The Barber Company—Guadalajara—Mexican mendacity—Don Miguel Ahumada—His
humanity and justice.
I think I can safely say that twenty per cent. of the opposition the
Barber Company gets in the States is from men who were formerly in its
employ. This is right enough in most cases, but in some that I have
known it was done in a most underhand way. A manager of one of the
branches gets well acquainted with all the politicians in his town or
district by the judicious use of the company’s entertainment fund, then,
when there is some exceptional contract coming up, he gets some of these
politicians to go into a new company, obtains funds from his friends,
and the Barber Company not only loses the contract but there is an
opposition formed with strong political backing which must eventually be
beaten or bought out. Somehow this sort of thing is not looked down upon
by business men as it should be, who will pardon almost anything if it
is “cute.” Here are two stories which illustrate cute business methods.
A certain lawyer was suing the city for damages for his client, who had
fallen through a defective culvert and injured himself. He won his case,
and sent word to his client to come and get the money. When his client
arrived he handed him $1, and told him the jury had awarded $1000. “What
is this?” asked the client. “That is what is left after deducting cost
of appeal, my fee, and some other expenses,” returned the lawyer. “Yes,
I understand that,” said the client, who was a business man, “but what
was wrong with this dollar that you have given it to me?” They tell of
the Yankee salesman during slavery times who was travelling through the
South. A southern planter lent him a horse to ride on to the next town,
and sent along a negro boy to bring the horse back. Some time later,
neither the horse nor the boy having returned, he sent in to town to see
what had happened. His messenger met the boy on the street and asked him
why he had not brought the horse back yet. The boy replied that the Yank
had sold the horse. “Well, why did not you come back and let us know?”
asked the messenger. “Cause he done sold me too!” So any trickery, if it
is clever and works successfully, is never thought much of, but is
laughed at as a good joke. Of course this is only my particular
experience of business methods. I may have been unfortunate in having
met a certain class, those interested in contracting, and city and
government officials.
I was glad to leave Los Angeles, which I did in company with the
assistant manager of the new company I had joined, and my new yard
foreman. Before going further, I must say that the views stated above
have changed much since coming to Mexico and meeting American gentlemen
in the contracting business. I have never been asked to do crooked work,
and, on the contrary, my orders have always been to do the best work
possible under the specifications.
After passing the Mexican border at El Paso the journey lies for the
first hundred miles or so through a dreary sandy waste till one reaches
Torreon, which, owing to its irrigation canals, is the centre of a very
fine farming district. The town possesses large smelters, a white-lead
works, and a glycerine and dynamite factory. And this is the town where
in Madero’s late revolution 303 poor unhappy Chinamen were slaughtered
in cold blood! The next place of importance is Zacatecas, one of the
largest mining centres in the Mexican republic, with mines, now being
worked, that were worked by the Spaniards some three hundred years ago.
Its cathedral, perched up on the top of the mountain, was all lighted up
for some great church _fiesta_; a very pretty sight, visible for miles
after we had passed the town. From Irapuata a branch line runs to
Guadalajara. The country here changes entirely as one enters the State
of Jalisco, known as the granary of Mexico. Guadalajara itself is a fine
old Mexican city, in the centre of an immense fertile plain, at an
elevation of 5200 feet. It is a town that has always been against the
Liberals, being the great centre of the Clerical Party, and consequently
the Federal Government under Diaz never did much to help it. Juarez was
nearly assassinated here, and General Diaz was hissed by the people when
he went up there some twelve years ago. It has a beautiful cathedral,
and churches are to be found in almost every block of the centre of the
town. It is a very sleepy place, distinguished for this even in a land
where the people are accustomed to take life easily; things have,
however, changed much in the last eight years.
There are certain ways hard to get accustomed to in this country. One is
the habit of lying, not maliciously, but that lying to keep you in a
good humour which is practised by all classes. For instance, you go into
an office and ask for a certain person who happens to be out. You ask
when he will be back, and the reply is invariably, “Please sit down, he
will be back in a moment.” In fact, they lead you to suppose that they
are astonished that he has not already returned. And all the time they
know that he has gone home, and left word that he would not return! I
have been to a foundry to get delivery of work promised me by the owner
on his “word of a gentleman,” by the following day (which he knew, and I
knew, could not possibly be done), and I have finally got the work
delivered three weeks later, after going up and cursing him twice a
week. I have asked for work long overdue, been met at the door and told
that I must have missed it on the way there as it had just left for the
factory, while all the time it was still unfinished. Then there is the
siesta habit indulged in by all Mexicans, though foreigners do not
follow the custom or find it at all necessary to health. From 1 P.M.
till 3 P.M. all business is stopped, not a store is open or an office.
Another trouble is stealing; it seems to come natural to a Mexican of
the lower classes to steal. Then, if he can, the Mexican does everything
in the opposite way to any one else. I have heard it said that the only
thing they do the same as other people is digging a well, because they
do not know how to start at the bottom; but this is an exaggeration.
When a Mexican gives his address he puts the street first and the number
afterwards; their exclamation marks are used upside down, and the query
mark is like this ¿. If they are going to pull down an old house and
build a new one, they build the new one inside the old one, and only
pull down as it becomes necessary; they saw with the teeth of the saw
away from them, and other things too numerous to mention.
Guadalajara claims to have the cheapest electrical power on the
continent (six cents the kilowatt hour), and in consequence it is an
important manufacturing town, having cotton mills, flour mills, two or
three foundries, soap factory, a smelter, sugar refineries, three
breweries, whisky distillery, and other industries. The schools also are
good, and it has an engineering and medical college and two industrial
schools, one for boys and one for girls. The city was founded in 1541 by
Nuño de Guzman. It has a climate far surpassing that of Los Angeles,
and, if it were only known, it would become a great centre of tourist
travel. Now that the line is built to Manzanillo on the Pacific coast,
it is easy to reach Guadalajara from any of the Pacific coast ports in
the United States or Canada. Close to Guadalajara are the falls of
Juanacatlan, called the Niagara of Mexico (575 feet long and 400 feet
high). Within twenty miles is Lake Chapala, about fifty miles long and
five to ten broad, which affords good duck, goose, and snipe shooting,
though practically no fishing, as the only fish are German carp and
catfish, neither of which are game fish. There are also a few deer,
bear, and mountain lion to be had, if one has time and patience and is a
good climber. The quail have been practically exterminated, as have also
the rabbits.
The government of the country has been a benevolent despotism; and as
this was the method of the Federal Government while in the hands of
General Diaz, so also it was that of each governor in his particular
state. It has not as yet had time to change much under Madero, but I
think it will do so gradually, as the people get accustomed to their
civic rights and demand them. They have a congress, it is true, both in
the States and the Federal one, but these are more for show than
anything else. The Mexicans have a story they are fond of telling in
regard to this. A woman once went to see the governor to get an
appointment for her son. The governor said, “I will put him in as a
clerk.” “But,” said the woman, “he cannot read or write.” The governor
then said he would make him a captain of police. Said the woman, “He
cannot ride, and the truth is he is a little feeble-minded.” “Then,”
asked the governor, “what do you want me to make him, and what is he
fitted for?” The woman replied, “I thought he would make a good
congressman!”
This form of government seems just suited to the people, and I have
heard Mexicans of standing, even since the revolution, say that they
were not fitted to govern themselves, but needed a strong man at the
head, and this is the main cry against Madero, the present president.
Every Thursday afternoon the governor holds a public audience, at which
any one can attend, and if he has a grievance he can state it; the
governor will look into it and, if possible, set it right, sometimes
even overruling police magistrates’ or judges’ orders. It is an
experience to attend one of these audiences and see people of every
grade who come for justice or to have some grievance attended to. It is
the _Nousherwan_ ideal of Asia, but as little capable of being realised
there as here; better, nevertheless, than India’s _Vakil ka Raj_
(lawyers’ rule), according to the Bengali writer, Mr. Mitra. Of course
the whole system hinges on having an honest governor like Don Miguel
Ahumada of Guadalajara, as in the hands of a dishonest man it is a great
lever for blackmail.
Such men as our governor, Colonel Don Miguel Ahumada, are hard to find
in this country—in fact any country might be proud to claim him. He was
a man of about six feet four inches tall, with chest and shoulders in
proportion, wore a black imperial and large curled-up moustache, his
forehead was high and broad, and, though his face was a trifle hard,
there were lines of humour round his eyes and mouth. He was a man of the
old school, like his great leader Diaz. He was honest, absolutely just
(rich and poor looked alike to him), had a keen sense of humour, very
proud, but a thorough democrat. I have seen him walking the streets in
the early morning, unattended, and stopping to chat and ask questions of
the street-sweepers, the small street-corner vendors, beggars, and
whomsoever he met who he thought might have information of use to him.
Thus he kept in touch with the needs of the poor, and heard of abuses
and petty thievery amongst the city’s employees. I could give hundreds
of instances of his humanity and justice, but will content myself with
one. On one occasion a widow came to him with the following tale: Her
husband when dying had left all the property to her, but had asked a
trusted friend of his to arrange all the details of succession and so
forth. This friend, through one excuse or another, kept affairs strung
out for a year or more, and then demanded sundry thousands of dollars
for his work. Don Miguel (as every one called him) sent for the fellow
and told him to bring all the deeds, inventories, &c., with him. When he
arrived, Don Miguel took all the papers, &c., and, after putting a fair
valuation on the work done, paid the man as many hundreds as he had
demanded thousands, and turned everything else over to the widow.