The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-04-01


wholesale plumber. President Diaz has
put an end to all this. 1t is as safe
now to walk about the City of Mexico
in the night as in New York Travel
is as safe throughout the whole coun-
try as between New York and San
Francisco. Banks exist and flourish
in all the cities; capital is flowing in
from Europe and America. The re-
sources of the country are rapidly de-
veloping. There is a colony of four
thousand Americans in the City of
Mexico alone. This winter more
American capitalists have come to the
city than ever before.
All this is the work of one man, Pro-
firio Diaz. He is popular with the In
dams because he is an Indian, or rath-
er of mixed blood. He is popular with
the business men and indeed with eve
rybody because he maintains order.
He is the only man that ever did pre-
serve order in Mexico. He has in fact
made Mexico, and the state he has Gre
ated cannot die with him. Mexico
cannot lapse again into brigandage.
The railroads, the banks, the manufac-
tories, the mines, the great industries
eiiett AiebNC opl oiiS up ullQSl llio SoNSlI
ment will provide his successor. Diaz
has, of course, some queer methods.
He has conciliated bandits by putting
them into office. He has often i'm
prisoned men arbitrarily and some
times shot them. He has the methods
of despotism that has no foundation
in law, but rests wholly on force. But
as he maintains order, the means are
overlooked. A recent act of his in Yu-
catan illustrates the way in which he
works. Yucatan is quite distinct
part of Mexico. The Indians, the May
as, are a distinct race. The higher
classes are unlike those in Mexico gen.
orally. There are more pure whites
among them. They were Imperialists
in Maximillian's time, and they dream
of secession now. General Canton, the
governor of the state, elected last
February, really appointed by the pres
ident was an officer in Maximillian's
army and actually fought against his
country. His appointment provoked a
good deal of cutlery among the mug
wumps of Mexico. There are some re-
formers here, too. Why should a trail
tor be chosen governor. I1e is a man
of wealth, popular with the white I'm
perialists and among the Mayas, too.
So Diaz elected him and attached wa
vering Yucatan to his government
Speaking of these mugwumps, some
of them became noisy just before the
last election, so-called, in Mexico; they
We're quietly locked UP until the cleo
ton was over and then released. No
one but Diaz's friends vote in Mexico
I have talked with Americans and
English residents of Mexico; they all
believe in DiaZ. He has brains
enough not to interfere with any one
who attends to his own business, and
to use his despotic power for the COM
mercial advancement of the country
and for it's enlightenment, too. Mexico
is full of variety, full of attractions,
full Of vast undeveloped resources, full
of quaintness, full of that delightful
mixture of things ancient and things
new which is always fascinating. 1t
is In that transition from the old civili-
cation into the new which Is always
the most interesting stage in a ma
tons growth. Throughout the coun-
try things of the long past and things
of the present are as in Egypt and In
dia, side by side. No one has visited
Mexico without being charmed and
fascinated by it, and none without the
| conviction that it has a great future
| before it, But it must not be forgotten
| that Mexico is Indian. The develop
nient of its resources cannot be
brought about by the race that inhab-
it's it now The civilization of Mexico
means then ultimate disposession.
| I had the pleasure of visiting Merida,
the capital of Yucatan, and while there
to meet United States Consul T. III.
Thompson. He has spent years in de-
ciphering the hieroglyphics on the ru-
| ms in Yucatan. He believes he has de-
ciphered them. There are in Yucatan
the ruins, as everybody knows, of what
were once great cities. Mr.. Thompson
says he has found stone buildings
among them containing as many as
forty rooms. 1t has long been sup
posed that these ruins were erected by
a race that had disappeared, and that
it would be impossible to decipher the
| hieroglyphics of language utterly I'M
known, but the consul has discovered
that these hieroglyphics are the writ
ten characters of the Maya language
and that the builders of these ruined
cities and palaces We're the ancestors
of the tribe that still inhabits Yucatan
| At the time of the conquest they were
wholly degenerate, and had entirely
lost the tradition of the greatness OF
their forefathers. They did not ever
know who built the cities. Mr.
Thompson is about to give to the
world the record which these monu-
ments have preserved.
Apropos of the present relations OF
our country with Spain, the sympathy
of Mexico is strongly with the Gu
bans. Cuba Libre' is very common
cry on any public occasion. Last Sun.
day, after the bull-fight, there was q
balloon ascension. AS the balloon went
up the whole audience shouted Cube
Libre, Cuba Libre." The Mexican
press speaks of us as "The long-suf.
fering Americans" 1.-The patient Amer.
icans,'' "the spiritless Americans" and
has no end of contempt for the tame.
ness of the present administration, but
| this view is not confined to Mexicans.
E. P. ARVINE.
| DEATH OF John w ADAMS