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72 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 jefe politico or other officials of the government.

A jefe 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 presidente, 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 jefe 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 jefes politicos of all the leading cities of southern Mexico.

The jefe politico of each of the four largest cities in southern Mexico, so I 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 little grafts which are indulged in by the holder. Lesser jefes pay their governors lesser amounts. They send their victims over the road in gangs of from ten to one