The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1914-07-09
20 PER CENT HAVE
NOT THIEVES HONOR
Mixed Indian and Spanish Mex,
cans Make All the
Trouble.
Jack London in Golfers,


sixty-five per cent Of the inhabitants
are pure Indians; rs per cent are pure
Spanish. Americans, English. and other
foreigners. The remaining 20 per cent
are mixed Indian and Spanish. IT is
this mixed 20 per cent that, according
TO the stay at home American notion
constitutes the Mexican, and practical
~ the totality OF the Mexican popula-
ton.
And Il Is just precisely this 20 per
cent half-breed class that foments all
the trouble, plays childishly with the
tools OF giants. and makes a shambles
and a chaos of the land. These
breeds" represent neither the great
working class nor the property owning
class. nor the picked men OF the United
States and Europe who have given
Mexico what measure OF exotic civil
cation IL possesses. These breeds"
are the predatory class. They produce
nothing. They create nothing. They
aim TO possess a shirt ride on horse,
and shake down" the people who work
and the people who develop.
ASH have said before, they are de-
void even OF thieves honor. They can
not trust one another. They cannot be-
Heye one another. For once, each cor
rectly concefves the next one in his
own image. Aware, in his heart Of
hearts, that he wants nothing less than
100 per cent OF the swag, that only by
accident could ever be guilty of telling
the truth to q fellow robber, that he Is
continually bent upon over-reaching
and embarrassing his fellow COM
rades OF hooters, he cannot expect any
thing else from his fellows
To paraphrase Kip1ing, the consist
ency OF these half breeds Is to know no
shred OF consistency. Because Of this
they arc not even successful robbers
Tammany could give them cards and
spades In the game they play and win
out against them hands down
They are brave on occasion. But they
are not courageous. Their honor and
yalor reside in their tongues. They are
tourncoats from moment to moment
They will dine in the homes OF their
gringo friends one evening, and, be-
fore daylight, so cunning for their
gr1pgo friends and for the pay rolls and
gold watches OF their gringo friends.
They are what the mixed breed al
ways is--neither fish, flesh, nor fowl
dams. Like the Eurasian, they possess
all the vices Of their various com.
mingled bloods and none OF the virtues.
It Is impossible for the average Amer
lean to understand them. Honor is one
thing to them, another thing to an
American; so likewise with truth,
| probity, and sincerity. There Is no
comprehending them by the rules of
conduct and forms Of reasoning habitu-
Il al to the American, Az a sample Of
this. relate the following FEDERAL ex
/ plana ton Of the killing OF six Amer
leans at San Pedro in the state Of
/ Chiapas.
This is the way the Mexican authori.
ties explain the mishap: When the
Americans took possession OF Vera
Cruz. the authorities In Chiapas
fearful for the safety Of the handful
OF American small farmers, because of
the tnflamed condition of the populace,
sent detachment of rurales to rescue
them. When the Americans saw the
armed body of rurales approaching,
Tearing they Were about to be attacked,
they barricaded themselves in one OF
their houses. So intent was the rescue
party on saving them that a hot fire
was opened on the house. For three
hours the rurales toiled heroicaily al
the task of rescue, pouring a heavy
fire in the house from pevery side. At
the end OF this time. Sthe six Ameri-
can mon being dead. the rura1es stormed
the house and saved the lives of an
American girl OF Is and an American
boy Of IA. whom they bore away
70 be mobbed through the streets Of
Tuxtla Gutierrez ere they were safely
put In jail
{ Now it Is not the killing that is the
point OF Illustration. It is the explana-
ton made by the Mexicans OF the hor-
rtble mistake made by the Americans In
not understanding that the rurales were
rescuing them. Surely no American
brain nor European brain could con-
ceive such an explanation. We could
no more imagine that such an expla-
Il nation would hold water than would
Il we commit a three hours attack on
persons we were trying to save.