El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-06-11
PREHISTO ORIG
PREJUDICE
PREVAILS
Mayas Have Always Hated
the Aztecs;; Then Span
iards and the Mexicans.
ARISTOCRATS OF
THE ABORIGINEES
First Republicans" on the
American Continent-Re-
markably Intelligent Once

Mexico City, Mexico, June 1.-THE
the Mexican government in the terri
tories of Yucatan and Campeche are
the aristocracy of the aborgines of the
South and Central American region.
Originally noted for their peacea bIeness,
judging from the fine cities they built
in prehistoric times and the evidences
they left Of their agricultural nature,
they have been constant source of
trouble TO the Mexican government
throughout the century of its exist
ence.
The Mayas were the original "republi-
cans" Of the continent, il is claimed by
historians Where other tribes-notably
their most noted neighbOrs, the Aztecs
10 the nOrth-had hereditary monarch
les and were ruled by chieftainS who
descended from other chieftains-the
sun God being their father, according
to their tribal traditions-the Mayas
elected their councils and council chiefs.
While other abrogines were warning,
the Mayas were developing their agri-
cultural possibilities and building great
temples that withstOod the ravages Of
time and civilization, monuments to
their early learning and ability. Then
it was not strange that when the Span
iards first came, they should find the
Mayas should continue in rebellion
when the Mexican government took
them over They rebelled for the same
cause that the American colonists re-
belled-because they were governed
without representation.
The Fighting Starts.
They could see no reason why their
country should be taken away from
them; why the best there was should
fall TO the Spaniards, first, and the
Mexicans later, and they began fight
ing. They have kept it up, at times
offering serious resistance, again just
committing depredations upon farms
and making desultOry attacks upon the
troops sent there to scatter them and
keep them in subsection But all the
tir,le they showed resistance. And that
this resistance should be but natural.
sociological students say there has been
every reason, for the majority of the
Mexican officials in the two territories
where roam the Mayas, are descendants
of the Aztecs, the ancient enemies OF
the Mayas. That the Mexican govern
ment should attempt to control them
was enough to make them fight, but
that the control should be exercised
through the descendants of their ancient
enemies, against which the prehistoric
peaceful Mayas had to contend, was
more than they would stand. Diaz, II
must be remembered, Is dH <AZleC, HeuCS
the Mayas have hated their ruler from
the time he took the presidential chair,
over 80 years ago, and rheY have been
taught that he would eventually eX
terminate them all They are therefore
fighting against the expected exter
mination, against the curtailment of
their privileges and because of the in
born hatred of centuries against the
Aztecs.
just Like Other Indians.
These things lie at the bottom of
the present revolt, but the immediate
cause is the fancied oppression of the
Mexican government; the same that
caused the Yaquis to fight in Sonora
until they had almost all been exter-
minated; the same that caused the
American Indian to fight as long as he
could get rifles and powder. Mexicans
have taken up the rich lands claimed
by the Indians to develop the country
and great American corporations have
purchased immense tracts of timber and
large plantations which the Indians
called theirs, but which the Mexican
government sold as public lands as it
had q right to do.
The Indians have resisted, but gener-
ally feebly; they have lacked capable
leaders in the past and their fighting
has consisted of a foray upon a ha-
cienda, the butchery Of its inhabitants
and an escape back into the wilderness
before the troops could interfere, or
an attack from the roadside upon the
supply train of the Mexican army Of
occupation Seldom did the Indians give
battle in the open They lacked lead
ers and are not born soldiers.
Spaniards as Leaders.
But the time came when the leaders
arrived The Spaniards who came over
and settled in Campeche and Yucatan
and grew fruits and raised cattle be-
fore Mexico became a republic have
never quite become reconciled to the
Mexican rule; they did not rebel with
the rest of Mexico when Hidalgo, the
priest, threw off the Spanish yoke from
the shoulders of his people. and il was
a long time before the territory was
even claimed by the Mexicans. Finally,
after serious rebellion on the part of