200 



FUNCTIONS OF WEALTH 



Table 83. — Number and kinds of beds in 10 households 



family size is an influencing factor. Wealth equal, 

 larger families need and have more space than 

 smaller. But the size of the establishment does 

 not increase proportionally with the number of 

 persons, either among the rich or the poor. 



The amount of doubling-up in sleeping is indi- 

 cated in table 83, where the number and kinds of 

 beds used are shown. Obviously, other factors 

 besides wealth enter here, for custom with respect 

 to the relations of the sexes limits the doubling up 

 that can occur. Yet wealth is a factor. The 

 poor family No. 94 would probably not sleep five 

 in a bed if there were more money, hence more 

 space. And wealth is certainly a limiting factor 

 in the kinds of beds used. The poorer people 

 tend to sleep on the floor; only the richer families 

 have bought beds. Yet here again other factors 

 enter. 



The kind of houses used is evidently a function 

 of wealth. Mass-adobe houses are cheaper to 

 build than those of adobe brick. Tile is more ex- 

 pensive roofing than thatch, and corrugated iron 

 by far the most expensive. Only families Nos. 3, 

 5, 15, 19, and 37 have adobe-brick houses; only 

 the first has houses vnth tile and metal roofs. 

 Such elements as formal porches, carpenter-made 

 wooden doors, etc. also accompany greater wealth, 

 as may be seen in the detailed descriptions of 

 Appendix 3. The saint's house (even though 

 never exclusively used for the purpose) is also to be 

 found only in the wealthier compounds : only fam- 

 ilies Nos. 3, 5, 19, and 28 have one. 



A reading of the description of the 10 house 

 groups will help further to show how variations 

 among rich and poor are held strictly within 

 bounds. The richer families could certainly 

 afford to plaster their adobe-brick houses; they do 

 not. They could afford windows which they do 

 not have. They could have lime-mortar or even 

 brick floors, but they do not. They could have 



raised fireplaces (as the Government demands) 

 and do not. And so on. They lack such things 

 not because they are imfamiliar with them — for 

 Ladino homes that they frequent have them— 

 but because they do not want them. Why they 

 do not want them is a question beyond the scope 

 of this report; it is obvious that so-called "cultural 

 factors," as opposed to economic, are involved. 



DIFFERENCES IN FOOD 



In the section headed The Level and Cost of 

 Living there is some analysis of differences in diet 

 among the middle to above-middle families (pp. 

 163-174) who constituted the sample used to esti- 

 mate total consumption in the community and the 

 very rich and the poor. The material collected in- 

 dependently in 1944 makes possible discussion in 

 terms of food value, based on a slightly larger 

 sample over a 7-day period. Table 84 shows the 

 conversion of the net quantities of table 66 into 

 chemical constituents.''* It is evident that the 



>'• The conversion was done by the Nutrition Division of the Food and 

 Agricultural office of the United Nations, under supervision of Miss Emma 

 Reh, from whose unpublished report I am permitted to quote: 



"Dietary deficiency diseases were observed only In mild forms in Indian 

 and ladino groups in a survey made In highland Guatemala In 1932. Pellagra 

 was less severe and less frequent than among Mayan Indians of lowland 

 Yucatan in Mejico. Scurvy and thiamine deficiency were not observed. 



"Well marked anaemia (hemoglobin under 60 percent on the Tallquist 

 scale) was found in only 3 percent of both Indians and tadinoa in cases not 

 associated with malaria or intestinal parasitosis. Goiter is common in cer- 

 tain highland areas but its exact distribution is not known. 



"The Mayan Indians of Mexico and Guatemala are among the Dative 

 people of America with the shortest stature. In recent measurements hi the 

 Guatemalan highlands, the average height of the adult male was found to be 

 155 cm., and that of the average adult female, 144 cm. The males weighed on 

 the average 51 kilograms, and females, 45 kg. (T. Dale Stewart, 1948, U. 3. 

 Smithsonian Institution, Washington). 



"The Mayan Indians of both Yucatan and Guatemala were reported to 

 differ from whites in the United States in having higher basal metabolic rates 

 and lower systolic blood pressures. In both measurements, people of mixed 

 Indian and Spanish blood occupied positions Intermediate between Indians 

 and whites. The influence of many factors, racial or environmental, includ- 

 ing diet, was considered in order to account for the difference, but definite 

 conclusions were not reached. 



"In calculating the nutritional value of the diets, all available analyses of 

 Mexican and Guatemalan foods were used. These cover corn, beans, chile 



