Evening star., 1901-03-28
Increase of the Middle Glass Through
Growth of Industries.
UNDERMINING OF THE CAPITAL CITY
Restriction of Liquor Selling
Being Considered.
FEATURES OF STUDENT LIFE
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
CITY OF MEXICO, March 49, 1901.
Modern Mexico is an institution of such
recent growth that life in this country is
still curious mixture of the fifteenth and
twentieth. centuries. The first visit of a
citizen of the United States to this coun-
try should always be followed by a second
visit before any attempt Is made to insti.
tute comparisons or fix impressions. The
man who comes here year after year no
ticeS with intense interest the slight yet
enormously important changes constantly
taking place. Those who journeyed in this
direction ten years ago were probably cor
rect in making the broad assertion that
there We're only two classes of people-the
masses and the aristocracy. 1t is serious
question now whether this is strictly true,
for modern methods have brought into ex-
istence middle class, such as exists in
every country where there is work of skill
ed character to be done and business of
moderate proportions to be carried ON.
The safety of the great powers and the
source of their wealth and strength lie i'll
their so-called middle classes. Without
this class a country must necessarily be at
least a piutocracy in it's approach to an
unlimited monarchy. There is strong evil
dence today that President Diaz, in build
has Willingly or unwittingly laid the
foundation for middle class which can
not do otherwise than become in time the
controlling element in Mexican politics and
society. From many points of view this
might be considered his greatest work, for
as soon as Mexico is intrusted to the good
sense temperateness and conservatism of
a middle class her government will be
founded upon a rock and her peace and
prosperity assured for all times
Twenty-Five Years Ago.
Twenty-Five years ago about 10000 men
owned all the land in Mexico outside Of the
government holdings. These men consti-
tuted landed aristocracy with which it
was necessary for the politician to be
hand in glove to control the destinies of
the nation. There were few factories, few
small mining operations, few minor banks
and very few men employed in positions of
high responsibility which paid large sal
aries. Between the plutOcrats and the peo-
pie the limited professional class was the
only stepping stone
The New Middle Class.
The building of railroads, the organiza-
tion of banks, the opening of hundreds of
mines. the increase in commercial estab-
lishments. the breaking up of large ranches
into small farms, and the spread of the
professions has increased enormously that
and well-to-do people who, in countries
like the United States. are the bulk of the
population. This class is opposed to vio-
lence in all forms, chary of making
changes. patriotic and progressive. With
each succeeding year and with every step
made in the industrial and commercial de-
Velopment of the country this class is des-
tined to grow, and there is reason to be-
lieve that it will be but very short time
before the sympathies of these people and
their unqualified support will be necessary
to any man who aSpires to be leader.
This is the most remarkable and significant
change which has taken place in Mexican
life of late, and in it lies greater promise
for the future of the country than any
thing else which has been done.
Control of Liquor Selling.
very serious problem which is confront
ing the municipal authorities throughout
this country is the control of the sale of
liquor In all the larger cities the peon
population or lower class has become tod
den with drink. LaZness, theft, murder
and beggary are few of the results Of this
lamentable condition. The native liquors
are not so much responsible for this in
temperance and it's frightful results as ere
the manufactured and adulterated fluids
which take from the body all it's strength
and besot the mind beyond hope of 1e-
form. Unfortunate as it may be, the So
called American mixed drinks are largely
for much of this destruction of
the Mexican character, and the evil has
become so marked among the youth of the
larger cities that strongly represSive meas
ures are now being considered by the gov
as necessary of adoption. In the
City of Mexico alone to about 400, 900 peo-
pie there are over 1000 dram shops and
bar rooms. and not day passes but the
police report the finding of one or more
bodies in the street of men who have died
from alcoholism. Some of this drinking Is
accounted for by the extreme poverty and
misery of the lowest class, among whom
food Of substantial character is eX-
tremely scarce For a minimum of copper
they can get a death-dealing dram which
gives them temporary feeling of comfort
and forgetfulness. This throws pathetic
light upon one side of this question which
shows that there are other things to be
looked into besides the mere abuse of drink
The evil has become SO great however, that
employers of labor endeavor to secure
men in preference to the un-
dersized and rum-debauched citizen of the
town
MOdernizfng an Ancient Capital.
The City Of Mexico is now in the hands
Of the contractors, who are putting in the
new system of sewers which precedes the
paving Of the streets with asphalt. When
these improvements are completed and the
ten million dollars or more in gold now
provided is expended in undermining this
ancient capital, here will be one Of the most
beautiful and delightful cities to visit in
the world, for 1t will retain Its unique fea-
lures and lose most of those now found SO
1isagreeable by tourists. The following item
clipped from local paper in this city is a
curious Illustration of the meeting Of old
and new methods which one finds every
where, and which. while impressing the vis-
tor so forcibly, are taken as a matter of
course by the inhabitants. The item is as
Coaches are not the only things that get
into the zanjas, as the sewer excavations
are called. Scarcely a day passes that the
police records do not show the finding Of
one or more bodies, the manner of their
coming there frequently being a mystery"
Student Life.
The student life Of Franco Carp,on,, ,,7