Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-08-19
THE AMERICAN IN MEXICO.
A Good Country for Foreigners to Do
Business in.

Charles Dudley Warner in Harpers
Magazine: a bountiful nature,
and a population accustomed to work
for pay that would only support them
in conditions of squalor it can be seen
why the citizen of the United States,
who is always looking for place to
invest his capital (meaning often
only his wits), finds Mexico attractive.
SO long as wages are low, and the peon
is content to live as he does, and the
American dollar can be changed into
two Mexican dollars for the purchase
of land or the pay of labor, the pros
pect seems a dazzling one for the ad-
venturer. The government invites In
vestments by the most liberal conces-
sions, and encourages in every way the
building of railways and the develop
n ent of productive lands. | doubt II
there is another country where Tor
eigners are so much encouraged and
so we'll protected by the authorities
as in Mexico And this invitation to
foreigners will continue so long as the
government is administered in its pres
emit spirit, until the Mexicans are edu-
Gated, and have learned to live better
and to demand adequate wages. Mean
time the government, while holding
cut inducements to foreign capital, is
multiplying it's schools, both for com
mon and industrial education, and
ADOPTING our new educational methods,
from the colleges down to the kinder
gartens. In this transitional period
the American sees an opportunity for
making a fortune 1t would sound
strange in England, and it begins to be
rare in the United States, to hear OF
fortunes made by agriculture. But
cases of it are said to be common
here. ! was told that in the little,
clean, healthful, delightful city of Qua
dalajara Q25,000) there are Al mill
lionaires (no one of them worth more
than three mil1ions), who have nearly
all made their money from the product
of their haciendas. Many of them are
from the lower ranks, and began with
no capital few years ago.
Some of these lucky people are for
eigners who have married Mexican
women and adopted the manners of the
country. I could fill this paper with
instances I have heard of, of foreigners
who came here penniless, and in few
years have risen to positions OF trust
and ownership in banks, railways and
plantations But these stories are
common the world over. These profit
able haciendas, where sugar, coffee and
cereals are grown, both the old and
the new, are really feudal principalities
in extent and in authority. In the
center of a tract of tens Of thousands
of acres, only small proportion Of
which is cultivated is the owners res
idence. IF he is a Mexican land com
paratively few as yet are owned by
foreigners, there is a church with
tall spire or tower near the house-a
landmark for every dusty visitor-a
store, and, grouped around, the mud
novels of the poems who are the feudal
dependents The hacienda residence
may be surrounded by high adobe
wall, and within are the various Offices,
courts, with tropical trees, plants and
flowers and fountains. The large and
poor population of this domain are
absolutely dependent upon the pr0prie-
tor Their dwellings are wretched,
even for this climate: their wardrobe
would make rag market in any
ghetto; and they are apt to be in