Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-09

been established are making money anC
there is plenty of roon for more. Ii
another letter l will discuss the question
more at length and will show how a numbe
of smart Americans are already in the fielC
and are already making fortunes
One of the brightest Americans in the
country, by the way, is Mr.. Fred r. Guern
sey, the editor of the Findacier, q weekly
financial paper which has become the busi.
ness authority of the country, and which
has made Mr.. Guernsey and his partners q
fortune within the past half dozen years.
1t is a bright, reliable, progressive journal,
and is thoroughly independent.
GETTING RICH VERY RAPIDLY.
Its editor came down here at the time the
Mexican Central Railroad was opened q
few years ago as the correspondent of the
Boston Herald He liked the outlook and
concluded to stay. He is now a partner in
one of the largest mercantile firms in Mex
leo, that of Seegur, Guernsey 6 Co., and he
is said to have made several hundred thous-
and dollars within decade. He is popular
with President Diaz and the Mexicans, and
he tells me he likes the country and intends
to spenG his life in il. His paper is the
only one of the kind in Mexico and it is
undoubtedly doing the country good. As
to the other weekly papers there is amining
journal, humorous sheet or So and there
is paper which circulates almost entirely
among the lawyers As to the outside
paper, see more French journals than
Spanish ones on the tables of the reading
room; in the clubs and Mexico reads more
French than English. The bookstores, of
which there are many, are filled with French
books in fine bindings, and the cheap novels
ha Il 80,
Mexico city is perhaps the best place in
the world for the purchase of antique books,
and the secondhand book stores contain
hundreds OF old volumes bound in vellum
and musty with the age of hundreds OF
years.
A PARADISE FOR BOOK FANCIERS.
l bought a rare old volume which was
printed in the year 1903 for 81. 1t was a
Latin book, beautifully printed and illus
trated, and ii would bring high price at
any antiquarians in America. l found it in
book stall under the long arcades that
ran around the plaza in Mexico CITY,
and the dark-faced book peddler asked me
SO for 1t. lpulled out bright, new Mex
lean dollar and held it up before his ewes.
he at first scorned it, but as l started to put
it back into my pocket he handed me the
book and held out his hand for the collar
You find all kinds of old and rare volumes
here. TwO-thirds of the wealth of the whole
country belonged to the priests at the time
that their property was confscated some
years ago by the Government They had
vast Libraries III their monasteTies, and their
converts were filed with old books Since
then great many of these have been sold
and stolen, and you find them in every lam
guage, and some of them date back of the
invention Of printing and were made by the
monks OF the Middle Ages with the pen.
IN THE NATIONAL LIBRARY.
1 visited the National Library of Mexico.
1t is in the big church of San Augustin,
which was confiscated and devoted to this
purpose, and it contains nearly 200, 600 vol
umes, or about one-third as many as our
National Library at Washington. The
walls Of the church have been lined with
shelves, and its naves and its chapels are
hUed with books. l walked through long
aisles of old volumes bound in velIum, and
no one Of which, L was told, was less than
100 years old, and 1 saw that there were
hundreds of men and boys sitting at the
tables in the reading room poring over
books ana making notes from them. Some
OF these were school boys others were
students of the many colleges of the capital
and others, 1 was told, belonged to the
Mexican Congress: and were getting up
speeches which they would soon spout in
the Senate and House
Mexico City is, in fact, far more cult |
waited capital than is generally supposed. |
You may have as good schools here as any,
where. There are colleges for women and |
men. There is great national museum. a |
fine art gallery, which contains number of |
the old masters, and the people have their
social clubs and their literary societies.
MEXICAN AUTHORS AND MUSICIANS. |
Mexico has its poets, and while have
been here its poet laureate recited a
patriotic poem at public celebration. 1t |
has its novelists and its historians, and no. |
where in the world will you find a more |
general love for music among all classes of |
the people. Every Mexican city has its |
plaza, or central park, containing flowers.
trees, seats and band stand, and several |
times a week the Government and other /
bands give here free open-air concerts. In /
Mexico City every Sunday morning YOU |
may hear delicious music by one of the best I
bands of the world in the Plaza Mayor
From u o'clock TO the whole city turns
Drt and takes promenade in the Alameda,
another great park, and here also AN excel