the prevailing low money rate of wages in Mexico, and the obstacle which such cheap labor interposes to the attainment of large production: At one point on the "Mexican Central Railroad," while journeying south, a machine, the motive-power of which was steam, for pumping water into tanks for the supply of the locomotives, was noticed, and commented upon for its compactness and effectiveness. On the return journey, this machinery was no longer in use; but a man, working an ordinary pump, had been substituted. The explanation given was that, with hand-labor costing but little more than the (Colorado) coal consumed, the continued employment of an engine and an American engineer was not economical.
But at no point within the observation of the writer, either on the Continent of North America or in Europe, do wages, or rather remuneration for regular labor, reach so low a figure as at Santa Fé, within the Territories of the United States. At this place, one of the notable industrial occupations is the transport and sale of wood for use as fuel. The standard price for so much as can be properly loaded upon a donkey (or burro) is fifty cents. The money price of the wood is high: but, as it is brought from a distance of fifteen, twenty, thirty, or even more miles, each load may be fairly considered as representing the exclusive
