no 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 11 



1945, J. Encarnaci6n Medina Fuentes; 1944, Jos6 

 Calder6n Mfirquez; 1943, J. Encarnaci6ii Medina 

 Fuentes; 1942, Leopoldo Estrada Torres and 

 J. Encar. Medina Fuentes; 1941, Doroteo Ba- 

 rajas; and 1940, Fidel Casarez F. and Ambrosio 

 Herrera. Structm-es built by the municipality 

 commonly carry the names of the municipal presi- 

 dent and syndic who were in office at the time. 



REPRESENTATIVES OF THE AYUNTAMIENTO 



Since the tenencias are not within the area of our 

 report, we will not discuss the jefes de tenencia. 

 The encargados del orden in the six ranchos are 

 appointed sporadically, and may remain in office 

 for a number of years at a stretch. On occasion 

 the encargado del orden will be the only person in 

 a rancho who can read or write, although we en- 

 countered two who could not read. The duties 

 of this office have been outhned previously. The 

 chiefs of the four quarters or jefes de cuartel have 

 very little real function, and apparently are no 

 longer official. However, the possibly honorific 

 title still obtains since we met two individuals who 

 were referred to as being jefe de cuartel. The real 

 work is carried out by the block chiefs or jefes de 

 manzana. They serve as wardens, census takers, 

 and messengers from the ayuntamiento to the 

 famihes in their blocks. For example, when the 

 primers for the recent hteracy campaign were 

 received in Quiroga, each chief saw to the distribu- 

 tion in his block. 



EMPLOYEES OF THE AYUNTAMIENTO 



The regidores, as such, serve without pay, but 

 the president receives $3.00 (3 pesos) a day and 

 the syndic gets $1.50 a day. The regular em- 

 ployees are: the secretary of the ayuntamiento who 

 earns $4 a day; the treasurer of the municipality 

 who averages about $5 a day; the scribe or 

 secretary of the civil register, $3 ; the secretary of 

 the local court or juzgado menor, $2.50; the chief of 

 police or corporal of the guard (cabo), $2.50, and 

 each of the four policemen or gendarmes, $2.25; the 

 inspector of the slaughter house, $2; the fonfanero 

 or man in charge of the town water supply system, 

 $1.50; the street cleaner (who is also municipal 

 carter, and caretaker of the cemetery), $1.50; the 

 town gardener, $1.75; and the custodian of the 

 town clock, who receives $72 a year. 



The secretary is appointed by and keeps his job 

 at the pleasure of the ayuntamiento. Actually, 



the secretary and the treasurer carry out the major 

 part of municipal business; and the secretary, by 

 virtue of being "front" or contact man, and from 

 being entrusted with the records, often occupies a 

 position of influence and power. By law the 

 secretary keeps the minutes of the ayuntamiento, 

 makes out all necessary papers and carries on 

 official correspondence, and is in immediate charge 

 of the municipal archives. The man who was 

 secretary while we were in Quiroga was the nearest 

 equivalent of a professional politician and bureau- 

 crat existing in that community. He had been on 

 municipal. State, and Federal pay rolls most of the 

 past 30 years, and had been secretary more times 

 and longer than any other person. His last two 

 periods as secretary were 1931 into 1935, and 1941 

 into 1946. Although he was helpful to us in many 

 ways, nevertheless his procrastination and his 

 faulty memory or poor filing system prevented us 

 from obtaining all the information that should 

 have been available in his office. 



The most interesting records in the secretary's 

 office are the minute books. None earlier than 

 September 16, 1869, was located. Although 

 Lihros de Adas del Ayuntamiento should exist from 

 the beginning of municipal government, either the 

 earlier numbers were destroyed during some civil 

 war or the French Intervention, or else the volumes 

 prior to 1869 were among the "old documents" 

 called in to Morelia in 1895. However, none were 

 located in the State archives. The existing file of 

 minute books is quite incomplete. The years 

 covered are: 1869 to April 1880; March 1889 to 

 August 1900; January 1929 to January 1935; and 

 July 1940 to January 1944. Either the minutes 

 for 1944 to 1946 were not kept, or they were not 

 typed for public perusal. The secretary claimed 

 that the revolutionary chief Inez Chitvez Garcia 

 had burned many of the books in 1917, and that 

 in 1927 a band of Cristeros led by Ladislao Molina 

 of Pdtzcuaro and Alfredo Elizondo of Tacdmbaro 

 burned other books and records. We still have to 

 wonder what happened to the books for 1928, and 

 1935 to 1940. The latter books especially would 

 have given much valuable information about the 

 "imposition" period and the agrarian dissensions. 



The other records in the secretary's office were: 

 a register of correspondence for 1924 and 1925; 

 books containing fines and punishments imposed 

 by the municipal president 1886-94 and 1931-39; 

 and books covering the initial inscription of owners 



