Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-03-25
DUDE AND PEON IN MEXICO.
Contrasts of Life in Our Neiohbor
Republic

What is the first thing you see in
Mexico? An enormous hat, a construc
ton that makes the Merry Widow
hat look feeble and stunted in its
growth. 1t has the appearance of a
washtub with a joint of stavepipe set
in the middle. Underneath this over
shadowing head covering may be a
dude or a peon. If he is a dude, the
hat is made of felt or fur and he is
heavily braided and decorated 1t NAV
have cost from $50 to $500. 1t is a
wonder, and tops all other ambitions
in the way of clothes. A poems hat
is made of straw, and number OF
heads punched together have the ap-
pearance OF wheat shocks in a harvest
field.
The dude wears a short Jacket and
skin tight pantaloons. The wonder is
how he gets into them. l think his
tailor must stand him up in his shop
and sew them to the curves of his
legs. At San Luis Potosi a dude ap-
peared in the crowd which always
gathers to see a big northern train
go through. The young ladies gazed
at him spelIbound, and I walked
around him two or three times myself,
he was so dazzling Of course he was
smoking a cigaret, and of course his
mOustache was twisted to a point.
In contrast with this Mexican swell
the peOn is a sorry creature. Over
his shoulders is a coarse blanket, his
pants are of thin cotton and his feet
are bare, or perhaps his toes are
sticking through a pair of sandals. He
is shivering in the cold morning air
at the little station high up on the
mountain plain. He looks hungry and
half-fed, and stares hopelessly at the
well dressed passengers who saunter
up and down the platform while the
train is taking a rest, as it does Sc
often on small provocation.
And the women also are at the sta
ton. They are bareheaded-the funds
of the family are exhausted on the
mans hat-and barefooted. They also
look cold and hungry and utterly pov-
erty stricken. About the only posses
sion of the family seems to be chill
dren and dogs. The houses are little
huts Of one room, usually without
doors or windows, just openings, and
frequently the opening is overhead
there is no roof on the house. Many
Of the shacks are made of stalks, and
look worse than the cheapest of
stables on a western farm. The rows
of little houses in which the negroes
live on the Louisiana sugar planta-
lions are palatial compared with some
of these Mexican huts in the little
towns. I think I have never anywhere
seen such depressing appearances of
poverty. 1t makes a sorry introduce
ton to the sister republic for the
American visitor who crosses the Rio
Grande at Laredo and rides over the
cactus covered plateaus to Mexico
City. l found it difficult to shake off
the bad impression and to persuade
myself that there is such a thing as a
pleasure trip to Mexico. But the
pleasure came later.
Perhaps if Mexico were not so old
one would think less of it's poverty, for
every new country has it's pioneer
stage of privation and scanty appoint
ments. But Mexico is the oldest coun-
try in the new world. 1t had a civil
cation 1000 years ago, and yet today
it is civilized only in spots. For ages
and ages generations of poems have
been toiling up and down the sides of
these mountains-for Mexico is a land
of mOuntains-like ants crawling
over their little hills, and they are
still toiling in the old way, still crawl
ing in and out Of rude little huts.
Every Cd cathedral in the country,
every castle on the hill tops, every
high wall or causeway or bridge or
viaduct, is a monument of almost in
human backs are almost Unbelievable
One could declare without stretch Of
Imagination that there are as many
automobiles in Chicago as there are
wagons in all Mexico, outside Of a
few leading towns. In Cordova, city
OF from 5000 to 10000 people, where
We spent a few days, We saw but one
vehicle, and it was the only one in
town. There is a large cathedral in
the city. which has great pillars and
lofty arches. It was butt pa years
ago, and all the material was carried
up the hillsides by human beasts of
burden. with some help from the lit
tie burros. There is a railroad run
ming up from the coast TO the interior,
which l am told was built without the
use of a wagon. Men took the dirt
up in baskets and carried it. Just