The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-01-26

continued from Page Ten.)
look for uninterrupted success. We
have been administering our own af-
fairs and practicing self government
for nearly three hundred years and
still we have problems, old as we'll as
new, that have not yet been adequate
ly solved.
No Color Line.
| have thus far spoken of the Mex
lean people in very general terms. l
will go little more into detail
Broadly spea king, it may be said that
fifteen to twenty per cent Of the Mex
lean population is of comparatively
pure Spanish descent. Some forty
per cent is creole or mixed blood, and
the remaining forty per cent Indian.
The Negro element is negligible
There is no clearly defined color line
and absolutely no color prejudice
With regard to type, physical appear
ance and mental characteristics,
venture to say that the great body
Of the Mexican people, emitting a
few Indian tribes in the West, are
more homogeneous than our popula-
| ton. This is the more remarka BILE
as it is confessedly in a people Of
| mixed bloods that a fixed type is
rarely found. Whether this is owing
| to the fact that the original mixture
| proceeded almost wholly from fathers
of Spanish blood and Indian mothers
| will not assume to say; but the
fact is as I have stated, and ] re-
gard it most promising factor for
| the future peaceful development and
prosperity Of the nation.
| What / have said and am about to
say does not apply wholly to the old
| exclusive, landOWning ariStOcracy in
| and about Mexico City While the
element has much in common with
the body of the people, / think I dis
covered some traits peculiar to it. One
is a limitless pride that we should
call cOnceit in an American. [ be-
lieve it the result of centuries of con.
tact with what they regard as an in
ferior race. Constant comparisons il
their own favor would tend. it seem:
to me, to develop just such a charac
teriStic. The same trait in the peOT
takes the form of an extreme sensi
tiveneSs, both Of which make inter
course delicate for the stranger from
the North.
5 Any study of the Mexican politica
situation with reference to the future
policy which we should pursue is in
adequate if it does not take into con
i. sideration the general characteristic
and the historical factors that hav
| shaped the ethical standards of tn
Mexican people as a race.
: The Mexican Mind.
The impression one gets from tn
foreigners in Mexico, and the sam
: notion seems to be current in tn
: American press, is that the MeXicans
!, and Latin Americans generally, are S
; different from us racially an
psychological1y that we have no com
mon ethical standards { own freel
that this was also my impression
upon first contact with the Mexica
mind. In way, I still concede it t
be true; but l have become frml
8 convinced that the differences, grea
as they are, are not racial no
| psych illogical, and are such ca
q be overcome under conditions Of SO
r cial and industrial enlightenment.
y I met q great many Mexicans
O met and discussed these question
r with more than a thousand foreign
a lers. I made one observation tina
t amused me much. Many Of the fol-
e teiRners of long residence in Mexico
4 and the very ones whe complained 6