The Arizona sentinel., 1896-12-19
CITY OF MEXICO.
OUR SISTER REPUBLIC VISITED
By WelI-knewn Ariz0nian Who Gives a Glowing Account of His Trip Through Part of That
 Country.

l udVInS DAu Gu6 HOSL 6uJOydn1o tIIp of my life. found everything in Mexieo-the people, the conditions and the scenery-even more interest ing than 1 had anticipated. So much so, in fact, that two weeks in the city gave me time for the prominent feat ures only. The country all the WAY from Fl Paso to Mexico, is as good as any part of the west in the United States, and very much of it is better
 Several stretches of & hundred miles here and there, seemed as fertile as Illinois; and much that is not under cultivation is idle for no other reason than that the people are ignorant and shiftless. Water, as with us, is the great question; but there was nothing to be desired in this respect while I was there as it raiRed nearly every day. On account of the rains, the appearnce of the country was at it's best, so that did not see the average condition of things and consequently my impressions must be highly color ed. It was great surprise to me to see cotton and tabacco and all other crops that grow in our country only in the moist, south, at Lerro and Torreon and other points along the road, and also mile after mile of corn fields. The corn, though, seems to be 6 failure for this year. presumably because of the late rainy season; but no doubt the method of planting and cultlvat- ing has quite as much to do with it's failure as the lack of moisture. One sees from eight to twenty stalks of corn growing in one hill, when never more than four would be seen in one group in this country. With such methods of planting, of course no amount of rain would bring satisfacto- ry results from the American point Of view.
 Very little advance has been made in the matter of farming, anywhere in the country. Five miles outside of the City of Mexico, blowing with a crooked stick and oxen is very com mon sight; in fact, 1 did not see any where either a blow or harrow UT a cultivator-po other agricultural i'm plements but the crooked stick and a heavy piece of timber dragged over the ground that has been scratched by this blow. They are hardly a step in advance of our Indians in these things; indeed, the great bulk ot the population of Mexico, in and out of the City, is on no higher level of civilization, and I think great part of them is not even in as advanced condition, as our Isleta Indians. More than half of the City of Mexico is made up of just such human beings as the Isletas; the same in physique, in customs and largely the same in habits, with this difference, so far as could see, that the Isleta Indians are housed more comfortably and have much more of the good things of life.
 spent little over two weeks in tine City of Mexico, and enjoyed every instant of it. It is like a new world everything different, even thought. l explored the city thoroughly, every nook and corner and the suburbs as we'll. Much of my time was spent in the church each one of which is a museum in itself. The cathedral is the largest and richest and most ip- teresting church on the continent It has sixty alters, with services going on at some of them till noon, every day in the week. An entire week might be spent in this building alone, to advantage, examining the paint ings and the carvings in the altars. In this building there are more pictures by the greatest Mexican and Spanish painters, than there arein the National Museum of Art. It Is more like a section of the Worlds Fair transport ed to the center of Mexico, than a church, and the absence of benches increases this effect. You will see in corners of the building congregation so large that it would crowd our largest cathedrals. and here it fills only one corner while in the rest of the build ing sightseers of various nations may be seen walking around examining paintings and other things in much the same manner as they mi Int at a Fair. It is a commentary on the Mexican idea of American manners and honesty, that they are the only people who are excluded from certain parts of the church. But it is fact that if the sacrlstans know that you arc an American, they cannot be in-