Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1888-09-15
IN OLD MEXICO.
The Land of the Lotus-Mansna-
American Interests.

The Land of the Lotus-Mansna-
American Interests.
Ell Paso, o city old and yet new, once
an important trading post, since the
post offered the best communication
between Mexico and the country north
of &he Rio Grsnde. We found here an
international street car line, stfordinR
easy and cheap passage between Ameri-
can Ell Paso and the old Mexican city,
Psso del Norte, On cur trip through
New Mexico we have made the acquain-
lance of the primative adobe houses ahd
their swarthy occupants; yet, after we
have crossed the Rio Grande, We feel
that We are in alien country; alien, not
only because We have left the stars end
stripes behind Us and see the Mexican
trlcolor waving over public buildings;
but because the language, manners,
customs, all are distinctly totelgn. The
depot OF the Mexican Central railroad,
though buiit OF adobe, and the oars are
the only objects reminding us that we
IRE still in the nineteenth century but
take q look around at objects m or
inanimate, and they viii remind you OF
bygone centuries. Look at that primi-
tive oxcnrt; its rude two wheels would
seem to fall apart at the first motion;
the yoke, too, is such ss we beve read OF
in the middle ages. The driver standing
i!stlessly by his sleepy teams, seems
satisfied to wait for work, ever though
it should never come. The emblem OF
stupidity, which should rather be the
emblem of patience and ~frugsllty, the
donkey, is we'll represented. Here car
rying a load of wood, there some
bundles of chsrgoal and occasionally
mppchipg some offal with which the
streets are plentifully sprinkled, these
ANIMALS are in reality the best friends
the poorer classes in Mexico have. Not
much is needed, it seems, to make q
living. There is a ssalwart fellow, in
the prime of life, sauattipg down behind
a diminutive table on whlca is his stock
on trade, five buns, representing q value
of perhaps ten cents. Instead OF en-
ploylng has time he is satisfied If he can
make his daily tortillss, without exert
Jog himself. The hood OF the women,
the wrapper with which they hide their
features, it Is all foreign, all alien to Us.
1t cannot be the air, Tor that Is bracine
enough, it must be something in the
race itself, which accounts for the in
difference to progress. the quieta non
movere, which is apparent every where.
It cannot be called l~aziness for that is
more an acquired habit; it seems almost
as if the whole. Mexican race had been
fed on the lotus plant. Order some
work done and the answer will be:
Manana (from mah-nyah.nah) to-mor-
row. The old saying seems to read in
Mexican, never do to-day what you can
do Tomorrow. Throughout Mexico we
will find ample evidence that orr south.
ern neighbors fully believe that.
We are the same that our fathers have
been. Mexico is rich country. Its
natural resources, agricultural as we'll az
mineral, cannot be surpassed. Not
~wltbstanding the immense amount OF
precious metals taken from It's mines for
hundreds of years, the states OF Sinslon.
Ohihushaa end Durango yield still vast
quantities. With all this the people are
poor, or what we would consider wretch
ediy poor. Their houses of the simplest
material, are almost entirely without
furniture; their food is of the simplest,
beans or the flour of beans forming the
etaple; but in the simplicity of their
wants they know no better and ask no
more.
There is q great influx OF Americans
into Mexico, end the government OF
President Diaz seems to encourage
American enterprise. But now, the
question arises. if the extreme liberality
with which our capitalists are treated
will not give rise to political complics-
tions OF which it is difficult to forsee the
end. We refer especially to the immense
concessions of land granted to Ameri-
cans. Take. for instance, the Interna-
tfonal company, of Hartford. Conn. This
corporation obtained g grant of I9, O00,-
600 acres in Lower California and an
other large grant in Las Polomas, in the
northern part OF Mexico. south of Dem
ing. as these immense territories are
obtained without any or at the merest
nominal consideration, the new owners
offer great Inducements to settlers, but
this immigration, upon which the native
looks now with apathy, is likely to drive
MIN to the wall and produce feelings of
aversion, which may find their expires.
sion in deeds rasher than words.