Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-06-10
CAN THE PEON BE A GOOD CITIZEN?
The Bengted" so Per of Meco Population Need the
Opportllnitv of Helping Themselves - Americas
Task of Guidance.
Bv B. w. CURRIE

TT WOULD be insane folly to give the peon
i the vote The reactionary interests OF
Mexico have adhered to this principle infex-
IDLY, and it is still the rock upon which
successive conferences with our State De-
partment continue to split. Even in the i'm
pending crisis of starvation and pestilence
there are little groups of moneyed influences
which will not yield n Centimeter of ground,
even for the purpose of meeting the Presi-
dent half way in his equally firm and posi-
tive stand that the submerged majority must
have a look-in and a Say" in determining
what shall happen to them.
Let us consider the peon himself in the
light of his alleged disqualiications for even
so much as muttering in his own behalf. HIS
disquahcatlons are these: illiteracy, lack OF
susceptibility to reasoning influences child
like faith in images and therefore proneness
to follow any glittering idol that attracts
the eye immortality. Some of the more pro-
found reactionaries explain the Mexican
peon's unfitness on chronological grounds,
pronouncing him "a mongrel and hybrid
that cannot advance save by the slow
processes of eugenics."
Bull Fights Versus Schools
1t has long been the argument of those who
kept the Mexican peon in bondage that II he
was offered the choice between bull fights and
public schools he would choose bull fights.
Following out this chain Of thought, 1t was
concluded with great sagacity that If the
peon got the vote he would exercise this
choice and build bull-fight arenas instead of
schools.
If you will go down into southwest Texas
you will get little different light on the in
herent tendencies OF the peon. You will see
this submerged immoral human unit sending
all OF his children to school and eagerly seek
ing for himself what knowledge he may OBJ
tain at home. He has not been offered any
choice of bull fights. and to all outward ap-
pearances gets along happily and costly with
out them. BY some strange anomaly his
immortality does not obtrude itself. 1t is not
necessary to police the streets OF the popu-
lous little quarter where he lives TO check his
viciousness. He seems to grasp intuitively
that simple moral laws obtain and must not
be violated, He becomes initiative and emu
lative of the better things he sees going on
around him. If he retains some Of his primi-
| tive instinct for revenge he seldom exercises
| It. for 1t is soon impressed upon his simple,
! childlilSe nature that this sort OF thing ia not
! a good custom, that its practice is dangerous
| TO himself II requires very little force OF
example to bring that primary impulse OF
self preservation into play even among the
| Mexican poems.
The Politicians Bait
You viii hear the contention that the en-
franchised peon will simply lend himself to
| exploitation by INSCRIPTIONS native politi-
clans. Even so, he is going to get something
out OF 1t. The INSCRIPTIONS politician must
! use bait to catch even the most iiterate, and
since the dawn of civilization the most
effective bait even among semi-savage races
has been in the nature OF public improve
ments. In this age there is no more endur-
ing or secure public improvement bait than a
public school II you recall the various his
tories that have been written OF the shame OF
our cities and minor municipalities you will
fnd ample testimony that there are high pos
sibilities Of graft in the erection OF public
school buildings. And It is possible to build
scores OF public schools where one bull ring
win serve.
The reactionaries who pity the fate OF the
poor enfranehised peon become the tool and
instrument Of unserupulous demagogues. can
not turn the glass around and show US pic
ture OF happier peon under the domination
OF dictatorship and gilded ruling class
They cannot show any public improvements
OF the sort that the many could enjoy OF
benefit by. They cannot disprove the fact
that they practically classified the peon as q
beast Of burden; that they Transferred him
with real property as a chattel The Legal
documents did not quote the term slavery
but when the courts interpreted the phrase
used it meant the same thing.
There Is no reaetionary argument that you
may follow out that win not ultimately rur
into the ground when IL hits the plain, bald
fact that the peon population Of Mexico hav,
never had the slightest say In what was oi
was not good for them. that they have never
been allowed 70 assert even their most prlm
itiye instincts toward self-betterment II Z
, assumed that they would prefer bull hghti
ana elreuses . public education simply be-