Daily Kennebec journal., 1911-02-28
THE LAND QUESTION IN MEXICO.
Economic Forces Operating to Break
Up the Great Estates.

ii those rapid fire critics whose prin-
eipal delight seems to consist in sharp.
shooting sporadic abuses. We're only
aware OF til" earnest attention which
President DiaZ has given the funda
uenIal problem of Mexican political
economy. they would pe q little more
careful ut whom they aim their snal
Judgment Recognizing that the mo
n"poliz2tion of the land has been the
greatest drawback to national progress
he has had 10 less than three schemes
of taxation formulated during the las
Is Years with 4 view of breaking III
the enormous haciendas. That they
never became law was due to two SUI
ficent reasons Dictator as Diaz is, TIN
secret % his power has lain in the con
Srmmate skill with which he has al
ways balanced the political factions Sc
that the control remained in his oWr
hands, Hnf realizing that any attack
up'n the greet landed interests would
unite the entire Mexican oligarCAy
a2ainst him, he wisely refrained. Fur :
thcr, il would be absurd to suppose
that a man 50 shrcwd in statecraft
eoulG overlook the tact that unconsci-
about the desired end; that the rise of
wages already mentioned was bound
in the long run To force the haciendadc
20 sell and l"t the people in upon the
land.
TIE method by which this Is coming
10 pass is well illustrated by the am
SWer a large landowner made the other
day Whcn asked why he had just sold
n million acres of his land. "Hecaust
! can no longer make any money on if
Twenty years ago | paid my poems
l2ts cents Il day. !'his year | pay them
10. Newt year it will be 60. Your con-
fourdeG railways and mines have stol-
en- all our labor. ! thought il was
best To sell out before the rush began.
Thcrr it is--a situation that exactly
parallels "na which obtained III Eng
land Whcn, after tn" application of
steam power in manufactures, the
English landlord found himself com
PEELED - bid for his labor against the
factory capitalists. And just as the
English workman obtained his rights
ont Of that conflict, SO will the MeNi-
can peon obtain his from this. And
the process which is TO bring him his
own is well under way. Whereas, ~
wears ago. the Mexican hacicndado
preferred his acres TO cash, lie now
turns Il willing eJr tn the solicitations
of the American promoter. III E9
turn, the American promoter cNpeuiteS
the process in ways that are excellent
ly Illustrated by the history OF the
great wheat ranches Of California.
Whel broken up into small fruit and
produce farms. ranches of 10000 anu
40. coo acres that had never supported
more than 20 To 60 hired hands the
year round supplied homes for popu-
lations OF from 1855 TO 5000.
And 50 will it be in Mexico. Here
ami there, companies are forming L
buy and subdivide, the great haciendas
in readiness for the food of immlgra
tion which the completion of the Pana
ma canal will surely loose upon th'
Pacific coast. The only thing, theN
argue. which has Kept immigration
upon the Atlantic coast has beeh Tue
500 fare across the continent. "heh
the transatlantic steamship compahie9
begin to deliver cmigrants through thc
canal at $40 a head they'll come'-JuS
as surely as water flows downhiii u"
the bol,ow nlace." And when ttieN
co,nc' when the millionaire iae''',
das have been broken up INTO s''la''
farms. each capable of utilizing the Ia
ho,, of a few poems. the Mexican peon
vim enter into his own. Whatever ne
;ts real economic value, his labor Wi'l
nan,na,d ~, its top price on the market
and with more money. better io""'
larger opportunities, his advancemeh'
viii only pause nj the limits OF ms own
oanacity.--Hermau Whitaker in sun
set Magazine.