Bisbee daily review., 1910-09-04

brought into closer harmony with foreign methods than they are today
 before that consummation is
 reached. but it would be desirable,
 when mining properties are sold by
 Mexicans to foreigners. that the
 value of the mines should be taken
 in stock by the owners. Thus na-
 tive knowledge of the laws and hab-
 it's of the country in which the prop
 erty exists would supplement in the general management the business
 methods and technical skill provided
 by the stock owned by the foreign
 capital.
 Meanwhile, however, both on the
 ing works. preference should always
 be given to native labor. There is
 a dearth of technical skill in Mex
 leo, but Mexican youths can be rap idly trained into good technical
 workers. As little foreign labor as possible. either manual, technical or
 clerical. should be employed. For eign labor always commands a high
 CT wage than is paid for similar work done by Mexicans,, and till the Mexican is trained to the level of ! imported workmen, the Mexican de- serves less. But it is an invidious
 distinction. however real: and it in Ievitably creates hear.purpipg and discontent- On railroads, native em. ployes can fill a much wider sphere
 than they generally do. AS traia
 hands they are apt, and obedient tc orders. and as locomotive engineers and firemen they show distinct me lchanical instincts.
 1 They are fearless and brave. On
 a narrow gauge line between the
 Pilares mine and the works at Pla-
 cerita, in Sonora. a Mexican engi-
 neer. Jesus Garcia, with a Mexican
 crew, in the employ of the Mocte-
 zuma Copper Co, was hauling open
 cars loaded with dynamite When on grade near the town of Naco-
 zari, boxes containing the dynamite were discovered to be on fire. Anx- ious to, pull the train to safe dis tance from the town, he turned on steam. Nc. g man left his post till Garcia seeing that the brakemen could not avert the catastrophe. or dered them to jump. He, however, l remained on the locomotive, and , with his hand on the throttle was biown into atoms. meeting a fate he knew to be inevitable, but which he was wiling to suffer in order to save others. He was only a Mexican peon, but he represented the stolid
 bravery of the race, which, more over, is not lacking in intelligence,
 and which. under just and firm
 guidance, can be educated to occupy
 any position which men Of other na-
 tionalities of the same training can
 fill As miner the Mexican pos
 sesses manual dexterity of a high or
 der, but it requires time to stradite
 the old habits of mine working,
 which he and his forebears have ac-
 Quired through generations of prac-
 tice. Around a furnace he is at
 home Like all dwellers in a tropi-
 cal or semi-tropical cline, he has
 never felt the necessity of steady
 work, and therefore has never habit
 uated himself to it; but. he rapidly
 learns to dicsard sandals and wear
 shoes, and to initiate the higher standards of living of his northern ifeilow-workers. He soon learns that to maintain that position he must
 make money and work steadily. He therefore abandons his 'erratic hab-7
 it's. If the managers of foreign conn
 panies would temporarily submit to- some inconvenience and annoyance, involved in employing more Mexi- cans and fewer foreign workmen, they would before long not only find . lit to be to their profit, but they : would help to alleviate the smould- ering feeling of jealousy and dread which can be used so widely and : successfully by such agitators as wish to use the pro patria movement for political purposes.
 , There is no denying that a dread : of the overwhelming strength of the : United States has always possessed , the Mexican mind. Don Pablo Ma cedo. in his chapter on railroads, tells us of the conferences which : preceded the adoption of the railroad l policy in Mexico. He says: Tn de } ciding on the gauge the truth is that } the question was discussed, whether , for not they should accept the gauge adopted by eheir neighbors of the : northern republic. It was a consid- : ieration of the gravest moment, and 3 Itranscended all others. No one, and ! still less statesmen of the status of , Senor Lerdo de Tejada, has ever 7 been blind to the danger that we run 1 from the nearness of our colossal | Ineighbors on the north. Tn compar- D ison with the United States-more's t Ithe pity-we must confess that we d then figured, and we still do, as a > mere pigmy. Besides this the sad + memory of the iniquitous war of j1QAr -hfnh noo< ua &Aa ban <~< <>.,r