The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1895-07-27

LAKE PATZCUARO, July If, Io5o' -
Much light may be thrown on the char
acter of the economic revolution now IN
progress in Mexico by observing what
Mexican cities were before railways
reached them, and what they are now be-
coming under new influences. Their
conditions were unlike the conditions OF
either those cities of the I nited States
that have recently grown into import
ance, depending in the beginning on
older centers Of population, or those that
existed in the eastern part of the coun-
try before railways were built. Inc
difference between them and the more
recently developed American cities IS the
difference between an independent
growth and growth fostered from some
external source. The. points in which
they differed from the American cities OF
the period before the railway are mainly
two: They were more completely isolated
and compelled to be self-dependent. and
their Inhabitants comprised two classes
distinctly separated by different race
characteristics, the very large majority OF
whom were Indians.
Probably the present condition OF no
Mexican city illustrates the early condl-
ton of all of them better than that OF
Oaxaca. 1t has been easily accessible
for go short a period that its circum-
stances are essentially what they were
before the railway was built Through
three centuries of its history it has grown
as an interior town, in the fullest sense OF
that term. 1t lies in one Of the most
beautiful and fertile valleys of Mexico,
or rather at the meeting-point of three
valleys. 1t is shut off from The ocean on
the south by a solid range of mountains;
it is separated from the cities of Central
Mexico on the north by mass
Of rough and broken country. The
region of which il Is the center
is part of the world by itself, and the
community which occupies it is practl-
calIy self-suff icing body of people. The
population has grown so slowly through
its long existence that it has learned to
satisfy its wants, as they have appeared,
by it's own products. The nandlooms
which have been used for generations
are still used. The pottery which the
inhabitants of this region must have
learned TO make centuries ago, is still
made and turned to all conceivable uses,
from cooking stoves to chlldren's toys.
Articles made from the potter's clay
serve most of the purposes of our articles
of iron or tin or WOOD or brass. If You
wish bell, you will buy it of the potter.
If you wish whistle, you will buy IL OF
the potter. If you wish tiles TO cover the
dome of the cathedral, you Will buy them
of the potter. In fact, from the great va
riety of uses to which the potter's clay Is
put. we readily see that life before the
iron age was not necessarily mean.
Other apparently simple materials are
also made to serve large number OF
ends. The maguey plant is familiar IN
stance of single kind of material put to
q multitude of uses. So skiIIfully, under
the pressure of necessity, have the re-
sources of this region been utilized, that
If q wall of absolute exclusion were built
along the ridge of the encircling mount
aims, the life Of the community would 60
on without noteworthy Inconvenience to
the bulk of the inhabitants. The we'll
cultivated cornfelds would produce.
as they do now, an abundant supply
of the staple food. The fiocks and
the neIUS WOElQ tuoJ NO
now, and their skins would be turned
into sandals, shoes and other articles
of clothing. On the physical side
there would be few wants unsatisfied.
AS now, few would be rich and each
would have something.
This condition of Oaxaca is typical of
the condition of all Mexican towns that
have grown up where they are by reason
of their rich agricultural neighbernood.
When the railway first reaches them they
have no use for it. Their produce and
manufactured articles have their long
established currents of movement, and
she inhabitants themselves have no de-
sire to make long journeys. This condi-
ton of things is the basis of the remark
by an engineer who has had great ex-
perience in locating railways in Mexico,
that it is never worth the while TO go out
of the way to reach Mexican town, but
quite worth q special effort to reach the
great plan tatIons. This would be
permanently true if the towns were to
remain as the railways find them. But
they do not so remain. The coming of
the railway means Tor the town trans
the case, nn0, perhaps, reach the con-
clusion that the transformation is not de-
sirable; that il means loss of original
character aud consequent deterioration.
Nevertheless the change will come. The
railway remains anu creates demand
for its services; il carries wares from
without into the town, which from being
at first luxuries become necessities.
Some domestic manufactures decline,
other lines of production are stimulated;
and the buying and selling OF goods be-
come more conspicuous features OF the
towns life. With more extensive use
of things from without there arises the
desire to see some part of the country
beyond the immediate horizon. Thus
the town grows away from its original
character, and becomes merged in the
larger life of the country or the world.
But this transportation does not come
suddenly with the appearance Of the rail-
way, Long after the new means of trans
,,ortation have been established we find
some part of the trade of region run
ming in its old channels. The Indian
and his donkey are the persistent rivals
ri the railways; and the Indians without
donkeys are carriers with whom it is hard
tn compete. Even such cheap and heavy
goods as coarse terra-cotta jars are still
carried by men from the valley OF
r,olnca to the City of Mexico, along the
highway which, for some part of the dis
tance. runs parallel with the Mexican Ma
tional Railway.
The case Of Oaxaca 10 still not quite
typical; its extreme isolation ana 1ne pro-