BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

72 BARBAROUS MEXICO
pleases you. I call it slavery only because I do not
know of a name that will fit the conditions better.
I have said that no laborer sent to Valle Nacional to
become a slave travels the road of his own free will.
There are just two ways employed to get them there.
They are sent over the road either by a jefe politico or
by a "labor agent" working in conjunction with a jcfe
Politico or other officials of the government.
A left politico is a civil officer who rules political
districts corresponding to our counties. He is appointed
by the president or by the governor of his state and is
also mayor, or prcside;itc, of the principal town or city
in his district. In turn he usually appoints the mayors of
the towns under him, as well as all other officers of importance.
He has no one to answer to except his governor—unless
the national president feels like interfering
—and altogether is quite a little Czar in his domain.
The methods employed by the jeft politico working
alone are very simple. Instead of sending petty prisoners
to terms in jail he sells them into slavery in Valle
Nacional. And as he pockets the money himself, he
naturally arrests as many persons as he can. This method
is followed more or less by the jefcs politicos of all the
leading cities of southern Mexico.
The jcfc politico of each of the four largest cities
in southern Mexico, so r was told by Manuel Lagunas,
by "labor agents." as well as by others whose
veracity in the matter I have no reason to question
—pays an annual rental of $10.000 per year for
his office. The office would be worth no such amount
were it not for the spoils of the slave trade and other lit"
tie grafts which are indulged in by the holder. Lesser
jcft's pay their governors lesser amounts. They send
their victims over the road in gangs of from ten to one