The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-04
Age-Herald Correspondent Gives Impressions Formed
 When He Visits Sonora
UNCLE SAM FACES
 AN ENORMOUS TASK
Few Public Men In Washington Op- timistic Enough to Believe Or der Can Be Restored With
 out Resort to Force
nx C. D. STEWART

By (. E. STEWART
 Washington May s.-(special)-Few people in the United States who have never visited Mexico can In the least appreciate the task that this government is undertaking if at last 1t Is forced into restorng order in that country and rom necessity is compelled to hold on until a "constitutional government Is estao- lished.
 And yet this task appears impossible to avoid. Few public men in Washington are optimistic enough to believe that come what will of the efforts of the A. B. c. powers, the United States can escape the responsibility of taking a hand in bring ing order out of chaos in Mexico. No one is optimistic enough to believe that the United States can perform this obligation, rlaced upon her by the Monroe doctrine and by her geographical associa- tion with Mexico, without resorting to force. At some stage of the proceedings at least n part. and a considerable part of the Mexican people are going to resist l the Influence of the United States with arms.
 Cost In Time and Money l When one has even slight acauaint- ance with Mexico and the Mexican people
 he can rore fully appreciate this fact.
 He can also more fully appreciate the
 cost In time and money and lives that the
 successful termination of such an under
 taking will cost this country under the most favorable conditions.
 It was the rivlege of the writer to
 srend several weeks in northwestern Mex leo six years ago. and while the time was too limited to form lasting and en- | tireiy dependable convictions as to the customs, conditions and politics in the
 section in which I was. nevertheless l could not fail to be impressed with what I saw, end heard and realize how vast lily different it was from what expected, and what ought to be reasonably expected lof country contiguous to our own Il iscems .o pc Impossible that mere line established by international customs ane flaws nla rki1ig the dividing boundary ol two nations could in reality be a Chinese wall separating two peoples of such vast jly different customs. sentiments hopes Iambitions and ideals.
 l Trains Stop After Dark
 | went down into Sonora through Ari- zona. Indeed we stopped at Nogaies, Ariz.. at s o'clock one night because the railroad company had been forbidden to run its trains in Mexico after dark be-
 cause at that time the Yaauis, were on the warpath. One end of the sleeper l in which I spent the night was in the l United States and the other In Mexico. l We started at sunrise the next morning and arrived about ? o'clock at Hermo-
 sillo, the capital of the state of Sonora.
 Hermosillo Is a town of about l2.0o peo- pie, narrow streets, adobe houses and quaint old churches. Brief as was my visit in Sonora, I could but be impressed | with the economic importance of the state.
 It Is simply a mineral storehouse, and rra ractically undeveloped.
 | | met there an English mining engineeI whom l have since had the pleasure oi mo, ting again in New York. He had heen all over the world, having had ex- perience with CeYil Rhodes in Africa, and devoted two or three years to Soutf America. and a year or so in Alaska, vel he told me that 1t was his firm conviction tthat Sonora was the richest spot on tho
 globe in mineral deposits.
 1 Unlimited Possibilities of Soil In addition to this the soil is simply un limited in possibilities. the only require
 ment being water. Properly irrigated abundant crops can be produced Th' Irainy season in Sonora comes in Angus and September, and during that tim. there is enough waterfall, If it could b,
 conserved, as In isolated instances it is to last till the next rainfall. Yet in spit' of this natural wealth, and in spite O the fact that Sonora boasted of churci
 edlfce built in the Sixteenth century, th'
 state is sparsely settled and farmini land mining are conducted only in limit
 cd way and with out-of-date methods.
 In spite of the fact that great dea
 of American money has been. or had al the time 1 was there, invested in Sonora land there were at that time many Amer jeans in the state, the people clung stead fastly to Mexican customs and ideas and
 adopted nothing from the Americans Stores shops and even banks in liermo- si]Io were closed every day for an hour at noon while the proprietors and clerks , took a siesta. No rush of trade or spe- cial occasion was permitted 10 Interfere with this custom
 Goods Not On Display
 l When A customer entered store he did not behold q general display of goods and attractive articles in showcases. as he does in this country. In fact, he sees no goods at all; he finds himself in q room with a counter ana ne must ASK fOl
 what he wants. The clerk will then gc
 back into the storeroom into which thu customer Is never allowed and bring ou , what is asked for A few shops make , displays, but very few, and usually the, } are fancy articles such as embroider, , work for which the Mexican women ars famous, or jewelry.
 There Is no middle class in Mexico Either one is a peon or an arlstocrat Either very poor or very rich. The yer, poor work for the very rich. and unde the Mexican sy stem there is small clanc, for them over reversing their respectiv' , situations.
 One Ambition in Life The peon who works for the landed gen , ltry, or as a laborer in the mines, ha but one aim and ambition in life--that f ! + to get married He usually marries earl. lin life and plunges headlong Into deb . in the operation. He gets into debt to hi : Landlord or to the man who employe { him. and he never gets out. The only sue , cess ne makes Is increasing the popula i, ton with more peons. He Is supposed | be citizen and exercise the rlg.., O suffrage, but he never does 1t. or if h : does he votes exactly as he Is told b, 1.-the man who virtually owns him. II Of course. many of these things I saw : and nany I was told, but the things