<7 University of California Berkeley MEXICAN PROBLEMS By ROBERT BRUCE BRINSMADE M. C. ROLLAND ciendas" had truly reached the "mini- mum of subsistence" of the classical economists; had he received one cent less, he would have starved. In the meantime, his wife, poorly fed, ig- norant, without money to buy milk, perceived that only the stronger child- ren could be expected to survive in- fancy. This increase in the price of food was due partly to better railway communi- cations between local markets, partly to the depreciation of silver, partly to the failure of production to equal that from the railroad they were caught and if the first and second attempts resulted simply in a beating-, the third meant two years in the army. Although he called himself a "liberal" in the beginning, shortly after his ac- cession to power in 1876, Porfirio Diaz converted himself into the voluntary instrument of the land-holders and speculators who managed the Conser- vative Party. He perfected the body of Rurales for the capture of the slaves, and found it most useful for the "adjustment" of in- The Tracts on the Hills are Cultivated by the Peons Who Are Expelled From the Fertile Valleys, Which Are Owned by the Big; Land-holders of population, since the feudal land- holders were too lazy to place under cultivation a larger extent of the land they owned than was necessary for securing the customary income without personal inconvenience or effort of any kind. As the "haciendados" refused to in- crease salaries while the price of ne- cessities rose, the peon, conquered by hunger, was forced to escape and try to secure work in the mines or in the cities. The inhabitants of the farms \ near the railway were often successful I in their flight; but in sections farther ' dustrial strikes, by means of the simple process of consigning the "leaders" of the latter to the army or to the grave. In order to replace the peons who es- caped from the "haciendas" situated in the highlands, and to obtain new vic~ tims for the inhuman conditions of tropical agriculture existing in Yu- catan and in the Valle Nacional, the system of "enganche" was installed with the help of the Rurales. The "shanghaing" of the free Indians in order to condemn them to a frightful slavery was well described in the year 1910 by G. K. Turner in his work "Barbarous Mexico", and by E. Alex Powell in "The Betrayal of a Nation", published serially in The American Ma- gazine. A condition of ignorance and slavery without hope, joined to insufficient nourishment (Bulletin of the United States Department of Labor, No. 38, 1912, Washing-ton, D. C.) leads naturally to irresponsibility and to leaning to- wards drunkenness and certain land- owners organized this tendency in Mex- ico in order to profit by it. Owing to its easy cultivation and large produc- tion every eight years, the maguey is attractive for the lazy Iandowner7~and immense expanses of land have been given over to this cultivation especially around the City of Mexico. The greater part of the farmers who cultivate this plant are connected with the "Com- pania Explotadora de Pulques," which is a trust for the sale at retail of "pulque" in the Cities. The group of rascally "pulqueros" as well as the distillers of liquors, have prevented the police from exerting due control over the sale of liquors; at least in one in- stance, in the town of Pachuca, it has prevented the establishment of an ade- quate water system for several years, with the object of increasing the sale of liquors. The result of such anti- social dealings has been almost abso- fully, that many of the foreigners re- ager of the farm: "You must teach here only reading, writing, and the Catholic catechism. I forbid you absolutely to teach arithmetic and that useless thing called civics." Perhaps it was the fear lest some knowledge of the real prin- ciples of government might spread throughout the country, which moved the future reactionary autocrat to exile in 1878, Gabine Barreda, Director of the National Preparatory School of Mexico City, and one of the most nota- ble educators in the Republic. Free preaching and reading was for- bidden completely; all newspapers and books, even scientific works, were cen- sored; and the works of foreign demo- cratic reformers, including Henry George, could not be sold in Mexico. A complete Machiavellism was in exist- ence and the Diaz system represented a modern edition of the criminal tyranny of Caesar Borgia. But the coterie which surrounded Diaz aimed to please foreigners, the purchasers of public bonds and of the natural resources stolen from the nation or from the natives. In order to maintain the myth of Diaz (The Mexican Struggle for Freedom, by G. de Lara & Pichon, United States) the foreign press was prodigally subsidized, both at home and abroad; and this was done so skill- lute licentiousness through entire sections, for example the workmen of siding here, even at the present date, echo the declaration of Terry, (Guide- cities such as Pachuca, Mexico City, and | book for Mexico, by T. P. Terry, Mexico, Puebla. The greatest obstacle to the I !> F.), inspired by self-interest, that success of the manufacturers in many Mexican cities is the degeneration of the workmen who through vice have lost the sense of honesty, and loyalty, "Porfirio Diaz was the most eminent Mexican." The final result of hunger, oppression, ignorance, and vice, fostered by unlim- and now lack application to work, the) ited land monopoly, was the social Rev- strength to think, and the ambition to succeed, that is, the qualities which distinguish man from the brute. As instruction is not conducive to the success of a system of slavery, it is natural that the "hacendados" should oppose any attempt to educate their peons. Public schools in the rural districts were not only few and far between under the rule of Diaz, but also inadequate, as is demonstrated olution of 1910. This revolt was much more far-reaching and violent than any of its predecessors, due to the par- ticipation of the free Indians in it. In former struggles, the latter had shown but little interest; but the spoliation of which they were made victims with regard to the "egidos" (commons), especially since 1893, had reduced them from the class of self-supporting own- ers of land to that of landless indigents. by the actual personal experience of j And, therefore, they rose by the thou- Luis Cabrera ("La Reconstitucion de los Ejidos," a speech by Luis Cabrera, Chamber of Deputies Mexico, D. F. f December 3, 1912), who was a school- master in Tlaxcala in the year 1895. Although he was paid by the govern- ment, when he arrived at the "hacien- da," he was furnished with the follow- ing instructions by the shameless man- sands when the image of Diaz, though covered with a coat of mail, was smashed to pieces by the onset of Madero. The President-martyr did not originate the Revolution, whatever un- reflecting people may think; he was merely the Apostle who gave expres- sion to the suffering and the aspirations of the oppressed masses. The History of the Mexican Land Question By ROBERT BRUCE BRINSMADE Mining Engineer, born in New Tork in 1871 He has been living in Mexico since 1911 and is perfectly acquainted with conditions there. "Man oppressed by an un- just law is not a free man. The individual has his natural rights, of which he cannot be despoiled by the nation, except through violence, through the illicit use of armed force. This truth can never be sufficiently emphasized, in view of the scant attention paid to it even by the most zealous partisans of liberty." Turgot. The recent triumph of the Liberal or Popular Party in Mexico, after almost 4 years of strug-g-le, presents a unique opportunity for the carrying- of certain economic changes which will destroy forever the dangerous political power of those egotistical groups composed of big landowners, who up to now have maintained the working classes in a .state of slavery and ignorance. It is only recently that the conspiracy of si- lence in regard to the monopoly of the land, the censurable policy of Porfirio J)iaz andi of Huerta was broken; and as there are still many educated people in the Mexican Federation who are not acquainted with the facts in the case, 1 shall dedicate this chapter to the his- tory of the land. As the Mexican Indians in the XVII. Century were pagans, like all other races who were not Christian, they lost all their rights in this world, and their country was presented by Pope Alexander VI to the Spanish Crown. When Hernan Cortez disem- barked in Mexico he found the Aztecs and their neighbors in the middle pe- riod of barbarism ("Ancient Society" by \)aniel H. Morgan, U. S.) with their government based on personal authority and not in accordance with territorial belongings; and the private ownership of land in the modern sense of the word was absolutely unknown. These conditions facilitated the distribution by the Spanish conquerors in 1521, of Ihe productive Mexican valleys into farms among themselves. A large number of Indians were dis- tributed with the farms, in the character of feudal serfs, while others, in "herds", were converted into slaves to work in Ihe mines and build public roads. This system of slavery was maintained by means of an army levied in Spain, which repressed a population which was at that time about one-half of what it is at the present. The Indians not enslaved were finally pacified by the concession of "ejidos" (commons) (Pro- blentas Nacionales, by Lie. Andres Mo- lina Enriquez, Mexico, D.F.) about half a century after the Conquest. The humane law of the "ejidos" was decreed by Philip II in 1573, and had as an object to protect the rest of the free Indians from the cupidity and cruelty of the Spanish colonists. An "ejido" comprised approximately one "sitio," that is, a square Spanish league, but as the country had not been surveyed, all concessions of lands were subject, according to the royal decree, to certain lines drawn between natural fixed landmarks, such as hills, mountains or rivers. Thus, every no- minal "sitio" always included several leagues, twenty in many cases. Al- though many of these "ejido" lands were second class and even worse, they generally comprised large areas and were so varied that having pastur- age, arable and wooded sections, they were amply sufficient to provide occu- pation and nourishment to the Indians to whom they were allotted. There existed, therefore, during the colonial period, two kinds of agricul- tural Indians: The peons, enslaved in the "haciendas," and the free ones, who owned the "ejidos." The latter might work on the farms during- the harvest, but they were economically independ- ent of the "hacendados." *A third class, that of the hunter Indians, was never very numerous, and it was confined to the Northern deserts or the tropical woods along the coasts ("Mexico and its Social Evolution," by Lie. D. G. Rai- gosa, Mexico, D. F.) At the present time, the actual pop- ulation of Mexico is thus divided: 43% mestizos, 19% Spaniards and Creoles, and 38% Indians ("Guide-book for Mexico," by F. P. Terry, Mexico, D. F.). Even at the beginning of the War of Independence, in 1810, the mestizos were very numerous, and they formed the discontented part of the population. Because, disinherited ,by their Spanish fathers for the benefit of their half- brothers the Creoles, they had too high aspirations to be satisfied with living beside the people to which their Indian mothers belonged, and they were re- stricted to low and poorly paid work. The first revolution in 1810, that is to say, Hidalgo's revolution, was a dem- ocratic movement, and aimed at the annihilation of the fuedal system of the farms, as well as the shaking off of the Spanish domination. This revolt was headed by the Liberal party, or the mestizos, and failed in its economic aim because when Independence was finally attained, in 1821, it was under the auspices of the conservative party, the party of Emperor Iturbide and the Creole farmers. During the first four decades of in- dependence, there were four economic parties: the Creole land-holders, the Church, the mestizos, and the Indians. As the consummation of Independence had benefited the Creoles only, who took hold of all positions vacated through the expulsion of the Spaniards, the Mestizos were more discontented than ever, and were constantly at war with the conservative party. The fact that the free Indians had never been educated or nationalized, and that they preserved their tribal differences of custom and dialect, made it easy for political adventurers to recruit them as "cannon fodder," so that they should fight one another with arms in their hands instead of at the polls. The Liberals had little success until the year 1856, when President Comon- fort decreed the Laws of Mortization, by virtue of which the farms belong- ing to the Church (which constituted the best lands in Mexico), were nation- alized and sold. These lands were acquired for the greater part, by new Creoles or white immigrants not Span- iards, who had made fortunes working the mines or in trade, from the time when the prohibition relative to im- migration, decreed in 1821, was abro- gated. As most of the "haciendas" that had belonged to the Church were sold without being divided, the transfer did not affect feudalism; it merely sup- pressed the clerical incubus while giv- ing full dominion to the secular Creoles of the Conservative party. The Laws of Reform ("C6digo de la Reforma," by Bias J. R. Alatorre, M6xi- co, D. F.), of Benito Juarez, decreed be- tween the years 1857 and 1873, put an end to the last privileges of the Church, so that since then the Church has had only an indirect influence in economic and political matters. Unhappily, how- ever, as Article 27 of the Federal Con- stitution ("Constituci6n Politica de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos," by Lie. F. P. Garcia, Mexico, D. F.) prohibits rural Indians as well as the Church from owning productive lands, the division of the commons into individual ranches became obligatory. The partition of the commons pro- gressed very slowly during several years, since the Indians opposed it and the plots of land resulting from such division were too small to awaken the cupidity of speculators. One of the beneficial results of this re-apportion- ment was that it made it possible for the mestizos as well as for the Indians, to secure small ranches, the products of which are at present an important factor in the market. One of its bad effects, which has spread considerably, particularly since 1870, is that it permits the incorporation of the best sections of the commons with the farms near-by, as the title of ownership to these commons has been acquired by the farmers, either by force or by de- ceit. Thus numerous "poblados" (con- gregations of Indians) have lost the greater part of the productive land, and are in possession of only their in- alienable legal communal property, as an oasis within the "hacienda." In the year 1910, at the beginning of the last Revolution, the ownership and the value of Mexican lands was as follows: Area Square Kinds of Land kilmts. 11,000 "Haciendas" 880,000 18 "Land Companies".... 80,000 Other Land Companies. . . 120,000 "Sitios" and "commons".. 120,000 Small ranches 400,000 National Lands 400,000 Total Rural property 2.000,000 100 Kind of Lands 11,000 "Haciendas". 18 "Land Companies' Other Land Compa- nies "Sitios" and "com- mons" Small ranches .... National Lands... Value Total value per (Mexican sq. kl. currency) $2,500 $2,200.000,000 ' 1,000 80.000,000 . 1,000 120,000,000 1,000 4,000 Not valued 120.000,000 1,600.000,000 Total Rural property $4,120.000,000 This table shows a concentration of property which is surprising: 11,000 ha- ciendas embrace 44% of the total area of the country, and the best lands at that. The average area of these farms is about 80 square kilometers (8,000 hectares), the equivalent of three square Spanish leagues. When, as is often the case, one person owns several farms, his holdings constitute a colos- sal amount. In this way, therefore, Luis Terrazas, in Chihuahua, owns about 60,000 square kilometers, a larger area than that con- tained in all Costa Rica; and the Cen- tral Mexican Railway in Hidalgo tra- verses thirty leagues of land belonging to Jos6 Escandon. The estates of Lo- renzo Torres, in Sonora; of the Gurza brothers, in Durango; of "Los Cedros," in Zacatecas; of Inigo Noriega, in the State of Mexico; of Garcfa Pimentel, in Morelos; of Juventino Ramirez, in Pue- bla; and of the Madero family, in Coa- huila; are a few of the many examples which could be quoted of enormous family estates throughout the country. The estates of the eighteen more im- portant land companies average 4,444 square kilometers each, that is to say, about one half of the area of Portugal; Mexican Agricultural Peons In the High Plateaux of Mexico, Piling Hay while about a dozen other companies are in possession of ten per cent (10%) of the total area, that is to say, one half of what is owned by the small farmers, and about 67% more than the land which constitutes communal property. The whole free population of Mexico is, therefore, restricted to practically one-fourth of the total area, and this consists of the poorer class of land; while the greater part of the national lands is taken up by mountainous or desert lands, or marshes. At the pre- sent time several thousand individuals and a few companies hold the power to exclude a nation of fifteen millions from the best lands of their own country. The small ranches of the present day originated principally from the division of the national lands which began in 1821, or of the "commons," which start- ed in 1856. Some of the "haciendas" date from the period of the Conquest, (and they have often increased by the acquisition of lands from the division of national lands or of commons) while others are formed from lands that be- longed to the nation and which were created in order to benefit fortunate politicians. It now remains for us to explain the origin of the vast possessions of the Land Companies. European capital, not Spanish, began to pour into Mexico at the same time that the new Creoles began to settle here, after the year 1821; but foreign wealth was invested principally in mi- ning and commercial ventures. Although the first railroad, from Vera Cruz to Mexico City, was completed in 1873, it was only when the Central Railway (Mexico City to El Paso) was finally in operation in the year 1884, that the real influx of foreign capital into the coun- try began. Besides mines and railroads, ranches and woods offered great and sure sources of profit. The best woods were the property of feudal landowners who generally refused to sell, since they had kept their "haciendas" with an eye to political influence and social pres- tige, sometimes from personal vanity, as well as for the rental value of the property. After the "haciendas" the best large properties were the undivided commons of the Indians, and very soon the am- bitious speculators in land found "de- fects" in the titles of ownership, and won president Diaz to their side. Be- tween the years 1883 and 1894, a series of decrees was issued under the name of "Leyes de Deslindes" ("Leyes sobre Tierras," 1863 a 1912, Sec. de Fomento, Mexico, D. F.) "Boundary Laws," which ruined financially thousands of Indian villages located principally in the North and the West. The system followed was this: The natural boundaries of the "ejidos," as described in the royal concessions of the year 1573 and fol- lowing ones, who declared nul, and all the lands of an "ejido" over and above the "sitio" (one square league), were called "demaslas," (excess) and liable to public protest and claim. Then the Mexican politicians estab- lished what was known as the "Com- pafifa de Deslindes" (Demarcation com- panies) with the object of securing concessions from the Federal Govern- ment to carry out the survey of a State in whole or in part. In exchange for such survey, (generally cheap, inacu- rate, or even fraudulent), the company received on account of the concession, two-thirds of the surface of "the excess" which it found within the commons. Not only that, but often, after the topo- graphic survey had been made, the "sitio" for the Indians was allotted from the poorer land, and they were notified that they had to vacate their original grant, or pay rent. If any of them opposed this measure, a force of Rurales was detailed to "re-establish order," and to apprehend or, if neces- sary, to shoot the recalcitrants. The surveying companies had also the option to purchase the third left of the national excess, and of any other public lands comprised in their concessions, at a normal price, (usual- ly, 50 cts. Mex. per hectare) under some pretext, such as that of "projected col- onization." About one year after a company had secured in this manner all the land which it wanted, it would allege impossibility to colonize; and immediately, the complaisant officials would relieve it of the obligation on payment of a fine amounting to about 25 cts. Mex. per hectare. Feudal land-holders lost nothing through the surveying operations, and the more ambitious ones had an op- portunity for gain, whether as share- holders in the companies, or by annex- ing to their farms, under some plau- sible pretext, choice sections of the land which might still have been left within the "commons." These Land Com- 10 panics were surreptitiously incorpo- rated in the United States or in Eu- rope, with a view to impede any efforts which a native government might make to annul at a future time land titles thus secured. There exists in Lower California ("Boletln de la Sociedad de Geograffa y Estadistica, de 1913," by Eng. Manuel Bonilla) an astounding example of the monopoly exercised by these compa- nies, for there three companies are in possession of no less than 78% of the whole area of the territory, that is to say, 93,798 square kilometers, an area larger than that of Ireland, and which is distributed as follows: Luis Huller & Co.. 53, 950 Sq. Kilmts. California & Mexico Land Co., Ltd 24,883 " Flores & Company. .14,965 Total 93,798 The final condition which favored the monopoly of lands, both by families and by companies, during the Diaz re- gime, was the lack of equity in the al- lotment of the taxes, due to the fact that the largest landholders were the ones who had most to say in regard to taxation. It seems incredible, but there are cases not infrequent where the small landed agriculturists paid on their holdings 12% more per hectare than the large farmer nearby, although the quality of the land was exactly the same. We find, for example, that En- riquez ("Problemas Nacionales," by Lie. Enrique Molina Enrfquez' Mexico, D. F.) cites as typical cases in the State of Mexico, the tax imposed on three farms as follows: Area Real Hectares Value La Gavia... 113,000 $5.000,000 San Nicolas. 16,200 2.000,000 Arroyozarco 27,800 1.500,000 La Gavia . . San Nicolas Arroyozarco Tax due at 1.2% $720,000 240,000 180.000 Value declared $362,695 417,790 378,981 Tax imposed $45,523 50,135 45,467 La Gavia. . . San Nicolas. Arroyozarco Loss to the Owner's State by Savings fraud $676,477 189,865 134,533 79% 75% 11 Mentality of the Mexicans' Forefathers By ROBERT BRUCE BRINSMADE Mining Engineer, born in New York in 1871 He has been living in Mexico since 1911 and is perfectly acquainted with conditions there. The majority of men do not think, because they are com- pelled to spend all their en- ergy in the struggle for life, and they have no time left for thinking. The majority ac- cepts everything that exists as inevitable, natural and cur- rent. This is what makes so hard the task of the social re- former, and converts his way into a Way of the Cross. This is what brings the jeers of the powerful and the curses of the rabble on those who dare to be the first to raise their voice in the defense of a truth. HENRY GEORGE. The basis of national progress is the education of the young, since in no other way can we transmit to future generations the knowledge inherited and acquired by the present one. In order to investigate the causes of the backwardness of education in Mexico, we must study the histpry of the European and Indian races which were the ancestors of the Mexicans, and in- vestigate their intellectual peculiari- ties. Mediaeval Anahuac. Archaeology has demonstrated that man began his own history on the plane of animals, and has made his way from savagery to civilization by means of the slow accumulation of experi- mental knowledge. Morgan (1) esti- mates that the period of five thousand years comprised in written history is less than one-fifth per cent. (1/5%) of the period during which man, as such, has dwelled on the earth. Every ex- isting nation is the outcome of savage ancestors, and the periods of civiliza- tion through which every nation has passed in order to reach its present state may be classified as follows: (1) "Ancient Sociology" by Daniel Morgan, U. S. A. TABLE XIX. Order State Grade Knowledge acquired Example 1 Savage Low Vegetable food, articu- Man at the late language. pleocene age. 2 Savage Medium Fish, food, use of fire. Polynesians. 3 Savage High Animal food, use of bows and arrows. Athapascans. 4 Barbarians Low Agriculture, huts, pot- tery. Iroquois. 5 Barbarians Medium Irrigation, domestic animals. Aztecs, Incas. 6 - Barbarians High Use of metals, temples. Homeric Greeks. 7 Civilized Low Phonetic Alphabet, land Spaniards in owners. 1521. 8 Civilized Medium Natural Sciences, appli- Contemporary cation of Steam. Frenchmen. 13 The Spanish chroniclers judg-ed the Aztecs as "civilized" due to the igno- rance of the former in archeological matters. Their observations were so erroneous that they described the in- determinate Aztec confederation of the democratic tribes as an "empire", the warrior chief Montezuma as a "mon- arch", and his associates, the chiefs of the tribes, as "feudal lords". This er- ror of the Spaniards has been adopted by Prescott in his interesting- histories (2). Morgan says: "Spanish chron- iclers deserve credit in what relates to the acts of the Spaniards or to the weapons, tools, industries, food, etc., of the. Indians; but in what relates to the Indian government, social rela- tions, and political economy, these chronicles are absolutely worthless." At the time of the Conquest, the In- dians did not know the uses of iron; but they worked softer metals such as copper; they traded by means of ex- change of goods, for money was un- known among them; they used irriga- tion for cultivation of their lands wove coarse materials with cotton and feathers; built mud and stone houses and made owned the excellent pottery. They lands in common; they dwelled in the houses by family groups; they prepared only one meal per day, which was served first to the men; they lacked chairs and tables. The Indians practised drawing, and had a marvellous knowledge of astronomy. Consequently the Spaniards may re- fute the charge generally made against them, that they destroyed Aztec civili- zation, since the latter did not exist. Their sins in Mexico have been much more sins of omission than of commis- sion. Considering the Indian as a do- mestic animal, they taught him the vices, and not the virtues of civiliza- tion; their selfish Colonial Government is still reflected in the suffering of the masses in Mexico. The failure of the Spaniards lies in not shouldering the task of the "white man," that of civi- lizing the Aztecs, and it can be ap- preciated by a glance at history. Mediaeval Spain. In the times of Christ, the Iberian Peninsula was one of the civilized countries forming part of the Roman Empire, with a population of Iberians, (2). "Ferdinand and Isabella", 1837 "Conquest of Mexico", 1843 Conquest of Peru", 1847, by W. H. Prescott. Celts, and Italians. During the deca- dence of Rome, after the IVth century, the peninsula was invaded by different barbarous tribes of Teutons, especially Vandals and Visigoths. The latter set- tled in the Northern part of Spain, founding there a kingdom in the year 415, and spread over the whole penin- sula during the following three centu- ries, although merely in the character of a reigning caste, since the con- quered Latins formed the bulk of the nation. (1). In the year 1711 the Visigoth king- dom was overturned by the Mohame- dan invader coming from Africa, who established a Moorish empire destined to subsist for about eight hundred years. The Visigoth chieftains were not exterminated, but they took refuge in the provinces of Asturias, Biscayan Galicia, Navarre, and Aragon. There they lived isolated, secure in the mountains, but deprived of all the ad- vantages of civilization; and the poor and ignorant Christians, guided by their fanatical priests, undertook an inces- sant and inhuman war against the Moors. The conflict did not end until the year 1492, when Granada, the last Morish bulkwark in Spain, was taken by King Ferdinand V. The Spanish Inquisition. When Mexico was conquered in 1521, Charles V. ruled over Spain as suc- cessor to Ferdinand V., and due to the possessions of the empire in America, a wonderful century of material grand- eur began for Spain. But it already nourished at its breast a monster des- tined to bring about its ruin; the In- quisition. This famous body was in- stituted in permanent form by Pope Innocent III. in the year 1215. At first the Church employed it with the help of the Government, as an instrument against heresy. Its appalling possibilities as a political lever were not understood un- til it became a tool in the hands of the panish Crown in 1478. Under the reigns >f Ferdinand V. and Charles V., the In- quisition became the principal means >f support of their autocratic power hroughout their vast empire, which omprised almost all the world. It helped to unify the primitive seven Christian kingdoms of Spain, and con- ert them into a single fanatical State; t enriched the Royal Treasury with the (1). "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", by Gibbons. 14 properties of those it declared heretics and smothered political and religious dissensions. For the fulfillment of its decrees, recourse was had to the most outrageous and sanguinary methods, and secret torments ended only in pub- lic execution. It is estimated that in Spain alone, in the period from the year 1481 till its abolition in 1808 by Napoleon, the Inquisition had ordered the burning alive of 31,912 individuals and had inflicted odious punishments on 291,456. Its short domination in the Low Countries during the reign of Charles V. cost 100,000 lives of "heretics", who by the friars in the double chains of superstition and ignorance, the Span- iards became the abject slaves of the Church and the King, ready to commit any crime, however frightful. In the New World also, with savage ferocity, they hounded the unbelievers, and the Antilles were depopulated in the period of one century. The Mexican In- dians would have disappeared, too, had it not been for the partisans of the virtuous Father Bartolome Las Casas, who secured from the Spanish Crown, i the Law of Commons. The Inquisition, expelling with re- Colonial Fountain built by the Indians at the terminal of the Chapultepec Aqueduct, Mexico, D. F. perished under the ax, on the gallows, or by fire. (1). The reason which led the Spaniards to support through three hundred years such a diabolical institution, which no other 'Catholic country would have main- tained even for ten years, was that, dur- ing a religious w.ar which lasted over eight centuries, the people had been taught by theirpriests that hereticswere ouside the pale of humankind. Bound (1). "Inquisition", in Vol. IV. of Johnson's "Cyclopedia", U. S. A. fined cruelty the Jews and the Moors from Spain at the beginning of the XVIth century, occasioned the ruin of Spanish industries. Those inoffensive people formed the industrial middle class which, through its artisans and gardeners, had caused industry and ag- riculture to prosper. Their absence left a vacuum between the nobility and the clergy in the upper class, and the labor- ers below. The privileged classes were too proud to work, and the masses too incapable of working productively with- out efficient direction. Industry Ian- 15 guished, factories were closed, lands were abandoned. In the meantime, church buildings and priests multiplied, and thousands of laborers, driven to want, turned into bandits or beggars. Modern Spain. Whether one believes that the great men are the creators or the creatures of the progressive movements of human- ity, it is a fact that they are essential concomitants of such progress, which would not be possible without them. Consequently, the Inquisition, by its careful elimination, during nine genera- tions, of the independent thinkers in the Spanish Dominions at a rate of about one thousand a year, did. exactly the reverse to what the gardener does when weeding, since that institution made away with the fine plants, leaving the weeds. The destruction of intelligent indi- viduals carried out by the Inquisition has been denied by some Spaniards, who point out the numerous native poets, artists, musicians, painters, novelists; but this defense fails, because not all superior people were eliminated by the Inquisitors, but only a certain class of them. The principal victims were the intellectuals in the scientific realm, who asked: "why?" "whereof?" as well as all those parties of independent mind or nonconformists who refused to approve any political or religious acts, unless they were in accordance with morals. By the destruction of scientists, the In- quisition made away with that part of humanity which makes discoveries and inventions; by suppressing the non- conformists, it put an end to that type of men who maintain liberty of con- science and who help democratic gov- ernments to attain success. Spain has not yet recovered from the harm caused by the expulsion of the middle class, the extermination, of the scientists and nonconformists. Its mass- es carry the weight of the upper clergy and nobility; and in the meantime, fac- tories, mines, lands are in the hands of foreigners, who themselves manage these properties. The educated class in Spain is still too proud to work, and consequently, must live by foul or fair means; legacies or cheating. Many of these individuals, lacking legacies, rush into public office, and the result is prevalent corruption and inefficiency therein. It is only since Spain had the fortune to lose its last colonies in 1899, that it is beginning- to reform; but it must go through a long and arduous apprenticeship in order to reach the same degree of culture prevailing- in Prance or Northern Italy. The law of heredity explains the present condition of Spain. Galton (1) demonstrated, a half-century ago, that intellectual faculties are transmitted in the human family in the same manner in which certain peculiarities are in- herited in the animal species; and that it is just as possible by judicious mar- riages, to produce a race of men highly endowed, as it is feasible to create a notable race of horses or dogs. Galton, after a careful study of many eminent Englishmen, arrived at the conclusion that at least fifty per cent, of the mental faculties of these men were atavic. Lately, Woods (2) has investigated the genealogy of 832 members of royal fam- ilies in Europe, and he found that about 90% of their intellectual qualities and about 50% of their moral qualities were derived from their forefathers. Modern Mexico. During the Colonial epoch, Mexico suffered, with other Spanish colonies, the cruelties of the Inquisition, estab- lished in the City of Mexico shortly after the Conquest. The contempt of the feudal warriors for manual labor was also prevalent in the educated classes of the colony, although an ex- ception was made with respect to mines, which were exploited by Spanish Creoles more as a military adventure than on a commercial basis. Although Mexico secured its independence in the year 1821, it was not until 1857 that it was freed from the Clericals' yoke by the Laws of Reform (3); and this freedom lasted only a few years, for freedom of thought was quickly repressed shortly after the accession of Diaz to power in the year 1876. Mentality of the Indians. The history which I have cited abounds in hopes for the mental future of the native races. The Indians of the 'ommonal lands have not degenerated (1). "Hereditary Genius", by F. Galton, and "Descent of Man", by Darwin, U. S. A. (2). "Mental and Moral Heredity in Royalty", by F. A. Woods, in "Popular Science Monthly", New York, August, 1912. (3). "Codigro de la Reforma". by Bias J. Alatorre, Mexico, D. F. 16 from a previous civilized state, they, are still in the same condition of barbarism and lack of culture (Table XX), merely because they have never been helped by the white man to rise out of that con- dition. It is true that, many of the peons on the farms and in the cities are degraded by slavery and alcoholism, but the notable aptitudes they have shown for industry and mechanical work indicate that the natural artistic gift of the Indian can be successfully applied to the modern system of pro- duction. The fact that a statesman like Benito Juarez came from a family of pure Indians, is a demonstration that the present intellectual state of the In- dian is not the result of an org-anic inferiority, but of lack of education and culture. 17 Why is a Government Needed in Mexico ? By M. C. HOLLAND (A reply to those who are clamoring 1 for a Government in Mexico.) Has there ever existed a govern- ment in Mexico? Has there ever been a legitimate Congress there? Has the Law been effective in Mexico? Has the Constitution ever been in force? What do those people who are clamor- ing for a Constitutional Government, call government, and what do those Americans who demand responsible authority in Mexico, call government? The Mexican people, conquered by the Spaniards, was merely a subject for exploitation by reason of conquest. Its lands were all distributed among the soldiers and the clergy. It was said that the Indian lacked a soul. What was called "Government" then, was merely the will of the Spanish King and his viceroys. The existence of Law was a myth. Nevertheless, that horde of exploiters, soldiers, clericals, lawyers and land-holders called that systematic exploitation a "government," but the people never had a voice in political affairs, how- ever deeply matters affected them. But the people revolted, under the guidance of a priest. That priest was killed by the church; and by a re- fined cruelty, his head was put on a spear and exposed for weeks to the public gaze. But the peons, the In- dians deprived of their lands, had sup- ported this priest in the struggle, and it was they who continued the work of revolt. When the land-holders could resist no longer, they affected a compromise, and by means of a tri- colored flag deceived the people. They agreed to have a government, but in reality it was the same old tyrannical ruling, with a different face, a changed appearance, and another form; and so, the people had secured no redress, conquered no advantages. One hundred and sixteen years have passed since that first revolution. The people, hungry and in rags, has fought instinctively against its oppressors, winning, one by one, its rights amid fearful strife. The Laws of Reform were the first formal step towards the liberation of the people's conscience; a step which France took only forty years later. At that time, (1857), the Catholic Church experienced the severest blow to its pocket-book. Previous to these laws, the church was the national banker. Nine-tenths of the republic was in the hands of the clergy. But in 1859, the church was forced to part with the lands. The struggle was terrific. The church j fought, and with the cry of "Religion | and Privileges," almost drowned the country in blood. Somehow the Clerical Party was repressed; but it soon found the means of re-organization, as well as of monopolizing the lands in an under- hand way, but, however, in violation of the law. In the meantime, what was the gov- ernment? There existed a "Constitu- tion," which when it was not being openly violated, was being 1 misapplied. The people were still under the will of those who rose to power, and in the hands of the clergy which exacted "tithes." The struggle persisted, and we have seen it at its height during the last events in Mexico. Justice has been an empty word on I the other side of the Rio Grande. The people, swayed by the leaders, has al- ways paid with its blood, but has never secured a "government"; it has never had an honorable representa- tion; the Mexicans have never had guarantees, nor have they learned what liberty really is. They have al- ways maintained an ideal of liberation, which at the bottom is only economic freedom, but they have always been 19 deceived by a farcical representation which they have been told is "govern- ment." In truth, the only government they have had, has been that of the land- holders, in conspiracy with the church, which in itself is a land-holder too. The people have been tied to this yoke, and they have cared very little about it, because they know, and they have known, that the landed proprie- tor is very powerful, the owner of houses is unconquerable, the controller of concessions over which a slip of paper gives him title, is a sacred in- dividual. This is the "government," under dif- ferent disguises, that Mexico has had! of "government" In Mexico. It will again be a farce. But the present Revolution, having seen all this, appreciates its impor- tance and is trying to help the peo- ple. This work of reconstruction is gigantic. The big interests, the Cath- olic church, the old politicians, the in- tellectuals and^ the defeated ones, who servilely obeyed their masters, are clam- oring for a government. But they want the same old fictitious one. They know that they cannot enter through any other door. They are clever; they know how to carry elections; they can handle a congress; they can decree laws for the people, by means of which they rob the people of its rights; and The Government Palace in Mexico City For this reason, the Mexican people care very little to have a Constitution effective in name only. If the econ- omic processes do not change, things will be the same as ever, that is, it will be as though no Constitution existed. If small landed interest is not cre- ated, if the land is not given back to the people, if an equitable tax on the present land-holders is not established, in order to make them relinquish their prey; if, in a word, the fortress of the Mexican family is not built by means of the communion of the peon with the land, it will be senseless to speak that is why they are clamoring for the so-called "Reign of the Constitution." That is why they wanted Villa, even as a President. They covered them- selves with the Constitution, even with Huerta at the head. The for- eigners want the farce of a Congress and of a Constitution, because this will lend force to the concessions they enjoy. But, gentlemen, the Mexican people, the people who know that they have lived without a government, and with- out constitutions, the people who know that these were merely shields to pro- tect those who struck blows at them, 20 what would these people want a "gov- < ernment" for? What the Mexican people want is lands, a more human tax system, and a greater economic freedom, especially in the Municipalities. What is the use of organizing the same farce, since we are all conscious of what it conceals? Everyone is exerting pressure, be- cause politics is almost an obsession; so the Revolution may be obliged to organize something to satisfy those individuals who dream of a respect- able government j but we should not lose sight of the fact that the only salvation of Mexico lies in the change of its economic government. Only when the Mexican family is economic- ally freed, that is, only when the present land-holder and the clerical party which is owner of tenement houses and large farms, are held in subjection, and only when the Mexi- can Law will be able to control the foreigners' concessions, then, and only then, will we be able to speak with some respect of the true "government" of Mexico, as being- the genuine repre- sentative of the people. It is only when this is accomplished that for- eigners may be able to have confidence in the Mexican Congress and the gov- ernment. 21 The Intrigues of the Clergy Against the Monroe Doctrine Surprises of Intervention; for President Wilson, for the Bankers of Wall Street, and for the American People. At the time when the international question between Mexico and the Uni- ted States seems about to reach a de- cisive solution, it would not be super- fluous if both the American and Mexi- can people and their statesmen tried to disentangle all the important mat- ters directly related to the present conflict. It would be well, first, although it is no easy task, to cast some light upon the intrigues of the clergy, of the land- holders, and of Wall Street bankers. The directors of North-American pol- icies would not try to engage in the perilous adventure of intervention in Mexico, the risks of which they do not appreciate in full, were they not tempt- ed by the expectation of financial com- pensations which exist only paradox- ically. Mexican reactionaries are developing in the United States, among the Wall Street bankers, a labor analogous to the one they undertook in connection with Villa and Zapata. To the latter, they offered land for the Indians, an offer which they could never have ful- filled. They dazzled the eyes of th.e former, offering a chance for fabulously rich enterprises that would yield mil- lions, enterprises with which the Amer- ican press is already busying itself, and which are nothing more than a mirage. Where, what are those millions? The perfidious arguments of the treacherous suggestion are the follow- ing: "Due to the acute economic crisis in Mexico, creditors and debtors are in conflict; the farmers, principally, are, and for a long time to come will be, unable to cover the interest on their mortgages. The total value of mortgages in Mexico is about eight .hundred million pesos, Mexican cur- rency; the value of the farms is about ten or fifteen million. By the purchase of the mortgages of the Farms di- rect, just at this time of crisis, the best land of Mexico could be secured at a ridiculous price. Similar negotia- tions could be undertaken concerning real estate and all kinds of industries. In order to secure this, it is not ne- cessary to carry on a lengthy war, but simply to spend enough money to reach the Capitol, which is the seat of the more important businesses. Wall Street, financing intervention, would reap a bountiful crop, running into thousands of millions. And as Mexico is starving, she cannot offer a strong resistance to the Americans." Money, arms, ammunition, would not be lacking in order to fight interven- tion. We will herafter explain how the Reaction itself would furnish them. Starvation would have nothing to do with the resistance of Mexicans: throughout our whole history, our en- durance as fighters has been demon- strated in full, from the time of the destruction of the great Tenoxtitlan, to date, by thousands of episodes, and it will perhaps be opportune to cite one which has all the simplicity of Spartan heroism: A parlementaire sent by the con- querors approached a group of Aztecs who were defending one of the last redoubts of the Great Tenoxtitlan, the Troy of America, where Mexico 'City stands now, with the object of persuad- ing them to surrender, as it was ap- parent that they lacked, not only physical strength to continue the com- bat, but even the simplest food, and that they would soon be vanquished. The chief of those heroes, emaciated and almost exhausted, took from under his blanket a few tortillas they had left, and throwing them into the face of the Spanish emissary, exclaimed: "There is our last mouthful, since you 23 refer to eatables. We are ready to fight with you and yours to the last The warlike virtues of the Mexicans, the only thing 1 which foreigners have been unable to wrest from us, are still intact, as has been fully demonstrated by the Constitutionalist soldiers dur- ing- the internal strife, and this might give a slight idea that it is no easy task to try to trample on our national sovereignty, nor would that be a task requiring little time. But even sup- posing that all military difficulties were smoothed down, the first surprise Monument Erected to the Memory of Pio IX, Built of Clay by the Indians on the Shore of Lake Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico that the ambitious instigators of in- tervention would meet, would be that no mortgage, no farm, no business really important would be placed on the market at the call of the dollar. If any landowners, Mexican or for- eign, having their properties mort- gaged, should sell their rights to American purchasers, the clauses of Mexican mortgage deeds are so dras- tic, that all the advantages would be in favor of the creditors and in no wise of the foreign acquirer. If, in order to benefit the latter, re- course were had to. gome expedient which would violate the contracts, this would be a sufficient reason to bring about protests from the prin- cipal European countries, alleging damage to their nationals. This would be inevitable. We say inevitable, because the capi- tal placed at interest in Mexico is, by more than eighty per cent, the prop- erty of one creditor only: the clergy. And the clergy, within Mexico, has "Europeanized" its interests. How? By making loans in the name of Eu- ropean bankers, and pretending that the capital which supports and gives life to business here, is capital belong- ing to the clients of said bankers, the savings of Frenchmen, Englishmen, Belgians, etc., etc., etc. In order that each and every one who reads may be convinced of the truth) of the foregoing statements and that they are not the product of a feverish imagination, we shall briefly state the foundation on which they are solidly established". During the period of the Viceroys, through concessions granted by the Spanish Crown and through the fa- naticism of the conquered race, the clergy, for three centuries, accumu- lated wealth. These interests were not affected either by the war of independence or by events after that period; on the contrary, the immoderate increase of them occasioned untold misery. The Reform brought about the dis- entail and nationalism of the property of the clergy; but this work could not be carried to completion because a large part of this wealth was rescued from such a fate by placing it in the name of certain private parties who enjoyed the confidence of the Church. Throughout all the governments that came after the Reform, and espe- cially during the Diaz dictatorship, the clergy has continued increasing its wealth, and has even recovered a part of the properties expropriated, by means of the "contenta," that is, the partial restitution of property which relieves the consciences of many of the old adjudicatees or their heirs. In many other ways, the clergy has obtained incomes vastly superior to its expenses: legacies, life donations, dowries for the support of nuns, ob- tained from aristocratic ladies, which dowries, at the death of the nuns, re- vert to the Church. These amounts are incalculable. There is, however. 24 the possibility of making- an approxi- mate calculation of one of these sources of income, that of the "tithe," imposed upon the Indians in the sec- tions where they are more fanatical; this "tithe" represents one-tenth per cent, of the assets of each individual, whether this consists of salary, wages, cereals, poultry, etc., etc., as the peo- ple have been imbued with the belief that they have to contribute towards the support of the Church. The basis for this calculation is the following 1 : ! Two hundred working- days in the year, twenty-five cents income per day per Indian, and four million contribut- ing- Indians; these figures being a very conservative minimum. The resulting income, for the sixty years previous to the Revolution, amounts to the por- tentous amount of twelve hundred million pesos silver! It is evident to any economist, that one cannot suppose that these fabu- lous quantities of money have been sent out of Mexico and placed in some other country; because, then, on ac- I count of the influence the Mexican j clergy through its money would wield i in that part of the world, one could | conjecture where it was placed. But it is not so, and on the other hand, every one knows with certitude of the vast influence which the Mexi- can clergy wields in Mexican affairs; hence it is permissible to suppose that the wealth of the Mexican clerg-y is I within Mexico. But it is a well known fact that Mexicans in general have no money, that the majority of the businesses in the country are in the hands of for- eigners; it is permissible, therefore, to conclude that at least a very large portion of the clergy's money is in the hands of foreigners in Mexico, a belief supported by the fact that the clergy has no known property, no capital placed in its own name, since the laws forbid it to own any property. This grievous alienation has been carried out in two ways equally dis- astrous for the national interests. The one, as stated above, consists in plac- ing the money under the protection of European flags by means of their banking firms, and the other in facili- tating extensive credit to foreigners, especially to Europeans, and refusing it to Mexicans, with the very rare ex- ception of exceedingly wealthy indi- viduals or such as, through their ante- cedents, deserve the full confidence of the Church. Only one branch of public wealth is under the control of the clergy: that comprising farms (haciendas). By means of mortgages it has promoted the organization of large rural estates with a double end in view: to have in the land-holders a tool to retain laborers on the property in a condi- tion of practical serfdom, sunk in ignorance and want; and to exert through them an indirect influence on public affairs, in the electoral farce for the appointment of governors, etc., so that no local or general government could direct public administration fa- vorably to the real popular interests, as should have been done in a country the institutions of which are liberal, republican, democratic inspired, in one word, by the same institutions which govern the American people. Is there anything more natural and in accordance with the rights of man than that the Mexican people, op- pressed under the inflexible yoke of its insatiable secular tyrants, should at last revolt against it? The Reaction, having exhausted all kinds of tricks, of intrigues, to divide the Constitutionalists, finding itself incapacitated from recovering its ancient power, works twofold at the present time: at home, feverishly pushing the economic campaign which it is carrying on in order to deprive the Constitutionalist Government of means of support; and outside the Mexican frontier, exerting itself in every way, having on its lips the kiss of Judas. At the present moment, like a siren, it chants a golden song in the ears of Wall Street bankers. Should it suc- ceed and induce the latter, dazzled by the mirage of those fabulous thou- sands of millions, to play its game, the Reaction would be the first to furnish arms, ammunition, and money to the Mexicans, so that they would oppose stubbornly the American intervention; a fact of which the Reaction is fully confident, as it knows only too well, the significance of the word "PATRIA" (Mother-country) for us Mexicans. In due time, the Reaction would then call in London, in Berlin, in Paris, in Tokio even; it would work in those Chancellories as actively as it does now in the United States, and exclaim: "Now or never! Go, bring peace be- tween Mexicans and Americans, or 25 fight against the latter; and pretend- ing to defend the Mexicans in order to secure their help, come to Mexico and protect your interests!" Where, then, would be the Monroe Doctrine? The Reactionaries pre-suppose that at the end of the butchery, the Mexi- can Revolution would be vanquished, and that the Reaction itself would then reconstruct Mexico, in accord with Europe as was the idea of Napoleon III when he gave his sup- port to the ephemeral ambition of Maximillian as a barrier against the aggrandizement of the United States, but one built now on a solid founda- tion: the Europeanization of the wealth of the Mexican clergy. It is necessary for the equanimity of North American statesmen to avoid falling into this trap, now fully ex- posed; and as regards Mexico's in- ternal problem, in order that this question should not continue a menace to the harmonious relations of both countries, it must be recognized as the sole affair of the Revolution which, while solving it, must remember the serene and profound maxim of Juarez: "The respect of others' rights is peace." If the United States desires to se- cure lawful advantages in Latin- American countries, she must adopt a policy of sincere friendship, and, be- ginning with Mexico, she should not commit, by an unjust attack on our sovereignty, the grievous blunder of creating in the New World evils as serious as those which at the present time are bleeding and ruining the Old. President Wilson, the Wall Street bankers, and the American people should meditate on the surprises which Intervention in Mexico might reserve for them, and they should en- deavor to appreciate to its fullest ex- tent, the significance which the Mexi- can Revolution has for us, for them- selves, and for all Latin-America. (El Pueblo, Mex.) 26 The Holocaust Stanford University, Cal. July 21, 1916. Mr. Paul U. Kellog-g-, "The Survey," New York City. Dear Mr. Kellogg: Since the danger of International war is averted, the war-makers along the Rio Grande are falling- out with each other. All the following points, in one form or another, appear in the El Paso press. The "Times" charges in turn that Lea, as attorney for Huerta, while holding office as Mayor, did nothing for his client. The exiled dictator "spent some of the hottest days in 1915 in a sweltering cell at the El Paso County jail, and died a prisoner of the United States, having never en- joyed a moment of freedom from the time his attorney was engaged until his death." (El Paso "Times," July 18.) A Mexican's Body Being: Burnrd Tom Lea, Mayor, has charged that Mr. Don Johnson, Chief of Police of signed receipts found in Villa's papers taken at Juarez, and now in the Mexi- can Consulate, show that the El Paso "Times," the special organ of the In- terventionists, received a $10,000 sub- sidy from Villa. This the "Times" vigorously denies. El Paso, claims that he was removed by Mr. Lea because he would not sup- port a policy by which Mexicans in El Paso are made to contribute political revenues by false arrest. The claims that Lea rounded up a large number of Mexicans in El Paso as "suspected 27 Villistas," men who had been admitted to the country by the national immi- gration authorities, and whose con- duct was under observation of the United States Secret Service at El Paso. On March 6th a number of these Mexicans, (some twenty, I am told), were in jail in El Paso. Part of them probably bearing lice, all were given a bath in gasoline. Some one lit a match and the affair, known as "The Holocaust," occurred. All were burned alive, with the building, and, it is said, two or three American hoboes. This the Mayor called an "unavoid- able accident," but the Mexicans in Juarez believed that it was done de- liberately. The word came to Villa, and three days later he raided Colum- bus. Villa declared beforehand that he was going to "make torches" of every American he found. Mr. Johnson wants to know "if Mr. Lea expects every man from across the river who has means to employ a lawyer is to be arrested. I want to know if he fired me because Medina- veita and Banda had to pay $3,500 to get out of jail. Did Mr. Lea fire me because I would not join the regiment he was forming to go into Mexico." (El Paso "Times," July 15.) Mr. C. L. Vowell (in the El Paso "Times" of July 18) accuses the Mayor of being responsible for the gasoline bath, by which, he declares, "in the city jail twenty to twenty-five human beings were burned to death through somebody's neglect. * * * For that one fact that appalled the civilized world, caused hearts to stand still, tears to start from women's eyes; that one fact branded somebody as careless, negligent, incompetent. And, Tom Lea, if that be treason, you can make the most of it." Very truly yours, DAVID STARR JORDAN. 28 Women in Mexico By M. C. HOLLAND The history of Women in the Latin- American countries is a page full of sadness. If the condition of the aboriginal, conquered by the Spaniards, tortured by the Inquisition, and later on dragging out a miserable existence under the cacicazgo regime, is a story to fill one with pity and horror, what can be said of the story of woman, sarcastically called "the companion of the Lord of Nature"? Every one knows, generally, that throughout the world, woman has fol- lowed in man's tracks in the conquest of her rights; but it is necessary to study a little what has happened in America, in order to be able to under- stand the meaning of the transfor- mation in public sentiment and in eco- nomic conditions brought about by the revolutionary movements which, watched from the United States through the big interests, through the lenses of capitalists, are considered merely as disintegrating effervescence, as a cha- otic movement destined to be stopped by a more advanced civilization. The most typical case of woman's evolution from a beast of burden into a human being, may be observed characteristically in Mexico, where the revolution of these later years makes evident what we might call an "acceleration" of the vindication of woman in America. As in all Latin-America, in Mexico woman constituted the spoils of war of the conqueror. Hernado Cortez himself presents a historical example of this in his selecting the famous Malitzin, a beautiful Indian, as the companion of his adventures, for whose sake he repudiated his legal wife; some authors even affirming he tried to murder the latter. The Spaniards established in the new country the same customs they followed in the mother-country, which they had inherited from the Moors. During the Colonial period, woman was considered the slave of man at home, without any right to go out of the house, to acquire instruction, to be educated; woman was practically dead to the world from the instant in which she was delivered to the man who had chosen her for life. Woman, however, has accompanied her Mexican countryman with un- equalled abnegation, heroism we could say, throughout all the political arid economic changes the country has ex- perienced. Dona Josefa Ortiz de Do- minguez, wife of the commander of the City of Queretaro, took a leading part in the conspiracy of 1910 for the libe- ration of the country, and her history is almost a cult in the hearts of Mex- ican women. Her statue ornaments one of the beautiful public gardens of the City of Mexico. Practically all Mexican women, from the humblest to the great lady, have adjusted themselves to the circum- stances of the various struggles under- taken by men in that country. In Mexico, two big parties exist: the Liberal Party and the Reactionary Party. Women have been the principal instrument of the Reactionary Party in order to retain its influence in the home. On the other hand the Liberal Party, formed by the thinking portion of the middle class and of the un- happy, disinherited of the earth, has had in woman the sweetest consolation. Our soldiers have always gone to the battlefield accompanied by their women. There never has been a battle, not even a skirmish, in the history of Mexico, wherein woman has not had a part, as she always goes ahead of the soldier, requisitioning food for her man; during the battles, they have often shed their blood while recovering the wounded and even the dead, and after the battle, they have been the tender nurses ta- king care of the wounded. In the last few years, the example of the United States and the distribution of the literature of the civilized world among the masses, but especially among the school-mistresses has grad- 29 30 ually brought about a deep revolution in the feminine mind. Formerly they belonged to the class of slaves, when, at most, they learned to read and write, even arithmetic being- considered not at all necessary for them. The new feminist movement was looking for new horizons and in the same manner that the peon and the laborer has taken part in the struggle of the last five years in order to con- quer their economic well-being, woman has helped the armed movement in the hope of a liberation which should not be too far off. During this last revolt, there were thousands of women teachers prin- cipally, who carried concealed on their bodies, revolutionary proclamations which they distributed in the places where the Diaz, and afterwards the Huerta, rule was predominant. The latter threw into jail scores of them, and started a struggle against the first group of teachers who had organized themselves in order to help the Revo- lution. The association consisted of three hundred and fifty teachers, who never weakened or rested, in spite of serious dangers, in their efforts to im- part faith and enthusiasm to the men in the struggle against dictatorship. Many young girls 15 and 16. years old, were imprisoned because they expressed aloud their sympathy for Madero's widow. A number of women teachers, with Maria Arias at their head, made a collection for the erection of a mon- ument to Madero over his grave; and afterwards went to the battlefield to serve the wounded, as the Red Cross Association does, in contradistinction to the Red Cross of the Aristocracy, which, in the last days of the Diaz rule, at first hesitated to go forward and serve the wounded that belonged to the Revolutionary party, under orders from its President at that time, Dona Luz Gonzales Cosio. When the revolution at last succeeded, woman took an important step forward: the Law of Divorce was decreed, and the moral effect of this law alone has sufficed to raise the moral level of many households where woman was more of a slave than a free agent. Mexican women have progressed in all social classes. The old "soldadera" (wife of the soldier), is no longer the dirty ragged woman of yore; at the present time, the soldier's woman and the soldier himself is no longer one of the forcibly levied is dressed regularly, wears shoes and does not present that appearance of physical and moral mis- ery which was typical in former times. The working women have organized in different parts of the Republic, con- stituting groups of real importance. Women teachers and, in general, women of the middle class, are taking active participation in public affairs, and occupy positions in all public and private offices. At present, women work, earning their living and their economic independence. The greatest results in this movement have been observed in the State of Yucatan, where a Feminist Congress met recently, consisting of more than two thousand women of the middle class, who, only a short while ago, were enslaved by all kinds of preju- dices, and who at this meeting dis- cussed enthusiastically Education, Re- ligion and Physiology, showing in the most unsuspected manner, the strength of the feminine intellect, as well as its moral power by the side of man, to direct the future Mexican family. T*his is one aspect of the social com- motion which is taking place on the other side of the Rio Grande, one ex- tremely interesting to all students of sociology and an example to all Latin- American countries. 31 APR 2 4