The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-05-26

80 1870 A0tSf ti'l1 |
seems, nevertheless. to have been very
little improved, according to our per
sonal observation, even TO the present
day"
Inherited EIom Foreigners.
But soon the Emperor revoked the
humane DEGREES. 9TH claims of slav-
cry were riveted upon the natives.
The principle Of compulsory labor
was firmly established, and even to
this day the Indian Of Mexico remains
virtually the bondman he was doomed
to become in the sixteenth century"
Such is the inheritance of the
Mexican from the foreigner. Thus
has he good reason to distrust the
pale face. Hidalgo in 1910 decreed
the freedom of slaves and Indians,
but the landhOlders, who achieved
the independence of Mexico, still kept
the Indians in a state Of servitude,
which has continued to the present
day. The great estates are still owned
by wealthy families, even the "egi-
dos" or communal lands of towns.
having been practically swallowed up
by the large estates after 1859, wheE
the mainmport was divided up and
the ignorant Indians resold these
small parcels of land.
Diaz has been charged with estab-
fishing a feudal system in Mexico by
putting the political power in the
hands Of the wealthy proprietors. AS
4 consequence the heavier part of the
burden of the taxes fell upon the
owners of small parcels of land, while
the large estates escaped just taxa
ton. This system resulted in the dis.
appearance of other small holdings
which became attached to the feudal
possessions.
Middle Glass Disappears.
When the ownership of lane by the
commons disappeared the conse-
quence was peonage imposed upon
those most resembling what might
have been called a middle class, and
an actual state of slavery resulted.
The poems are compelled to work for
low wages: money often is advanced
on account of future wages, and as
debts can be transferred from father
to son, it may be found %expedient
now to abolish the existing debts, as
was once done in Attica to save
Athens. At times large bodies Of
poems were compulsorily transported
: from one part Of Mexico to another
!, in order to provide cheap labor.
Twentieth century complications
were started in the eighties. wher
President Diaz set up the system o.
for all Of industrial n com
e mercial enterprises to foreign cap
: ~italists, the cost of living being in.
creased, but not the wages of the agri
0 cultural laborers. The condition O.
the poems continued to grow more
grave.
Q Its Constitution Only a Name.
n Mexico has had a constitution on1.
in name since 1857. The document a
s it exists followed the American an(
& French patterns and ignored the pc
%culiar conditions in Mexico-i. e.
peonage and differences in race, Their
e being the full-blooded Indian repre-
e senting sixteenth century ideas; tn
mixed races, representing the eigh
teenth century: the educated mestizos
y representing the nineteenth century
and foreigners, together 18th native
of high culture, products of the tWt1
tieth century civilization.
- That constitution not only neVe
e has been in force but POrfriO Dla
5 practically ignored it and establishe
a dictatoria1 regime, appointing GOV
Il errors, members o. Legislature:
i Congress and the Supreme Court. TIL
privileged classes and foreigner
al alone found any shelter under tn
provisions of the constitution. Lii
a Luis Cabrera. recently Speaker of tn
Mexican House, declared that go pc
n, cent. of the population of the cour
III try did not enjoy either justice g
liberties or guarantees
Dictatorship Re Established.
IN The Madero revolution was a poht
is cal one. He desired free elections an
1t, no reelection of the President. Bl
w its strength was from the agrarla
It masses. and a reaction set in durln
nd the ad interim Government Of de
r Barra which triumphed later in tf
assassination of President MaderO, TT
ee martyred President having been III
nd able to free himself from the power
- the reactionary forces. In an effort
m win the favor of the Diaz elemert I
in lost the support Of the revoiutlona
u forces. Huerta made himself lead
tt of reaction, and the "chief adviser
Ii Huerta and Felix DiaZ during II
n bombardment Tin Mexico City, an
indeed, the one really responsible II
Of that coup d'etat." according 10 Sc
o. Cabrera, i Henry Lane N1lscl
T.. Ambassador from the United Stat
Of to Mexico.
att A u~ictatOrial regime was thus 4