Arizona republican., 1912-08-19
Failure of an Attempt to Settle an Industrial Dis turbance by Colonizing Strikers and Bringing Others in Their Places.
MONEY IS LACKING
 TO FINANCE SCHEME
Proposal to Drain Lake Texcoco. Unsatisfactory Results of First General
 Election for Senators and Deputies Under New Law

| MEXICO CITY, Aug. 1S-Labor troubles and an attempt to settle them by means of establishing colon- ies on government land have brought to light a difficulty which the gov ernment had not as yet realized The strike of textile workers in Orizada demonstrated that the unions were ready to stand together and that they would fight attempts to blcklist any member. An attempt to settle the question by colonizing the strikers and bringing in others was met by the refusal of the strikers to 1 be colonized
 The reasons they gave were that they Were for the most part poor and forced by the very low rate of wages paid to live almost from hand to mouth and had no money to pur- chase seed or to live until their crops could be harvested. It was further objected that the lands offered them for colonization were rough and in | many cases covered with underbrush or timber which would have to be re- moved before the crops could be planted. In many cases the land of ifered was so far from communication
 
 l The mortgage and loan association granted a charter by the government, with the intention that it should tide over just such cases as this refused | to furnish the money necessary to finance the scheme without the au- l lthorization of congress or the per. isonal guarantee of the cabinet, which lWould protect them in case the con- gress converting in September should refuse to authorize the expenditure | of the money. The sum necessary for the undertaking was estimated at $90.000 for 1000 men with their | families, or $90 per family. The cab- i inet refused to guarantee the loan land the textile strike and the colo- inizatiOn question are still unsettled. | The use of the bed of Lake Tex IcocO, now being drained to provide larable lands for the Indians living on it's banks, is meeting with much criti- Icism from scientists and physicians. Medical statisticians have attempted to demonstrate that whenever the level Iof the lake has gone down an epi- ldemic of typhus fever has resulted, and have gone so far as to compare the relative level of the lake with the Ideath rate from that disease. Agri- Iculturists have made chemical analy- SeS of the land on the shores of the lake and in it's bottom and have stat led that no known vegetation will grow there. The analyses show aka lies of various kinds and insolube ISulphides.
 The latter argument aroused the imoSt interest on the part of the gov Iernment commission in charge of the drainage of the lake and experiments are now being instituted to prove or Idisprove the theory Trees and plants Iboth foreign and native to Mexican lsoil, are being planted on the shores Iof the lake and their growth carefully observed to determine which, if any. iare suitable to the alkali soil. Ex- iperiments are also being made in jwashing the soil in an attempt to Iascertain whether such a procedure lwould be beneficial on a large scale. The commercial possibilities of the recovery of any soluble salts are also Ibeing looked into
 One of the purposes of draining the
 lake was to do away with the con- tinual sand storms which now assaii the capital, which would make the draining of the lake a disadvantage in case the land should not lend it. iself to cultivation. Indians living along the lake would furthermore be deprived of the scanty livelihood they now derive from the sale of various forms of aqueous products from the lake.
 The first general elections for sena-
 tors and, deputies to the National As- ,sembly which have been in any way an expression of the will of the people coming as they did under the new law calling for direct vote of the people, have not been as satisfactory as might have been wished.
 One of the battle cries of the Ma dero revolution was Effective Stuff Irage" This many claim has not been realized
 The department of the interior hav- ing all this in view and taking ad- vantage of the recency of the elections. has appointed a commission to make a careful study of the faults in the flaw and to make such recommenda- tions for amendments to it as may be thought advisable These recommen- dations will probably be embodied in President Madero's message at the lopening of the new congress in Sep- ttapnhar