The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-11-22
STRUGGLE OF MYAS
How Cities of Yucatan Live in
Constant Dread.
GOOD NEWSPAPER FIELD
Stephen BonSaI Writes of Con-
ditiOnS There.
(By Stephen Bonsal in \. Y. Herald.)

(By Stephen Bonsal in y. Y. Herald.)
There is no manner of doubt that in
spite OF our actual as well as our boast
ed progress III The matter OF news get
ting, though we have gTidironed the world
with our telegraph wires and penetrated
the deepest seas and the most idle oceans
with cur cables, news still travels in GER
tain well defined channels. For instance,
there is Yucatanf within two or three
days sail Of cur shores, which has not
been tapped yet. Here is a fine opening
for a newspaper man. and between beats
he ceuld-grow- bananas and plant the
rubber tree.
Yucatan is known. perhaps, as port
of call on the way TO Mexico the place
where the substitute hemp comes from
when our Philippine wards win not do
their ork, but few, if any. know Of the
apparently interminable war that IS be-
ing waged there or Of the cities lying
nigh TO the Yucatan Channel which are
often frightened out Of their civic pro-
priety by runors of Indian invasion
which occasionally raterialize and result
in the total destruction Of more or. less
civilized communities.
On this peninsula almost within sight OF
. our shores there is in progress. perhaps
the most long-liEed contest the New
World has ever witnessed. Now and
again we get a line or two in regard TO
the war which the Mexicans are waging
against the Yaquis in the North. but
never 4 word comes of the Maya country
where, according 10 the colonial chron
iclers Of Spain, the war began in 1924.
would be up to date, the Hexicans for
the last fifteen years have had ten thou
sand men constantly in the field.
That these operations have been any
thing but successful is shown by private
advices received in this city by merchants
interested in the hennequin output. Cen
eraI Garcia, commanding the federal
troops. after reaching the Maya strong
hold, near theit city of Chan Santa Cruz.
was recently defeated with heavy losses
and has now been instructed to confine
his efforts to defending the border coun-
try. where reprisals on the part of IN
dams are feared By the settlers.
Novel in its details, the Maya war is
but the Old, old story. The never ending
expeditions have been nourished by the
thirst for gold. which We denounce in par
iamentary language as infamous, but
whose malignant influences few. If any of
US. escape.
In some district of Northern Mexico the
Yaquis have been exterminated root and
branch. and there is a prospect of that
peace which once reigned in Warsaw.
Here all warriors and their women, who
are said TO be the best men in fight. /
have been put to the machete and such /
children as have escaped the indiscTim- I
mate slaughter have been distributed by /
the Mexican government in villages far /
from the places where they were born, in /
the hope that they may grow up without /
the savage characteristics of their faith |
ers
Truly an interesting experiment in the |
tanning Of a savage race. upon the sue /
cess or failure of which it is as yet too (
early to pass judgment. should add that /
these ruthless measures TO which the /
sMexican government has been driven are /
generally condoned, where not openly APP /
proved by all foreigners who are ac- /
quainted with Yaqui savagery.
in Mexico I have found as mild man |
nered and warm hearted men as the world /
can show, but they have 10 more COM /
FUNCTION in killing a Yaqui than they /
would have in destroying a man eating 1
tiger or any other enemy Of the human /
race
This IS the policy that General Garcia, |
the Custer of the Mexicans. was sent to /
Yucantan to put in force some eighteen 1
months ago. 1t has failed simply because /
up to the present the fortune of war has !
gone against him. The Mayas have not I
been exterminated because they have been /
victorious.
To US. with our wars. fought to finish /
IN a few months. the situation is well |
nigh incompreheasible. and / can only /
shed such light on it as is TO be gathered |
from the gossip of Progreso and Merida.
The AIayas. when they first came in con-
tact with Spanish civilization. exhibited a
cultivation OF very high order and en-
toyed a government the most highly or
ganized. the Alnericauists say. of al the
aboriglae-.
They were q gentle. peace-lovinS people
and built temples which even today. in
their Undiscovered ruins. are impressive
ly beautiful They did not worship snakes
and other vindictive and formidable things
quite as much as did their noighbors and
they did reverence the rose and build
shrines to flower gods. Hardly year
passes but what some scientific expedition
Is sent 60 the accessible districts Of Yucca
tan Sometimes they go Ia make rcplicas
OF the splendid ruins, AZ others 10 try to
decipher the Toltec inscriptions.
Sometimes costly expeditions go 10 as
certain whether OF no all the Maya babies
have the sacral spots on their little backs
rs DO the other Aiongoloid babies But q
more fruitful source of inquiry. in my
opinion. would be TO ascertain how it
came about that an amiable people. loving
the beautiful. which they were when
Francisco de Montejo came in contact
with them. became the bloodhtisty brutes
they undoubtedly are today. The brutal
fling process has been going on for four
hcundred years.
Spaniards and Mexicans, fTeebooters and
nhbusters of every nationality have their
share in this nideous responsibility. Early
in the sixteenth century the rumor Of
gold beyond the dream OF avarico in the
Maya country began 10 be whispered
about among the fortune hunters and
the get-rich-quicS men Of Cadiz and Sc
Vile The dream has never been real
ICED. the concealed treasures have n7rer
been found
Hundreds Of ships laden with sold seek
ers have been wrecked upen the inhospita
bic coast OF the riverless peninsula. and
In the interior the jungle creepers have
woven shrouds over many a CHASTITY
bivouac: but today the people who wor-
sfiped the rose and Thought the frs-~ar,,,e 4