CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



87 



exceptions, it may perhaps fairly be said that 

 prices are the expression of Cheran values with 

 respect to goods and services. Moreover, the 

 major price determination at Cheran is not by 

 local standards but in terms of fluctuations in 

 Mexican economy as a whole. It is not supply 

 and demand in Cheran which determines most 

 prices, but supply and demand (and Govern- 

 ment controls) in the surrounding regions. 

 The extent to which this is true is a measure 

 of the degree to which Tarascan economy is 

 linked with that of Mexico, a relationship that 

 is much closer than is ordinarily recognized by 

 Mexican students. 



The prices of the most important commodi- 

 ties produced in Cheran, corn and wheat, are 

 determined by what will be paid by purchasers 

 from outside the town. In similar fashion, the 

 prices of most imported goods are determined 

 by the wholesale prices existing in centers such 

 as Uruapan. Purepero, and Patzcuaro. The 

 price of labor is likewise- determined, although 

 to a somewhat lesser degree, by the price labor 

 can command in markets outside of Tarascan 

 territory. 



It is interesting to observe, however, that 

 this influence does not extend far out of 

 Michoacan. The Government, in building the 

 highway with local labor, is reported to have 

 paid only a peso a day, somewhat less than the 

 legal minimum wage. As it was, the high 

 wages (by Michoacan standards) tended to dis- 

 rupt the local wage structure. 



Within this major framework of price deter- 

 mination, of course, there are subsidiary excep- 

 tions. The price of pears, for example, will 

 fluctuate somewhat in relation to local supply 

 and demand, and the same is true of other 

 fruits which have not yet found wider markets. 

 Similar conditions obtain with respect to cheese 

 and fish. Land prices in general seem to bear 

 little relation to productivity and yield, al- 

 though here our analysis may be at fault.-'' 

 The preference for exercising gleaning rights 

 in the corn harvest in place of higher wages 

 also shows that in some areas of Cheran 

 economics, nonmonetary values operate. 



In general, the coming of the highway is 

 bringing higher prices for local products. 



Tables 8 and 9 give the prices of some goods 

 and products. Although little evidence is yet 

 visible at Cheran, at Chilchota in La Canada, 

 where the highway has been in use longer, it 

 was said that the price of chickens had risen 

 from 50 centavos to $1.50 with corresponding 

 rises in other products. 



Table 8. — Prices of some important goods and products 

 in Cheran 



^ It is possible that a more adequate analysis of labor costs 

 might show our estimates of net yields from farming are tco high. 



596509— 4G 7 



' In Zamora or tierra ccUicnte. 



WEALTH AND PROPERTY 



The major wealth of Cheran is forest and 

 agricultural land. As has been indicated pre- 

 viously, all lands capable of permanent cultiva- 

 tion are privately owned, the remainder belong- 

 ing to the community and being open to the use 

 of all community members. One informant 

 mentioned a possible exception to this state- 

 ment, saying that the one large land holding of 

 prerevolutionary Cheran has been taken by the 

 Government and offered for sale to Cheran 

 residents. The informant believed some lands 

 in this holding were still unsold, but no further 

 information was secured. In any case, the 

 incident does not alter the fundamental pattern 

 of Cheran land holding. 



In terms of individual wealth, the basic 

 Cheran concepts are those of rural Mexico. 

 Wealth is primarily land and silver. Cattle 

 loom less important, partly because they are 

 not owned in large numbers, partly because the 

 revolutionary period taught the people of 

 Cheran that cattle are a less stable form of 

 wealth. The man who owns sufficient land, 

 however, has an essentially inalienable resource 

 by which any losses of less stable types of 



