The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-11-27

the number comprising a third OF the en-
tire department.
To be unable to speak the Spanish
language there Is virtually to disbar
yourself from holding Office, and. ii might
almost be said, from transacting ordinary
business with any degree OF success.
Mayor Callaghan. who has been al the
head of the city government for the last
eighteen years, and who succeeded his
father 10 that position. is a fluent speaker
of the language Indeed, he is classed
in the Rio GTande country as an orator.
when 1t comes TO addressing the Mexi-
cans In their own tongue The Mexican
vote there usually controls the election
and decides who shall rule the city. Cam
paign speeches are therefore delivered
IN Mexican halls with as much gusto and
impassiOned appeal as they are in halls
where English is spoken. Mexican restau-
rants are among the leading eating places
OF San Antonio, and one of the inviolable
rules, when entertaining conventions, OF
which there are dozens held every year
is TO take the visiting delegates for q
feed or banquet at one of the several fine
Mexican places. The food prepared al
these eating houses is as distinct in char
acter from American cooking as is that
served by the Celestials in our owl
Chinatown in New York. But all Mex
lean cooking is the same in one respect
in that IL is all favored more or less with
red pepper.
Population Equals Americans.
In Del Rio. FL Paso. and other towns q
the border the greaser population is al
most on a par numerically with the
Americans. In Brownsville. on the lowei
part of the Rio Grande. there is on,
greaser 10 every American resident
Brownsville. indeed, might be said to b'
more OF a Mexican town than IL is Amer
| lean. Tie curious old adobe wall tina
/ surrounds the business section of thu
city-it came In for some publicity in thu
/ famous Congressional investigation OF TIT
| negro shooting affair-the old adob'
/ houses to be seen everywhere, the newe
ones Just reared. the curious little two
wheeled donkey water-carts which taxi
/ the place of a water main SYSTEM th'
| hundred OF Mexican signs that greet one
eye as he walks down the streets-al
! tell the visitor as nothing else can tina
| If he deals at ali he must deal with Mex
leans.
In the country sections of the Ri
Grande Valley the greaser is almost al
! together a farm laborer. Farther up IA
becomes a man-of-all-work on tn
ranches. Sometimes he aspires 10 tn
rank of a cowboy. but the instances of IN
success in undertakings OF this magni
tude are few and far between. for Amer
| leans have almost a monopoly in tina
occupation and are pretty diligent il
| the endeaVOr 10 keep il 10 themselves
The greaser sometimes gets as far nortl
as ST. Louis, but he seldom faces IN
north winds any farther up than that
The cold winds nip his tropical shins to-
uncomfortably.
Santa Annals army in the restless day
of the early 36s was made up almost en-
| tirely of greasers Of the lowest degree
felons and cOnvicts. in great part worth
less men and worthless soldiers. In IN
light of the lesson taught by the inva
sions of that time and OF the crueltie
perpetrated in the name Of oppression
! there is little room for wonder that III
| Southwest Texan has little love evel
in this day and time for the greaser.