The Osceola times., 1883-07-21
AMERICANS IN MEXICO.

b'H'o''b"S w oht "ho
Becn There.
Mai. John N. Edwards in the 81. Joseph Gazette.
Mexico has long been regarded this
side of the Rio Grande as wonderland.
II is full of gold and the tropics. Full
of spice winds and frankincense and
myrrh. Full of leagues Of grazing lands
and herds Of cattle. Full of fabulous
silver mines, guarded by the ghosts of
Cortez's swart cavaliers who came towoo
with the blood of last nights rivals not
dry on their blades Full of romance,
song, poetry, senoritas, tropical fruits,
south wind TO blow all day with an odor
of musk, and trade wind to blow all
night, full of the balm and the scent of
the sea.
Well, try it. No matter the subsidies
the central government promises or be-
slows, every railroad which enters the
territory of Mexico from the United
States will be bankrupted three times
over. Save and alone the hot country,
the TERRA caliente of the natives, every
foot of arabic ground has to be irrigated.
Inland from theRio Giandc, for three
hundred miles, the grass is sparse, the
water scant, and the chapparal abund-
ant II requires an immense range for a
small number Of cattle. In some period
of the worlds history the ground was
evidently subjected to a terrible convul-
sion of nature, for proofs everywhere
abound of heat, lava and npheaval.
Therefore, in an immense extent of ter
ritory irrigation is practically impossi-
bic.
In the hot country no man can live.
II he can live he can not work. IL he
can live he becomes shiftless, worthless
and scrubbier man in every respect
than the scrubby greaser.
The mines in many places are un-
doubtedly rich, but there are multi
tude of richer ones in New Mexico, Utah
Colorado, Montana, Nevada and Arizo-
ma. Why 20, then. from country where
the law protects to a country where there
Is no law?
Then again but few people understand
the bitter hatred the average Mexican
has for the American. Ii is simply in
extinguishable. No matter what Porlirio
Diaz says. No matter the continued
ovation he received from st. Louis to
New York, and from New York to New
Orleans, the masses of the Mexicans
hate the people of this country with
hatred that can only come from the com
mingling of the Spanish blood with the
Indian. Diaz at best is but an inferior
Blaine. Given an opportunity and he
would he dictator. lie is able, but he
is prescribed. The church. as powerful
in Mexico as the pope is in his college of
cardinals, has put its brand upon him.
What time he had power there he raided
its property remorselessly and showed
his animus more savagely than did that
low, squat Indian Juarez, who was born
Il proletarian, and who tried to avenge
the obscurity of his youth upon systems,
crecds and aristocracies.
Then again, the American is utterly
incrpaJle of making colonist. The En-
glishman accommodates himself at once
to the habits and customs of the people
who surround him. The Frenchman's
incompatible liberation and recognition
of every popularity, social or otherwise,
contendcd family at the very beginning.
The German is Just. fair in his dealings
and attends to his own business. But
the American? Ali the American is a
law Into himself lie damns every
thing and everybody. He enters the
the land with the belief that every man
is a blanketcd thief and every woman
hooded harlot. One can hear him swear
the length of street and near him talk
the length of two streets AS the Host
goes by he laughs at it. He would sncer
but hali-drunk men rarely sneer. When
he can get his pantaloons in his boots he
is happy. When he can strap big six
shooter above his hips he is iubilant.
Thereafter only u pint Of mescal or n
quart OF aguadientc is necessary to make
him fly his eagle and stable his horse in
a cathedral, if only there wasn't any
thing like an American camp or settle
ment at his back.
Therefore, whoever can do anything
at all in this country had better stay
here Outsidc of tropics, Mexico is
poor. None of the railroads will pay i'm
twenty years. II costs dollar and ten
on an average TO get dollar out of the
mines. The splendid cattle ranges are
myth. Unfit for colonists, the Amcii-
cans can never succeed by emigration.
IL they go in small parties they will be
murdered. II they 60 in large ones they
will starvc. The only possible way TO
utilize Mexico at all is for the United
States TO take it, body and soul, then
people it. That however, will not be
done this century.