East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-11-23
IN MEXICO AMERICANS BE-
COME ENGLISHNIEN.

The American consular service Is
so inferior to that of England that
over 1000 Americans in Mexico have
sworn allegiance to the British crown,
because wherever you trace the blood
red marks on the map of the world
there you will find white men protect
ed by British bulldogs of the sea. The
great empire tolerates no Injustice
towards its subjects in foreign lands,
and the phrase, once an Englishman,
always an Englishman," means more
In South America than the Monroe
doctrine.
This is the surprising statement of
w. w. Crawford. superintendent Of
the Elizabeth n. Byers school for
boys, who has just returned to Dem
yer from a sojourn in Mexico. says the
Denver Post.
The sister republic has little re-
gard for us" continued Mr.. Crawford,
"and an American Is thrown into JAIL
starved, insulted and bullled for six
months, and when finally given a
trial an ignorant judge sentences him
to two years in the penitentiary for a
trivial offense.
This never happens to an English
man, because his country's consuls
consider an insult or injury to a sub
ject n breach of International etiquette
or something of the sort, and when
one is harmed in Mexico the British
government Immediately sends a gum
boat to the waters of the sleepy har-
bors and the Mexican officials wake
up to a realization that there Is trou-
BILE ahead.
There are countless opportunities
for young Americans with capital Of
say, $1,000 in Mexico. but we will never
be able to carry on successful trade
interests in that country unless our
consular service Is bolstered up with
reputable men, vastly increased and
backed up by the United States navy
and congress to the last demand.
Labor is as cheap in Mexico as 1t
is in the orient. Poems in the interior
receive about is cents Mexican, or 7
cents American. per day. The natives
working on the wharf at Tampico re-
ceive 75 cents American money. and
they work like stokers, but they think
they are getting rich. On these i'm
mense wages a peOn Will work for a
year steadily and then retire to his
mountain-villags home. prepared to
live on what on what he thinks is the
fat of the land for life.
About 30 per cent Of the popula-
tion are illiterate. The year Is broken
up into 1862 saints holidays Every
body drifts along. The energetic
American can grow wealthy on small
capital and average effort, because he
has no persistent competitors. But as
far as the science of living Is con-
cerned the Mexicans have US beaten.
They are far happier as people than
we.
"a sample of their intense ignor-
ance is shown by the following inct-
dent: -r q.
"An American physician carried on
free campaign of education among
the natives of Tampico last summer
and taught them that the chief and
most dangerous source of yellow fever
incubation is by the mosquitoes that
infest all places where water stag
mates. In visiting the numerous
churches the physician observed that
the holy founts holding pools of stale
water were perfect cultures for the
germs of yellow fever and fine breed
| ing places for the mosquitoes. ant
thousands of the wigglers could bt
seen squirming in the water. The
physician warned the padres to pro
tect their flocks by putting kerosene
in the founts, thus killing the wiggler'
but the worthy priests said, No! No
Mosquitoes Matched in holy water could
not be bad!"
There seems to be widespread
belief that the cost of living in Mexico
is lower than 1t Is in this country
This Is not so, as the following mar
ket prices, taken from quotations Of {
Mexican paper will prove: Flour, pc
100 pounds, $500; sugar, IL cents .
pound lard, 81 cents pounds; but
ter 10 cents a pound: eggs so cent
dozen; potatoes, 10 cents pound
onions, cents q pound; cabbage, 81
cents per head; tomatoes, 25 cents
pound: ham, so cents per pound
beans, 80 cents per pound and ever!
other food staple in proportion, witt
the exception of fruits.
"In all Mexican towns the dead ar
buried in vaults in high walls. TIL
relatives of the deceased have to pa,
high rent on the tomb compartments
OF course. a poems wealth Is usual
...nited to a straw hat and gee strin
so that in most cases the rent Is pai
only once. When the rent expires
the decaying corpses are thrown int
an open pit. Thousands of huge tur
key buzzards prey upon the bodies o
non forgotten ancestors and sprea
contagious diseases far and wide. An
tourists wonder why Mexico is so un
healthy"