Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-24
SOME MEXICAN
INCONGRU1T1ro
Caste Prejudices stror.
Mixed Population-Snor,., IN
Pride and the Craze for
Progress

MEXICo, with irrigation ana
A. oeVeiopment, could suppor,
ulation greater than that NJ th pop
States, some say twice as 80. United
has barely 15,OoO,ooo inhabitants ~, !
ritory roughly similar in size 49, = er'
to that part of this country al snaps
Mississippi from New Orleans "a 1. y, ue
and line drawn northeast fro,, y. louis
to Lake Erie is occupied bv sars. LOUIS
sons than there are in New, w. Per
Pennsylvania. The inhabitants a. ~ ana
divided into three divisions-tba nos ~. o
Spanish descent, those of comb,nos ~ ~ u
pean and native races, and tbo urO'
blooded Indians. pure
These bare facts would in tbo,,
to any thoughtful person, explain rn.e''
of the social and political tronh,.I
Mexico. Add to them the fact tba, y
of the 100000 Indians have all ~. V''
norance and semicivllized vices n, 49,
dians who slew Custer and his mo, ~.
few of the savage virtues Of nrI.,,.,' u
Indians; that they are dominated nv
class that by race and instinct a..
aristocratlo ideas for granted and -
most of the land, and that betweer ~.
two there is a mixed race comno,.s !.
all gradations of mixed blood and a ~.
to all the vicious caste feelings which :,
with the sensitiveness and exagsera,sS
pride of those who are not pure hloos
in a country where pure blood counts n.
so much, and you have what is mora NJ.
a caldron than melting pot.
The pure white stock Is probable ~.
more than 10 per cent. of the whole. Win.
the mestizos, or mixed race, ara aho,,
half the population. The upper c,s,,
Mexicans, like the Peruvians and oth.r
Spanish.Americans, pride themselves !,
their unmixed white descent and str,v.
to preserve this condition. This IA N.
color line" and the term "Indio" stlI sy
presses something of contempt notwith.
standing the fact that some of the nror.
inent men of Mexico's history have bean
drawn from the mestizo class and in ths
case of Juarez from pure aboriginal
stock. In ordinary times the foreign Ella
ment numbers about 10000, spaniards
predominating with about 10000 and
Americans numbering about $4,000. Ths
British number about 5000, the French
about 1000 and the Germans 5000.
A People in the Making
The mestizos shade off into the peon
class, in which most of the Indians are
the great working class. The poems live
by sufferance upon the soil which was
wrested from their forebears by the white
men. Enormous landed estates are held
indeed, in Chihuahua the largest single
estate in the world exists. The popula.
ton on the soil scarcely reaches 20 per.
sons to the square mile, principally rural
or inhabiting small towns, and there Is
ample room therefore for expansion In
every locality.
The Mexican character must b
summed up as that of people In the
making. Imagine a United States Of
America in which the mulattoes, quad
rooms, octoroons and negroes formed 20
per cent. of the population. There Is no
analogy to be drawn between the Indian
and negro stock in this application Of
the principle beyond the observation Of
ethnologists that the offspring Of different
races are an unstable and incomplete
factor. And this is stamped on the aver
age Mexican physiognomy, Sometimes
a high intelligence runs riot and an
idealism untempered by sobriety-psrhaps
in one man will be some Of the best blood
in Europe mingled with the ferociy Of
the Apache. But such things marx
people not decadent, but evolving.
The upper-class Mexican is we'll
educated man of the world. His wealth
has permitted him to be educated abroad
preferably in Paris, that Mecca OF span
ish. Americans. The Mexican gentleman
is courteous and punctilious, gives mucn
attention to dress and ceremony ana 'h'
frock coat and high silk hat form Dis m
dress whenever possible. 1ns
Mexican shares the apirit of Hospitality
other Spanish-AmerIcans and has ehls'
alrous idealism which approaches ounOs
ism. Trembling on the verge OF WV
races, his eyes look toward the SPAN
his ancestors, and the fact that his pfia'
is pointedly shown to be in some Respects
mere vanity in view of his many iAnufe
only makes that pride more impeii0v@
1t is this that makes Carranza, fof IN
stance, a man of the old Spanish ssoeAi
hate the "gringoes." Mexicans OF ms wv
really think they are the supenofs
Americans. and that they cannot proVeA
by facts only increases their ssnA'u''
vanity.
Craze for progress"
These traits make their appearances :
the characteristic Mexican poihpoa'
and grandiloquence. He Is NOT cOps
to call himself q progressive or ~
must call himself a 0i
tifico," a scientific man. He 1 upss
speak of improvements he has insll'as--
he must speak of "an era Oh ,sM
whenever conversions - =
knowledge is always profound Ahss
edge" There is something impof'aa.
be learned from this. Many are 49,
now. How can puny Mexico dars ~ .a
moment to think of defying US .sout
many in 1898 said the same tnlhs "A
Spain. But proud Spain dehed Us. ~
spanish Mexico, ten times prouasa .ssat
Spain and on the whole mofe s. s.s.s
military proposition for US, is
n character in defying us. 49,. u.s.
We hear much Of 'semieiVlh4s4 ..sTsss
CO." Yet It Is a fact ths' .l9 s..h as.