Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-02-08
MExIC0'S PROGRESS
Some Impressions of the Neighbor-
ing Capital City.
TRANSPORTATION NOW GOING ON
The Modernizing Process of the
Ancient Municipality.
SOME OLD GU STO NJ S
copyrighted, 1902, by c. NJ. PepperD
Iecial Correspondence of The Evening Star.

| copyrighted, 1902 by c. NJ Pepper)
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
MEXICO, February 3, 1902
Mexico is land in transformation. Cen
| sequentiy to the stranger it gives the i'm
preston of confusion. This is especially
| true of the capital city, Here the trans
| forma ton is most apparent and it is a very
! inconvenient thing for the visitor as well
as for the residents. Great heaps of mortar
| today were yesterday the massive walls of
fine structures which are being torn down
in the heart of the city.
| For my own part I like better in these
Latin cities the older sections, where the
habits and customs of past centuries are
preserved, and where one can see the civilf-
cation that has marked Spanish rule every
| where Here in Mexico it is not all Span
ish, for the Aztec traits have not yielded to
| the once conquering race nor has the native
race disappeared. Its existence is even OBJ
| trusive.
There is section of the town where the
! streets are narrow, where the houses show
no signs of modern ideas, and where every
| thing is as it was perhaps fifty or one hum
| dred years ago. The old City of Mexico
| lies there, apparently ignorant of the great
| new City of Mexico which joins it, and this
|
viviendas. or tenements, swarm with con-
tented poverty Yet probably not many
years will pass until it, too. will find its
streets torn up, its buildings torn down and
! the march of improvements Irresistible. In
| this old part of the town there are also the
tram cars, drawn by galloping mules at
| gait almost equaling the trolley which now
| traverseS the most of the thoroughfares to
| the suburbs. The trolley is gaining so fast
| that within a year probably the mule cars
| will be gone completely and their drivers,
| with their big hats, their 'gaudy belts and
| their parti-colored breeches tapering to the
| heel and instep, like the American dandy
! Of 100 years ago, and the horn which they
| def1antly blow warning pedestrians to get
| out OF the way, will become only memo
| r1es Of one Of the attractive elements of the
| city.
! The Cathedrals and Churches.
| Naturally the cathedrals and the churches
will remain as monuments to antiquity and
| to the religious devotion of the Spaniards
| and their descendants, as well to the
| sofIdtty of their architecture. They will be
| about all there is to remind the visitor that
| this splendid capital city of Mexico was
| once one of the most picturesque old towns
| of the continent 1t will be a modern me-
| tropolis probably within five years. for the
| sewerage system already is completed,
| solving the problem of four centuries by
draining the valley of Mexico through it's
| mountain wall to the gulf, and asphalt paw
! ing Is rapidly replacing the cobblestones
| The debris of the private residences and
| business blocks, that have been demolished
| in order to enlarge the Alameda, or public
| park, which already contains twenty acres
| and open the new avenue which Is to con-
meet 1t with the cathedral and national pal
| ace, fronting on the other park. known as
| the Zocalo, will disappear within a few
months, because already the foundatio
are being laid for municipal buildings for
! the hne new government post office and the
government theater which is to take the
| place hot
| stroyed to make room for these improve
ments When this is done Mexico will be
almost new city, perhaps differing from
| northern cities in preserving some of the
| old Spanish ideas of solidity and commodi-
| BUSINESS.
| AS in all semi-Latin towns there is no
/ distinct residence section private homes and
! business blocks being mingled without re-
| gard to their location, but in some direc-
| lions, especially out toward the castle of
| Chapultepec, the private residences are in
| degree following the American architec-
| ture. While the patio is picturesque and
| pleasant during four or five hours of sun
| shine in the middle of the day during the
! remainder of the twenty-four hours it lacks
| all the elements of pleasure. In the win
| ter season 1t is cold and cherries and to
the American mind serves no good pur-
| pose
The Mexicans themselves think their eli
| mate is one OF the greatest attractions be-
| cause it varies little from one end of
| the year to the other, the clothes which
| are suitable for the winter season not be-
| ing uncomfortable in summer. and vice
| versa.
Transformation Going On.
AS to the transformation going on an
| idea of it was given me by the barber who
| came to the hotel one evening to shave
me. "Ah, Senior Americana" he said, you
! should have seen Mexico a few years ago.
| We don't know it ourselves now, there is
| so much change" 'And do the people like
! the changer" l asked him. Many Of us
| do he said but some of the people do
not; they want everything just as it once
| was and do not care to be better off, but
| those of us who think good of what is be-
ing done are glad, and we thank God every
| day for Porf1rio Diaz."
| l have listened to innumerable tributes
to President Diaz since coming to Mexico,
| from foreigners, both Americans and Eu-
| ropeans, but none so sincere and so feeling
as this heard from the Mexican barber,
himself one OF the mass whose unprogreS-
| siveness has been an obstacle to their own
! advancement. However, that is a subject
concerning which it is not my purpose to
write at present.
| The Pasco de la Reforma or boulevard
| to Chapeultepec castle and around its rocky
! base, always will be one of the attractions
| which serve to make Mexico a magnificent
| city. 1t Is only In these later years that
the dream OF Macmillan has been realized.
| The summer home of President Diaz and
| the home of the Mexican West Point. or
| military academy, the castle Of Chapul-
| tepec rising from its rocky heights domi-
| mates the whole valley. On the Paseo
| Mexico keeps the great bronze equestrian
| statue Of Carlos " as monument to art
! and not as tribute to the monarchs of
| Spain. 1t preserves the not less impress
| sive group Of the Aztec Circumference and
| the warrior chiefs a tribute to their
| bravery in resisting Cortez, and as me-
| mortal that the native Indian race In Mex
| leo never was exterminated by the con-
| querors.
| Further out is the giorieta or circle
| where the magnificent monument to Mexi-
can independence Ii being erected 1t was
! only a few weeks ago that President Diaz
| laid the corner stone with trowel and NOR
| tar in the presence OF diplomatic corps
the delegates to the pan-American confer
| enee. the congress and cabinet and other
| Mexican officials. Among the diplomats
present on that occasion was the Marquis
| OF Prats, Spanish minister to Mexico
President Diaz did not prove himself very
expert bricklayer. and he himself laughed
| at his own efforts. but though he may be
! awkward with the trowel and mortar, the
world knows that he himself has been the
greatest factor in making lasting the cor
| perStope al. he ipf5euepdapro NJ