Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1914-05-21
mexico FAILS TO
USE ADVANTAGES
Natural Resources Are Richest
In Entire World.
YET NATION is BACKWARD.
Oldest University Established Years
Ago, Yet Masses Are Isnorant-Con-
stitution Perfect, but Rulers Always
Have Been Law Unto Themselves.
Mines Most Valuable of All.

stitution Perfect, but Rulers Always
Have Been Law Unto Themselves.
Mines Most Valuable of All.
Mesco City.-Perhaps nowhere else
III the world is there a country so full
of contrasts as Mexico says William
Joseph Showalter. with 4 university
established before John Harvard, Elihu
Yale or William and Mary were born.
the masses of its people are hopeless
~ ignorant. With a hospital founded
before jamestown was even dreamed
of, it is one of the most backward re-
gions of the earth in Il medical way.
With natural riches greater than those
of n thousand MidaseS. its masses are
just as poor as the proverbiHl church
mouse. With Il constitution as per-
feet as any organic law in the civiliz-
ed world. it is Il nation whose rulers
always have been Il law unto them
selves.
Here you will see a Mexican half
breed, barefooted. wearing a dollar
pair of trousers, Il fifty cent shirt and
a ten dollar Sombrero. 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, Il street
car and an automobile-almoSt every
type of locomotion since Adam. You
may tread the burning sands of a
tropical desert with the wet of the
perpetual sno of towering mountains
still upon your shoes. You may take
Il single railway journey of thirty-SiX
hours in which the people you see ut
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 II 1000
600 passengers annually and handled
about II, 100000 tors of freight. Their
total revenues amounted to about $40
100000. The government owns q con
trolling interest in the major portion
of the mileage of the railroads.
"MeXico produces onethird of the
worlds silver, a considerable percent
age of its gold, one-ninth of it's lead
and one-twentieth of it's copper The
country's mineral production, exclusive
of iron, coal and petroleum, amounted
to $15S,O0O.000 in 1910. The famous
iron mountain at Durango is estimated
to contain 100000 0 tons of iron ore,
which is worth seven times the value
of all the gold and silver mined in
Mexico i'll two centuries. The Santa
Maria graphite mines are the largest
and most important in the western
world. The region aroun the gulf of
Mexico is rich in petroleum. One COM
pany at Potrero del Llano struck a
gusher which flowed 100000 barrels of
oil n day.
THE drawn work of the Mexican
Indian is justly famed throughout the
world and deserves to rank with the
finest of Spanish inc Italian laces.
The Indians make all sorts of small
objects to attract the centavos of the
tourist. The little dolls of C~uernavaca,
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 Il sculptor whose name figures
in the art publications of the world.
But perhaps the most wonderful of all
are the tiny dressed tleas which may
be bought in Mexico City. Another
wonderful work of the Indians is the
making of feather pictures from the
plumage of humming 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 i'll the markets. The Indians
call the eggs water wheat. They re-
semhle 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 Il paste.
boiled in cornhusks in much the same
fashion as tamales and in this form
are eaten"