Page:Mexico and its reconstruction.djvu/151

Rh the age of maturity before they. . . inaugurate. . . . . . the. . . life. . . that they learned from their parents." "The world has never known a school before a home. . . and if we are to believe our eyes, that among the jornaleros, or day laborers, the family does not exist, the first thing that we must do is to create it." Under the unfree labor system economic independence is impossible. "As long as the jornalero cannot eat meat, as long as he cannot support his children through school age, as long as he is a legal slave. . . he will not be a civilized man. . ."

There have been apologists for peonage both in and out of Mexico. By them the system is pictured as not only an essential for the economic development of the country but as a kind paternalism which is a positive benefit to the native. Through it he is taught the habits of industry, he is introduced to the wants that will make for his own betterment, he is given advances when his necessities are greater than his slender means, he receives assistance when crops fail and medical attendance when his family falls ill. Instances are cited in which the laboring classes have protested against a change to a daily wage system that would break the relationship of protector and protected and throw the latter out upon the mercies of the world.

It is unnecessary to prove that there are cases in which the employer has made his relation to his Mexican employees a means for improving their lot. But though