Daily Kennebec journal., 1911-01-05

quantity. On the other hand if a large
hacienda were operated BY one man
ager. the crops would be uniform aud
much improved. both as to amount
produced and quality. |
Mexico needs immense quantities Of
the staple crops, such as corn. wheat
and barley, grown on the uplands, and
sugar cane and rice on the lower lev
els. The only way these can he pro-
duced in quantity sufficient FOR the
demands of the people OF this republic
is By organized farming, and not by
scattered colunists having no uni
formitY of actor.
The large haciendas in Mexico are
all ready for such use. All that is
necessary is for proper management.
backed by sufficient capital, to take
over these immense properties and
plant them to the needed crops, en-
rloying men of experience and skill
to handle the ranches so cultivated.
Il nave read With much interest the
following clipping. written and sent to
The United States by man who evi-
IDENTIFY has spent some time in Mexico.
lr the main point covered it is correct
and :he statements made about cover
change which is gradually coming
to pass in the republic. 1t reads as
futlcws.-
New conditions are changing the
old order OF things in Mexico The
great haci@ndaS are doomed, and the
land win be divided into smaller farms
to meet the modern conditions In
years past, even in Spanish colonial
times, when revolutions threatened
the country, when robbers lived in
the hills and hi2hwaymen paced the
caminoS reales Mexco'S chief factor
o. safety lay in her huge hacienda;
and her landed proprietors, who were
really rural barons by right of pos
session and the exercise of almost
autocratic power, existed simply be-
cause or the number of their LOYAL T."
tantrs Thus it was in the interest o.
every landed proprietor to add to his
possessions in lands and 1aborers and
followers who would come at his call
ard do his will without question OF
hesitation.
''The Spaniard inherited from Europe
his ambition To possess large tracts
of land and many rctainers. In Eu-
rope. too. this ambition of men of
position. good family and places
sprang from the conditions existing
during the Middle Ages. when every
mans hand was against his naighbor
and when. in most cases, might vas
considered right. Thus the possession
of large tracts of land came to be
looked upon as enc of TIE natural at
tributes and accessories of nobility
And each new applicant for admit
tance into the ranks of the upper
classes made haste to gather himself
land aud retainers enough to cause
his power to be respected and his al
lance sought.
The signs of the dissolution of the
great haciendas are evidens The
changes in economic sociological and
industrial conditions are such that the
day is at hand when il will no longer
pay the landed proprietor to work
large tracts OF land. as he has con-
thiued to do up to the present The
price of labor has advanced more than
200 per cent in the last quarter of
century. and it is destined To increase
as rapidly during the next - wears
as it did during the past
fhe time is near at hand when eco
nomic conditions will require that un-
used land be taxed, as well as tnat
under cultivation. All these factors
will require for the land equation ar
economic and up-to-date adrlinstra-
ton. 1t will also force the land own
er to either work his land along mod
ern lines or to dispose of il to those
who will and can do So Thus eco
nomic conditions are today forcing the
division of the larger haciendas; and
this division, when it comes, will in
crease the agricultural production OF
the nation three or four fold; for the
land will be better worked, will pro-
duce more to the acre. and there will
be from two 10 three times more un-
der cultivation than there is at tn,
present time.
THE future of agricultural Mexico
lies in the subdivision of her large
landed estates and the encouragement
OF the rising middle classes to become
agriculturists. Mexican Herald.