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Rh who worked by the year, the contract regularly beginning with Holy Week, were paid at the rate of 25 centavos a day. At the beginning of the contract the employer took over the laborer's previous debts, gave him clothing for the season—an act repeated on the first day of November—and a certain amount in cash. He was obligated to give the laborer 50 centavos a week for spending money and one cuartilla, about 1.38 liters, of corn for subsistence. The employer paid the unusual expenses of the peasant for such items as medicines, wedding and saint's day celebrations, and the like. The peon received the use of a quartern of land, seed, and the tools needed to work the land. Fuel for his domestic use was also furnished.

The lot of the debt laborer in the north appears to have been less favorable than in the south. In Coahuila the harsh legislation formerly in force was nominally softened by the provisions of the constitution of 1857 and by a new servant law of January 28, 1868, which forbade advancing to a servant in a year more than he could pay back in six months. This was intended to protect the peon against his own improvidence. The rule was not obeyed. The masters continued to advance large sums to hold the men as before. On the 20th of February, 1881, another servants' law was passed. The master could not dismiss the servant without eight days' notice nor could the servant leave without paying his debts. An increasing number of disputes involved this latter provision. For the servants it was claimed that it was contrary to article five of the Constitution of the republic, but in practice the authorities required a