Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1881-03-24
Mexican Colonization.

mexican ColoniZation.
San Francisco Chronicle
Americans are the most restless peo-
pie in the world. No matter how well
they may be situated they are never
satisfied, but always on the shaIp look
out for Openings" in the distance.
The story of the old "squatter," who
complained that he was being crowded
when his nearest neigbbor's stock
grazed within six miles of his cabin,
and thereupon pulled up stakes and
moved "outen the thick settlements"
has in it, to one familiar with actual
Western life thirty or forty years, ago
a good deal more the color of truth than
of fiction. The outer edges Of Ameri-
can life have always and always will
have, till the whole continent is ex-
plored and developed, the nomadic de-
yelOpment in character. The Biblical
accounts of Abraham and Lot, and that
exquisite poetic story which Longfellow
tells Of Abdel Hassen have been re-
peated ten thousand times under but
slightly varying conditions, since the
day when young Henry Clay made
tracks from the "Slashes Of Hanover"
Virginia, for the Ozark and Bloody
Ground" of Kentucky. Buchanan
Reads account in verse of the Pennsyl-
vania family that made SO many moves
toward the setting sun is a tale that
more than a million families in the
United States could parallel, if the
simple truth were known Of their his
tory. So far the course of migration
has tended steadily westward. Less
than half a century ago the state of
Ohio was known east Of the Allegha-
nies as "The BackwOOds," whilst In
diana and Illinois were regarded in the
Eastern and Middle States with some
thing akin to the vague ideas of the
ancicnts regarding the tabled "Atalan-
tis" and the ultimate land of Thule.
They are now the heart and center of
american population and enterprise,
and new Thules have been conquered
from the savage thousands of miles
! farther toward sunset.
The star of empire is no longer west
ward on the old lines of migration. 1t
has shifted to the south, and enterprise
is following it with its railways, tele-
graphs, printing presses and multifOrm
cOntrivances for the subjugatiOn of
nature to the wants of man. The col
onizatiOn of Mexico by American
nOmads is becoming the order of the
day. Mr. Brannan has secured a
vast tract of land in Sonora for this
purpose. One of the Santa Clara Muir
phys has cut out a fresh "opening' in
the state of Durango. The Guaymas
and FL Paso railway company have
their grant also; and in few years as
the various roads advance towards
completion there will be hundreds of
these American colonies planted in
the ancient and drowsy land of the
A2tecs from Sonora to Oaxaca and
along the line of the Tehuantepec road
from sea to sea. 1t is hardly more
than two generations ago that the
Missouri river was less known than the
Lualaba, when in 1870 Livingstone
first beheld it. The Danube is not now
so thoroughly explored in all its Black
Forest sources as the Missouri, and
certainly not as well equipped with all
the elements of civilized machinery
What American restlessness and en-
terpriSe have done for the vast region
watered by the Missouri, American
colonization properly conducted and
meeting with no serious backsets on
the part of the Mexican government,
is capable of accomplishing for that
country within the next half-century
albiet the forces which subjugate ma
ture do not move as vigorously and
as rapidly in the land of the palm as in
the land of the pine.
Mexico is all that its best eulogistS
claim for it. Its climate is in most
parts perfection. Its soil will produce
most of the crops of the temperate and
all the fruits of the torrid zone; and
with less toll than the best acres OF
Illinois, Missouri or Iowa. Its miner.
al resources are only so far "prospected''
as to make sure of the fact that they
are not excelled in any other country,
With American blood and machinery,
assisted by american railway and steam
ship transportation, there is no estimat.
ing the outcome of such country in
) production and wealth. But it is pro
per to admonish those of our race who
are meditating seriously a fight south
ward that in settling in Mexio they
{ surrender their protection to the Unit,
ed States government, and will have to
look to Mexico for it should they en-
counter harm from the native popula
/ ton on account Of race, politics, reli
| gion or what not. The existing gov
= ernment of Mexico is liberal and fal
= from fanatical. The tendency Of
things is favorable to continuance oi
, goodwill between the two republics
They look 10 us for capital, skilled
{ labor, machinery and new blood to de
. velOp the resources Of their country
l increase its revenues and improve it
9 society. We look to them for elbow
: room; and there is no reason, upon tn,
: surface at least, why the two race
S should not harmonize as neighbors il
!. Durango, Sonora, Oaxaca or JaliscO, a
t they do in California.