The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-04-14

matters as some of their methods would
! lead us to believe. In concessions" to
| foreigners they always have some hidden
| loop-holes of escape, by which they may
crawl out of their side of the bargain while
holding the other party firmly to 1t, after
they (the Mexicans) have derived all the
possible benefits.
The International company have spent
millions of dollars in the upper half OF this
peninsula; they have reclaimed its hitherto
unknown deserts, made them valuable, and
brought the country into the fav0raL lie
notice of the world. But they have not
strictly fulfilled the letter Of the law in
every STIPULATION of their concession, and
therefore are now at the mercy of the i'm
pOverished and mercenary COVE cnment OF
Mexico. Despite all the suave Inter
national" talk, and fiowery gush for pollcy's
sake, it is an unquestionable fact that at
heart the Mexican people are
BITTERLY JEALOUS OF AMERICAN INFLUENCE,
resentful for the war that lost them so
much territory, and fearful of future
encroachments by the stronger race.
While few of the better posted natives of
the peninsula assert that they will welcome
the day when it shall become part of the
United States, there are many others
who speak with rage and terror OF the now
much talked-Of idea that President Diaz
may be induced to sell this portion of his
territory to Uncle Samuel
For months there has been quibbling
between lawyers, Mexican and American,
over the cOmpany'S claims and titles, and
there are grave doubts as to the outcome of
the decision. 1t is not impossible that the
Mexican government may declare its con-
cessiOn forfeited, for non-fultillment of
terms; in which case the International
company, Notwithstanding the millions they
have expended here and the numbers of
cOlonists to whom they have sold land,
may find that they do not own an acre in
Lower California, and that all the titles
they have given, like their own, are null and
void.
In view of all this, and while the issue is
yet undecided, the wav-faring man,
though a fool, may see that it is dangerous,
to say the least, to have any of the disputed
territory come into prominence as of extra
ordinary value. A struggling government
with a barren treasury, IN any part of the
world, might find itself sorely tempted to
back out of its contract with handful Of
foreigners, especially when non compliance
with its terms had left an avenue of escape.
mention these facts merely to show the
absurdity of the statement, that the present
excitement Is a barren "bOOm'' manu-
featured by interested parties.
The Burton claim, by which a woman
OF that name processes to own by a former
grant all this end of the peninsula, comes
up this month in the supreme court of
Mexico. And nobody can tell what the
outcome will be, although it is tolerably
safe to assume that the party which has
most money to spend will be likely to Win
1t IS prlncely possession, and should Mrs.
Burton ana her relatives think it worth
while to tender half Of it to the Mexican
judges and lawyers, the Americans may
prepare TO
MOVE on SHORT ORDERS,
or buy the territory over again.
For some time past, the International com
pany have not been selling any land, or Ell
cOuraging immigration and will not until
these perpleXing affairs shall be settled, in
one way or another. The corporation is
now essentially under English control, and
is being sustained by English capital
Captain Buchanan Scott, Il. E., late of
London. is the general manager and has
entire charge of all matters on the PENN
sula, not only including the 5000, 600 acres
of land which the company claim to own,
Ga territory nearly as large as the state
of New York; but of the surveys for the
projected peninsular railway. English
capitalists hayeinvested largely inthe stocks
and bonds of the railway, and will control
it if it is ever built. Nearly all the en-
plOyees are now Englishmen, and the time
will soon come when the International
company of Mexico, if it gains the day in
the present complications, will have moth
ing to do with America or Americans, but
be a repition of the English colony at
Belize, and British Honduras.
FANNIE 3. WARD.