The National tribune., 1906-09-20
MEXICO.
Wonderful Transformation in that
Ancient Spanish Land.

Ancient Spanish Land.
The many fantastic notions concern
ing Mexico which have been all too cur
rent among us are not to be wondered
at, though they are now rapidly being
removed. thanks to the excellence of
the railway and steamer service between
Mexico and this country, but our aver
age innocence is enough. To the eternal
race prejudice add that we are too much
taken up with our own progress to know
or care much beside any save our own
interests. 1t is notorious to those who
know both countries that educated
Americans are more ignorant of Mexico
than educated Mexicans are ignorant of
the United States. One reason is that
the Latin-American races differ from
us materially in their ideas of diplo-
matte service. They do not send to any
country an ambassador who would be
lost there without an Interpreter. Men
are selected who are gentlemen in ap-
pearance, who can command the respect
of business men. and who know how to
ask for the information they desire. The
result is that Mexico is steadily inform-
ed as to the moods and wants of this
country.
1t is almost impossible to conceive
the change from the Mexico of 80 years
| or so back to the Mexico of now. There
was no touring then, and nowhere was
travel more unsafe. There were nc
| railroads, no telegraphs, practically no
commerce, and, at the bottom of all. no
security. No man when he went to bed
and least of all the President, knew
what the Government would be in the
morning.
Mexico of To-day.
To-day Mexico is as safe as our own
country-life, property and human
rights are as secure as with us. AS for
stability. the record speaGs for itself
Compare the history of Mexico with that
of other South American Republics
where Dictator has succeeded President,
and revolutions have followed each 9TH
er so rapidly that we. commercial peo-
pie, have been unable to keep track of
them. Mexico, on the contrary, has hal
but one President in 2S years. Some
will say that this is not republican. Pos
sibly not, but it is business. Ore must
be indeed careless to call that Govern
ment a despotism. 1t is not even a
dictatorship. but rather a logical pa
ternalsm-a scheme which would be
frightfully dangerous in the hands of a
bad father, but intellectually beneficial
under a good one. And Mexico is proud
of the remarkable man who has done
what no other man of modern times has
even dreamed of doing and who even
now keeps steadying hand on the Re-
public he practically created-Porfirio
DiaZ. .
Cen Diaz came to his high office by
a revolution, and a revolution means
debts as well as other inheritances not
of his own making or choosing. There
were accidental allies and hold-overs to
be considered and who could not at
once be swept away, for stability is the
first need and duty of any Government.
But Daz has outlived nearly all his first
associates, and there is to-day in Mexico
not one figure of political prominence
who could set his face against the Gov
ernment. The long era of dishonest Off
cia!s is long past. There are no longer
any brigand Governors, and the traveller
of to-day meets customs officials who
would put our system, even in the great
port of New York. to shame. There is
probably no country in the New World
whose whole public service is to-day so
scrupulously clean-and this assertion
is made neither carelessly nor ignorant
ly. 1t is not so many years ago that
the Republic was honeycombed with of
fetal corruption. but the administration
of President Diaz has never had stain.
and has kept up steady pressure until
now not State in the Republic is spot
ted as TO 1CS local Government.
Municipal improvements.
Even to one familiar with the phe-
nomenal growth of parts of our own
West, as well as the surprising though
more conservative development of the
East, it is a revelation to watch the
pace of almost every Mexican city in
municipal improvements. Modern wa
ter works replace the old Spanish aque-
nY,1l 20
street sinks of centuries: rapid transit,
especially in Mexico City, would put to
shame many of our own cities; and the
schools. lighting and public buildings
generally would not be despised in our
own country.
That the great City of Mexico has
been able to exist for nearly 400 years
in the bottom of a natural sink is the
best possible tribute to the salubrity of
the climate of Mexico. She has had
fearful epidemics in the past. and there
are not, perhaps, the best of conditions
to-day, but the lane has reached its
turning. and Mexico is drained by the
greatest drainage canal in the world, a
work begun in 1907, and only completed
in 1898.
1t is not pleasant for a sojourner In
/ land of infinite good breeding to con-
fess that so much of the mother-tongue
as befalls his ear upon the streets is of
the profane variety. There are many
of the finest types Of American and
English manhood in Mexico, but one is
often given to wonder where they are.
OF course, the truth is they are about
their business-at the office, the mine
or what not-leaving the English con-
versation to be carried on in the streets
by very different sort. Long expert
ence in the lands to the south of our
country has bred in me vast respect
of the tolerance of the SpanishAmeri-
can. Even the tourist, who one would
believe to be at least representative of
his countrymen, seems to lose sight
of the fact that manv of the Mexican
gentlemen can speak and understand
English as well as he can, and will talk
about dirty greasers" in a fashion TO
bring a blush of shame to the cheeks
of his compatriots.
Street Scenes.
To the American visiting Mexico for
the first time many things will seem al
most past belief in a country so near
our own, and yet SO dissimilar. He may
at first note the costume called the
"charro." worn by many of the rich
haciendados, but now, alas, gradually
passing and giving way to hideous Par
isian fashions year out of date. Verify,
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these gentlemen, who may
be seen any pleasant Sunday morning in
the Alameda. listening to the band and
SipDing drinks, or in the afternoon