The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-31
MEXICO NOT ANTI-AMERICAN.
REPORTS PROBABLY AROSE FROM
LABOR MOVEMENT.
Horklngmen organizing on n Large Scale
and Many Employers Arc Americans.
Lut others Are Not, and There IL No
Distinction -DlaZ Keeping the Peace.

and Many Employers Are Americans.
Lut others Are Not, and There Is No
Distinction -Diaz Keeping the Peace.
Rumors OF an anti -American movement
IN Mexico have been drifting across the
border into Texas for several months and
have been te~legraphed thence to American
Industrial centres. New York has recently
received dispatches via FL Paso that have
described the situation az serious and have
pictured American corporations as hiring
hundreds OF detectives for self-protection
Tho leading concerns In this city interested
in Mexican manufacturing and mining were
clmost a unit yesterday in declaring the
rlmors to be false. A representative Of the
Greene Consolidated Copper Company said
that the men who started and spread the
rlmors had Interior" motives not uncon-
nected with stock jobbing.
At the Guggenheim Exploration Com
pany's Office it was said that there was no
foundation of fact in the reports that there
was an anti-American agitation. An Off
cal OF the Mexican Exploration and Devel-
opment Company said that its persistent
efforts to find any strictly ant-American
sentiment had been without result; there
was an agitation by the laborers for higher
wages which has caused some trouble.
L.. c. Simonds, associate editor Of the
Mericdn Herald, who arrived here several
DAYS ago directly from the City Of Mexico
and who is thoroughly familiar with the
situation, said.
There il absolutely no foundation for
the stories that are being circulated in the
press of the United States in regard to an
anti-foreign or anti American movement
---A - tl-- NO -l r- -lnanA Ia IL
A high official Of one of the American
owned railways in Mexico assured me that
these stories originated from a discharged
employee Of that corporation.
americans in Mexico are protected in
their lives and property and are as safe
there as they would be if travelling or re-
siding in Great Britain or Germany The
Mexican authorities afford every safeguard
for both the citizen and foreigner, and
Americans who have friends or relatives
residing in Mexico need not be under the
slightest apprehension as to their safety.
Indeed, these stories in regard to an
anti foreign attitude of the Mexican popu-
lace would be simply laughed at by Ameri-
they are calculated to do some harm among
the large class of readers who, while know
Ing in a general way that Mexico is well
governed at present, do not realize the
perfect order and stability that now pre-
vail there under the strong and righteous
administration Of President Diaz.
what is true, and what may have given
rise to the mendacious stories In question,
Is that labor is organizing in Mexico on a
greater scale than ever before. But there
Is nothing anti-foreign and still less anti
American In this movement. 1t was bound
TO come sooner or later as an inevitable
consequence of the growing industrial
development Of the country. Labor unions
or guilds have existed in Mexico for years
past, but their object hitherto has been
p,Irelv fraterDal or philapthrODic. Now
the working class in Mexico, owing to the
establishment of new industries, has be-
come so numerous that these unions have
taken on n new cast and have adopted as
part Of their programme the cooperation
Of all such associations for the defence of
the rights of labor. This Is al entirely
new departurein Mexico, and as the working
classes are throwing themselves into it
with an enthusiasm characteristic of the
Latin race the Government has thought
proper to take steps to the end that 1t may
not lead to excuses or disorderly lemon
strations Of any kind.
AT Orizaba, which Is the centre OF the
cotton spinning and wea wing industry of
are employed in the mills, an incipient
strike for higher wages recently occurred
and the authorities took measures to pre-
vent any riotous acts on the part OF the
are owned exclusively by Frenchmen and
Spaniards. On the other hand the rail-
ways. the large smelling plants and some
other industrial concerns are owned by
Americans, and in general it may be said
that a considerable proportion of the in
dustries of Mexico are owned, operated
and mana ged by foreigners, 30 that it is
extremely easy for i'll intentioned persons
to,distort this movement of Mexican labor,
Of which | have spoken, for a fuller pro-
lection of its rights, by representing it
as a movement aimed against foreigners.
But ii is not, for the movement in question
IS equal lily perceptible in the case of manu-
factoring concerns owned and operated
by Mevioans, of which there are a number.
'The authorities do not object to the
association of Mexican labor for the pro-
lection of its legitimate interests; they
rather encourage it. But they are fully
resolved to maintain order at all costs
and they take steps to that end whenever
there seems to be any danger Of it being
disturbed as a result Of discomfort among