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MEXICO AND HER PEOPLE OF TO-DAY
* * * * * *
Uniform with This Volume
Panama and the Canal $3.00
BY FORBES LINDSAY
Cuba and Her People of To-day 3.00
BY FORBES LINDSAY
Brazil and Her People of To-day 3.00
BY NEVIN O. WINTER
Guatemala and Her People of To-day 3.00
BY NEVIN O. WINTER
Mexico and Her People of To-day 3.00
BY NEVIN O. WINTER
Argentina and Her People of To-day 3.00
BY NEVIN O. WINTER
Bohemia and the Čechs 3.00
BY WILL S. MONROE
In Viking Land. Norway: Its Peoples, Its Fjords
and Its Fjelds 3.00
BY WILL S. MONROE
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Sicily, the Garden of the Mediterranean 3.00
BY WILL S. MONROE
In Wildest Africa 3.00
BY PETER MACQUEEN
L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.
* * * * * *
[Illustration: A BELLE OF TEHUANTEPEC (_See page 180_)]
MEXICO AND HER PEOPLE OF TO-DAY
An Account of the
Customs, Characteristics, Amusements,
History and Advancement
of the Mexicans, and the Development
and Resources of Their
Country
by
NEVIN O. WINTER
Illustrated from Original Photographs
by the
Author and C. R. Birt
New Revised Edition
[Illustration]
Boston
L. C. Page and Company
MDCCCCXII
Copyright, 1907,
by L. C. Page & Company
(Incorporated)
Copyright, 1912,
by L. C. Page & Company
(Incorporated)
Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London
All rights reserved
Second Impression, May, 1908
Third Impression, June, 1910
New Revised Edition, January, 1912
Electrotyped and Printed by
The Colonial Press
C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, U.S.A.
TO
My Mother
AND THE MEMORY OF
My Father
PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION
Since the first publication of “Mexico and Her People of To-day,” Mexico
has seen stirring times, and there has been a radical change in the
government. Revolution again broke forth, and the long dictatorship
of Porfirio Diaz has ended. These conditions have made advisable a
completely revised edition of this work, which the public and the press
have stamped with their approval to a degree that has been most pleasing.
To both public and press the author desires to return his most sincere
thanks, and he has in this revision endeavoured to be as accurate and
painstaking as in the original preparation. Furthermore, another trip
to that most interesting country has enabled the author to give a
description of a section but briefly treated in the previous edition.
New appendices have been added, consisting of a bibliography and a few
suggestions for those contemplating a trip to Mexico.
NEVIN O. WINTER.
TOLEDO, OHIO, _January, 1912_.
PREFACE
Many books have been written about Mexico, but several of the best works
were written a quarter of a century ago and are now out of print. This
fact and the developments of the past few years leads the author to
believe that there is a field for another book on that most interesting
country; a book that should present in readable form reliable information
concerning the customs and characteristics of the people of Mexico, as
well as the great natural resources of the country and their present
state of development, or lack of development.
It has been the aim of the author to make a complete and accurate
presentation of the subject rather than to advance radical views
concerning and harsh criticism of our next-door neighbours. With
this idea in mind he has read nearly every prominent work on Mexico
and Mexican history, as well as other current periodical literature
concerning that country during the two years devoted to the preparation
of this volume. It is hoped that the wide range of subjects, covering
the customs, habits, amusements, history, antiquities, and resources
will render the volume of value to any one interested in Mexico and her
progress.
If this volume shall aid in any way to a better understanding of Mexico
by Americans, or in furthering the present progressive movement in that
country, then the author will feel amply repaid for the months of labour
devoted to its preparation.
The author wishes to make special acknowledgment of obligation to his
friend Mr. C. R. Birt, his companion during the greater part of his
travels through Mexico, and to whose artistic sense in selection and
grouping the excellence of many of the photographs herewith reproduced is
due.
TOLEDO, OHIO, _September, 1907_.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. AZTEC LAND 1
II. ACROSS THE PLATEAUS 22
III. THE CAPITAL 46
IV. THE VALLEY OF ANAHUAC 74
V. THE TROPICS 90
VI. A GLIMPSE OF THE ORIENTAL IN THE OCCIDENT 111
VII. THE ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC 128
VIII. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE ANCIENTS 144
IX. WOMAN AND HER SPHERE 162
X. THE PEON 183
XI. CUSTOMS AND CHARACTERISTICS 201
XII. HOLIDAYS AND HOLY-DAYS 225
XIII. A TRANSPLANTED SPORT 243
XIV. EDUCATION AND THE ARTS 257
XV. MINES AND MINING 274
XVI. RAILWAYS AND THEIR INFLUENCE 290
XVII. RELIGIOUS FORCES 308
XVIII. PASSING OF THE LAWLESS 328
XIX. THE STORY OF THE REPUBLIC 343
XX. THE GUIDING HAND 369
XXI. THE REVOLUTION OF 1910 396
XXII. THE SIERRAS AND BEYOND 415
XXIII. THE RUINED CITIES OF YUCATAN 438
XXIV. THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE 456
APPENDICES 479
INDEX 485
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
A BELLE OF TEHUANTEPEC (_See page 180_) _Frontispiece_
SNOW-CAPPED POPOCATAPETL 4
GENERAL MAP OF MEXICO 6
AN INDIAN MAIDEN 10
“THE LAND OF BURROS AND _SOMBREROS_” 22
MARKET SCENE IN SAN LUIS POTOSI 30
COCK-FIGHTING IN MEXICO 33
THE _MAGUEY_ 41
MAP OF THE VALLEY OF MEXICO 46
THE PATIO OF AN OLD RESIDENCE 48
THE CATHEDRAL 60
A PICTURESQUE PULQUE SHOP 66
THE CALENDAR STONE 77
SCENES ON THE VIGA CANAL 82
CASTLE OF CHAPULTEPEC 86
BRIDGE AT ORIZABA.—THE BUZZARDS OF VERA CRUZ.—AVENUE OF PALMS,
VERA CRUZ 98
AN INDIAN HOME IN THE HOT COUNTRY 104
RICE CULTURE 109
THE AQUEDUCT, OAXACA.—A FOUNTAIN IN OAXACA 116
THE MARKET-WOMEN OF OAXACA.—THE POTTERY-MARKET, OAXACA 118
CROSSING THE RIVER ON MARKET-DAY 121
THE MARKET, TEHUANTEPEC 132
ENTRANCE TO THE UNDERGROUND CHAMBER, MITLA.—NORTH TEMPLE,
MITLA.—HALL OF THE MONOLITHS, MITLA 157
A ZAPOTECO WOMAN 161
“PLAYING THE BEAR” 170
WASHING ON THE BANKS OF A STREAM 177
A PEON AND HIS WIFE 184
A CARGADOR 198
MAKING _TORTILLAS_ 215
A MEXICAN MARKET 218
CANDY BOY AND GIRL 220
BURNING AN EFFIGY OF JUDAS AT EASTER-TIME 233
CANDLE BOOTHS IN GUADALUPE 240
BEGGARS OF THE CITY OF MEXICO 242
PLANTING THE _BANDERILLAS_ 250
AN AZTEC SCHOOLGIRL 266
PEON MINERS AT LUNCH 280
ALONG THE MEXICAN SOUTHERN RAILWAY 300
WAYSIDE SHRINE WITH AN OFFERING OF FLOWERS 312
A _RURALE_ 332
ARMY HEADQUARTERS, CITY OF MEXICO 336
A VILLAGE CHURCH 364
A COMPANY OF _RURALES_ 370
SR. DON FRANCISCO I. MADERO 411
A GROUP OF PEONS 419
TARAHUMARI INDIANS 421
CRUMBLING RUINS OF THE ANCIENT MEXICAN CIVILIZATION 441
AN OLD CHURCH 451
PRIMITIVE TRANSPORTATION 457
PRIMITIVE PLOUGHING NEAR OAXACA 465
MEXICO AND HER PEOPLE TO-DAY
CHAPTER I
AZTEC LAND
Prescott says: “Of all that extensive empire which once acknowledged
the authority of Spain in the New World, no portion for interest and
importance, can be compared with Mexico;—and this equally, whether we
consider the variety of its soil and climate; the inexhaustible stores of
its mineral wealth; its scenery, grand and picturesque beyond example;
the character of its ancient inhabitants, not only far surpassing in
intelligence that of the other North American races, but reminding us, by
their monuments, of the primitive civilization of Egypt and Hindoostan;
or, lastly, the peculiar circumstances of its conquest, adventurous and
romantic as any legend devised by Norman or Italian bard of chivalry.”
Mexico is a country in which the old predominates. The American visitor
will bring back more distinct recollections of the Egyptian carts and
plows, the primitive manners and customs, than he will of the evidences
of modern civilization. An educated Mexican whom I met, chided the
Americans for this tendency, for, said he, “all that is written of Mexico
is descriptive of the Indians and their habits, while progressive Mexico
is ignored.” This is to a great extent true, for it is the unique and
ancient that attracts and holds the attention of the traveller. For this
reason tourists go to Egypt to see the pyramids, sphinx and tombs of the
Pharaohs.
It is not necessary for the traveller to venture out upon perilous seas
to see mute evidences of a life older than printed record. In this land
of ancient civilization and primitive customs, there are cities which
stand out like oriental pearls transplanted to the Occident from the
shores of the Red Sea. Here in Mexico can be found pyramids which are
no mean rivals to those great piles on the Egyptian deserts; crumbling
ruins of tombs, and palaces, and temples, ornamented in arabesque and
grecque designs, not unlike the structures along the banks of the mighty
Nile; and the same primitive implements of husbandry which we have
viewed so often in the pages of the large family Bible. Then, as an
additional attraction, there is the actual presence of the aborigines,
Aztec, Zapotec, and Chichimec, speaking the same language, observing the
same ceremonies, and following the same customs which were old when the
foreigners came.
There is no history to enlighten us as to the age of these monuments,
and there are few hieroglyphics to be deciphered upon which a Rosetta
Stone might shed light. The student is led to wonder whether the Egyptian
civilization antedated the Mexican, or whether the former is simply the
Mexican learning and skill transplanted to the Orient and there modified
and improved. It is quite possible, that, while our own ancestors were
still barbarians, and little better than savages, swarming over northern
Europe, the early races in Mexico had developed a civilization advanced
and progressive. They knew how to build monuments which in masonry and
carving teach us lessons to-day. They made beautiful pottery and artistic
vessels, and they used gold for money and ornaments.
Notwithstanding the fact that for a thousand miles the republics of
Mexico and the United States join, the average American knows less
concerning Mexico than he does of many European countries; and it is much
misunderstood as well as misrepresented. Mexico possesses the strongest
possible attractions for the tourist. Its scenic wonders are unsurpassed
in any other part of the globe in natural picturesqueness; and no country
in Europe presents an aspect more unfamiliar and strange to American
eyes, or exceeds it in historic interest.
Vast mountains including snow-capped Popocatapetl and Ixtaccihuatl, the
loftiest peaks on the American continent, are seen here amid scenes
of tropical beauty and luxuriance. Great cities are found with their
customs and characteristics almost unchanged since they were built by the
Spaniards; and there are still more ancient cities and temples which were
built by prehistoric races.
[Illustration: SNOW-CAPPED POPOCATAPETL]
It is a land of tradition and romance, and of picturesque contrasts.
At almost every turn there is something new, unique, interesting, and
even startling. It has all the climates from the torrid zone to regions
of perpetual snow on the summits of the lofty volcanic peaks, and is
capable of producing nearly every fruit found between the equator and
the Arctic circle. The softness and sweetness of the air; the broken
and ever-varying line of rugged hills against a matchless sky; the
beautiful views between the mountain ranges; the care-free life which
is omnipresent each add their charm to the composite picture. Dirt is
everywhere and poverty abounds, but even these are removed from the
commonplace by the brilliant colour on every hand.
F. Hopkinson Smith in “A White Umbrella in Mexico” epitomizes this
marvellously attractive country as follows: “A land of white sunshine,
redolent with flowers; a land of gay costumes, crumbling churches, and
old convents; a land of kindly greetings, of extreme courtesy, of open,
broad hospitality. It was more than enough to revel in an Italian sun,
lighting up a semi-tropical land; to look up to white-capped peaks,
towering into blue; to look down upon wind-swept plains, encircled by
ragged chains of mountains; to catch the sparkle of miniature cities,
jewelled here and there in oases of olive and orange; and to realize
that to-day, in its varied scenery, costumes, architecture, street life,
canals crowded with flower-laden boats, market plazas thronged with
gaily-dressed natives, faded church interiors, and abandoned convents,
Mexico is the most marvellously picturesque country under the sun. A
tropical Venice! A semi-barbarous Spain! A new Holy Land.”
Mexico contains a greater area than is generally understood. It is shaped
very much like a cornucopia with an extreme length of nineteen hundred
miles, a breadth of seven hundred and fifty miles, and an area of nearly
eight hundred thousand square miles. At its narrowest point, the Isthmus
of Tehuantepec, it is only one hundred and twenty-five miles across
from ocean to ocean. There is a double range of mountains, one near the
Pacific coast and the other near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, between
which lie the great table lands, or plateaus, which constitute a large
part of the surface.
[Illustration]
Three distinct climates are found in Mexico determined by altitude.
Those regions six thousand feet or more above sea level are called the
_tierras frias_, or cold lands. This is only a relative term, for the
cold does not correspond with that of our own northern states. Though
termed “cold,” the mean temperature is not lower than that of Central
Italy. Those lands lying at an altitude of six thousand feet, down to
three thousand feet, above sea level are termed the _tierras templadas_,
or temperate lands. This is a region of perpetual humidity and is
semi-tropical in its vegetation and temperature. An altitude from four
thousand to six thousand feet in Mexico gives a most delightful climate.
Along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts there is a more or less
broad tract called the _tierra caliente_, or hot land, which is a truly
tropical region. Forests of dense growth cover the soil, so thick that it
is impossible to penetrate them without blazing your way as you go, and
in the midst of which tower trees of magnificent size, such as are to be
seen only in the tropics. Here it is that nature is over-prodigal in her
gifts; and here it is that the _vomito_, as yellow fever is called, lurks
with fatal effect. The winds from the sea generally mitigate the fierce
heat, especially if one can remain out of the sun during the middle
of the day. Sometimes these winds on the Atlantic coast acquire great
velocity, and burst forth upon the unprotected shores with terrific fury
as the so-called “northers.” There is no true winter here, but there is a
rainy season from June to October, and a dry season from November to May,
the former being the colder.
“In the course of a few hours,” says Prescott, “the traveller may
experience every gradation of climate, embracing torrid heat and glacial
cold, and pass through different zones of vegetation including wheat and
the sugar-cane, the ash and the palm, apples, olives, and guavas.” The
dwellings vary also. In the hot lands the habitations are constructed
of bamboo and light poles open to sun and wind, for the only shelter
needed is protection from the elements; in the temperate region the huts
are made of heavier poles, and are somewhat more durable; in the higher
lands they are built of adobe or stone. Sugar cane and coffee, and even
the banana, will grow up to four thousand feet. Wheat grows best at six
thousand feet and pines commence here too. At seven thousand feet cactus
appears, and the _maguey_, ushering in an entirely different zone. Mexico
is a country of extremes of heat and cold, poverty and riches, filth and
cleanliness, education and extreme ignorance.
Every schoolboy knows of Loch Katrine and Loch Lomond in bonnie Scotland,
and most people are familiar with the location of Lago di Como, in Italy.
And yet I should not be surprised if fair-sized towns could be found in
the United States where no one could tell whether such a body of water
as Lake Chapala existed or not. As a matter of fact it is ten times
as large as all the lakes of Northern Italy combined; and it embraces
islands larger than the entire surface of Loch Lomond. Its steely
blue waters and rugged shores need only the magic pen of the novelist
or poet to tell of its beauties and invest each nook and glen with
romance, and the charming villas of Como to make Chapala as picturesque
and fascinating as those better known lakes. It is almost a hundred
miles long and thirty-three miles wide at the widest point, and covers
fourteen hundred square miles. Patzcuaro and Cuitzeo are also lakes of
considerable size near Chapala, and all of them are six thousand feet
or more above sea level. They only await development and advertising to
become popular resorts.
The vast majority of the inhabitants of Mexico are descendants of Indian
races who were found there by the Spanish conquerors, and mixtures
of those natives with European settlers. Of the fourteen millions of
inhabitants only about nineteen per cent. are white; of the remainder,
forty-three per cent. are Indians and thirty-eight per cent. mixed. There
is a greater resemblance of the Mexican Indians to the Malay races of
Asia than to the American Indians. Their intensely black hair and eyes,
brown complexion, small stature, and even a slight obliquity of the eyes
bear a strong resemblance to the Japanese. I have seen it stated that,
if a Japanese is dressed in Mexican costume, and a Mexican in Japanese
dress, it is difficult to tell which is the Jap and which the Mexican.
Students of languages say that there is a strong similarity between the
Mexican tongues and oriental languages. The different tribes do not
mingle much and seldom intermarry, and this fact may contribute to their
physical deterioration.
[Illustration: AN INDIAN MAIDEN]
Whence came this people? No one can answer. It is generally supposed that
the Aztecs came from what are now the south-western states of the Union,
and wandered into the Valley of Mexico. They were defeated by the tribes
then dwelling there, and sought refuge on the shores of Lake Texcoco.
There they beheld a golden eagle of great size and beauty resting on a
prickly cactus and devouring a serpent which it held in its talons, and
with its wings outstretched toward the rising sun. This was the sign for
which they had been looking, and there they proceeded to erect their
capital. They first built houses of rushes and reeds in the shallow
water and lived upon fish, and constructed floating gardens. As the
waters receded somewhat they built more durable structures, including
great palaces and temples. They extended their sway over neighbouring
races beyond the Valley and conquered tribe after tribe, although never
claiming dominion over more than a small portion of the present confines
of Mexico. The legend of the eagle and the cactus is still preserved in
the coat-of-arms of the present republic.
Of the Aztecs and their history prior to the conquest little is known,
except that the country was called Anahuac. Prescott has made his
“Conquest of Mexico” as fascinating as a novel, but he has shown the
romantic side based upon knowledge of the most fragmentary character. The
writings which pass for history were either written by bigoted priests
who could not see anything good in an idolatrous people, and who, to
please the leaders, painted the Aztecs in blackest colours to justify the
cruel measures taken, or they were written by Spaniards who never visited
the country of which they presumed to write. As it has been said, “a
most gorgeous superstructure of fancy has been raised upon a very meagre
foundation of fact.” Their civilization was in many respects marvellous
and far ahead of that of any other race on the western hemisphere. Under
the Montezumas they had grown into a powerful nation, and their rule was
one of barbaric splendour and luxury.
The Aztecs succeeded an older race called the Toltecs who were also far
advanced in civilization. They were nature worshippers and not only did
not indulge in human sacrifices, but were averse to war and detested
falsehood and treachery. A Toltec noble is said to have instructed his
son after the following manner before sending him away from home: “Never
tell a falsehood, because a lie is a grievous sin! Speak ill of nobody.
Be not dissolute, for thereby thou wilt incense the gods, and they
will cover thee with infamy. Steal not, nor give thyself up to gaming;
otherwise thou wilt be a disgrace to thy parents, whom thou oughtest
rather to honour, for the education they have given thee. If thou wilt be
virtuous, thy example will put the wicked to shame.”
Both of these races were also great builders and sculptors and had
cultivated the art of picture-writing. They were well housed, decently
clothed, made cloth, enjoyed vapour baths, maintained schools, and had a
large assortment of household gods. They mined some, and in agriculture,
at least, were far ahead of the Mexicans of to-day.
The vandalism of the Spaniards in destroying the writings and other
records of the early races is rebuked by Prescott as follows: “We
contemplate with indignation the cruelties inflicted by the early
conquerors. But indignation is qualified with contempt when we see them
thus ruthlessly trampling out the sparks of knowledge, the common boon
and property of mankind. We may well doubt which has the strongest claim
to civilization, the victor or the vanquished.”
The Mexico of to-day cannot be understood without looking for a
moment at its settlement and the manner of the conquest. The Spanish
_conquistadores_ who flocked to these shores with Cortez were a different
race from those early settlers, who, persecuted and denied liberty of
conscience in the land of their birth, sought a new home on our own
hospitable shores. With the union of the crowns of Castille and Aragon
by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, and the discovery of the New
World, Spain had suddenly leaped to the front, and become, for a time at
least, the greatest nation of the day. Ships were constructed in great
numbers and sent out, filled with voyagers, “towards that part of the
horizon where the sun set.”
In the sixteenth century she had practically become the mistress of the
seas and the most powerful nation in the world. Her soldiers were brave
and the acknowledged leaders of chivalry, but the curse of the Spaniards
was their thirst for gold, and her decay was rapid. When Cortez and his
band of adventurers came to the court of Montezuma, and saw the lavish
display of vessels and ornaments made of the precious metal, they thought
they had discovered the land of gold for which they were searching.
Attracted by the glowing reports of untold wealth, thousands of Spaniards
soon followed the first bands of _conquistadores_, and they rapidly
spread over the entire country occupied by the Aztecs, ever searching
for the mines from whence this golden harvest came. While the leaders
were imprisoning and torturing the Aztec chieftains to force them to give
up the hiding places of their treasures, the priests, who everywhere
accompanied the soldiers, were baptizing thousands into the new faith and
using the confessional for the same end. Thus religious bigotry and the
mania for worldly riches went side by side, and ever ringing in the ears
of both priest and warrior was the refrain:
“Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!
Bright and yellow, hard and cold.”
Shortly after the conquest all the desirable lands were parcelled out
among the invaders and the few Indian _caciques_ who had helped, with
their powerful influence, in their subjugation. The Spaniards rapidly
pacified the country, for the Aztec masses, however warlike they may have
been before the coming of the Spaniards, were subdued by one blow. They
were soon convinced that opposition to the power of Spain was useless.
The priests, also, through their quickly acquired influence, taught
submission to those whom God, in His infinite wisdom, had placed over
them. Chiefs who would not yield otherwise were bribed to use their power
over their vassals in favour of the Spaniards. Thus by force, bribery,
intrigue, diplomacy, treachery, and even religion, the Indians were
reconciled and the spirit of opposition to the Spaniards broken. The
result was a new and upstart nobility who ruled the country with an iron
hand in the course of a few decades; and the natives, with the exception
of the chiefs, were made vassals of these newly made nobles.
An era of building followed, in which great palaces after the _grandiose_
ideas of Spain were constructed by Indian workmen. Churches were built
with lavish hand, for these nobles thought to atone for their many
misdeeds by constructing and dedicating places of worship to Almighty
God, who, according to the teaching of the priest, was the God of the
poor, oppressed Indian as well as the God of the haughty Spaniard who
had enslaved him. As one writer has said: “When John Smith and his
followers were looking for gold mines in Virginia and the Pilgrims were
planting corn in Massachusetts, an empire had been founded and built up
on the same continent by the Spaniards, and the most stupendous system
of plunder the world ever saw was then and there in vigorous operation.”
Cortez was searching for “a people who had much gold” of which he had
heard. It was not God but gold that drew him in his campaign over Mexico.
He did not aim to Christianize the natives so much as enrich himself and
acquire empire for his sovereign, and religion was a subterfuge plausible
and popular in that age.
“I die,” said the patriot Hidalgo, when about to be executed in 1811,
“but the seeds of liberty will be watered by my blood. The cause will
not die; that still lives and will surely triumph.” His prediction
came true, and freedom from the Spanish yoke of three centuries was
secured ten years later after the shedding of much blood. Peace did
not follow at once, however, for in the fifty years succeeding the
declaration of independence the form of government changed ten times,
and there were fifty-four different rulers, including two emperors and a
number of dictatorships. Special privileges are difficult to eradicate
when established by long usage, and those enjoying them yield only to
force. The Church, which had imposed on the people such a vast number
of priests, friars, and nuns, and had acquired the most of the wealth
of the country, clung with the grip of death to its privileges and
property. The changes came gradually, but it has been a half-century
since the Church and State were formally separated by constitutional
amendment. The bigoted and despotic Romanism, which was allied with the
Spanish aristocracy, has at last been subdued. A more tolerant spirit is
springing up towards other forms of religious faith through the efforts
of a powerful and liberal government. Education is also freeing the
people from the superstitious ignorance which has hitherto prevailed
in most parts of Mexico. There are occasional outbursts of fanaticism,
but they are quickly suppressed, and the government is making an honest
effort to preserve freedom of worship to all faiths.
The United States of Mexico is a federation composed of twenty-seven
states, three territories, and the federal district in which the
capital is located. The states are sovereign within themselves and are
held together under a federal constitution very much like our own.
This constitution was adopted on the 5th of February, 1857, and its
semi-centennial was recently celebrated with a few of the original
signers present. There is a congress composed of two bodies, the Senate
and Chamber of Deputies which meets twice each year. Each state is
represented in the former by two senators and in the latter by one
representative for each forty thousand of population. The right of
suffrage is restricted so that only a small proportion of the population
can exercise that privilege. They have not really reached popular
government, and politics, as we know them in the United States, do not
exist. A presidential election scarcely caused a ripple on the surface.
President Diaz was no doubt the popular choice, but comparatively few
votes were cast at his last election. The rule of the Diaz government
although decidedly autocratic was beneficient, and has redounded to the
good of the country. Though practically an absolute ruler, President Diaz
always acted through the regularly organized channels of a complete form
of republican government, and outwardly, at least, there was no semblance
of a dictatorship.
Mexico is a country of great natural resources and possibilities which
have been only partially developed. Its soil is remarkably fertile and
could support five times, and, if water could be found on the plateaus,
ten times the present population. And I say this notwithstanding the
fact that one man has said that Mexico is the poorest country south
of Greenland, and north of the south pole. The flora of the country,
among which are many useful and medicinal plants, is exceedingly rich
and varied. More species of fibre plants are found there than in any
other country, and the commercial utility of these plants is not yet
fully appreciated. In no country has there been greater waste of natural
resources than the Spanish conquerors caused in Mexico. It is as a mining
country that Mexico has been best known and the Mexican silver mines have
been famous ever since the discovery of the New World, and they are
still the greatest single source of wealth. Some of them which have been
worked for centuries are still yielding small fortunes in the white metal
each year.
The Mexican has his own view of the United States and does not call our
boasted progress and much-vaunted civilization, with its hurry, brusque
ways and the blotting out of the finer courtesies, an improvement. He
appreciates our mechanical contrivances and electrical inventions, but
prefers to enjoy life after his own fashion and in the way he thinks
that God intended in order to keep men happy. The civilization received
by Mexico in the sixteenth century was looked upon as equal to the best
in existence, and to this was added an ancient civilization found in
the country. From these sources a manner of living has been evolved
which bears evidences of culture and refinement. This system has flowed
on through the intervening centuries, undisturbed by the march of
progress, until the last quarter of a century. Things cannot be changed
to Anglo-Saxon standards in a year, or two years, or even a generation.
To Americanize Mexico will be a difficult if not impossible undertaking,
and there are no signs of such a transition. Americans who live there
fall into Mexican ways and moral standards more frequently than Mexicans
are converted to the American point of view. The influence of traditions,
customs, and climate, and the centuries-old habit of letting the morrow
take care of itself is too great to be overcome.