The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-04-16
Feudal System of Big Estates
the General Rule in Re-
public of Mexico.
SINGLE OWNERS OFTEN
CONTROL VAST TRACTS
Report of Consul General Bon
ney, at San Luis Potosi, to
State Department.
Special 10 The Tribune.

Special 70 The TTlptx1lo
WASHINGTON, D. c., April IS
An interesting report has been made
by United States Consul w. L, Bonney
at San Luis Potosi, Mex, in reference
to the big landed estates and colonies
in Mexico, which is in part as follows;
s'Single owners control in some cases
more than half million acres, on
which Are located towns, mines, and
rivers, presenting condition some
what feudal in certain aspects Mucn
AS the system has been criticised, 1t
undeveloped country the land Is at
times as much liability as an asset
to its owners, and in the absence OF
large central markets and storage Ia
cilities the small landowner is at the
mercy of buyers and suffers greatly
from fluctuations IN the price of staples.
With the land in strong hands such
disasters fall with less calamitous eff
fects, and in a section where tho risks
of agriculture are great the system
has its compensauons-
"These estates, usually irregular in
their boundaries. contain but small
proportion of really good land which
can be cultivated under present con.
ditionS and embrace large tracts OF
mountainous or semi-desert land which
can not be used TO advantage, If an
owner should sell the arabic and pro-
ductive portion lie would destroy the
value of the remainder, and, however
anxious he may be to dispose of the
poorer parts separately, no market can
be found for them; perforce he must
hold the estate intact to conserve Its
value.
Estates Held Intact.
"Inheritance has not operated with
its customary tendency toward the
breaking up of estates, because the
heirs buy the shares Of each other to
hold the land in common, as an equit
able partition cannot be made. 1t ls
a condition which will remedy itself
with development and colonization and
the coming of period of intensive
cultivation. Travellers and visitors see
the large ranches and the scarcity OF
settlers, and conclude that the one Is
the cause of the other. This Is n hasty
conclusion. Until the productive lands
which are on the market at low prices
have all been absorbed by small own
ers and taken under cultivation stric-
tures upon the large land-holdings seem
scarcely appropriate. A process of set
Element and partition viii be welcomed
by the large owners with moro eager
ness than by the landless, but so long
as large tracts can be sold more read
be to preserve the large holdings in.
tact,
Water Not Monopolized.
GA land system suitable for fertile
and uniform prairies cannot be applied
TO land of very unequal quality, where
small river or lake or spring gives
and maintains tho value of surround
ing land for many miles; under such
conditions the value is not inherent in
the superficial area, but certain value
is lent 10 the whole estate by the pos
session ss Of the water supply. To divide
the tract under those conditions would
be wasteful and unwise. II should be
added that these large tracts do not
monopollze public resources, as the
government has reserved strip 10
meters (l meter equals 1928 feet) wide
on each side of all navigable rivers, and
q strip. meters wide on each side of
noatabie streams, and the ownership OF
land does not carry with it even prior
right to mines of precious metals which
may lie underneath.
MS system OF ownership does not
brng out the capacity of the land; 10
do this would require more capital than
can be commanded at present. better
markets, larger population and more
concentrated attention than an owner
can pceslbly devote to such large hold
lngs- But central Mexico is In some
agricultural respects in pioneer stage,
and many products are on an expert
mental basis when considered from
commercial or markewise view, max
Ing farming more or less Of a specula-
lion Tor the progressive landowner who
trles TO introduce new methods and
new crops into his operations. This
speculative feature could not be haz.
arded by small owner without dis
rressing experiences. It is to the ad-
vantage of the people that such exper-
lments be attempted upon a consider
able scale and by owners who can af-
ford the risk.
Gradual Development.
'I'hese large planters are gradually
introducing blooded stock, EXPERIMENT.
ing with cotton, boring for artesian wa.
ter and erecting small idnustrial plants
upon their estates. This method of de.
Telop1ng the agriculture of a country
oy wealthy owners differs widely from
the method prevailing an the United
states, where each owner of a small
farm develops for himself, but the cir
cumstances of this plateau are excep.
tional and require different treatment
from that which has proved successful
with fertile prairies enjoying abundant
moisture.
"The system has more or less the
advantages and the disadvantages
which centralized control In industry
has revealed-economy of management,
avoidance Of waste, and to some extent
utilization of by-products. 1t has re-
suited IN agricultural centers instead
of scattered farmsteads; and it has
made possible in the midst of almost
pioneer predial conditions culture ac-
cesslble to many and gradually spread
ing. The owners of haciendas are i'm.
portant men In the industrial and mer-
camille activity of the towns and capi-
tails, and their trade III supplies, re-
pairs, implements and professional
IS that the dealers find themselves at
times subordinate an the business scale
to the producers. Some of the large