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. 205He 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.

206I 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 207changes 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 208he 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............