The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-04-01
ArroRNnr AnylNE IN MnxIoo.
His Interesting Observations in One of the
Most Beautiful and Interesting and
strangest Cities in the World-HIexicans
for Cuban Liberty.

10 the Editor of the Journal and Courier
Mexico passes all expectation. 1t is
one of the most beautiful, one Of the |
most interesting, one of the strangest
cities in the world. 1t is to me the
most interesting city that have ever
seen. / will not even except Paris. 1t
is city of half million Inhabitants,
some of them among the richest people
in the world, large majority of them
Indians; some of them the poorest peo-
pie in the world. The country as a
whole Is decidedly Indian. Out of a
population of about thirteen millions,
forty-three per cent are of mixed In
dian blood thirty EIGHT per cent. pure
Indian, the remaining nineteen per
cent. pure whites. One sees three dis
tinct types; first the professional and
business men, dressed as Europeans
are. The second I call the sombrero
class from the distinguishing feature
of their dress. They wear hats with
tall peaked crowns and very wide
brims; short Jackets, very tight trow-
sers with a stripe of silver lace or a
row of spangles down the leg. The
serapi, or blanket in bright colors, is
another characteristic feature of their
dress. Overcoats with this class are
| rare; the serapi takes its place. This
| is the costume of the .well-to-do MeXi-
can, with the exception of the business
and professional class. The Mexicans
who wear the European dress are very
| few in number. 1t must not be sup
| posed that the man who wears this
| fantastic costume is necessarily uncul-
! tivated. A Mexican is Indian in his
| character and tastes. I met on the
| train from Cuernavaca to Mexico one
of this picturesque type. 1t would
seem almost impossible that a man of
education and polished manners could
| ''be arrayed like one Of these" Yet
such was the fact. He had been edu-
Gated in Paris, spoke French and Eng
fish well and was the owner of large
| estates. The sombrero seems to be
the part of a Mexican's dress about
which he is most particular. 1t ap-
pears to be mark of social position.
A man will often wear one which costs
from twenty-five to fifty dollars Mex
will be cheap or shabby Every young
Indian, who can scrape together
enough money, will have a sombrero
that costs something, while the rest of
his costume will be almost rags. The
third class is the poems; that is to say
peasants. They are Indians, almost
always poor; most Of them wretchedly
poor. In the country they live the life
| of savages, in huts-in many cases ac-
tually inferior to those of the negroes
of Africa, and go almost naked. In
| the cities they live in squalor and ex-
| IRENE poverty Often at night one
sees them sleeping on the sidewalks or
| the steps of the churches. They dress
in cotton cloth and wear sandals in
stead of shoes. The Indians do all the
work. They are the laborers on the
haciendas and in the factories; they
are the servants in the houses and ho-
| tells. They are, too, the police and the
| soldiers. There is one thing that lifts
! these Indians, no matter how poor,
above savagery; that is their religion.
| Mexico is a land of Shrines and church.
es. A city of thirty or forty thousand
inhabitants will often have as many as
forty churches. Some of these rank
among the finest in the world. The
great cathedral in Mexico is said to be
the most magnificent church in "the
two Americas" In the lenten season
these churches are frequented by wor-
shippers all day long. One sees them
at all hours kneeling in silent groups
about the many shrines which these
churches contain. The dim light which
| L.
dows and down the great arches, the
| deep silence, the groups of kneeling
worshippers, whose faces often wear
the expression Of the most intense sup
plication, form a scene that is singu-
larly touching and impressive. Pro-
testants have confessed that the temp
tation to kneel with them was irresst-
able; centuries of culture may lie be-
tween us and these dusky worshippers,
but the suggestion of the place and the
hour is that we are one with them in
destiny and hope. In the presence of
things eternal earthly differences
melt away.
Throughout Mexico Catholicism has
erected costly churches and called to
the aid of religion the divinest express
sion of art. Yet nothing can be more
democratic than a Catholic church in
Mexico There are no costly peWs
which separate the rich from the poor.
These gorgeous churches are the COM
mon possession of both. They are es-
pecial1y the spiritual homes of the
poor. The richest landowners and
the poorest poems may be seen kneeling
side by side on the stone floor, often so
near to each other that their garments
almost touch. There is no fashion or
display in these churches to drive away
the poor. Nobody dresses for church.
The Mexican ladies attend service very
simply dressed 1t is considered bad
taste to wear a hat or bonnet to
: church They always go bareheaded.
There is no doubt of one thing. The
Mexicans go to church with but one
purpose, and that is to worship
1t might well be imagined that Mexi-
co, with it's population substantially
Indian, could scarcely be a republic.
The so-called SISTER republic is as
rigid a despotism as Russia. Every
thing, the choice of governors of the
states, deputies to congress, and even
of the mayors of the cities, is in the
hands of the president. There are
nominally elections; there are in fact
none. This despotism is not the
growth of centuries as in Russia