BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

206 BARBAROUS MEXICO
to censor the reading of the mill workers and to al!ow
no radical newspapers or Liberal literature to get into
their hands. More than that, he has orders to kill anyone
whom he suspects of having evil intentions. Yes,
I said kill. It is carte blanche with Gomez, and no %es
tions asked. He asks no one's advice and no co t tz
on his action, either before or after. And he iit
If he sees a man on the street and gets any vicsical
suspicion of him, dislikes his dress or his far, it is
enough. That man disappears. I remember 2 laborer
in the dve-mixing room who spoke some words friendly
to Liberalism; I remember a spool tender who n.entioned
strike; there have been others—many others. They
have disappeared suddenly, have been swallowed up and
nothing heard of them but the whispers of their
friends!"
Of course, it is impossible in the nature of things to
verify this statement, but it is worth noting that it does
not come from a revolutionist.
The trade unionists of Mexico are, of course, by far
the best paid workers in the country. Because of the
opposition of both employers and government, as well
as the deep degradation out of which it is necessary for
the Mexican to climb before he is able to pluck the fruits
of organization, unionism is still in its infancy in Mexico.
It is still in its swaddling clothes and, under the circumstances
as they exist today, its growth is slow and
fraught with great hardship. So far, there is no Mexican
Federation of Labor.
The principal Mexican unions in 1908, as set forth
to me by Felix Vera, president of the Grand League of
Railroad Workers, and other organizers, were as follows
The Grand League of Railroad Workers, 10,000 mem-