The San Francisco call., 1909-02-24
REGENERATION FROM
LOWER CLASSES

All that the big land owners cared
for was their income and to keep their
land tax free. Paris was and still is
their mecca. They had no interest
in industrial development and no real
sense of nationality. So regeneration
for Mexico could never come from this
class. The new Mexico, born after the
French regime. was bound to find its
leader in the underlying strata which
produced Juarez and later Diaz.
Poor clay this peon seems; a crea ture
Of many tribes and many dialects. with
no common language except Spanish
In the lowlands he is temperate. clean
and excitable, as a rule. On the great
central plateau. where the maguey
plant viii grow-from 5000 to 1000
feet above sea level-he is too often
in a half drunken stupor on its Juice
His only property is his blanket and
his hat. Whatever he has in the world
he shares with his fellows and he need
never go hungry if there are tortiIIas
or friJoles in a neighbor's house.
Wen drive out all these Spaniards
some day." an old native said, meaning
all foreigners. This is our country"
by which he meant the country of the
Aztecs.
Cropping intelligence makes the dis
covery that in the land that is theirs
they are servants to the outsiders, for
even the hacienda owners they do not
regard as Mexicans.
No hero Of the war for La Libertadr
equals in their veneration Guatemozin,
the last Of the Aztec kings whose
statue they adorn on Aztec feast days
Liberty they associate less with inde-
pendence from Spain in 1916 than with
the advent of that little Indian Jua-
rez. the first president after Maxi
milan.
Any one with money invested in Mex
leo says that the anti-foreign feeling
is only newspaper talk. But the sensa-
tional press does not preach unless IL
finds an audience. Anti-Americanism
has long been a cardinal feature of the
propa ganda of the clerical party. In
order TO regain power the church, with
its property confiscated and brother
hoods prescribed, attacks the northern
neighbor, where religious freedom is
absolute.
Pulling a feather out of the eagles
tail is held to be as profitable in poll
ties in Mexico as twisting the lions
tail once was in the States. During
my stay occurred the Uruapam bunting
incident, which possibly got three or
four lines in the newspapers at home.
To Mexico it was a burning question.
What happened, as far as / could
learn, was this: Three irresponsible
young men. employees OF packing COM
pany. as a practical joke dressed up a
neighbors horse in as outlandish
fashion as caprice and material would
allow. Among other things they used a
piece of discarded and faded bunting
which had been drap-d on the packing
house at the time OF its opening. Now
the bunting fell of and some natives
OF Uruapam saw their national eolors
under the horses hoofs. The uproar
that the Mexicans made over ii shows
their sensitiveness.
To us the whole incident seems in
significant To them it was another
example of gringo rufianism and a
calculated insult to the nation. The
culprits were put in jail. Indignation
ran high. Not content to leave the
matter TO the local court a petition
was sent to Diaz, the source of all
power. asking for dire punishment of
the offenders. He thanked the signers
for their patriotic" address and ex-
pressed confidence in the court The
accused issued a public statement Of
contrite apology, declaring their inno-
cence of any of the intentions ascribed
to them-for Mexican jails are not
pleasant-and finally Diaz advised
their release.