Arizona republican., 1909-12-30
The Truth About Mexico.

Hollingsworth Talbot which presents
 the other side of the shield that has
 been held up to the people of this
 country by the American Magazine.
 Mir. Talbot professes to be intimately
 familiar with conditions in Mexico,
 from long residence there. and he as
 sures his fellow citizens of the United
 States that Mexico is not at all the
 country that is painted in the hos
 tile articles which have attracted so
 much attention. He points out that
 if the same methods were used in
 writing up" the United States-if
 isolated cases of cruelty in convict
 camps, in asylums for the insane.
 and by brutal men who happen to
 have temporary power over ignorant
 employees. were exploited, and if the
 details of lynchings were set forth as
 characteristic pictures of American
 life-it would be easy to prepare sen-
 sational articles on "Barbarous Amer
 ica." Mir. Talbot says, in short, that
 Mexico, under the rule of President
 Diaz, has made phenomenal progress
 toward the higher civilization which
 is the aim of all enlightened nations.
 That there are occasional abuses of
 power by subordinate officials the article does not attempt to deny; but there is a strong denial that Gen.
 Diaz is personally responsible or that
 he would approve if the facts in these detached cases were brought to his attention. Mir. Talbot might truth fully have said a great deal more in defense of Mexico.
 In attempting to reach fair con- cans of course should remember that the great majority or the people of that country are of the native Indian stock. During the quarter of a cen- tury that President Diaz has been in power the peon classes of Mexico have found their conditions of life greatly improved. Their universal contentment of itself contradicts the theory that they are oppressed by the government. That there are cases of individual oppression by employers may be taken for granted, if human nature is the same in Mexico as else where.
 The government may have used bad judgment in failing to reach a peace with the Yaquis of Sonora sooner than it did: our own government on many occasions in the past exercised very bad judgment, and thereby brought on cruel Indian wars. in which the Indians were subjected to quite as much cruelty and injustice as can be alleged against the Mexican government in its dealings with the Yaquis. But who. on this account. would say that the government of the ChitSd cbdltS IS DdTDdTOuS mat in the final struggle the Mexican au- thorities used the Yaquis most rigor- ously in order to bring them to-terms. is matter of common knowledge. But business in Sonora had been paralyzed by the depredations of the faquis, and the clamor from Ameri- l cans for their suppression was as loud as the complaints from Mcxi- l cans. The situation in Sonora, after d war of several years duration. was a repetition of the conditions which i prevailed in Arizona just before the | Apaches were suppressed. The war had to be ended, and the time had | gone by for considering the merits of | the questions which had caused the | war. All Sonora is tranquil today. | and the country swarms with Ameri- | can prospectors, who find that their | lives and property have been made | safe by the "barbarous" government | to which they had appealed for pro- tection. Governor Torres of Sonora. | when in Phoenix two years ago. spoke | with deep regret and much feeling | the necessities which | forced his government to make wig orous warfare upon the Yaquis. As he said, the Yaquis are excellent la borers, and are one of Sonora's valu- able assets; and he pointed out that ! selfish considerations as well as the dictates of humanity led the Mexican authorities to hope for a friendly | peace with the turbulent element. General Sherman. long ago, made the truthful declaration that war is hell,' and neither our government nor the Mexican government has learned how to make a pink tea of a war with Indians or any other people.
 It is utter nonsense, therefore. to charge the Mexican government with being inhuman ~and barbarous sim ply because it finally saw fit to make