BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

68 BARBAROUS MEXICO
again." This assertion was made to me by a station
agent of the Veracruz al Pacifico railroad.
"There are no survivors of Valle Nacional—no real
ones," a government engineer who has charge of the
improvement of certain harbors told me. "Now and
then one gets out of the valley and gets beyond El 1-lule.
He staggers and begs his way along the weary road toward
Cordoba, but he never gets back where he caine
from. Those people come out of the valley walking
corpses, they travel on a little way and then they fall."
This man's work has carried him much into Valle
Ncional and he knows more of the country, probably,
than does any Mexican not directly interested in the
slave trade.
"They die; they all die. The bosses never let them go
until they're (lying."
Thus declared one of the police officers of the town
of Valle Nacional, which is situated in the center of the
valley and is supported by it.
And everywhere over and over again I was told the
same thing. Even Manuel Lagunas, presidente (mayor)
of Valle Nacional, protector of the planters and a slave
owner himself, said it. Miguel Vidal, secretary of the
municipality, said it. The bosses themselves said it. The
Indian dwellers of the mountain sides said it. The slaves
said it. And when I had seen, as well as heard, I was
convinced that it was the truth.
The slaves of Valle Nacional are not Indians, as are
the slaves of Yucatan. They are Mexicans. Some are
skilled artizans. Others are artists. The majority of
them are common laborers. As a whole, except for their
rags, their bruises, their squalor and their despair, they
are a very fair representation of the Mexican people.
They are not criminals. Not more than ten per cent were