Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-08-21

VIII dllONdUCt. hbSl
of them are wired by sensation-mongers,
anxious to earn an honest penny by send
ing matter that is bound to be read; and
while there is doubtless some grim truth
in most of the statements pertaining to
this border row, many of them are ludi-
crously exaggerated. to the great injustice
of Mexico and the serious detriment of in
ternational relations. Occurrences which
tend to arouse these animosities are serious
ly TO be deplored, for, though bitter hatred
prevails between both nationalties along
the frontier-growing out of acts of cussed-
ness committed by irresponsible persons on
both sides of the line-the better clement
of society in the northern States Of Mexico
as elsewhere in the republic, entertain
friendly sentiments toward the United
States.
But the Mexicans have many reasons for
disliking our people. A respectable Ameri-
can often finds occasion to blush for his
country-or rather for the conduct of some
of her representatives here. Perhaps it is
the case with all lands, that the men and
women who drift over the border are gen.
orally the scum of society-the failures
the cranks and disappointed ones, if not
those whose actual mlsdeeds have eXiled
them
FOE THEIR coUNTEY's GOOD.
Should undertake to tell you the doings
of some Americans (of both sexes) in
Mexico. no reputable editor would publish
the recital. The Mexicans are by nature
extremely hospitable, but again and again
has their hospitality been abused and their
trust betrayed by foreigners whom they
have received into their homes, that they
have come to regard US all with distrust
and aversion. There is much unmitigated
hlcI oh 10 ,.y 81 f
Americans in Mexico by reason of our
railroads, invested capital, and contact
with the people. This is the sheerest non
sense, tinctured with the inordinate vanity
of the typical American citizenn In the
first place, all we who were born upon this
hemisphere are native Americans, and
there is no reason why those occupying
that strip of the northern continent called
the United States shall arrogate to them
selves exclusive right to that distinction
In certain sense railroads are undoubted
civilizers in opening up wild regions-as
the Union Pacific did in one domain but
they can hardly be regarded in that light
in Mexico, having been built only through
the most richly-populated sections and
connecting cities which were hoary with
antiquity before the United States was
thought of.
The popular notion of the North that
Mexico is a land of heather and "Greasers"
is the widest of errors. True, the poor
and ignorant are vastly in the majority as
to numbers, but they are vigorously ruled
by the controlling upper class, which has
few superiors on the face of the earth for
culture, refinement, good breeding, and
that proper pride which can trace its an
cestry back through centuries of wealth
and power As rule,
THE CIvILIZING INFLUENCE"
OF the average railroader has not vet been
made apparent. The higher officials are
invariably gentlemen whose department,
here as elsewhere, is a credit to the country
that claims them but there is also null
titude of lower employees, some of whom
are disgrace to any nationality. They
are perpetually boasting of their superiority
and their rights as American citizens, run
ming full tilt against all the customs and
prejudiceS of the country which has the
misfortune to tolerate their presence. A
Mexican seldom gets downright drunk, or
swears nolsily, or engages in street brawls.
He has his vices, but they partake of his
own gentle and quiet nature. One low
class Anglo-SaXon out on q tear with
his propensity for smashing windows. etc.,
will raise more racket and commit more
tiyes can accomplish in year.
LAWS OF SOCIAL MATTERS.
While it is true that among the lowest
classes in Mexico the marriage ceremony
is comparatively unknown, and the sexes
herd together like cattle, it is also fact
that no people in the world are more
severely moral than Mexicans of the higher
grades. Their laws of social propriety
are as immutable as those of the Modes
and Persians, and strict virtue is the rule
among them. | could tell you lamentable
cases wherein an American has wormed
himself into the confidence of some Next
can family, through his letters of introduce
ton or business interests here, and then.
disregarding the time-honored customs of
the country and insisting upon the more
free and easy ways of the United States
(Which may do well enough among the
cOld-blooded people of the north, but never
in the tropics, has ruined the fairest of the
flock and brought dishonor upon the house
which sheltered him. Even the stage
robberies and Mexican raids, about which
we hear so much, have many of them been
proven TO have been committed by rene
gade Americans, escaped conyicts from
United States prisons, and other outlaws,
who probably belong on the northern side
of the Rio Grande, but find it convenient to
masquerade as "Greasers " for their own
evil purposes. The State of Texas alone
has sent more roughs into this country
than were ever raised on Mexican soil, in
view of which fact the present heated con-
dition of its people, their exaggerated re-
ports, and mass meetings in favor of war,
are especially aggravating to Mexico.
FANNIE Is. WARD.