Photo by J. E. Kirkwood 



UNLOADING FIBER AT THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE HACIENDA DE CEDROS 



Peons work for months at distant stations on the property and are paid per kilogram when 



the fiber is delivered 



the basin and connects with the broader 

 landing on the side of the entrance. This 

 bath is supplied by the same spring that 

 passes beneath the wine cellar, the waters 

 of which are led thither by a tunnel 100 

 yards long under 15 feet of earth and 

 stone. This bath is cold, but another at 

 some distance is warm and was a favorite 

 resort. It also is inclosed by high walls 

 and barred doors. 



The village of Cedros holds about 500 

 souls and the casa grande is the center of 

 its life. The "Large House" has always 

 been the center of hacienda life. The 

 establishment of the old haciendas upon 

 the lines of a feudal barony was doubt- 

 less agreeable to the owners ; but there 

 were then, and also until recent years, 

 conditions throughout the country which 

 not only justified such a scheme of social 

 organization, but made it a practical ne- 

 cessity. Unsettled and lawless as the 

 land then was, infested by Indians and 

 marauding bands of thieves, possession 

 of the land was not only nine points in 

 favor of the contestant, but the whole of 



the argument. It then behooved the pro- 

 prietor of an estate to fortify himself 

 and to secure his property against all who 

 would wrest it from him. 



MASTER AND SERVANT 



To such, therefore, as he could offer 

 protection and employment he came to 

 be in the nature of a master, and such as 

 enjoyed his favor and protection became 

 identified with the property and attached 

 to it as vassals. The law prohibiting a 

 peon's leaving an estate while in debt to 

 it practically made him a fixture, and 

 this law, being still in force, makes his 

 condition today little different from that 

 of former times, though peonage has 

 nominally been abolished. 



Wages of the Mexican peon are about 

 37 cents a day, Mexican currency. Such 

 wages practically insure his perpetual de- 

 pendency and make it difficult or impos- 

 sible for him ever to become independent 

 of the property upon which he was born. 

 This condition, which may be regarded 

 as typical of a large section, if not of the 



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