The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-10-06
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
BY Eber Cole Byam.
Part XIII.

might, With justice, be compared 10
the snakes in Ireland-it would be as
hard to find AS pretext for armed
violence, however, it has served its
purpose,-not to justify the Mexican
revolt to the Mexican people, but to
justify that revolt before the Amerl
can people. The thought that millions
of land-owning and industrious Next
cans had been robbed of their lands
appealed strongly to the sympathles
of the sentimental Americans, and
thereby headed off any effective pro-
test against the murderous pillage
and religious persecution which was
the primary purpose of the 'revolu-
tion."
One of the frequent arguments adj
vanced in support of the revolution
has been that the great land owners
held monopoly on land and prevented
the "land-hungry' people from acquir-
ing homes; that the LAND barons'
forcibly elected whole villages from
their lands and left the outraged in
habitants without homes to shelter
them or fields to give them susie
nance. With this sad picture as
curtain to hide his villainies, the Mex
lean revolutionist has outraged, MUIR
dered and destroyed, secure in the
knowledge that the sympathetic tears
of the Americans have blinded them
to his misdeeds.
= One widely read writer has declared
that three million Indians were de-
prived of their lands. AS there are
some five million seven hundred thou
sand Indians in Mexico Official esti-
mate), it would appear that over half
of them have been deprived of their
lands and are thus left as homeless
wanderers upon the earth. Sad in
deed this would be if it were true,
but it is not true; it is most out
rageously false. Yet, even if it were
true, would it justify the exile and
impoverishment of more than mil
lion Mexicans; the killing of hundreds
of thousands more; the destruction of
thousands of millions of dollars worth
of property; the outlawing of all re-
ligion, and the plunging of the coun-
try into foul bog of socialistic
anarchy disease and poverty, from
which it will take generations to
emerge, if ever?
There have been Indian land frauds
and public land frauds in Mexico, just
the same as in the United States,
and the frauds in Mexico no more
justify armed revolt than the frauds
in the United States would justify
armed revolt. Such frauds in Mexico
have involved but minute fraction
of the area and but an infnitesimal
number of the Indians compared to
like frauds in the United States.
The Small Land Owners.
Mexico probably has more small
land owners for its population than
any other country on the globe. I'm
possible you say? Not at all. The
proof is found in the method of TAX
ing the Mexican census. A large por-
ton of Mexico's inhabitants are In
dians Now, how do you suppose
they determine whether the individual
being counted is an Indian? By ask
ing him, you would say? Not at all.
He is an Indian because he lives in
an Indian village, surrounded by its
fields, which are owned in common
just as they were thousand years
ago. The official estimate of the In
dian population on this basis is IS
per cent, or total of over 100000
Therefore, SO per cent at least of the
population of Mexico are small land
owners. In addition to those Indians
living in villages, possessing com
munal fields, there are a host of small
2 land owners not SO classified who owr
small tracts in fee simple. Many OF
fled because they or their ancestors
abandoned tribal relations and the
communal village life. These come
under the classification of mixed
bloods' AS the mixed bloods' merge
gradually into the white" it is i'm
possible to tell just where to draw
the line, which is unnecessary in this
place anyway, and we will, therefore
classify as "Mexicans" all those tina
are not called Indians according tt
the system just explained.
These Mexicans, then, number {
great many land owners, many o
them having begun with only their TIVE
hands for capital. What their exac
number may be can be judged from
the State of Chiapas, where there ar,
of record over ten thousand owners
whose properties are assessed at owe
two hundred dollars, thus leaving GU
all the Indians and large humble
of small owners, for the assessment
rate was very low. The Indians il
this particular state form about three
fourths of the population, and are al
land owners.
Large Properties Undergoing Division
That the landed property of tn
country has been undergoing proc
ess of concentration in the hands of ;
few is disproved by the facts. Take
for example, the property in the Stat
of Vera Cruz once owned by SAINT;
Anna. This has been divided int,
some ten or more separate planta
lions. A property in the State o
Michoacan, called San Bartolo, ha
been divided into fifteen parts. An
4t,or hos boan divided into fen ma rt 6