194 



FUNCTIONS OF WEALTH 



rent land. The poorest people are laborers for 

 others and do not have time for independent 

 agriculture, hence do not rent land. The very 

 wealthy have all the land they need. The renters 

 are in between. 



SPECIAL OCCUPATIONS AND WEALTH 



Chart 19 indicates the economic level of spe- 

 cialists, both artisans and professionals. Several 

 generalizations become evident. 



(1) The immigrant Indians are set apart as a 

 group of artisans, but among Panajachelenos there 

 is no "class" of artisans. One mason has little 

 land, the second is in the middle of the land scale; 

 two of the women who prepare food for sale are 

 of poor families, the third is of a family above the 



middle; most of the women who weave for others 

 are of poor and medium-poor families, but one is 

 of the near-wealthy group; the pig butchers are 

 of the middle and wealthy groups. 



(2) Nevertheless, it is clear that the land- 

 wealthy engage in the arts less than do the poor. 

 The land-rich pig butcher, for example, knows 

 how to kill pigs but he hardly practices the art; the 

 wealthier weavers work less at weaving for others 

 than do the poor weavers. 



(3) On the other hand, the professionals tend 

 not to be of the poorest families, nor — as it hap- 

 pens — of the few wealthiest, but are distributed 

 rather evenly through the middle group. It is 

 likely that the practice of a profession improves 

 one's economic position so that he can obtain 







No. of ^'^^ 16-30 31-45 46-60 61-75 76-90 91-105 106-120 121-132 



People Land-wealth Divisions Ranging from Wealthiest to Landless 



Artisans 

 ~^~ Business 



Musician "^'^^ Foreign 



Practitioners 



Chart 19. — Special occupations and the land-wealth scale 



Artisans 

 /■/•//• Foreign 



Other Occu- 

 pations 



