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By Root 8742 0

cal congress here," said Mac. Barrow said he was going to a meeting of the Union Nacional de Trabajadores that afternoon and would they mind going with him to inter-pret for him. It was Mac's day off so they said, "Al right." He said he'd been instructed to try to make con-tacts with stable labor elements in Mexico with the hope of joining them up with the Pan-American Federation of Labor. Gompers would come down himself if something could be lined up. He said he'd been a shipping clerk and a Pul man conductor and had been in the office of the Railroad Brotherhood, but now he was working for the A. F. of L. He wished American workers had more ideas about the art of life. He'd been at the Second International meetings at Amsterdam and felt the European workers understood the art of life. When Mac asked him why the hel the Second International hadn't done something to stop the World War, he said the time wasn't ripe yet and spoke about German atrocities.

"The German atrocities are a Sundayschool picnic to what goes on every day in Mexico," said Ben. Then Bar-row went to ask whether Mexicans were as immoral as it was made out. The beer they were drinking with their lunch was pretty strong and they al loosened up a little. Barrow wanted to know whether it wasn't pretty risky going out with girls here on account of the high percent-age of syphilis. Mac said yes, but that he and Ben could show him some places that were al right if he wanted to look 'em over. Barrow tittered and looked embarrassed and said he'd just as soon look 'em over. "A man ought to see every side of things when he's investigating condi-tions." Ben Stowel slapped his hand on the edge of the table and said that Mac was just the man to show him the backside of Mexico.

They went to the meeting that was crowded with

-312-slender dark men in blue denim. At first they couldn't get in on account of the crowd packed in the aisles and in the back of the hal , but Mac found an official he knew who gave them seats in a box. The hal was very stuffy and the band played and there was singing and the

speeches were very long. Barrow said listening to a for-eign language made him sleepy, and suggested that they walk around town; he'd heard that the red light district was . . . he was interested in conditions.

Outside the hal they ran across Enrique Salvador, a newspaperman that Ben knew. He had a car and a chauf-feur. He shook hands and laughed and said the car be-longed to the chief of police who was a friend of his and wouldn't they like to ride out to San Angel?

They, went out the long avenue past Chapultepec, the Champs Elysées of Mexico, Salvador cal ed it. Near Tacubaya Salvador pointed out the spot where Carranza's troops had had a skirmish with the Zapatistas the week before and a corner where a rich clothing merchant had been murdered by bandits, and G. H. Barrow kept asking was it quite safe to go so far out in the country, and Salvador said, "I am a newspaperman. I am everybody's friend."

Out at San Angel they had some drinks and when they got back to the city they drove round the Pajaritos district. G. H. Barrow got very quiet and his eyes got a watery look when he saw the little lighted cribhouses, each one with a bed and some paperflowers and a crucifix that you could see through the open door, past a red or blue cur-tain, and the dark quiet Indian girls in short chemises standing outside their doors or sitting on the sil .

"You see," said Ben Stowel , "it's easy as rol ing off a log . . . But I don't advise you to get too careless round here . . . Salvador'l show us a good joint after supper. He ought to know because he's a friend of the chief of police and he runs most of them." But Barrow wanted to go into one of the cribs so they

-313-got out and talked to one of the girls and Salvador sent the chauffeur to get a couple of bottles of beer. The girl received them very politely and Barrow tried to get Mac to ask her questions, but Mac didn't like asking her ques-tions so he let Salvador do it. When G. H. Barrow put his hand on her bare shoulder and