The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1914-05-26
MEXICO FAILS TO
USE ADVANTAGES
Natural Resources Are Richest
In Entire World.
YET NATION is BACKWARD.

ago. YET MASSES Are lSnorant-Son-
stitution Perfect, but Rulers Always
Have Been Law Unto Themselves
Mines Most Valuable of All.
Mexico City.-"Perhaps nowhere else
In the world Is there a country so full
of contrasts as Mexico" says William
Joseph Showalter. With a university
established before John Harvard, Elihu
Yale or William and Mary were born,
the masses OF its people are hopeless
ly ignorant. With a hospital founded
before jamestown was even dreamed
Of, Ii Is one of the most backward re-
gions of the earth In a medical way.
With natural riches greater thar those
of a thousand Midases, its masses are
just as poor as the proverbial church
mouse. With a constitution as per-
feet as any organic law in the civiliz-
ed world, ii Is a nation whose rulers
always have beer a law unto them
selves.
Here you will see a Mexican half
breed. barefooted, wearing a dollar
pair Of trousers. a fifty cent shirt and
a ten dollar somhrero. There. at a
single glance and within the length OF
a single city BLOCK, you may see an
Indian cargador, a donkey, an oxcart
n carriage. a railroad train. a street
car md an Observation-Disclosures every
type of Iocomotion since Adam. You
may tread the burning sands of a
tropical desert with the wet of the
perpetual snow of towering mountains
still upon your shoes. You may take
a single railway journey of t~hirty-six
hours in which the people you see at
the railroad station will be dressed in
four different weights of clothing. Ev-
everywhere you turn are contrast, high
lights and deep shadows.
mo other country south of the Rio
Grande is so well supplied with rail-
roads. Prior to the Madero revolution
it had 10000 miles of up to date Amer
lean railroad. which carried 11,0OO,-
900 passengers annually and handled
about IL 100000 tons of freight. Their
total revenues amounted to about $40,-
100000 The government owns a con-
trolling interest In the major portion
of the mileage Of the railroads.
Mexico produces one-third OF the
worlds silver, a considerable percent
age of its gold, one-ninth OF its lead
and one-twentieth OF its copper. The
country's mineral production, exclusive
of iron, coal and petroleum. amounted
to $15S,000.000 In 1910. The famous
iron mountain at Durango is estimated
to contain 100000 tons OF iron ore,
which is worth seven times the value
Of all the gold and silver mined In
Mexico in two centuries. The Santa
Maria graphite mines are the largest
and most important In the western
world. The region around the gulf of
Mexico is rich in petroleum. One COM
pany at Potrero del Llano struck a
gusher which flowed 100000 barrels of
oil a day.
The drawn work Of the Mexican
Indian is justly famed throughout the
world and deserves to rank with the
finest Of Spanish and Italian laces
The Indians make all sorts of small
objects to attract the centavos of the
tourist. The little dolls of Cuernavaca.
a half inch tall and dressed in finely
embroidered raiment, are the admira
ton of every one who sees them. The
small clay animals. perfectly fash
Toned and ranging from the peaceful
dog to the charging bull and the buck
ing mule, would do credit TO the genius
Of many a sculptor whose name figures
in the art publications of the world.
But perhaps the most wonderful of all
are the tiny dressed fleas which may
be bought in Mexico City. Another
wonderful work of the Indians Is the
making of feather pictures from the
plumage of cumming birds, now al
most a lost art.
The Indians of Mexico eat many
curious foods. One of the most re
markable of these is made OF the eggs
of a species of marsh fly. This fly de
posits its eggs In incredible quantities
upon flags and rushes. The eggs are
gathered and made into cakes which
are sold In the markets. The Indians
call the eggs water wheat. They re-
semble fine fish roe and when mixed
with cornmeal and fowl eggs form a
staple article of diet. particularly dur
Ing Lent. The insects themselves.
which are about. the size of the house
fly, are captured. pounded into a paste.
boiled In c~ornhusks I'm much the same
fashion as tamales and In this form
are eaten"
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