El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-04-16
AGR|CU[ TURE IN MEXICO
By Robert II. Murray

most potent appeal to the Kansans-
the absence Of cold and the ability &c
utilize the ground year in and year out
regardless Of seasons It was an eco
nOmic proposition, evidently, that went
far toward inclining them favorably &c
pioneering in Mexico. As I pondered
over what they told ne, / found my
self in sympathy with their reasoning
1 recalled the hardships that beset the
pioneers who broke path for progress
and civilization in any of our middle or
far western states-the onSlaughts OF
the savages, the rigor Of the winters.
the devastating hordes of grasshoppers
the drouths, the failure of crops and
the necessity, when once a crop was lost,
of waiting until spring for another bout
with the fates that arbitrate the for
tunes of the farmer. I could readily
understand how the young farmers,
obsessed with the spirit of pioneering
and eager to challenge fortune in a new
land, and familiar with the struggles Of
their fathers and grandsires to bring
the virgin soil under the pillow, should
select to seek a line that promised less
resistance.
Chances in Mexico.
There also occurred to me a para
graph, that seemed well spiced with
honesty and good sense, which I recent
" read in a publication that treats
largely of Mexican tropics It said:
IF we were asked as 70 our advice
with reference to whether or not q man
in advance of middle life, who has a
settled home and a competency, sur
rounded by his friends, relatives and
neighbors, should come TO Mexico, we
should say to such a man: Stay where
you are On the other hand, the young
man, with a shealthy family, who is not
afraid to leave the shadow Of his
church steeple, who has little money
and is willing to make only such sacri-
fees as would be necessary to any new
" settled country. we would say to him
Come to Mexico. bring your family, and
settle in some of the American colonies.
and the reward for given amount of
effort should be greater in Mexico than
anywhere else on the American CONT
nent, if the capital invested is taken
into consideration
Pioneering. IN Mexico or anywhere
else. is not likely to be essayed by a
Weakling, or man who is possessed OF
less than the average amount of op-
timism. The pessimist is never a sue
cess as a pioneer
No Place Cor Laziness.
Mexico is no place for lazy or a shift
less farmer, with a record of failure
behind him. Farming and pioneering in
MeXico-this has particular reference
70 the tropics. where most Of the Amer
ican farmers that are in the country
have Embellishments certain tempera-
mental qualifications. In the first place,
one must be prepared to adapt himself
to climate. social and labor conditions
that are peculiar TO the land and the
people He must steel himself to the
task of coping with a degree of inertia
and lack OF enterprise which is in
herent in the native poems upon whom
he must depend TO clear and cultivate
his acres The white man in the trop-
les must learn TO work with his brain
and leave the manual tasks to the ma
tive.
He must join the Don't Worry club.
and bear with patience the annoyances
and trials with which he will be beset.
especially those which proceed from the
tantaliZing ineptitude of his laborers
The sooner he learns to let the poems
go their own gait and to interfere as
little as possible with customs and
methods in the field even though they
may be archaic as compared with what
ne has been accustomed to in handling
labor in the states, the sooner he will