CHAPTER XI
THE MEXICAN LABORER: HIS WAGES AND DEMANDS
In spite of the fact that nominal wages, as is indicated above, have so little relation to the real return to the Mexican laborer, a sketch is given here of the payments made at various periods in different parts of the republic.[1] In some cases it is doubted whether the real wage in later years was any better than in the earlier part of the Diaz régime. Taken as a whole, however, it appears beyond question that the laborer was better paid at the end of the period than at its beginning. Only scattered statements can be obtained indicating the nominal wage rates in any pursuits at any time in Mexico. Humboldt reported in 1804 that the agricultural laborer received about 28 cents per day. In 1884, at the beginning of the railroad era, Adolph F. Bandelier reported that the Mexican received daily "as farm laborer 25 to 31¼ cents; as railroad hand 50 cents." David A. Wells reported in 1887 that the wages of ordinary farm hands were from 18 to 25 cents per day, the better class of adults receiving 37 cents per day. The survey undertaken by the Mexican government, the results of which were published in 1885-7, showed a wider range—wages for men being in some cases as low as 12 cents and in others as high as $1.50 Mexican. In
- ↑ See Wallace Thompson, The People of Mexico, New York, 1921, pp. 348-370.
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