New Britain herald., 1915-05-15
ggc Word From Mexico.
(iH6iana polis News.)

Wilbert l.. Bonney, American consul at San Luis Potoso, makes some re- markable statements in 8 report which has just been made public by the, government. The state of San Luis Potosi, lying in central Mexico, em- braces a rich mining and agricultural region. Within the last few years it ' has been crossed and recrossed hy the armies of conflicting factions. Yet in spite of these adverse circum- stances, MT. Bonney says, retail busi- ness in native goods is fairly active, and the paper money is accepted and rapidly passed from hand to hand TEere are no banks operating in the ]; district. To those unaccustomed with Mexico it is marvel that local busi- ness survives the shocks and strains of depreciated currency, suspension of imports, removal of the banks, lack of . salaried employment, abandonment of large properties, loss of farm animals, suspension of freight trafnc and with drawa1 of all liquid capital by natives and foreigners.
 For many months there has been flat currency in Mexico and metal money has practically disappeared. Many of the mines in the San Luis Potosi district have been forced tc close, and this has affected part rli the population. Yet in sprte of hard ship, existence for the peons is not so hard. ''The explanation" adds the consul, Ties partly in the fact that a large proportion of the Mexican people have always been and now are outside of all these conditions. The poor peon" was not shareholder in the foreign concessions. Nurtured in ignorance and deprived of property, he had no part in the rigid adminis- fration of the elder Diaz or even Tn the rapidly changing factional admin istrations. The peon, it seems, has been put to no more inconvenience by the stGppage of commerce than he was benef1tted by it's success The Mexico that has been built on foreign capital and political despot1sm Is not the Mexico of the peons. ''The loss of import trade says the consul, @ssso far as 1t acts the vast majority Of the people. may be compared to the loss of this Pullman service ,, on the national railways of Mexico. As nine 1efths of the people never entered a sleeping car, the loss of this service is entirely unheeded by them"
 But out of revolution better con- ditions may come. The fundamental weakness of Mexico, as all students know, lies in the absence of educated and hardy middle class people, en- frightened as to their rights and freed from superstition. Alhough Mexico has been veneered with aristocratic prosperity and culture. the peon mas rmained much the same. Tled to land that Is not his own, Knowing little, caring little and earning less, his aspirations have risen no higher than his knowledge which was piti- ably circumscribed. The lack of en- terprise shown by those few middle class natives, continues the consul, may be corrected in a new class now arising, more venturesome by tenn perament, whose rise is by the quick process of civil war. The war has re- suited in more travel and experience on the part of soldiers, more observa ton and comparison, and greater ac- quaintance with modern conditions" It is not likely tha the old system of land ownership will survive, and once the peon gets on the lana. and knows how to use it, the salvation of Mexico may be assured. This, too, will serve to develop commerce between Mexico and the United States.