The progressive farmer and the cotton plant., 1905-07-04
EDITORIAL
ACROSS THE CONTINENT.
YIN Mexico and Across the, Desert.
Editorial Correspondence

At San Antonio, Texas, we found the first we'll
defined evidence of Spanish influence on Amerl-
can life. Here a large number of the names were
Enthusiastically of Spanish origin, the archltec-
ture of the buildings was somehow suggestive of
Sunny Spain, many Mexicans thronged the
streets, while in and about the town are a group
of ancient Catholic missions, each with its own
romantic history, the poetry and legend OF many
a stirring action having gathered about their
time-worn walls.
In Texas.
Here, for example, is the mission of
San Fernando from which Santa Anna
hoisted the black flag, meaning "no quarter"
while ATTACKING the handful of Spartan heroes
who held the Alamo. And here are other mis-
sions to which the land of Don Quixote sent its
teachers, long, long ago; here the red man came
and learned the new faith; here the priestly con-
lessor of the pioneer days heard many a strange
story of sin and crime. Here Spain held sway
while she dreamed of a New World empire; here
foated the flag of Mexico until the settlers rose
in rebellion and the short-lived Republic of Texas
set up its government; a few brief years beneath
the stars and stripes and then Texas sent its
thousands to fight for the cause of Dixie-and
then back into the Union forever. Great is Texas,
rich in history, p~re-eminent in territory, bound
less in resources! But we rather complain, with
Richard Harding Davis, at the Texans proclama-
ton that she Is "larger than all the New England
and Middle States combined, including Maryland
and Delaware'-this calm comparison with such
a tremendous srretch of territory, with two addi-
tional States thrown in like potatoes for good
measure!
The Rio Grande.
At Ell Paso the hand of the Spaniard is even
more plainly seen. This is, in fact, a border town
and the business man who would succeed must
know both English and Spanish. And here we
cross the Rio Grande into Mexico, into the town
of Cinndad Juarez. Just now the Rio Grande is
a rushing torrent, almost as large perhaps as the
reader would expect from the large place the
river has in our biographies and it's great length
from source to mouth. But the torrent we now
see is due to the floods and melting SHOWS in Col
orado, and much of the year the river bed is al
most dry. A lady who passed over the bridge as
I did said she had been across the river seven
times and this was the first time she had ever seen
it running.
A Mexican Town.
Juarez. Mexico, is quite an interesting place to
the American tourist. The upper-class Mexican
with his proud Castilian blood; the lower Mexi-
can, hardly distinguishable from the American
Indian; the negro, and the white man-aIl are
here. / went into a restaurant and ordered sup
per, but the waiter iabbered in Spanish and I
iabbered back in English. We could only agree on
"no savvy' (don't understand), and having come
to this point of agreement we parted, and I went
elsewhere for a meal.
In Jaurez, too, we found what is probably the
oldest mission we shall see anywhere ON our trip,
founded I believe in 1898 and with one generation
of worshippers following another until this fourth
century of its history. The day was almost end
ing as the bells rang out, and I thought of those