El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-05
Close the Bullrings---Open the Schools
A Plea for Greater Humanity Toward Man and Beast
Benio Juarez

much, at last lacks equilibrium and
colIapses.
Signs of De&eneracy.
In the agony of people like that of
man, we observe unmistakable sym.1-
toms When the stern and rigorous
customs; when the love for our fellow
beings and for all creatures disap-
pears and is substituted by cruelty;
when we observe not in difference mere
ly but pleasure rejecting itself on the
features, through evil and sufferings;
then we can be assured that the peo-
pie which participate in such senti-
ments, are degenerating and Will soon
be doomed to perish.
It was when Rome was decayirS,
that is, when it belonged to the Cae-
sers. when 1t forgot its virility, that
the world beheld the bloody
games of the circuses. And the roar
ing of the wild beasts, the lamente-
tions of the victims, and the crushing
of bones by the steel like jaws OF the
hungry carniverous, the yelling of the
throngs intoxicated at the sight Of
blood. demanding from the vestals not
to raise their thumbs towards the sky
but to turn them downwards to The
earth; the agonizing cries OF grea'
and gigantic people, which crumbles
into dust and which very soon was
only the memory of what it had been
Such is the fate of the people in
which it is an amusement to behold
amidst laughter, shrill whiStling, noisy
ordinations, and clapping OF hancS
the agony of a martyred animal, or a
martvrd man whom in a round Of
boxing match, has been suffocated or
beaten by the brutal blow Of his ad-
versary.
No gentleman; no more bull fight
ing: no more prize fights; we are the
friends of humanity.
And the lovers OF such savage spec
tacIes dare say, dare to assure thar
courage increases in those who wit
ness those spectacles. And they also
dare say that the actors are brave.
The Real Bravery.
They lie: bravery is that of ply
stefan who without red cape 10
blind the sight of beast, and without
precautions or ointments to develop
the muscles into flexibility, goes 10
the bedside of one who suffers from
contagious disease, and meets death
face to face, risking his own life, or
that of his folk for he sometimes car
ries contagion to his home; saves q
father for a son or a daughter, SAVES
husband for a wife, saves broth -
for a sister, or in short, saves q bene-
factor Of the poor.
Bravery is that of priest, whatever
be his religion, who runs toward the
infected when dying, and encourages
him or her with sweet words to start
the Journey to the unknown regions.
Bravery is that of the fireman who
struggles enwrapped in flames at the
risk of his life and saves that of i
innocent child
bravery is that of your Industrious
Lincoln, who, when he abolished slave
~, knew that fragment of the chains
he tore would become a bullet to kill
him.
The Courage of a Jaarez.
| Bravery was, why not say so, gentle
men, if it is the truth, that of my dis
.tinguished father, that of Juarez who,
with a few loyal patriots, traversed
: our northern deserts, and graspingl the
! tricolored banner, proclaimed that the
Mexican republic was embodied in
/ him.
Real courage consists in sacrificing
/ oneself for humanity's sake, for the
/ fatherland, for a sacred and noble
ideal; not in being the bait with which
we obtain the base satisfaction of the
! evil passions for a handful of coin nor
/ being the Nscorn of a multitude when
unsuccessful in results. In the spec
(; tacle which 1 am opposing, gentlemen
! there are two victims and a beast.
The beast is represented by the ra-
tiona1 beings applying this adjective
/ TO those who we have conventionally
! and proudly agreed to call mem and
/ the victims by two irrational ones. the
bull and the horse. The bull is cared
for with extreme attention, he is NUM-
bered and his feed is weighed; The
! man in charge of it reports to the own
er every detail daily. All this for what
purpose? Is this animal going to be
of any use in the work of love and
4 concord for which we have come to The
world? Is he to draw the pillow mildly
submitting easily to the yoke and &C
help in tilIing the land, to fertilize il
and make it produce grain for the hun
i CRY ones?
Nurfured for Slaughter.
No, it is going to die in the ring
| tormented by the spears. by the hooks
of the banderillas and by the sword OF
] the matador The beast roarS wi j
/ enthusiasm and Cain is victoriousi All
/ but the bull at least has means oil
/ defending himself, his horns are his
1