts. The 
 governor must answer to the president and the jefe 
 politico to the governor and the president. It is the most 
 perfect one-man system on earth. 
 
 Of course such conditions were not established with- 
 out a struggle. Neither can they be maintained without 
 continued struggle. Autocracy cannot be created by fiat. 
 Slavery cannot exist merely by decree of a ruler. There 
 must be an organization and a policy to compel such 
 things. There must be a military organization armed to 
 the teeth. There must be police- and police spies. There 
 must be expropriations and imprisonments for political 
 purposes. And there must be murder — murder all the 
 time. No autocracy can exist without murder. Autoc- 
 racy feeds upon murder. It has never been otherwise, 
 and, thanks to human nature as we find it, never can be. 
 
 The succeeding two chapters are to be devoted to 
 sketching the extirpation of political movements having 
 for their purpose the re-establishment of republican insti- 
 tutions in Mexico. But first it seems well to define the
 
 142 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 public powers and institutions which are employed in this 
 unholy work. These consist of : 
 
 The army. 
 
 The rurale forces. 
 
 The police. 
 
 The acordada. 
 
 The Ley Fug a. 
 
 Quintana Roo, the "Mexican Siberia." 
 
 The prisons. 
 
 The jcfes politicos. 
 
 In a published interview issued during the Liberal re- 
 bellion in 1908, Vice-President Corral announced that the 
 government had more than 50,000 soldiers who were 
 ready to take the field at an hour's notice. In these 
 figures he must have included the rurale forces, for em- 
 ployes of the War Department have since assured me 
 that the regular army numbered less, almost an exact 
 40,000, in fact. On paper the Mexican army is, then, 
 smaller than ours, but, according to estimates of the 
 actual size of our army published by American experts 
 during the past three years, it is larger, and in propor- 
 tion to the population it is at least five times larger. 
 General Diaz's excuse for the maintenance of such a 
 large army has always been a hint that the country might 
 at any time find itself in danger of invasion by the 
 United States. That his purpose was not so much to pre- 
 pare against invasion as against internal revolution is 
 evidenced by the fact that, instead of fortifying the bor- 
 der, he fortified inland cities. Moreover, he keeps the 
 bulk of the army concentrated near the large centers of 
 population and his best and most extensive equipment 
 consists of mountain batteries, recognized as specially 
 well adapted to internal warfare. 
 
 Mexico is actually policed by the army and to this end
 
 REPRESSIVE ELEMENTS OF THE DIAZ MACHINE. 143 
 
 the country is divided into ten military zones, three 
 commanderies and fourteen jcfaturas. One sees soldiers 
 everywhere. There is not an important city in the coun- 
 try that has not its army barracks, and the barracks are 
 situated in the heart of the city, where they are always 
 ready. The discipline of war is maintained at all times, 
 the presence of the soldiers and their constant drilling 
 are a perpetual threat to the people. And they are used 
 upon the people often enough to keep always fresh in 
 the memories of the people the fact that the threat is not 
 an empty one. Such readiness for war as is maintained 
 on the part of the Mexican troops is not known in this 
 country. There is no red tape when it comes to fighting 
 and troops arrive at a scene of trouble in an incredibly 
 short time. As one example, at the time of the Liberal 
 rebellion in the fall of 1906 the Liberals attacked the city 
 of Acayucan, Veracruz. Despite the fact that the city is 
 situated in a comparatively isolated part of the tropics, 
 the government concentrated 4,000 soldiers on the town 
 within twenty-four hours after the first alarm. 
 
 As an instrument of repression, the Mexican army is 
 employed effectively in two separate and distinct ways. 
 It is an engine of massacre and it is an exile institution, a 
 jail-house, a concentration camp for the politically un- 
 desirable. 
 
 This second function of the army abides in the fact 
 that more than 95 per cent of the enlisted men are 
 drafted, and drafted for the particular reason that they 
 are politically undesirable citizens, or that they are good 
 subjects for graft on the part of the drafter. The 
 drafter is usually the jefe politico. A judge — at the 
 instance of the executive authority — sometimes sentences 
 a culprit to the army instead of to jail, and a governor — 
 as at Cananea — sometimes personally superintends the
 
 144 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 placing of considerable bodies of men in the army, but 
 as a rule the jefc politico is the drafting officer and upon 
 him there is no check, lie has no system other than to 
 follow his own sweet will. He drafts laborers who dare 
 to strike, editors who criticize the government, farmers 
 who resist exorbitant taxation, and any other ordinary 
 citizens who may present opportunities for graft. 
 
 As a dumping ground for the politically undesirable, 
 the conditions within the army are ideal, from the point 
 of view of the government. The men are prisoners 
 rather than soldiers and they are treated as such. For 
 this reason the Mexican army has gained the title of 
 "The National Chain-gang." While in Diaz-land I 
 visited a number of army barracks. The barracks at Rio 
 Blanco are typical. Here, ever since the Rio Blanco 
 strike, 600 soldiers and 200 riiralcs have been quartered 
 within the shadow of the great mill, in barracks and upon 
 ground furnished by the company, an hourly menace to 
 the miserably exploited workers there. 
 
 At Rio Blanco a little captain showed us about — De 
 Lara and I — at the behest of an officer of the manufac- 
 turing company. El Senor Capitan informed us that the 
 pay of the Mexican soldier, with rations, is $1.90 per 
 month in American money and that the soldier is always 
 expected to spend the major portion of this for extra 
 food, as the food furnished is of too small a variety and 
 too scarce a quantity to satisfy any human being. The 
 captain confirmed the reports that I had often heard to 
 the efifect that the soldier, in all his five years service, 
 never has an hour to himself away from the eye of an 
 officer, that he is as much a prisoner iti his barracks as 
 is the life-termer in a penitentiary. 
 
 The proportion of involuntary soldiers the captain esti- 
 mated at 98 per cent. Often, said he, the soldiers, crazy
 
 p^^^^^l 
 
 .. . 1 
 
 
 mSjsl—^. ""^mili — -^"^N 
 
 MKXICAN CAVALRY: YOU SEE SOI.DIEIIS KVKKYW II Ki:E IN DIAZ-LAND 
 
 MEXICAN COUNTRY .lAlL
 
 REPRESSIVE ELEMENTS OF THE DIAZ MACHINE 145 
 
 for freedom, break and run like escaping convicts. And 
 they are hunted down hke convicts. 
 
 But the thing that struck nie most forcibly during my 
 visit was that the little captain, in the hearing of half a 
 company of men, told us that the soldiers were of the 
 lowest class of Mexicans, were good for nothing, a bad 
 lot, etc., apologizing thus in order to make us understand 
 that in time of v/ar the quality of the army would be 
 much improved. The soldiers heard and failed to look 
 pleasant and I decided right there that the loyalty of the 
 Mexican army stands upon a very flimsy basis — merely 
 fear of death — and that in case of any future rebellion 
 against the dictatorship the army can be counted upon to 
 revolt in a body as soon as the rebellion develops any 
 appreciable strength — that is, enough strength to afford 
 the deserters a fair chance for their lives. 
 
 The territory of Ouintana Roo has been characterized 
 as one of the "Siberias of Mexico," from the fact that 
 to it, as convict-soldiers, are consigned thousands of 
 political suspects and labor agitators. Sent there osten- 
 sibly to fight the Maya Indians, they are treated so 
 harshly that probably not one per cent of them ever see 
 their homes again. I did not succeed in penetrating per- 
 sonally to Quintana Roo, but I have heard accounts of 
 it from so many authentic sources that I have no doubt 
 whatever that my estimate of it is correct. One of these 
 sources of information I shall quote at some, length, a 
 distinguished government physician who for three years 
 was Chief of Sanitary Service with the army in the 
 territory. 
 
 "For thirty years," said this man, "there has been an 
 army of from 2,000 to 3,000 men constantly in the field 
 against the Maya Indians. These soldiers are made up 
 almost entirely of political suspects and even many of
 
 146 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 the officers are men who have been detailed to duty in 
 the territory only because the government has some rea- 
 son for wanting to get rid of them. Ouintana Roo is 
 the most unhealthy part of Mexico, but the soldiers die 
 from five to ten times as fast as necessary because of the 
 grafting of their chief, General Bravo. During the first 
 two years I was there the death rate was 100 per cent 
 a year, for in that period more than 4,000 soldiers died of 
 starvation and sickness induced by starvation ! 
 
 "For month after month," said this physician, "I have 
 known the deaths to average thirty a day. For every sol- 
 dier killed by a Maya at least one hundred die of starva- 
 tion or sickness. General Bravo steals the commissary 
 money and starves the soldiers with the connivance of 
 the federal government. More than 2,000 have died of 
 acute starvation alone during the past seven years, since 
 General Bravo took command. Not only that, but Bravo 
 steals the cremation money. The soil of the peninsula, 
 you must know, is rocky, the hard-pan is close to the 
 surface and it is not practical to bury the dead. The gov- 
 ernment appropriates money to buy oil for cremation, but 
 Bravo steals this money and leaves the bodies to lie in the 
 sun and rot away!" 
 
 Because it would result in his imprisonment I cannot 
 publish the name of this authority. I feel perfectly free, 
 however, to name Colonel Francisco B. Cruz, chief de- 
 porter of Yaquis. Colonel Cruz told me that in three 
 years General Bravo had saved $10,000,000 from money 
 grafted off the army in Ouintana Roo. The fact that 
 nearly all the deaths of soldiers was the result of starva- 
 tion was proven in the year 1902 to 1903, when General 
 Bravo took a vacation and General Vega, had command. 
 General Vega stole no food or medicine or oil money
 
 REPRESSIVE ELEMENTS OF THE UIAZ MACHINE 1 -r/ 
 
 and as a result he reduced the number of deaths from 
 thirty a day to an average of three a day. 
 
 "In its campaign against the Mayas," the former Sani- 
 tary Chief told me, "the government built a railroad 
 sixty metres long. This railroad is known among the 
 soldiers as 'The Alley of Death,' for it is said that every 
 tie cost five lives in the building. When this road v/as 
 built many prisoners Were taken from the military prison 
 of San Juan de Ulua to do the work. To encourage 
 them to toil all were promised that their sentences would 
 be cut in half, but after a few weeks in the hands of 
 Bravo the majority begged — but in vain — to be returned 
 to Ulua, which is the most dreaded of all houses of incar- 
 ceration in Mexico. These unfortunate prisoners were 
 starved and when they staggered from weakness they 
 were beaten, some being beaten to death. Some of them 
 committed suicide at the first opportunity, as did many 
 of the soldiers — fifty of them, while I was there." 
 
 Fancy a soldier committing suicide ! Fancy the cruel 
 conditions that would lead fifty soldiers among 2,000 to 
 commit suicide in the space of three years ! 
 
 As to the graft features of the army drafting system, 
 as I have suggested, the jcfc politico selects the names 
 in his own way in the privacy of his own office and no 
 one may question his methods. Wherefore he waxes 
 rich. Since — allowing for a high death rate — some 
 10,000' men are drafted every year, it will be seen that 
 the graft possibilities of the system are enormous. The 
 horror of the army is used by the jcfc to squeeze money 
 out of wage-workers and small property-holders. Unless 
 the victim is drafted for political reasons, the system 
 permits the drafted person to buy another to take his 
 place — provided the drafting officer is willing. This 
 option on the part of the jcfc is used as a great money-
 
 l48 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 getter, since the jefe is never willing unless the victim 
 buys the jcfc as well as the substitute. Usually it is 
 not necessary to buy the substitute, but only the jefe 
 politico. In some districts it is said to be a regular prac- 
 tice to keep tab on the higher-paid class of wage-laborers 
 and when they are paid after a long job, to drag them to 
 jail and tell them that they have been drafted, then, a 
 day or two later, to send word that $100, more or less, 
 has been fixed as the price of their liberty. I was told 
 of an instance in which a carpenter was drafted in this 
 way five times in the space of three years. Four times 
 he parted with his money, sums ranging from $50 to 
 $100, but the fifth time he lost courage and permitted 
 himself to be led away to the barracks. 
 * The rurales are mounted police usually selected from 
 the criminal classes, well equipped and comparatively 
 well paid, whose energies have been turned to robbing 
 and killing for the government. There are federal 
 rurales and state rurales, the total of the two running 
 somewhere between 7,000 and 9,000. They are divided 
 among the various states in about an equal propor- 
 tion to the population, but are utilized most in the rural 
 districts. The rurales are the special rough riders of 
 the jefe politicos and they are given almost unlimited 
 powers to kill at their own discretion. Investigation of 
 wanton killings by rurales working singly or in squads 
 is almost never made and the victim must stand well 
 indeed with the government before punishment is meted 
 out to the murderer. 
 
 In Mexico it is a small town that has no soldiers or 
 rurales and a smaller town that has no regular 
 gendarmes. The City of Mexico has over 2,000, or twice 
 as many as New York in comparison to its size, and 
 the other municipalities are equipped in proportion. At
 
 YAQUIS HANGED IN SONUUA 
 
 XIEXU'AX KlIJAIKS
 
 REPRESSIVE ELEMENTS OF THE DIAZ MACHINE 149 
 
 •light the gendarmes have little red lanterns which they 
 set in the middle of the streets and hover near. One 
 sees these lanterns, one at each corner, twinkling down 
 the entire length of the principal streets. There is a 
 system of lantern signals and when one lamp begins to 
 swing the signal is carried along and in a trice every 
 gendarme on the street knows what has happened. 
 
 While the "plain clothes" department of the Mexican 
 police is a comparatively insignificant affair, there ex- 
 ists, outside of and beyond it, a system of secret police 
 on a very extensive scale. An American newspaper- 
 man employed on an English daily of the capital once 
 told me: "There are twice as many secret police as reg- 
 ular police. You see a uniformed policeman standing 
 in the middle of the street. That is all you see, or at 
 least all you notice. But leaning against the wall of 
 that alley entrance is a man whom you take to be a 
 loafer ; over on the other side lounges a man whom you 
 think is a peon. Just start something and then try to 
 get away. Both of those men will be after you. There 
 is no getting away in Mexico; every alley is guarded 
 as well as every street ! 
 
 "Why," said he, "they know your business as well as 
 you do yourself. They talk with you and you never sus- 
 pect. When you cross the border they take your name 
 and business and address, and before you've reached the 
 capital they know whether you've told the truth or not. 
 They know what you're here for and have decided what 
 they're going to do about it." 
 
 Perhaps this man overstated the case — the exact truth 
 of these matters is hard to get at — but I know that it 
 is impossible to convince the average Mexican that the 
 secret police system of his country is not a colossal in- 
 stitution.
 
 150 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 The acordada is an organization of secret assassins, 
 a sort of secret police, attached to the government of 
 each of the Mexican states. It consists of a jcfc de 
 acordada and anywhere from a half dozen to a half hun- 
 dred subordinates. Personal enemies of the governor 
 or of the jcfcs politicos, political suspects and highway- 
 men or others suspected of crime but against whom 
 there is no evidence, are frequently put out of the way 
 by the acordada. The names of the marked men are 
 furnished by the officials and the members of the so- 
 ciety are sent about the state with orders to kill quietly 
 and without noise. Two notable cases where the acordada 
 are reported as having killed extensively are those of 
 the days following the strikes at Cananea and Rio 
 Blanco. Personally I am acquainted with a Mexican 
 whose brother was killed by the acordada for doing no 
 more than shouting "Viva Ricardo Flores Magon." I 
 know also of a son of a general high up in the councils of 
 the Mexican government who became a suh-jefe de 
 acordada in the state of Coahuila. He was a wild young 
 fellow who had been put out of the army for acts of in- 
 subordination toward a superior officer. But his father 
 was a friend of Diaz and Diaz himself appointed the 
 youth to the acordada job, which paid a salary of three 
 hundred pesos a month. This man was given two assist- 
 ants and was sent out with orders to "kill quietly along 
 the border" any and all persons whom he might suspect 
 of connection with the Liberal Party. No check what- 
 ever was placed upon him. He was to kill at his own 
 discretion. 
 
 The acordada at times work extensively even in the 
 Mexican capital, which more nearly approaches the 
 modern in its police methods than probably any other
 
 REPRESSIVE ELEMENTS OF THE DIAZ MACHINE 151 
 
 city in the country. Before the Liberal rebelHon of 1906 
 the government, through spies, secured the detailed 
 plans of the rebels, as v^ell as the names of hundreds 
 of the participants, and a large number of these were 
 killed. What was done by the acordada in Mexico City 
 at that time may be guessed by a statement made to me 
 by a well known newspaperman of Mexico City. Said 
 he: "I have it from the most reliable source that dur- 
 ing the week preceding September 16 not less than 2,000 
 suspects were made away with quietly by the secret po- 
 lice and special deputies — the acordada — so quietly that 
 not a line in regard to it has ever been published to this 
 day !" 
 
 I hesitate to print this statement because it is too co- 
 lossal for me to believe, and I do not expect the reader 
 to believe it. But I have no doubt whatever that it 
 was partially true; that, say, several score were killed 
 at this time and in this way. Liberals whom I have 
 met have often spoken to me of friends who had sud- 
 denly disappeared and never been heard of again and 
 many of these were supposed to have been done away 
 with by the acordada. 
 
 The Ley Fuga, or law of flight, is a method of killing 
 resorted to by all branches of the Mexican police power. 
 It was originated by order of General Diaz, who de- 
 creed that his police might shoot any prisoners who 
 should try to escape while under guard. While it may 
 not have originated for that purpose, this rule came to 
 be used as one of the means of putting to death persons 
 against whom the government had not the shadow of 
 another excuse for killing. The marked man is simply 
 arrested, taken to a lonely spot and there shot. Tlic 
 matter is kept quiet, if possible, but if a situation should 
 arise that demands an explanation, the report is giveti
 
 152 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 out that the victim had attempted to escape and had 
 brought his fate upon himself. Thus it is freely as- 
 serted that thousands of lives have been taken during 
 the past thirty-four years. Today instances of the Ley 
 Fiiga are frequently reported in the Mexican press. 
 
 ]\Iany political outlaws end their days in prison. 
 Among the Mexican prisons there are two whose hor- 
 rors stand out far above the others — San Juan de Ulua 
 and Belem. 
 
 During both of my trips to Mexico made during 1908 
 and 1909 I put forth desperate efforts to secure admis- 
 sion as a visitor to Belem. I saw the governor of the 
 Federal District; I saw the American ambassador; I 
 tried to enter with a prison physician. But I was never 
 able to travel farther than the inner door. 
 
 Through that door I could see into the central court,, 
 where ranged hundreds of .human beings made wild 
 beasts by the treatment they received, ragged, filthy, 
 starving, wolfish wrecks of men — a sight calculated to 
 provoke a raucous laugh at the solemn declarations of 
 certain individuals that Mexico has a civilized govern- 
 ment. 
 
 But farther than that inner court I could not go. I 
 was permitted to visit other prisons in Mexico, but not 
 Belem. When I pressed His Excellency, the Governor, 
 he admitted that it was not safe. "On account of the 
 vialas condicioncs, the vile conditions," he said, "it 
 would not do. Why," he told me, "only a short time ago 
 the vice-president, Senor Corral, dared to make a hurried 
 A'isit to Belem. He contracted typhus and nearly died. 
 You cannot go." 
 
 I told him that I had heard of Americans being per- 
 mitted to visit Belem. But he was unable to remember. 
 Doubtless those other Americans were too well known
 
 REPRESSIVE ELEMENTS OF THE DIAZ MACHINIi 153 
 
 — they were too much involved in Mexican afTairs — to 
 leave any danger of their coming out and telling the 
 truth of what they saw. My credentials were not sat- 
 isfactory enough to permit me to see Belem. 
 
 But I know Belem fairly well, I think, for I have 
 talked with persons who have seen Belem as prisoners 
 and come out of its horrors alive. Editors, many of 
 them were; and I have talked with others — officials, 
 prison physicians, and I have read the newspapers of 
 Mexico. 
 
 Suffice it, however, to put down some bare and naked 
 facts. Belem is the general prison for the Federal Dis- 
 trict, which comprises the Mexican capital and some 
 surrounding suburbs, approximating, in all, a popula- 
 tion of 600,000 people. It is alike city jail, county jail 
 and penitentiary, except that there is also in tlie district 
 another penitentiary, which is distinguished from Belem 
 by confining within its walls only criminals who have 
 been sentenced to more than eight years confinement. 
 The penitentiary — which is so designated — is a modern 
 institution, decently built and sewered. The prisoners 
 are few and they are fairly well fed. Visitors are al- 
 ways welcome at the penitentiary, for it is principally 
 for show. When you hear a traveler extolling the 
 prison system of Mexico put it down that he was con- 
 ducted through the Federal District penitentiary only 
 — that he does not know of Belem. 
 
 Belem is a musty old convent which was turned into 
 a prison by the simple act of herding some thousands 
 of person within its walls. Tt is not large enough de- 
 cently to house five hundred inmates, but frequently 
 it houses more than five thousand. These five thou- 
 sand are given a daily ration of biscuit and beans in- 
 sufficient in quantity to keep an ordinary person alive fcf
 
 154 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 many weeks. The insufficiency of this ration is so well 
 realized by the prison officials that a regular system of 
 feeding from the outside has grown up. Daily the 
 friends and relatives of prisoners bring them baskets of 
 food, in order that they may live through their term of 
 confinement. Of course it is a terrible drain on the 
 poor, but the system serves its purpose — except for 
 those hundreds of unfortunates who have no friends on 
 the outside. These starve to death without a finger be- 
 iing raised to help them. 
 
 "Within three days after entering Belem," a Mexican 
 prison physician informed me, "every inmate contracts 
 a skin disease, a terrible itch which sets the body on fire. 
 This disease is entirely the result of the filthy condi- 
 tions of the place. Every year," he continued, "the 
 prison goes through an epidemic of typhus, which kills 
 an average of at least ten per cent of the inmates. 
 Within Belem there is no system of order among the 
 prisoners. The weak are at the mercy of the strong. 
 Immediately you enter as a prisoner you are set upon 
 by a horde of half-crazed men who tear the clothes 
 from your back, take away your valuables, if you have 
 any, and usually commit nameless crimes upon your 
 person, while officials of the prison stand grinning by. 
 The only way to save yourself in Belem is to turn wild 
 beast like the rest, and even then you must be strong — 
 very strong." 
 
 Should I give the name of this physician every official 
 at the national capital would instantly recognize him as 
 a man of high standing with the government. I shall 
 not name him only because if I did he also would go to 
 Belem as a prisoner. Such stories as his I heard from 
 too many widely different sources to be able to doubt 
 them. The stories of the Belem epidemics always get
 
 REPRESSIVE ELEMENTS OF THE DIAZ MACHINE 155 
 
 more or less into the Mexican papers. I remcniljer that 
 during my first visit to Mexico, in the fall of 1908, the 
 papers reported an epidemic of typhus. I'^or the first 
 three days the number of new cases were daily recorded, 
 but after that the news was suppressed. The condition 
 threatened to become too great a scandal, for on the 
 third day there were 176 new cases! 
 
 According to an old prison director whom I inter- 
 viewed, at least twenty per cent of the prisoners at 
 Belem contract tuberculosis. This prison director spent 
 many years in the prison at Puebla. There, he says, 
 seventy-five per cent of the men who go into the place 
 come out, if they ever come out, with tuberculosis. 
 
 Torture such as was employed in the Middle Ages 
 is used in Belem to secure confessions. When a man 
 is taken to the police station, if he is suspected of a 
 felony he is strung up by the thumbs until he tells. 
 Another method used is that of refusing the prisoner 
 drink. He is given food but no water until he 
 chokes. Ofter prisoners declare before the ji'dgc that 
 they have been tortured into confession, but no inves- 
 tigation is made. There are — inevitably — records of 
 innocent men who have confessed to murder in order 
 to escape the torture of the thumbs or of the thirst. 
 While I was in Mexico two Americans suspected of rob- 
 bery were reported in the newspapers as having been 
 arrested, their wrists strapped to the bars of tlieir cells, 
 and their finger nails jerked out with steel pincers. 
 This incident was reported to our State Department, 
 but no action was taken. 
 
 San Juan de Ulua is an old military fortress situated 
 in the harbor of Veracruz — a fortress which has been 
 turned into a prison. Officially San Juan de Ulua is 
 known as a military prison, but in fact it is a political
 
 156 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 prison, a prison for political suspects, and so choice is 
 the company that resides therein — resides, but is ever 
 changing, for the members die fast — and so personal 
 is the attention given to this place by President Diaz, 
 that throughout Alexico San Juan de Ulua is popularly 
 known as the "private prison of Diaz." 
 
 San Juan de Ulua is built of cement, the prison cells 
 are under the sea and the salt water seeps through upon 
 the prisoners, some of whom lie, half-naked and half- 
 starved, in dark dungeons too small to permit of a full 
 grown man lying down in comfort. To San Juan de 
 Ulua was sent Juan Sarabia, vice-president of the Lib- 
 eral Party, Margarita Martinez, a leader of the strike 
 at Rio Blanco, Lazaro Puente, Carlos Humbert, Abra- 
 ham Salcido, Leonardo Villarreal, Bruno Trevino and 
 Gabriel Rubio, a sextet of gentlemen handed over to 
 Mexico by the United States government at the request 
 of the former as "undesirable immigrants;" Caesar Ca- 
 nales, Juan de la Torre, Serrano, Ugalde, Marquez, and 
 scores of other leaders of the Liberal movement. Since 
 entering those grey walls few of these men or women 
 have ever been heard of again. It is not known whether 
 they are dead or alive, whether they were shot beyond 
 the walls, whether they died of disease and starvation 
 or whether they are still eking out a miserable existence 
 there, hoping against hope that a freer government v/ill 
 come and set them free. They have never been heard 
 of because no political prisoner in San Juan de Ulua 
 is ever permitted to communicate in any way with his 
 friends or with the outside world. They cross the har- 
 bor in a little boat, they disappear within the grey walls 
 and that is all. Their friends never learn hov/ they get 
 on, nor when they die or how. 
 
 Of the official assassnis of Mexico the jefe politico is
 
 REPRESSIVE ELEMENTS OF THE DIAZ MACHINE 157 
 
 the arch fiend. The jcfc politico commands the local 
 police and rnralcs, directs the acordada and frequently 
 gives orders to the regular troops. While, because of 
 government control of the press, comparatively few 
 crimes of the jefes politic os become public, yet during 
 my most recent visit to Mexico — during the winter and 
 spring of 1909 — two wholesale killings which were 
 prompted by jcfcs politicos were widely reported in the 
 newspapers of that country. One was that of Tehuit- 
 zingo, where sixteen citizens were executed with.out 
 trial, and the other was that of Velardena, where, for 
 holding a street parade in defiance of the jefe politico, 
 several were shot down in the streets and a number vari- 
 ously estimated as from twelve to thirty-two were ar- 
 rested, lined up and shot, and buried in trenches which 
 they had been compelled to dig previously with their 
 own hands. 
 
 A comment of El Pais, a conservative Catholic daily 
 of the capital on the Tehuitzingo affair, published in 
 April, was as follows: 
 
 "Terrible accounts have reached this capital as to what is 
 taking place at Tehuitzingo, District of Acatlan, State of Puebla. 
 It is insistently reported that sixteen citizens have been executed 
 without trial and that many others will be condemned to twenty 
 years' confinement in the fortress of San Juan de Ulua. 
 
 "What are the causes that have given rise to this barbarous 
 persecution, which has dyed our soil anew with the people's 
 blood? 
 
 "It is the fierce, infamous caciquismo which oppresses tlie 
 people with a heavy yoke and which has deprived them of all 
 the benefits of peace. 
 
 "We ask, in the name of law and of humanity that this 
 hecatomb cease; we ask that the guilty parties be tried fairly 
 and calmly according to the law. But among those guilty 
 parties should be included those who provoked the disturbance, 
 those who drove the people to frenzy by trampling their rights.
 
 158 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 If the jcfc politico sought to defy the law by dictating an elec- 
 tion, he is guilty or more guilty than the rioters and ought to 
 be made to appear with them before the authorities to answer 
 for his acts." 
 
 This is abotit as violent an outburst as is ever per- 
 mitted to appear in a Mexican publication, and there are 
 few papers that would dare go this far. Had El Pais 
 wished to charge the guilt to General Diaz as the founder 
 and perpetuator of the little czardom of the jcfcs polit- 
 icos, it would not have dared to do so, for in Mexico 
 the king can do no wrong; there is no publication in tlie 
 country so strong that it would not be suppressed at 
 once did it directly criticize the head of the government. 
 The comment of El Tiempo, another leading conserva- 
 tive daily of the capital, on the Velardena massacre, 
 which appeared also in April, was: 
 
 "These irregular executions are a cause of profound dissatis- 
 faction and ought to be put a stop to at once for the sake of the 
 prestige of the authorities; and in order to attain that end it is 
 necessary that the authors of such outrages should be severely 
 chastised, as we hope that those who are responsible for the 
 sanguinary scenes that have been witnessed at Velardena, and 
 which have occasioned so much horror and indignation through- 
 out the republic, will be. 
 
 "Let it not be said that Velardena is an isolated case without 
 precedents. Only to mention a few of the cases that are fresh 
 in the public memory, theer is the Papantla affair, !he affair at 
 Acayucan, the shootings at Orizaba at the time of the strike, the 
 shootings at Colima, of which the press has been talking just of 
 late, and the frequent application of the ley fuga, of which the 
 most recent instance occurred at Calimaya, Tenango, State of 
 Mexico." 
 
 In closing this chapter perhaps I can do no better than 
 to quote an item which appeared in The Mexican Iler- 
 ald, the leading daily published in English, February 15, 
 1910. Though the facts were perfectly well authenti-
 
 RErRESSlVE ELEMENTS OF THE DIAZ MACHINE 159 
 
 cated, the Herald dared to print the story only on the 
 authority of another paper, and it presented the matter in 
 such mild and cautious terms that it will require a care- 
 ful reading to bring out the full horror of the deed. 
 Here is the item: 
 
 "The Pais gives the following story, the details of which it 
 qualifies as too monstrous for even Zelaya to attribute to Estrada 
 Cabrera : 
 
 "Luis Villasenor, prefect of .Cualcoman, Michoacan, recently 
 shot without trial an old man because his son committed a 
 murder. The victim in this case was Ignacio Chavez Guizar, 
 one of the principal merchants of the place, 
 
 "Some days ago a member of the rural police (a rurale) 
 arrived at the house of the deceased in a state of intoxication 
 and began to insult and abuse the family. A quarrel succeeded, 
 in which the policeman was shot by Jose Chavez. 
 
 "The prefect of police arrived on the scene of the trouble and 
 arrested the father and another son, Benjamin, the slayer hav- 
 ing made his escape, and took them to the police station. That 
 was the last seen of them. Soon the people of the town began 
 to inquire what had happened to them. The story was spread 
 that they had escaped from prison. But a relative, a nephew 
 of the deceased father, having a certain suspicion that this 
 story was not true, opened what appeared to him a recently 
 made grave, near the police station, and there found the corpses 
 of the two men who had been recently arrested. The prefect, 
 not having been able to capture Jose or to learn where he was, 
 had made the father and brother suffer for his crime. 
 
 "Commenting on this story, the Pais calls for the punishment 
 of the author and the guarantee of the carrying out of the 
 laws of the coimtry."
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE CRUSHING OF OPPOSITION PARTIES 
 
 Men and women on our continent are daily suffer- 
 ing death, imprisonment or exile for contending for 
 those political rights which we have considered as ours 
 since the birth of our country, rights of free speech, 
 of free press, the right of assembly, the right to vote 
 to decide who shall hold the political offices and govern 
 the land, the right to be secure in person and property. 
 For these things hundreds of men and women have 
 died within the past twelve months, tens of thousands 
 within the past thirty years, in a country divided from 
 ours only by a shallow river and an imaginary geo- 
 graphical line. 
 
 In Mexico today are being lived life stories such as 
 carry one's imagination back to the days of the French 
 Revolution and the times when constitutional govern- 
 ment, that giant which was destined to complete the 
 change from the Middle Ages to Modernity, was being 
 born. In those days men yielded up their lives for 
 republicanism. Men are doing the same today in Mex- 
 ico. The repressive part of the Diaz governmental ma- 
 chine which I described in the last previous chapter 
 — the army, the rurales, the ordinary police, the secret 
 police, the acordada — are perhaps one-fifth for protec- 
 tion against common criminals and four-fifths for the 
 suppression of democratic movements among the peo- 
 ple. The deadly certainty of this repressive machine 
 
 160
 
 THE CRUSHING OF OPPOSITION PARTIES 161 
 
 of Diaz is probably not equaled anywhere in the world, 
 not even in Russia. I remember a trusted Mexican 
 official once summing up to me the feeling of the Mex- 
 ican people, taught them by experience, on this thing. 
 Said he : "It is possible that a murderer may escape 
 the police here, that a highwayman may get away, but 
 a political offender never — it is not possible for one 
 to escape !" 
 
 I myself have observed numerous instances of the 
 deadly fear in which the secret police and the govern- 
 ment assassin are held even by those who would seem 
 to have no cause for fear. Notable among these is the 
 panic which overtook the family of a friend with whom 
 I was staying — his brother, sister, sister-in-law and 
 nephew and niece — when the secret police surrounded 
 their house in the capital and waited for my friend to 
 come out. They were middle-class Mexicans of the 
 most intelligent sort, this family, very well known and 
 highly respected, and yet their fright was pitiful. Now 
 they dashed this way and that, now to a window and 
 now to a door, wringing their hands. Now they huddled 
 together, verbally painting the dire calamities that were 
 sure to descend not only upon the hunted one, but upon 
 their own heads because he had been found with them. 
 My friend had committed no crime. He had not been 
 identified with the revolutionists, he had merely ex- 
 pressed sympathy for them, and yet his family could 
 see nothing but death for him. And after the fugitive 
 had escaped by jumping through a window and climbing 
 over house-tops, the head of the family, speaking of 
 his own danger, said to me: "I myself may go to jail 
 for a time while they try to compel me to tell where 
 my brother is hiding. If I do not go it will be only 
 because the government has decided to respect me for
 
 162 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 my position and my influential friends, yet hourly I arri 
 expecting the tap on the arm that will tell me to go." 
 
 The case of most extreme fear which I observed was 
 that of a wealthy and beautiful woman, wife of an offi- 
 cial of the Rio Blanco mills, with whom De Lara and 
 I took dinner one day. The official drank deeply of 
 wine, and as the meal was near an end his tongue 
 loosened and he spoke of matters which, for the sake 
 of his own safety, he should have guarded. The wife 
 sat opposite him, and as he spoke of government mur- 
 ders of which he knew her face blanched and with her 
 eyes she tried to warn him to be more careful. Finally 
 I turned my face away, and, glancing sidewise, saw her 
 take the opportunity to bend forward over the table 
 and shake a trembling, jeweled finger in his face. Again 
 and again she tried skilfully to turn the conversation, 
 but without success, until finally, unable to control her- 
 self longer, she sprang forward, and, clapping a hand 
 over her husband's lips, tried to dam back the fearsome 
 words he was saying. The animal terror on that wom- 
 an's face I can never forget. 
 
 Fear so widespread and so extreme as I met with 
 cannot be the result of imagined dangers. There must 
 be something behind it, and there is. Secret killing 
 is constantly going on in Mexico, but to what extent 
 no one will ever know. It is asserted in some quarters 
 that there are more political executions going on right 
 now than ever before, but that they are more cleverly 
 and secretly done than ever before. Whether that is 
 true or not I do not know. Certainly the press is better 
 controlled than ever before. The apparent quiescence 
 of Mexico is entirely forced by means of club, pistol and 
 knife. 
 
 Mexico has never really enjoyed political freedom.
 
 THE CRUSHING OF OPPOSITION PARTIES 163 
 
 The country has merely had the promise of it. How- 
 ever, the promise has undoubtedly helped to keep patri- 
 otic Mexicans fighting for a fulfillment, however great 
 the odds against tliem. When Porfirio Diaz captured 
 the Mexican government in 1876 the Mexican battle 
 for political freedom seemed won. The last foreign 
 soldier had been driven out of the country, the throt- 
 tling grip of the church on the state had been broken, 
 the country had inaugurated a system of universal suf- | 
 frage, it had adopted a constitution much like that of 
 the United States, and finally, its president, one of the 
 authors of the constitution, Lerdo de Tejada, was in 
 the act of putting that constitution in operation. The 
 personal revolution of General Porfirio Diaz, made suc- 
 cessful by force of arms only after it had failed twice, 
 put a sudden stop to the progressive movement, and ever 
 since that time the country has gone back politically, 
 year by year. If it were humanly possibly to put a 
 stop to the movement for democracy in a country by 
 killing the leaders and persecuting all connected with it, 
 democracy would long ago have been killed in Mexico, 
 for the leaders of every political movement in opposi- 
 tion to President Diaz, however peaceful their methods, 
 however worthy their cause, have either been put to 
 death, imprisoned or hunted out of the country. And 
 as I shall show in the next chapter, this statement is 
 literally true down to the present day. 
 
 Briefly I will sketch some of the more important of 
 these opposition movements. The first occurred toward 
 the close of President Diaz's first term in office and was 
 a movement having for its purpose the re-election of 
 Lerdo, who, upon Diaz's capture of the power, had flc 1 
 to the United States. The movement had not time to 
 gain any headway and come out in the open before
 
 164 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 it was crushed in the most summary manner. The 
 leaders were considered as conspirators and were treated 
 as if they were guilty of treasonable acts — worse, in 
 fact, for they were not even given a semblance of a 
 trial. On a night in June, 1879, nine men, prominent 
 citizens of Veracruz, were dragged from their beds, 
 and on an order telegraphed from General Diaz, "Mata- 
 los en calicntc," "Kill them in haste," Governor Mier 
 y Teran had them lined up against a wall and shot to 
 death. 
 
 While this incident happened thirty years ago, it is 
 perfectly authenticated, and the widow of General Teran 
 exhibits to this day the yellow paper upon which are 
 inscribed the fatal words. The killing is now known as 
 the Massacre of Veracruz and is noted because of the 
 prominence of the victims rather than for the number 
 of those who lost their lives. 
 
 During the ten years following the Massacre of Vera- 
 cruz two Mexicans aspired at different times to oppose 
 Diaz for the presidency. One of these was General 
 Ramon Corona, governor of Jalisco, and the other was 
 General Garcia de la Cadena, ex-governor of Zacatecas. 
 Neither lived to see "election day." While on his way 
 home from a theatre one night Corona was stabbed to 
 death by an assassin, who was in turn stabbed to death 
 by a company of police which, by a strange coincidence, 
 was waiting for him around a near corner. Cadena heard 
 that assassins were on his trail and took flight. He tried 
 to reach the United States, but was caught at Zacatecas 
 and shot to death, being pierced by many bullets from 
 the pistols of thugs, all of whom escaped. No one can 
 prove who ordered the killing of Corona and Cadena, 
 but it is easy to draw conclusions. 
 
 In 1891 Mexico was thrown into a ferment by the
 
 A Typical Mexican Military Execution. 
 
 LINED UP AGAINST A WALL 
 
 AriKK TlIK VOLLEY
 
 THE CRUSHING Ol- OITOSITION TARTIES 165 
 
 announcement of Diaz that he had decided to continue 
 in power for still another term^ a fourth one. An 
 attempt was made to organize a movement in opposi- 
 tion, but it was beaten down by clubs and guns. Ricardo 
 Flores Magon, the political refugee, took a student's 
 part in this movement and was one of the many wlio 
 suffered imprisonment for it. The choice of the oppo- 
 sition for presidency was Dr. Ignacio Martinez. Dr. 
 Martinez was compelled to flee the country, and after 
 a period spent in Europe he settled in Laredo, Texas, 
 where he edited a newspaper in opposition to President 
 Diaz. One evening Dr. Alartinez was waylaid and shot 
 down by a horseman who immediately afterwards 
 crossed into Mexico and was seen to enter army bar- 
 racks on the other side. It is a pretty well authenticated 
 fact that on the night of tlie assassination the governor 
 of the state of Nuevo Leon, who was at that time recog- 
 nized as Diaz's right-hand man in the border states, 
 received a telegram saying: "Your order obeyed." 
 
 The only ' movement which Diaz ever permitted to 
 gain much headway in the matter of organization was 
 the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party sprang into birth 
 in the fall of 1900, after all danger of effective opposi- 
 tion against the dictator's entering upon a sixth term 
 had been obviated. A speech delivered in Paris by the 
 Bishop of San Luis Potosi, in which the priest declared 
 that, in spite of the constitution and the laws of Mexico, 
 the church in that country was in a most flourishing and 
 satisfactory condition, was the immediate cause of the 
 organization. IMexicans of all classes saw greater danger 
 to the national welfare in the renascence of a church hcir- 
 archy than they did even in a dictatorship by a single 
 individual, for death must some day end the rule of 
 the man, while the life of the church is endless. They
 
 166 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 therefore once more took their Hves in their hands and 
 attempted to launch still another movement for the 
 restoration of the republic. 
 
 In less than five months after the bishop's speech 
 125 Liberal clubs had arisen in all parts of the country, 
 a half hundred nev^spapers were started, and a call was 
 issued for a convention to be held in the city of San 
 Luis Potosi on January 5, 1901. 
 
 The congress was held in the famous Teatro de la Pas. 
 It was jammed with delegates and spectators, among 
 the latter being many soldiers and gendarmes, while 
 in the street below a battalion of soldiers was drawn 
 up, ready to deal with the assembly should its voice 
 be raised against the dictator. 
 
 Anything so radical as an armed rebellion was not 
 spoken of, however, and the various speakers steered 
 carefully away from any direct criticism of President 
 Diaz. On the other hand, resolutions were adopted 
 pledging the Liberals to pursue the campaign of reform 
 only by peaceful means. 
 
 Nevertheless, as soon as it became evident that the 
 Liberals were planning to nominate a candidate for 
 the presidency, three years later, the government began 
 operations. By Russian police methods, the clubs all 
 over the country were broken up and the leading mem- 
 bers were arrested on fictitious charges, imprisoned or 
 forced into the army. A typical case was that of the 
 club "Ponciano Arriaga," of vSan Luis Potosi, which 
 formed the national center of the federation. On Janu- 
 ary 24, 1902, although other clubs had been violently 
 broken up for doing so, "Ponciano Arriaga" made bold 
 to hold a public meeting. Here and there among the 
 people were distributed soldiers and gendarmes in citi- 
 zens' clothing, under the command of a prominent law-
 
 THE CRUSHING OF OPPOSITION PARTIES 167 
 
 yer and congressman, an agent provocateur, who had 
 been commissioned by the government to destroy the 
 organization. 
 
 At a given moment, according to Librado Rivera, 
 who was vice-secretary of the club, the agent provocateur 
 jumped to his feet to protest against the work of the 
 club, and at the signal the disguised soldiers and gend- 
 armes feigned to join in the protest, smashing the chairs 
 to pieces against the floor. Their leader fired some 
 shots into the air, but the genuine audience and the mem- 
 bers of the club did not make the least move lest they 
 give some pretext for an attack, for they knew that 
 the agent provocateur and his assistants were but stag- 
 ing a comedy in order to invite violence to themselves 
 from some members of the club. Nevertheless, hardly 
 were the shots fired when a crowd of policemen in- 
 vaded the hall, striking right and left with their clubs. 
 Camilo Arriaga, president of the club; Juan Sarabia, 
 secretary; Professor Librado Rivera, vice-secretary, as 
 well as twenty-five other members, were arrested and 
 accused of fictitious crimes, such as resisting the police, 
 sedition, and so on. The result was that they w^ere all 
 imprisoned for nearly a year and the club was dissolved. 
 
 Thus were dissolved the majority of the other clubs 
 in the Liberal federation. The Liberal newspapers, pub- 
 lic spokesmen of the clubs, were put out of business by 
 the imprisonment of their editors and the destruction 
 or confiscation of the printing plants. How many men 
 and women lost their lives in the hunt of the Liberals 
 which extended over the succeeding 5'ears will never be 
 known. The jails, penitentiaries and military prisons 
 were filled with them, thousands were impressed into 
 the army and sent away to death in far Ouintana Roo, 
 wnile the ley fuga was called into requisition to get rid
 
 168 BARBAROUS UBXXfJ} 
 
 of men whom the government did not dare to execute 
 openly and without excuse. In the prisons tortures such 
 as would almost shame the Spanish Inquisition were 
 resorted to 
 
 Upon the organization of the Liberal Party some fifty 
 newspapers sprang up to support it in different parts 
 of the country. Every one of them was suppressed by 
 the police. Ricardo Flores Magon once showed me a 
 list of more than fifty newspapers that were suppressed 
 and a list of more than a hundred editors that were 
 jailed during the time he was struggling to publish a 
 paper in Mexico. In his book Fornaro gives a list of 
 thirty-nine newspapers that were persecuted or sub- 
 jected to trial on trivial excuses in the year 1902 for 
 the purpose of providing against any public agitation 
 against a seventh term for President Diaz. During 
 1908 there were at least six outright suppressions, the 
 newspapers to be put out of business being "El Piloto," 
 a daily of Monterey ; "La Humanidad" and "La Tierra," 
 two weeklies of Yucatan; "El Tecolote," of Aguasca- 
 lientes, and two of Guanajuato, "El Barretero" and "El 
 Hijo del Pueblo." During the period while I was in 
 Mexico at least two foreign newspaper men were de- 
 ported for criticizing the government, two Spaniards, 
 Ross y Planas and Antonio Duch, editors of the paper 
 "La Tierra," in Merida. Finally, in 1909 and 1910 
 the story of the suppression of the Liberal Party and 
 its press was repeated in the suppression of the Demo- 
 cratic Party and its press — but I must reserve that for 
 another chapter. 
 
 During the Liberal agitation many of the best-known 
 writers of Mexico fell by the assassin's hand. Among 
 them were Jesus Valades of Mazatlan, Sinaloa. Hav- 
 ing written articles against the despotism, while walk-
 
 THE CRUSHING OF OPPOSITION PARTIES 169 
 
 ing home from the theatre one night with his newly 
 wedded wife he was set upon by several men, who 
 killed him with daggers. In Tampico in 1902 Vincente 
 Rivero Echeagarey, a newspaper man, dared to criti- 
 cize the acts of the president. He was shot down at 
 night while in the act of opening his own door. Jesus 
 Olmos y Contreras, a newspaper man of the state of 
 Puebla, about the same time published articles expos- 
 ing an alleged licentious act of Governor Martinez. Two 
 friends of the governor invited Contreras to supper. 
 In the street the three walked arm in arm, the writer 
 in the middle. Suddenly thugs fell upon him from be- 
 hind. The false friends held Contreras tight until he 
 had been struck down, when a heavy rock was used 
 to beat the head of the victim into a pulp so that his 
 identification might be impossible. 
 
 In Merida, Yucatan, in December, 1905, the writer, 
 Abalardo Ancona, protested against the "re-election" 
 of Governor Olegario Molina. Ancona was thrown into 
 jail, where he was shot and stabbed to death. 
 
 In 1907 the writer, Augustin y Tovao, died of poison 
 administered in Belem prison. Jesus Martinez Carrion, 
 a noted newspaper artist, and Alberto Arans, a writer, 
 left Belem to die in a hospital. Dr. Juan de la Pena, 
 editor of a Liberal newspaper, died in the military prison 
 of San Juan de Ulua. Juan Sarabia, another well- 
 known editor, was also imprisoned there and for a long 
 time was supposed to be dead, until recently, when his 
 friends got word of him. Daniel Cabrera, one of the 
 oldest Liberal editors, was a cripple, and many times he 
 was carried to jail on a stretcher. 
 
 Professor Luis Toro, an editor of San Luis Potosi, 
 was imprisoned and beaten in prison so severely that he 
 died. In the same prison Primo Feliciano \''elasquez,*
 
 170 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 a lawyer and publisher of "El Estandarte," was beaten 
 so severely that he became a life-long cripple. Another 
 attorney and editor, Francisco de P. Morelos, was beaten 
 in the city of Monterey for -writing against the govern- 
 ment in his paper, "La Defensa." In Guanajuato, Jose 
 R. Granados, editor of "El Barretero," was beaten for 
 writing against the government. In Napimi, a lawyer, 
 Francisco A. Luna, was beaten and wounded with knives 
 for writing against the government. 
 
 And so a list could be given pages long. Ricardo 
 Flores Magon, Jesus Magon, Enrique Magon, Antonio 
 J. Villarreal, Librado Rivera, Manuel Sarabia and 
 many others spent months in prison for publishing oppo- 
 sition papers. Others were assassinated. As I said 
 before, autocracy feeds on murder, and the rule of 
 Porfirio Diaz has been one long story of murder. When 
 assassination, imprisonment and countless forms of per- 
 secution had destroyed their organization in Mexico, the 
 leaders who still retained their lives and liberty fled 
 to the United States and established their headquarters 
 here. They organized the Junta, or governing board 
 of the Party, established newspapers, and it was only 
 after the agents of the home government had followed 
 them here and succeeded in so harassing them with 
 false charges which resulted in their imprisonment that 
 they abandoned all hope of doing anything peaceful for 
 the regeneration of their country and decided to organ- 
 ize an armed force for the purpose of overthrowing the 
 'Mexican dictator. 
 
 The story of the persecutions visited upon the Mex- 
 ican refugees in the United States I will detail in an- 
 other chapter. It is sufficient here to pass over them 
 and point merely to the result of their attempts to bring 
 about a change in their government by revolution.
 
 THE CRUSHING OF OPPOSITION PARTIES 171 
 
 Briefly, the Liberal Party has launched two armed 
 revolutions against Diaz. Both of these have come to 
 grief at an early stage; first, because of the efficiency 
 of the government in putting spies in the midst of the 
 revolutionists and thus being able to anticipate them; 
 second, because of the severe methods used in repres- 
 sion; and, third, because of the effective co-operation 
 of the United States government, since the uprisings 
 were necessarily directed from this side of the line. 
 
 The first Liberal attempt at revolution was to have 
 been launched in September, 1906. The rebels claim 
 to have had thirty-six military groups partially armed 
 within Mexico and ready to rise at one signal. They 
 expected that at the first show of strength on their 
 part the army would desert to their standard and that 
 the civilians would receive them with open arms. 
 
 Whether they judged the army and the people cor- 
 rectly will never be known, for they never succeeded 
 in making any great show of strength. Government 
 spies betrayed the various groups, and when the ap- 
 pointed hour struck the majority of the leaders were 
 already dead or domiciled in San Juan de Ulua. The 
 revolution was to begin on the national independence 
 day, September 16, and the way the government pre- 
 pared for it generally may be imagined from the report 
 which I previously quoted of the large number of secret 
 killings in Diaz's capital. 
 
 Liberal groups in two cities succeeded in making a 
 start. One group captured the town of Jiminez, 
 Coahuila, and another laid siege to the army barracks 
 at Acayucan, state of Veracruz. Civilians joined them 
 in these two cities, and for a day they enjoyed partial 
 success. Then trainloads of troops got into each town, 
 and in a few days what was left of the rebel force was
 
 172 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 on its way to prison. The concentration of troops into 
 those towns was nothing short of wonderful. As before 
 stated, though Acayucan is comparatively isolated, 4,000 
 regular soldiers reached the scene within twenty-four 
 hours after hostilities began. 
 
 The second rebellion was scheduled to come ofif in 
 July, 1908. This time the Liberals claimed to have 
 forty-six military groups ready to rise in Alexico. But, 
 as it turned out, nearly all the fighting was done by 
 Llexican refugees, who recrossed from the United States 
 at Del Rio, Texas, and other border centers, armed with 
 guns purchased here. The Liberal leaders here claim 
 that every military group in ]\Iexico was anticipated 
 by the government and the members arrested before 
 the appointed hour. This certainly occurred at Casas 
 Grandes, Chihuahua, and the affair, being given much 
 publicity, caused the groups from the United States to 
 act prematurely. It is also claimed that some of the 
 stroiigest groups were betrayed by a criminal who, be- 
 cause of his facial resemblance to Antonio J. Villarreal, 
 secretary of the Liberal Junta, was freed from the 
 Torreon jail and pardoned by the authorities on condi- 
 tion that he go among^ the revolutionists, pass himself 
 off as Villarreal and betray them. I personally know 
 of two cases in which emissaries who left the Liberal 
 headquarters in the United States carrying orders for 
 the rising of certain groups fell into the clutches of the 
 government soon after they crossed the line. 
 
 Nevertheless, the rebellion of June, 1908, profoundly 
 shook Mexico for a time. The fighting in Coahuila fur- 
 nished the American press with a week's sensation, 
 and it was a month before the last of the rebels had 
 been hunted down and shot by the superior forces of 
 soldiers and rurales.
 
 THE C.TiUSlIING OF OITOSITION PARTIES 173 
 
 Such was the "Rcbclhon of Las Vacas," as it has conic 
 to be known both in the United States and Mexico. As 
 a result of this rebelHon and the previous one, the Mex- 
 ican agents in the United States at last succeeded in 
 breaking up the Liberal organization here almost as 
 effectively as it was broken up in Mexico. Up to the 
 time of the Congressional hearing on the persecutions 
 in June, 1910, all the Liberal leaders in the United States 
 were either in prison or in hiding, and no Mexican dared 
 openly espouse the cause of the Liberal Party for fear 
 that he, too, might be thrown behind the bars on a 
 charge of having been in some way connected with one 
 of those rebellions.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE EIGHTH UNANIMOUS ELECTION OF DIAZ 
 
 In order that the reader may entirely appreciate the 
 fact that the poHtical reign of terror estabHshed by Diaz 
 thirty-four years ago continues in full bloom to the 
 present day I shall devote this chapter to a record of 
 the presidential campaign, so called, which ended June 
 26, 1910, with the eighth "unanimous election" of Presi- 
 dent Diaz. 
 ^ To the end that the authenticity of this record may be 
 / beyond question, I have excluded from it all informa- 
 tion that has come to me by means of rumor, gossip, 
 letters and personal reports — everything except what has 
 already been printed in newspapers as common news. 
 In hardly an instance, moreover, was one of these news- 
 papers opposed to the regime of General Diaz; nearly 
 yi all were favorable to him. Therefore, if there are any 
 \ errors in these reports, it is safe to assume that the truth 
 J^\ has been minimized rather than overstated. It is safe 
 \j>^H to assume, also, that since the newspapers from which 
 j^l the reports were taken are published in Mexico where 
 lN j they are under the censorship of the police, that muner- 
 I ous other incidents of a similar, as well as of a worse, 
 ft^J character, occurred which were never permitted to 
 I I appear in print. 
 
 i^ Before proceeding to these records I may be pardoned 
 yfor restating the fact that President Diaz has held his 
 position at the head of the Mexican government for 
 more than a generation. In the latter part of 1876, 
 nearly thirty-four years ago, heading a personal revolu- 
 tion, he led an army into the Mexican capital and pro- 
 
 174
 
 EIGHTH UNANIMOUS Ii:LECTION OF DIAZ 175 
 
 claimed himself provisional president. Soon afterwards, 
 lie held what is called an election, and announced that 
 the people had chosen him constitutional president — 
 unanimously. In 1880 he turned the government over 
 to a friend, Manuel Gonzalez, who was also elected 
 unanimously. In 1884 Gonzalez reinstalled Diaz after 
 a third unanimous election. Following 1884 Diaz was 
 re-elected unanimously every four years for twenty 
 years, until 1904, when the presidential term was length- 
 ened to six years, and for the seventh time he was 
 elected unanimously. Finally, July 10, 1910, Diaz was 
 unanimously elected president of Mexico for the eighth 
 time. 
 
 The Mexican presidential campaign just closed, if I 
 may so denominate it, properly dates from the month 
 of March, 1908. At that time, through James Creel- 
 man and Pearson's Magazine, President Diaz announced 
 to the world, first, that under no circumstances would 
 he consent to enter upon an eighth term, and, second, 
 that he would be glad to assist in the transference of 
 the governmental power from himself personally to a 
 democratic organization of citizens. According to Mr. 
 Creelman, his words were: 
 
 "No matter what my friends and supporters say, I retire when 
 my present term of office ends, and I shall not serve again. I 
 shall be eighty years old then. 
 
 "I have waited patiently for the day when the people of the 
 Mexican Republic would be prepared to choose and change their 
 government at every election without danger of armed revolu- 
 tions and without injury to the national credit or interference 
 with national progress. I believe that day has come. 
 
 "I welcome an opposition party in the Mexican Republic. If 
 it appears, I will regard it as a blessing, not an evil. And if it 
 can develop power, not to exploit but to govern, I will stand 
 by it, support it, advise it and forget myself in the successful 
 inauguration of complete democratic government in the country."
 
 176" BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 The interview was reprinted by nearly every peri- 
 odical in Mexico, and it produced a profound sensation. 
 It is not exaggerating to say that the entire nation, 
 outside of official circles, vv^as overjoyed by the news. 
 The nation took General Diaz at his word, and immedi- 
 ately there arose a lively but temperate discussion not 
 only of the various possible candidates for the presi- 
 dency, but also of innumerable questions relating to 
 popular government. Books and pamphlets were writ- 
 ten urging Diaz to immortalize himself as a second 
 Washington by giving over the government to his people 
 when he might very easily retain the supreme power 
 until his death. 
 
 But at the height of this discussion the word was 
 passed quietly about that the president's promise to 
 retire at the end of the term was not final. To show 
 how thoroughly the government had public speech and 
 the press under control at this time it is only necessary 
 to say that at once, upon the foregoing announcement 
 being made, the discussion of presidential candidates for 
 1910 stopped. 
 
 Diaz was so thoroughly entrenched in power that 
 there seemed little use of opposing him directly, but 
 the people remembered the other statement that he had 
 made and that he had not yet retracted — that he would 
 welcome an opposition movement in Mexico. The dec- 
 laration that he would support an opposition movement 
 seemed paradoxical, and so the bright heads of the 
 progressive element were laid together to devise a move- 
 ment that, while not being in direct opposition to Diaz, 
 would at the same time be able to work an opening 
 wedge into the log of democracy. 
 
 The plan hit upon was to urge President Diaz to 
 retain his seat and in the same voice to ask that the coun-
 
 EIGHTH UNANIMOUS ELECTION OF DIAZ 177 
 
 try be permitted freely to choose a vice-president, so 
 that in case Diaz should die during his next term his 
 successor might be more or less in line with the desires 
 and ambitions of the people. 
 
 The silence with which President Diaz received the 
 publication of this plan was taken for consent, where- 
 upon there began a widespread agitation, an organiza- 
 tion of clubs, the holding of public discussions, news- 
 paper debates, all of which might very well be taken 
 as proof that President Diaz was right when he declared 
 the Mexican people fit at last to enjoy the blessings of a 
 real republic. 
 
 According to Mr. Barron, in an interview published 
 in the New York World, within a short time no fewer 
 than five hundred clubs were organized in Mexico. In 
 January, 1909, these clubs held a convention in the cap- 
 ital, formed a central organization known as the Cen- 
 tral Democratic Club, elected officers and adopted a 
 platform, the main points of which were as follows : 
 
 Abolition of the jefcs poUtkos and the transference of their 
 power to municipal boards of aldermen. 
 
 The extension of primary education. 
 
 Suffrage laws to be enacted and enforced placing the franchise 
 on a mixed educational and property basis. 
 
 Greater freedom for the press. 
 
 Stricter enforcement of the laws of reform (against monastic 
 orders, etc.). 
 
 Greater respect for human life and liberty and a more effective 
 administration of justice. 
 
 Legislation making it possible for workingmen to secure 
 financial indemnity from their employers in case of accidents 
 and to enable the public to sue transportation companies and 
 other like corporations on the same ground. 
 
 Agrarian laws for the encouragement of agriculture. 
 The officers elected to head the new party were four 
 bright young congressmen: Benito Juarez, Jr., presi-
 
 178 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 dent; Manuel Calero, vice-president; Diodoro Batalla, 
 secretary; Jesus Urueta, treasurer. 
 
 April 2nd the Re-electionist Club, an organization 
 consisting wholly of office-holders, appointees of Diaz, 
 met and duly nominated General Diaz and his vice- 
 president, Ramon Corral, for re-election. Shortly after- 
 wards, in accordance with its original plan, the Demo- 
 cratic Party also named President Diaz for re-election. 
 For vice-president it named General Bernardo Reyes, 
 governor of Nuevo Leon. 
 
 Take a look at the general situation for a moment. 
 Here was a party of men, consisting of the best edu- 
 cated, most intelligent and most progressive element in 
 the country. Their platform shows their demands to 
 have been excessively moderate. The party had sprung 
 into existence through the published promise of General 
 Diaz to permit it to function. In order to assure itself 
 of safety at his hands, the party had placed General 
 Diaz at the head of its ticket. Finally, the campaign 
 which it launched was marvelously temperate and self- 
 restrained. There was no call to arms. There was no 
 hint of rebellion or revolution in any form. What 
 criticism as was oflfered of existing institutions waa 
 oflfered with studious calmness and care. General Diaz 
 was even praised. The people were asked to vote for 
 him, but — to vote for Reyes for vice-president. 
 
 It required only a few days to develop the fact that 
 in the event of an election Reyes would triumph over 
 Corral by a large majority. Former enemies of Reyes 
 were for him, not because they loved him, but because 
 the movement behind him held out a promise of a little 
 self-government for Mexico. As soon as the popularity 
 of the Democratic Party became evident, despite the
 
 EIGHTH UNANIMOUS ELECTION OF DIAZ 179 
 
 order that prevailed at its meetings, despite the temper- 
 ance of its press, despite the fact that the laws were 
 studiously observed, instead of supporting and advising, 
 as he had promised to do, General Diaz moved to de- 
 stroy it. 
 
 Diaz's first open move against the Democratic Parly 
 was to nip the propaganda for Reyes that was beginning 
 in the army. This he did by banishing to remote parts 
 of the country a dozen army officers who had subscribed 
 themselves as favorable to the candidacy of Reyes. 
 
 This action of Diaz has been defended on the ground 
 that he had a perfect right to prohibit members of the 
 army from exercising political functions. But inasmuch 
 as the president of the Re-electionist Club was an officer 
 in the army, inasmuch as numerous army officers engaged 
 openly and actively in the Corral campaign, it would 
 seem that these men were proceeded against rather be- 
 cause they were for Reyes than because they were 
 members of the army. 
 
 Captain Reuben Morales, one of the punished officers, 
 had accepted the vice-presidency of a Reyist club. He 
 was ordered to resign from the club or to resign from 
 the army. He resigned from the army, or attempted 
 to do so, but his resignation was not accepted and he 
 was sent away to the territory of Quintana Roo. Eight 
 of the offending officers were sent to Sonora to be placed 
 in the field against the Yaqui Indians. 
 
 The banishment of the army officers took place at 
 the end of May. Following close upon the incident 
 came action against some Democratic leaders who occu- 
 pied positions in the government. Congressmen Urueta 
 and Lerdo de Tejada, Jr., and Senator Jose Lopez Por- 
 tillo were among the first to be deposed from their 
 positions.
 
 180 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 Some students of the national schools of jurispru- 
 dence, mines, medicine and the preparatory school of 
 Mexico City, were encouraged in forming a club to 
 further tlie candidacy of Corral. But when the students 
 of the Jalisco state schools of law and medicine formed 
 a club to further the candidacy of Reyes the govern- 
 ment ordered them either to abandon their political 
 activity or to leave school. They sent a committee to 
 Diaz to appeal for fair play. But he gave them no 
 satisfaction, the threat of expulsion was renewed with 
 the result that so many students were expelled from 
 the Jalisco schools that the schools actually closed for 
 lack of pupils. 
 
 In July, a committee of re-electionists from Mexico 
 City held a public meeting in favor of Corral in the 
 Delgado theatre, Guadalajara, capital of Jalisco. The 
 audience, composed largely of democratic students, hissed 
 one of the speakers. Whereupon companies of police, 
 which had been held in readiness, were ordered to clear 
 the building and square. 
 
 This the police did after the manner of Mexico — 
 with sabre, club and pistol. The figures on the killed, 
 wounded and imprisoned were suppressed by the authori- 
 ties, but all newspaper reports at the time agree that 
 there were persons killed and wounded, as well as 
 imprisoned. The highest estimate that I have seen 
 placed the killed at twelve, the seriously wounded at 
 thirty-five and the arrested at one thousand. Following 
 the occurrence, Guadalajara was filled with state and 
 national troops. General Ignacio Bravo, notorious as the 
 most ruthless officer in the Mexican army, was hurried 
 from Ouintana Roo temporarily to replace the exist- 
 ing head of the military zone; and, finally, all political
 
 EIGHTH UNANIMOUS ELECTION OF DIAZ 181 
 
 expression of the Democrats was put down with an 
 iron hand. 
 
 Among the prominent leaders of the Democratic 
 movement in Guadalajara who were made to suffer at 
 this time was Ambrosio Ulloa, an engineer and lawyer, 
 founder of a school for engineers, and head of the 
 Corona Flour Milling Company. Ulloa happened to be 
 president of the Reyes club of Guadalajara, and, on the 
 theory that the club was in some way responsible for 
 the so-called student riot, Ulloa, a week after the occur- 
 rence, was taken to jail and imprisoned under a charge 
 of "sedition." 
 
 During the putting down of the student movement 
 in Guadalajara at least one case of the ley fuga was 
 reported from that city. The victim was William de la 
 Pena, a former student of Christian Brothers' College, 
 St. Louis, Mo., also of the Ohio State University. The 
 case was reported in the St. Louis papers, from which 
 place a dispatch was sent out through the Associated 
 Press. Relating the occurrence, the press dispatch said: 
 
 "He (Pena) was at his country home, when an officer of the 
 Rurales invited him to go with him. He mounted his horse and 
 went. Next day servants found his body, riddled with bullets." 
 
 September 7th Congressman Heriberto Barron, who 
 had mildly criticized Diaz in an open letter, fled from 
 the country and took up his residence in New York. 
 One Mexican paper has it that agents of the Diaz 
 secret police forced Barron upon a Ward liner at Vera- 
 cruz and compelled him to leave the country. In Nev/ 
 York newspapers Barron declared that he had fled to 
 escape imprisonment. A few months later he begged to be 
 allowed to return home, but was told that he must 
 remain an exile until the death of the president of Mex- 
 ico, The heinousness of Barron's crime may be gath-
 
 182 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 ered from the following paragraphs, the most uncompli- 
 mentary in his open letter to Diaz : 
 
 "At the velada to which I have alluded, when your name was 
 pronounced by the orators, it was received with unanimous 
 hisses and marks of disapproval. 
 
 "On the night of the performance given at the Principal 
 theatre in aid of the Guerrero victims, the entire audience main- 
 tained a sinister silence on your arrival. The same silence pre- 
 vailed when you departed. 
 
 "If you had occasion, as I have, to mingle with the gather- 
 ings and groups of people of different classes, not all Reyists, 
 you would hear, Mr. President, expressions of indignation 
 against you spoken openly on all sides." 
 
 Within ten days after the banishment of Barron, a 
 foreign resident, Frederick Palmer by name, an English- 
 man, was lodged in Belem prison, denied bail, held in- 
 communicado for some days, and finally was sentenced 
 to one month's imprisonment — for doing nothing worse 
 than remarking that he thought Diaz had been president 
 of Mexico long enough. 
 
 July 28th Celso Cortez, vice-president of the Central 
 Club Reyista of Mexico City, was lodged in Belem 
 prison for making a speech at the club rooms criticizing 
 members of the Diaz cabinet. 
 
 Following came a long list of arrests of members of 
 the Democratic movement throughout the country. Usu- 
 ally the charge was "sedition," but never was any evi- 
 dence produced to prove sedition as Americans under- 
 stand that term. In this movement there was never 
 any hint of armed rebellion or any concerted violation 
 of existing laws. In all of these cases I have yet to 
 learn of any in which reasonable ground for the arrest 
 existed. In many cases the victims were kept in jail 
 for months, and in some cases they were sentenced to 
 long terms in prison. The number persecuted in this
 
 EIGHTH UNANIMOUS ELECTION OF DIAZ 183 
 
 way is problematical, as reports of only the more promi- 
 nent cases got into the Mexican press. The following 
 are a few of those recorded: 
 
 In August Jose Ignacio Rebollar, secretary of the Club 
 Reyista of Torreon, with several others, was arrested 
 for appearing at a serenade given to the governor of the 
 state and attempting to proselyte for Reyes. 
 
 On August 1, 1909, a company of ruralcs broke up 
 a meeting of Reyistas in Silao and placed a number 
 of them in jail. 
 
 In November, 1909, Manuel Martinez de Arrendodo, 
 a wealthy planter; his nephew, Francisco de Arrendodo; 
 four attorneys, Pedro Reguera, Antonio Juarez, Enrique 
 Recio and Juan Barrera, also Marcos Valencia, Amado 
 Cardenas, Francisco Vidal and other were sent to jail 
 for attempting to hold a Reyist meeting in Merida, 
 Yucatan. Several of the number were kept in jail for 
 more than six months. 
 
 In January, 1910, Attorney Francisco Perera Escobar, 
 a member of the legislature in the state of Campeche, 
 was arrested for distributing bills announcing a meeting 
 of Reyists. 
 
 December 7, 1909, Jose Lopez Portillo y Rojas, a 
 prominent Reyist of the capital, was imprisoned in 
 Belem on a trumped up charge. Some months later it 
 was reported that he was still there and that he was 
 to be sentenced to nine years' imprisonment. 
 
 January 26, 1910, some Democrats held a public meet- 
 ing in the Alameda, Mexico City. Dr. Manuel Espinosa 
 de Los Monteros, president of the Central Club Reyista, 
 presided, and Don Enrique Garcia de la Cadena y 
 Ancona delivered a patriotic address. The police broke 
 up the meeting and arrested Cadena and Monteros, 
 charging them with sedition. At this writing it is re-
 
 184 BARRAROUS MEXICO 
 
 ported that both of them will be sent for long terms 
 to the penal colony on the Tres Marias Islands in the 
 Pacific. 
 
 During the months following the attempt to place a 
 candidate in the field against Vice-President Corral the 
 Democrats tried to strengthen their position by contest- 
 ing some state and local "elections." As a result there 
 were many arrests and several massacres by troops or 
 local authorities. 
 
 At Petape, Oaxaca, the Twenty-fifth battalion of regu- 
 lars fired on a crowd of the opposition, killing several. 
 Seventy were jailed. 
 
 At Tepames, Colima, there were many shootings. 
 After the jail was full, the authorities are reported as 
 having taken out some of the prisoners, compelled them 
 to dig their own graves, then shot them so that they fell 
 into the trenches. 
 
 At Tehuitzingo, Puebia, in April, it was reported that 
 sixteen citizens were executed without trial, and that 
 many others had been condemned to twenty years' con- 
 finement in the fortress of San Juan de Ulua. 
 
 In Merida, Yucatan, federal troops were placed in 
 the polling booths and large numbers of Democrats 
 were arrested. 
 
 In the state of Morelos, in February, 1909, the Demo- 
 crats attempted to elect Patricio Leyva in opposition to 
 Pablo Escandon, a slave-holding Spaniard whom Diaz 
 had selected for the place. For accepting the Demo- 
 cratic candidacy Leyva was dismissed from his govern- 
 ment position as Inspector of Irrigation in the Depart- 
 ment of Fomento. The president and vice-president 
 of the Free Sufifrage Club at Jojutia and the officers of 
 a similar club at Tiaquiltenango, as well as many others, 
 were jailed on charges of sedition, while the authorties
 
 EIGHTH UNANIMOUS ELECTION OF DIAZ 185 
 
 were reported as having killed several. Police placed 
 in possession of the polls prevented many from voting, 
 and finally the vote as actually cast was falsified in favor 
 of Escandon, who became governor. 
 
 In July, 1909, many arrests occurred at Puerte, Si- 
 naloa, and the town was filled with federal ruralcs. In 
 January, 1910, sixteen men arrested some time before 
 on suspicion of being in a plot against the government 
 at Viesca, were sentenced to be shot, the supreme court 
 sitting at the capital pronouncing the decree. 
 
 While such incidents were going on the press situa- 
 tion was being manipulated, also. The government 
 bought or subsidized newspapers, on the one hand, and 
 suppressed them on the other. Some thirty or forty 
 daily and weekly publications espoused the Democratic 
 cause. I do not know of one of them which the govern- 
 ment did not compel to suspend operations. Despite 
 the fact that they were careful of their utterances, they 
 were put out of business, the majority of them by im- 
 prisonment of their editors, seizure of their printing 
 plants, or both. 
 
 April 16, 1909, Antonio Duch, editor of Tierra, of 
 Merida, was escorted aboard a steamer at Veracruz by 
 the Mexican secret police and compelled to leave the 
 country under the charge of being a "pernicious for- 
 eigner." His paper was suppressed. 
 
 July 15, 1909, Francisco Navarro, editor of La Lib- 
 ertad, organ of the Club Democratico of Guadalajara, 
 was jailed for criticizing the sabreing of Reyist students. 
 His paper was stopped, his office closed, a gendarme was 
 placed on guard and it was officially announced that were 
 an attempt made to issue tJie paper from another shop, 
 it, also, would be closed. 
 
 August 3, 1909, Feliz Vera, correspondent of demo-
 
 186 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 cratic papers at Guadalajara, was taken to Belem prison, 
 where he remains at this writing, though so far no 
 formal charge has been filed against him. 
 
 In October, 1909, Manuel M. Oviedo, editor of La 
 Hoja Sueha and president of the Anti-re-electionist 
 Club of Torreon, was sent to prison and his paper was 
 suppressed. Action was taken because Oviedo asked 
 for a fair state election following the forced retirement 
 of Governor Cardenas. 
 
 In November, 1909, Martin Stecker, a native of Ger- 
 many, editor of El Trueno, Linares, Nuevo Leon, was 
 jailed on a charge of "defamation" and his newspaper 
 was suppressed. Stecker was only a very mild Reyist. 
 The real reason for his arrest was that Linares is a 
 good newspaper field and members of the Diaz machine 
 wished the sole privilege of exploiting it. Just previous 
 to the suppression of El Trueno Governor Reyes had 
 been banished from the country and his friends put out 
 of the municipal government at Linares. 
 
 In November, 1909, Revista de Merida, of Merida, 
 Yucatan, was suppressed by the government. Editor 
 Menendez and other writers were imprisoned on the 
 charge of sedition. 
 
 About the same time two other Merida newspapers 
 were suppressed. One was Yucatan Nuevo. Its edi- 
 tors, Fernando M. Estrada and Ramon Peovide, are 
 at this writing still in jail. The other was La Defensa 
 Nacional. Its editors, Calixto M. Maldonada and 
 Caesar A. Gonzalez, were charged with "provocation of 
 rebellion." The evidence produced in court against them 
 consisted of copies of a circular sent out by the National 
 Anti-re-electionist Club, which they were passing among 
 their friends. 
 
 In February, 1910, Heriberto Frias, editor of El
 
 EIGHTH UNANIMOUS ELECTION OF DIAZ 187 
 
 Correo de la Tardc, was driven out of Mazatlan be- 
 cause he published the statement that in the so-called 
 election in Sinaloa boys of ten and twelve were permitted 
 to vote the administration ticket, while men of forty 
 and fifty of the opposition party were turned away on 
 the ground that they were too young to vote. 
 
 In October, 1909, Alfonso B. Peniche, editor of La 
 Redencion, Mexico City, was arrested for "defamation" 
 of a minor employe of the government. Despite his 
 imprisonment, Peniche succeeded in continuing his pub- 
 lication for a time, although in order to do so he was 
 compelled to smuggle his copy through the bars of the 
 prison. After remaining in Belem a short time he pub- 
 lished an article asking for an investigation into the con- 
 ditions of Belem, alleging that an instrument of torture 
 called "the rattler" was used upon the prisoners. This 
 undoubtedly had something to do with the extreme 
 severity of the punishment that was meted out to 
 Peniche, for after remaining five months in Belem he 
 was sentenced to banishment to the penal colony on the 
 Tres Marias Islands for four long years. 
 
 Undoubtedly the charge against Peniche was only a 
 subterfuge to get him out of the way. The story of 
 his "defamation," according to Mexico Nuevo, the most 
 conservative democratic daily, was: 
 
 In his paper Redencion, now suspended, he published a state- 
 ment signed by various merchants, making charges against a 
 tax collector of the federal district, relating to acts committed 
 in his official capacity. The Bureau of Taxation took action 
 in the matter, ordering an investigation, and, as a result, the 
 charges were sustained and the tax collector was removed by the 
 Secretary of Hacienda, with the approval of the President of 
 the Republic, for "not deserving the confidence of the govern- 
 ment;" moreover, he was arraigned before the first judge of the 
 district, for an inquiry into the supposed fraud of the treasury, 
 and this inquiry is now pending.
 
 188 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 This being the case, there were many reasons to suppose that 
 Peniche, in publishing the accusation, was working in the public 
 interest and was not committing any crime. Instead of this, he 
 is convicted of defamation, an even more serious offense than 
 libel. 
 
 El Diario del Hogar, an old and conservative daily 
 paper of the capital, which has espoused the cause of 
 the Democrats, printed an account of Peniche's banish- 
 ment also, the article appearing under the caption 
 "Newspaper Men Watch Out." The authorities at once 
 forced the suspension of the paper. The owner, Filomena 
 Mata, an aged man who had retired from active life; 
 Filomena Mata, Jr., managing editor, and the mechanical 
 foreman, were taken to prison. A month afterwards 
 it was reported that father and son were still in jail 
 and that Mata, St., was dying of ill treatment received 
 from the jailers. 
 
 Some time later, in March, 1910, the government 
 forced the suspension of Mexico Nuevo. It was revived 
 later, however, and is the only Democratic paper which 
 survived the Reyes campaign. 
 
 Paulino Martinez was one of the oldest and best- 
 known newspaper men in Mexico. His papers were 
 the only ones in opposition to the policy of the admin- 
 istration which succeeded in weathering the storm of 
 press persecutions of past years. For several years his 
 papers, La Voz de Juarez and EI Tnsurgente. were the 
 only opposition papers in I\Texico. Martinez kept them 
 alive, so he told me himself, bv refraining always from 
 making direct criticisms of high officials or acts of Gen- 
 eral Diaz. 
 
 But with the campaign against the Democratic move- 
 ment Martinez's papers went with the rest. When the 
 government began action against him his papers num-
 
 EIGHTH UNANIMOUS ELECTION OF DIAZ 189 
 
 ()ered four, La Voz de Juarez, El Insurgente, El Chi- 
 laco, all weeklies, and El Anti-Re-electionista, a daily. 
 All were published in the capital. 
 
 The first blow fell upon La Voz de Juarez (The Voice 
 of Juarez). August 3, 1909, that paper was suppressed 
 and the plant confiscated. "Slandering the army," was 
 the charge. The police looked for Martinez, but failed 
 to find him. All minor employes found about the shop 
 were jailed, and it was announced that the plant would 
 be sold. 
 
 September 3rd the secret police descended upon El 
 Insurgente and El Chinaco, also upon El Paladin, a 
 weekly paper published by Ramon Alvarez Soto. The 
 type forms of all three publications were seized and 
 taken to the offices of the secret police as "pieces de 
 conviction." Soto, Joaquin Pina, Martinez's managing 
 editor of El Chinaco, Joaquin Fernando Bustillos, an- 
 other editor, five printers, two other employes and Mrs. 
 Martinez, were taken to jail. After five days the report- 
 ers and printers were released. But Mrs. Martinez and 
 Enrique Patino, a member of El Paladin staff, who had 
 been apprehended later, were held on charges of sedi- 
 tion. 
 
 El Anti-Re-electionista, the last of the Martinez papers, 
 succumbed September 28th. The office was closed, the 
 plant seized and sealed with the seal of the court, and 
 twenty-two employes found about the office were all 
 taken prisoner and charged with sedition. The list con- 
 sisted of three members of the office executive force, 
 one reporter, fifteen typesetters and three bindery girls. 
 
 How long these twenty-two remained in prison is not 
 recorded. Six months later I saw a report that at least 
 one of the Martinez editors, D. Feliz Palavicini, was 
 still in prison. Mrs. Martinez remained in jail for sev-
 
 190 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 eral months. Her husband succeeded in escaping to 
 the United States, and when Mrs. Martinez joined him 
 neither of them had a dollar. Mrs. Martinez, by the 
 way, is a native of the United States. 
 
 ]\Iost remarkable of all was the treatment meted out 
 to the nominee of the Democratic Party, General Ber- 
 nardo Reyes, governor of the state of Nuevo Leon. 
 Doubly, trebly remarkable was that treatment in view oi 
 the fact that General Reyes not only did not accept 
 the nomination of the Democratic Party, but that he 
 repudiated it. Four times he repudiated it. Not only 
 that, but during the months in which calamities were 
 being heaped upon him and his friends he never gave 
 utterance to one word or raised his little finger in the 
 most insignificant act that might be construed as an 
 offense to President Diaz, to Vice-President Corral, or 
 to any of the members of the Diaz government. By its 
 military bluster the government tried to create the im- 
 pression that Reyes was on the verge of an armed revolt, 
 but of that there is not the slightest evidence. 
 
 As a candidate, General Reyes did not perfectly fit 
 the ideal of the leaders of the Democratic movement, 
 for he had never before appeared in any way as a 
 champion of democratic principles. Doubtless the 
 Democrats chose him, as a government organ charged, 
 because of their belief in his "ability to face the music." 
 Reyes was a strong figure, and it requires a strong figure 
 to rally the people when their fears are strong. It was 
 for this reason that the Democratic leaders pinned their 
 faith to him, and they launched their campaign on the 
 assumption that when he discovered that the people were, 
 almost unanimous for him, he would accept the nomina- 
 tion. 
 
 In this the Democrats were mistaken. Reyes chose
 
 EIGHTH UNANIMOUS ELECTION OF DIAZ 191 
 
 not to face the music. Four times he repudiated tlie 
 nomination publicly. He retired to his mountain resort 
 and there waited for the storm to blow over. He i)ut 
 himself out of touch with his partizans and with the 
 world. He made no move that might give offense to 
 the government. 
 
 And yet — what happened to Reyes? 
 
 Diaz deposed the head of the military zone, which 
 includes the state of Monterey, and placed in command 
 General Trevino, a personal enemy of Reyes. Trevino 
 marched upon Reyes' state at the head of an army. He 
 stopped on his way at Saltillo and, by a display of arms, 
 compelled the resignation of Governor Cardenas of 
 Coahuila merely because the latter was a friend of Reyes. 
 He threw his army into Monterey and overturned the 
 local government, as well as all the municipal govern- 
 ments in the entire state. Diaz ordered a fine of a third 
 of a million dollars placed upon Reyes' financial asso- 
 ciates, in order that they, as well as he, might be dealt 
 a crushing blow financially. Trevino surrounded Reyes 
 in his mountain resort and compelled him to return, a 
 virtual prisoner, and to hand in his resignation. Finally, 
 Reyes was sent out of the country, ostensibly on a **mili- 
 tary mission" to Europe — actually, banished from his 
 native country for two years, or longer, should the ruler 
 so decide. 
 
 So perished Reyism, as the government papers de- 
 risively called the opposition. The Democratic move- 
 ment was demoralized for the time being, and the gov- 
 ernment doubtless imagined that the end of Reyes meant 
 the end of the Democratic movement. 
 
 But not so. The democratic ambitions of the peo- 
 ple had been aroused to a high pitch, and they would not 
 be denied. Instead of intimidating them, the banish-
 
 192 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 mcnt of Reyes and the high-handed acts that went be- 
 fore it only served to make the people bolder in their 
 demands. From daring to nominate a candidate merely 
 for vice-president, they passed to nominating a candi- 
 date for president. The pseudo opposition party became 
 an opposition party indeed. 
 
 In Francisco I. Madero, the party found its new 
 leader. Madero was a distinguished citizen of Coahuila, 
 a member of one of the oldest and most respected fami- 
 lies in Mexico. The Aladeros had never involved them- 
 selves in Diaz politics ; they were rich farmers, well 
 educated, cultured and progressive. Madero's first 
 notable interest in democracy was shown in his book, 
 "La Sucesion Presidencial," which he published in 1908. 
 It was a thoughtful but mild criticism of the Diaz 
 regime, and in the end it urged the people to insist upon 
 the right to engage in the elections of 1910. 
 
 ]\Iadero's book is said to have been suppressed in 
 Mexico, but only after it had gained wide circulation, 
 and its influence was no doubt considerable in prompt- 
 ing the launching of the Democratic Party. After the 
 nomination of Reyes, Madero went about the country 
 in his own private car, addressing public meetings, not 
 campaigning for Reyes, but confining himself chiefly to 
 the dissemination of the A, B, C's of popular govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The banishment of Reyes did not stop Madero's 
 speech-making, and before the end of 1909 it was 
 announced that the Democratic and Reyist clubs would 
 reorganize as "Anti-Re-electionist" clubs, and that a 
 national convention would be held at which the Anti- 
 Re-electionist Party would be organized and nomina- 
 tions made for president and vice-president of the re- 
 public.
 
 EIGHTH UNANIMOUS ELECTION OF DIAZ 193 
 
 The convention was held in the middle of April, 1910; 
 Madero was named for president and Dr. Francisco 
 Vasquez Gomez for vice-president. The scattered ele- 
 ments of the interrupted campaign were got together and 
 Madero and such others of the Democratic leaders as 
 were out of jail went on with their speech-making — 
 careful, as ever, to criticize but sparingly and to encour- 
 age no breaches of the peace. 
 
 The result was instantaneous. The nation was again 
 in a fervor of enthusiasm over the idea of actually exer- 
 cising their constitutional right of franchise. Had the 
 movement been small, it would have been allowed to 
 go its way and spend itself. But the movement was 
 tremendous. It put on a parade in the national capital 
 such as Diaz, with all his powers of coercion and of 
 hire, had never been able to equal in his own behalf. 
 Every marcher in that parade knew that in walking 
 with that throng he was laying himself liable to i^erse- 
 cution, to ruin, perhaps to death, but yet so great was 
 the throng that the government organs themselves were 
 forced to admit that the parade was a triumph for the 
 "Maderists," as the Democrats were now called. 
 
 Before the convention and during the convention the 
 Diaz press pooh-poohed Madero, his program and his 
 party as too insignificent to be noticed. But before the 
 delegates had returned to their homes the movement 
 had assumed such grave proportions that the govern- 
 ment proceeded against it as it had proceeded against 
 the "Reyists" before the banishment of Reyes. Every- 
 where members of Anti-Re-electionist clubs were thrown 
 into jail; such progressive newspapers as remained 
 and dared to espouse the Democratic cause were sup- 
 pressed, and the police power was used to break up the 
 clubs, stop public meetings and prevent receptions being
 
 194 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 accorded the party's candidates as they traveled through 
 the country. 
 
 So severe was this persecution that, May 21st, Attor- 
 ney Roque Estrada, one of the most prominent of the 
 Anti-Re-electionist speakers, addressed an open letter to 
 Diaz, begging him to interfere in behalf of constitutional 
 rights. This was followed by a letter from Madero him- 
 self, couched in a similar vein. In recounting some of 
 the outrages wdiich had been heaped upon his friends, 
 Estrada said in part: 
 
 "When the delegate of Cananea, Sonora, returned to his 
 home, he was imprisoned, just as were some presidents of clubs; 
 in Alamos, Sonora, independent citizens were arrested, and a 
 journalist and his family were martyred; in Torreon, Coahuila, 
 in Monterey, and in Orizaba the rights of association and 
 reunion have been impudently violated ; finallj^ in the tormented 
 City of Puebla, immediately after the visit which the candidates 
 of the people made on the 14th and 15th of the current month, 
 an epoch of terror was begun, capable of destroying the repu- 
 tation of the most sane and solid administration. In the City 
 of Zaragoza many independent citizens were confined in prison, 
 others were consigned to the army, as in the case of Senor 
 Diaz Duran, president of an xA.nti-Re-electionist club; and others 
 have felt the necessity of abandoning their homes in order to 
 escape the fury of authority." 
 
 Some of the outrages recounted in Madero's letter 
 follow : 
 
 "At Coahuila the public officials have arbitrarily forbidden 
 demonstrations in our honor, preventing also the spread of our 
 principles. The same has happened ni the states of Nuevo Leon, 
 Aguascalientes and San Luis Potosi. * * * In the States of 
 Sonora and Puebla the conditions are serious. In the former 
 state an independent journalist, Mr. Caesar del Vando, was 
 thrown into jail. * * * At Cananea the prosecutions are 
 extreme against the members of my party, and according to late 
 news received therefrom more than thirty individuals have been 
 imprisoned, among them the full board of directors of the
 
 EIGHTH UNANIMOUS ELECTION OF DIAZ 195 
 
 Club Anti-Rc-clectionista dc Obreros (workers), three of whom 
 were forcibly enlisted in the army. 
 
 "At Puebla, Atlixco and TIaxcala, where untold outrages 
 have been committed against my followers, reigns intense excite- 
 ment. The last news received shows the conditions of the 
 working classes to be desperate ; that they may at any moment 
 resort to violent means to have their rights respected." 
 
 In June, the month of election, matters became very 
 much worse. Estrada and Madero themselves were 
 arrested. On the night of June 6 they were secretly 
 taken and secretly held in the penitentiary at Monterey 
 imtil the truth became noised about, when charges were 
 formally preferred against them. Estrada was charged 
 with "sedition." Madero was first accused of protect- 
 ing Estrada from arrest, but soon afterwards tliis charge 
 was dropped and he was accused of "insulting the 
 nation." He was removed from the penitentiary of 
 Nuevo Leon to the penitentiary of San Luis Potosi, and 
 here he remained incommunicado until after "election." 
 
 The presidential campaign ended amid many reports 
 of government persecutions. A reputable dispatch dated 
 June 9th said that in breaking up a gathering at Saltillo, 
 following the news of the arrest of IMadero, the police 
 rode down the crowds, injuring more than two hundred 
 people. Another, dated June 14th, said that in the cities 
 of Torreon, Saltillo and Monterey more than one hun- 
 dred persons were arrested on the charge of "insulting" 
 the government ; that at Ciudad Porfirio Diaz "forty-seven 
 prominent citizens were arrested in one day. and that 
 a big exodus of citizens of the border towns, fearing 
 arrest, was taking place to the United States. Still 
 another dispatch, dated June 21.st. said that more than 
 four liundred arrests had been made in northern Mexico 
 the previous day and that 1,000 political prisoners were
 
 196 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 being held incommunicado, where they would remain 
 until after the election. 
 
 "Election day" found soldiers or ruralcs in every 
 town and hamlet. Booths were actually put up here and 
 there and a farce of an election was gone through with. 
 Soldiers held the polls and every man who dared cast a 
 ballot for any but the administration ticket knew that he 
 was risking imprisonment, confiscation of property, even 
 death, in doing so. Finally, the government went 
 through the form of counting the vote, and in due course 
 of time the world was told that the Mexican people had 
 proved "practically unanimous" in their choice of Diar 
 and Corral.
 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 FOUR MEXICAN STRIKES 
 
 On the line of the Mexican Railway, which cHmbs, in 
 one hundred odd miles of travel, from the port of Vera- 
 cruz 10,000 feet to the rim of the valley of Mexico, are 
 situated a number of mill towns. Nearing the summit, 
 after that wonderful ascent from the tropics to the snows, 
 the passenger looks back from his car window through 
 dizzying reaches of empty air, sheer a full mile, as the 
 crow might dare to fly a score of them, down to the 
 uppermost of these mill towns, Santa Rosa, a gray 
 checkerboard upon a map of green. Just below Santa 
 Rosa, but out of sight behind the titanic shoulder of a 
 mountain, nestles Rio Blanco, largest of the mill towns, 
 scene of the bloodiest strike in the labor history of 
 Mexico. 
 
 In altitude half way between the shark-infested waters 
 of Veracruz harbor and the plateau of the Montezumas, 
 Rio Blanco, which in Spanish means White River, is 
 not only a paradise in climate and scenery, but it is also 
 perfectly situated for water-power manufactories. A 
 bountiful supply of water, provided by the copious rains 
 and the snows of the heights, gathers in the Rio Blanco 
 and with the speed of Niagara rushes down the mountain 
 gorges and into the town. 
 
 It is said to be a favorite boast of Manager Harting- 
 ton, the steel-eyed, middle-aged Englishman \vho over- 
 sees the work of the 6,000 men. women and children, 
 that the mill at Rio Blanco is not only the largest and
 
 n98 ^ BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 rmost modern cotton manufactory in the world, but that 
 it pays the richest profits on the investment. 
 
 Certainly the factory is a big one. We saw it — De 
 Lara and I — from A to Z, following the raw cotton from 
 the cleaner through all its various processes and treat- 
 ments until it finally came out neatly folded in fancy 
 prints or specially colored weaves. We even descended 
 five iron ladders down into the bowels of the earth, saw 
 the great pin and caught a glimpse of the swirling black 
 waters which turn every wheel in the mill. And we 
 observed the workers, too, men, women and cliildren. 
 /^i They were Mexicans with hardly an exception. The 
 men, in the mass, are paid--thiilyz5ev^n_ajld__one2hai^ 
 cents a day in_ our mo ney, the women from one dollar 
 ancTa Tialf to two dollars a week, the children, who range 
 down to seven and eight, from ten to twenty-five cents 
 a day. These figures were given us by an officer of the 
 ^ mill who showed us about, and they were confirmed in 
 
 talks with the vs^orkers themselves. 
 
 [ Thirteen hours a day — from 6 until 8 — are long for 
 
 M'^ labor in the open air and sunshine, but thirteen hours 
 
 '"jn that roar of machinery, in that lint-laden air, in those 
 
 Npoisonous dye rooms — how very long that must be ! The 
 
 fterrible smell of the dye rooms nauseated me and I had 
 
 i ' . . 
 
 /to hurry on. The dye rooms are a suicide hole for the 
 
 / men who work there, for it is said that they survive, on 
 
 / an average, only a twelve-month. Yet the company finds 
 
 I that plenty of them are willing to commit the suicide 
 
 ^for the additional inducement of seven and one-half 
 
 cents a day over the regular wage. 
 
 The Rio Blanco mill was established sixteen years ago 
 
 — sixteen years, but in their history the mill and the 
 
 town have just two epochs — before the strike and after 
 
 the strike. Wherever we went about Rio Blanco and
 
 -tr 
 
 FOUR MEXICAN STRIKES (^199^^ 
 
 .... ^ ^ 
 
 Orizaba, the latter being the chief to\vn _jn that political 
 district,„\5ieTiear3~echoes of the strike, although its bloody 
 story had been written nearly two years before our visit. 
 
 In Mexico there are no labor laws in-operatinn -^oM^- 
 protect the workers — no provision for factory inspec tion, ^ \ 
 no practical' statutes against mfant labor, no processes 
 through which workmen may recover, damages for-m=-__ 
 juries sustained or death met in the mine or at the 
 machine. W^ge-workers. literally have no-rights that the « 
 employers are bound to respect^J^olicy only determine^, 
 the degree of exploitation, and in Mexico that policy is 
 sueh as mrgtrrprevaii in the driving of horses in a lo- 
 cality where horses are dirt cheap, where profits from 
 their use are high, and where there exists no Society 
 for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. 
 
 Over against this absence of protection on the part 
 of the governmental powers stands oppression on the 
 part of the governmental powers, for the machinery of 
 the Diaz state )is wholly at the command" of the ern£loyer 
 to whip JJie-work&r into- accepting his terms. — 
 
 The six thousand laborers in the Rio Blanco mill were 
 not content with thirteen hours daily in the company of 
 that roaring macliinery and in that choking atmosphere, 
 especially since it brought to them only from twenty-five 
 to thirty-seven and one-half cents. Nor were they con- 
 tent with paying out of such a sum the one American 
 cloTTar a week that the comj)any"cliarg^'d~toF~tKe rental 
 - ot-ihe . two-roomi^jdirt-floor hovels which' tHey"l:aTlccl 
 their homes. Least of all were they content with the 
 coin in which they were paid. Tbi^ consisted of credit 
 checks jjpon. the rompn ny sto re^ which finished the ex- 
 ploitation — took back for the company the final ccntavo 
 that the company had paid out in wages. A few miies 
 away, at Orizaba, the same goods could be purchased 
 
 Qmd^ &^ '^ }^i/^
 
 200 
 
 liARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 ^ 
 
 for from twenty-five to seventy-five per cent less, but 
 the operatives were unable to buy their goods at these 
 stores. 
 
 Jhe operatives were not content. _ The might of the 
 company towered Hke a mountain above them, and 
 behind and above Jhe company towered the government. 
 "Behind the company stood Biaz himseTF^Tor Diaz was 
 not only the government, he' was also a heavy stockholdeT 
 in the company. Yet the operatives prepared to fight. 
 
 Secretly they organized a union, ^lEl__Circulo^_de 
 
 Obreros," which rneans "The Circle of W orkers," Jiold- 
 ing their meetings not en masse, but in small groups 
 in their homes, in order that the authorities might not 
 learn of their purposes. 
 
 Irnmediately upon the company learning that the work- 
 ers were discussing their troubles it took action against 
 , them. Through the police authorities it issued a general 
 order forbidding any of the operatives from receiving 
 any visitors whatsoever, even their own relatives being 
 barred, the penalty for violation being the city jail. Per- 
 sons who were suspected of having signed the roll of the 
 union were put in prison at once, and a weekly news- 
 paper which was known to be friendly to the workers 
 was swooped down upon, suppressed and the printing 
 plant confiscated. 
 
 At this juncture a strike was calledjn the cotton-mills 
 if! the city of Puebla, in an ad joining state. The mills 
 of Puebla were owned by the same company as owned 
 the Rio Blanco mills, and the operatives thereof were 
 Jiving under similar conditions to those at Rio Blanco. 
 The PueWa. workers,. went_jm_stjdke„-and. the 
 knowing that they had no resources behind them, de- 
 cided, as one of . its agents told m e. "to let nature Jake
 
 FOUR MEXICAN STRIKES 201 
 
 its course;" that is, to starve out the workers, as they 
 •believed this process^ could -be accompHshed'insicre of a 
 fortnight. 
 
 The strikers turned for aid to those of their fellow- 
 craftsmen who were at wo rk in other localities. Th e 
 E!!te"Blairco jrbrkers themselves w ere already preparing to 
 strike, but thereupon they deci ded to wait for a time 
 longer, in order thatThey^might collect from their meager 
 earnings a fund to support their brothers in the city of 
 Puebla. Thus were the ends of the company defeated 
 for the moment, for by living on half rations both work- 
 ers and strikers were able to eke out their existence. 
 But no sooner had the company learned the source of 
 strength of the Puebla strikers than the mills at Rio_ 
 Blanco were shut dowri and the workers there locked _ 
 out. Other mills in other localities were shut down and 
 other means taken to prevent any help reaching the^ 
 Puebla strikers. 
 
 Locked out, tTie~Rio Blanco workers promptly as- 
 sumed the offensive, declared they were on strike and 
 formulated a series of demands calculated in somFmeas- 
 ure to alleviate the conditions of their lives. 
 
 But the demands were unheard, the machinery of the 
 mill roared no more, the mill slept in the sun, the waters 
 of the Rio Blanco dashed unharnessed through the town, 
 the manager of the company laughed in the faces of the 
 striking men and women. 
 
 The six thousand starVed. For two months they 
 starved. They scoured the surrounding hills for ber- 
 ries, and when the berries were gone they deceived their 
 gnawing stomachs with indigestible roots and herbs 
 gleaned from the mountain sides. In utter despair, they 
 looked to the highest power they knew^Porfirio Diaz,
 
 202 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 and begged him to have mercy. They„_h£§ged hinv to 
 'mvestigate their cause, and for their part -thr?y-pfonmeti 
 to^abide by his de:cision. 
 
 President Diaz pretended to investigate. He ren- 
 dered a decision, but his decision was that the mills 
 should reopen and the workersg o back to_ jheir thirteen 
 hours of dust and machinery on the same terms^as thejT 
 had left them. 
 
 True to their promise, the strikers at Rio Blanco 
 prepared to comply. But they were weak from starva- 
 tion. In order to work they must have sustenance. Con- 
 sequently on the day of their surrender they gathered in 
 a body in front of the company store opposite the big 
 mill and asked that each of their number be given a 
 certain quantity of corn and beans so that they, might 
 be able to live through the first week andjuntil they should 
 be paid their wages. 
 
 Tlie storekeeper jeered at the request. "To these dogs 
 we will not even give water!" is the answer he is cred- 
 ited with giving them. 
 
 M' /^ It was then that a woman, Margarita MartinezJ ex- 
 horted the people to take by force the provisions that 
 jhad been denied them. This they did. They looted the 
 I store, then set fir^ to it, and finally to the mill across 
 \flie way. 
 
 The people had not expected to riot, but the govern- 
 ment "haH^ expected it. Unknown to tlie strikers, bat- 
 talioni~ofTegular soldier s'~Were-waitrng j ust outside the 
 town, jinder command of Genera! Rosalio Martinez him- 
 self, sub-secretary of war. The strikers ha,d no a rms . 
 They were n.QL43rep.ar£dJ[o r revolutio n^ They had in- 
 tended no mischief, and their outburst was a^ spontaneous 
 and doubtless a natural one, and one which an officer 
 (5f-thrTDmpany~aTterwards confided to me could easily
 
 FOUR MEXICAN STRIKES 203 
 
 have been taken care of by tlie local police force, which 
 was strong. 
 
 Nevertheless, the^ldiers appeared, le aping upon the 
 scene as if out of the .ground.^ Volley after volley was 
 discharged into the crowd at close range. There was 
 no resistance whatsoever. The people were shot down 
 in the streets with no regard for age or sex, many wom- 
 en and children being among the slain. They were pur- 
 sued to their homes, dragged from their hiding places 
 and shot to death. Some fled to the hills, where they 
 were hunted for days and shot on sight. A company 
 of rural guards which refused to fire on the crowd when 
 the soldiers first arrived were exterminated on the spot. 
 
 There are no official figures of the number killed in 
 the Rio Blanco massacre, and if there were any, of 
 course they would be false. Estimates run from two ^^ 
 hundred to eight hundred. My information for the ^ /t^ 
 Rio Blanco strike was obtained from numerous. W'id£ly___. """"• 
 different sources^ — from an officer of the company itself, «,^^w>v- 
 f rom a friend of the governor who rode with the ruralcs ^. jA 
 as they chased the fleeing strikers through the hills, from. -___!l^ 
 a labor editor who escaped after being hotly pursued 
 for days, from survivors of the strike, from others who 
 had heard the story from eye witnesses. 
 
 "I don't know how many were killed," the man who 
 rode with the ruralcs told me, "but on the first night 
 after the soldiers came I saw hvo flat cars piled high icith 
 dead and mangled bodies, and there zvere a good many 
 killed after the first nig Jit." 
 
 "Those flat cars," the same informant told me, "were 
 hauled away by special train that night, hurried to 
 Veracruz, where the bodies were dumped in the harbor 
 as food for the sharks." 
 
 Strikers who were not punished by death were pun-
 
 204 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 ished in other ways scarcely less terrible. It seems that 
 for the first few hours death was dealt out indiscrimi- 
 nately, but after tliat sonic of those who were caught 
 were not killed. Fugitives who were captured after the 
 first two or three days were rounded up in a bull pen, 
 and some five hundred of them were ^ imp resse d into 
 
 tjie army and sent to Quintana Roo, The vice-president 
 
 and the secretary of the "Circulo de Obreros" were 
 hanged, while the woman orator, Margarita"'Martinez, 
 was among those sent to the prison of San Juan de 
 Ulua. 
 
 Among the newspaper men who suffered as a result 
 of the Rio Blanco strike are Jose Neira, Justino Fer- 
 nandez, Juan Olivares and Paulino Martinez. Neira 
 and Fernandez were imprisoned for long terms, the lat- 
 ' ter being tortured until he lost his reason. Olivares 
 was pursued for many days, but escaped capture and 
 found his way to the United States. None of the three 
 had any connection with the riot. The fourth, Paulino 
 Martinez, committed no crime more heinous than to 
 comment mildly in his newspaper in favor of the strik- 
 ers. He published his paper at Mexico City, a day's 
 ride on the train to Rio Blanco. Personally he had been 
 no nearer the scene of the trouble than that city, yet he 
 was arrested, carried over the mountains to the mill 
 town, imprisoned and held incommunicado for five 
 months without even a charge being preferred against 
 him. 
 
 The government made every effort to conceal the facts 
 of the Rio Blanco massacre, but murder will out, and 
 when the newspapers did not speak the news flew from 
 mouth to mouth until the nation was shuddering at the 
 story. It ^vas a waste of blood, indeed, yet, even f rom 
 the viewpoint of the worke rs , it wa SL.n ot wh olly in v a in ^- 
 
 -1
 
 FOUR MEXICAN STRIKES 205 
 
 For in the story tl:c company store. .licld-a_4)rpminent 
 "place, and so great a protest was^ajgc d against it that 
 President Diaz, decided to make one concessjon_ tC)...tlKi- 
 decimated band of operatives and to abolish the company 
 store at Rio Blanco. 
 
 Thus where before the strike there was but one store 
 
 in Rio Blanco, today there are many ; the workers buy 
 
 where they choose. Thus it would seem that by their / 
 sfarvation and their blood the strikers had won a slight , / / 
 victory ^but it is a question whether this is so, smce in" *" 
 some ways the screws have been put down harder than 
 ever before. P rovisjonjias beenjmade against a repcti- 
 tion of the s trike, provision that, f or a~~cou ntrv thn" 
 claims to be a republic, is, to speak mildly, astounding. 
 
 The provision consists, first, of eight hundred Mex- 
 ican troops — six hundred regular soldiers and two hun- 
 dred riiralcs — who are encamped upon the company 
 property; second, of a jcfc politico clothed with the 
 powers of a cannibal chief 
 
 When we visited the barracks, De Lara and I, the 
 little captain who showed us about informed us that 
 the quarters were furnished, ground, house, light and 
 water, by the company, and that in return the army was 
 placed directly and unequivocally at the call of the com- 
 pany. 
 
 "As to tHe jcfc politico, his name is Miguel Gomez, and 
 he was promoted to Rio Blanco from Cordoba, where 
 his readiness to kill is said to have provoked the admira- 
 tion of the man who appointed him. President Diaz. 
 Regarding the powers of Miguel Gomez, I can hardly 
 do better than to quote the words of an officer of the 
 company, with whom De Lara and I took dinner one 
 day: 
 
 "Miguel Gomez has orders direct from President Diaz
 
 /^'206 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 ^ to censor the reading of the mill workers and to al!ow 
 no radical newspapers or Liberal literature to get into 
 their hands. More than that, he has orders to kill any- 
 one whom he suspects of having evil intentions. Yes, 
 I said kill. It is carte hlanchc with Gomez, and no qces-- 
 tions asked. He asks no one's advice and no corrt ?iti 
 on his action, either before or after. And he dhj: ^itlt 
 If he sees a man on the street and gets any wtO^sical 
 suspicion of him, dislikes his dress or his izrr, it is 
 enough. That man disappears. I remember ? laborer 
 in the dye-mixing room who spoke some words friendly 
 to Liberalism ; I remember a spool tender who a .entioned 
 t/' strike; there have been others — many others. They 
 4{y have disappeared suddenly, have been swallowed up and 
 tyy nothing heard of them but the whispers of their 
 ' "" friends!" 
 
 / Of course, it is impossible in the nature of things to 
 - ) verify this statement, but it is worth noting that it does 
 "^y I not come from a revolutionist. 
 
 L The trade upionists_of Mexico are, of course, by far 
 the best paid workers in the countryV_ Because of the 
 opposition of both employers and government, as well 
 as the deep degradation out of which it is necessary for 
 the Mexican to climb before he is able to pluck the fruits 
 
 of organization, imionism is still in its infancy in Mexico. 
 
 It is still in its swaddling clothes and, under the circum- 
 stances as they exist today, its growth is slow and 
 fraught with great hardship. So far^ecfi, is nO-Mex- 
 ican Federation of Labor. 
 "The principal Mexican unions_jn_i908^. as set forth 
 to me' "by Felix Vera, president of the Grand League of 
 Railroad Workers, and other o rganize rs, were _as_ fol- 
 lows : 
 
 The Grand League of Railroad Workers, 10,000 mem-
 
 FOUR MEXICAN STRIKES 207 
 
 bcis ; Ihc Mechanics' Union, 500 members ; Boilermak- 
 ers' Union, 800 mcnil)crs; Cigarmakcrs' Union, 1,500 
 members; Carpenters' Union, 1,500 members; the Shop 
 Blacksmiths' Union, wi'lh headquarters at Ciudad Por- 
 firio Diaz, 800 members; Steel and Smelter Workers' 
 Union, of Chihuahua, 500 members. p 
 
 These are the onlj permanent M exican unions, and 
 an acfclition of their membership shows that they total 
 
 under 16,000l ,Otlicr unions liave spjrun g up, as at Rio 
 
 Blanco, at Cananea, at Tizapan and other j^Iaces in re- 
 sponse to a pressing need, but they have b^en crushed 
 cith.er by the em ployers_Qr by the g overnment — ^u sually 
 by" both working in conjunction, the latter acting as the 
 servant of the former. In the two years since 1908 there 
 has been practically no advance in organizatiQn. _Indeed, 
 for a time the largest union, the railroad workers, hav- 
 ing been beaten in a strike, all but went out of existence. 
 But recently it has revived to almost its former strengtli^ 
 
 All the unions mentioned are Mexican unions exclu-. 
 sively. The only branch of American organization 
 which extends to Mexico consists of railroad men, who 
 exclude Mexicans from membership. Hence the Grand 
 League itself is a purely Mexican union. 
 
 As to pay, the boilermakers received a minimum of 
 27y2 cents an hour in American money; the carpenters, 
 v;ho are organized only in the capital and have as yet 
 no scale, from 75 cents to $1.75; the cigarmakers, from 
 $1.75 to $2; the shop blacksmiths, 22^ cents an hour, 
 and the steel and smelter workers, 25 cents an hour. 
 
 Among these trades there havebeen severaj jtrikes. 
 In 1905 the cigarmakers enforced their own shop rules. 
 A little later the union mechanics in the railroad shops 
 at Aguascalientes struck because they were being gradu- 
 ally replaced by Hungarian unorganized men at lower
 
 ^■. 
 
 208 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 wages. The strikers not only won their point, but se- 
 cured a five-cent per day raise of wages besides, which 
 so encouraged the boilermakers that the latter crafts- 
 Ijmen made a demand all over the country for a five-cent 
 V raise and got it. 
 
 ° ^^^^esides several short strikes o f less impor tance still, 
 this is the extenJ_o.f_the_labor victories in^Iexico. Vic- 
 tory has been the exception. Intervention by the gov- 
 "ernment, wTtlTBIood^aM prison for the strikers, has been 
 the rule. 
 
 The strike of the Grand League of Railway Work- 
 e rs^ccur red Tn^ the sp r ing jof 19G8. "' The 'league ~con si st s 
 principally of brakemen, who received $37.50 per month 
 in American money, and shop mechanics, who received 
 twenty-five cents an hour. Early in 1908 the bosses at 
 San Luis Potosi began discriminating against umon men, 
 both in the shops. and: on tfe-"traTnsrz:The'l^mio"ns"'pro- 
 tested to General Manager Clark, and the latter promised 
 to make reparation within tv/o months. At the end of 
 two months nothing had been done. The union tlicn 
 gave the manager twenty-four hours in which to act. 
 At the end of twenty-four hours still nothing had been 
 done. So the entire membership on theroad,_consisting 
 of 3,000 men. walked out. 
 
 The strike tied^up every foot of the Me xican National 
 Railway, consisting^ofnearly one thousandjTTil£5_Df jwj^ 
 running from Laredo. Texas, to Mexico City. For six 
 days traffic was at a standstill. Recognition of the union, 
 which is the necessary prerequisite for successful pence 
 in any struggle along union lines, seemed assured. The 
 great corporation seemed beaten, but — the men had not 
 reckoned with the government. 
 
 No sooner did Manager Clar k discover that he was
 
 FOUR MEXICAN STRIKES 200 
 
 beaten on the economic field of battle than he ca lled 
 to his aid the police power of J)[cL2.. 
 
 President Vera of the Grand League was waited uj)on 
 by the governor of the state of San Luis Potosi anil 
 informed that if the men did not return to work lorliir- 
 with they would all be rounded up and thrown in jail 
 and prosecuted for conspiracy against the government. 
 He showed Vera a telegram from President Diaz which 
 in significant terms reminded Vera of the massacre at 
 Rio Blanco, which had occurred but a year previously. 
 
 Vera hurried to the national capital, where he inter- 
 viewed Vice-President Corral and attempted to secure 
 an audience with Diaz. Corral confirmed the threats of 
 the governor of San Luis Potosi. Vera pleaded that the 
 strikers \vere_ keeping perfect order; he begged that 
 they be fairly treated. But it was no use. He knew that 
 the government was not blufiing, for in such matters 
 the Mexican government does not bluflf. .After a conz- 
 f erence with the executive board of the union the str ike . 
 was called off. and the men went back to work. i/ytUy7rt 
 
 Of course th at demoralized the union, for what, pray, 
 is the use of organization if you are not permitted to 
 pluck the fruits of organization? JThe strikers were 
 taken back to work, as agreed, but they were discharged 
 one after another at convenient t irnes. The member- 
 ship. of the league fell ofif, t hose remaining upon the roll 
 remaining only in the hope of a less tyrannical govern- 
 ment soon replacing the one that had foiled them. \''era 
 resigned the presidency. His resignation was refused, 
 he still remained the nominal head of the organization, 
 but there was nothing that he could do. It was at this 
 juncture that I met and talked with him about the railroad 
 strike and the general outlook for Alexican unionism.
 
 210 'BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 "The oppression of the government," said \"cra, in his 
 last few words to me, "is terrible — terrible ! There is 
 no chance for bettering the condition of labor in Mexico 
 until there is a change in the administration. Every free 
 laborer in Mexico knows that !" 
 
 Vera organized the Grand League of Railway Work- 
 ers of Mexico in 1904, and smce-Hialli nie heli aY passed 
 niany months in prison for no other reason than his 
 union activities. Not until early in 1909 did he engage 
 in anything that smacked of political agitation. The 
 hardships imposed by the government upon union organ- 
 ization, however, inevitably drove him into opposition 
 to it. He became a newspaper correspondent, and it 
 was because he dared to criticize the despot that he again 
 found his way into that awful pit, Delem. 
 
 August 3, 1909, Vera was arrested at Guadalajara and 
 carried to Mexico City. He was not taken before a 
 judge. Nor was any formal charge lodged against him. 
 He was merely told that the federal government had 
 decided that he must spend the next two years in prison, 
 serving out a sentence which had four years previously 
 been meted out to him for his union activities, but under 
 which he had been pardoned after serving one year and 
 seven months. 
 
 Though a permanent cripple, Vera is a brave and hon- 
 est man and a fervent organizer. Mexican liberty will 
 lose much by his imprisonment. 
 
 Strikes in Mexico so f aj^liaye_.usujlly;^been more the 
 result of a spontaneous unwillin gness on th e part ofthe 
 workers to go on with their rniserable_liyes..than of an 
 organization of labor behind them or an appeal by agi- 
 tators. Such a jtrike \vas_that_Qf-Ti7aparL 
 
 I mention the strike of Tizapan because I happened 
 to visit the spot while the strikers were starving. For
 
 FOTJR MEXICAN STRIKES 211 
 
 a month the strike had been going on, and though 600 
 cotton mill operatives were involved and Tizapan was 
 only a score of miles from the palace of Chapultepcc, 
 not a daily newspaper in the capital, as far as I have 
 learned, mentioned the fact that there was a strike. 
 
 I first heard of the Tizajpan strike from Paulm;^^ 
 tinez, the editor, who is now a political refugee in the 
 United States. Martinez cautioned me against saying 
 that he told me, since, though he had not heard of the 
 strike himself until after it had been called, he thought 
 the telling might result in his arrest. The next day I 
 took a run out to Tizapan, viewed the silent mill, visited 
 the strikers in their squalid homes, and finally had a talk 
 with the strike committee. 
 
 Except for Valle Nacional, I never saw so many 
 people — men, women and children — with the mark of 
 acute starvation on their faces, as at Tizapan. True, 
 there was no fever among them, their eyes were not 
 glazing with complete exhaustion from overwork and 
 insufficient sleep, but their cheeks were pale, they 
 breathed feebly and they walked unsteadily from lack of 
 food. 
 
 These people had been working eleven hours a day for 
 wag^s'TnTririiiig" f rom -Ef ty _cents_to three dollars a week 
 in ourjnoney. Doubtless they would have contTiiue'dTo 
 work for it if they were really paid it, but the bosses 
 were always devising new means to rob tjiem of wliaJ: 
 little they were entitled to. Dirt spots on the calico 
 meant a loss of one, two and sometimes even three f^csos. 
 V Petty fines were innumeraj^le. ^maljy^each worker was 
 ^axed three centavos per week to pay for the food of 
 the "dogs belongiiTg to the factory. UJLgLtjvv as the last. 
 s^w-. — The toilers refused to accept partial wages, the 
 mill was closed and the period of starvation began.
 
 212 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 When I visited Tizapan three-fourths of the men 
 had gone away seeking work and food in other parts. 
 Being wholly without means, it is quite likely that a 
 large percentage of them fell into the hands of labor 
 agents and were sold into slavery in the ho t landsT^ A 
 few men and the women and children were staying and 
 starving. The strike committee had begged the national 
 government to redress their wrongs, but without avail. 
 They had asked President Diaz to reserve for them a 
 little land out of the millions of acres which he was con- 
 stantly signing away to foreigners, but they had received 
 from him no reply. When I asked them if they hoped 
 to win the strike, they told me no, that they had no hope, 
 but they did not care; they preferred to die at once and 
 in the open air than to go back to such miserable treat- 
 ment as had been accorded them in the factory. Here is 
 , a translation of a pitiful appeal which these Tizapan 
 strikers sent out to mill centers in other sections of the 
 country : 
 
 Fellow Countrymen: 
 
 By this circular we make known to all the workers of the 
 
 Mexican Republic that none of the factories which exist in 
 our unfortunate country have exhibited men so avaricious as 
 the manufacturers of "La Hormiga," Tizapan, since they are 
 worse than highway robbers; not only are they robbers, but they 
 are tyrants and hangmen. 
 
 Let us make it plain to you. Here are we robbed in weights 
 and measures. Here are we exploited without mercy. Here are 
 we fined two and three pesos and down to the very last of our 
 wages, and we are dismissed from our work with kicks and 
 blows. But what is the most disgusting, ridiculous and vile part 
 of it all is the discount that is made on the workers of three 
 cents weekly for the maintenance of the lazy dogs of the factory. 
 What a disgrace! 
 
 Who can live such a sad and degraded life? Whereupon it 
 does not appear that we live in a republic conquered by the
 
 FOUR MEXICAN STRIKES 213 
 
 blood of our forefathers, but rather that we inhabit a land of 
 savage and brutal slave-drivers. Who can subsist on wages of 
 three and four pesos weekly and discounted from that fines, 
 house rent, and robbery in weights and measures? No, a 
 thousand times, no! Because of such circumstances we petition 
 our dear country for a fragment of land to cultivate, so tl.at 
 we may not continue to enrich the foreigner, trader and 
 exploiter, who piles up gold at the cost of the devoted toil of 
 the poor and unfortunate worker! 
 
 We protest against this order of things and we will not work 
 until we are guaranteed that the fines will be abolished and 
 also the maintenance of dogs, for which we ought not to pay, 
 and that we shall be treated as workers and not as the unhappy 
 slaves of a foreigner. 
 
 We hope that our fellow workers will aid us in this fight. 
 
 The Committee. 
 Tizapan, March 7, 1909. 
 
 The Tizapan strike_w_as J.QSt^__Wheii jtjwas ready to 
 do so, the company reopened the mill without difficulty, 
 for, as corporatiQn~ prospectuses pf . . the c o untry" say^ 
 there is labor aplenty in ]\Iexico and it is very, yery_ 
 cheap. 
 
 The Cananea strike, occurring as it did, very close ^4^ 
 to,tEeII)Drder l ine QftheXinited States, is pfLihap s^^the one 
 Mex ican strike of which Americans generally have heard. 
 Not having been a witness, nor even having ever been' 
 upon the groimd, I cannot speak with personal authority, * 
 and yet I have talked with so many persons who were '^^Ut4 
 in one way or another connected with the affair, several ' 
 of whom were in the very thick of the flying bullets, 
 that I cannot but believe that I have a fairly clear idea 
 of what occurred. 
 
 Cananea is a copper city of Sonora, situated several 
 scorQ ^ of miles fr om tTT F"Anzginrartio rde K""Tt~was e stab- 
 lished by W,,C, Greene, who secured several njillion 
 acres alon|;_Jhe__border fromJth£_^ government
 
 214 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 at little or no cost, and who succeeded in forming such 
 'intimate relations wiflT Ranion Corfar"arTd~other high 
 Mexican officials that the municipal government estai>" 
 Hshed upon his property was entirely under his control, 
 
 ^:-i 
 ^ 
 
 while the government of the Mexican town close beside 
 it was exceedingly friendly to him and practically under 
 his orders. The American consul at Cananea, a man 
 named Galbraith, was also an employe^OaIQ£Iie,_ ^so 
 that both the Mexican and United States governments, 
 as far as Cananea and its vicinity was concerned, were 
 — W. C. Greene. 
 
 Greene, having since fallen into disrepute with the 
 powers that be in Mexico, has lost most of his holdings 
 and the Greene-Cananea Copper Company is now the 
 property of the Cole-Ryan mining combination, one of 
 the parties in the Morgan-Guggenheim copper merger. 
 
 In the copper mines of Cananea were employed six 
 thousand Mexican miners and about six hundred Amer- 
 ican miners. Greene paid the3l£2dcarL-miiiers.4UsLlialf 
 as much as he^|5aid tlie American.mjne rs, not ^because 
 they performed only half as much_ labor, b ut becaus e 
 he v/as able to secure them for that price. The Mexicans 
 were getting big pay, for Mexicans — three pesos a day, 
 most of them. But naturally they were dissat isfie d and 
 formed an organization for the purpose of forcing a 
 better bargain out of Greene^__ 
 
 As to what precipitated the strike there is some dis- 
 pute. Some say that it was due to an announcement 
 by a mine boss that the company had decided to super- 
 sede the system of wage labor with the system of con- 
 tract labor. Others say it was precipitated by Greene's 
 telegraphing to Diaz for troops, following a demand of 
 the miners for five pesos a day. 
 
 But whatever the immediat
 
 FOUR MEXICAN STRIKES 215 
 
 started by a night shift May 31, 1906. The strikers 
 marched about the conipaiiy's propertyT^callTng out Ih'C" 
 men in the diffefent^depaftmcnts. """They Triclr witli suc- 
 cess at all points, and trouble bcgan_only at t he la st 
 place of call, the conTpany^jumb er yard, wh ere the parade 
 
 arrived early in the forenoon_^ Here the manager, a 
 
 man named Metcalfe, drenched the front ranks with 
 water from a large hose. The strikers replied with stones, 
 and Metcalfe and his brother came back with rifles. 
 Some strikers fell, and in the ensuing battle the two 
 Metcalfes were killed. ., ,v. ? \ 
 
 During the parade, flie" head of the Greene detective 
 squad, a man named Rowan, handed out rifles and 
 ammunition to the heads of departments of the comj:_ 
 pany7and as soon as the fight started at the lumber yard 
 the company detective force embarked in automobiles 
 and drove^ahout town, shooting right and left. The 
 miners, mparmed,,' dispersed, but they were shot as they 
 ran. OneoFThe leaders, applying to the chief of police 
 for arms with which the miners might protect them- 
 selves, was terribly beaten by the latter, who put his 
 entire force at the service of the company. During the 
 first few hours after the trouble some of the Greene 
 men were put in jail, but very soon they were released 
 and hundreds of the miners were locked up. Finding 
 tliat no justice was to be given them, the bulk of the 
 miners retired to a point on the company's property, 
 v.'here they barricaded themselves and, with wh.at 
 v/eapons they could secure, defied the Greene police. 
 
 From Greene's telegraph office were sent out reports^ 
 tliat the Mexicans had started a race \>^r and wfirfi.llias.- 
 sa£riiTg;_die_Anie.ncaj.is..o.f Canan ea. includi i2g_tlTe women I 
 and children. Consul Galbraith sent out such inflam-J 
 iiialcfy'ltof ies _to_Washmgton tliat tliere^jyyas^ a .flurry
 
 \216 
 
 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 iin our War Departnient; these stories were so mislead- 
 ing that Galbraith was rernoved_as_soon_asJhe . real _f acts 
 became known. 
 
 The agent of the Department of Fomento of Mexico, 
 on the other hand, reported the facts as they were, and 
 through the influence of the company he was discharged 
 at once. 
 
 Colonel Greene hurried away on his private car to 
 Arizona, where he called for volunteers to go to Can- 
 anea and save the American women and children, offer- 
 ing one hundred dollars for each volunteer, whether he 
 fought or not. Which action was wholljijadthcoit-vaiid 
 excuse, since the strikers not only never assumed the 
 aggressiv e in th ejvjolent acts of Cananea, but the affair 
 was alsoOn no senseaiTahti-foreign demonstration?) It 
 
 whicl 
 
 '/Al 
 
 ^'^ was aTTaEor strike, pure and simple, a strike in which 
 ? "" !he one demand was for a raise of ~wagg5~tO' fiyfe pesos 
 a day. 
 
 "While the false tales sent out from Greene's town 
 were furnishing a sensation for the United States, 
 Greene's Pinkertons were sent about the streets for an- 
 other shoot-up of the Mexicans. Americans had been 
 warned to stay indoors, in order that the assassins might 
 take pot shots at anything in sight, which they did. The 
 total list of killed by the Greene men — which was pub- 
 lished at the time — was twenty-seven, among whom were 
 several who were not miners at all. Among these, it 
 is said, was a boy of six and an aged man over ninety, 
 who was tending a cow when the bullet struck him. 
 
 By grossl y misrepres enting tJT £ situation. G reene suc- 
 ceeded in gett ing a force of three hund red Americans, 
 rangers, miners, stockmen, cowboys and others, together, 
 in Bisbee, Douglas and other towns. Governor Yzabal 
 of Sonora, playing, dkectjyjntothehafid at
 
 FOUR MEXICAN STRIKES 217 
 
 every point, met this force of men at Naco and led them 
 
 across the line. Th e crossing was disputed by the ]\Ie x- 
 ican customs official, who swore that the invaders might 
 pass only over his dead body. With leveled rifle this 
 man faced the governor of his state and the three hun- 
 dred foreigners, and refused to yield until Yzabal showed 
 an order signed by General Diaz permitting the inva- 
 sion. 
 
 TJius three hu ndred American citizens, some of them 
 government employes, on June 2, 1906^ violated the l.aws_ 
 of the United StatejjJJie same„liws_Jhat__Magon and 
 his friend s are accused of m erely conspiring to violate, 
 and yet not one of them, not even Greene, the man who 
 knew the situation, and waj extremely cuIpaMgA^yas ever 
 prosecu ted. M oreover, Ranger Captain Rhynniri^ who 
 accepted an appointment of Governor YzaTial to com- 
 mand this force of Americans, instead of being deposed 
 from his position, was afterwards promoted. At this 
 writing he holds the fat job of warden of the territorial 
 penitentiary at Florence, Arizona. 
 
 The rank and file^i)f_iho3.e_ihxee Jiundred men^we 
 hardly to be blamed for their act, for Greene completely 
 fooledjthem. They thought they were invading Mexico 
 to save some American women and children. When 
 they arrived in Cananea on the evening of the second 
 day, they discovered that they had been tricked, and 
 the following day they returned without having taken 
 part in the massacres of these early days of June. 
 
 But with the Mexican soldiers and ruralc forces which 
 poured into Cananea that same night it was_ difl[crcnt. 
 They were under the orders of Yzabal, Greene andjCsr- 
 ral, and they killed^ as they were told tojdo._ There 
 was a company of cavalry under Colonel Barron. There 
 were one thousand infantrymen under General Luis
 
 218 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 Torres, who hurried all the way from the Yaqui river 
 to serve the purposes of Greene. Thene were some two 
 hundred rurales. There were the Greene private detec- 
 tives. There was a company of the acordada. 
 
 And all of them took part in the killing. IMiners were 
 taken from the jail and hanged. Miners were taken to 
 the cemetery, made to dig their own graves and were 
 shot. Several hundred of them w^ere marched away to 
 Hermosillo, where they v^^ere impressed into the Mexican 
 army. Others were sent away to the penal colony on 
 the islands of Tres J^.Iarias. Finally, others were sen- 
 tenced to long terms in prison. When Torres' army 
 arrived, tlie strikers who had barricaded themselves in 
 the hills surrendered without any attempt at resistance. 
 First, however, there was a parley, in which the leaders 
 were assured that they would not be shot. But in spite 
 of the fact that they persuaded the strikers not to resist 
 the authorities, ]\Ianuel M. Dieguez, Esteban E. Calderon 
 and Manuel Ibarre, the members of the executive board 
 of the union, were sentenced to four years in prison, 
 where they remain to this day — unless they are dead. 
 
 Among those who w^ere jailed and ordered shot was 
 L. Gutierrez De Lara, who had committed no crime ex- 
 cept to address a meeting of the miners. The order for 
 the shooting of De Lara, as well as for the others, came 
 direct from Mexico City on representations from Gov- 
 ernor Yzabal. De Lara had influential friends in Mex- 
 ico, and these, getting word through the friendship of 
 the telegraph operator and th.e postmaster of Cananea, 
 succeeded in securing De Lara's reprieve. 
 
 The end of the who le afiaiir was that the strikers, 
 literally hacked _to_ .pieces by the rnurderous_yiolence of 
 the government, were unable to rally thei r forces^ The 
 strike was broken- and "jri_ time the surviving miners
 
 FOUR MlvXICAN STRIKES 219 
 
 went back to work on more unsatisfactory conditions 
 than before. ~ 
 
 Buch is the fate the Czar of Mexico Jmetes out to 
 workingmcn who clare^cTciiianT a larger share of tTic" 
 products of their labor iifhis couhtr^'T ~Une thmg more 
 remains to be said. Colonel Greene"!^ fused to grant 
 the demand of the miners for more wages, and he 
 claimed to have a good excuse for it. 
 
 "President Diaz," said Greene, "has ordered me not 
 to raise wages, and I dare not disobey him/'__ 
 
 It is an excuse that is being ofifered by employers of 
 labor all over Alexico. Doubtless President Diaz did 
 issue some such an order, and employers of Mexican 
 labor, Americans with the rest of them, are glad to take 
 advantage of it. American capitalists support Diaz with a 
 great dealrnore unanimity than they suppo rt Taft. 
 American capitalists support Diaz because they are look- 
 ing to Diaz to keep Mexican labor always cheap,^ And 
 they are looking to Mexican cheap labor ,tQ-help„ them 
 break the back of organized labor in the UnitecL States^__ 
 both by transferring a part of their capital to Tslexico 
 and by importing a part of Mexico's laborers into this 
 country. 
 
 0m dMetif^
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 CRITICS AND CORROBORATION 
 
 r- 
 
 The first five chapters of this book, which, in a little 
 
 less extended form, were pubHshed serially in The 
 American Magazine in the fall of 1909, called forth a 
 considerable measure of comment both in the United 
 States and Mexico. Both the magazine and myself 
 were deluged with letters, many of which asserted that 
 the writers themselves had witnessed conditions similar 
 to those which I described. On the other hand, there 
 were many who flatly averred that I was a fabricator 
 and a slanderer, declaring, variously, that nothing akin 
 to slavery or even to peonage existed in Mexico, that, if 
 it did, it was the only practical way to civilize Mexico, 
 anyhow, that the IMexican working people were the 
 happiest and most fortunate on the face of the earth, 
 that President Diaz was the most benign ruler of the 
 age, that a long enough hunt would discover cases of 
 barbarities even in the United States, and we would 
 better clean our own house first, that there were $900,- 
 000,000 of American capital invested in Mexico — and 
 so on and so on. 
 
 The remarkable thing, indeed, about the discussion 
 was the headlong manner in which certain magazines, 
 newspapers, book publishers and private individuals in 
 this country rushed to the defense of President Diaz. 
 These individuals evidently acted on the theory that a 
 charge of slavery in his domain was an aspersion on 
 the rule of President Diaz, and quite correctly so. Where- 
 fore, they proceeded to denounce me in the most vigor- 
 ous terms, on the one hand, and to let loose a flood of 
 adulatory literature concerning President Diaz, on the 
 
 220
 
 CRITICS AND CORROnORATION 221 
 
 other. I imagine that it would re(iuirc a very long frciglit 
 train to carry all the flattering literature that was cir- 
 culated in this country by the friends of Diaz in the 
 six months following the first appearance of my articles 
 upon the news stands. 
 
 The perusal of those articles and this other literature 
 also would drive anyone inevitably to the conclusion 
 that somebody was deliberately distorting the truth. Who 
 wa.s distorti ng the truth? Who — and why? Since the 
 who as well astheVlTylire^peculiarly a part oFtTiis story" 
 I may be pardoned for pausing for a few pages to reply, 
 first, to the question, "Who?" 
 
 It would give me pleasure to present here some hun- 
 dreds of letters which, among them, corroborate many 
 times all the essential features of my account of Mex- 
 ican slavery. But did I do so there would be little room 
 left in the book for anything else. I can merely say 
 that in most cases the writers claimed to have spent 
 various numbers of years in Mexico. The letters were 
 unsolicited, the writers were paid by no one; in many 
 cases they were endangering their own interests in writ- 
 ing. If I am the liar, all of these persons must be liars, 
 also, a proposition which I doubt if anyone could believe 
 were they to read the letters. 
 
 But I am not printing these letters and I do not ask 
 the reader to consider them'lri my favor. Sajiij}Ies_o^ 
 them, and a large enough number to be convincing, are 
 to be~ found, however, in the November, December and ^■ 
 January numbers of The American Magazine. i 
 
 I shall pass over, also, the published testimony of other 
 writers, well-known investigators, who have corrobo- 
 rated my story in more or less detail. For example, 
 the account of the slavery of the American rubber plan- 
 tations, written by Herman Whitaker and printed in
 
 222 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 The American Magazine for February, 1910; the ac- 
 counts of the slavery of Yucatan by the English writers, 
 Arnold and Frost, in the book, "An American Eg>'pt," 
 which was quoted at length in The American Magazine 
 of April, 1910. The corroboration which I shall present 
 here is taken almost entirely from my critics themselves^ 
 persons who started out to deny the slavery\)r to pal- 
 liate it, and who ended by admitting the existence of the 
 essential features of that institution. 
 
 To begin with the least important class of witnesses, 
 I shall take up first the statements of several American 
 planters who rushed into print to defend the system 
 of their friend Diaz. There is George S. Gould, man- 
 ager of the San Gabriel rubber plantation, on the Isthmus 
 of Tehuantepec. In various newspapers Mr. Gould was 
 quoted extensively, especially in the San Francisco Bul- 
 letin, where he speaks of the "absolute inaccuracy" of 
 my writings. Here are some of his explanations taken 
 from that paper : 
 
 "As general manager of the San Gabriel, I send $2,500 at a 
 certain season to my agent in the City of Oaxaca. He opens 
 an employment office and calls for a quota of seventy-five 
 men. * * * 
 
 "The laborer is given an average of fifty cents (Mexican) a 
 week until the debt he owes the company is liquidated. The 
 company is not obliged to pay him this amount, but does so to 
 keep him contented. He is usually contracted for for periods 
 ranging from six months to three years. In three years, if he 
 is reasonably industrious and saving, he will not only have paid 
 off his debt money, but he will draw his liquidation with money 
 in his pocket. * * * 
 
 'The sum total is this : The peon slavery in Mexico might 
 be called slavery in the strictest sense of the word, but as long 
 as the laborer is under contract to the plantation owner he is 
 being done an inestimable good. It is the plantation owners 
 who prevent the peon — ordinarily worthless humans with no 
 profession — from becoming public charges. Unwittingly perhaps
 
 CKiriCS AND CORROnORATION 223 
 
 they block n lawless and irresponsible clement by teaching ti:e 
 peon to use his hands and brain." 
 
 Mr. Edward II. Thompson was for many years t!)C 
 American consul in Yucatan. Mr. Thompson owns a 
 hcneqiicn plantation, and, though I did not visit it, I was 
 informed that he lield slaves under exactly the same 
 conditions as do the hcncqucn kings. Immediately fol- 
 lowing the publication of my first article Mr. Thompson 
 issued a long statement that was published in so many 
 papers that I imagine a news syndicate was employed to 
 circulate it. Mr. Thompson began by denouncing my 
 article as "outrageous in its statements and absolutely 
 false in many details." But read what Mr. Thompson 
 himself says are the facts : 
 
 "Reduced to its lowest terms and looking at the matter without 
 the desire to produce a sensational magazine article, the so- 
 called slavery becomes one of simple contract convenience to 
 both parties. The native needs the money, or thinks he does, 
 while the planter needs the labor of the native servant. 
 
 "The indebted servant is held more or less strictly to the 
 terms of the verbal and implied contract, according to the 
 personal equation of the planter or his representative. This 
 general fact is equally true in all of the great industries of our 
 country as well as in Yucatan. 
 
 "I do not seek to defend the system of indebted labor. It 
 is bad in theory and worse in practice. It is bad for the 
 planter because it locks up capital that could otherwise be 
 employed in developing the resources of the plantation. It is 
 worse for the servant, because bj^ reason of it he learns to lean 
 too much on the powerful protection of his creditor-em- 
 ployer." 
 
 Reading those lines with discrimination, you will ob- 
 serve that Mr. Thompson admits that debt slavery is 
 prevalent in Yucatan, admits that a similar system exists 
 all over Mexico, and admits that it is a system that can- 
 not be defended. They why does he defend it ?
 
 224 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 Mr. C. Y. Cooper, an American land promoter, writ- 
 ing in the Portland Oregonian, says that lie read my 
 articles with "amusement mixed with indignation," and 
 decided that they were "grossly exaggerated." But he 
 made some admissions. Said he: 
 
 "The Mexican peon law provides that if a servant for any 
 
 reason is indebted to his employer, he must remain and work 
 out the debt at a wage agreed upon between the employer and 
 the employe." 
 
 But, Mr. Cooper, if the employe mitst remain, how 
 can he have any say as to how much the wage which 
 you declare is "agreed upon" shall be? 
 
 Very naively Mr. Cooper explains the freedom of the 
 peon. Says he: 
 
 "There is nothing compulsory in his service at all. If he does 
 not like his surroundings or his treatment, he is at perfect 
 liberty to obtain the amount of his debt from anyone else and 
 leave the property." 
 
 From whom else, Mr. Cooper? Oh, the sweet, sweet 
 liberty of Mexico!' 
 
 It is too bad that Mr. Cooper should have marred such 
 a rosy picture as he paints by admitting the man-hunt- 
 ing part of the system. But he does : 
 
 "Should a man run away, we can have him brought back if 
 the amount of the debt involved is worth while. The expense 
 of his capture is paid by the plantation and added to his 
 account" 
 
 Yet Mr. Cooper finally avers: 
 
 "The peons are perfectly free to come and go as they choose, 
 with the only legal proviso that they do not swindle any one out 
 of money that has been advanced them in good faith." 
 
 Mr. Cooper thought so well of his defense of the 
 Diaz system that he — or someone else — went to the ex- 
 pense of having it printed in pamphlet form^nd cir- 
 culated about the country. There were other pam-
 
 CRITICS AND CORROnORATION 225 
 
 phleteers besides Mr. Cooper, too, who rushed to the 
 defense of Mexico. One was Mr. E. S. Smith of Tippe- 
 canoe, Iowa, the man who wired President Taft begging 
 him to deny The American Magazine the mails, and 
 that before my first article went to press. Mr. Smith 
 wrote "The Truth About Mexico," which The Bankers' 
 Magazine printed, and the same matter was afterwards 
 put into a pamphlet. Mr. Smith was so extravagant 
 in his denials of imperfections in Mexican institutions 
 and so glowing in his descriptions of Mexico's "ideal" 
 government that one of that government's warmest de- 
 fenders. The Mexican Herald, was revolted by the pro- 
 duction and printed a long editorial in which it prayed 
 that Mexico might be delivered of such friends as Mr. 
 Smith. 
 
 Mr. Guillermo Hall, another American who is inter- 
 ested in Mexican properites, considers my articles a 
 "great injustice," inasmuch as, since the poor Mexican 
 knows nothing of freedom, he must be perfectly well off 
 as a slave. The Tucson, Arizona, Citizen quoted Mr. 
 Hall as follows : 
 
 "The cold facts stated in black type might seem preposterous 
 to the Americans of this country, whose training and environ- 
 ment are so different. * * * jj-, ^-j^g lower country along the 
 border, for instance, the so-called peon has no conception of 
 the liberty we enjoy in America. He absolutely doesn't know 
 what it means. The property owners there are compelled by 
 force of circumstances to maintain, at present, a sort of feudal- 
 ism over him." 
 
 Mr. Dwight E. Woodbridge, a planter and writer, 
 wrote at length in defense of Mexican slavery in the 
 Mining World, the organ of the American Mine Owners* 
 organization^ Here are some excerpts : 
 
 "Unquestionably there are brutalities and savageness in 
 Mexico. Outrages are committed there, both on the prisoners
 
 226 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 taken from confinement to haciendas and on the Yaquis. * ♦ * 
 I am interested in a large plantation in southern Mexico, where 
 we have some 300 Yaqui laborers. 
 
 "Throughout the Yaqui country I have seen such things as 
 arc pictured in the magazine, passed the bodies of men hanging 
 to trees, sometimes mutilated; have seen hundreds of tame 
 Yaquis herded in jails to be sent to the plantations of Yucatan, 
 or Tabasco, or Veracruz; have heard of worse things. 
 
 "There is a certain sort of peonage in Mexico. One may call 
 it slavery if he will, and not be far from the truth. It is, in 
 fact, illegal, and no contracts under it can be enforced in the 
 courts. The slave is a slave so long as he is working out his 
 debt." 
 
 Of course none of the defenders of Mexico admit all 
 of my assertions, and all of them, naturally, seek to 
 minimize the horrors of the slave system — otherwise 
 they could not be defending it. But you will see that 
 one admits one thing and another another until the whole 
 story is confessed as true. 
 
 Among the American publishers who rush£d_Jothe 
 defense of Diaz was Mr. William Randolph HearstT) 
 Mr. Hearst sent a writer, Otheman Stevens, to Mexico 
 to gather material to prove that Mexico is not barbarous. 
 Valiantly did Mr. Stevens attempt to carry out his trust, 
 but in dealing with the contract slavery system he suc- 
 ceeded in admitting most of the essential points, and was 
 able to defend only on the plea of capitalistic "necessity." 
 Some of his admissions, as they appeared in the Cos- 
 mopolitan Magazine of March, 1910, are: 
 
 "To offset these prospects of early industrial advances is the 
 contract labor system, and the contract labor system in Mexico 
 is a bad institution. 
 
 "Its repulsive features to our eyes is the fact that, while the 
 laborer enters voluntarily into the contract, the law gives the 
 employer a right over the workman's person in the enforcement 
 of the contract. Theoretically, there is no argument to be made 
 for contract labor.
 
 CRITICS AND CORROBORATION 227 
 
 "If an enganchado rebels or is insolent or lazy, the lithe rod 
 in the hands of the 'boss' of the gang winds around him, and 
 he soon understands that he must fulfill his part of the con- 
 tract. If he runs away, a reward of ten dollars is paid to who- 
 ever brings him back. His clothes are taken away from him, 
 and he is clad in a gunny sack with holes cut for arms and 
 legs." 
 
 Mr. Stevens' defense of this system, as published in 
 the same number of the same magazine, is : 
 
 "Outside of the restrictions of dogmatic controversy there 
 is only one phase that makes a wrong right, and that is neces- 
 sity. A legal enforcement of a contract by using physical force 
 over the person is in itself wrong. On the other hand, legisla- 
 tion now prohibiting contract labor would work a greater wrong, 
 for it would destroy millions of investments, would retard a 
 most beneficent and rapid development of the richest region on 
 this continent, if not in the world, and would, by reflexes, work 
 more harm to the very people it would intend to aid than an 
 indefinite continuance of the present conditions." 
 
 This is exactly the logic the slave-driving cotton plant- 
 ers of our southern states used before the Civil War. 
 It will hardly "go" with anyone who has not money in- 
 vested in Mexican plantations which use cnganchados. 
 
 I do not wish to tire the reader, but, aside from the 
 fact that I have been most violently attacked, I have 
 a reason for wishing to go a little deeper into this mat- 
 ter of critics and corroboration. Let us get right down 
 into Mexico itself, down to the very newspapers that 
 are paid a specified sum each week in exchange for 
 manufacturing public opinion favorable to President 
 Diaz and his system. In Mexico City there are two 
 daily newspapers printed in English, the Herald and 
 the Record. Both are prosperous and well edited, ano 
 both are open defenders of the Mexican government 
 The Herald, especially, repeatedly denounced my articles.
 
 228 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 I believe that I can show as many as fifty clippings from 
 this paper alone which, in one way or another, attempted 
 to cast doubt upon my statements. Nevertheless, in the 
 course of the daily publication of. the news, or in the 
 very campaign of defense, both of these papers have, 
 since the first appearance of "Barbarous Mexico," 
 printed matter which convincingly confirmed my charges. 
 October 23, 1909, the Daily Record dared to print an 
 article from the pen of Dr. Luis Lara y Pardo, one of 
 the best-known of Mexican writers, in which he admitted 
 that my indictment was true. A few lines from the 
 article will suffice. Said Dr. Pardo: 
 
 "The regime of slavery continues under the cloak of the loan 
 laws. Peons are sold by one hacendado to another under the 
 pretext that the money that has been advanced must be paid. 
 In the capital of the Republic itself traffic in human flesh has 
 been engaged in. 
 
 "On the haciendas the peons live in the most horrible manner. 
 They are crowded into lodgings dirtier than a stable and are 
 maltreated. The hacendado metes out justice to the peon, who 
 is even denied the right to protest." 
 
 A widespread fear among the common people of be- 
 ing ensnared as enganchados would argue not only that 
 the system is extensive, but that it is fraught with great 
 hardship. January 6, 1910, the Mexican Daily Record 
 published a news item which indicated that this is true, 
 and also suggested one way in which the government 
 plays into the hands of the labor snarers. Shorn of its 
 headlines, the item is : 
 
 "Five hundred contract laborers intended to work at con- 
 struction camps on the Veracruz and Pacific railroad, are 
 encamped near Buenavista station as a result of their_unwilling- 
 ness to sign a formal contract, and the law prohibiting their 
 being taken into another state without such contract. 
 
 "Governor Landa y Escandon yesterday afternoon refused to
 
 CRITICS AND CORROBORATION 229 
 
 grant the request of R. P. Davis and F. Villademoros, signers 
 of a petition to him to allow the laborers to be shipped out. 
 With their wives, children, and all their worldly possessions they 
 form a motley camp near the station. 
 
 "In their petition, Davis and Villademoros claim that the rail- 
 road company is suffering large losses by the detention of the 
 laborers and that many of the latter fear if they sign contracts 
 they will be shipped to sugar and coffee plantations and held 
 until the expiration of the specified terms. 
 
 Governor Landa refused the request on the ground that 
 the law requires such a formality to protect the laborers, while 
 the reason for waiving it did not appear logical." 
 
 The Mexican Herald furnishes more corroboration 
 than the Mexican Record. Commenting editorially upon 
 the announcements of "Barbarous Mexico," it said, 
 August 27, 1909: 
 
 "In this journal during recent years, and in many Mexican 
 papers as well, the abuses of the peonage system, and the ill- 
 treatment of los enganchados or contract laborers in some 
 regions, have been most frankly dealt with. The enlightened 
 Governor of Chiapas has denounced the evils of peonage in his 
 state and has received the thanks of the patriotic press of the 
 country. That there are dark spots in agricultural labor condi- 
 tions, no fair-minded person of wide information seeks to deny." 
 
 About the same time Paul Hudson, general manager 
 of the paper, was quoted in a New York interview as 
 saying that my exposures "do not admit of categorical 
 denial." And in the Mexican Herald of May 9, 1910, 
 J. Torrey Conner, writing in praise of General Diaz, 
 says: "Slavery, doubtless, is known to exist in Mexico 
 — that is generally understood." In February, 1909, in 
 an editorial item upon the political situation in the state 
 of Morelos, the Mexican Herald went so far as to admit 
 the killing of debt laborers by their masters. To quote 
 it exactly: 
 
 "It is undeniable that their (the planters') management is at
 
 230 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 times severe. When angry they heap abuse on the peons and 
 even maltreat them physically. In some instances they have, in 
 times not so distant, even taken the lives of native laborers 
 who have incensed them, and have gone scot free." 
 
 August 27, 1909, in an article on "The Enganchado," 
 the Herald said, in part: 
 
 "The enganchados are guarded most carefully, for there is the 
 ever present danger of their running away on the slightest 
 opportunity. Often the cahos are cruel in their treatment, a fact 
 which is to be condemned. * * * It is not in keeping here 
 to mention the abuses which are alleged to have been practiced 
 against the enganchados, the treatment of men so shamelessly 
 that they die, the raping of the women, the deprivation of the 
 laborers of any means of bathing, and the unsanitary condition 
 of their houses, leading on to noxious diseases. + * * Nq 
 planter who knows the real history of the system, or the inside 
 facts of the neighboring plantations, will deny for a moment the 
 worst stories of the enganchado are true, 
 
 "Plantation men do not take the enganchado labor because 
 they like it. Nor do they prefer it to any other, even the 
 lowest. But there is a certain advantage in it, as one planter 
 said to the writer, with a queer thrill in his voice: 'When you'vo 
 got 'em they're yours, and have to do what you want them to do. 
 If they don't, you can kill them.'" 
 
 Such corroboration from a subsidized supporter of the 
 system itself would seem rather embarrassing to those 
 individuals who were so zealous as publicly to announce 
 that my portrayal of Mexican slavery was a fabrication. 
 It will be seen that my exposures of Mexican slavery 
 were not the first to be circulated in print; they were 
 merely the first to be circulated widely, and they went 
 into considerably more detail than anything that had 
 gone before. The little item that I have just quoted 
 admits practically all the worst features which I dealt 
 with in my articles.
 
 CRITICS AND COKROBORATION 231 
 
 Here is an ordinary news item clipped from the Mex- 
 ican Herald of May 30, 1909 : 
 
 "Angel Contreras, an enganchado, belonging to a good family, 
 is reported to have been brutally killed by being beaten to death 
 with staves at the nearby San Francisco sugar mills in the 
 El Naranjal municipality. Local newspapers state that other 
 similar crimes have been committed at that place." 
 
 Tiiis is the first information I have had that men are 
 beaten to death in the sugar mills of Mexico. 
 
 I present a news item from the Mexican Herald which 
 describes better than I did in my fourth chapter one 
 of the methods pursued by labor snarers to get their 
 fish into the net. The newspaper prints the story as if 
 the occurrence were unusual; I reprint it in full because 
 it is typical. The only difference is that in this particular 
 case the victim was rescued and the labor agent was 
 jailed for a day or two only because it chanced that the 
 victim had been an employe of the national Department 
 of Foreign Relations. Had the authorities wished to 
 stop this sort of man-stealing, as the Herald would 
 have us believe, why did they not arrest the keepers of 
 the other "casas de cnganchadorcs" which they found, 
 and liberate the prisoners? But here is the item, head- 
 lines and all: 
 
 "BOY OF 16 
 TRAPPED HERE. 
 
 "ALAMEDA SCENE OF BOLD 
 
 KIDNAPPING BY 
 
 SPANIARD. 
 
 "TO GO TO OAXAQUENA. 
 
 "CONTRACTORS PLANNED TO SEND 
 
 BOY TO AMERICAN 
 
 PLANTATION. 
 
 "When Felipe Hernandez, agent of a company of labor con- 
 tractors, commonly referred to in Mexico as 'enganchadores,'
 
 232 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 met sixteen-year-old Benito Juarez in the Alameda on Wednes- 
 day afternoon and induced him by brilliant promises of work 
 and wages to accompany him to a house on la Calle de Violeta, 
 he (Hernandez) made one of the serious mistakes of his life. 
 By refusing to allow young Benito to go out of the house after 
 he had once entered it, Hernandez violated one of the federal 
 statutes and he is now being held in the fifth comisaria to 
 answer a charge of illegal detention. 
 
 "Hernandez claims that he is the employe of one Leandro 
 Lopez, who is securing laborers for the Oaxaquena Plantation 
 Company, an American concern operating an extensive hacienda 
 on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, on the state boundary of Vera- 
 cruz, not far from Santa Lucrecia. Both men are Spaniards. 
 The whereabouts of the boy, Benito Juarez, was not definitely 
 ascertained until yesterday afternoon, when his release was 
 secured upon the demand of Subcomisario Bustamante of the 
 fifth comisaria, who subsequently arrested Hernandez after the 
 lad's statement had been placed on record at the comisaria. 
 
 THE boy's seduction. 
 
 "On Wednesday afternoon, at about 2 o'clock, young Benito, 
 who had been working with his mother, a bread vendor, was 
 sitting on one of the benches in the Alameda when, according to 
 his account, Hernandez happened along and in a benevolent 
 way asked him if he wanted a job at $1.50 a day. The man 
 explained that the work was at an alcohol factory near the city 
 and that the position was something in the character of time- 
 keeping or other clerical work. The lad agreed and was 
 induced to accompany his new-found friend to Calle Violeta, 
 where the details of his engagement were to be arranged. 
 
 "On the way they stopped at a cheap clothing store, where 
 Hernandez purchased a twenty-cent straw hat, a fifty-cent blouse, 
 a pair of sandals and a pair of trousers. Arrived at the house 
 on Calle Violeta young Juarez received orders to put on the peon 
 clothing and to relinquish his own suit of good apparel. In the 
 house where he found himself he encountered three or four 
 other men in the same situation with himself who apprized him 
 of the fact that he was now a contract laborer destined for a 
 plantation in the hot country. 
 
 HIS FRIENDS TRACE HIM. 
 
 "Until a short time ago Benito had been employed as a mozo
 
 CRITICS AND CORROBORATION 233 
 
 in the office of the department of foreign relations on the Paseo 
 de la Reforma and it was a fairly good suit of clothing that he 
 had worn while working there that he exchanged for the peon's 
 outfit. It was also through the charity of his former employer 
 in the government office that he was released from his unwilling 
 detention in Calle Violeta. 
 
 "The boy's mother, Angela Ramos, who lives at No. 4 Calle 
 Zanja, had expected to meet him at the Alameda, where he was 
 waiting when Hernandez came along. Not seeing him, she 
 started inquiry, which elicited the information that he had been 
 seen going away with a man who was supposed to be a labor 
 contractor, and she forthwith hunted up Ignacio Arellano, who 
 is employed in the foreign relations building, and explained to 
 him her trouble. 
 
 POLICE APPEALED TO. 
 
 "Mr. Arellano, accompanied by Alfredo Marquez, an em- 
 ploye of the department of fomento, secured the addresses of 
 three establishments commonly known as 'casas de engancha- 
 dores,' located variously at Calle de Moctezuma, 7a Calle de 
 Magnolia, and la de Violeta. Their experience as related yester- 
 day to a representative of The Herald was much the same at 
 each place and was about as follows : 
 
 "At each of the labor contractors' 'offices' where they sought 
 admission they were refused, being told that they had no such 
 individual as the boy in question in their charge. At each place 
 the assertion was made that they never contracted persons under 
 age. Finding their efforts fruitless, Arellano and Marquez took 
 the matter to the fifth comisaria, where it was explained to 
 Subcomisario Bustamante, who detailed an officer and two 
 secret service men to the places in question with orders to 
 search them thoroughly. 
 
 SEARCHING THE HOUSE. 
 
 "No particular resistance was made to the entrance of the 
 officers at either the Moctezuma or Magnolia street places. In 
 the former were about a dozen men who had signed contracts 
 to go out of the city to work on plantations, while in the latter 
 were about twice the same number. These men are said to have 
 claimed that they were refused permission to leave the place 
 where they were lodged while waiting transportation to their 
 ultimate destinations.
 
 234 BARBAROUS MEXICQ 
 
 "At Calle Violeta, however, the door-keeper at first refused 
 the officers admission, only submitting when threatened with 
 the arrest of every person in the house. Here young Juarez 
 was found and was taken to the fifth comisaria for examination. 
 As soon as his statement had been taken the arrest of Hernandez 
 was ordered, and after his identification by the boy, the latter 
 was set at liberty. 
 
 THE boy's account. 
 
 "Recounting his own adventure last night, young Juarez 
 described the meeting in the Alameda and the exchange of 
 clothing, and continued : 
 
 " 'After I entered the house I learned from one of the men 
 who was already there that I had been fooled in the promise of 
 pay at $1.50 as time-keeper in an alcohol factory, and when I 
 asked the man with whom I had come if his promises were not 
 correct he said that of course they were not and that I was to go 
 to work as a peon on the Oaxaquena plantation at fifty cents per 
 day. Then I asked him to let me go, as I did not want to do 
 such work, but he would not let me leave the house, saying that I 
 owed him five pesos for the clothes he had given me. 
 
 " 'Before that I had told him that I would have to ask my 
 mother's permission before I could go. He told me he was in a 
 great hurry, so I wrote her a note and gave it to him to be 
 delivered. Later he told me my mother had read the note and 
 had given her permission, but I have found out since that she 
 never received it and was hunting for me at the time. 
 
 " 'I was given a peso and five cents as an advance on my 
 pay and the next morning I was given twenty-five cents with 
 which to buy food, which was sold in the house. All this money 
 was charged up against me, to be paid after I went to work, 
 as I learned before I left the place. Breakfast, which cost 
 thirteen cents, consisted of chile and chicharrones (the crisp 
 residue of dried-out pork fat), while dinner, a bowl of soup, 
 cost twelve cents. There was no supper. 
 
 " 'After I was brought into the house there was brought in a 
 man, and a woman who had a year-old baby with her. They are 
 there yet. The people in the house still have my clothes, but I 
 am pretty glad to get out of going to the hot country, anyway. 
 I did not sign any sort of a contract. I did not even see one and 
 I do not know whether the others in the place had signed con-
 
 CRITICS AND CORROBORATION 235 
 
 tracts or not. They all said ihcy liad l)ccn refused permission to 
 leave the house unless they paid back the money which they 
 were told they owed.' 
 
 GOOD WORK OF THE POLICE. 
 
 "From the time that the first notice of the infraction of the 
 labor law was received by the police officials at the fifth comis- 
 aria until the prosecution of Hernandez was put under way 
 their activity has demonstrated beyond any question how far the 
 government authorities are from connivance in labor abuses 
 with which this country has been charged. 
 
 "The Mexican law provides punishment by five years imprison- 
 ment for offenses of this character against minors, and expressly 
 forbids the signing of contracts by persons under legal age 
 binding themselves to work. As there is no legal detention with- 
 out process of law, the prospects for a severe punishment of the 
 man Hernandez, if the assertions of the lad are found correct, 
 seems certain, as he is likely to be made an example of for the 
 benefit of other labor contractors disposed to be careless of 
 their methods." 
 
 I doubt if I could do better than to end this chapter 
 with cjuotations from official reports of the United 
 States government itself. Cold-bloodedly as were the 
 succeeding paragraphs written, the statements that they 
 contain are yet exceedingly corroborative. They are 
 from Bulletin No. 38 of the United States Department 
 of Labor, published in January, 1902. I should like to 
 quote more extensively, but I take only a few para- 
 graphs from pages 42, 43 and 44. 
 
 "In a great many (Mexican) states where tropical products are 
 raised the native residents are employed under a contract which 
 is compulsory on their part, owing to their being in debt to the 
 planter. * * * 
 
 "The system of enforced labor is carried out to its logical 
 sequence in the sisal-grass plantations of Yucatan. There, on 
 each large plantation, is to be found a body of peons, called 
 criados or sirincntes (servants), who, with their families, live 
 on the plantations, and in many cases have been born there.
 
 ■,l. 
 
 236 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 These criados are bound to the soil by indebtedness, for although 
 a mere contract to perform certain services does not nnpose 
 specific performance, it is held in Yucatan that where an 
 advance payment has been made either the repayment of the 
 money or, in default thereof, the specific performance may be 
 exacted. 
 
 "The system of labor enforced by indebtedness seems to 
 work in Yucatan to the satisfaction of the planter. The peon 
 is compelled to work unless he is able to pay off his constantly 
 increasing debt, and any attempt at flight or evasion is followed 
 by penal retribution. The peon rarely, if ever, achieves inde- 
 pendence, and a transference of a workman from one employer 
 to another is only effected by means of the new employer 
 paying to the former one the amount of the debt contracted. 
 I The system thus resembles slavery, not only in the compulsion 
 I under which the peon works, but in the large initial expense 
 required of the planter when making his first investment in 
 labor. 
 
 "In the State of Tabasco the conditions of forced labor are 
 somewhat different and the difficulty of the labor problem, 
 especially from the point of view of the planter, is exceedingly 
 aggravated. In Tabasco the law does not permit the same 
 remedy as in Yucatan, namely, the enforcement of the specific 
 performance of a contract upon which an advance payment has 
 been made, but this drawback is more apparent than real, since 
 the governmental authority is vested in the hands of the land- 
 owning planting classes, and the obligation of contracted peons 
 to work for the planters is virtually enforced." 
 
 Is it necessary to ask again, who has been distorting 
 the truth, myself or the other fellow? Is there slavery 
 in Mexico, and is it widespread? Are men bought and 
 sold like mules, locked up at night, hunted down when 
 they try to run away, starved, beaten, killed? Surely 
 these questions have been answered to the satisfaction 
 of every honest reader. But I have not yet answered 
 that other question, why — why are so many Americans 
 so ready to distort the truth about Mexico?
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE DIAZ-AMERICAN PRESS CONSPIRACY 
 
 If there is any combination of Interests in the United 
 States that exercises so powerful an influence over the 
 press of this country as does President Diaz of Mexico 
 I should like to know its name. 
 
 In a previous chapter I asserted that no publication in 
 Mexico dares, no matter what the circumstances, to crit- 
 icize President Diaz directly. While the same thing 
 cannot, of course, be said of the United States, at least 
 this can be said, that there exists a strange, even an 
 uncanny, unwillingness on the part of powerful Ameri-t 
 can publishers to print anything derogatory to the ruler 
 of Mexico ; that, also, there is manifested a remarkable 1 
 willingness to print matter flattering to the Mexican ' 
 dictator. 
 
 At this writing I do not know of a single book, regu- 
 larly published and circulated in the United States, which 
 seriously criticizes President Diaz, the man or his sys- 
 tem; while I could name at least ten which flatter him 
 most extravagantly. Indeed, I do not know of any book 
 that has ever been circulated in the United States — that 
 is, one put out by one of the regular publishing houses — 
 which attempted an extended criticism of President 
 Diaz. 
 
 And the situation with the magazines is exactly the 
 same. While the number of articles containing praise of 
 • Diaz which have been published in magazines — not to 
 mention newspapers — during the past several years have 
 undoubtedly run into the hundreds, I do not know of one 
 prominent magazine that has prosecuted a criticism of 
 the Mexican dictator. 
 
 Is it not an astonishing situation? And what is the 
 
 237
 
 238 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 reason for it? Is it because the system of Diaz is be- 
 yond reproach? Or is it because by some mysterious 
 power that personage is able to control the press in his 
 favor ? 
 
 Look about you. Is there any other statesman or poli- 
 tician of the present day, American or foreign, who has 
 been accorded a larger proportion of praise and a 
 smaller proportion of blame by prominent American 
 publishers than President Diaz? 
 
 I say that I do not know of one prominent magazine 
 that has prosecuted a criticism of Diaz. Then how about 
 The American Magazine? The American Magazine 
 began a criticism, truly. And it planned to carry it out. 
 Repeatedly it promised its readers that it would deal 
 with the political conditions behind the slavery of Mex- 
 ico. It hinted that Diaz would be shown in a new light. 
 It had the material in its hands — most of the material 
 of this book — and it was very bold and unequivocal in 
 its announcements. And then — 
 
 The American Magazine proved the point that I am 
 making more convincingly than any other instance than 
 I can cite. Suddenly my articles were stopped. The po- 
 litical investigation was stopped. Other articles were 
 substituted, milder articles, good as corroborations of 
 the exposures of slavery, but in each and every one of 
 these articles there was contained a suggestion that 
 President Diaa zvas not personally to blame for the bar- 
 barotis conditions that had been held up to the light. 
 
 "Diaz controls all sources of news and the means of trans- 
 mitting it. Papers are suppressed or subsidized at the pleasure 
 of the government. We know of some of the subsidies paid 
 even to important Mexican papers printed in English. The 
 real news of Mexico does not get across the border. Books 
 that truly describe the present state of things are suppressed 
 or bought up even when published in the United States. A
 
 TTIK DIAZ-AMERICAN PRESS CONSPIRACY 239 
 
 great IMexico-Diaz niytli has been built np l)y skilfully applied 
 inf.uence upon journalism. It is the most astounding case of the 
 suppression of truth and the dissemination of untruth that recent 
 history affords." 
 
 With these words the editors of The American Maga- 
 zine heralded to the world the first of my articles under 
 the title of "Barharous Mexico." 
 
 "Skilfully applied influence upon journalism!" Lit- 
 tle did the writer of that pregnant phrase realize how 
 pregnant it was. Little did he imagine that before six 
 short months were gone that phrase would be as ap- 
 plicable to his own publication as to any other. 
 
 What was the skilfully applied influence exerted upon 
 The American Magazine? I am not pretending to say. 
 But to anyone who will go back and read again the bold 
 announcements of the September, October and Novem- | 
 ber numbers of the magazine — 1909 — read the enthusi-J 
 astic comments of the editors on the interest aroused 
 by the series, the delighted statements of jumping circu- 
 lation, the letters of subscribers begging the editors not 
 to fear, but to go on with the good work, and then note 
 how the magazine sheered away from its program after 
 the first of the year, the conclusion that there was some 
 kind of "skilfully applied influence" seemed pretty well 
 justified.* 
 
 * Since this matter was put in type The American Magazine has 
 begun a second series of articles on Mexico, in which it promises to 
 follow out the thread of exposure which it dropped several months 
 previously. In the October issue, 1910. it prints under the name of 
 Alexander Powell an article two-thirds of which had been written 
 by me and furnished to The American fifteen months earlier. The 
 alleged autlior did not even take the trouble to re-write the mate- 
 rial, and it appears almost word for word as I originally wrote it. 
 To my mind this is but a confirmation of my widely circulated 
 charges: First, that The American failed to carry out its promises to 
 the public because of "skilfully applied influence ;" second, that IL. 
 has gone back to the subject of IMoxico only because its readers 
 Who have road my charges have whipped it into doing so. Finally. 
 its publication at this late day of my original material is proof 
 that it has not been "gathering new facts." as announced, and that 
 tho facts furnished by me in tho first place are thi^ most effective as 
 well as the most reliable that have yet come into its possession.
 
 240 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 But let US note some of the journalistic antics of some 
 other leading publishers. There is William Randolph 
 Hearst, for example, proprietor of The Cosmopolitan 
 Magazine and numerous daily newspapers in different 
 parts of the country. There is no use of dwelling here 
 upon the democratic and humanitarian professions of 
 Mr. Hearst. Everybody knows that for the United 
 States, and doubtless most other countries, he advocates 
 democracy, freedom of speech, a free press, universal 
 suffrage, regulation of predatory corporations, protec- 
 tion of labor. But Mr. Hearst's readers have just 
 learned that for Mexico he is in favor of despotism, a 
 I police ruled press, no suffrage, unbridled corporations, 
 I and — slavery. I have never seen a more frantic apology 
 for these institutions anywhere than is to be found in 
 ' the March, April and May, 1910, numbers of the Cos- 
 1/ mopolitan Magazine. 
 
 That Mr. Hearst was personally responsible for the 
 publication of these articles is evidenced by an inter- 
 view which he gave The Mexican Herald while in Mex- 
 ico last March. Says that newspaper, under date of 
 March 23: 
 
 "In reference to the stories attacking Mexico, which have 
 been largely circulated recently, Mr. Hearst stated that he had 
 looked after defending the good name of this country to the 
 best of his ability. He placed two of his staff, Otheman 
 Stevens and Alfred Henry Lewis, at work on matter pertaining 
 to Mexico and much of the material collected by them had 
 already appeared in some of his newspapers." 
 
 So headlong was Mr. Hearst's hurry to the defense 
 of Diaz that he did not take time to secure writers fa- 
 miliar with the most primary facts about their subject, 
 nor give them time to compare notes and avoid con- 
 tradictions, nor give his editors time to verify ordinary
 
 THE DIAZ-AMERICAN PRESS CONSPIRCY 241 
 
 statements. Mr. Lewis' article was prepared so liter- 
 ally at the last moment that, when it came, the magazine 
 had already been paged and the article had to be put in 
 as an insertion, with special paging. A laughable 
 feature of the campaign was that, in introducing his 
 knights of the defense, the editor of the Cosmopolitan 
 moralized at length on the matter of permitting raw and 
 untried writers — meaning myself — to handle important 
 subjects, and named a list of proven and guaranteed-to- 
 be-reliable writers among whom was Mr. Alfred Henry 
 Lewis. But when Mr. Lewis came to write ! I pray 
 that in all this book there is not one mistake one-half as 
 ridiculous as any of a dozen in Mr. Lewis' short article. 
 Mr. Lewis modestly remarked, near the start, that : 
 "Personally, I know as much of Mexico and Mexicans 
 as any." But the burden of his story was that my 
 writings were inspired by Standard Oil, which wanted 
 revenge on Diaz for having been "kicked out of Mex- 
 ico." Now how Mr. Lewis could have lived in the 
 United States during the previous few months and read 
 the newspapers without having learned of the oil war 
 in Mexico, a war in which at the very time the lines 
 were written, Standard Oil seemed on the point of 
 forcing its only competitor to sell out to it on unfavor- 
 able terms, how Mr. Lewis could have failed to know 
 that Standard Oil owns millions of dollars worth of oil 
 lands and does a vast majority of the retail oil business 
 in Diaz-land, how he could have been ignorant of the 
 fact that H. Clay Pierce, head of the Standard Oil cor- 
 poration in Mexico, is a director of the National Rail 
 ways of Mexico, the government merged lines, so-called, 
 and a close ally of President Diaz, is a little difficult to 
 understand. Personally, Mr. Lewis knows as much of 
 Mexico and Mexicans as any! Any — what? 
 
 :]
 
 242 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 Just one more of Mr. Lewis' all-embracing blunders 
 in that article. Saic\ he : 
 
 "Search where you will, in every Mexican corner, from the 
 Pacific to the gulf, from Yucatan to the Arizona line, you will 
 meet no sugar trust to cheat the government with false scales, 
 no coal trust to steal the fires from the poor man's chimney, no 
 wool or cotton trust to steal the clothes off his back, no beef 
 trust to filch the meat from his table, no leather trust to take 
 the shoes off his feet. * * * The trusts do not exist in 
 Mexico." 
 
 Which proves that Mr. Lewis does not know the first 
 principle upon which Mexican finance and Mexican com- 
 mercial life is based. Not only does the same financial 
 ring which monopolizes the great industries of the Uni- 
 ted States monopolize those same industries in Mexico 
 — I shall presently enumerate some of them — but every 
 sla^e and locality has its minor trusts which control the 
 necessities of life in their field a great deal more com- 
 pletely than such necessities are controlled in this coun- 
 jtry. Mr. Lewis does not seem to know that the Mexican 
 government is openly in the trust business, that by sale 
 and gift of special privileges known as "concessions" 
 it creates and maintains trusts of high and low degree. 
 Personally, Mr. Lewis knows as much of Mexico and 
 Mexicans as any! 
 
 Just a slip or two from Mr. Stevens, taken almost at 
 random. 
 
 "There is no terrifying labor question to make the investor 
 hesitate. A strike is unknown, and there is no danger of a 
 shortage of labor, skilled or unskilled." 
 
 And another: 
 
 "No bank in Mexico can fail, no bank-note can be worthless, 
 and no depositor can possibly lose his money, no matter what 
 fatality may befall the bank with which he has his account."
 
 THE DIAZ-AMERICAN PRESS CONSPIRCY 243 
 
 As to the first statement, I have answered it in the 
 chapter, "Four Mexican Strikes." Three of these strikes 
 are famous and there is no excuse for Mr. Stevens' 
 having heard of none of them. As to the second state- 
 ment, there are some hundreds of Americans who are 
 just now fervently wishing it were really true — fer- 
 vently wishing that they could get a settlement on the 
 basis of twenty-five cents on the dollar. In February, 
 1910, about the time Mr. Stevens was penning so glow- 
 ingly, the United States Bank of Mexico, the largest 
 bank in the country which catered to Americans, was 
 wrecked in exactly the same way as most American bank 
 wrecks are made — by misappropriation of funds to sup- 
 port a speculative scheme. The bank went to smash, 
 the president went to jail, the depositors did not get 
 their money and at this writing there seems little chance 
 of their getting any of it. Certainly they will never get 
 all or half of it. And this was not the only disaster of 
 the sort that has lately occurred in Mexico. About May 
 1, 1910, another American bank, the Federal Banking 
 Company, went to smash and its cashier, Robert E. 
 Crump, went to jail. The fact is that there was no 
 ground for Mr. Stevens' statement whatsoever. 
 
 To quote all of Mr. Stevens' blunders would be to 
 quote most of his three articles. He went to Mexico 
 to prepare a defense of Diaz and he did not take the 
 trouble to put a liberal sprinkling of facts in his de- 
 fense. He was taken in charge by agents of Diaz and 
 he wrote down what they told him to write. He was 
 even taken in on the little yarn about the Yucatan slave 
 who got his master into jail, a yarn which had done duty 
 before. The story runs that a hcncqucn king beat one of 
 his laborers, the laborer appealed to a justice of the 
 peace, who arrested and fined the master. The truth
 
 244 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 of the incident was — and my authority is most reliable 
 — that the slave had run away, was caught by a planter 
 Other than his owner, who attempted to hold him quietly 
 as his own. In the course of the day's work the slave 
 was badly beaten, and it was in this condition that his 
 real owner found him. The real owner secured the ar- 
 rest of the would-be thief, in the name of the slave, and 
 so the story of the "equality before the law" of the slave 
 and master went out to the world. 
 
 The important thing, however, is not the laughable 
 mistakes of Mr. Hearst's writers, but the wherefore of 
 Mr. Hearst's putting his printing presses so unreservedly 
 into the service of a man and a system such as he would 
 not defend for a moment were they to be found in any 
 other country. 
 
 But let us mention a few more publications which Have 
 put themselves in the same-elass as Mr. Hearst's maga- 
 zine. There is Sunset Magazine;.. In February, 1910, it 
 began a~5eries of articles by ^'Gasper Estrada Gonzalez," 
 who is announced as "a stateman who is very close to 
 '■ Diaz." There were three articles of fawning flattery. 
 Followed an article by Herman Whitaker, in which he 
 praised Diaz to the skies and absolved him from all 
 blame for the slave atrocities of Mexico. Then came an 
 article by a man name,d Murray, who wrote to justify 
 Diaz's extermination of the Yaquis. 
 
 Moody's ]\Iagazine ran a series of articles under the 
 title, "Mexico as it Is," in which the writer attempted to 
 neutralize the effect of "Barbarous Mexico" upon the 
 public conscience. I have already mentioned defenses 
 which were published in the Bankers' Magazine and in 
 the Mining World. In addition, The Overland Monthly, 
 The Exporter, many newspapers — like the Los Angeles
 
 THE DIAZ-AMERICAN PRESS CONSPIRCY 245 
 
 Times — and various smaller publications, as well as 
 many private individuals and a book publisher or two 
 took up the work of defending their friend Diaz. 
 
 As to the book defense against "Barbarous ^Mexico," 
 little has appeared so far, doubtless because of the 
 shortness of time, but there are reports that several 
 books are on their way. One of these, it is said, is to be 
 by James Creelman, who left the employ of Pearson's 
 Magazine at the call of Diaz, hurried to Mexico from] 
 Turkey, and spent several weeks going over the route! 
 I described in my articles, in order that he might be' 
 able to "refute" me with verisimilitude, no doubt. 
 
 The book "Porfirio Diaz," written by Jose F. Godoy, 
 whom Diaz recently appointed as his minister to Cuba, 
 though it does not refer to my exposures in any way, 
 was quite likely hurried out because of them. Here is 
 a very expensively printed book, containing nothing that 
 has not been printed repeatedly before, except — seventy 
 pages of endorsements of Dia:: written by prominent 
 Americans. Here we have the case of a man, Mr. Godoy, 
 who actually went about — or sent about — among sena- 
 tors, congressmen, diplomats and cabinet officers, solicit- 
 ing kind words for President Diaz. And he got them. 
 In looking over this book it seems to me that almost any 
 discriminating persons would be moved to inquire what 
 moved G. P. Putnam's Sons to issue that hook. Surely 
 it was not entirely the hope of profitable sales to the 
 general public. 
 
 I know of only one book of criticism of the Diaz sys- 
 tem that was put out by a regular American publisher, 
 and the criticism in that book was so veiled and so in- 
 terspersed with flattery that the American reviewers 
 took it for one of the old adulatory sort. Only one of
 
 246 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 them, so the author himself told mc, was discerning 
 enough to see that it was a book of criticism. "I wrote 
 the book that way," the author said to me, "in the hope 
 that it would be allowed to circulate in IVIexico." 
 
 But the officials of the ^dexican government were 
 more discerning than the American book reviewers and 
 the book was not allowed to circulate. Not only that, 
 but quite suddenly and mysteriously it disappeared from 
 'the stores in this country and very soon was not to be 
 had. Had the book disappeared because it was bought 
 by the public, the publishers would be expected to print 
 a second edition, but this they declined to do and, though 
 flatly asserting that the work was not again to appear, 
 they also declined to give the author or other inquirers 
 further satisfaction. The book I refer to was the one 
 entitled "Porfirio Diaz," written by Rafael DeZayas 
 • Enriquez and issued by D. Appleton & Co., in 1908. 
 
 Carlo de Fornaro, a Alexican newspaperman, or 
 rather, a native of Italy who had spent two years in 
 newspaper work in Mexico City, also w^ote a book, 
 "Diaz, Czar of Mexico," printing it himself because he 
 could not find a regular publisher. It was refused cir- 
 culation in IMexico and action for criminal libel was at 
 once begun against Fornaro in the New York courts. 
 To bring this suit, the editor of Diaz's leading nev/s- 
 paper, El Imparcial, with Joaquin Casasus, the most 
 prominent lawyer of Me^co and" former ambassador to 
 the United States, hurried from the Mexican capital. 
 Among the American lawyers employed as special pros- 
 ecutors was Henry W. Taft, brother of the president 
 and counsel of the National Railways of Mexico. For- 
 naro, being without the means to bring witnesses from 
 Mexico to support the charges made in his book, was
 
 THE DIAZ-AMERICAN PRESS CONSPIRCY 247 
 
 convicted, sent to prison for one year and the book was 
 thereafter not circulated in the regular way. In fact, 
 immediately after the arrest of Fornaro for some reason 
 the New York book stores, at least, refused longer to 
 handle the work. The Fornaro incident occurred in 
 1909. 
 
 Perhaps even a more remarkable incident still was that 
 of the suppression of "Yucatan, the American Egypt," 
 written by Tabor and Frost, Englishmen. After being 
 printed in England this book was put out in this coun- 
 try by Doubleday, Page & Co., one of our largest and 
 most respectable publishers. It was put out in expen- 
 sive form and, in the natural course of the book trade, 
 should have been purchasable for years after it left the 
 presses. But within six months tl:c publishers, replying 
 to a would-be purchaser, asserted tliat the book "has 
 gone out of print and absohttcly no copies arc available !" 
 I have the letter myself. The book was almost entirely 
 about the ancient ruins of Yucatan, but it contained a 
 score or so of pages exposing the slavery of the hene- 
 qucn plantations — and it had to go. What sort of argu- 
 ment was used upon our esteemed and respectable pub- 
 lishers to cause them to withdraw the book can be imag- 
 ined. 
 
 These instances are added to the others to show what 
 happens when a writer does succeed in getting an ex- 
 pose of the Diaz system into print. In this book wdiich 
 I am writing I am doing my best to bring out the most 
 important facts and at the same time avoid giving valid 
 grounds for action at libel. When it appears there will 
 be no legal reason why it should not be circulated as the 
 majority of books are circulated. Nevertheless, if it is 
 extensively offered for sale in the usual way it will be
 
 248 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 the first extended criticism of Diaz and his system to 
 be put squarely before the American people. And the 
 reason for its being the first will be not because there 
 have not been facts that begged to be printed and writers 
 that desired to print those facts, but because of that 
 "skilfully applied influence upon journalism" which Gen- 
 eral Diaz exerts in our land of free speech and free 
 press. 
 
 Again I come back to the question: What is the 
 source of that "influence upon journalism?" Why do 
 citizens of the United States, who profess a reverence 
 for the principles for which their forefathers of '^d 
 fought, who claim to revere Abraham Lincoln most of all 
 for his Emancipation Proclamation, who shudder at the 
 labor-baiting of the Congo, at the horrors of Russia's 
 Siberia, at the political system of Czar Nicholas, apolo- 
 gize for and defend a more cruel slavery, a worse politi- 
 cal oppression, a more complete and terrible despotism 
 — in Mexico? 
 
 To this question there is only one conceivable answer, 
 that for the sake of sordid profits principles of decency 
 and humanity, principles which are universally conceded 
 as being best for the progress of the world, have been 
 set aside. 
 
 By this I do not mean that all of the Americans who 
 have expressed admiration for General Diaz have been 
 directly bribed to do so by gifts of so many dollars and 
 so many cents. By no means. Some publishers and 
 some writers have undoubtedly been bought in this way. 
 But the vast majority of the active flatterers of Diaz 
 have been moved by nothing more than "business rea- 
 sons," which, by some persons, will be considered as 
 little different from bribery. As to the great mass of the
 
 THE DIAZ-AMERICAN PRESS CONSPIRCY 249 
 
 Americans who think well of Diaz, and sometimes speak 
 well of him — as distinct from what I have called the 
 "active flatterers" — they have simply been fooled, de- 
 ceived by the consistent press campaign which the oth- 
 ers have kept up for, lo, these many years. 
 
 Such American planters as those whom I have quoted 
 as defending the Diaz system of slavery may have been 
 moved by nothing more reprehensible than a desire to 
 prevent my exposures from "hurting the country," or 
 "hurting business," meaning their business. In fact, 
 I was much surprised that so many actual residents of 
 Mexico came forward in support of my statements as 
 did, inasmuch as nearly every American in IMexico has 
 some land which he has obtained for a very low price — 
 or for nothing at all — and which he wishes to sell at 
 a profit. Or he has a stock-selling scheme, in a rubber 
 plantation, for example, with which he is trying to se- 
 cure the good money of widows and orphans, poor 
 school teachers, small business men and working peo- 
 ple. Just as the average American real estate boomer 
 "boosts his town," decries exposures of political cor- 
 ruption as "hurting business," even suppresses news of 
 plague, earthquake fatalities and such things, so the 
 American in JMexico. knowing that exposures of slavery 
 and political instability will frig-hten away investments 
 and perhaps lose him some profitable deals, seldom hes- 
 itates to argue that political and industrial conditions in 
 the country are ideal. The more property a man owns 
 in Mexico the less likely is he to tell the truth about 
 the country. 
 
 As to the American publishers, the "business reasons" 
 are usually found either in the interest of the publisher 
 himself in some property or "concession" in Mexico,
 
 250 BARBAROUS MEXICO • 
 
 or in his business connection with some other persons 
 of means who hold such properties or such concessions. 
 And through one or the other of these avenues un- 
 doubtedly nearly all of our largest publishers, of books, 
 magazines or newspapers, are touched. The situation 
 in my home town may be a little exceptional, but from 
 it may be guessed the extent of the "skilfully applied 
 influence" of Diaz that probably extends over the whole 
 country. I reside in Los Angeles, California, where 
 there are five daily newspapers. At the time of the 
 high-handed persecutions of iMagon, A'illarreal and Riv- 
 era, Sarabia, De Lara, Alodesto Diaz, Arizmendez, 
 Ulibarri and other Alexicans, political enemies of Diaz, 
 in 1907, it became plain that the muzzle was on all of 
 those newspapers. Suspicion was confirmed by a man- 
 aging editor of one of them, who said in confidence to 
 me and to others : 
 
 "The newspapers of this tozvn could get those men out 
 of jail in tzventy-four hours if they zvent at it. But they 
 won't go at it because the owners of all five are inter- 
 ested in concessions in Mexico. You see zve're up against 
 it. We don't dare to say a zvord, for if zve did Dias 
 would get back at us." 
 
 Two of these newspaper owners were T\Ir. Hearst 
 himself and Harrison Gray Otis, the latter proprietor of 
 the well known Los Angeles Times. Each of these men 
 own more than a million acres of ]\Iexican land, which 
 they are generally credited with securing from the Mex- 
 ican government for nothing or practically nothing. In 
 addition to owning a magnificent stock ranch, Mr. 
 Hearst owns vast oil lands and, in addition, is credited 
 with being involved financially with the Southern Pacific 
 Railroad Company, which is one of the hugest bene- 
 ficiaries of the Diaz government. As to the magnifi-
 
 THE DIAZ-AMERTCAN PRESf^ CONSPIRCY 251 
 
 cence of Mr. Hearst's stock ranch, permit me io repro- 
 duce an item which was pnbHshed in the Mexican I ler- 
 ald, August 24, 1908. 
 
 IS WONDERFUL ESTATE. 
 
 HEARST HOLDINGS IN CHIHUAHUA 
 ^ SMALL EMPIRE. 
 
 IS OVER MILLION ACRES. 
 
 Within the Enclosure Graze 60,000 Herefords and 125,000 
 Head of Sheep — Thousands of Horses and Hogs are Raiskd 
 There. 
 
 "With over a million acres of the finest agricultural and 
 grazing land, with large herds of blooded cattle, horses and 
 sheep, roaming over this vast domain, tlie big Hearst cattle 
 ranch and farm in Chihuahua is the peer of any such estate in 
 the world, whether it lies in the great corn belt of Illinois or 
 Kansas, or stretches for miles across the wind-swept prairies of 
 Texas or Oklahoma. Two hundred and fifty miles of barbed 
 wire fence enclose a portion of this vast ranch and within the 
 enclosure graze 60,000 thoroughbred Herefords, 125,000 fine 
 sheep, and many thousand head of horses and hogs. A modern, 
 up-to-date ranch and farm, whose crops are unexcelled in the 
 world, and whose stock is famous from end to end of the 
 Republic, this ranch is convincing evidence of the great future 
 which is in store for the agricultural and stock raising industry 
 of Mexico." 
 
 Thus spoke E. Kirby Smith, a well-known planter of Cam- 
 peche, who is spending a few days in the city. Mr. Kirby 
 Smith has just returned from an extended trip into Chihuahua, 
 where he spent several days on the great Hearst ranch. 
 
 "This ranch," said Mr. Kirby Smith, "is typical of the great 
 modern stock farms and presents a glorious picture as to what 
 may be expected from enterprises of this character, if properly 
 conducted, in this Republic. The stock is of the best. Imported 
 jacks and stallions, thoroughbred brood mares and thoroughbred 
 cattle dot the ranch from end to end. 
 
 "Vast amounts of corn and potatoes are raised, and in potatoes 
 alone fortunes are going to be made by the farmers of northern 
 Mexico."
 
 252 ^ BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 As to the Sunset Magazine, it is owned outright by 
 the Southern Pacific Railroad company, and Moody's 
 
 I Magazine, the Bankers' Magazine, The Exporter, and 
 the Mining World are all known to be dominated by 
 Wall street Interests. And what, pray, have the South- 
 
 j ern Pacific Railroad and Wall street to do with Diaz and 
 
 \Mexico? 
 
 The answer is — everything. While Wall street has 
 more or less conflicting interests in the looting of the 
 United States, Wall street is ONE when it comes to the 
 looting of Mexico. This is the chief reason why Amer- 
 ican publishers are so nearly one when it comes to the 
 flattering of Diaz. Wall street and Diaz are business 
 partners and the American press is an appendage of the 
 Diaz press bureau. Through ownership and near owner- 
 ship of magazines, newspapers and publishing houses, 
 and through the power of shifting advertising patron- 
 age, Wall street has up to this moment been able to 
 suppress the truth and maintain a lie about Diaz and 
 Mexico.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE AMERICAN PARTNERS OF DIAZ 
 
 The United States is a partner in the slavery of Mex-) 
 ico. After freeing his black slaves Uncle Sam, at thej 
 end of half a century, has become a slaver again. Un-/ 
 cle Sam has gone to slave-driving in a foreign country.' 
 
 No, I shall not charge this to Uncle Sam, the genial, 
 liberty-loving fellow citizen of our childhood. I would 
 rather say that Uncle Sam is dead and that another is 
 masquerading in his place — a counterfeit Uncle Sam 
 who has so far deceived the people into believing that 
 he is the real one. It is that person whom I charge with 
 being a slaver. 
 
 This is a strong statement, but I believe that the facts 
 justify it. The United States is responsible in part ior\ 
 the extension of the system of slavery in Mexico; sec- 
 ond, it is responsible as the determining force in the 
 continuation of that slavery; third, it is responsible 
 knowingly for these things. 
 
 When I say the United States I do not mean a few 
 minor and irresponsible American officials. Nor do I 
 mean the American nation — which, in my humble judg- 
 ment, is unjustly charged with the crimes of some per- 
 sons over whom, under conditions as they exist, it has 
 no control. I use the term in its most literal and exact 
 sense. I mean the organized power which officially rep- 
 resents this country at home and abroad. I mean the 
 Federal Government and the Interests that control tlie 
 Federal Government. 
 
 Adherents of a certain political cult in this country 
 are wont to declare that chattel slavery was abolished in 
 
 253
 
 254 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 the United States because it ceased to be profitable. 
 Without commenting on the truth or fallacy of this as- 
 sertion, I aver that there are plenty of Americans who 
 are prepared to prove that slavery is profitable in Mex- 
 ico. Because it is considered profitable, these* Ameri- 
 cans have, in various ways, had a hand in the extension 
 of the institution. Desiring to perpetuate Mexican 
 slavery and considering General Diaz a necessary factor 
 in that perpetuation, they have given him their undivided 
 support. By their control of the press they have glori- 
 fied his name, when otherwise his name should be by 
 right a stench in the nostrils of the world. But they 
 have gone much farther than this. By their control of 
 the political machinery of their government, the United 
 States government, they have held him in his place when 
 otherwise he would have fallen. Most effectively has 
 the police pozver of this country been used to destroy 
 a movement of Mexicans for the abolition of Mexican 
 slavery and to keep the chief slave-driver of Barbarous 
 Mexico, Porfirio Diaz, upon his throne. 
 
 Still another step can we go in these generalizations. 
 By making itself an indispensable factor in his continua- 
 tion in the governmental power, through its business 
 partnership, its press conspiracy and its police and mil- 
 itary alliance, the United States has virtually reduced 
 Diaz to a political dependency, and by so dQing has vir- 
 tually transformed Mexico into a slave(colony of the 
 \ United States. 
 
 As I have already suggested, these are generalizations, 
 but if I did not believe that the facts set forth in this and 
 the succeeding chapter fully justified each and every 
 one of them, I would not make them. 
 
 Pardon me for again referring to the remarkable de- 
 fense of Mexican slavery and Mexican despotism which
 
 TTIE A'.rKRICAN PARTXERS OF DIAZ 255 
 
 we find in the United States, inasmuch as it is itself a 
 strong presumption of guilty partnership in that slavery 
 and despotism. What publication or individual in the 
 i United States, pray you, was ever known to defend the 
 system of political oppression in Russia? What publi- 
 cation or individual in the United States was ever known 
 to excuse tlie slave atrocities of the Congo Free State? 
 How many Americans are in the habit of singing paeans 
 of praise to Czar Nicholas or the late King Leopold? 
 
 Americans of whatever class not only do not dare to 
 do these things, but they do not care to do them. But 
 what a difference when it comes to Mexico ! Here 
 slavery is sacred. Here autocracy is deified. 
 
 It will not do to deny the honesty of the comparison be- 
 tween Mexico and Russia or the Congo. For every 
 worshipper of Diaz knows that he is an autocrat and 
 a slave-driver and enough of them admit it to leave no 
 ground for doubt that they know it. 
 
 What, then, is the reason for this strange diversion 
 of attitude? Why do so many prostrate themselves be- 
 fore the Czar of Mexico and none prostrate themselves 
 before the Czar of Russia? Why is America flooded 
 with books hailing the Mexican autocrat as the greatest 
 man of the age while it is impossible to buy a single book, 
 regularly published and circulated, that seriously criti- 
 cizes him? 
 
 The inference is inevitable that it is because Diaz is i 
 the Golden Calf in but another form, that Americans 1., 
 are profiting by ATexican slavery and are exerting them- 
 selves to maintain it. 
 
 But there are easily provable facts that carry us far 
 beyond any mere inference, however logical it may be. 
 
 What is the most universal reply that has be en made 
 to my criticisms of Mexico and Mexico's ruler ? That _^
 
 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 there are $900,000,000 of _Am erican capita l invested in 
 i\Iexico"."~___^ 
 
 --^To "tRe Powers that B e in the United States thejiine 
 hundred miiJi on dollars of American capital form a con- 
 clusive argu ment against any criticism of President Dia z. 
 They are an overwhelming defense of Mexican slavery. 
 
 "Hush ! Hush !" the word goes about. "Why, we have 
 nine hundred million dollars grinding out profits down 
 there!" And the American publishers obediently hush. 
 
 In that $900,000,000 of American capital in Mexico 
 is to be found the full explanation not only of the 
 American defense of the Mexican government, but also 
 of the political dependency of Diaz upon the Powers 
 that Be in this country. Wherever capital flows capital 
 controls the government. This doctrine is recognized 
 everywhere and by all men who have as much as half 
 an eye for the lessons that the world is writing. The 
 last decade or two has proved it in every country where 
 large aggregations of capital have gathered. 
 
 No wonder there is a growing anti-American senti- 
 ment in Mexico. The Mexican people are naturally 
 patriotic. They have gone through tremendous trials 
 to throw ofif the foreign yoke in past generations and 
 they are unwilling to bend beneath the foreign yoke to- 
 day. They want the opportunity of working out their 
 own national destiny as a separate people. They look 
 upon the United States as a great colossus which is 
 about to seize them and bend them to its vs^ill. 
 
 And they are right. American capital in Mexico will 
 not be denied. The partnership of Diaz and American 
 capital has wrecked Mexico as a national entity. The 
 United States government, as long as it represents Amer- 
 ican capital — and the most rampant hypocrite will hardly 
 deny that it does today — will have a deciding voice in
 
 . THE AMERICAN PARTNERS OF DIAZ 257 
 
 Mexican affairs. From the viewpoint of patriotic Mex- 
 icans the outlook is melancholy indeed. 
 
 Let us cast our eyes over Mexico and sec what some 
 of that $900,000,000 of American capital is doing there. 
 
 The Morgan-Guggenheim copper merger is in abso- 
 lute control of the copper output of Mexico. 
 
 M. Guggenheim Sons own all the large smelters in 
 Mexico, as well as vast mining properties. They occupy 
 the same powerful position in the mining industry gen- 
 erally in Mexico as they occupy in the United States. 
 
 The Standard Oil company, under the name of the 
 Waters-Pierce, with many su1)si(liary corporations, con- 
 trols a vastly major portion of the crude oil flow of ]\Iex- 
 ico. It controls a still greater portion of the wholesale 
 and retail trade in oil — ninety per cent of it, so its man- 
 agers claim. At the present writing there is an oil war 
 in Mexico caused by an attempt of the only other oil 
 distributing concern in the country — controlled by the 
 Pearsons — to force the Standard to buy it out at a 
 favorable price. The situation predicts an early victory 
 for the Standard, after which its monopoly will be com- 
 plete. 
 
 Agents of tbe American Sugar Trust have just se- 
 cured from the Federal and State governments conces- 
 sions for the production of sugar beets and beet sugar 
 so favorable as to insure it a complete monopoly of the 
 Mexican sugar business within the next ten years. 
 
 The Inter-Continental Rubber company — in other 
 words. The American Rubber Trust — is in possession of 
 millions of acres of rubber lands, the best in Mexico. 
 
 The Wells-Fargo Express company, the property of 
 the Southern Pacific Railroad, through its partnership 
 with the government, holds an absolute monopoly of 
 the express carrying business of Mexico.
 
 258 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 E. N. Brown, president of the National Railways of 
 Alexico and a satellite of H. Clay Pierce and the late 
 E. H. Harriman, is a member of the board of directors 
 of the Banco Nacional, which is by far the largest finan- 
 cial institution in Mexico, a concern that lias over fifty 
 branches, in which all the chief members of the Diaz 
 financial camarilla are interested and through which finan- 
 cial deals of the Mexican government are transacted. 
 
 Finally, the Southern Pacific Railroad and allied Har- 
 riman heirs, despite the much vaunted government rail- 
 way merger, own outright or control by virtue of near- 
 ownership, three-fourths of the main line railway mile- 
 age of Mexico, which enables it today to impose as ab- 
 solute a monopoly in restraint of trade as exists in the 
 case of any railway combination In the United States. 
 
 These are merely some of the largest aggregations of 
 American capital in Mexico. For example, the Harri- 
 man heirs own two and one-half millions acres of oil 
 land in the Tampico country, and a number of other 
 Americans own properties running into the millions of 
 acres. Americans are involved in the combinations 
 which control the flour and meat trades of Mexico. 
 The purely trade interests are themselves considerable. 
 Eighty per cent of Mexican exports come to the United 
 States and sixty-six per cent of Mexican imports are 
 sent to her by us, the American trade with Mexico 
 totaling some $75,000,000 a year. 
 
 So you see how it is in Mexico. The Americanization 
 of Mexico of which Wall Street boasts, is being accom- 
 plished and accomplished with a vengeance. 
 
 It were hardly worth while to pause at this juncture 
 and discuss the question why Mexicans did not get in 
 on the ground floor and control these industries, ^t is 
 not, as numerous writers would have us believe, be-
 
 THE AMERICAN PARTNERS OF DIAZ 259 
 
 cause Americans are the only intelligent people in tlic 
 world and because God made Mexicans a stupid peo- 
 ple and intended that they should be governed by their 
 superiors. One very good reason why Diaz delivered f 
 his country into the hands of Americans was that Amcr-_ 
 icans had more money to pay for special privileges. And 
 Americans had more money because, while all ^^lexicans 
 were becoming impoverished by the war for the over- ', '^ 
 throw of the foreigner, Maximilian, thousands of Amcr- i 
 icans were making. fortunes by means of grafting army ^ 
 contracts involved in our Civil War. ^ . 
 
 Let me present an instance or two of the way in which 
 Americans are contributing to the extension of slaver}-. 
 
 Take the Yaqui atrocities, for example. Vice-presi- 
 dent Corral, who was then in control of the government 
 of the state of Sonora, stirred up a Yaqui war because 
 he saw an opportunity to get the Yaqui lands and sell 
 them at a good price to American capitalists. Tlie ' 
 Yaqui country is rich in both mining and agricultural 
 possibilities. American capitalists bought the lands 
 while the Yaquis were still on them, then stimulated ^ — 
 the war of extermination and finally instigated the 
 scheme to deport them into slavery in Yucatan. 
 
 But American capital did not stop even there. It fol- 
 lowed the Yaqui women and children away from their 
 homes. It sazv families dismembered, zvomen forced^ 
 into wifehood zvith Chinamen, men beaten to death. It 
 saw these things, encouraged them and covered them up 
 from the eyes of the zvorld because of its interest in the 
 price of sisal hemp, because it feared that with the pass- 
 ing of slave labor the price of sisal hemp would rise. 
 The American Cordage Trust, a raniification of Stand- 
 ard Oil, absorbs over half the henequen evport of Yu-
 
 260 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 catan. The Standard Oil press declares there is no slav- 
 ery in Mexico. Governor Fred N. Warner, of Michi- 
 gan, publicly denied my expose of slavery in Yucatan. 
 Governor Warner is interested in contracts involving 
 the purchase annually of half a million dollars worth 
 of sisal hemp from the slave kings of Yucatan. 
 
 Also, Americans work the slaves — ^buy them, drive 
 them, lock them up at night, beat them, kill them, ex- 
 actly as do other employers of labor in Mexico. And 
 they admit that they do these things. In my possession 
 are scores of admissions by American planters that they 
 employ labor which is essentially slave labor. All over 
 the tropical section of Mexico, on the plantations of rub- 
 ber, sugar-cane, tropical fruits — everywhere — you will 
 find Americans buying, beating, imprisoning, killing 
 slaves. 
 
 Let me quote you just one interview I had with a 
 well known and popular American of Diaz's metropolis, 
 a man who for five years ran a large plantation near 
 Santa Lucrecia 
 
 "When we needed a lot of enganchados," he told me, 
 "all we had to do was to wire to one of the numerous 
 enganchadores in IMexico, saying: 'We want so many 
 men and so many women on such and such a day.' Some- 
 times we'd call for three or four hundred, but the en- 
 ganchadores would never fail to deliver the full number 
 on the dot. We paid fifty pesos apiece for them, reject- 
 ing those that didn't look good to us, and that was all 
 there was to it. We always kept them as long as they 
 lasted. 
 
 "It's healthier down there than it is right here in the 
 city of Mexico," he told me. "If you have the means to 
 take care of yourself you can keep as well there as you 
 can anywhere on earth."
 
 THE AMERICAN TARTNERS OF DIAZ 261 
 
 Less than five minutes after making this statement he 
 told me: 
 
 "Yes, I remember a lot of three hundred cnganchados 
 we -r-eceived one Spring. In less than three months we 
 buried more than half of them.'* 
 
 The hand of the American slave-driver of Mexico has 
 been known to reach out for its victims even as far as 
 his own home — the United States. During my travels 
 in Mexico, in order to become better acquainted with 
 the common people, I spent most of my traveling days 
 in second or third class cars. Riding in a third class 
 car between Tierra Blanca and Veracruz one night, I 
 spied an American negro sitting in a corner. 
 
 "I wonder if they ever caught hiin down here?" I 
 said to myself. "I'll find out." 
 
 Tom West, a free-born Kentucky negro of twenty- 
 five, hesitated to admit that he had ever been a slave. 
 But he confessed gradually. 
 
 "Ah was workin' in a brick yahd in Kaintucky at two 
 dollahs a day," was the way Tom put it, "when anothah 
 cullahd man come along an' tole me he knowed where 
 Ah cud get three seventy-five a day. Ah said 'Ah'm with 
 ye.' So he hands me one o' them book prospectuses 
 an' the next day he tuk me to the office o' the company 
 an' they said the same thing — three seventy-five Amer- 
 ican money, or seven an' a half Mex ! So Ah come with 
 eighty othah cullahd folks by way o' Tampa, Florida, 
 and Veracruz, down here to a cofifee and rubbah planta- 
 tion at La Junta, near Santa Lucrecia, Oaxaca. 
 
 "Seven and a half a day! Huh! Seven an' a half! 
 That's just what they paid me when they let me go — 
 aftah two yeahs! Ah run away twict, but they ketched 
 me and brung me back. Did they beat me ? Naw. they 
 beat lots o' othahs, but they nevah beat me. Ah yeh,
 
 262 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 they batted me a few times with a stick, but Ah wouldn't 
 a let 'em beat me ; no sub, not me !" 
 
 The plantation that caught Tom West, Kentuckian, 
 was an American plantation. Some months after talk- 
 ing with Tom I happened to hold a conversation with a 
 man who identified himself as Tom's master after I 
 had told him Tom's story. 
 
 "Those niggers," this American told me, "were an 
 experiment that didn't turn out very well. They must 
 have been ours, for I don't know of anybody else down 
 that way that had them at the time of which you speak. 
 The seven and a half a day? Oh, the agents told 'em 
 anything to get them. That was none of our business. 
 We simply bought them and paid for them and then 
 made them work out their purchase price before we gave 
 them any money. Yes, we kept them under lock and 
 key at night and had to guard them with guns in the 
 daytime. When they tried to make a break we'd tie 
 'em up and give 'em a good dressing down with a club. 
 The authorities? We chummed with the authorities. 
 They were our friends." 
 
 The partnership of American capital with President 
 Diaz not only puts at its disposal a system of slave labor, 
 but also permits it to utilize the system of peonage and 
 to beat the class of wage-laborers down to the lowest 
 point of subsistence. Where slavery does not exist in 
 Mexico you find peonage, a mild form of slavery, or 
 you find cheap wage-labor. Diaz's rurales shot Colonel 
 Greene's copper miners into submission and threats of 
 imprisonment put an end to the great strike on an Amer- 
 ican-Mexican railroad. American capitalists boast of the 
 fact that their Diaz "does not permit any foolishness 
 on the part of these labor unions." In such facts as
 
 THE AMERICAN PARTNERS OF DIAZ 263 
 
 these arc found the reason for their hysterical defense 
 of him. 
 
 I shall hriefly outline the railroad situation in Mexico, 
 and tell the story of the railway merger. 
 
 Today the main lines of Mexican railroads aggregate 
 12,500 miles. Of this mileage the Southern Pacific com- 
 pany controls and will probably soon own 8,941 miles, or 
 nearly three-fourths of the total. These lines consist of : 
 
 The Southern Pacific in Mexico, 950 miles ; the Kan- 
 sas City, Mexico and Orient, 279 miles; the Pan-Amer- 
 ican, 296 miles; the Mexican, Z27 miles; the National 
 Railways of Mexico, 7,089 miles. 
 
 Of these the Southern Pacific is the only one that is 
 being operated openly as the property of the Ilarriman 
 heirs. The Orient road is operated under the presidency 
 of A. E. Stilwell, a Harriman ally, whose vice-presi- 
 dent, George H. Ross, is a director of the Chicago & 
 Alton road, a Harriman property \\\\\\ which the Orient 
 road has traffic agreements. Construction is still going 
 on on both of these roads and they are drawing from 
 the Diaz government about $20,000 of subsidy for every 
 mile built, or nearly enough to build the road. 
 
 The Pan-American railroad was recently acquired by 
 David H. Thompson, who is the nominal president. 
 Thompson was the United States ambassador to Mex- 
 ico, where he seems to have represented the Harriman 
 interests first and the other American interests after- 
 wards. After securing the road, he resigned the am- 
 bassadorship. It is a pretty generally accepted fact that 
 Thompson was acting for Harriman in securing the road. 
 Harriman men are associated with him as directors of 
 the road. The especial purpose of Thompson's securing 
 the road was to incorporate it as a part of Harriman's
 
 264 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 plan to make an all-rail route from the Arizona border 
 to Central America. 
 
 The only control exercised by the Harriman interests 
 over the "Mexican Railway," as far as the writer knows, 
 is that involved in the pooling of interests, in both freight 
 and passenger traffic, of the Mexican road and the Na- 
 tional Railways of Mexico. It is the inside story of the 
 Mexican merger — a story which I obtained from unim- 
 peachable sources while working as a reporter of the 
 Mexican Daily Herald in the Spring of 1909. 
 
 Briefly, the story is this: The consolidation under 
 nominal government control of the two principal rail- 
 road systems in Mexico, the Mexican Central and the 
 Mexican National, was brought about, not, as is officially 
 given out, to provide against the absorption of the Mex- 
 ican highways by foreign capitalists, but to provide for 
 that very thing. It was a deal between E. H. Harriman,, 
 on the one hand, and the government financial cama- 
 rilla, on the other, the victim in the case being Mexico. 
 It was a sort of deferred sale of the Mexican railroads 
 to Harriman, the members of the camarilla getting as 
 their share of the loot millions and millions of dollars 
 through the juggling of securities and stock in efifecting 
 the merger. On the whole, it constitutes perhaps the 
 most colossal single piece of plundering carried out by 
 the organized wreckers of the Mexican nation. 
 
 In this deal with Harriman, Limantour, Minister of 
 Finance, was the chief manipulator, and Pablo Macedo, 
 brother of Miguel Macedo, Sub-secretaiy of the Depart- 
 ment of the Interior, was first lieutenant. As a reward 
 for their part in the deal. Limatour and Macedo are said 
 to have divided $9,000,000 gold profits between them, 
 and Limantour was made president and Macedo vice- 
 president of the board of directors of the merged roads,
 
 THE AMEUICAN PARTNERS OF DIAZ 265 
 
 which positions they still hold. The other members of 
 Ihe board of directors of the merged roads are Guil- 
 iermo de Landa y Escandon, governor of the Federal 
 District of Mexico, Samuel Morse Felton, former pres- 
 ident of the Mexican Central, who was Harriman's 
 special emissary in Mexico to work on Diaz to secure 
 his consent to the deal, E. N. Brown, former vice-presi- 
 dent and general manager of the Mexican National lines, 
 and Gabriel Mancera. Each of these four men is said to 
 have made a personal fortune for himself out of the 
 transaction. 
 
 The National Raihvays of Mexico, as they are officiallyr 
 known, have, in addition to a general board of directors,] 
 a New York board of directors. Note the Harriman) 
 timber to be found among these names: William H.I 
 Nichols, Ernest Thallmann, James N. Wallace, James) 
 Speyer, Bradley W. Palmer, H. Clay Pierce, Clay ArV 
 thur Pierce, Henry S. Priest, Eban Richards and H. Ci 
 P. Channan. 
 
 Whether the Mexican railroad steal was conceived in 
 the brain of Limantour or of Harriman is not known, 
 but Limantour seems to have attempted to bring about 
 the merger originally without the aid of Harriman. 
 Some four years ago Limantour and Don Pablo ^lar- 
 tinez del Rio, owner of the Alexican Herald and man- 
 ager of the Banco Nacional, went into the market and 
 bought heavily of IMexican Central and Mexican Na- 
 tional stock, after which they broached the merger 
 scheme to Diaz. Diaz turned the proposition down point- 
 blank and Limantour and del Rio both lost heavily, del 
 Rio's losses so bearing down upon him that he died 
 soon afterwards. 
 
 It was at this point that Limantour is siipfu)se.l to 
 have turned to Harriman, who immediately fell in with
 
 26^ BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 the scheme and carried it to an exceedingly successful 
 termination for himself. 
 
 Harriman owned some Mexican Central stock, but 
 fifty-one per cent of this property was in the personal 
 possession of H. Clay Pierce. When the first rumblings 
 of the 1907 panic were heard Pierce was persuaded to 
 hypothecate his entire holdings to Harriman. 
 
 After getting control of from eighty to eighty-five 
 per cent of the Mexican Central property Harriman sent 
 Samuel Morse Felton, one of the ablest railroad manip- 
 lators in the United States, to talk Diaz over to the 
 merger scheme. Where Lim.antour had failed Felton 
 succeeded and the Vv'orld was informed that the Mexican 
 government had accomplished a great financial feat by 
 securing thx ownership and control of its railroad lines. 
 
 It v/as announced that the government had actually 
 secured fifty-one per cent of the stock of the company. 
 xA.lso the government was put in nominal control of the 
 situation. 
 
 But — in the deal Harriman succeeded in placing such 
 heavy obligations upon the new company that his heirs 
 are almost sure to foreclose in the course of time. 
 
 The Mexican Central and Mexican National systems 
 are both cheaply built roads ; their rolling stock is of 
 very low grade. Their entire joint mileage at the time 
 of the merger was 5,400 miles, and yet under the merger 
 they were capitalized at $615,000,000 gold, or $112,000 
 per mile. Oceans of water there. The Mexican Cen- 
 tral was 30 years old, yet had never paid a penny. The 
 Mexican National was over 25 years old, yet it had paid 
 less than two per cent. Yet in tlie over-capitalized mer- 
 ger we find that the company binds itself to pay jour 
 and one-half per cent on $225,000,000 worth of bonds
 
 THE AMERICAN PARTNERS OF DIAZ 267 
 
 and four per cent on $160,000,000 worth of bonds, or 
 $16,525,000 interest a year, and pay it semi-annually! 
 
 Out of the merger deal Ilarriman is supposed to have 
 received, in addition to merger stocks and bonds, a cash 
 consideration and special secret concessions and subsi- 
 dies for his west coast road. Ilarriman dictated the con- 
 tract as to the payment of interest on those merger bonds 
 and his successors will compel payment or foreclose. 
 As long as Diaz remains in power, as long as the i\Iex- 
 ican government is "good;" that is, as long as it contin- 
 ues in partnership with American capital, the matter 
 can be arranged — if in no other way, by paying the defi- 
 ciency out of the Mexican treasury. But the moment 
 there is trouble it is expected that the government will 
 be unable to pay and the railroad will become American 
 in name as well as in fact. 
 
 Trouble! That word is an exceedingly significant one 
 here. A Mexican revolution will probably mean trouble 
 of this particular sort, for every revolution of the past 
 in Mexico has seen the necessity of the government's re- 
 pudiating all or a part of the national obligations for 
 a time. Thus the final step in the complete American- 
 ization of Mexico's railways will be one of the clubs held 
 over the Mexican people to prevent them from overturn- 
 ing a government that is particularly favorable to Amer-^ 
 ican capital. 
 
 Trouble! Trouble will come, too, when Mexico at- 
 tempts to kick over the traces of undue American "in- 
 fluence." The United States will intervene with an 
 army, if necessary, to maintain Diaz or a successor who 
 would continue the special partnership with American 
 capital. In case of a serious revolution the United 
 States will intervene on the plea of protecting American
 
 268 J BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 capital. American intervention will destroy the last 
 hope of Mexico for an independent national existence. 
 Vly Mexican patriots cannot forget this, for it is daily pa- 
 raded before them by the Diaz press itself. Thus the 
 threat of an American army in Mexico is another of the 
 American influences which keep Mexico from revolu- 
 tion against the autocracy of Diaz. 
 
 American capital is not at present in favor of political 
 annexation of Mexico. This is because the slavery by 
 which it profits can be maintained with greater safety 
 under the Mexican flag than under the American flag. As 
 long as Mexico can be controlled — in other words, as 
 long as she can be held as a slave colony — she will not be 
 annexed, for once she is annexed the protest of the 
 American people will become so great that the slavery 
 must of necessity be abolished or veiled under less brutal 
 and downright forms. The annexation of Mexico will 
 come only when she cannot be controlled by other means. 
 Nevertheless, the threat of annexation is today held as 
 a club over the Mexican people to prevent them from 
 forcibly removing Diaz. 
 
 Do I guess when I prophesy that the United States 
 will intervene in case of a revolution against Diaz? 
 ' ' ' Hardly, jor the United States has already intervened 
 in that very cause. The United States has not waited 
 for the revolution to assume a serious aspect, but has 
 lent its powers most strenuously to stamping out its 
 first evidences. President Taft and Attorney General 
 Wickersham, at the behest of American capital, have 
 already placed the United States government in the 
 ' service of Diaz to aid in stamping out an incipient rev- 
 olution with which, for justifiable grounds, our revolu- 
 tion of 1776 cannot for an instant be thought of in com- 
 parison. Attorney General Wickersham is credited
 
 THE AMERICAN PARTNERS OF DIAZ /26S 
 
 with being a heavy stockholder in the National Rail- 
 ways of Mexico; Henry W. Taft, brother of the pres- 
 ident, is general counsel for the same corporation. Thus 
 it will be seen that these ofiQcials have a personal as well 
 as a political interest in maintaining the system of Diaz. 
 Three times during the past tzvo years the United 
 States government has rushed an army to the Mexican 
 border in order to crush a movement of Liberals zdiich 
 had risen against the autocrat of Mexico. Consta)iiiy 
 during the past three years the American government, 
 through its Secret Service, its Department of Justice} 
 its Immigration officials, its border rangers, has main\ 
 tained in the border states a reign of terror for MexA^ 
 icans, in tvhich it has lent itself unreservedly to the: 
 extermination of political refugees of Mexico who have) 
 sought safety from the long arm of Diaz upon the soil 
 of the "land of the free and the home of the brave." — ''
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 AMERICAN PERSECUTION OF THE ENEMIES OF DIAZ 
 
 America, Cradle of Liberty, has joined hands with 
 Porfirio Diaz, the most devastating despot that rules a 
 nation, in stamping out that portion of the world move- 
 ment for democracy which is today attempting to se- 
 cure the common rights of human beings for the Mex- 
 ican people. 
 
 In previous chapters I have shown how the United 
 States is a voluntary partner in the slavery and political 
 oppression of Diaz-land. I have shown how, by its com- 
 mercial alliance, its press conspiracy , and its threat of 
 intervention and annexation, it has supported the mil- 
 itary dictatorship of Diaz. This chapter I shall devote 
 to the story of how the United States has delivered its 
 military and civil resources into the hands of the Tyrant 
 and with that power has held him in his place when 
 otherwise he would have fallen ; and thus has been the 
 final determining force in the continuation of the system 
 of slavery which I have described in the early chapters 
 of this book. 
 
 When I say the United States here I mean the United 
 States government chiefly, though state and local gov- 
 ernments along our Mexican border are also involved. 
 Numerous instances go to show that, in order to exter- 
 ■ minate the enemies of Diaz who have come as political 
 refugees to this country, public officials from the presi- 
 dent down have set aside American principles cherished 
 for generations, have criminally violated some laws and 
 stretched and twisted others out of all semblance to 
 their former selves, and have permitted, encouraged 
 
 270
 
 AMERICAN PKRSECUTTON OF ENEMIES OF DIAZ 271 
 
 and protected law-breaking on the part of Mexican offi- 
 cials and their hirelings in this country. 
 
 For the past five years the law of our border states, 
 as far as Mexican citizens are concerned, has been very 
 much the law of Diaz. The border has been Mexican- 
 ized. In numerous instances our government has dele- 
 gated its own special powers to agents of Mexico in the 
 form of consuls, hired attorneys and private detectives. 
 Mexican citizens have been denied the right of asylum 
 and the ordinary protection of our laws. By the reign 
 of terror thus established the United States has held 
 in check a movement which otherwise would surely 
 have developed sufficient strength to overthrow Diaz, 
 abolish Mexican slavery and restore constitutional gov- 
 ernment in the country to the south of us. 
 
 Three times during the past two years, twice as Sec- 
 retary of War and once as President, William Howard 
 Taft has ordered troops to the Texas border to aid 
 Diaz in wreaking vengeance upon his enemies. He also 
 — at the same time as well as at other times — ordered 
 posses of United States Marshals and squads of Secret 
 Service operatives there for the same purpose. 
 
 The first time Taft ordered troops to the border was 
 in June, 1908, the second time in September, 1908, the 
 third time in July, 1909. The troops were commanded 
 to drive back into the hands of pursuing Mexican sol- 
 diers or to capture and detain any fugitives who at- 
 tempted to cross the Rio Grande and save their lives 
 upon Texas soil. 
 
 That this action on the part of President Taft was 
 an undue stretching of the laws it would appear from 
 dispatches sent out from Washington, June 30, 1908. 
 From one of these dispatches published throughout the 
 country, July 1, 1908, I quote the following:
 
 272 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 "Tlie employment of American troops for this purpose, by the 
 ■way, is almost without precedent in recent years, and the law 
 officers of the War Department, as well as the Attorney-General 
 himself, have been obliged to give close study to the question 
 of the extent to which they may exercise the power of pre- 
 venting persons from entering the United States across the 
 Mexican border. 
 
 "Under the law no passports are required except in the case 
 of Chinese and Japanese, and about the only other reasonable 
 ground for detention of fugitives seeking to cross the line would 
 be some presumable violation of the immigration or health- 
 inspection laws. 
 
 "So it will be a delicate task for the army officers, who are 
 charged with the duty of policing this international boundary 
 line, to avert clashes with the civil courts if they undertake to 
 make promiscuous arrests of persons fleeing from Mexico into 
 the United States." 
 
 The troops obeyed orders. Fleeing Liberals were 
 turned back to be pierced by the bullets of Diaz's sol- 
 diers. Was our government justified in causing the 
 death of those unfortunate men in such a manner? If 
 not, would it be improper to characterize the action as 
 executive murder? 
 
 During the past five years hundreds of Mexican refu- 
 gees have been imprisoned in the border states, and there 
 have been numerous attempts to carry refugees across 
 the line, in order that the Diaz government might deal 
 with them after its own summary methods, and many 
 of these attempts have been successful. Some of the 
 schemes employed in this campaign of deportation are, 
 first, to institute extradition proceedings under charges 
 of "murder and robbery ;" second, to deport through the 
 Immigration Department under charges of being "unde- 
 sirable immigrants;" third, to kidnap outright and felo- 
 niously carry across the line. 
 
 Some members of the Liberal Party whose extradition
 
 MEXICAN REVOLUTIONISTS 
 
 TOMAS 8AI5AI5IA ANTONIO I. VIM.AKKEAL 
 
 RICARIK) FI.OUFS MACON 
 
 ENRIQUE FLORES MACON IIIiU'DO RIVKRA
 
 AMERICAN PERSECUTION OF ENEMIES OF DIAZ 273 
 
 was sought on charges of "murder and roljl)cry" during 
 the spat'C of a few months were Lil^rado Rivera, Pedro 
 Gonzales, Crescencio \'illarrcal, "J'rinidad (jarcia, Dcme- 
 tr"o Castro, Patricio Guerra, Antonio I. Villarrcal, Lauro 
 Aguirre, Ricardo Flores Magon and Manuel Sarahia, 
 There were others, but I have not definite knowledge of 
 their cases. Some of the prosecutions occurred at St. 
 Louis, others at El Paso, Texas, others at Del Rio, Texas, 
 and others at Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
 An uprising of a Liberal club at Jimenez, Coahuila, 
 formed the basis of the charges in all but one or two of 
 the cases. During this uprising somebody was killed and 
 the government postoffice lost some money. Wherefore 
 every Mexican who could be convicted of membership in 
 the Liberal Party, although he might never have been in 
 Coahuila nor have ever heard of the rebellion, stood in 
 danger of extradition for "murder and robbery." The 
 United States government spent a good many thousands 
 of dollars in prosecuting these manifestly groundless 
 charges, but it is to the credit of certain Federal Judges 
 that the prosecutions were generally unsuccessful. Judge 
 Gray of St. Louis and Judge Maxey of Texas both char- 
 acterized the offenses as being of a political nature. The 
 text of the former's decision in the Rivera case follows : 
 
 The United States vs. Librado Rivera. 
 City of St. Louis, ss., State of Missouri. 
 
 I hereby certify that upon a public lier.ring had before me at 
 my office in said city on this 30th day of Xovember, 1906, the 
 defendant being present, it appearing from the proofs that the 
 offense complained of was entirely of a political nature, the 
 said defendant, Librado Rivera, was discharged. 
 
 Witness my hand and seal. 
 
 James R. Gray. 
 United States Commissioner at St. Louis, Mo.
 
 274 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 The scheme to deport political refugees through tlie 
 Immigration Department was more successful. The 
 immigration laws provide that, if it he .discovered that 
 an immigrant is a criminal or an anarchist, or if he h.as 
 entered this country in an illegal manner, provided that 
 such discovery is made within three years of his arrival 
 here, the immigration officials may deport him. The 
 question of the "undesirability" of the immigrant is not 
 a subject for review by the courts, the immigrant may 
 not appeal, and within two or three restrictions the im- 
 migration agent's word is lawr. It will be readily seen, 
 therefore, that if the said official be not an honest man, 
 if he be Vv'illing to accept a bribe or even yield to influ- 
 ence or blandishments, he may, with impunity, send many 
 pure and upright men to an untimely death. 
 
 And exactly this thing has been done. Antonio I. 
 Villarreal, secretary of the Liberal Party, was among 
 those placed in danger of deportation "under the immi- 
 gration laws," After various means had been used un- 
 successfully to secure his extradition, he was turned over 
 to the immigration officials at El Paso and was actually 
 on his way to the line when he made a break for lib- 
 erty and escaped. 
 
 Of a large number of Mexican Liberals arrested in 
 Arizona in the fall of 1906, Lazaro Puente, Abraham 
 Salcido, Gabriel Rubio, Bruno Trevino, Carlos Humbert, 
 Leonardo Villarreal and several others were deported in 
 one party by the immifyration officials at Douglas. There 
 is no legal excuse for" deporting an immigrant because he 
 is a political refugee. On the other hand, according to 
 "American principles," so-called, he is entitled to espe- 
 cially solicitous care for this reason. And yet all of these 
 men were deported because they v/ere political refugees.
 
 AMERICAN PERSECUTION OF ENEMIES OX- DIAZ 275 
 
 All of them were peaceful, respectable persons. The 
 law under no circumstances permits of deportation after 
 the immigrant has been a resident of this country for 
 more than three years. But several of this number had 
 lived here for longer than that time and Puente, who 
 was editing a paper in Douglas, claimed to have resided 
 in the United States continuously for thirteen years. 
 
 Still another crime of officials may be cited in this par- 
 ticular case. When occasion arises for deportation the 
 immigrant in ordinary cases is merely returned to the 
 country whence he came. But in this case the group of 
 Mexican Liberals was delivered over to the Mexican po- 
 lice in handcuffs, and the American handcuffs were not 
 removed until the prisoners arrived at the penitentiary of 
 Hermosillo, state of Sonora ! 
 
 The Mexican government, by the way, found nothing 
 against these men after it had got them except that they 
 were members of the Liberal Party. Nevertheless, it 
 sent each and every one of them to long terms in prison. 
 
 Many Americans will remember the case of L. Gu- ' 
 tierrez De Lara, whom the Immigration Department 
 seized for deportation in October, 1909, accusing liim 
 of being "an alien anarchist." De Lara had resided more 
 than three years in thir"country, yet undoubtedly he 
 would have been sent to his death had not the country , 
 sent up such a protest that the conspirators wei'e fright- ', 
 ened. It is supposed that De Lara's life was sought at , 
 this particular time because he accompanied me to 'Mex- 1 
 ico and aided in securing material for my expose of / 
 Mexican conditions. — 
 
 When Diaz fails to gain possession of his enemies in 
 the United States by other means he docs not hesitate 
 to resort to kidnapping and when he resorts to kidnap-
 
 276 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 ping he finds no trouble in securing tlie criiiiinal assis- 
 tance of American oiTcials. 
 
 The most notable case of refugee kidnapping on rec- 
 ord is that of j\Ianuel Sarabia. The case is notable not 
 because it is the only one of its kind, but because it is the 
 one which was most successfully exposed. 
 
 Manuel Sarabia was second speaker of the Liberal 
 junta. He was hounded about from place to place by 
 Diaz detectives, finally bringing up in Douglas, ^'uon^. 
 where he went to work quietly at his trade of_printen_^ 
 
 On June 30, 1907, Antonio jMaza, the Mexican consul 
 at Douglas, saw Sarabia on the street and recognized 
 him. That evening U. S. Ranger Sam Hayhurst held 
 up Sarabia at the point of a pistol and, without a war- 
 rant, put liim in the city jail. At eleven o'clock that 
 night Sarabia's door swung open, he was led outside, 
 forced into an automobile, carried across the interna- 
 tional boundary line and there turned over to Colonel 
 Kosterlitzsky, an ofiEicer of Mexican ruralcs. The ru- 
 ral cs tied Sarabia on the back of a mule, and telling him 
 that he was to be shot on the road, made a hurried trip 
 with him through the mountains, finally bringing up, af- 
 ter five days, at the penitentiary at Hermosillo, Sonora. 
 
 What saved Sarabia? Just one thing. As he was 
 forced into the automobile he cried out his name and 
 shouted that he was being kidnapped. The rufifians 
 guarding him choked him into silence and then gagged 
 him, but some one had heard and the story spread. 
 
 Even then Consul Maza had the audacity to try to 
 hush up the matter and carry his plot to a successful 
 conclusion. By some means he succeeded in muzzling 
 the string of Arizona newspapers run by George H. 
 Kelly, as Kelly afterwards admitted in court. But in 
 Douglas at that time there was a newspaper man whom
 
 AMERICAN PERSECUTION OF ENEMIES OF DIAZ 277 
 
 Maza could not bribe. It was Franklin B. Dorr, wlio 
 was running tbe Douglas Daily Examiner. 
 
 In his paper Dorr raised a protest that stirred tlic 
 blood of the people of Douglas. Street meetings were 
 held to further arouse the people. Mother Jones was 
 there. A crowd looked for Maza with a rope. Tele- 
 graphic appeals were sent to the state and national 
 governments. And finally — Sarabia was shamefacedly 
 returned. 
 
 What would have happened to Sarabia if his voice 
 had not been heard on that night in June, 1907? Ex- 
 actly what has happened to others whose frightened 
 voices have not beeii heard. He would have dropped 
 out of sight and no one would ever have been able to 
 say for certain where he had gone. 
 
 And what, pray, happened to the kidnappers? Abso- 
 lutely nothing. 
 
 Consul Maza, Ranger Ilayhurst, Lee Thompson, city 
 jailer, Constable Shorpshire, Henry Elvey, the chauffeur, 
 and some private detectives whose names were never 
 given to the public seem plainly to have been guilty of 
 the crime of kidnapping, which is punishable by impris- 
 onment in the penitentiary. Those named were arrested 
 and the first four were duly held to answer to the up- 
 per court sitting at Douglas. Elvey made a clean breast 
 of the case and the evidence seemed conclusive. But 
 as soon as the excitement had blown over every one of 
 the cases was quietly dropped. It was not Sarabia's 
 fault, for an effort was made to bribe Sarabia to leave 
 town and Sarabia refused the bribe. Evidently the 
 money which had bribed Ilayhurst, Thompson and 
 Shorpshire was not all the money that was used by 
 Maza at that time. 
 
 Nearly every small town along the Mexican border
 
 278 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 harbors a personage who enjoys the title of Mexican 
 conr/ul. Consuls are found in villages hundreds of miles 
 from the Mexican border. Consuls are supposed to be 
 for the purpose of looking after the interests of trade 
 between countries, but towns in California, Arizona, 
 New Mexico and Texas which do not do a hundred dol- 
 lars w^orth of trade a year with Mexico have consuls 
 v/ho are maintained by Diaz at the expense of tens of 
 thousands of dollars a year. 
 
 Such consuls are not consuls at all. They are spies, 
 persecutors, bribers. They are furnished with plenty 
 of money and they spend it freely in hiring thugs and 
 detectives and bribing American officeholders. By the 
 power thus gained they have repeatedly suppressed 
 nev.spapers and put their editors in jail, as well as 
 broken up political clubs of Mexicans. 
 
 During the trial of Jose Maria Ramires and four 
 other Liberals in El Paso in October, 1908, a city police- 
 man naively swore that his chief had told him to obey 
 the orders of the Mexican consul and the chief of police 
 of Juarez, a Mexican town. ^ 
 
 When, after threats by the Mexican consul of Tucson, 
 Arizona, thugs destroyed the printing plant of Manuel 
 y Sarabia in that city in December, 1908, Sarabia was 
 unable to persuade the City Marshal to make an inves- 
 tigation of the affair or to attempt to bring the perpetra- 
 tors to account. 
 
 City detectives of Los Angeles, California, have re- 
 peatedly taken orders from the Mexican consul there 
 and have unlawfully placed in his hands property of 
 persons whom they have arrested. 
 
 Antonio Lozano, the IN^exican consul at Los Angeles, 
 at one time had tv/o fake employment offices running 
 at the same time for the single purpose of hiring rtiem-
 
 AMERICAN PERSECUTION OF ENEMIES OF DIAZ 279 
 
 bers of the Liberal Party and luring them to points in 
 Mexico where they could be captured by the Diaz police. 
 This same consul, after De Lara and I started on our 
 trip to Mexico, offered bribes to various friends of De 
 Lara to tell them where he had gone. 
 
 Such minor details would fill many pages. John Mur- 
 ray was arrested by Secret Service Chief Wilkie. Mur- 
 ray's offense consisted of raising money for the legal de- 
 fense of the refugees. Robert W. Dowe, the American 
 customs collector at Eagle Pass, Texas, was compelled 
 to resign under charges of acting as a secret agent for the 
 Mexican government, and receiving money for such 
 service. The evidence in the case was suppressed by our 
 Treasury Department, which reinstated Dowe after some 
 months had passed and public indignation over the affair 
 at Eagle Pass had blown over. In the District Court of 
 Los Angeles, Cal., a warrant for the arrest of De Lara, his 
 wife, Mrs. Mamie Shea, an American, Mrs. Marie Tala- 
 vera and about twenty others, has been on file for many 
 months, ready for service at any time. Those named are 
 charged with violating the neutrality laws in having cir- 
 culated a manifesto printed by the Liberal Party. Threats 
 that this warrant was to be served have been made to 
 various of the parties, with the evident purpose of de- 
 terring them from aiding in any way the movement for 
 the regeneration of Mexico. 
 
 Only a few months ago newspapers reported that Ma- 
 jor Elihu Root of the U. S. Army had gone on a -^Jjiccial 
 mission to ]\'Tcxico to confer with Diaz's W^r Depart- 
 ment on the most practical means of cntrappin'^ the ene- 
 mies of Diaz who are sojourning on our soil. 
 
 Only a short time ago the news was printed that PuiU.) 
 Rojc, a:i anti-Diaz labor paper of Texas, had been sup-
 
 280 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 pressed, that $10,000 reward had been offered for the 
 capture of its editor, Praxedis Guerrero, that secret- 
 service men in pursuit of that reward had seized sub- 
 scription books of the paper and from the books had se- 
 cured names of men who would be at once proceeded 
 against. 
 
 During the past three years persecution of this general 
 character has directly caused the suspension of at least ten 
 newspapers printed in Spanish along the border for Mex- 
 ican readers. 
 
 To each of these persecutions and press suppressions 
 there is an interesting story attached, but to attempt to 
 detail all of them would require too great a proportion 
 of this work. I shall detail but one case, that of Ricardo 
 Flores Magon, president of the Liberal Party, and his 
 immediate associates. This case, as well as being the 
 most important of all, is typical. Its difference from 
 the rest has been chiefly that Magon, having been able to 
 gather about him greater resources, has been able to make 
 a longer and more desperate fight for his life and lib- 
 erty than others of his countrymen who have been singled 
 out for persecution. For six and one-half years Magon 
 has been in this country and during nearly the whole of 
 that time he has been engaged in trying to escape being 
 sent back to death beyond the Rio Grande. More than 
 one-half of that time he has passed in American prisons, 
 and for no other reason than that he is opposed to Diaz 
 and his system of slavery and despotism. 
 
 The worst that can be said of Magon — as of any of 
 his followers whom I know — is that he desires to bring 
 about an armed rebellion against the established govern- 
 ment of Mexico. In cases where reformers are given 
 the opportunity of urging their reforms by democratic
 
 AMERICAN TERSECUTION OF ENEMIES OF DIAZ 281 
 
 methods, armed rebellion in this day and age are inde- 
 fensible. But when through the suppression of free 
 speech, free press and such liberties, peaceable means .of 
 propaganda are impossible, then force is the only alterna- 
 tive. It was upon this principle that our revokitionary 
 forefathers proceeded and upon which the Mexican Lib- 
 erals are proceeding today. 
 
 Magon and his followers would never have come to 
 this country to plot against Diaz had not their peace- 
 able movement been broken up by gun and club methods 
 and their lives seriously endangered at home. The 
 propriety of citizens of despotic countries seeking refuge 
 in another country, there to plan better things for their 
 own, was for many decades recognized by the constituted 
 powers of the United States, which protected political 
 refugees. 
 
 A dozen years ago Palma established the Cuban revo- 
 lutionary Junta in the city of New York, and instead of 
 being arrested he was lionized. For more than a century 
 political refugees from European countries, South Amer- 
 ica, and even China have found safety with us. Young 
 Turks prepared for their revolution here. Irish soci- 
 eties raised money here for a movement to free Ireland. 
 Jewish defense societies have been financed all over the 
 country and none of the promoters have been turned 
 over to the vengeance of the Czar. And these things 
 have been done openly, not secretly. Today there are 
 known to be Portuguese revolutionist headquarters in 
 the United States. Porfirio Diaz himself — what historic 
 irony! — when he turned revolutionist found safety on 
 American soil and, though his cause was an extremely 
 questionable one, no one arrested him. What is more. 
 Diaz committed the identical crime which, through the 
 legal machinery of the United States, he is now urging
 
 282 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 against many of the refugees, that of setting on foot a 
 military expedition against a foreign power. On March 
 22, 1876, Diaz crossed the Rio Grande at Brownsville, 
 Texas, with forty armed followers for the purpose of 
 waging war upon President Lerdo de Tejada. He was 
 driven back and, though all America knew of his exploit, 
 no effort was made to imprison him. 
 
 But now the policy has been changed to accommodate 
 President Diaz. Action has been taken against political 
 refugees of just one other country, Russia, and it is 
 safe to assume that those cases were undertaken merely 
 that the authorities might defend themselves against 
 the charge of using the machinery of government with 
 partiality against Mexicans, 
 
 Magon and a small group of followers, including his 
 brother Enrique and the Sarabias, crossed the Rio 
 Grande in January, 1904, and soon afterwards established 
 their paper "Regeneracion" in San Antonio. The paper 
 had been going but a few vreeks when a Mexican, a 
 supposed hireling of the Mexican government, called at 
 the office and tried to reach the Liberal leader with a 
 dirk-knife. Enrique Magon grappled with the fellow, 
 and in another moment four city detectives rushed in 
 and placed Enrique under arrest. The next day he was 
 fined $30 in the police court, while the supposed thug 
 was not even arrested. 
 
 The exiles looked upon this incident as a part of a 
 conspiracy to get them into trouble. They moved to St. 
 Louis, where they re-established their paper. They had 
 hardly got into their new quarters when they began to 
 be annoyed by the Furlong Detective Agency. They 
 claim that the Furlong Detective Agency put an "opera- 
 tive" into the office of "Regeneracion" in the role of an 
 advertising solicitor, put "operatives" into the St. Louis
 
 AMERICAN PERSECUTIOX OF F.XKMIKS OF DIAZ 2X3 
 
 postoffice to waylay the Icticrs of the exiles, put "opera- 
 tives" out to hunt somtLocly to bring libel proceedings 
 against "Regcneracion," put "operatives" at work to 
 harass the editors of the paper in every possiljle way. 
 
 Our Postoffice Department, called to aid in the sup- 
 pression of "Regcneracion," revoked the second class 
 privileges which had been properly secured at San 
 Antonio. But this was insufficient, so two different 
 parties were brought from Mexico to institute charges 
 of criminal and civil libel against the editors. The edi- 
 tors were thrown in jail, the publication stopped. Fur- 
 long detectives stole letters and turned them over to the 
 Mexican consul, and from these letters, the refugees 
 claim, was gleaned a list of names which resulted in the 
 arrest of some three hundred Liberals in Mexico. 
 
 The editors got out of jail on bail, whereupon new 
 charges were prepared to get them back again. But, 
 having important work to do, they chose to pay their 
 bail and flee from these charges. Magon and Juan 
 Sarabia went to Canada and it was here that they carried 
 on their final correspondence preparatory to launching 
 an armed rebellion against Diaz. The first gim was to 
 be fired October 20, 1906, and on the night of October 
 19 the Liberal leaders gathered at El Paso preparatory to 
 crossing the line the following morning. 
 
 As set forth in a previous chapter, this rebellion was 
 betrayed and was more or less of a fizzle. Of the refu- 
 gee leaders, Juan Sarabia was betrayed into the hands 
 of Diaz and with scores of others was soon afterwards 
 sent to the military prison of San Juan de Ulna. \"illar- 
 real, as previously stated, was among those arrested by 
 the American police. For a long time he fought extradi- 
 tion on the "murder and robbery" charge and was finally 
 turned over to the iminigration authorities. Immigra-
 
 284 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 tion officers were in the act of leading him to the boun- 
 dary Hne when he hohcd and succeeded in escaping by 
 running through the streets of El Paso. Librado Rivera, 
 first speaker of the Liberal Junta, with Aaron Mansano, 
 was kidnapped at St. Louis by city detectives, was hur- 
 ried as far as I ronton, Missouri, but was there rescued 
 I and brought back through an expose which was made by 
 V } one of the St. Louis papers. 
 
 As' for Magon, for months he was hunted by detec- 
 tives from city to city. He went to California, but was 
 still kept dodging and once masqueraded as a woman in 
 order to escape the Diaz hounds. Finally, he revived his 
 paper in Los Angeles under the name of "Revolucion" 
 and here he was joined by Villarreal and Rivera. The 
 three worked quietly together, keeping always indoors in 
 the daytime and going out for their airing only at night 
 and in disguise. 
 
 Early in August, 1907, the hiding-place of the Liberal 
 leaders in Los Angeles was located. The evidence seems 
 to point to a plot to kidnap them much as Sarabia was 
 kidnapped. First, the officers had plenty of time in 
 which to procure a warrant, but they did not procure 
 a warrant nor even attempt to do so. Second, they 
 secreted an automobile in the vicinity and did not use it 
 after the arrest. Third, when the three men, fearing a 
 kidnapping plot, cried out at the top of their voices, the 
 officers beat them with pistols most brutally, Magon being 
 beaten until he lay bleeding and insensible on the 
 ground. This circumstantial evidence of a kidnapping 
 plot is borne out by the direct testimony of one of the 
 hirelings of the Mexican consul at that time, who has 
 since confessed that there v/as such a plot and that the 
 Mexican consul was the mar;, who hatched it. 
 
 Everything seems to have been arranged. The descent
 
 AMERICAN PERSECUTION OF ENEMIES OF DIAZ 285 
 
 of the sleuths was made August 23, and Ambassador 
 Creel came all the way from Washington to be on hand 
 and see that things went off smoothly. On the night Ol 
 August 22 Creel was given a banquet by Mexican con- 
 cessionaires having headquarters in Los Angeles and the 
 following day he sat in his hotel and waited for news 
 that his thugs had gotten their victims as planned. 
 
 But the outcries of Magon and his friends collected a 
 crowd and it became impossible to kidnap them. So 
 unprepared were the officers for a mere arrest case that 
 when they got their prisoners to jail they were at a 
 loss to know what charge to place against them, so they 
 put them down on the police books as "resisting an 
 officer!" 
 
 Ambassador Creel then proceeded to hire some of the 
 highest priced lawyers in Southern California to devise 
 ways and means for getting the prisoners down into 
 Mexico. These lawyers were ex-Governor Henry T. 
 Gage, Gray, Barker and Bowen, partners of U. S. Sena- 
 tor Flint; and Horace H. Appel. When the cases came 
 Into court their names were announced by the public 
 prosecutor as special counsel and always during the 
 hearings one or more of them was personally in attend- 
 ance. 
 
 The "officers" who beat the refugees nearly to death 
 and then charged them with resisting an officer — although 
 they had not even procured a warrant — were Thomas H. 
 Furlong, head of the Furlong Detective Agency of St. 
 Louis, chief refugee-hunter for Diaz, an assistant Fur- 
 long detective, and two Los Angeles city detectives, the 
 notorious Talamantes and Rico. 
 
 For months previous to the arrest of Magon and his 
 associates a card offering $20,000 for their apprehension 
 was circulated about the United States. That the city
 
 286 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 detectives received their share of this reward is evi- 
 denced by sworn testimony given in the Los Angeles 
 courts by Federico Arizmendez, a Los Angeles printer. 
 After the arrest of Magon the sleuths repaired to the 
 office of Magon's newspaper, where they took into cus- 
 tody the nominal editor, Modesto Diaz. Here they met 
 Arizmendez and the following conversation ensued : 
 
 Talamantes — You'd better congratulate me; I just 
 made a thousand dollars. 
 
 Arizmendez^How's that? 
 
 Talamantes — I've just caught Villarreal. 
 
 At this writing Rico and Talamantes are still members 
 of the Los Angeles police force ! 
 
 The identity of the employer of Talamantes et al. 
 was confirmed beyond question and the astounding usur- 
 pation by that employer of American governmental pow- 
 ers was revealed when upon being released the day 
 following the conversation quoted above, Modesto Diaz 
 w^as informed that he would have to wait a few days 
 for the papers taken from him at the time of his arrest, 
 as they had been placed in the hands of the Mexican 
 Consul! 
 
 If there is any doubt as to who hired Furlong and his 
 henchmen to hunt down Magon the doubt will be dis- 
 pelled by the reading of an excerpt from Furlong's 
 sworn testimony taken in the Los Angeles courts. Here 
 it is : 
 
 CROSS EXAMINATION. 
 
 By Mr. Harriman : 
 Q. — What is your business? 
 
 A. — I am the president and manager of the Furlong Secret 
 Service Company, St. Louis, Missouri. 
 Q. — You helped to arrest these men? 
 A.— I did. 
 Q. — What right did you have?
 
 AMERICAN rCRSECUTION OF ENEMIES OF DIAZ 287 
 
 Mr. Lavvler — That is objected to as a conclusion of the witness. 
 
 Q. — By Mr. Harriman : Did you have a warrant ? 
 
 A. — No, sir. 
 
 The Commissioner — The other question is withdrawn and now 
 you ask him if he had a warrant? 
 
 Mr. Harriman — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — Arrested them without a warrant? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — You took this property away from them without a war- 
 rant? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — Went through the house and searched it without a 
 warrant? 
 
 A.— How is that? 
 
 Q. — Went through the house and searched it without a war- 
 rant? 
 
 A.— Yes. 
 
 Q. — And took the papers from them? 
 
 A. — I didn't take any papers from them. I took them and 
 locked them up and then went back and got the papers. 
 
 Q. — Took them from their house and kept them, did you? 
 
 A. — No, sir. I turned them over 
 
 Q. — Well, you kept them, so far as they are concerned ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — Who paid you for doing this work? 
 
 A. — The Mexican government. 
 
 Nor was Furlong backward about confessing the pur- 
 pose of the hunt. By a Los Angeles newspaper 
 Furlong, in bragging about the arrest, was quoted as 
 asserting that he had been "after" Magon and his friends 
 for three years. During that period, he said, he had 
 succeeded in "getting" 180 Mexican revolutionists and 
 turning them over to the Diaz government, which "had 
 made short work of them." According to an affidavit 
 properly sworn to by W. F. Zwickey and on record in 
 the Los Angeles courts, Furlong stated that he was 
 "not so much interested in this case and the charges for 
 which the defendants are being tried as in getting them
 
 288 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 over into Arizona; that all we (meaning by 'we' himself 
 and the Mexican authorities) want is to get the defend- 
 ants down into Arizona, and then we will see that they 
 get across the line." 
 
 Attorney General Bonaparte seems to have had the 
 same purpose as Furlong and the Mexican authorities, 
 even at a time when the case in hand did not involve 
 extradition to Mexico or even to Arizona. During a 
 hearing before Judge Ross in San Francisco Mr. Bona- 
 parte had the temerity to wire his district attorney in 
 that city : • "Resist habeas corpus proceedings in case 
 of Alagon et al, on all grounds, as they arc wanted in 
 Mexico." This telegram was read in court. The inci- 
 dent was all the more remarkable in view of the fact 
 that only a few days previously Bonaparte, in answer to 
 a query from U. S. Senator Perkins, had replied by 
 letter assuring the senator that the purpose of the prose- 
 cution of these men was not to send them back to 
 Mexico. 
 
 Five separate and distinct charges were brought 
 against Magon and his associates, one after another. 
 First, it was "resisting an officer," Then it was the old 
 charge of "murder and robbery." Later it was criminal 
 libel. Still later it was murdering "John Doe" m Mex- 
 ico. Finally it was conspiracy to violate the ne^xtrality 
 laws. 
 
 Undoubtedly the conspirators would have early suc- 
 ceeded in their purpose to railroad the men back to 
 Mexico had not a number of Los Angeles organizations 
 formed a defense committee, held mass meetings to 
 arouse public sentiment, collected funds, and hired two 
 able attorneys. Job Harriman and A. R. Holston. These 
 lawyers after a long fight succeeded in driving the prose- 
 cution into a corner where they were compelled to pro-
 
 AMERICAN rERSi:cUTION OF ENEMIES OF DIAZ 289 
 
 cee<l only under action involving imprisonment in this 
 country. 
 
 During the early stages of the legal fight the Diaz / 
 r.gents were suppressing the paper "Rcvolucion" in I 
 characteristic style. After the arrest of its three editors, I 
 the editorial emergency was met by L. Gutierrez D©^ 
 Lara, who had not previously been in any way identified 
 with the Liberal Party, Two weeks later De Lara was 
 keeping company with Magon, Villarreal and Rivera. 
 Llis extradition was sought on the ground that he had 
 committed robbery "on the blank day of the blank 
 month of 1906 in the blank state of Mexico !" 
 
 Despite the passing of De Lara "Revolucion" con- 
 tinued to appear regularly. As soon as the agents of 
 the prosecution could locate the new editor they promptly 
 arrested him. He proved to be Manuel Sarabia and he 
 was charged with the same offense as happened to stand 
 against Magon, Villarreal and Rivera at the time. 
 
 Who was left to publish little "Revolucion?" There 
 were the printers. They — Modesto Diaz, Federico Ariz- 
 mendez and a boy named Ulibarri — rose to the occasion. 
 But in less than a month they, too, were led to jail, 
 all three of them charged with criminal libel. Thus the 
 
 Mexican opposition newspaper passed into history. Inci- ' 
 
 dentally, Modesto Diaz died as a result of the confine- --^!' 
 ment following that arrest. 
 
 "Revolucion" was not an anarchist paper. It was not 
 a socialist paper. It did not advocate the assassination 
 of presidents or the abolition of government. It merely" 
 stood for the principles which Americans in general 
 since the Declaration of Independence and the Constitu- ^ 
 tion of the United States came into being have consid- 
 ered as necessary to the well-being of any nation. If 
 an American newspaper of its ideals had been sup- ''
 
 290 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 pressed by one-tenth as brazen methods, a righteous 
 protest would have echoed and re-echoed across the con- 
 tinent. But it was only a Mexican newspaper, an oppo- 
 nent of President Diaz, and — it was suppressed. 
 
 The story of Lazaro Gutierrez De Lara well exem- 
 plifies the system of robbing the enemies of Diaz of 
 their personal liberty in the United States, as practiced 
 by the Department of Justice working in conjunction 
 v/ith Mexican agents in various parts of the West during 
 the past five years. 
 
 De Lara was taken to jail on September 27, 1907, on 
 telegraphic instructions from Attorney General Bona- 
 parte. As before stated, he was charged with larceny 
 committed on the blank day of the blank month of 
 1906 in the blank state of the Republic of Mexico, and 
 on this awful indictment his extradition to Mexico was 
 sought. 
 
 The extradition treaty between the United States and 
 Mexico provides that the country asking extradition 
 must furnish evidence of guilt within forty days of the 
 arrest of the accused. In De Lara's case this little 
 technicality was waived, and at the end of forty days a 
 new complaint was filed containing the illuminating 
 information that the alleged crime had been committed 
 in the state of Sonora. This was considered sufficient 
 ground upon which to hold the prisoner another forty 
 days. 
 
 Nothing happened at the end of the second forty 
 days, and on December 22 Attorney Harriman applied 
 for a writ of habeas corpus. The writ was denied and 
 the prosecution was given more time in which to file a 
 third complaint. De Lara was then accused of stealing 
 uncut stovc-zvood in the state of Sonora, August /j, 
 J903! 
 
 Several peculiar facts developed at the hearing. One
 
 AMERICAN PERSECUTION OF ENEMIES OF DIAZ 291 
 
 was that De Lara had been tried and acquitted of the 
 identical offense in Mexico more than four years previ- 
 ously. Another was that while at the trial in Mexico the 
 value of the wood was fixed by the prosecution at four 
 dollars, at the Los Angeles hearing its value was placed 
 at twenty-eight dollars. Because a thief cannot be extra- 
 dited for stealing less than twenty-five dollars the wood 
 market had taken a spectacular jump. But, by an over- 
 sight of the prosecution the market even then did not 
 jump quite high enough, for by discovering that the price 
 of silver was a little lower than usual that year, Attor- 
 ney Harriman showed that the alleged value, fifty-six 
 Mexican pesos, did not come to twenty-eight dollars in 
 American money, but a little less than twenty-five dol- 
 lars, and so on that technicality the life of De Lara 
 was saved. 
 
 The facts of the case were that De Lara had never 
 stolen any wood, but that, while acting as attorney for 
 a widow whom a wealthy American mine owner was 
 trying to euchre out of a piece of land, he had given 
 the widow permission to cut some wood on the land for 
 her own use. The audacity of the prosecutors in this 
 case would be unbelievable were it not a matter of rec- 
 ord. De Lara was released, but only after one hundred 
 and four precious days of his life had been wasted in 
 an American jail. He had been luckier than many of 
 his compatriots, he had won his fight against extradi- 
 tion, but that three and one-half months were gone and 
 could never be brought back. Moreover. "Revolucion" 
 had been suppressed and a Mexican gentleman had been 
 taught that he who opposes the tyrant may be properly 
 disciplined in the United States as well as in Mexico. 
 
 Magon, Villarreal and Rivera remained in prison con- 
 tinuously since August 23, 1907. for nearly three years. 
 From early in July, 1908, to January, 1909, they were
 
 292 BARBAROUS JIEXICO 
 
 held incommunicado in the Los Angeles county jail, 
 which means that no visitors, not even newspaper men, 
 were permitted to see them. For a time not even Mrs. 
 Rivera and her children were permitted to see the hus- 
 band and father. Only their local attorney saw them. 
 Two attorneys who were representing them in another 
 state were excluded on the flimsy ground that they were 
 not attorneys of record in California. 
 
 The only excuse Oscar Lawler, United States Dis- 
 trict Attorney, had to offer for this severe isolation 
 when, in July, 1908, I called upon him at his office and 
 protested was: 
 
 "We are doing this at the request of the Mexican 
 government. They have accommodated us and it's no 
 more than right that we accommodate them." 
 
 Requests were also made by the Mexican government 
 that the men be not admitted to bail and the requests 
 were obeyed. The privilege of liberty on bail pending 
 trial is guaranteed by the law to all accused persons 
 below the murderer in cold blood, and yet Judge Wel- 
 born, sitting both as district and circuit judge, denied 
 the men this privilege. Bail had previously been fixed 
 as $5,000, ten times the amount required in similar cases 
 that had previously come up. In the latter part of July, 
 1908, this amount was raised and presented in the most 
 gilt-edged form, but it was not accepted. Judge Wel- 
 born's excuse was that a rule of the Supreme Court 
 says that during habeas corpus proceedings the custody 
 of a prisoner shall not be changed. This rule he strangely 
 interpreted to mean that these particular prisoners 
 should not be admitted to bail. 
 
 During their six months of incommunicado, when 
 the prisoners were unable to make any public state- 
 ment, Lawler took advantage of their enforced silence
 
 AMERICAN PERSECUTION OF ENEMIES OF DIAZ 293 
 
 publicly to declare them guilty not only of the offenses 
 charged, but of others, among them a plot to assassinate 
 President Diaz, when, as a matter of fact, Lawler had 
 no evidence whatsoever of such a plot. 
 
 After nearly two years in county jails Magon, Villar- 
 real and Rivera, were adjudged guilty of conspiring to 
 violate the neutrality laws by conspiring to set on foot a 
 military expedition against Mexico. They were sen- 
 tenced to eighteen months' imprisonment and were con- 
 fined in the penitentiary at Florence, Arizona. Sarabia 
 was not tried. Having waived extradition proceedings, 
 he had been taken to Arizona ahead of the others. Here 
 he was released n bail and soon afterwards was mar- 
 ried to Miss Elizabeth D. Trowbridge, a Boston girl 
 of old and wealthy family. His health broken by long 
 confinement, believing that a trial would result in his 
 imprisonment in spite of the lack of evidence against 
 him, Sarabia was persuaded to pay his bail and with his 
 wife flee to Europe. There he has since interested him-"^ 
 self in writing for various English. French, Spanish and 
 Belgian papers articles upon the democratic movements in 1 
 Mexico. -^ 
 
 The campaign to extradite the refugees on charges of 
 "murder and robbery," generally failed. It succeeded 
 insofar as it kept a good many Liberals in jail for many 
 months, drained their resources, weakened their organi- 
 zation, and intimidated their friends, but it did not suc- 
 ceed in extraditing them. Most of the Liberals deported 
 were deported by immigration officials or by kidnapping. 
 
 The "murder and robbery" campaign failed because it 
 was so plainly in contradiction witli American laws and 
 American principles. The U. S. prosecuters must have 
 known this from the start bnt. in order to accommodate 
 Diaz, they went ahead with the prosecutions. That this
 
 294 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 campaign was not a mere blundering on the part of in- 
 dividual U. S. Attorneys, but that it was a policy of the 
 highest officials of the government was shown, in 1908, 
 when numerous published reports from various depart- 
 ments at Washington and from Oyster Bay expressed 
 the desire of the administration to deport Mexican polit- 
 ical refugees "as common criminals." 
 
 Failing in its efforts to deport Mexican refugees whole- 
 sale "as common criminals," our Department of Justice 
 concentrated its energies to secure their imprisonment for 
 violation of the neutrality laws or conspiracy to violate 
 the neutrality laws. It is a high misdemeanor to set on 
 foot a military expedition against a "friendly power," or 
 to conspire to set on foot a military expedition against a 
 "friendly power." In addition to Magon, Villarreal, 
 Rivera and Sarabia, some of the Liberal refugees who 
 have been prosecuted under this law are Tomas de Espi- 
 nosa, Jose M. Rangel, Gasimiro H, Regalado, Lauro 
 Aguirre, Raymundo Cano, Antonio Aruajo, Amado Her- 
 nandez, Tomas Morales, Encardacion Diaz Guerra, Juan 
 Castro, Priciliano Silva, Jose Maria Martinez, Benjamin 
 Silva, Leocadio Trevino, Jose Ruiz, Benito Solis, Tomas 
 Sarabia, Praxedis Guerrero, Sirvando T. Agis, John 
 Murray, Calixto Guerra. Guillermo Adan, E, Davilla, 
 Ramon Torres Delgrado, Amendo Morantes, Francisco 
 Sainz, Marcelleno Ibarra and Inez Ruiz. 
 
 Most of the arrests occurred at San Antonio, Del Rio, 
 El Paso, Douglass, or Los Angeles. This is by no means 
 a complete list, but is a list of the most notable cases. 
 
 In nearly all of these cases the accused were kept in 
 jail for month after month without an opportunity r.v 
 proving their innocence. When the cases came to trinl. 
 they were usually acquitted. Convictions were securer! in
 
 AMERICAN PERSECUTION OF ENEMIES OF DIAZ 295 
 
 the cases of Espinosa, Aruajo, Guerra, Priciliano Silva, 
 Trevino, Rangel, and Magon, Villarreal and Rivera. 
 Prison sentences ranging from one and one-half to two 
 and one-half years were given the convicted ones and 
 they were confined either at Leavenworth, Kansas, or 
 Florence, Arizona. 
 
 Were these men guilty? If not, how is it that they 
 were convicted? 
 
 It is my opinion that not one was guilty within the 
 proper interpretation of the statute, that the laws were 
 stretched to convict them, that in some instances, at least, 
 they were deliberately jobbed. 
 
 This is a bold statement, but I think the facts bear me 
 out. That there exists on the part of our government 
 a most incontinent desire to serve Diaz is shown by the 
 circumstance that cases where the evidence of violation 
 of the neutrality laws is ten times as clear — as American 
 expeditions to aid revolutions in Central American or 
 South American countries — have been and are habitually 
 overlooked by our authorities. But this fact I do not 
 need to urge in favor of the Mexican Liberals. The truth 
 is that there has never been any adequate evidence to 
 show a violation of the neutrality laws on their part. 
 
 Did they set on foot a military expedition against a 
 friendly power? Did they plan to do so? No. What 
 did they do ? They came to this country and here planned 
 to aid a revolutionary movement in Mexico. Here they 
 fled to save their lives, here they staid, planning to re- 
 turn and take part in a rebelHon upon Mexican soil; 
 nothing more. 
 
 Did this constitute a violation of the neutrality laws? 
 
 Not in the opinion of U. S. Judge Maxey. of Texas, 
 who reviewed some of the cases. January 7, 1908. the
 
 296 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 San Antonio Daily Light and Gazette, quotes Judge 
 Maxey as follows : 
 
 "If Jose M. Rangel, the defendant, merely went across the 
 river and joined in the fight, he had every right to do so, and 
 I will so tell the jury in my charge. This indictment is not for 
 figiiting in a foreign country, but for beginning and setting on 
 foot an expedition in Val Verde county." 
 
 The exact text of the law is as follows: 
 
 "Every person who, within the territory or jurisdiction of 
 the United States, begins, or sets on foot, or provides or pre- 
 pares the means for, any military expedition or enterprise, to 
 be carried on from thence against the territory or dominions of 
 any foreign prince or state, or of any colony, district or peo- 
 ple, with whom the United States are at peace, shall be 
 deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and shall be fined 
 not exceeding $3,000, and imprisoned not more than three 
 years." 
 
 Magon, Villarreal and Rivera, the leaders, not only 
 did not set on foot an expedition against Mexico, but 
 they did not even cross the river and fight themselves. 
 Their conviction was secured through the palpably per- 
 jured testimony of a Mexican detective named Vasquez, 
 who presented the only direct evidence against them. 
 Vasquez claimed to be a spy who had penetrated a meet- 
 ing of a Liberal club. There, he declared, letters were 
 read from Magon ordering the club to constitute itself as 
 a military body and invade Mexico. At this meeting, said 
 Vasquez, military appointments, forwarded by Magon, 
 were made. The names, said he, were written by a mem- 
 ber named Salcido. The paper was produced, but hand- 
 writing experts brought by the defense proved the docu- 
 ment to be a forgery. Vasquex then changed his testi- 
 mony and swore that he wrote the names himself. This 
 was a vital point in the testimony and, had the public
 
 AMERICAN PERSECUTION OF ENEMIES OF DIAZ 297 
 
 prosecutors been interested in upholding the lazv, rather 
 than in persecuting the political enemies of Diaz, they 
 would have discharged the defendants and prosecuted 
 Vasques for perjury. 
 
 The general persecution of Mexican political refugees 
 continued unabated up to June, 1910, when the scandal 
 became so great that the matter was presented to Con- 
 gress, and the facts which I have set down here, but in 
 more complete form, were testified to before the House 
 Rules Committee. Resolutions providing for a general 
 investigation of the persecutions are now pending in both 
 houses. 
 
 Up to the initiation of congressional proceedings the 
 government planned to continue the persecutions. Re- 
 peatedly it was announced that, when the terms of Ma- 
 gon, Villarreal and Rivera, at the Florence penitentiary, 
 ended, they would be prosecuted on further charges. But 
 on August 3 they were released and were not re-arrested. 
 Since that date there have been no prosecutions, to my 
 knowledge. It is to be hoped that the laws of this coun- 
 try, and the great American principle of protection for 
 political refugees, will not again be abused, for I fear 
 that the conspirators are only waiting for the public to 
 forget their past crimes. 
 
 There may be further persecutions and there may not. 
 Even if there are not, Justice will not be satisfied ; the 
 friends of decency and of liberty cannot be content. For 
 some of the victims are still enduring unjust punishment 
 which it is in the power of the American people to end. 
 There is Lazaro Puente, for example, the peaceful editor, 
 thirteen years a resident of the United States, who was 
 unjustly and unlawfully deported as an "undesirable im- 
 migrant" by our immigration officials. Lazaro Puente is
 
 298 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 a prisoner in San Juan de Ulua, the military fortress in 
 Vera Cruz Harbor. He has been a prisoner there for 
 more than four years. Unjustly he was yielded up to the 
 Diaz police; in justice the American people should de- 
 mand that he be returned free to this country.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 DIAZ HIMSELF 
 
 "But Diaz himself — isn't he a pretty good sort of 
 fellow ?" 
 
 It is a question that almost invariably rises to the 
 lips of the average American when he learns for the 
 first time of the slavery, peonage and political oppres- 
 sion of ]\Texico. Though the question is only another 
 evidence that the Diaz press agents have done their 
 work well, yet it is one that may very well be exam- 
 ined separately. 
 
 The current American estimate of Porfirio Diaz, at 
 least up to the past year or two, has indeed been that 
 he is a very good fellow. Theodore Roosevelt, in writ- 
 ing to James Creelman after the publication in Pear- 
 son's Magazine of the latter's famous laudatory article, 
 declared that among contemporary statesmen there w^as 
 none greater than Porfirio Diaz. In the same year, dur- 
 ing a trip to Mexico, William Jennings Bryan spoke in 
 the most eulogistic terms of Diaz's "great work." David 
 Starr Jordan of Stanford University, in recent speeches, 
 has echoed Creelman's assertion that Diaz is the greatest 
 man in the western hemisphere. And hundreds of our 
 most distinguished citizens have expressed themselves 
 in a similar vein. On the part of prominent Americans 
 traveling in Mexico, it has become a custom, a sort of 
 formality of the trip, to banquet at Chapultepec castle — 
 the lesser lights at Chapultepec cafe — and to raise the 
 after-dinner voice in most extravagant praise, loudly to 
 
 299
 
 300 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 attribute to Porflrio Diaz the virtues of a supTman, 
 'even of a demi-god. 
 
 Were not the facts overwhehningly to the contrary, 
 did not the easily provable acts of Porfirio Diaz tell an 
 entirely different story, I would not presume to question 
 the estimates of such men, especially when those estimates 
 agree and are accepted generally as correct. But when 
 the facts speak for themselves, it matters not how 
 obscure may be the individual who brings them to light. 
 It matters not, even, how distinguished the men who 
 disregard those facts, for facts are greater than men. 
 Current Literature, in calling attention to the new con- 
 ception of Porfirio Diaz that has of late been gaining 
 ground in America, refers to Diaz as a man of mystery. 
 "Is he a sublime statesman or is he a colossal criminal ?" 
 it inquires. To which I would reply that we have our 
 ideals of statesmanship and our concepts of criminality; 
 all we need upon which to base an estimate are the facts 
 of the life of the man in question. Given the facts and 
 the mystery dispels itself. 
 
 In judging the life of a man, especially of a man who 
 has decided the fate of thousands, who has "saved a 
 nation," or wrecked it, small virtues and small vices 
 count for little ; insignificant acts of good or ill are 
 important only in the aggregate. A man may have com- 
 mitted grave crimes, yet if he has brought more joy to 
 the world than sorrow, he should be judged kindly. On 
 the other hand, he may be credited with laudable deeds, 
 yet if he has locked the wheels of progress for a time 
 to feed his own ambition, history will not acquit him of 
 the crime. It is the balance that counts ; it is the scales 
 that decide. Will not Porfirio Diaz, when weighed in 
 the balance of his good and evil deeds, be found want- 
 ing — terribly wanting? His friends may sing his praises.
 
 DIAZ HIMSELF 301 
 
 but when they, his best friciuls, Ijcgin to s|)ccify, to point 
 out their reasons for selecting him for a high niche in 
 the hall of good fame, is it not found that they them- 
 selves become, instead of his advocates, his prosecutors? 
 Out of even their mouths is he not convicted and by 
 those our ideals of statesmanship and our concepts of 
 criminality will we not judge him, not a statesman, but 
 a criminal, and because there is no individual man in the 
 world who wields so much power over so many human 
 beings, will we not judge him the most colossal criminal 
 of our time? 
 
 It is curious, this almost universal feeling — in this 
 country — that Porfirio Diaz is a very good fellow. But 
 it can be explained. For one thing, individuals who 
 have not had the opportunity to judge a particular man 
 or thing for themselves, though they be college presi- 
 dents and congressmen, are apt to accept the word of 
 others as to that man or thing. Porfirio Diaz, knowing 
 this and valuing the good opinions of men who do not 
 know, has spent millions for printer's ink in this coun- 
 try. For another thing, most men are susceptible to 
 flattery and Diaz is a good flatterer. As prominent Cath- 
 olics journeying to Rome seek an audience with the Pope, 
 so Americans traveling to Mexico seek an audience with 
 General Diaz ; they usually get it and are flattered. Still 
 again, to paraphrase an old proverb, men not only do 
 not look a gift horse in the mouth, but they do not 
 look the giver in the mouth. Despite the ancient warn- 
 ing, men do not usually beware of the Greeks when they 
 bring gifts; and Diaz is free with gifts to men whose 
 good opinion is influential with others. Finally, there 
 is nothing that succeeds like success, and Diaz has suc- 
 ceeded. Power dazzles the strong as well as the weak 
 and Diaz's power has dazzled men and cowed them until
 
 302 ) BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 they had not the courage to look steadily at the glare 
 long enough to see the bones and carrion behind it. I 
 do not for a minute imagine that any decent American 
 approves of the acts of Porfirio Diaz. I merely guess 
 that they — the decent ones — are ignorant of those deeds 
 and are moved to strong praise by having accepted the 
 word of others — and by the dazzle of success. 
 
 As for me, I do not come with a new ideal of states- 
 manship with which to change your opinions, but I come 
 with facts. With those facts before you, if you hold 
 Washington a great statesman, or Jefferson, or Lincoln, 
 or any other enduring light of American political his- 
 tory, I am sure you cannot at the same time hold Porfirio 
 Diaz a great statesman. What Porfirio Diaz has done, 
 Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, would have abhorred to 
 do, and you yourself would abhor to do or see done, are 
 you really an admirer of any or all of these men. 
 
 Porfirio Diaz is truly a striking figure. He must be 
 a genius of a sort and there must actually be some traits 
 of character about him to be admired. Let us examine 
 some of his acts with a view to discovering whether or 
 not he may justly be called the greatest living statesman 
 or "the grandest man in the Americas." 
 ■'■*■ — First let us examine those broadly general allega- 
 tions upon which is based his good fame abroad. Chief 
 among these are three, that Diaz has "made modern 
 Mexico," that he brought peace to Mexico and should 
 therefore stand as a sort oFprince of peace, and that he 
 
 a model of virtue in his private life. 
 
 Did Porfirio Diaz "make" modern Mexico? (Is Mex- 
 ico modern? Hardly. Neither industrially nor in the 
 matter of public education, nor in the form of govern- 
 
 mt is Mexico modern. Industrially, it is at least a
 
 DIAZ HIMSELF 303 
 
 quarter of a century behind the times; in the matter of 
 pubHc education it is at least a half century behind the 
 times; in its system of government it is worthy of the 
 Egypt of three thousand years ago. 
 
 True, Mexico has seen some advancement in some 
 Hues — especially industrially — during the past thirty- 
 four years. But that mere fact does not argue any pro- 
 pelling force on the part of Porfirio Diaz* In order to 
 show that Diaz was the special propelling force will it 
 not be necessary to show that Mexico has advanced in 
 tliat period faster than other countries? And should it 
 be shown that Mexico has advanced more slowly than 
 almost any other large nation in the world in the past 
 thirty-four years, would it not be logical to attribute to 
 Diaz at least some of that retarding force? 
 
 Consider the United States thirty-four years ago and 
 then today, and then consider Mexico. Consider that 
 the world has been built over, industrially, in the past 
 thirty-four years. To make the comparison perfectly 
 unassailable, disregard the United States and European 
 countries and compare the progress of Mexico with other 
 Latin-American countries. Among persons who have 
 traveled extensively in Argentine, Chili, Brazil and even 
 Cuba, and Mexico, there is a pretty good agreement 
 that Mexico is the most backward of the five — in the 
 matter of government, in the matter of public education, 
 even industrially. Who made Argentine? Who made 
 Chili? Who made Brazil? Why don't we find a 
 "maker" of these countries? The fact is that whatever 
 modernization Mexico has had during the past thirty- 
 four years must be attributed to evolution — that is. to 
 the general progress of the world — instead of to Porfirio ^ 
 Din 7. In general, Porfirio Diaz has been a reactionary 
 force. His claims for being progressive are all based
 
 304 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 upon one fact — upon his having "encourage'l" foreign 
 capital. 
 
 "Diaz, the peace-maker, the greatest peace-maker 
 alive, greater than Roosevelt!" chanted an American 
 politician in a banquet at the Mexican capital recently. 
 And the chant was only an echo of louder voices. I 
 remember seeing, not long ago, a news item stating 
 that the American Peace Society liad made Porfirio 
 Diaz an hono"ary vice-president, iri Q pnsideration of 
 ^-^his having brought peace to Mexico. J The theory seems 
 \ to be that since the history of Mexic^^fore Diaz was 
 \ full of wars and violent changes in the government and 
 I the history of Mexico under Diaz has been without vio- 
 ! lent upheavals of far-reaching effect, Diaz must necco- 
 j sarily be a humane, Christ-like creature who shrinks at 
 the mention of bloodshed and whose example of loving- 
 kindness is so compelling that none of his subjects have 
 the heart to do anything but emulate him. 
 
 answer to which it will only be necessary to refer 
 the reader to my account of how Diaz began his career 
 as a statesmen by deliberately breaking the peace of 
 Mexico himself, and how he has been breaking the 
 peace ever since — by making bloody war upon the self- 
 respecting, democratic elements among his people. He 
 has kept the peace — if it can be called keeping the 
 peace — by killing off his opponents as fast as their 
 heads have appeared above the horizon. This sort of 
 peace is what the Mexican writer DeZayas calls "mer 
 cbanical peace." It has no virtue, because the fruits of 
 legitimate peace fail to ripen under it. ^ft neither brings 
 / happiness to the nation, nor prepares the nation for 
 happiness. It prepares it only for violent revolution. 
 
 For more thanfwenty years' be foTe arriving at~the 
 supreme power in Mexico Diaz had been a professional 
 
 i
 
 DIAZ HIMSELF 
 
 305 
 
 soldier and almost continually in tlie field. The wars 
 of those times were by no means unnecessary affairs, 
 Mexico did not fight simply because it is tlic Mexican 
 character to be looking always for trouble, for it isn't. 
 Diaz fought in the Three Years War, in which the throt- 
 tling grip of the Catholic church on the throat of the 
 nation was broken and the nation secured a real repub- 
 lican constitution. Afterwards he fought in the War 
 of Maximilian, which ended in the execution of the 
 Austrian prince whom the armies of Napoleon Third 
 had seated as emperor. ^ 
 
 During these twenty odd years Diaz fought on the 
 side of Mexico and patriotism. He probably fought no 
 more wisely nor energetically than thousands of other 
 Mexicans, but he had the good luck to have become 
 acquainted in his youth with P.enito Juarez, who, years 
 later, as father of the constitution and constitutional 
 president, guided the destinies of the country safely 
 through many troublous years. Juarez remembered Diaz, 
 watched his work and promoted him gradually from one 
 rank to another until, at the downfall of Maximilian, 
 Don Porfirio held a rank which in our country would 
 carry the title of major-general. Note how Diaz repaid 
 the favors of Juarez. 
 
 Following the overthrow of Maximilian, peace reigned 
 in Alexico. Juarez was president. The constitution was 
 put into operation. The people were sick unto denth of 
 war. There threatened neither foreign foe nor interur 
 revolt. Yet the ambitious Diaz wantonly and with;^::! 
 any plausible excuse stirred up rebellion after rebellioi: 
 for the purpose of securing for himself the supreme 
 power of the land. 
 
 There is evidence that Diaz began plottinsj to seize 
 the presidency even before the fall of the empire. Dur-
 
 306 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 ing those last days when MaximiHan was penned np in 
 Queretaro friends of Diaz approached several military 
 leaders and proposed that they form a military party to 
 secure the presidency by force of arms, which prize 
 would be raffled off among Generals Diaz, Corona and 
 Escobedo. General Escobedo refused to enter into the 
 conspiracy and the plan consequently fell through. Diaz, 
 who was at that time besieging Mexico City, then effected 
 a secret combination with the church to overthrow the 
 Liberal government. According to one writer, he inten- 
 tionally delayed taking the metropolis and asked General 
 Escobedo for two of his strongest divisions, which he 
 planned to turn against Juarez. But Juarez received 
 word of the plot in time and instructed General Esco- 
 bedo to send two of his strongest divisions under com- 
 mand of General Corona and General Regules, respec- 
 tively, with orders to destroy the treachery of Diaz, 
 should it arise. When the reinforcements arrived Diaz 
 tried to get them entirely in his power by appointing 
 new officers, but Corona and Regules stood firm, and 
 Diaz, realizing that he had been anticipated, abandoned 
 his plot. 
 
 Immediately after the coming of peace Juarez ap- 
 pointed Diaz commander of that part of the army sta- 
 tioned in Oaxaca and Diaz used the power thus secured 
 to control the state elections and impose himself as 
 governor. After his defeat for the presidency Diaz 
 started a revolution, known as "La Ciudadela," The 
 Citadel, but the uprising was crushed in one decisive 
 meeting with the government troops. Six weeks later 
 Diaz started a second revolution, calling his friends to 
 arms under what is known as the "Plan de Noria," a 
 platform, in reality, in which the leading demand waslor
 
 DIAZ HIMSELF 307 
 
 an amendment to the constitution absolutely forbidding 
 the re-election of either president or governors. This 
 rebellion also met with ignominious defeat on the bat- 
 tlefield at the hands of the government forces, and when 
 Juarez died in July, 1872, Diaz was a fugitive from 
 justice, During one of these little rebellions of the 
 present superman Juarez is said to have captured and 
 brought Diaz before him and told him that he deserved 
 to be shot like a rebel, but that the country would take 
 into consideration his services rendered during the War 
 of Intervention. ^ 
 
 After the death of Juarez, Diaz prosecuted a success- 
 ful revolution, but only after four years more of plot- 
 ting and rebelling. The people of the country were 
 overwhelmingly against him, but he found one very defi- 
 nite interest upon which to play. That, far from being 
 a peaceful and legitimate interest, was a military inter- 
 est, the interest of the chiefs of the army and of those 
 who had made their living by killing and plundering. 
 The government of Juarez and the government of 
 Lerdo both carried out, after peace came, a sweeping 
 anti-militarist policy. They announced their intention 
 of reducing the army and proceeded to reduce the army. 
 Thereupon the chiefs thereof, seeing their glory depart- 
 ing from them, became fertile ground for the seeds of 
 rebellion which Diaz was strewing broadcast. Diaz 
 gave these army chiefs to understand that under him 
 they would not be shorn of their military splendor, but, 
 on the other hand, that they would be raised to posi- 
 tions of higher power. 
 
 Lerdo issued an amnesty to all revolutionists and Diaz 
 was safe from prosecution as a rebel. But instead of 
 employing the freedom thus given to useful and honor-
 
 '308 ' BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 able pursuits, he used it to facilitate his plotting until, 
 in January, 1876, he started his third revolution, issuing 
 his "Plan de Tuxtepec," in which he again demanded 
 a change prohibiting the re-election of the president. 
 
 For nearly a year Diaz prosecuted his third revolu- 
 tion, during that time issuing another manifesto, the 
 "Plan de Palo Blanco," which gave his operations the 
 aspect of still another and a fourth revolution. It was 
 under this plan that the rebel leader finally gained a deci- 
 sive victory over government troops and soon after- 
 wards led his army into the capital and declared himself 
 provisional president. A few days later he held a farci- 
 cal election, in which he placed soldiers in possession of 
 the polls and permitted neither rival candidates to appear 
 nor opposition votes to be cast. 
 
 Thus in 1876, more than a generation ago, Porfirio 
 Diaz came to the head of the Mexican state a rebel in 
 arms. He broke the peace of Mexico to begin with, and 
 he has continued to break the peace by periodical and 
 wholesale butcheries of his people. General Porfirio 
 Diaz, the "greatest living peace-maker," "prince of 
 /peace !" It is a sacrilege ! 
 
 K^^TTTat the Mexican dictator has not fallen a victim to 
 the physical debaucheries that sometimes over-tempt men 
 suddenly risen to great power is undoubtedly true. But 
 what of it? Certainly no one will argue that, since a 
 man keeps clean physically, he has a right to misgovern 
 a country and assassinate a people. Personal cleanli- 
 ness, physical temperance and marital virtue do not in 
 the least determine the standing a man deserves as a 
 statesman. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that the allegations upon which 
 the good fam.e of General Diaz is based have no founda- 
 tion in fact. Moreover, none of his flatterers have so
 
 DIAZ HIMSELF 309 
 
 far discovered in liim any claims for greatness any bet- 
 ter substantiated tban tliose mentioned. 
 
 Diaz has some personal abilities, such as a genius for 
 organization, keen judgment of human nature, and indus- 
 try, but these do not determine that his public acts shall 
 be beneficent. Like the virtues the devout Methodist 
 kdy attributed to the Devil, industry and persistence, 
 they merely render him more efficient in what he does. 
 If he chooses to do good, they become virtues; if he 
 chooses to do ill, they may very properly be incorporated 
 with his vices. 
 
 The flatterers of Porfirio Diaz arc wont to speak in 
 generalities, for otherwise they would come to grief. 
 On the other hand, a large book could be written re- 
 counting his evil deeds and contemptible traits. In- 
 gratitude is one of the charges least worthy of mention 
 that are made against him. Benito Jiiarez made the 
 career of Porfirio Diaz. Every promotion which Diaz 
 received was given him by the hands of Juarez. Never- 
 theless, Diaz turned against his country and his friend, 
 started rebellion after rebellion and made the last days 
 of the great patriot turbulent and unhappy. 
 
 Yet, to portray the other side, Diaz has shown grati- 
 tude to some of his friends, and in doing so he has at 
 the same time exhibited his utter disregard for the pub- 
 lic welfare. An Indian named Cahuantzi, illiterate but 
 rich, was Diaz's friend when the latter was in rebellion 
 against Juarez and Lerdo. Cahuantzi furnished the 
 rebel with horses and money and when Diaz captured 
 the stipreme power he did not forget. He made Cahu- 
 antzi governor of Tlaxcala and sent him a teach.er that 
 he might learn to sign his name to documents of state. 
 He retained Cahuantzi as governor of the state of 
 TJa^Tcala, giving him free rein to rob and plunder at
 
 310 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 will. He kept Cahuantzi there for thirty-four years, 
 down to this day. 
 
 A similar case was that of Manuel Gonzalez, a coni- 
 padre who aided the Diaz rebellions and whom Diaz 
 substituted for himself in the presidential chair from 
 1880 to 1884. After Gonzalez had served his purpose in 
 the federal government Don Porfirio presented him with 
 the state government of Guanajuato, where he reigned 
 until his death. Gonzalez was wont to boast that the 
 government had killed all the bandits in Guanajuato 
 but himself, that he was the only bandit tolerated in that 
 state. 
 
 The flatterers of Diaz tell of his intellectual ability, 
 but of his culture they dare say nothing. The question 
 as to whether or not he is a cultivated man would seem 
 important inasmuch as it would determine somewhat 
 the distribution of culture among the people whom he 
 controls so absolutely. Diaz is intelligent, but his in- 
 telligence may very well be denominated a criminal in- 
 telligence — such as is needed at the head of a great free- 
 booter corporation or an organization such as Tammany 
 Hall. In devising ways and means to strengthen his 
 personal power Diaz's intelligence has risen even to 
 genius, but of refinement and culture he possesses lit- 
 tle or none. Despite the necessity of his meeting for- 
 eigners almost daily he has never learned English nor 
 any other foreign language. He never reads anything 
 but press clippings and books^1x)Ut himself and he never 
 studies anything but the art of keeping himself in power. 
 He is interested in neither music, art, literature nor the 
 drama and the encouragement he gives to these things is 
 negligible. Mexico's drama is imported from Spain, 
 Italy and France. Her literature is imported from 
 France and Spain. Her art and music are likewise im-
 
 DIAZ HIMSELF /5liy^ 
 
 ported. Within a century past art flourished in Mex- 1/ 
 ico, but now her art is decadent — choked Hke her bud- 
 ding Hterature, by the thorns of poHtical tyranny. 
 
 General e ducatio n in Mexico is appalHngly abscril 
 The flatterers of Diaz tell of the schools that he has^'es- 
 tablished, but the investigator fails to find these schools. 
 They are mostly on paper. There is practically no such 
 thing as country schools in Mexico, while towns of 
 many hundreds of inhabitants often have no school 
 whatsoever. Nominally there are schools in such towns, 
 but actually th^e are none because the governors of the 
 various states prefer to keep the expense money for 
 themselves. While traveling in the rural districts of the 
 state of Mexico, for example, I learned that scores of 
 schools in small towns had been closed for three years 
 because the governor, General Fernando Gonzalez, had 
 withheld the money, explaining to the local authorities 
 that he needed it for other purposes. The fact that 
 there is no adequate public school system in Mexico is 
 attested by the most recent official census (^00), which \ 
 goes to show that but 16 per cent of the population are 
 able to read and write. Compare this with Japan, an 
 over-populated country where the people are very poor 
 and where the opportunities for education seemingly 
 ought not to be so good. Ninety-eight per cent of 
 Japanese men and 93 per cent of Japanese women are 
 able to read and write. The sort of educational ideals 
 held by President Diaz is shown in the schools that are 
 running, where a most important item in the curricu- 
 lum is military study and training! 
 
 Is Diaz humane? The question is almost superfluous, 
 inasmuch as few of his admirers credit him with this 
 trait. All admit that he has been severe and harsh, even 
 brutal, in his treatment of his enemies, while some of
 
 312 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 them even relate deeds of the most bloodthirsty cru- 
 elty — relate them with gusto, condemning not at all, 
 but treating the incidents as if they were merely some 
 excusable eccentricities of genius ! The wholesale kill- 
 ings carried out by the orders of Diaz, the torture per- 
 petrated in his prisons, the slavery of hundreds of thou- 
 sands of his people, the heart-breaking poverty which 
 he sees every time he leaves his palace, and which he 
 could greatly ameliorate if he wished, are of themselves 
 sufficient proof of his inhumanity. 
 
 Cruelty was undoubtedly a part of his inheritance, 
 for his father, a horse-breaker by trade, was noted for 
 it. Horses which did not yield readily Chepe Diaz, the 
 father, killed, and others he chastised with a whip 
 tipped with a steel star, which he landed on the belly, 
 the most tender part of the poor brute. For this rea- 
 son the people of Oaxaca, the birthplace of Diaz, pat- 
 ronized the father but little, and he was poor. That in- 
 herited trait showed itself in Porfirio at an extremely 
 tender age, for while only a child Porfirio, becoming 
 angry at his brother over a trivial matter, filled his 
 brother's nostrils with gunpowder while he was asleep 
 and touched a match to it. From that time Felix was 
 known as "Chato" (Pug-nose) Diaz. "For Porfirio 
 Diaz" — in the words of Gutierrez De Lara, "the people 
 of Mexico have been the horse." 
 
 As a military commander Diaz was noted for his 
 cruelty to his own soldiers and to any portion of the 
 enemy that happened to fall into his Hands. Several 
 Mexican writers mention unwarranted acts of severity 
 and executions of subordinates ordered in the heat of 
 passion. Revenge is a twin brother of cruelty and Diaz 
 was revengeful. Terrible was the revenge visited by 
 the child upon his sleeping brother and terrible was the
 
 DIAZ HIMSELF 313 
 
 revenge visited upon the town where his brother many 
 years later met a tragic death. 
 
 Accounts of the incident differ, but all authorities 
 agree that the massacre at Juchitan, Oaxaca, was done 
 in cold blood, indiscriminately and out of revenge. On 
 becoming president, Diaz installed his brother "Chato" 
 as governor of Oaxaca. "Chato" w^as a drunkard and 
 a libertine and he was killed while over-riding the per- 
 sonal liberties of the people of the town of Juchitan. 
 Many weeks later, long after the uprising of a day had 
 passed, President Diaz sent troops to Juchitan who, 
 according to one writer, suddenly appeared one evening 
 in the public square where the people had gathered to 
 listen to the music of a band, and poured volley after 
 volley into the crowd, continuing to fire until all the 
 people left in the square were dead or dying on the 
 ground. 
 
 Such killings have been a recognized policy of the 
 Diaz rule. The Rio Blanco massacre, the details of 
 which were set forth in a previous chapter, took place 
 after the town was entirely quiet. The executions in 
 Cananea were carried out with little discrimination and 
 after the alleged disturbance of the strikers was over. 
 The summary executions at Velardena in the Spring 
 of 1909 all took place after the so-called riot was over. 
 And other instances could be given. It may be sug- 
 gested that in some of these cases not Diaz, but an un- 
 derling, was responsible. But it is well known that 
 Diaz usually gave the orders for distributing indis- 
 criminate death. That he approves of such a policy as 
 a policy is shown by his remarkable toast to General 
 Bernardo Reyes, after the Monterey massacre in 1903. 
 when he said: "Senor General, that is the way to gov- 
 ern.
 
 314 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 The inhuman methods used by Diaz to exterminate 
 the Yaqui Indians have been exploited in a previous 
 chapter. One of his famous Yaqui orders which, how- 
 ever, I did not mention, not only exhibits his rude and 
 uncultured ideas of justice, but it paints his cruelty as 
 most diabolical. Several years ago, after various em- 
 ployers of labor of the state of Sonora had protested 
 against the wholesale deportation of the Yaquis be- 
 cause they needed the Yaquis as farm and mine laborers, 
 Diaz, in order to pacify the aforesaid employers, mod- 
 ified his deportation decree to read substantially as fol- 
 lows: "No more Yaquis are to be deported except in 
 case of offenses being committed by Yaquis. For every 
 offense hereafter committed by any Yaqui 500 Yaquis 
 are to be rounded up and deported to Yucatan." 
 
 This decree is attested to by no less a personage than 
 Francisco I. Madero, the distinguished citizen of the 
 state of Coahuila, who dared oppose Diaz in the presi- 
 dential campaign of 1910. The decree was carried out, 
 or at least the stream of Yaqui exiles kept on. Cruel 
 and revengeful is the Mexican president and bitterly 
 has his nation suffered as a result of it. 
 
 Is Diaz a brave man? In some quarters it has been 
 taken for granted that he is a man of courage, inas- 
 much as he made a success as a soldier. But there are 
 many distinguished Mexicans who, having watched his 
 career, assert that he is not only not brave, but that 
 he is a shrinking, cringing coward. And they point to 
 numerous accepted facts to" support their assertion. 
 When the news of the uprising at Las Vacas reached 
 him in the last days of June, 1908, Diaz was suddenly 
 taken sick and for five days he staid in his bed. In high 
 government circles it was whispered about — and the 
 fact is alleged to have come from one of his physicians
 
 DIAZ IIlMSF.r.F 315 
 
 — that he was suffering from a common malady which 
 comes upon one overpowered hy acute and panicky fear. 
 The fact that when Diaz seized the power he carefully 
 excluded from any part in the government each and 
 every one of the most popular and ahle Mexicans of the 
 day is attributed to fear. The fact that he maintains a 
 large army which he distributes in every quarter of the 
 country, and a huge secret police system armed with 
 extraordinary power to kill on suspicion, the terrible 
 way in which he gets rid of his enemies, his bloody 
 massacres themselves, even his muzzling of the press, 
 are all attributed to arrant cowardice. In his book 
 "Diaz, Czar of Mexico," Carlo de Fornaro voices this 
 belief in the cowardice of Diaz and reasons quite ef- 
 fectively upon it. He says: 
 
 "Like all people quick to anger he (Diaz) is not really fear- 
 less, for as the jungle song says, 'Anger is the egg of fear.' 
 Fearful and therefore ever vigilant, he was saved from destruc- 
 tion by this alertness, as the hare is preserved from capture by 
 his long ears. He mistook cruelty for strength of character 
 and consequently was ever ready to terrorize for fear of being 
 thought weak. As a result of the outrageous nickel law and 
 the payment of the famous English debt in the period of 
 Gonzalez, there happened a mutiny. 'Knife them all,' suggested 
 Porfirio Diaz to Gonzalez. But Gonzalez was not afraid. 
 
 "Last year, on the 16th of September, as the Mexican students 
 desired to parade on the streets of the capital, they sent their 
 representative, a Mr. Olea, to beg the President's permission. 
 Porfirio Diaz answered: 'Yes, but beware, for the Mexicans 
 have revolutionary tendencies lurking in their blood.' Think of 
 three score of youngsters parading unarmed being a menace to 
 the republic, with 5,000 soldiers, rurales and policemen in the 
 capital ! 
 
 "It is only by admitting this shameful well-hidden stigma on 
 the apparently brave front of this man that we can logically 
 explain such despicable and infamous acts as the massncros 
 of Veracruz and Orizaba. He was then panic-stricken, like a
 
 316 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 wanderer, who shoots wildly at the fleeing phantoms of the 
 night; he was so terrorized that the only means of relieving his 
 
 blue funk was to terrorize in return." 
 
 * 
 
 Hand in hand with cruelty and cowardice often 
 travels hypocrisy and of the three Diaz is not the least 
 endowed with hypocrisy. Constantly is he foisting new 
 shams and deceptions and farces upon the public. His 
 election farces and his periodical pretense of wishing 
 to retire from the presidency and the reluctantly yield- 
 ing to a universal demand on the part of his people have 
 already been referred to, Diaz's rule began in hypocrisy, 
 for he went into office on a platform which he had no no- 
 tion of carrying out. lie pretended to consider the doc- 
 trine of non-re-election of president and governors of 
 enough importance to warrant turning the nation over in 
 a revolution, yet as soon as he had entrenched himself in 
 power he proceeded to re-elect himself as well as his 
 governors on to the end of time. 
 
 When Elihu Root went in to Mexico to see Diaz and 
 to arrange some matters in regard to Magdalena Bay 
 Diaz was desirous of showing Root that the Mexican 
 people were not as poverty-stricken as they had been 
 painted. He therefore, through his Department of the 
 Interior, distributed the day before Root's arrival in 
 the capital, 5,000 pairs of new pantaloons among that 
 class of workmen who were habitually most prominently 
 on the streets. In spite of orders that the pants were 
 to be worn, the majority of them were promptly ex- 
 changed for food, and so ]\Ir. Root was probably not 
 very badly fooled. The incident merely goes to show 
 to what extents the petty hypocrisy of the Mexican ruler 
 sometimes goes. 
 
 Diaz is the head of the IMasons in Mexico, yet he 
 nominates every new bishop and archbishop the country
 
 DIAZ HIMSELF 317 
 
 gets. Church marriages are not recognized as legal, yet 
 Diaz has favored the church so far as to refuse to 
 enact a divorce law, so that today there is no such thing 
 as divorce or re-marriage during the life of hoth parties 
 in Mexico. Constantly is Diaz trying to fool the peo- 
 ple as to his own motives. He brought about the merger 
 under national control of the two leading railway sys- 
 tems of the country, ostensibly to put the railways where 
 the government can use them best in time of war, but 
 actually in order to give his friends an opportunity to 
 make millions in the juggling of securities. Deceits of 
 this class could be enumerated ad infinitum. 
 
 One of the most notable hypocritical antics of Diaz 
 is his pretended concurrence in the overwhelmingly pop- 
 ular idolatry of the patriot Juarez. It will be remem- 
 bered that when Juarez died Diaz was in revolution 
 against him and that therefore if it is conceded that 
 Juarez was a great statesman it must be admitted that 
 Diaz was wrong in rebelling. Diaz undoubtedly recog- 
 nized this fact and some ten years ago he is said to have 
 aided secretly the publication and circulation of a book 
 which attempted, by new and cleverly written inter- 
 pretations of the acts of Juarez, to make out the father 
 of the constitution a great blunderer instead of a great 
 statesman. This failed to turn the tide against Juarez, 
 however, and Diaz fell in with the tide until nowadays 
 we see him every year, on the occasion of the birthday 
 of Juarez, delivering a eulogistic speech over' the tomb 
 of the man against whom he rebelled. More than this 
 during each speech Diaz sheds tears— rains tears— and 
 is wont to refer to Juarez as "my great teacher !'' 
 
 The ability to shed tears freely and on the slightest 
 provocation has, indeed, been named by Diaz's enemies 
 as his greatest asset as a statesman. When a distin-
 
 318 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 guislied visitor praises Diaz or his work Diaz cries — 
 and the visitor is touched and drawn toward him. When 
 the "Circiilo de Amigos de General Diaz" pays its for- 
 mal call to tell its creator that the country once more 
 demands his re-election he weeps — and the foreign press 
 remarks upon how that man docs love his country. 
 Once a year, on his birthday, the president of Mexico 
 goes down into the street and shakes hands with his 
 people. The reception takes place in front of the na- 
 tional palace and all the while the tears are raining 
 down his cheeks — and the soft-hearted people say to 
 themselves: "Poor old man, he's had his troubles. Let 
 him end his life in peace." 
 
 Diaz has always been able to cry. While striving 
 against the Lerdist government in 1876, just before his 
 day of success came, he was beaten in the battle of 
 Icamole. He thought it meant an end of his hopes and 
 he cried like a baby, while his subordinate officers looked 
 on in shame. This gained him the nickname of "The 
 weeper of Icamole," which still sticks to him among his 
 enemies. In his memoirs Lerdo calls Diaz "The ]\Ian 
 Who Weeps." 
 
 An oft-related incident which shows the shallowness 
 of the feeling which accompanies the Diaz tears is told 
 by Fornaro as follows : 
 
 "When Captain Clodomoro Cota was sentenced by the mili- 
 tary tribunal to be shot, his father sought the President, and on 
 his knees, weeping, begged him to pardon his son. Porfirio i^iaz 
 also was weeping, but, lifting the despairing man, uttered this 
 ambiguous phrase: 'Have courage and faith in justice.' The 
 father left, consoled, believing that his petition had been 
 answered. But on the following morning his son was shot. 
 The tears of Porfirio Diaz are crocodile tears." 
 
 It is said that Diaz does not dissipate. At least he 
 drinks deep and drunkenly of the wine of adulation.
 
 DIAZ HIMSELF 319 
 
 Botli vanity and lack of rcfmcmcnt and taste are shown 
 by the very coarseness and ridiculousness of the praise 
 for which he pays and in which he revels. 
 
 Diaz is not noted for avarice, which is not surprising, 
 inasmuch as the power that he wields by reason of the 
 army and the rest of his inachine is far greater than any 
 power that money could buy in Mexico. To Porfirio 
 Diaz money and other cashable goods are but a pawn 
 in the game, and he uses them to buy the support of 
 the greedy. Yet his enemies declare that he is the rich- 
 est man in Mexico. He keeps his financial affairs so 
 well hidden that few can guess how large a fortune h.e 
 has. It is known that he has large holdings under 
 aliases and in the names of dummies and that the vari- 
 ous members of his family are all wealthy. But why 
 should Porfirio Diaz care for mere money, when all 
 Mexico is his — his with no strings upon it except the 
 strings of foreign capital? 
 
 The picture sometimes drawn of the love match of 
 Don Porfirio and Carmelita Romero Rubio de Diaz, 
 while pretty, is not true ; the truth is not at all flattering 
 to the personal virtues of Diaz. The facts are that lit- 
 tle Carmen was forced to marry Diaz for purposes of | 
 state. Her father, Romero Rubio, had held a high po- 
 sition in the Lerdist government and had a strong per- 
 sonal following; her god-father was Lerdo de Teja !a 
 himself, while little Carmen, together with the other 
 feminine members of the family, was a devout Catholic. 
 By marrying the girl Diaz hoped to kill three birds with 
 one stone, to win the support of her father, to turn 
 aside the enmity of the friends of Lerdo, and to assure 
 to himself more actively than ever the support of the 
 church. He knew that Carmen not only did not love 
 him, but that she wanted to marry another man, and
 
 320 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 yet he was a party to her forced marriage. The mar- 
 riage did give him the more active support of the church, 
 it won Don Romero Rubio, but as for Lerdo, he was 
 obdurate. In his memoirs Lerdo prints some letters 
 from the unhappy Carmen, his god-child, to show how 
 her youth and innocence were employed as merchandise 
 in Diaz's mad barter for political security. One of these 
 letters, which also gives an interesting side-light on the 
 times, is as follows: 
 
 "Mexico City, Jan. 1, 1885. 
 
 "Sr. Lie. Don Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada. 
 
 "My Very Dear God-Father: — If you continue to be displeased 
 with Papa, that is no reason why you should persist in being 
 so with me ; you know better than anyone that my marriage 
 with General Diaz was the exclusive work of my parents, for 
 whom, for the sake of pleasing them, I have sacrificed my heart, 
 if it can be called a sacrifice to have given my hand to a man 
 who adores me and to whom I respond only with filial affection. 
 To unite myself with an enemy of yours has not been to curse 
 you; on the contrary, I have desired to be the dove that with the 
 olive branch calms the political torments of my country. I do 
 not fear that God will punish me for having taken this step, 
 as the greatest punishment will be to have children by a man 
 whom I do not love; nevertheless, I shall respect him and be 
 faithful to him all my life. You have nothing, God-father, with 
 which to reproach me. I have conducted myself with perfect 
 correctness inside the social, moral and religious laws. Can 
 you blame the Archduchess Marie of Austria for uniting herself 
 with Napoleon? Since my marriage I am constantly sur- 
 rounded by a crowd of flatterers, so much the more contemptible 
 since I do not encourage them. ^They do not fail in anything 
 except in falling down on their knees and kissing my feet, as 
 happened with the golden princesses of Perrault. From the 
 deputation of beggars with whom I became acquainted yesterday 
 to the minister who begged a peseta in order to dine, on the 
 staircase ascending or descending, all mix together and trample 
 each other under foot, entreating for a salute, a smile, a glance. 
 The same who in a time not so very remote would have refused
 
 DIAZ HIMSELF 321 
 
 to give me their hand had they seen me fall on the sidewalk, 
 today crawl like reptiles in my path, and would consider them- 
 selves happy if the wheels of my carriage should pass over 
 their unclean bodies. The other night, while expectorating in the 
 aisle of the theatre, a general who was at my side interposed 
 his handkerchief, in order that the saliva, each precious pearl, 
 should not fall on the tile floor. If we had been alone, surely 
 the miserable creature would have converted his mouth into a 
 cuspidor. This is not the exquisite flattery of educated folk; 
 it is the brutal servility of the rabble in its animal and repul- 
 sive form, in that of a slave. The p/^ets, the minor poets and 
 the poetasters each martyr me after his own fashion ; it is a 
 waterspout of ink fit to blacken the ocean itself. This calamity 
 irritates my nerves to such an extent that at times I have 
 attacks of hysteria. Horrible, isn't it, dear God-father? And 
 I say nothing to you of the paragraphs and articles published 
 by the press that Papa has hired. Those who do not call me 
 an angel say that I am a cherub; others raise me to the standard 
 of a goddess; others place me in the lirmament as a star, and 
 still others put me down in botany, classifying me among the 
 lilies, the marguerites and the jasmin. At times I myself do not 
 know whether I am an angel, a cherub, a goddess, a star, a lily, 
 a marguerite, a jasmin, or a woman. Dios! Whom am I that 
 I am deified and enveloped in this cloud of fetid incense? Ah, 
 my God-father, I am very unfortunate, and I hope that you will 
 not deny me your pardon and your advice. 
 
 "Carmen." 
 
 Is Diaz patriotic? Has he the welfare of Mexico 
 at heart? The flatterers of Diaz swear by his patriot- 
 ism, but the facts demand a negative answer. Diaz 
 helped depose the foreign prince, but immediately after- 
 wards he plunged a peaceful country into war to feed 
 his own ambition. Perhaps it will be said that Diaz 
 imagined that he could order tlie destinies of ^lexico 
 more for the benefit of IMexico than could anyone else. 
 Doubtless, but why has he not given his country prog- 
 ress? Is it possible that he believes that autocracy is 
 better for a people than democracy? Is it possible that
 
 r 
 
 322 J BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 he considers illiteracy a condition of the greatest pos,-.i- 
 ble happiness for a people? Can he believe that a state 
 of chronic starvation contributes to the welfare of a 
 nation? lie is an old man — eighty years old. Why 
 does he not make some provision against political chaos 
 after his death ? Is it possible that he believes it to be 
 best for his people never to attempt to govern them- 
 selves, and for this reason is wrecking his nation so as 
 to prepare it for easy possession by foreigners? 
 
 It is impossible to believe these things of Diaz. It is 
 eminently more reasonable to judge that whatever de- 
 sire for the welfare of his country he possesses is over- 
 shadowed, wiped oiT the slate, by a personal ambition to 
 laintain his rule for life. 
 
 This, in my judgment, is a key to the character and 
 the public acts of Porfirio Diaz — to stay there — to stay 
 there! 
 
 "How will this move aflfect the security of my posi- 
 tion? I believe this question has. been the one test for 
 the acts of Porfirio Diaz in all those thirty-four years. 
 This question has always been before him. With it he 
 has eaten, drank, slept. With it before him he was 
 married. With it he built a machine, enriched his friends 
 and disposed of his enemies, buying some and killing 
 others; with it he has flattered and gifted the foreigner, 
 favored the church, kept temperance in his body and 
 learned a martial carriage; with it he set one friend 
 against another, fostered prejudice between his people 
 and other peoples, paid the printer, cried in the sight 
 of the multitude when there was no sorrow in his soul 
 and — wrecked his country ! 
 
 Upon what thread hangs the good fame of Porfirio 
 Diaz with Americans? Upon that one fact, that he has 
 wrecked his country — and prepared it for easy posses-
 
 DIAZ HIMSELF 323 
 
 sion by foreigners. Porfirio Diaz is giving to Amcri- I 
 cans the lands of Mexico; the people he is permitting / 
 them to enslave; therefore he is the greatest living 
 statesman, hero of the Americans, the maker of Mexico! 
 A wonderful man, that he is intelligent and far-seeing 
 enough to appreciate the fact that, of all nations, the 
 American is the only one with virtue and ability enough 
 to lift Mexico out of its Slough of Despond ! As for | 
 the Mexican, let him die. He is only fit to feed the | / 
 grist mill of American capital, anyhow! ^y — ^
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE MEXICAN PEOPLE 
 
 Since, in the last analysis, all apologies for the Diaz 
 system of economic slavery and political autocracy have 
 their roots in assertions of ethnological inferiority on 
 the part of the Mexican people, it would seem wise to 
 end this book with an examination of the character of 
 ^^xicans and a discussion of the arguments upon which 
 Americans are wont to defend a system in Mexico such 
 as they would not for a moment excuse in any other 
 country. 
 
 Every defense of Diaz is an attack upon the Mexican 
 people. It must be so, since there is no other conceiv- 
 able defense of despotism except that the people are 
 so weak or so wicked that they cannot be trusted to take 
 care of themselves. 
 
 The gist of the defense is that the Mexican must be 
 ruled from above because he "is not fit for"derii'ocracy," 
 that he must be enslaved for the salce oF'^pfogfesF;" 
 since he would do nothing for himself or the w~orld were 
 he not compelled to do it through fear of tHe whip or" 
 acute starvation, that he must be "ens^ved because~Re 
 knows nothing better than slavery--«*ui ,thaLhe is Tiagpy 
 in slavery, anyhow. All of which, in the end, resolve 
 themselves into the simple proposition that because he 
 is down he ought to be kept down. Incurable laziness, 
 childish superstition, wanton "improvidence, constitu- 
 tional stupidity, immovable conservatism, impenetrable 
 ignorance, an uncontrollable propensity for theft, 
 drunkenness and cowardice are some of the vices at- 
 
 324
 
 THE MEXICAN PEOPLE 325 
 
 tributed to the Mexican people by those same persons 
 who declare their ruler to be the wisest and most beat- 
 ific on the face of the earth. 
 
 Laziness, in the estimation of the American friends 
 of Diaz, is the cardinal vice of the Mexican. Laziness 
 has always been a cardinal vice in the eyes of the grind- 
 ers of the poor. American planters actually expect the 
 Mexican to work himself to death for the love of it! 
 Or is it for the love of. his master that he expects him 
 to work? Or for the dignity of labor? 
 
 But the Mexican does not appreciate such things. 
 And, failing to receive anything more tangible for his 
 work, he "soldiers" on the job. Wherefore he is not 
 only lazy, but stupid ! Wherefore, it is right and proper 
 that he should be driven to the field with clubs, that he 
 should be hunted down, forced into enganchado gangs, 
 locked up at night, and starved. 
 
 It may be information to some persons to tell them 
 that Mexicans have been known to work willingly and 
 effectively when they saw anything to work for. Tens 
 of thousands of Mexicans have displaced Americans and 
 Japanese on the railroads and in the fields of the Amer- 
 ican Southwest. As high an authority as E. H. Harri- 
 man said, in an interview published in the Los Angeles 
 Times in March, 1909: "We have had a good deal of 
 experience with the Mexican, and we have found that 
 after he is fed up and gets his strength he makes a very 
 good worker." 
 
 Note that. "After lie is fed up and gets his strength." 
 Which is saying, in efifect, that the employers of Mex- 
 ican labor, many of whom are estimable Americans, 
 friends of Diaz, starre them so chronically that they 
 have not the actual strength to work effectivelv. Thus 
 •jyg Ijgive a second reason why Mexicans sometimes
 
 326 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 "soldier" on the job. Worthless, worthless Mexicans! 
 Virtuous, virtuous Americans ! 
 
 The American promoter feels a personal grievance 
 at the religious bigotry of the poor Mexican. It is be- 
 cause of the church fiestas, which give the Mexican a 
 few extra holidays a month, when he is free to take 
 them. Profits are lost on those fiesta days ; hence the 
 anguish of the American promoter. Hence the wel- 
 come which the American gives to a system of labor 
 such as we find in A^alle Nacional, where the cane of 
 bejuco wood is mightier than the priest, where there 
 are neither feast days nor Sundays, nor any days when 
 the club does not drive the slave to the back-breaking 
 labor of the field. 
 
 "They told us labor was cheap down here," an Amer- 
 ican once said to me in a grieved tone. "Cheap? Of 
 course. Dirt cheap. But it has its drawbacks." He 
 expected every "hand" to do as much work as an able- 
 bodied American and to live on thin air besides ! 
 
 Far be it from me to express approval of the influ- 
 ence of the Catholic church upon the Mexican. Yet it 
 must be admitted that the church alleviates his misery 
 somewhat by providing him with some extra holidays. 
 And it feeds his hunger for sights of beauty and sounds 
 of sweetness, which for the poor Mexican are usually 
 impossible of attainment outside of a church. If the 
 rulers of the land had been enlightened and had given 
 the Mexican the barest glimpse of brightness outside of 
 the church the sway of the priest might have been less 
 pronounced than it is today. 
 
 Those fiestas which are such a thorn in the side of 
 the American promoter are useful to him at least in 
 that they furnish him with an excuse for paying the
 
 THE MEXICAN PEOPLE 327 
 
 wage-worker so little that it is an extravagance, indeed, 
 for the latter to take a day off. "They're so improvident 
 that I have to keep them at the star\'ation point or they 
 won't work at all." You'll hear Americans saying that 
 almost any day in Mexico. In illustration of which 
 numerous stories are virtuously recounted. 
 
 Improvident ! Yes, the starving Mexican is improvi- 
 dent. He spends his money to keep from starving! 
 Yes, there are cases where he is paid such munificent 
 wages that he is able to save a ccntavo now and then 
 if he tries. And, trying, he finds that providence boots 
 him nothing. He finds that the moment he gets a few 
 dollars ahead he at once becomes a mark for every 
 grafting petty official within whose ken he falls. If the 
 masters of Mexico wished their slaves to be provident 
 they should give them an opportunity to get something 
 ahead and then guarantee not to steal it back again. 
 
 The poor Mexican is accused of being an inveterate 
 thief. The way a Mexican laborer will accept money 
 and then try to run away, instead of working for the 
 rest of his life to pay off the debt, is, indeed, enough 
 to bring tears to the eyes of the American grinder of 
 enganchados. The American promoter steals the very 
 life blood of the laborer and then expects the latter to 
 be so steeped in virtue as to refrain from stealing any 
 part of it back again. When a Mexican peon sees a 
 trinket or a pretty thing that takes his fancy he is quite 
 likely to steal it, for it is the only way he can get it. 
 He risks jail for an article worth a few ccntavos. How 
 often would he do it if the payment of those few ccn- 
 tavos would not mean a hungry day for him? Amer- 
 ican planters steal laborers, carry them away by force 
 to their plantations, steal their families away from them,
 
 OZO y BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 lock them up at night, beat them, starve them while they 
 work, neglect them when they are sick, pay them noth- 
 ing, kill them at the last, and then raise their hands in 
 righteous horror when a poor fellow steals an extra 
 tortilla or an ear of corn! 
 
 In Mexico plowing is often done with a crooked stick 
 or with the hoe. The backs of men take the place of 
 freight wagons and express vehicles. In short, Mexico 
 is woefully behind in the use of modern machinery. 
 For which the Mexican is accused of being unprogres- 
 sive. 
 
 But the common people do not choose how much 
 machinery shall be used in the country. The master 
 does that. American promoters in Mexico are little 
 more progressive in the use of machinery than are Mex- 
 ican promoters, and when they are they frequently lose 
 money by it. Why? Because flesh and blood are 
 cheaper in Mexico than machinery. A peon is cheaper 
 ^ to own than a horse. A peon is cheaper than a plow. 
 ■; A hundred women can be bought for the price of a 
 «' grist mill. It is because the master has made it so. If 
 '' ) by some means the price of flesh and blood were sud- 
 I denly to be shoved up above that of dead steel, machin- 
 i I ery would flow into Mexico as fast as it would flow 
 \ into any new industrial field in the United States or any 
 other country. 
 
 Do not think that the Mexican is too stupid to oper- 
 ate machinery when he is put to it. There are some 
 lines in which machine labor is cheaper than hand labor 
 and we have only to look to these line§ to learn that the 
 Mexican can handle machinery quite as easily as any 
 other people. • Native labor operates the great cotton 
 mills of Mexico almost exclusively, for example. For 
 that matter, mechanical cunning of a high order is shown
 
 THE MEXICAN PEOPLE 
 
 in the many hand arts and crafts practiced hy the na- j 
 tives, the blanket weaving, the pottery making, the mak-, ^^ 
 ing of laces, the manufacture of curios, l^v-C*^ 
 
 Ignorance is charged against the Mexican people as 
 if it were a crime. On the other hand, we are told, in 
 glowing terms of the public school system which Diaz 
 has established. Charles F. Lummis in his book on Mex- 
 ico remarks that it is doubtful if there is a single hamlet 
 of one hundred Mexicans in all the country that has not 
 its free public school. The truth is that the people 
 are ignorant and that there are few schools. The sort 
 of authority Mr. Lummis is_may be gauged_by the gov- 
 ernment stati stics themselves, which, in the year iJvTr. 
 Lummis issue3"~His book, placed the number of Mexi- 
 cans who could read and write at sixteen per cent of the 
 population. In Mexico there are some public schools 
 in the cities and almost none in the country districts. 
 But even if they were there, can a hungry baby learn 
 to read and write? What promise does study hold out 
 for a youth born to shoulder a debt of his father andy 
 carry it on to the end of his days? 
 
 And they say the Mexican is happy! "As happy as 
 a peon," has come to be a common expression. Can a 
 starving man be happy? Is there any people on earth — 
 any beast of the field, even — so peculiar of nature that 
 it loves cold better than warmth, an empty stomach bet- 
 ter than a full one? Where is the scientist that has dis- 
 covered a people who would choose an ever narrowing 
 horizon to an ever widening one? Depraved indeed are 
 the Mexican people if they are happy. But I do not be- 
 live they are happy. Some who have said it lied know- 
 ingly. Others mistook the dull glaze of settled despair 
 for the signature of contentment. 
 
 Most persistent of all derogations of Mexicans is the
 
 330 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 one that the Spanish-American character is somehow 
 incapable of democracy and therefore needs the strong 
 hand of a dictator. Since the Spanish-Americans of 
 Mexico have never had a fair trial at democracy, and 
 since those who are asserting that they are incapable of 
 democracy are just the ones who are trying hardest to 
 prevent them from having a trial at democracy, the 
 uspicion naturally arises that those persons have an ul- 
 terior motive in spreading such an impression. That 
 motive has been pretty well elucidated in previous chap- 
 ters of this book, especially in the one on the American 
 i)artners of Diaz. 
 
 f The truth of the whole malignment of Mexicans as 
 a people seems very plain. It is a defense against in- 
 defensible conditions whereby the jdefenders are profit- 
 ing. _ It is an, exLCUse_ — an excuse for hideous cruelty, a 
 salve to the conscience, an apology to the world, a de- 
 fense against the vengeance of eternity. 
 
 The truth is that the Mexican is a human being and 
 that he is subject to the same evolutionary laws of 
 growth as are potent in the development of any other 
 people. The truth is that, if the Mexican does not fully 
 measure up to the standard of the highest type of Euro- 
 pean, it is because of his history, a most influential part 
 of which is the grinding exploitation to which he is sub- 
 jected under the present regime in Mexico. Let us go 
 back to the beginning and glance briefly at the Mexican 
 as an ethnological being and compare his abilities and 
 possibilities with that of the "free" American. 
 
 While nearly all persons of more than primary educa- 
 tion nominally accept the theory of evolution as the cor- 
 rect interpretation of life upon this planet, not so many 
 of us take advantage of its truths in estimating the peo- 
 ple about us. We cling, instead, to the old error of ex-
 
 THE MEXICAN PEOPLE 331 
 
 istcnce by special creation, which supports us when we 
 wish to believe that some men are created of superior 
 elay, that some are inherently better than others and 
 always must be better, that some are designed and in- 
 tended to occupy a station of special rank and privilege 
 among their fellow men. Forgotten is the scientific 
 truth that all men are shoots from the same stalk, that 
 intrinsically one man is no better than another, that in 
 tlie fulness of time the possibilities of one race or people 
 are no greater than those of any other. Whatever differ- 
 ences there are between men and races of men are due, 
 not to inherent differences, but to the action of outside 
 influences, to soil and climate, to temperature and rain- 
 fall, and to what may be- denominated the accidents of 
 history following naturally, however, in the train of 
 these influences. "A man's a man for a' that and a* 
 that." 
 
 But there are differences. There are differences in 
 general between American,, and Mexicans. Let us see 
 if there are any differences which justify the condemna- 
 tion of Mexicans to slavery and government by a 
 despot. 
 
 What is a Mexican? Usually the term is applied 
 to the members of a mixed race, part native and part 
 Spanish, who predominate in the so-called sister repub- 
 lic. Pure natives who long ago left the aboriginal state 
 are also often included in the category and they seem 
 to have a right to the name. In the government cen- 
 sus of 1900 the proportion of races is given as 43 per 
 cent mixed, 38 pure native and 19 of European or dis- 
 tinct foreign extraction. The Mexican Year Book 
 thinks that the proportion of mixed peoples has greatly 
 increased in the past ten years until it is far more than 
 half the total today. The IMexican of today, then, is
 
 332 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 either all Spanish, all native, or a mixture of the two, 
 most often the last; so the peculiar character of Mexi- 
 cans can be said to be made up of a combination of the 
 two elements. 
 
 Take the Spanish element, first. What are the pe- 
 culiar attributes of the Spanish nature? In Spain we 
 find much art and literature, but on the other hand, 
 much religious bigotry and little democracy. We find 
 a versatile people, but a people with swift passions and 
 fickle energies. In its accomplishments along modern 
 lines Spain stands at the foot of the countries of west- 
 ern Europe. 
 
 But — why ? 
 
 The answer is to the credit of Spain. Spain sacrificed 
 herself to save Europe. Standing upon the southern 
 frontier, she bore the brunt of the Moslem invasion. 
 Retarding the barbarian hordes, she saved the budding 
 civilization of Europe and its religion, Christianity. 
 Long after the issue was settled as far as the other na- 
 tions were concerned, Spain was still engaged in that 
 fight. And in that death-struggle to preserve their ex- 
 istence, it was inevitable that the power of the State 
 should become more centralized and despotic, that the 
 Church should come into closer union with the State, 
 that the Church should become more unscrupulous of 
 the methods it employed to annex powe^o itself, more 
 so'"did of gain, more dogmatic in its teachings and more 
 ruthless in the treatment of its enemies. 
 
 Thus is revealed the prime cause for Spain's position 
 as a laggard in the path of democracy and religious en- 
 lightenment. For the rest, it may be said that, while the 
 magnificent scenery of the country has helped to make 
 the Spaniard superstitious, it has also helped to make 
 him an artist; that while the exuberance of the soil by
 
 THE MEXICAN PEOPLE 333 
 
 enabling him to secure his Hying with comparatively lit- 
 tle labor, has not forced him to habits of such regular 
 industry as are found farther north, it has contributed 
 to his cultivating the arts of music, painting and social 
 intercourse; that the heat of the summer, by rendering 
 hard labor at that season inadvisable, has also militated 
 toward the same ends. 
 
 Of course I am not attempting to go into details on 
 these matters. I am merely pointing out a few prin- 
 ciples which underlie racial diversities. On the whole, 
 a close examination of the Spanish people would show 
 that there is nothing whatsoever to indicate that they 
 are specially unfit or unworthy to enjoy the blessings 
 of democracy. 
 
 As to the native element, which is more important, in- 
 asmuch as it undoubtedly predominates in the make-up 
 of the average Mexican, especially the Mexican of the 
 poorer class, an examination of its peculiar character 
 will prove quite as favorable. Biologically, the aboriginal 
 Mexican is not to be classed with any of the so-called 
 lower races, such as the negro, the South Sea Islander, 
 the pure Filipino, or the American Indian. The Aztec 
 has been a long time out of the forest. His facial angle 
 is as good as our own. In many ways he measures up 
 to us. In some ways perhaps he even surpasses us, 
 while the ways in which he falls below us can all be 
 traced either to peculiar external influences, or the luck 
 of history, or both. 
 
 It must be admitted that Mexico is not quite as wel' 
 favored for the generation of physical and mental en- 
 ergy as is the great portion of the United States. The 
 bulk of the population of Diaz-land lives upon a pla- 
 teau ranging from 5,000 to 8,000 feet high. Here the 
 air is thinner and for every foot-pound of energy ex-
 
 334 RARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 pended there is a greater tax upon the heart and the 
 h.uman machine generally. Americans who take up their 
 residence on that plateau find that they must live a lit- 
 tle more slowly than in this country, that it is better 
 to take the mid-day siesta, like the Mexicans. If they 
 persist in keeping up the old gait they find that they 
 grow old very fast, that it does not pay. If, on the 
 other hand, they choose to live in the tropical belt they 
 find that here, too, because of the greater heat and 
 moisture, it is not wise for them to work as fast as 
 they were wont to do at home. 
 
 If the average Mexican has less working capacity 
 than the average American it is largely for this reason, 
 and for the other reason that the Mexican laborer is 
 invariably half starved. When the American laborer 
 meets the Mexican on the latter's own ground he is quite 
 often outdone. Few Americans engage in physical la- 
 bor either on the plateau or in the tropics. The laborer 
 of no nation can outdo the Mexican in carrying heavy 
 loads or in feats of endurance, while in the tropics the 
 Mexican, if he is not starved, is supreme. The Ameri- 
 can negro, the Asiatic coolie, the athletic Yaqui from the 
 north, have all been tried out against the native of the 
 tropical states and all have been found wanting, while 
 there is no question as to the inferiority of the working 
 capacity of men of European descent under tropical 
 conditions. 
 
 So much for the working capacity of Mexicans, which, 
 in this extremely utilitarian age, is placed high among 
 the virtues of a people. As to intelligence, in spite of 
 the fact that it was always the policy of the Spanish 
 conquerers to hold the native Aztecs in subordinate po- 
 sitions, enough of the latter have succeeded in forcing 
 their way to the top to prove that they were quite as
 
 wool) CARRIKKS, CITY OK MEXICO. 
 CIIKAI'KK TIIAX 
 
 A MKXICAN LAHORER IS 
 MORSE
 
 TIIF. MEXICAN PEOPLE 335 
 
 capable in the higher functions of civihzation as the 
 Spaniards themselves. The most brilliant poets, artists, 
 writers, musicians, men of science, military heroes and 
 constructive statesmen in the history of Mexico were 
 natives pure or natives but faintly crossed with the blood 
 of Spain. 
 
 On the whole, the Mexicans seem to exhibit stronger 
 artistic and literary tendencies than we and less inclina- 
 tion toward commerce and heavy mechanics. The mass 
 of the people are illiterate, but that docs not mean that 
 they are stupid. There are undoubtedly several million 
 Americans who are able to read but who don't read reg- 
 ularly, not even a newspaper, and they are no better in- 
 formed, perhaps, and certainly no clearer thinkers, than 
 the peons who pass the news of the day from mouth 
 to mouth on their Sundays and their feast days. That 
 these people are illiterate by choice, that they are poor 
 because they want to be, that they prefer dirt to clean- 
 liness, is absurd. 
 
 "They choose that sort of life, so why should we 
 bother ourselves about their troubles?" "They could 
 improve their condition if they cared to make an effort." 
 "They are perfectly happy, anyhow." Such expres- 
 sions are sure to greet the traveler who remarks upon 
 the misery of the common Mexican, The fact is, the 
 ordinary Mexican chooses the life he lives about as 
 nearly so as a horse chooses to be born a horse. As I 
 suggested before, he cannot be happy, for no starving 
 being can be happy. While as to improving his condi- 
 tion alone and unaided he has about as much chance of 
 doing it as a horse has of inventing a flying machine. 
 
 Pick up a poor young Mexican in Mexico City, for 
 example, where the opportunities are the best in the 
 land. Take a typical Mexican laborer. He cannot read
 
 336 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 or vv'rite because he was probably born in a country 
 district ten miles from the nearest school, or if he was 
 born in the shadow of a public school he literally had 
 to scratch the earth from the time he could crawl in 
 order to get something to eat. He has no education and 
 no special training of any kind because he has had no 
 opportunity to secure either. Having had no special 
 training all he is able to do is to carry heavy loads. 
 
 Probably at twenty-five he is a physical wreck from 
 under-feeding, exposure and overwork. But suppose 
 he is one of the few who has kept his strength. What 
 can he do? Carry more heavy loads; that is all. He 
 can get perhaps fifty cents a day carrying heavy loads 
 and all the effort of a Hercules cannot better the price, 
 for all he has is brawn, and brawn is cheap as dirt in 
 Mexico. I have seen men "making an effort." I have 
 seen them work until I could see the glazing of their eyes, 
 I have seen them put forth such efforts that their chests 
 rose and fell with explosive gasps, I have seen them 
 carry such heavy weights that they tottered and fell in 
 the street, in which way they are crushed to death, some- 
 times, by the thing above them. They were putting 
 forth their best efforts in the only thing they knew be- 
 cause they had never had an opportunity to learn any- 
 thing else, and they were dying just as fast as those 
 others who did as little as possible to live. The point 
 is that they never enjoyed the opportunities at the start 
 that we accept as a birthright. Imagine, if you can, 
 the majority of our American schools being suddenly 
 swept away, imagine a change from your condition of 
 partial work partial leisure to one of all work and no 
 leisure, imagine your earning power as insufficient to 
 feed any mouth but your own, imagine each mouth in 
 the family needing a separate pair of hands to feed it
 
 THE MEXICAN PEOPLE 337 
 
 aiid each new mouth needing its own hands while they 
 are yet the soft hands of a bahy — imagine these things 
 3nd you may faintly appreciate the difficulties which the 
 common Mexican encounters in trying to improve his 
 condition. For all practical purposes they are insur- 
 mountable. 
 
 And how about the capacity of Mexicans for democ- \ 
 racy? The assertion that democracy is not compatible 
 with "the Spanish-American character" seems to be 
 based wholly upon the fact that a considerable percent- 
 age of the Spanish-American countries — though not all 
 of them — are still ruled by dictators, and that changes 
 in the government come only through revolutions by 
 which one dictator is succeeded by another. This state 
 of affairs was brought about by the peculiar history of 
 these countries rather than by "the Spanish-American 
 character." Ruled as slave colonies by foreigners, these 
 countries asserted enough valor and patriotism to over- 
 throw the foreigner and expel him. Their struggle for 
 freedom was long and bitter ; moreover, being small coun- 
 tries, their national existence was in danger for con- 
 siderable periods after their independence. Therefore, 
 of necessity the military calling became a dominent pro- 
 fession and militarism and dictatorships followed nat- 
 urally. Today what Spanish-American countries as are 
 still ruled by dictators are ruled by dictators largely be- 
 cause of the support accorded the latter by foreign gov- 
 ernments, which oppose democratic movements some- 
 times even with arms. Diaz is not the only Spanish- 
 American dictator who is supported by the United States 
 at the behest of Wall street. During the past five years 
 several of the most notorious of the Central American 
 dictators have been held in their places only by a mili- 
 tary demonstration on the part of this country.
 
 338 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 But is Mexico ready for democracy? Does she not 
 need to be ruled by a despot for awhile longer, until such 
 a time as she shall have developed capacity for demoQ,- 
 racy? I repeat this absurd question only because it is so 
 common. The only reasonable reply is ^hat of Macau- 
 lay, that capacity for democracy can omy increase with 
 experience with the problems of democracy. Mexico is 
 as ready for democracy as a country can be which has 
 no democracy whatsoever. There is t>o chance of Mex""- 
 ico having complete democracy at vhis time. These 
 things come only gradually, and there is no danger what- 
 soever of her suddenly getting more democracy than is 
 good for her. Who will say that Mexico should not 
 at once have just a little democracy, enough, say, to de- 
 liver her people from the mire of slavery and[ peonage? 
 
 Assuredly Mexico is behind us in the march of prog- 
 ress, behind us in the conquests of democracy. But, in 
 considering her, be just and consider what the luck of 
 history gave us in comparison to what it gave the Mex- 
 ican. We were lucky enough not to have the rule of 
 Spain imposed upon us for 300 years. We were lucky 
 enough to escape the clutch of the Catholic church at 
 our throats in our infancy. Finally, we were lucky 
 enough not to be caught in our weakness at the end of 
 a foreign war, caught by one of our own generals, who, 
 in the guise of president of our republic, quietly and 
 cunningly, with the cunning of a genius and the re- 
 morselessness of an assassin, built up a repressive ma- 
 chine such as no modern nation has ever been called 
 upon to break. We were lucky enough to escape the 
 reign of Porfirio Diaz. 
 
 Thus, wdiichever way we turn, we come finally back 
 to the fact that the immediate cause of all the ills, the 
 shortcomings, the vices of Mexico is the system of Diaz,
 
 THE MEXICAN PEOPLE 339 
 
 Mexico is a wonderful country. The capacity of its 
 people is beyond question. Once its republican consti- 
 tution is restored, it will be capable of solving all its 
 problems.-^ Perhaps it will be said that in opposing the 
 system of Diaz I am opposing the interests of the United 
 States. If the interests of Wall Street are the interests 
 of the United States, then I plead guilty. And if it is 
 to the interests of the United Stat' s that a nation should 
 be crucified as Mexico is being crucified, then I am 
 opposed to the interests of the United States. 
 
 But I do not believe that this is so. For the sake of 
 the ultimate interests of this country, for the sake of 
 humanity, for the sake of the millions of Mexicans who 
 are actually starving at this moment, I believe that the 
 Diaz system should be abolished ,and abolished quickly. 
 
 Hundreds of letters have come to me from all over the 
 world begging to know what can be done to put a stop 
 to the slavery of Mexico. Armed intervention of foreign 
 powers has been suggested again and again. This is un- 
 necessary as well as impractical. But there is one thing 
 that is practical and necessary, especially for Americans, 
 and that is to insist that there shall be no foreign inter- 
 vention for the purpose of maintaining the slavery. 
 
 In Mexico today exists a nation-wide movement to 
 abolish the Diaz system of slavery and autocracy. This 
 movement is quite capable of solving the problems of 
 Mexico without foreign interference. So far it has not 
 succeeded, partly because of the assistance our govern- 
 ment has given in the persecution of some of its leaders, 
 and partly because of Diaz's threat — constantly held be- 
 fore the Mexican people — of calling an American army 
 to his aid in case of a serious revolution against him. 
 
 Under the present barbarous government there is no 
 hope for reform in Mexico except through armed revo-
 
 ^0 BARBAROUS MEXICO 
 
 lution. Armed revolution on the part of the decent 
 and most progressive element is ^ strong probability 
 of the early future. When the revolution starts 
 American troops will be rushed to the border and 
 made ready to cross in case Diaz is unable to 
 cope with the revolt alone. If the American army crosses 
 it will not be ostensibly to protect Diaz, but to 
 protect American property and American lives. And to 
 this end false reports of outrages upon Americans, or 
 danger to American women and children, will be delib- 
 erately circulated in order to arouse the nation to justify 
 the crime of invasion. That will be the time for decent 
 Americans to make their voices heard. They will expose, 
 in no uncertain terms, the conspiracy against democracy 
 and demand that, for all time, our government cease put- 
 ting the machinery of state at the disposal of the despot 
 to help him crush the movement for the abolition of 
 slavery in Mexico. 
 
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