Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-08-21
- Analiazafi~.,,

L dDOub 1uOA1CO anu us DIt1S-
poets fail into some curious plumbers
| through forgetting that the people OF
TINS country do not form 4 bomo2ene-
GUS mass Ike the white population of
fhe United States. The Mexicans are,
| as y We're. either Concord philosophers
or LOUISIANA negroes. There isno great
MIDDLE class like that which gives the
American Union its strength. You meet
risn ana aristocratic Mexicans and you
meet those who lire from hand to
mouth. There are almost no Others.
lhe former are rulers, the latter are
subjects. This division of the .inhabi-
tants OF the country into mobiles and
serfs must have. powerful influence
upon the course of governmental and
commercial affairs. The number 81
people in Mexico is not known.
No census even approximatinr accu-
racy was ever taken. The Great OBJ
stacle to an enumeration is the natural
fear OF the lower class that census
will lie followed by tax. The popu-
latlon OF nosclty is known within sew
eral thousands. i The Minister of Pub
lie Worss, however, reported in 1880
tnat Ihere We're in the Republic 1872
az Europeans or Spanish-Americans
100, VA Indians, and 4,260,4 45 per-
sons OF mixed race. The mixed popu-
lation Includes three groupes, VIZ.
Mestlzos. or the offsprings of Indians
and whites; Zambos, or Indo-Afrieans
and mullatos. The Mestizos out
number the fothers of mixed descent
W toll Other estimates rank the ma
i've population somewhat higher; but,
without going into details. the white
lnhab tants OF the Republic may be
set down at 2, U00,O 900 and the Indian
and mixed at 8,O00.03o. The whites
are for the most part Creoles or of
Spanish descent. The mixed race has
produced not a few famous men, and
sons OF pure Indian parents have made
their mark. The great Jaurez, for
instance. was an Indian. But
the indians are for the most part
unprogressive. They neither produce
merchandise for export nor buy
imported goods. They have moth
ing to say about affairs. They are
born.' they live in their picturesque,
semi-barbarous way, and they die. For
all purposes of commerce, Mexico is a
country of iyastextent, inhabited byless
than 3,0Ol.0g0 souls. All estimates
coIcernining it, based on the nominal
population OF 10,0o0,oOU are delusive.
The upper class Mexicans are the
equals IN culture Of the best circles in
the United tates or Europe. It is the
Ind ans, and they alone, who pique the
curiosity of strangers, And there are
travelerswho come to Mexico aud leave
it again convinced that the population
of the country consists entirely of worth
less poems. This IS profound mistake.
But inasmnch as, the Indians fill the
foreground in the eyerchanging picture
of Mexican life, let us see what the his
torians have TO say about the origin of
these sing lar people. We will then |
in a state Of nature. The name sin
DAM then, is misleading. BY Elm |
dians" Americans of the present day |
understand fierce Sioux, treacherons |
Apaches, or grim Comanches, not the |
good red men of Cooper's fiction, and |
still less the Indians encountered by |
Cortes and their descendants-the native |
races Of the Pacific States, as Bancroft |
euphemistieally calls them. The people |
whom the Spanlards found in Mexico |
were st Least half civilized. They were,
the San Francisco author tells us, ex- /
tremely frugal in their habits, but they |
delighted in splendid pageants and |
wasted their substance in costly feasts. |
They were. tender and kind to their |
children, but punished them severely. /
They Were naild with their slaves and |
Zero ious with their captiyes. They |
were q most ingenious people. and were |
quick to learn the new arts introduced /
among them by the spaniards. They
were generous and remarkably free
from avaii e. They were physically a
fine ra being tall, well formed and
of an olive or light opper color, having
thick, black, coarse, though soft and
glossy hair, regular teeth, low, narrow, !
retreating foreheads, black eyes, slant |
beards and very little hair on their
bodies. Their sight was very "a ,ute,
and they were wonderful runners and |
leapers. 1t was not uncommon to meet /
those who could not be distinguished |
from Europeans in tolor.-St. Louis |
Globe )ea310cy15