The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-10-13
HISTORY OF MEXICO.
BY Eber Cole Byam.
Part XIV.

Within the memory of men now liv-
ing Government land sold in Illinois
for $1.25 per acre. These lands now
bring 5000 and more per acre. Do
"landless' Americans whine about
pernicious SPECTATORS" or demand
that these lands be confscated and
given to ''the poor?' Not at all. If
the 'landless" American wants land,
he takes the money he has accumu-
lated by thrift and industry and goes
somewhere and buys land. The
landless" in Mexico have enjoyed the
same privilege. There are millions of
acres of public lands in Mexico of the
best in the world In the early days
of the Diaz administration these
lands were all unsurveyed, but there
was no money to do it with. To get
this work done, it was decided to Of
fer one-third of the land surveyed as
a compensation to the surveyor Some
hundred and fifty million acres of
land were surveyed on this basis, to
the decided profit of the government,
as the surveyors found to their cost.
The government price was so low
and the terms so liberal that it made
the surveyors portion small pay for
his work Extensive areas of good
public land remain unsold.
Source of "Land Robbing" Stories.
In 1859 Juarez started decreeing his
so-called Laws of Reform" One of
these ordered the division of the In
dian lands in severalty. Perhaps it
was not his intention to do this, but
in his efforts to rob the Church of its
properties, he decreed the law prohib-
iting all corporations the right to own
land. The Church was corporation,
but so also were the Indian COM
munes and they came under the oper-
alton of this law. The application of
the law came in the administration of
DiaZ, and between 1877 and 1895 there
were issued 1922 titles covering l.
228,124 acres of land, or about 80 acres
on an average to each Indian. After
1895 the law was allowed to fall into
allegiance because it was found that
some of the Indians sold their land
and when the money was gone they
wanted the land back again. This is
of Importance because it is at the bot
tom of most of the land robbing"
stories repeated by the revolutionaries
for American consumption.
The Indian dearly loves a lawsuit
a taste he developed under the Vice |
roys, when the King of Spain permit |
ted him to indulge in this pastime at |
no coSt-and he is not averSe to lay |
ing claim to some land whose owner
ship was decided adversely to. him two
or three hundred years ago. The liti-
gious habits of the Indians urge them
into lawsuits on the slightest pretext,
and since independence" this dispo-
sition has been encouraged for pur-
poses of gain by the shyster lawyers
which have been the product of free
DOM" for in Mexico the only passport
needed to practice in the courts is the
ability to read and write and an un-
limited stock of brazen effrontery.
The Indians now have to pay for this
character of amusement and upon
them the leeches of the law have
thriven.
The claims are frequently. as pre-
posterous as that recently decided in
the United States courts against the
Indians who claimed a large part of
the land upon which now stands the
City of Chicago. Such adverse YER
diets, no matter how justified, become
bases for charges of Venality in the |
courts; for the unsuccessful litigant is
always sure that he has been griev
ously wronged.
The early Spanish vice-regal gov
ernments found great difficulty in con-
filming some of the tribes to a settled |
life, and some of these tribes to this
day will leave perfectly good reser
walton to scatter over the public do
main. The reason doubtless is a sur
vival of the savage hunting instinct |
which requires vast unpopulated areas
as a scantily-stocked game preserve. |
Unable to comprehend the principle |
of abstract ownership of land, such |
wandering Indians are intolerant of |
the restraint which comes with the
ownership of land and the obligations
anu W OuS SpOI
ownership requires. Efforts to restore /
such wanderers to their reservations |
thus become another source of charges |
of land spoliation," and lawsuits have
arisen where loophole could be
found.
King Protected the Indian.-"Liber- |
ais" Robbed Him.
Under the Spanish Kings the In
dians were assured of justice, and
some of their lawsuits were justified |
and curiously indicated the real status
of the Indian system of land tenure I
previous to the Conquest. One such
was brought by a village to recover
certain lands claimed by the heirs of |
some of the chiefs. These chiefs had |
aided Cortes to fight the Aztecs, and,
taking advantage of the Conqueror's
ignorance of the Indian customs, pre-
vailed on him to confirm them in the
possession of certain lands. This
Cortes did and SO the matter remain
ed for some years The villagers
finally realized what had been done |
and brought suit and proved to the
49, ru,,, hi xr,oe, ~,